The Undrafted Flying Frenchmen
Ok I promised no more hockey blogs since the habs are out of it. However, the Don Cherry rant on Saturday got me to thinking of the habs draft preferences during the years and what we missed out on. Cherry railed against Brian Burke on Saturday for not having one player born in Ontario on the Leafs roster. So have the Habs management done better? We got David Desharnais, Mathieu Darche, and Louis Leblanc on the team and...well Rene Bourque sounds french and Blake Geoffrion has French roots.
The issue for me has always been when selecting a player or a coach or a manager, the most talented should be drafted or chosen. The issue here is not only did we not draft the most talented but the most talented in most cases was a Quebec or francophone player.
Some history to make my point. As already mentioned in another blog in 1977 we drafted Mark Napier in 10th spot overall. Who was drafted 15th overall none other than Mike Bossy probably the greatest sniper of all time in the NHL. Bossy was a Laval boy, who averaged over 70 goals a year in junior hockey. Napier did have a 66 goal year in the OHL but still did he merit being chosen over Bossy? Sam Pollock blew this one. In 1980 the habs chose Doug Wickenheiser first overall. Meanwhile Denis Savard went third overall. To be fair, Wickenheiser in his last junior year had 89 goals and 170 points. However, Savard had 181 points and averaged much higher point totals over his junior career. Can you imagine a Habs line in the 80's of Savard at center and Bossy on the right?
Some other notables not chosen by the Habs were Luc Robitaille who was chosen in the ninth round in 1984 even though he had scored 64 goals in his last junior year. Who can forget the Habs chose Eric Chouinard before Simon Gagne. This was a case of bad scouting because each player had scored 50 in their last year of junior on the same team the Quebec Remparts. In 1996 the Habs chose Matt Higgins with the 18th choice overall. Meanwhile going 24th overall to Phoenix was Daniel Briere. Let's see Briere got 67 goals in 67 games in his draft eligibility year while Higgins got 30 goals.
The one that really hurts in the most recent past is the 2006 draft where the habs drafted David Fischer 20th overall. The Flyers chose Claude Giroux 22nd overall. What did Giroux do in junior? He had 39 goals and over 100 points the year he was drafted. Fischer, you ask, well he had 5 assists playing American college hockey. Giroux is technically from Ontario but still he played junior hockey in Quebec. Let's not forget Martin St. Louis who was undrafted and played college hockey in Vermont.
Sometimes we cannot get the supreme Flying Frenchman like a Mario Lemieux or a Vinny Lecavalier. However, when we got a choice to make between players of seemingly equal talent we should side for the homegrown talent. I am not even discussing the homegrown talent we drafted and traded away such as Patrick Roy, Claude Lemieux, Stephane Richer, Sergio Momesso, etc and in the recent past Mike Ribeiro, Guillaume Latendresse, and Maxim Lapierre. Homegrown talent is nurtured on habs history and a winning legacy.
The issue for me has always been when selecting a player or a coach or a manager, the most talented should be drafted or chosen. The issue here is not only did we not draft the most talented but the most talented in most cases was a Quebec or francophone player.
Some history to make my point. As already mentioned in another blog in 1977 we drafted Mark Napier in 10th spot overall. Who was drafted 15th overall none other than Mike Bossy probably the greatest sniper of all time in the NHL. Bossy was a Laval boy, who averaged over 70 goals a year in junior hockey. Napier did have a 66 goal year in the OHL but still did he merit being chosen over Bossy? Sam Pollock blew this one. In 1980 the habs chose Doug Wickenheiser first overall. Meanwhile Denis Savard went third overall. To be fair, Wickenheiser in his last junior year had 89 goals and 170 points. However, Savard had 181 points and averaged much higher point totals over his junior career. Can you imagine a Habs line in the 80's of Savard at center and Bossy on the right?
Some other notables not chosen by the Habs were Luc Robitaille who was chosen in the ninth round in 1984 even though he had scored 64 goals in his last junior year. Who can forget the Habs chose Eric Chouinard before Simon Gagne. This was a case of bad scouting because each player had scored 50 in their last year of junior on the same team the Quebec Remparts. In 1996 the Habs chose Matt Higgins with the 18th choice overall. Meanwhile going 24th overall to Phoenix was Daniel Briere. Let's see Briere got 67 goals in 67 games in his draft eligibility year while Higgins got 30 goals.
The one that really hurts in the most recent past is the 2006 draft where the habs drafted David Fischer 20th overall. The Flyers chose Claude Giroux 22nd overall. What did Giroux do in junior? He had 39 goals and over 100 points the year he was drafted. Fischer, you ask, well he had 5 assists playing American college hockey. Giroux is technically from Ontario but still he played junior hockey in Quebec. Let's not forget Martin St. Louis who was undrafted and played college hockey in Vermont.
Sometimes we cannot get the supreme Flying Frenchman like a Mario Lemieux or a Vinny Lecavalier. However, when we got a choice to make between players of seemingly equal talent we should side for the homegrown talent. I am not even discussing the homegrown talent we drafted and traded away such as Patrick Roy, Claude Lemieux, Stephane Richer, Sergio Momesso, etc and in the recent past Mike Ribeiro, Guillaume Latendresse, and Maxim Lapierre. Homegrown talent is nurtured on habs history and a winning legacy.
Comments
Post a Comment