Draft Strategy in 2010

[Miller Brew 0]

I'm down here in Ohio (God, help me), And have a 3 1/2 and a 2 1/2 year old, so needless to say I don't have much time to pay attention to G.R. and our prospects. But, reading your guy's posts has really gotten my kinda excited about this Tatar fella. Where can I get info and stats on him without spending an hour online?

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=120671

Also watch his youtube videos

[newfy 695]

That's the Finnish league, undestand? Same level as AHL. And the kid is almost point per game here. He isn't big, but he always goes to the dirty areas unlike many other player of that size. I'm not saying Granlund is what the Wings need. But to say that he's not even going in the 1st round is just stupid, as he's touted a top 10 pick in most mock drafts.

And the difference between Granlund now and Rajala last year is that Rajala never got it going in the Finnish league. But that's men's league, and Granlund has been one of the better centers in the league so far this season. And he's a playmaker, not a scorer. And he's not even played 22 games yet. It's 20gp 5g 14a.

So, please check your facts before making judgements like this one. He IS tearing it up.

edit: Those two games he played last year were over a year ago. He was 16 back then, playing for an entirely different team. And again, it's Finnish national league. You can't even compare it to these junior leagues such as WHL. FNL is the toughest European league.

edit2: Did you even knew what FNL stands for as you posted that?

European League doesn't translate to NHL talent. If you're 5'9 you better be absolutely tearing it up to expect to make the NHL as a quality player.

Thats where a solid NA draft pick comes in handy. You knnow what you're going to get 9 times out of 10 with an average sized NA draft pick in the first round. A 5'9 finnish player doesn't exactly have sure fire NHLer written all over him especially when he has 5 goals so far this season.

[Finnish Wing 110]

European League doesn't translate to NHL talent. If you're 5'9 you better be absolutely tearing it up to expect to make the NHL as a quality player.

Thats where a solid NA draft pick comes in handy. You knnow what you're going to get 9 times out of 10 with an average sized NA draft pick in the first round. A 5'9 finnish player doesn't exactly have sure fire NHLer written all over him especially when he has 5 goals so far this season.

Apparently you didn't even read what I said. It's totally different tearing it up in WHL than Finnish SM-liiga. SM-liiga is at the same level than AHL and is also the toughest European league. If someone is a point per game player as a 17 year old in men's league, I highly doubt that he would never be an NHL calibre player. Granlund's potential is being a solid 2nd line center in a cup contender team.

I agree with you though that there are a lot of question marks over European players. But Finns don't usually lack toughness. Leino is an exception, and he said himself that he considers himself more of a Russian type player. I believe Grandlund's got that toughness needed to be successful.

edit: The difference between NA fans and European fans is that European fans usually watch both NHL and European leagues, while NA fans watch only NHL. It seems like Americans don't really even know much about European countries or their hockey. Everything what you don't know about is somehow questionable and confusing. Some of you probably think that there are polar bears in Finland.

Edited December 25, 2009 by Finnish Wing

[Jim Morrison 0]

Draft Patrik Nemeth in 2010 and Gabriel Landeskog in 2011

Landeskog: Milan Lucic/Brenden Morrow type of player. New NHL's type of power-forward. Could go high first round or late first round. Project at the moment.

Nemeth: 6'3, 212lbs at 17 years old. Mean, big, stay at home D. Projected to go anywhere from late 1st round to 3rd round.

[Seraph 240]

Do we even know how to pick well with an early pick?? I wouldn't be surprised if we trade it for a few 2nd rounders or something.

[Guest mindfly]

Do we even know how to pick well with an early pick?? I wouldn't be surprised if we trade it for a few 2nd rounders or something.

Haha good one

Just to shove it up their faces like "we don't need an early draft pick to draft superstars get us few more 2nd and 3rd rounders and we'll be fine"

[newfy 695]

Apparently you didn't even read what I said. It's totally different tearing it up in WHL than Finnish SM-liiga. SM-liiga is at the same level than AHL and is also the toughest European league. If someone is a point per game player as a 17 year old in men's league, I highly doubt that he would never be an NHL calibre player. Granlund's potential is being a solid 2nd line center in a cup contender team.

I agree with you though that there are a lot of question marks over European players. But Finns don't usually lack toughness. Leino is an exception, and he said himself that he considers himself more of a Russian type player. I believe Grandlund's got that toughness needed to be successful.

edit: The difference between NA fans and European fans is that European fans usually watch both NHL and European leagues, while NA fans watch only NHL. It seems like Americans don't really even know much about European countries or their hockey. Everything what you don't know about is somehow questionable and confusing. Some of you probably think that there are polar bears in Finland.

No i see what you mean, I just mean comparing a guy like Ferraro from last year to this Finnish guy Landon is a for sure NHLer he has the wheels, size and grit to play as a 3rd liner if he has too but has the chance of being a scoring line player.

This small finnish player however most likely wont make it unless its on a scoring line. At 5'9 he's almost guaranteed to not have grit. This is what I mean by he better be absolutely tearing up the league to use a 1st rounder on him which are so rare.

[seeinred 1,488]

Some of you probably think that there are polar bears in Finland.

Hahahaha, I LOLed pretty hard at that.

And what's with all the hating on Granlund? To say he doesn't have grit because he's small is asinine. He's 17 years old and playing at a PPG pace is a very, very good league, a league full of men, he's not putting up inflated numbers because he's not playing against 11 year olds like guys in the CHL. A - he'll probably still grow some, and B - this kid is gonna be the real deal. Maybe not an absolute superstar, but he's going to be a great contributor on whatever NHL team he plays for.

[newfy 695]

Hahahaha, I LOLed pretty hard at that.

And what's with all the hating on Granlund? To say he doesn't have grit because he's small is asinine. He's 17 years old and playing at a PPG pace is a very, very good league, a league full of men, he's not putting up inflated numbers because he's not playing against 11 year olds like guys in the CHL. A - he'll probably still grow some, and B - this kid is gonna be the real deal. Maybe not an absolute superstar, but he's going to be a great contributor on whatever NHL team he plays for.

I wouldn't say hate, I would call it lack of want. Most of us Wings fans on this site are tired of seeing small europeans. I'm sure he's a good player I just don't want the wings to pick him. I would rather see a 6' or larger NA scorer drafted. Thats something our team lacks and something Granlund couldn't provide.

[Finnish Wing 110]

I wouldn't say hate, I would call it lack of want. Most of us Wings fans on this site are tired of seeing small europeans. I'm sure he's a good player I just don't want the wings to pick him. I would rather see a 6' or larger NA scorer drafted. Thats something our team lacks and something Granlund couldn't provide.

Yeah, but the point wasn't about Wings drafting Granlund. It was Grandlund's draft number overall. I bet you that it's under 10. I don't care if the Wings draft him, maybe we shouldn't as we already have pretty good centers for the future.

[HenryMalredo 2]

I wouldn't say hate, I would call it lack of want. Most of us Wings fans on this site are tired of seeing small europeans. I'm sure he's a good player I just don't want the wings to pick him. I would rather see a 6' or larger NA scorer drafted. Thats something our team lacks and something Granlund couldn't provide.

While the Wings will be drafting higher this year, they'll still be drafting too low to get a big guy who can score, those guys will go pretty fast. The Wings need a bonafide goal scorer, doesn't matter what country they're from or size they are.

[newfy 695]

While the Wings will be drafting higher this year, they'll still be drafting too low to get a big guy who can score, those guys will go pretty fast. The Wings need a bonafide goal scorer, doesn't matter what country they're from or size they are.

Yeah if we're taking a bonoafide goal scorer I'm happy. I'm just not happy taking a 5'9 european who only has 5 goals so far this season with a decent first round pick.

[thedatsyukian 7]

I updated the topic with our current pick as well as some mock drafts/player rankings. Curious if opinions have changed at all since this thread was first made.