Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
Still recall a few posters wanting him sooo bad the year we took Monahan. Yet another Russian first round bust. Haven’t crunched the numbers but I suspect the bust rate on Russians in the first is considerably higher than most countries in the past 20 years.
And Nichuskin himself demonstrated the Russian factor as he took his ball and went home when things got hard.
Be interesting to see if the Canucks pick this year manages to do better than Nichushkin
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I vividly remember the debate because it was the first really important pick of the rebuild, so you knew a key piece was important to get. Much of the debate was on trading up to one of the big 3 (impossible) or who we were likely to get at 6. In the end it became clear that it was likely to be Lindholm or Monahan, so much of the debate centered on which of them to take (haha, now we have both!).
And then there was a vocal group that really wanted Nichushkin, saying how dynamic of a scorer he was. I watched a lot of video on him an I saw the same thing every time: speed down the wing past the defender and attempt to cut in to the net in a power move. All I could think at the time was "this guy is a one trick pony". I didn't see anything beyond some physical gifts that allowed him to score on slower, weaker junior defenders, and I knew it wasn't going to work as often in the NHL. I didn't see any creativity or ability to read the play. I didn't see a lot of use of his teammates. Add in the Russian factor and I knew that was a risky pick.
Not trying to pat myself on the back, but I just thought I'd share my recollection of that draft. It turns out that Monahan might have been one of the best steals taken where he was at 6:
1. MacKinnon
2. Barkov
3. Drouin
4. S. Jones
5. Lindholm
6. Monahan
7. Nurse
8. Ristolainen
9. Horvat
10. Nichushkin