hard to complain or second guess given that we ended up with Price, who looks to be a guy you can win with for a long, long time...
but with hindsight, and seeing how Halak emmerged as a top-tier NHL goaltender, for the organization as a whole, I think Kopitar would have been the better selection.
Very interesting point. I didn't think of that. From that perspective you really could make an argument for Kopitar if you believe that Halak was the real deal. And you could even extrapolate from that move that we might not have gone out and got Gomez too...
Either way though, I feel great about getting Price. He's been amazing so far in his career and I think he'll have the best career of anyone in that draft not named Crosby.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozymandias
Whatever, what's that reference to a dating profile? I never did that.
He was josh'n.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitesnake
I just hope people are consequent. I wanted Brule. But I just hope that all the people who in response to others saying "We shouldn't ve picked Carter, Getzlaf, Giroux and Co" are saying "Well, who knows if those guys would have developed the same way", are actually thinking the same way as far as Brule is concerned....and this is where it makes most sense actually.
Brule was killed by Hitchcock. We all knew that Brule would not have the body to be human wrecking ball like he was in Juniors, he didn't and injured himself right from the start. But while we think Martin kills prospects, Hitchcock kills them, ressuscitate them to kill them again. Possible that he would have never been able to be THAT succesful, but I will always believe he'd be able to be much much better.
Having said that....it's all great we ended up picking Price. So if I'm being consequent, I bash them in 2003, 2004, and 2006, I have to congratulate them in 2005 and 2007 for their 1st rounds.
Hitchcock's idea of 'firewagon hockey' is playing the trap on the power play.
If we picked Kopitar instead there would be no Gomez, no Price and no Eller either. Our team would look like this today (assuming Sopel, Halpern, Wisniewski gone and Hammer being our D-men coach):
I like that line up better than the one we have. Kopitar/Plekanec is a hell of a lot better than Plekanec/Gomez. It also happens to free up a lot of cap space (actually that's not true, just looked at how much Kopitar is making, my bad). Halak and Price is not as big a difference as Kopitar vs Gomez.
Besides good goalies are fairly common. Halak is a decent one, and it's only going to get easier to acquire a good goalie since the difference between the best and worst starters is going to diminish every year.
Good centers aren't as easy to come by.
EDIT2:
I added McDonagh to the D since we wouldn't have traded him for Gomez.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankMTL
Yeah, especially if you ignore the fact that Cammalleri and Gionta signed because of Gomez apparently...
lol at Cammy and Gionta refusing obscene amounts of cash for 5 years because they'd play with Kopitar/Plekanec instead of Gomez/Plekanec. Keep believing that.
Look, you need to put these types of quotes in context. The guy is signing here and is looking for things to say that sounds good. He has to talk to the media, and he has to say certain things other than : "I signed here because they offered the most money for the longest term". It's not the absolute truth, AND you're assuming that quote meant he ONLY signed here because of Gomez. It can't have been the only factor. What if we had Crosby/Plekanec instaed of Gomez, would they have refused to sign here ? Please. So tired of hearing that one in absolute terms as if people were in Gionta's and Cammy's head.
lol at Cammy and Gionta refusing obscene amounts of cash for 5 years because they'd play with Kopitar/Plekanec instead of Gomez/Plekanec. Keep believing that.
I don't see it as Gionta/Cammalleri would have refused to play without Gomez, more like team needs would have been entirely different with Kopitar instead of Price, so who knows how the team would have performed, and what decisions management would have taken over the last 4-5 years. Its funny to think that a roster could be significantly different because of one draft choice, but its true. Maybe we wouldn't have done the overhaul we did at all two years back?
Maybe our roster would have been something like this:
Who really knows? Maybe we would all be complaining that Kovalev is signed at 2 more years for $5M and not producing anymore? Maybe Halak would have not had his awesome performance in the playoffs, because fans would have build up huge expectations for him as our saviour instead of Price? Maybe we would have re-signed Huet because Gainey didn't think we had a 'thoroughbred' goalie prospect?
I don't see it as Gionta/Cammalleri would have refused to play without Gomez, more like team needs would have been entirely different with Kopitar instead of Price, so who knows how the team would have performed, and what decisions management would have taken over the last 4-5 years. Its funny to think that a roster could be significantly different because of one draft choice, but its true. Maybe we wouldn't have done the overhaul we did at all two years back?
Maybe our roster would have been something like this:
Who really knows? Maybe we would all be complaining that Kovalev is signed at 2 more years for $5M and not producing anymore? Maybe Halak would have not had his awesome performance in the playoffs, because fans would have build up huge expectations for him as our saviour instead of Price? Maybe we would have re-signed Huet because Gainey didn't think we had a 'thoroughbred' goalie prospect?
Not that I disagree with you, but if you believe in the hockey equivalent of the butterfly effect then we can't discuss anything that happened in the past anymore and this thread is worthless.
I think the bottom line is that what you said is kind of implied with everything but we can't think like that otherwise no discussion about the past is possible. People enjoy talking about the what ifs with everything else remaining the same.
Not that I disagree with you, but if you believe in the hockey equivalent of the butterfly effect then we can't discuss anything that happened in the past anymore and this thread is worthless.
While this is true, there is no doubt that things would be different than the roster we have now.
The real question is, would you keep Price over having Kopitar and Halak? Love price, but I'd take Kopitar and Halak over and over again. But 5 other teams passed him by after us... and I'm happy with price now.
If we picked Kopitar instead there would be no Gomez, no Price and no Eller either. Our team would look like this today (assuming Sopel, Halpern, Wisniewski gone and Hammer being our D-men coach):
While this is true, there is no doubt that things would be different than the roster we have now.
The real question is, would you keep Price over having Kopitar and Halak? Love price, but I'd take Kopitar and Halak over and over again. But 5 other teams passed him by after us... and I'm happy with price now.
It's more like
1. Eller, Price, Gomez
VS
2. Kopitar, Halak, McDonagh
I take #2 every time personally. But yeah I'm happy with Price too it's fine.
Back then I wanted Brule or Kopitar. Was really upset with us drafting a goalie. I wanted the best forward possible. Didn't even really know anything about all 3 of them though but I hated the idea of drafting a goalie that high, still do.
who would you take in that draft? How different would our present be with a different choice.
I respect gainey and gauthier for their choice. They made a good one.
Pierre Mcguire will be our next GM in about 4 years. I like mr gauthier and he is an active gm who tries his best. Everybody has a shelf life ..........
I'd like your poll a lot more if you could actually spell our players names properly.
who would you take in that draft? How different would our present be with a different choice.
I respect gainey and gauthier for their choice. They made a good one.
Pierre Mcguire will be our next GM in about 4 years. I like mr gauthier and he is an active gm who tries his best. Everybody has a shelf life ..........
At the end of the day, if there is only one guy that you'd rather have picked in retrospect, you probably did fairly well for yourself with the choice you made. Unless it was blindingly obivious error even at the time.
There are usually a bunch of guy taken latter that might have been better to even pretty good picks. McDonagh was a pretty good pick even if I'd rather have Pacioretty or Subban for instance.
I almost hope we draft a goalie tonight, just for all the drama and the lulz it would create.
Haha I especially laugh at davey999 post:
"Terrible pick. Brule and O'Marra will be stars at the WJC and we will look back on this day as a big mistake.
I had a funny feeling when we got the 5th pick, that we would %&*k it up, and we did."
stats can change . Goalie win cups, I take Price over Kopitar and Halak any day of the week.
I can respect your claim that Price is better than Halak in the playoffs even though that hasn't been proven yet.
But to say the difference between Price and Halak is so great that a ppg center doesn't even matter? I have to conclude you're a raging Price homer, know nothing about Kopitar and hated Halak because that's the only way this makes sense.
Especially since your claim that goalies win cups is not true at all. And as proof I'll bring you Niemi, Gigučre, Osgood, Fleury who have won something like 5-6 of the last 15 cups and they clearly weren't the driving forces behind their team.
I could also name you TONS of great goalies who couldn't win cups because the teams they played for sucked (including possibly the greatest of all time in Hasek who couldn't win with Buffalo).
So I maintain that "Price > Halak+Kopitar for winning a cup" is a completely asinine claim.
EDIT:
I think I'd take Kopitar alone ahead of Price. A point per game center is pretty damn important to win a cup too. Arguably more so than a good goalie.
I can respect your claim that Price is better than Halak in the playoffs even though that hasn't been proven yet.
But to say the difference between Price and Halak is so great that a ppg center doesn't even matter? I have to conclude you're a raging Price homer, know nothing about Kopitar and hated Halak because that's the only way this makes sense.
Especially since your claim that goalies win cups is not true at all. And as proof I'll bring you Niemi, Gigučre, Osgood, Fleury who have won something like 5-6 of the last 15 cups and they clearly weren't the driving forces behind their team.
I could also name you TONS of great goalies who couldn't win cups because the teams they played for sucked (including possibly the greatest of all time in Hasek who couldn't win with Buffalo).
So I maintain that "Price > Halak+Kopitar for winning a cup" is a completely asinine claim.
EDIT:
I think I'd take Kopitar alone ahead of Price. A point per game center is pretty damn important to win a cup too. Arguably more so than a good goalie.
The thing is.. Price isnt a good goalie, he is a super goalie, already one of the best in the league in net.
No Eller, no captain Gionta and possibly no Cammalleri either...
This great misconception that Gomez was THE deal braker that made it possible to acquire Gionta and Cammy....So a guy like Gomez who had a terrible year was much more a dealbraker than a courageous captain who was just as capable of putting points on the board. A Koivu that was also known as a playoff performer would not have been able to made those acquisitions possible...Try overpaying BIG TIME for Gionta and an overpayment by Cammy, and you have your reasons.....When Lamoriello say to Gionta to jump on the Habs offer......you know it's a whole lot about the money.
