Everyone knew Bourdon was an intelligent player and everyone knows defense can be taught. Bourdon's skill set is what made him a safe pick. His skating ability (well, forward skating at least) combined with his size, durability and intelligence would make him a safe pick 9 times out of ten.
At worst, Bourdon was going to be a #4 defenseman on a good team.
Everyone knew Bourdon was an intelligent player and everyone knows defense can be taught. Bourdon's skill set is what made him a safe pick. His skating ability (well, forward skating at least) combined with his size, durability and intelligence would make him a safe pick 9 times out of ten.
At worst, Bourdon was going to be a #4 defenseman on a good team.
If Bourdon was a smart defenseman with excellent skating ability, size, and durability he would have been a top-5 pick. There's no way a defenseman with those qualities would be ranked around 15th (+/- a bit) by most scouting services. Questions about his ability to think the game at the NHL level were probably the biggest knock on his play.
It was far from a guarantee that he was going to end up a top-4 defenseman or else he would have been universally ranked a better prospect than Marc Staal. Staal was seen as the player who was almost a guarantee to be top-4 with limited potential upside of a top pairing defender. If Bourdon was a guaranteed top-4 defenseman with the potential to be a #1, he would have been a far better prospect.
If Bourdon was a smart defenseman with excellent skating ability, size, and durability he would have been a top-5 pick. There's no way a defenseman with those qualities would be ranked around 15th (+/- a bit) by most scouting services. Questions about his ability to think the game at the NHL level were probably the biggest knock on his play.
I was under the impression that his low draft ranking was due to his bouts with arthiritis.
I was under the impression that his low draft ranking was due to his bouts with arthiritis.
I don't remember that ever coming up myself. The knocks were always things like 'needs to make better decisions with the puck' or 'great tools but needs to work on positioning and awareness'.
This is what Redline said pre-draft (they had him 10th amongst defensemen):
Quote:
Luc Bourdon is a tough, physical blue-liner with a huge point shot. But he lacks a little in the hockey sense department and had a very inconsistent season. Though he's a strong skater and makes a crisp first pass, his defensive zone awareness is not what it should be and he displays a lack of imagination at the offensive end. He didn't progress as Red Line expected and left us mildly disappointed.
Played exceptionally well at the Under-18 world championship in the spring and has all the physical tools (size and skating) to be a good one, though some question his decision making.
A few little nit-picks (otherwise, this is an outstanding thread. 19nazzy, a tip of the hat to you, sir):
Dan Gendur was signed to a three-year entry level contract, not a one year deal.
It would be nice to cite which areas Dean and Marois scouted in the section about their dismissal. I looked it up in the link to the thread and it's Saskatchewan for Dean and Quebec for Marois, if you wanted to add it.
Thanks for the info on Gendur. I couldn't find anything for his contract anywhere so I just put him down for a one year deal. Putting the info down for the scouts is fine, I just didn't do it because I know I wouldn't be able to do it for all the scouts but I think it's better to have info for some rather than none for all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pitseleh
It's also worth noting, though I never saw it officially announced anywhere, that Darryl Young has been added to the scouting staff on Canucks.com since Gillis was hired. A quick search turns up that he's scouted the QMJHL in the past, so I'm assuming he's doing the same now.
I can't find anything on that. I found his profile on some work site so I think I'll join and ask him when he joined and where he's scouting. Lets see if he gets back to me, if he does, I'll consider him worthy for the list
I can't find anything on that. I found his profile on some work site so I think I'll join and ask him when he joined and where he's scouting. Lets see if he gets back to me, if he does, I'll consider him worthy for the list
where's the Shannon trade for Nycolat? not that it matters haha....
It should be there.
edit: Oi, my post exploded.
edit 2: Alright, everything should be fixed now. That's why you copy a post like this into notepad which I thankfully learned the hard way from one of my schedule threads a while back.
If Bourdon was a smart defenseman with excellent skating ability, size, and durability he would have been a top-5 pick. There's no way a defenseman with those qualities would be ranked around 15th (+/- a bit) by most scouting services. Questions about his ability to think the game at the NHL level were probably the biggest knock on his play.
It was far from a guarantee that he was going to end up a top-4 defenseman or else he would have been universally ranked a better prospect than Marc Staal. Staal was seen as the player who was almost a guarantee to be top-4 with limited potential upside of a top pairing defender. If Bourdon was a guaranteed top-4 defenseman with the potential to be a #1, he would have been a far better prospect.
Sorry to randomly nit-pick, but you have Johnson's deal as a two year 2.4 million dollar deal, I thought it was a two-year 2.2 million dollar deal (going by nhlscap anyway) and nhl numbers has it at a 2 year 2.3 million dollar deal. Do we know the actual figure?
Sorry to randomly nit-pick, but you have Johnson's deal as a two year 2.4 million dollar deal, I thought it was a two-year 2.2 million dollar deal (going by nhlscap anyway) and nhl numbers has it at a 2 year 2.3 million dollar deal. Do we know the actual figure?
The TSN link has it as 2.4 million which is why I went with that. Doing a google search I've seen others with 2.4 although I did see one with 2.3.
Sorry to randomly nit-pick, but you have Johnson's deal as a two year 2.4 million dollar deal, I thought it was a two-year 2.2 million dollar deal (going by nhlscap anyway) and nhl numbers has it at a 2 year 2.3 million dollar deal. Do we know the actual figure?
Evan Oberg(i think thats his last name) has signed a contract, he is a D man and its been announced on the FA signing thread in prospect signings and it has not appeared here so I'm just helping you out.
