Edmonton Oil Kings draft Joe Iginla in WHL Bantam draft

[darockwilder]

Yeah, imagine how many Hitmen Iginla jerseys they could have sold.

[GirlySports]

Ive been to two hitman games in my life, would probably go to two more if Iginla was there. I might listen to more on radio too

[Scooter]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

LOL at people posting about a bunch of lids they know nothing about.

Let’s give the benefit of the doubt.

Winning is what puts fans in the seats.

Agree!

[Scooter]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Hitmen, you blew it.

Hitmen blew it a few years ago when Kelly Kisio left as GM to go scout for Las Vegas Golden Knights!

[Spurs]

You would listen to games on the radio because Iginla's son played on the team???

That makes no sense to me, but I am a season ticket holder for a WHL team so winning would be much more important to me than getting some kid of a player that I liked. I see no appeal to watching the kid of someone play.

[Scornfire]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Why wouldn't they take this draft seriously? It's the only way to get talent on the team, it is arguably more important that the NHL draft, as at least NHL teams can supplement talent through UFA.

The Hitmen have previously been able to get players who fall because of "college" issues to join them because they are in one of the most preferred markets. I've long suspected that certain players throw out that "maybe going to college" in hopes of falling to a more preferred team who may be told something entirely different. I expect Calgary got an excellent player who fell for that reason, and they have a pretty good idea he'll play for them.

The draft for European etc players can play out the same way, and teams want to choose players who will actually come to Canada to play. Players may give the word they are willing to come to a city like Calgary vs., say, Cranbrook. I know that Fredrik Sjostrom did this, Calgary was the only team that knew he would come over to Canada to play junior.

Because they're Fourteen and you had a legacy name with massive (for the WHL) marketing potential in Calgary specifically, right in the range you're picking anyway. Kosick isn't a Bedard, an Eklbad, a McDavid, he's not an exceptional status player, they could certainly have gotten the best player in the draft here, but who in the city is going to care unless the team actually does something noteworthy? Iginla gets people interested day 1 and gives the team a chance to re-establish some market share of entertainment dollars in the city at a time where their relevance is pretty much at an all time low with a higher tier league also operating in the city that's DIRECTLY connected to the big team that people can watch for comparative cost

[Scornfire]

Originally Posted by Spurs

You would listen to games on the radio because Iginla's son played on the team???

That makes no sense to me, but I am a season ticket holder for a WHL team so winning would be much more important to me than getting some kid of a player that I liked. I see no appeal to watching the kid of someone play.

There's now 2 other options in this city that are objectively better on ice products, and one is pretty cheap (for now), why would the layman care about going to see the Hitmen without some kind of peripheral interest? I haven't gone to a single Hitmen game since Getzlaf graduated to the NHL

[dustygoon]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Where was he ranked though? Near that spot or well below? Wouldn’t it be more inept for them to draft him because of who he is if he was ranked as a second rounder?

Of course, I have no idea how their rankings go, so maybe they are inept. Or maybe they are just more professional.

So what are you saying? They are inept? Or professional? Not sure i understand the reason for your post.

It is pretty clear without saying it that i nor others on here know where the hitmen had Iginla ranked.

My point is he was taken right after the hitmen pick which means at least one team thought he should be ranked in the vicinity. And the thought of having Iginla's kid on the hitmen is a pretty great marketing story which could mean you nudge him up the rankings a little more than where his skill would have him. But no...you can't just draft him because of his name. Conversely, having him go to the Oil Kings is bad.

I hate the old mind numbing discussion about drafts but here it is. Yes...there is no board! Yes...the Oil Kings are only one team. Maybe everyone else had Iggy ranked lower. Maybe Edmonton reached. Everyone has their own draft list. Maybe the Hitmen had this scrawny kid ranked super high and just couldn't avoid it when he fell to them.

But your point made me look up the rankings. Turns out it's the last point probably:

The hitmen pick, Noah Kosick, was ranked 1st overall in the entire draft based on this list and fell to them (iginla was 7th so he fell a bit too)....

https://www.eliteprospects.com/ranki...ankings-top-50

[bdubbs]

On the bright side, if the Hitmen drafted Joe, it would have been more painful to watch the Flames not draft him anyways. Kinda like how we needed a center for Iggy all those years and had Getzlaf on the Hitmen and went and drafted neon Dion.

[Scornfire]

Originally Posted by Spurs

Is this true? People would actually go to a game just because Iginla's son is playing in it? That is wild if true. Especially if the impact could only be outweighed by a few Memorial Cup seasons which is a rarity in junior hockey.

I can't see how a guy just based on his last name could have such an impact, as the only player that has come close to that was Bedard but maybe Calgary is a weird hockey market.

From a Calgarian perspective, absolutely people would be interested in going to see the child of Iginla (the City's most prominent Hockey Icon). In what way is that weird? It's a city with MANY entertainment options (for Canada at least), the average person doesn't really even think about the Hitmen when they're not winning without some kind of name recognition. The last time being the early 2000s when they had several highly projected players, where they averaged over 10k fans a game. It's consistently dropped since then, with last year averaging just under 5k, and the trend is likely to see them dip even lower with the success of the Wranglers this year.

[speede5]

You know there's always the possibility Iginla wanted to go to Edmonton or somewhere other than Calgary, and the Hitmen knew this, they surely would have chatted with him at some point prior to the draft. these kids and their agents have a fair bit more influence on their careers than they used to. Does Iginla still have family in Edmonton?

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

Because they're Fourteen and you had a legacy name with massive (for the WHL) marketing potential in Calgary specifically, right in the range you're picking anyway. Kosick isn't a Bedard, an Eklbad, a McDavid, he's not an exceptional status player, they could certainly have gotten the best player in the draft here, but who in the city is going to care unless the team actually does something noteworthy? Iginla gets people interested day 1 and gives the team a chance to re-establish some market share of entertainment dollars in the city at a time where their relevance is pretty much at an all time low with a higher tier league also operating in the city that's DIRECTLY connected to the big team that people can watch for comparative cost

The Hitmen drafted the player that was ranked #1 in the entire draft who likely fell because he's indicated he may go to college.

We really have no idea how much the Hitmen liked this player, but presumably quite a bit, as they ended drafting him at the expense of missing out on Iginla. I would assume, everything else being equal, they would have chosen Iginla. I would also assume that everything was not equal.

That trumps selling additional jerseys.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by dustygoon

So what are you saying? They are inept? Or professional? Not sure i understand the reason for your post.

It is pretty clear without saying it that i nor others on here know where the hitmen had Iginla ranked.

My point is he was taken right after the hitmen pick which means at least one team thought he should be ranked in the vicinity. And the thought of having Iginla's kid on the hitmen is a pretty great marketing story which could mean you nudge him up the rankings a little more than where his skill would have him. But no...you can't just draft him because of his name. Conversely, having him go to the Oil Kings is bad.

I hate the old mind numbing discussion about drafts but here it is. Yes...there is no board! Yes...the Oil Kings are only one team. Maybe everyone else had Iggy ranked lower. Maybe Edmonton reached. Everyone has their own draft list. Maybe the Hitmen had this scrawny kid ranked super high and just couldn't avoid it when he fell to them.

But your point made me look up the rankings. Turns out it's the last point probably:

The hitmen pick, Noah Kosick, was ranked 1st overall in the entire draft based on this list and fell to them (iginla was 7th so he fell a bit too)....

https://www.eliteprospects.com/ranki...ankings-top-50

My point was that everyone saying it was a stupid move seemed to have no clue where the players ranked versus each other. If they were close it would be arguable stupid but if not - what's the fuss?

Drafting someone because they are a legacy kid seems kinda Oilerish to me.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by speede5

You know there's always the possibility Iginla wanted to go to Edmonton or somewhere other than Calgary, and the Hitmen knew this, they surely would have chatted with him at some point prior to the draft. these kids and their agents have a fair bit more influence on their careers than they used to. Does Iginla still have family in Edmonton?

In St. Albert, yes. I read that Joe wanted to cone to the OKs. Not sure if that’s so.

[Erick Estrada]

Without knowing the details I find it hard to be upset about this. I get that having his kid on the team would have been good from a fan perspective but scouts are tasked with finding the best players available for the team they work for and if they feel another player is better I feel that should trump drafting a kid because of his last name.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Without knowing the details I find it hard to be upset about this. I get that having his kid on the team would have been good from a fan perspective but scouts are tasked with finding the best players available for the team they work for and if they feel another player is better I feel that should trump drafting a kid because of his last name.

This is true. Maybe Edmonton over reached.

[Spurs]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

There's now 2 other options in this city that are objectively better on ice products, and one is pretty cheap (for now), why would the layman care about going to see the Hitmen without some kind of peripheral interest? I haven't gone to a single Hitmen game since Getzlaf graduated to the NHL

That is a different argument though. You can say peopke might not want to go. To me that is also insane not sure why anyone would want to go to AHL over WHL.

What I don’t get is how Iginlas kid changes that. I don’t see how he has any appeal to people if they already don’t care.

[Spurs]

Originally Posted by Scornfire

From a Calgarian perspective, absolutely people would be interested in going to see the child of Iginla (the City's most prominent Hockey Icon). In what way is that weird? It's a city with MANY entertainment options (for Canada at least), the average person doesn't really even think about the Hitmen when they're not winning without some kind of name recognition. The last time being the early 2000s when they had several highly projected players, where they averaged over 10k fans a game. It's consistently dropped since then, with last year averaging just under 5k, and the trend is likely to see them dip even lower with the success of the Wranglers this year.

As I said to me it’s weird because he has no appeal to me and I don’t see the appeal to others. Iginla is my all-time favorite player, if he was playing sure I would go de that, but his kid? No thanks that doesn’t move the needle at all.

[Yeah_Baby]

I mean we're talking about 14 year olds right? Who knows what kind of Dub players they'll be much less pro players if they go that route.

Lots of NHLers weren't even in the Bantam draft.

[Reggie Dunlop]

This is the most this forum has ever discussed the Hitmen