Lehtonen trade is another blemish on Thrashers' draft history
Like Schultz or not...you can't deny the facts about where the Thrashers first round draft picks have gone. (excerpts below)
"When the Thrashers selected Patrik Stefan with their first pick in their first draft in 1999, general manager Don Waddell said: “This is a very big day for our franchise. We’ve made it no secret how we feel about Patrik and what kind of player he is.”
Three years later, when Waddell made Kari Lehtonen the first goalie the franchise drafted with a No. 1 pick, the Thrashers’ GM said: “Our scouts say that he is the best amateur goalie coming out for the draft
in the last 10 years. He can make the difference for our team for a lot
of years to come.”
Stefan was a bust and is now out of hockey. Lehtonen’s career has been a roller coaster and he is now in Dallas. No deep analysis necessary here.
When Lehtonen was traded Tuesday night to the Dallas Stars, it punctuated the franchise’s largely inglorious
draft history, primarily with their early selections. We know that the
lifeblood of any team — particularly an expansion club — is the draft.
Maybe that’s why we’re constantly checking for a pulse in Philips
Arena. This deal comes five days after the team’s best choice, Ilya Kovalchuk, was traded to New Jersey over money. It comes five years after another top pick, Dany Heatley, was traded in the aftermath of a tragic car crash.
Lehtonen has never reached the heights of Kovalchuk or Heatley. He hasn’t played this season and is coming off back surgery. His immense
talent has been smothered too often by injury or immaturity. He was
never a favorite of former coach Bob Hartley and was benched during the Thrashers’ lone playoff series.
How desperate was Waddell to dump him? He just traded a former first-round pick for a minor-league defenseman and a fourth-rounder.
Given what he got back in the deal, what was the rush? It would be just
his luck if Lehtonen ultimately turns into the goalie he envisioned.
The Thrashers’ drafts — compounded by poor player development — have been at the forefront of Atlanta’s problems. Consider: The Thrashers
have drafted 12 players in the first round since 1999. Of those, one is
out hockey, one is out of the NHL, four are elsewhere in the NHL, one
is at Michigan State and only five are on the current roster:
defenseman Zach Bogosian (the absolute star of the group); forwards Bryan Little, Evander Kane and Jim Slater, and defenseman Boris Valabik (on injured reserve).
Counting only the first two players drafted by the team every season — generally very early selections — Waddell has drafted 12 players in
the first round since 1999, six in the second and two each in the third
or fourth. Of the 12 first-round picks, six were among the first four
selections. Four of those six are gone: Stefan, Heatley, Kovalchuk,
Lehtonen. Only Bogosian and Kane remain...."
Read the rest of the article...he does a detailed breakdsown of draft picks.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Menace on -
Take a look at Red Light's posting on Rawhide's blog. Extremely few (Nash) Lottery picks remain with their initial team. It's very interesting. Not a validation of Waddell, but, Schultz needs to do some research.
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Permalink Reply by Thrashfan01 on -
Here is a question, besides Kovy which are impact players.....Bogosian and Kane with Little being a factor player. Those are the recent picks, going forward the important picks. No question DW made mistakes in the first 4 seasons, except for Kovy and Heatley but over the last two years where is the mistake?????
Good god we lived through the history of this team, over the last two seasons this organization has made huge strides in building something long term but of course all Schultz is can do is point out what in pro sports is damn near ancient history. It is cheap, requires no thought.
Look at the pipeline, that is what it is becoming, there is as much young talent in the first two seasons of careers or still in the NCAA or major junior as any team in the NHL.
If Schultz was writing about the Blackhawks or Caps he would be lamenting the lost years not the on ice product.
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Permalink Reply by TwistedWrister82 on -
Even with Kari had he not been fragile/taken care of himself better, we'd be a playoff contender every year. His talent is limitless and he learned how to become a hard worker from Moose, just sucks that he's fragile.
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Permalink Reply by Dj Nowhere on -
Hindsight sure is convinient when you're writing an article, too bad it's not available when drafting. If someone could have told them Kari would be Mr. Glass and Stefan would never develop, I'm pretty sure DW would have passedon them. At the time, EVERYONE had Stefan as the number 1 pick and EVERYONE had Kari at 2. Dw's competency would have been questioned if he hadn't taken those played. If you want to say wow, what horrible luck, go ahead, but I don't think anyone can rightfully blame DW for it.
TwistedWrister82 said:Even with Kari had he not been fragile/taken care of himself better, we'd be a playoff contender every year. His talent is limitless and he learned how to become a hard worker from Moose, just sucks that he's fragile.
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Permalink Reply by Dj Nowhere on
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Hindsight sure is convinient when you're writing an article, too bad it's not available when drafting. If someone could have told them Kari would be Mr. Glass and Stefan would never develop, I'm pretty sure DW would have passedon them. At the time, EVERYONE had Stefan as the number 1 pick and EVERYONE had Kari at 2. Dw's competency would have been questioned if he hadn't taken those played. If you want to say wow, what horrible luck, go ahead, but I don't think anyone can rightfully blame DW for it.
TwistedWrister82 said:Even with Kari had he not been fragile/taken care of himself better, we'd be a playoff contender every year. His talent is limitless and he learned how to become a hard worker from Moose, just sucks that he's fragile.
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Permalink Reply by sisu1969 on -
Well, it is frustrating to see that the high picks are no longer with the team. One thing is sure, the team will look drastically different in the near future
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Permalink Reply by heyoh on -
Well said Chris! So well said it deserved to be posted twice... :)
Dj Nowhere said:Hindsight sure is convinient when you're writing an article, too bad it's not available when drafting. If someone could have told them Kari would be Mr. Glass and Stefan would never develop, I'm pretty sure DW would have passedon them. At the time, EVERYONE had Stefan as the number 1 pick and EVERYONE had Kari at 2. Dw's competency would have been questioned if he hadn't taken those played. If you want to say wow, what horrible luck, go ahead, but I don't think anyone can rightfully blame DW for it.
TwistedWrister82 said:Even with Kari had he not been fragile/taken care of himself better, we'd be a playoff contender every year. His talent is limitless and he learned how to become a hard worker from Moose, just sucks that he's fragile.
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Permalink Reply by Dj Nowhere on
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Well thank you. It just irritates me that Schultz is going to sit there and act like in 1999 he was going, " don't draft Stefan cause you can see scouting him that he's going to be a bust."
heyoh said:Well said Chris! So well said it deserved to be posted twice... :) Dj Nowhere said:Hindsight sure is convinient when you're writing an article, too bad it's not available when drafting. If someone could have told them Kari would be Mr. Glass and Stefan would never develop, I'm pretty sure DW would have passedon them. At the time, EVERYONE had Stefan as the number 1 pick and EVERYONE had Kari at 2. Dw's competency would have been questioned if he hadn't taken those played. If you want to say wow, what horrible luck, go ahead, but I don't think anyone can rightfully blame DW for it.
TwistedWrister82 said:Even with Kari had he not been fragile/taken care of himself better, we'd be a playoff contender every year. His talent is limitless and he learned how to become a hard worker from Moose, just sucks that he's fragile.
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Permalink Reply by Billsen on -
Frustrating would be keeping someone who doesn't perform up to expectations. He had plenty of chances, but he simply wasn't worth taking another chance on - especially if that meant we'd have to move Moose or Pavs who have done what we've asked of them.
Sentimentality doesn't win hockey games.
sisu1969 said:Well, it is frustrating to see that the high picks are no longer with the team. One thing is sure, the team will look drastically different in the near future
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