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 wanted Brule. Was really keen on him from a couple years before the draft, and salivating with the thought we might get him.
Also really like Bobby Ryan in that draft, and really disliked Pouliot from my OHL experiences watching the two. There are probably dozens of posts I made here lamenting the Price pick, I really thought it was dumb to pick a goalie that high, especially when others like Rask and Pavelec would have been available further back.
Cool for us how it all turned out, however. Pouliot getting picked #4 perhaps saved us there, then Brule quasi-busting took that heat off. And of course now, finally, Price is 1 year into his ascension to deity status. So a belated
I hated the pick at the time, but it had more to do with there being high profile names still available. Plus the fact that we had Jose Theodore, it didn't seem to address any of our needs. Well, give credit where credit is due..I guess Timmins and Gainey knew something was up with the goalie situation, and sure enough they reduced the size of the goalie equipment. They knew that since Theo was a small guy, he might have issues with the reduced pad sizes. At the time like most of us, I wanted Brule but would have been happy with Kopitar too (i was a little uneasy about Kopitar since he was coming from a non traditional hockey market). In the end, they made the right choice.
Now the question becomes, would you take Kopitar or Price if you had the chance to do it all over again?
Gimme a break. Pierre McGuire GM of the Habs? I'll quit the Habs.
Just the fact he didn't have the vision to at least recognize that Price could as much turn out a franchise player than Staal and Kopitar (and even more than they are actually), says a lot about his lack of credibility for the actual professional job of GM.
McGuire is the opposite of how Habs GMs usually are.
I wanted Brule. Was really keen on him from a couple years before the draft, and salivating with the thought we might get him.
Also really like Bobby Ryan in that draft, and really disliked Pouliot from my OHL experiences watching the two. There are probably dozens of posts I made here lamenting the Price pick, I really thought it was dumb to pick a goalie that high, especially when others like Rask and Pavelec would have been available further back.
Cool for us how it all turned out, however. Pouliot getting picked #4 perhaps saved us there, then Brule quasi-busting took that heat off. And of course now, finally, Price is 1 year into his ascension to deity status. So a belated
Not a bust? Did I miss his coming out party? With that being said, I definitely thought Brule would be the end all be all. I know nothing about scouting (let's not kid ourselves!) but the reviews he got were phenomenal. Plus that performance in the memorial cup was something to be remembered. To me, he will always be a bust. 15-15-30 isn't what I envisioned for him.
On Price, I would make that pick again and again. He's got a chance for greatness so it's all positive from here on end.
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):
Gimme a break. Pierre McGuire GM of the Habs? I'll quit the Habs.
Just the fact he didn't have the vision to at least recognize that Price could as much turn out a franchise player than Staal and Kopitar (and even more than they are actually), says a lot about his lack of credibility for the actual professional job of GM.
McGuire is the opposite of how Habs GMs usually are.
Wrong thread Ozy, at least it wasn't your dating profile that you posted this time. That was an awkward half hour
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.
impossible to really know how things turn out once you change things, but presumably if Kopitar developped even remotely as well as he did in LA, we would not have needed to trade for Gomez a few years later (not that we "needed" to trade for him anyways, but...)
I am thrilled we took Price, as I too wanted Brule (yikes!). Although I can imagine the team would be very different today if we drafted Kopitar instead. It would have eliminated the need for a center, so maybe we wouldn't have gone with Gomez/Gionta/Cammalleri in the first place...
I was so happy when Minny took Pouliot, I looked over at my buddy and said something like "The habs are happy to select Gilbert Brule" I thought it was stupid to draft Price, especially that high. Looking back on it, I guess there's a reason I'm not on the Habs payroll.
After seeing how everything unfolded I'd take Price over anyone in that draft available to us, Kopitar would be interesting, but franchise goalies don't grow on trees. On a side note I did draft Kopitar with my first pick that year (keeper league) and he continues to payoff.
I almost hope we draft a goalie tonight, just for all the drama and the lulz it would create.
Thanks for the link. I read it from time to time so I can remember that we basically know **** about running a franchise. Anytime a move is contested, I just think back to that day and it helps with the perceived bad move to be accepted smoothly.
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.
