Where Are They Now? Ray Shero Draft Pick Addition

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Based on a Cblog discussion with Rad and THE!66thDF I wanted to see how the Pens first round draft picks panned out.  Right up front, it’s clear that outside of the top 5 or so players in each draft there is no guarantee that a player will turn into a productive NHLer.

The primary metric involves games played and points scored.  That’s why we draft players, it’s apparently not why the Oilers draft players, but that’s a different article.  We want to get players who will soak up minutes and contribute, offensively or defensively, to the teams success.  I didn’t dig too deeply into playoff stats because for most of these players it didn’t ever come to that.

On one hand the draft is an opportunity to get cheap talent in a salary cap regime.  It’s difficult to have sustained success without finding some bargain players, and the draft is the primary means teams use to fulfill that end. Don’t believe me?  Just sign every player to a 6 year 5 million AAV deal and ask Columbus.

On the other hand, the draft is little bit of luck.  And there is no guarantee that a player drafted high will be a good choice as compared to those below him, looking at you Nail. Continue reading

The Elephant in the Room: The Goaltending Situation

In case you have been living under a rock, the NHL will be expanding to Las Vegas next season.  As with previous expansions, a draft will be held and present NHL teams will be forced to expose a certain group of players per these rules.  One way or another, every team will protect at least one of their goaltenders, and players with limited/no-movement clauses are required to be protected.  Long story short, if things stay the way they are now, the Pittsburgh Penguins have to protect veteran Marc-Andre Fleury, leaving up-and-comer Matt Murray to be possibly snatched up by the new Las Vegas franchise.  Judging by the totally-cool-but-incredibly-tedious CapFriendly.com Expansion Draft Tool, the Penguins are not alone in having a challenging goaltending decision to make before the draft.  However, Matt Murray is the only goaltender around who is 22 years old and has already backstopped his team to a Stanley Cup championship, putting the Penguins in the position of having two Cup-winning goaltenders to deal with. Continue reading