Quote:
Originally Posted by pylon
The point I am making Jiri, is we don't know if they (the current regime) have drafted well or not. There are no stats to back anything up. For all we know, nobody ever plays an NHL game.
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Well there is the subjective way, the only way available, which is to watch what you can of the players drafted as they play in the World Juniors, college, junior, etc. Watch highlights, check out coach's awards, etc.
When some of your prospects excel against their peers like Baertschi has, like Gaudreau has, it makes you think they may have found something. Compare that to guys like John Armstrong, Tim Ramholt, etc who didn't show as much at the same age. There tends to be a buzz that starts to generate around guys who actually have NHL potential. Buzz not just from fans but from coaches and management. Think of Brodie's rookie camps and training camps earlier in his career. Think of Sven's year last year and his brief call up.
Obviously none of us can conclusively prove to anyone that our drafting has improved. But the sheer amount of prospects that have either impressed in their league on the world stage at the World Juniors seems to have increased in my subjective take on it. I like that Feaster is hands off with the scouts and lets them make their list. I like that they are double checking their list with analysis tools that weight the factors they consider most important.
Time will tell. But I'm not at all worried about them screwing up a top 5-8 pick in a strong draft year. I don't think that'll be an issue at all.
On the other hand I'm extremely worried about how management will handle the trade deadline given Feaster's intellectual honesty speech, fool me twice, and then lack of action last year. There's more reason lately to believe that management is deluded or has their hands tied than the scouts are incompetant.