EHM The Blue Line

Who do you think is the biggest steal at the 2006 Entry Draft?



I'm going to have to say Nigel Williams. He was projected 12th at one time but dropped all the way to the Avalanche in the second round. They are going to be happy with the kid. I thought for sure he would be taken in the mid first round.

The Blackhawks 6th round pick (Juutilanien, can't remember his first name) may be a steal as well.

Is anybody else surprised Sanguenetti fell so far?


What do you guys think?



A couple of funny things from the draft as well:

1) Ovechkin making the picks for Washington
2) Ovechkin and Backstrom's interview in their broken English
3) Gary Bettman's expression after he announced the first trade
4) John Ferguson Jr. getting booed the whole time he was making the pick for Toronto
5) Bobby Clarke forgetting Girioux's name when he was announcing the pick

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette is saying the Penguins got a steal with D Brian Strait(No. 22 in North America) in the Third round. I'm not sure I know anything other then what they said about him(and you know you can't always trust the home town media). He was team captain of US Dev. Team and is heading to Boston U. Any Thoughts?

Yeah, Pittsburgh had an excellent draft this year.

With the young players they have, they are going to be a juggernaut for the next 5-6 years.

The only problem is keeping them signed

Yeah, Strait was definitely a steal by the Pens. I was hoping the Wings could get him in the second, but as usual, they went with someone else...

What about Frolik at #10? He was once projected as the #1 euro prospect.

Kessel really took a beating due to poor performance at the combines and he's also been tagged as a bit of an attitude problem so his stock really dropped by draft day and because of that he could be one of those guys that you look back on and say "Look at how many teams passed on this guys due to various questions and would probably like that choice to make over again...". Or they could be proven right too

The tighter deadlines for signing euro-based talent has had a big effect on when teams will draft a player; they now have to get them signed within two years after the draft if I'm not mistaken so a guy really needs be in your immediate plans if you're going to draft him especially highly.

Found a great draft recap/grading arcticle today:

http://www.forecaster.ca/hockeynews/hoc ... aft-grades

Yeah, i love The Hockey News Site. they always have good stories.

I remember looking for a 'grade the draft' type article and not finding one so I was happy to find one with this much detail to it. Not surprisig that it's from THN; I was happy to see that their website is now more than just an advertisement/teasers for getting a subscription too.

Gonna be fun to see if Kessels booms or busts, certainly seems to be the biggest x-factor in the draft, he signed for boston already I think.
But ofc cant judge a player at the age of 18 in the nhl, just remember Big Joe .