34 replies to this topic

[westcoastdevfan]

I think stick handling is an overrated ability in today's NHL.

stick handling is not overrated in any level of hockey.

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

It's not high risk in the 2nd and later rounds. 25% of 2nd rounders make the NHL, so you're free to gamble there. The thing about a 1st round pick is that there are high expectations for them. They're expected to be good players. But Sather went with hubris once again, trying to show that he still knows how to find diamonds in the rough. Maybe he'll be right. But Jessiman hasn't exactly handled being a first-round pick very well.

The Devils have clearly shown themselves willing to pick smaller players, the selections of Gomez and Gionta and Parise show that. They pick who they think is the best player, and sure they will go for some reaches, and sometimes they miss. Not every player you pick is going to make the NHL.

Puck handling abilities? Does that include passing? I think stick handling is an overrated ability in today's NHL.

I will do a strength thing just like Parise

Strength:
1.) Top end speed
2.) Agility like St Louis, think of a tennis ball type player
3.) Deceptive Moves
4.) Best stickhandler in draft
5.) Amazing vision
6.) Great passing
7.) Better PP quarterback then Parise
8.) Grit is alot less then Parise, but still there, played through injuries
9.) Leadership (captains Mooseheads at 18 being a euro)
10.) Decent PK'er, nowhere close to Parise

Weaknesses:
1.) Strength on puck (relies on speed rather then strength)
2.) Size
3.) Average shot

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

When you think of Petr Vrana think of Martin Straka with more defense. I have seen him in around the range of 20 times by now....maybe more.

[David Puddy]

Interesting stat: In the past 10 years, 46% of the players drafted in the 1st round have not played a single game in the NHL. Mind boggling.

Just for the hell of it, let's see how well the Devils have done. Graded with my scientific system... RED = stud; GREEN = journeyman; BLUE = loser; BLACK = still considered a prospect

1993 Denis Pederson
1994 Vadim Sharifijanov (around 90 NHL games total with the Devils and Canucks)
1995 Petr Sykora
1996 Lance Ward (went unsigned by the Devils, picked up by Florida in the 1998 draft)
1997 J-F Damphousse (6 NHL games)
1998 Mike van Ryn
1998 Scott Gomez
1999 Ari Ahonen
2000 David Hale (some will disagree... this is more of a "red and black" thing, though. he's already playing on an NHL level, and still has the potential to develop into a stud within the next few years)
2001 Adrian Foster
2002 N/A
2003 Zach Parise

Honestly, the Devils have had more first round busts than I expected, though from Scott Gomez on it's been solid. Foster is the only major question mark with his injury problems.

[SueNJ97]

One thing on Van Ryn, as much as I dislike him, he has finally had a really good year. He is doing well in Florida after all that mess in St. Louis. Now someone should look him in the eye and ask him whether he could have cut the process short by repressing his ego, going to the minors in the first place and really learning the game. But maybe he needed the butt-kicking of 2-3 years of abject failure to get it all together.

He's finally looking like the player people thought he could be. I'm not sure he's in the 'stud' category yet but I believe he's found a home in Florida and you can take the 'journeyman' tag off him.

Edited by SueNJ97, 31 March 2004 - 04:03 PM.

[Devildude]

The guy is 20 years old... you can not CAN NOT call Jessiman a bust yet....

Parise... that just proves that the Devils Scouts are awesome.. he is a head of the curve...

[URNOTe]

Its just not the devils scouts are awesome....


UND is the best college hockey team in the Nation

And of Course GOD came from here...

[Devils731]

Its just not the devils scouts are awesome....


UND is the best college hockey team in the Nation

And of Course GOD came from here...

So when will UND be celebrating their championship this year?

-Scott

[LizDevil30]

Its just not the devils scouts are awesome....


UND is the best college hockey team in the Nation

And of Course GOD came from here...

So when will UND be celebrating their championship this year?

-Scott

Ouch!

[Derek21]

This article by Brooks is an embarrassment to his profession. He's the same guy who talks about preaching patience with the newlook Ranger youth movement.

Now, he wants to bash the Rangers for taking a potential power forward (a more glaring need than a smallish playmaking center)? Brooks looks like a hypocrite here.

I'd rather have Jessiman because if he pans out, nobody will complain. Center was not the primary need last summer. The Rangers haven't had a power left wing in years. And that's what Jessiman's potential is.

He didn't have as great a year as his freshman one. But for Brooks to dismiss it as average when he still scored 17 goals and averaged a point-a-game is ridiculous. Everytime Brooks writes a good column, he screws up and makes himself look like an idiot.

Almost like he has two different personalities.

[Devildude]

This article by Brooks is an embarrassment to his profession. He's the same guy who talks about preaching patience with the newlook Ranger youth movement.

Now, he wants to bash the Rangers for taking a potential power forward (a more glaring need than a smallish playmaking center)? Brooks looks like a hypocrite here.

I'd rather have Jessiman because if he pans out, nobody will complain. Center was not the primary need last summer. The Rangers haven't had a power left wing in years. And that's what Jessiman's potential is.

He didn't have as great a year as his freshman one. But for Brooks to dismiss it as average when he still scored 17 goals and averaged a point-a-game is ridiculous. Everytime Brooks writes a good column, he screws up and makes himself look like an idiot.

Almost like he has two different personalities.

No... not a hypocrit... he is bipolar and the professional term is "wacked".. Ranger fans can now start to see just how damaged Brooks is...

[Rock]

Almost like he has two different personalities.

Perhaps he ghostwrites for (N)Єverson and was in the (N)Єverson mode when he wrote this.

[Derek21]

The problem with Larry is he sometimes thinks the Rangers can just turn this around in an instant. But that's not going to happen. His impatience shows in this article. He makes it sound like Parise will be great right away. I didn't know he could see the future. Maybe Parise will step in and be great and maybe he won't. You can't predict the future.

Jessiman is a project. But that's okay because of where the Rangers are. They're not competing for Cups every year like the Devils. They're rebuilding. I'm hoping Jessiman stays in school and builds on his career at Dartmouth and improves. It takes time.

[NJDevs4978]

This article by Brooks is an embarrassment to his profession. He's the same guy who talks about preaching patience with the newlook Ranger youth movement.

Now, he wants to bash the Rangers for taking a potential power forward (a more glaring need than a smallish playmaking center)? Brooks looks like a hypocrite here.

Well now you know what we go through with (N)Єverson...Brooks is starting to sound like the (N)Єverson of the Rangers, can't wait to look for the negative angle on anything

[SueNJ97]

This article by Brooks is an embarrassment to his profession. He's the same guy who talks about preaching patience with the newlook Ranger youth movement.

Now, he wants to bash the Rangers for taking a potential power forward (a more glaring need than a smallish playmaking center)? Brooks looks like a hypocrite here.

Well now you know what we go through with (N)Єverson...Brooks is starting to sound like the (N)Єverson of the Rangers, can't wait to look for the negative angle on anything

I'm not sure what that was. Maybe it was the "NEverson" in Brooks coming out.

Maybe he was just upset because the Devils signed their first round pick from last year and he couldn't write a positive article about the Rangers' first-rounder from last year (because right now, there isn't really anything positive to write about Jessiman...there was no reason to be negative about him, but Brooks couldn't write a glowing article about him, either).

So the Rangers just got waxed again, despite the fact that the team tried hard for the first 2 periods. The Devils trotted out their first-round draft-pick all signed, sealed and delivered, a kid who the Rangers seriously considered, if the TV specials MSG did on the Rangers' draft are to be believed at all. Brooks looks for a positive story about Jessiman, COMPARED TO PARISE and can't find one. Now what he SHOULD have done is a nice story on Balej or something. Not trashed Jessiman. But Brooks lost his objectivity and went for the cheap and easy shot on Sather, not thinking how unfair it was to the kid at the time. At least I hope he wasn't thinking.