Isles Draft History - Self Torture
About a week ago I promised a tortuous look at some recent Isles draft history if things continued to remain slow on player movement in the NHL. Well the Isles have still done nothing since signing Guerin & Comrie, so here we go...
Now I know it isn't exactly fair to look back and see who a team could have drafted amd compare him to who a team actually drafted. These drafting blunders are easy to spot in retrospect, but many times how a player develops depends on intangibles unknown on draft day. Either way it seems the Isles have always been on the sour end of these drafting blunders. Over the past 20 years, the Isles draft history gives Isles fans nightmares, especially since the Isles had drafted and developed superstars and hall of famers in the 1970's and early 1980's.
Just for fun, and a slight hint of masochism, I will take a look at the Isles draft history beginning 20 years ago in 1987 for the subsequent 15 years.
1987-1989: The Era of the "Ch's"
In 1987 the Isles drafted Dean Chynoweth with the 13th overall pick. Hardly a great choice, as Chynoweth turned out to be a no name, while 2 picks later Quebec drafted Joe Sakic. Other notables who were later taken were Mathieu Schneider and Theo Fleury.
In 1988 the Isles drafted Kevin Cheveldayoff with the 16th overall selection. Yep I know you never heard of him either. Players taken after Kevin were defenseman Rob Blake, and 2 future 1,000 point scorers in Mark Recchi and Alex Mogilny.
In 1989 the Isles drafted the 3rd consecutive "Ch" - Dave Chyzowski. Dave was taken with the 2nd overall pick. Notable players taken later that day were perennial Norris winner Niklas Lidstrom, Russian superstars Sergei Federov and Pavel Bure, and current Isles captain Bill Guerin.
1990-1991: The Infamous Scotts
In 1990 the Isles drafted Scott Scissions with the 6th overall pick, one pick after the Penguins selected Jaromir Jagr. Players taken after Scissions include Derian Hatcher, Keith Tkachuck, Doug Weight, Sergei Zubov, Petr Bondra. And, oh, the best goalie in NHL history - Martin Brodeur.
In 1990 the Isles drafted Scott Lachance. That came one pick after Scott Niedermayer was selected. The Isles passed up on both Peter Forsberg and Alex Kovalev when they chose Lachance.
1992-1993: Good Choices - Horrible Trades
In 1992 the Isles chose hard hitter Darius Kasparaitis. This happened to be a great pick at the time within the given draft pool. However, Kaspar was shipped to the Penguins in a horrible trade for Bryan Smolinki a few years later.
In 1993 the Isles chose Todd Bertuzzi. Again, he was the best player available at that time. Later that draft, the Isles drafted Bryan McCabe. However, both players were shipped together to the Canucks for Trevor Linden, who played about a year with the Isles.
1994: Bad Luck
In 1994 the Isles drafted Brett Lindros. Lindros might have developed into a better player than his older brother Eric. However, concussions shortened Brett's career to 50 games and 7 points.
1995-1997: Great Picks (at that time)
In 1995 the Isles took Wade Redden who was later traded to Ottawa for Bryan Berard. Berard won the Calder Trophy as a member of the Isles but was later shipped to Toronto. One notable player taken later that year was Calgary all-star Jarome Iginla.
In 1996 the Isles took J.P. Dumont. In a weak draft pool he was the best choice at that time. However, J.P. never played for the Isles and was later shipped to Chicago for no-name Dimitri Nabakov.
In 1997 the Isles took Roberto Luongo and Eric Brewer with the 4th and 5th overall picks. These were fine picks by the Isles. However the Isles gave up on both players before they could develop into the all-stars they are today. One notable later selection was top scorer Marian Hossa.
1998: A Stanley Cup Clincher
In 1998 the Isles took Michael Rupp. The name might sound familiar. Rupp never played for the Isles, but he did score the game winning goal in game 7 of the 2003 Stanley Cup finals for the Devils. Players the Isles passed up on when they selected Rupp include Simon Gagne, Scott Gomez, and Brad Richards.
1999: More Bad Luck
In 1999 the Isles took Tim Connolly. This was a fine selection at the time. However concussion problems had tremendously slowed the development of Connolly. He had some good seasons with the Isles and was later sent to Buffalo with Taylor Pyatt for Michael Peca
2000-2001: The Disaster Years - the years that could have led to a dynasty on Long Island, but instead led to another decade of frustration.
In 2000 the Isles selected Rick DiPietro. Rick is the Isles' current best player, but he was hardly the best player available in 2000. Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik were both selected consecutively after the Isles selected DP with the 1st overall pick. Worse, the Isles felt the need to part ways with one of the best goalies of this generation in Roberto Luongo. The Isles could have had both Heatley and Luongo. Instead they just have DiPietro.
In 2001 the Isles traded away the 2nd overall pick (Jason Spezza) for the rights to Alexei Yashin. This deal needs no further comentary. So while Heatley and Spezza dominate together for the Senators and while Luongo carries the Canucks on his back, all the Isles have to show is DP's 15 year deal. DP is a great goalie, but he is not in Luongo's league. Think about that: Luongo + Heatley + Spezza. Or DiPietro. Sorry can't type anymore, I just puked on my keyboard.
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8 comments:
While I agree with most of your post, "the disaster years' are not as bad as they seem. The one problem I have with the 2000 draft, is that I believed MM pulled the trigger to fast to trade Luongo. I also believe that Ricky could have been selected at 5 overall so we would have ended up with Heatley/Gaborik (who while having an impressive rookie/soph years has been way to injury prone over the last few seasons) and Rick. Since Rick didn't really have his first full season in the NHL until last year, we could have held on to Roberto and waited for the right trade instead of trading him for the bag of pucks that is Oleg Kvasha. The trade which sent 2nd pick, Chara, and the infamous Bill Muckalt for Yashin was the right move at the time. As a franchise we were looking to put ourselves back into becoming a name again, which ment trading for a star name, which back in 2001 was Yashin. Even though Spezza was nearly a sure lock to become a great NHL player, we as a franchise were not in the position at the time to undertake such a develop.
It may seem that we have blown alot of drafts but lets also not forget the few hidden gems we have been able to draft also. I'll write about them later today.
Who else did we give up in that Luongo deal? Wasnt it jokkinen and Luongo for Mark Parrish and Kavasha?
Yes you're correct. 2 all-stars for garbage. Parrish was serviceable as an Islander at least for a few seasons. One of the worst trades in modern sports history.
wow im getting pissed off all over again---- i live down here in south florida, and i can remember going to panthers games, and the crowd would yell "hit him with your purse kavasha"........Parrish was the kind of guy you wanted to root for---however after laviolette left, he was done for. I remember the year they lost to the laffs in the playoffs he had a good year--- 30 plus goals i believe?
Yep and that was his best and only quality years in an Isles uniform.
"In 1994 the Isles drafted Brett Lindros. Lindros might have developed into a better player than his older brother Eric. However, concussions shortened Brett's career to 50 games and 7 points."
Um, no, he was never going to be what Eric Lindros was, ever.
That's why the word "might" was included in the above referenced sentence.
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