I am basing this purely on statistical analysis, projection, potential and scouting reports as well. The fact that he does have a lot of scoring potential and led his team in goals and points as a "FRESHMAN", suffice to say that is where I draw my conclusions. I am a big minor league baseball fan as well and I have many books on projecting and statistical analysis. It's not an exact and definitive science, but it lends a helpful solution to the conclusions to be drawn. Another player I feel fits this formula is Marcus Jonasen. But, thats another conversation starter.
If Darin Olver had gone to the University of Michigan like his father prefered,Olver would not have looked at with such distain on draft day.John Olver played for the University of Michigan in the 1970's.The older Olver is best friends with Northern Michigan head coach Walt Kyle.The younger Olver looked at Kyle as like an uncle.Olver tore up the BCHL at Chilliwack in 2002-03 and he was a highly recruited player by many college programs including Michigan.He close Northern Michigan because the family relationship with Kyle.If Olver had gone to Michigan,he would compared to Mike Comrie,Mike Cammalieri or another Chilliwack product Jeff Tambellini and perception of Olver would be much different.
considering he's years away from making an impact in the majors, i'm not really worried about his size. he's got plenty of time to get stronger. if like in 3 or 4 years he's still listed at 165, then i'll be worried. if he can play good at that weight, then i'm sure he can only play better when he fills his body out (i think he's like 6' isn't he?)
but i sure hope he's one of those diamonds...it'd be nice, we need some "surprises" in our drafting just like every team
The system that Renney and McGill are trying to establish for the Rangers depends on centers that have speed, vision, and playmaking skills. Olver has those in spades.
He lead his team in scoring while playing through injuries as a freshman (and he's a true freshman, not one who spent his draft year in the USHL). And if NMU had better finishers to put on his line, he would have scored even more.
Here is an interesting article about the Rangers' draft.
Maloney sez: Darin Olver (second round, 36th overall), a centerman from Northern Michigan, Walt Kyle coached, and we know Walt very well obviously," says Maloney. "He's (Olver) a really quick, playmaking center. He has to get bigger, but he's very, very intelligent, very quick.
"When we were sitting there at (picks) 36 and 37 there were two defensemen that we really liked that went at 34 and 35, right before our picks. Again, it's the luck of the draft. That's the way it goes. Had we gotten one of those two defensemen we would have just been overjoyed. But it wasn't there, and consequently we did not draft many defensemen at all in this draft.
The defensmen taken at 34 and 35 were Johan Fransson and Logan Stephenson
considering he's years away from making an impact in the majors, i'm not really worried about his size. he's got plenty of time to get stronger. if like in 3 or 4 years he's still listed at 165, then i'll be worried. if he can play good at that weight, then i'm sure he can only play better when he fills his body out (i think he's like 6' isn't he?)
but i sure hope he's one of those diamonds...it'd be nice, we need some "surprises" in our drafting just like every team
well really the biggest reason why he is a few years away is his size so the 2 kind of go hand in hand...
with some guys that are undersized, if they add 20-25lbs they'd be a decent sized...olver needs to add 20-25lbs just to be considered undersized.
I think if he gets to about 190 he will be in good shape.
The biggest thing that kids at this size have to learn is when to avoid getting crushed. That's what helps make the guys like Savard and other undersized centers effective. You need to be shifty. I think Olver could do that, but i don't think people realize that if only a few little things worked differently this kid easily could have been a first round pick.
1 thing in olver's favor is the fact that he is 6'0...its easier to add lbs than inches. the weight would be a far bigger problem if he was 5'9 cause then his frame might not allow for the extra weight
ehh i don't know a ton about olver and haven't seen him play, etc...but i'd still be extremely surprised if his size was the only thing holding him back from playing in the NHL right now...that kind of seemed to be what you were implying, but maybe i'm taking that too far.
for sure he has to get bigger, but even if he was 6'0 180 (kind of standard size i guess) i would err on the side of caution and give him a few years to round out his game, unless he REALLY blew us all away and definatly earned a spot...but that doesn't seem likely
he'll probably bump up his weight some over the next year, by the time he's ready to make an impact in the rangers org (either in hartford or at the NHL level) i'd wager he'll have put on enough weight to make himself competative
and like was mentioned...it's not so much that olver's entire frame is small...he's just on the light side in lbs right now
he's 6', which means he could fill out to be an average sized NHL player. 6' 190-200 lbs is pretty solid IMO, you get much bigger than that when you're that height and you better hope you just have the body type for it or you're gonna be too bulky
"I'm obviously not the biggest guy, so to get away from them, I use my speed, cutbacks," Olver said. "Just a lot of the stuff Walt's given me. I can't stress how great a program it is and how much he's helping me.
"I think it's gonna be a few years. I'm 175 pounds right now, so I've got a lot of work to do before I can think about playing there [in New York]."
considered picking up defensemen earlier in the draft, but chose the BPA approach.
i don't think that they changed to the BPA approach after those dmen were gone, but rather that those dmen would have been viewed as the BPA if they weren't taken
