Johnny and the 2011 NHL Draft revisited

[Poe969]

Didn't Kane go first overall? If other GM's new he'd be this good, he would have went first.

[BigTuna]

This is how you win cups and why the Oilers suck. You must get some good pieces after the first round to truly compete.
Dallas got Klingberg in the fifth round.
Goudreau=Elite superstar in the making.

[Matata]

one of the best parts of being a Gaudreau fan all these years is constantly watching the people who disagree with me get proven wrong in the most hilarious way possible.

[Vinny01]

As mentioned above getting Brodie and Johnny in the 4th rounds of 08 and 11 are huge reasons the team only had to wait 2 years after moving on from Iggy-Kipper to get back in the playoffs.

Johnny is a very special player who has the potential to be one of the faces of the
NHL for the next generation.

I recall the 2011 draft was all about "working the list". Button asked Feaster if there were 2 players he could keep as wild cards and draft them when he saw fit and those were Gaudreau and Kucherov. Unfortunately Kucherov went 2 picks after we took Wortherspoon. If we would have taken him instead of Tyler we would have a pretty elite top line with Johnny-Monahan-Kucherov

[heep223]

Super star in his second season. Could go down as one of the greatest draft picks ever.

I remember when I went to go see shiny new toy Monahan in the Flames development camp a few summers ago, and Gaudreau absolutely stole the show. I mean every time he touched the puck he was creating something, he was on a whole other level.

I hadn't even really heard of him until that point but since then I've been pounding the table to anyone who'll listen. I don't have to pound the table anymore.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Tyler Johnson actually went undrafted in 2011. I'd think he'd be in the top 10 of any redraft. Just goes to show that the Oilers suck because it's really easy to find players picking at #1. It's much harder to find players deeper in the draft, yet all the best teams do it consistently.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by ScorchyScorch

Redrafting the top 10:

Gaudreau
Nuge
Landeskog
Kucherov
Zibanejad
Larsson
Hamilton
Saad
Brodin
Huberdeau

You need Palat somewhere on that list IMO.

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

Johnny had a great game last night that is part of his great season so far - but of course there is doubt that he would go #1 overall if the draft was re-done today. Some teams just wouldn't take a player of his size #1 overall or in the first round.

Saying this doesn't diminish what a special player Johnny is.

It's a hindsight exercise. If everyone got to re-draft based on what they know now. Only reason you wouldn't take Johnny is if you needed someone to contribute immediately following the draft and couldn't wait the 3-4 years for him to develop. Or if you think Johnny has peaked and will start to regress. As it stands today, there is nobody on that list that you would even consider trading for Gaudreau.

But then again, the Oilers would still be picking first overall, so they'd still find a way to screw it up and probably take RNH anyways lol.

[Table 5]

It's funny tvp2003, when you declared Johnny would go #1, I stared rolling my eyes at the blatant homerism... but then you look at the list, think about it, and you're probably not wrong.

There are a few D there that in the long-term might be more valuable (luckily we have one of them!), but from a forward standpoint its hard to argue against Johnny right now.

The only real downside is that Johnny got into the NHL a little later than a lot of these guys, so there's lost production there that you can't recoup (but he's working his way up the list fast anyway). That, and despite him being so shifty, you do still wonder how long of a career a guy his size will have considering how teams always go after him. Is he a guy who will have a long career, or will the constant physical pestering take its toll after a while? Betting against Gaudreau has never been smart, but I have a feeling those questions will always linger in the minds of some.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by heep223

Super star in his second season. Could go down as one of the greatest draft picks ever.

He would be up there for sure for the Flames but hard to top Theoren Fleury in the 8th round.

[ClubFlames]

So we have the best Forward and the best Dman from the draft (Johnny and Dougie)

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

I recall the 2011 draft was all about "working the list". Button asked Feaster if there were 2 players he could keep as wild cards and draft them when he saw fit and those were Gaudreau and Kucherov. Unfortunately Kucherov went 2 picks after we took Wortherspoon. If we would have taken him instead of Tyler we would have a pretty elite top line with Johnny-Monahan-Kucherov

Yup, it's in the article I mentioned in the OP:

To keep their degree of admiration hidden, they didn’t approach the player — not even once — leading up to the 2011 National Hockey League draft. And they took secrecy one step further by not talking to the boy’s junior coach, either.

Why? Because they knew that Peter Chiarelli, general manager of the Boston Bruins, had an ownership stake in the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints and, should they pick the brain of skipper Jim Montgomery, word of their interest could trickle back to Beantown.

But the Calgary Flames, with stealth, did their homework on Johnny Gaudreau.

Repeated viewings, of course. Also casual discussions with opposing coaches. These chats, by design, were kept lighthearted.

“Like, ’Hey, what about that Gaudreau kid?’ But not showing we were interested,” says Tod Button, the Flames’ director of amateur scouting. “More like: ‘That kid’s so small, how come you guys can’t stop him?’ ”

Their fascination with Gaudreau, as far as they knew, was never exposed.

But Button had a plan.

Presiding over that draft had been Jay Feaster, whose work-the-list mantra had been well-established. But Button convinced him to leave Gaudreau and Russian winger Nikita Kucherov as wild cards. In other words, don’t include them in the team’s in-house rankings of prospects.

“I said to Jay, ‘I’d like the latitude of not putting them on the list. Then when it’s time to make the call, let me make the call,’ ” recalls Button.

The Flames merrily made their second-round shouts — Markus Granlund, 45th; Tyler Wotherspoon, 57th — then groaned when the Tampa Bay Lightning nabbed Kucherov at No. 58.

“I turned to Jay and said, ‘We’ve got to take Johnny with the next pick,’ ” recalls Button. “Jay said, ‘Go ahead. Take him.’ ”

Unfortunately for the Calgarians, Darryl Sutter had already peddled their third-round choice to the Edmonton Oilers in the Steve Staios deal.

So Button perspired his way into the fourth round and got his man, 104th overall.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...624/story.html

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

As it stands today, there is nobody on that list that you would even consider trading for Gaudreau.

But then again, the Oilers would still be picking first overall, so they'd still find a way to screw it up and probably take RNH anyways lol.

There is nobody on that list that *you* would even consider trading for Gaudreau. There is *someone* on that list that *someone* *may*consider trading for Gaudreau.

And yes, the Oilers would mess it up and probably take someone worse than Tenderness somehow.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

He would be up there for sure for the Flames but hard to top Theoren Fleury in the 8th round.

Different era though. The scouting is so much better now, it's getting more and more difficult to find diamonds in the rough. So many top 10 busts in the 80s, hardly any nowadays, comparatively.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by ScorchyScorch

Redrafting the top 10:

Gaudreau
Nuge
Landeskog
Kucherov
Zibanejad
Larsson
Hamilton
Saad
Brodin
Huberdeau

Not sure how you have Larsson ahead of Hamilton.

I would put Hamilton 5th, ahead of Zibanejad

[codynw]

Originally Posted by BigTuna

This is how you win cups and why the Oilers suck. You must get some good pieces after the first round to truly compete.
Dallas got Klingberg in the fifth round.
Goudreau=Elite superstar in the making.

Dallas also got some bum named Jamie Benn in the 5th round.

Also, I love the Chiarelli really wanted to get Gaudreau. Now he's the GM of the Oilers and gets to see the player he missed 5+ times per year.

[Monahan For Mayor]

Originally Posted by Fire of the Phoenix

Different era though. The scouting is so much better now, it's getting more and more difficult to find diamonds in the rough. So many top 10 busts in the 80s, hardly any nowadays, comparatively.

Tell this to the Oilers.

[Da_Chief]

Only wish they took Kucherov instead of Wotherspoon.

[BigTuna]

Mark Spector said Flames Fans accept it. This is not Your Year.

[saillias]

Originally Posted by BigTuna

Mark Spector said Flames Fans accept it. This is not Your Year.

Pardon? Context?

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

There is nobody on that list that *you* would even consider trading for Gaudreau. There is *someone* on that list that *someone* *may*consider trading for Gaudreau.

You're right -- fair point. Hard not to like the little guy though, especially since we managed to get him