WaukeeBlues wrote:Forgot Scottie Upshall was a 6th overall pick. Dang. Nashville sure didn't get the mileage out of that one that they were expecting.
Had to go back and look at it-the 1st round of the 2002 draft was not a very good one. Nash, Lehtonen, Bouwmeester, OK...then Pitkanen & Ryan Whitney? Steen at #24 probably turns out as the fourth best player and third best non-goalie in the round. Semin went at #13, Hannu Toivonen (
) at #29. The second round was better, with the best player-Duncan Keith (just vomited in my mouth a little bit) going at #54 and Stoll, Boychuk, Trevor Daley and Jiri Hudler all in that round. Not the worst year for the Blues to lack a first-rounder...but then they took Shkotov and Troliga with their first two picks. Again,
Hitchcock wrote:The way he played last year, he played so well. He looked like he was five years ago
I watched a good deal of Devils hockey last season and while Gomez was more effective than he has been in years, this is objectively not true. His legs are gone and he just doesn't play in his own end at all. And again, in today's NHL you can't carry a guy just for PP.
Very disappointed by Hitch's comments.
evil roy wrote:I sure hope you're right, but I'm starting to get a very Keenan-y feel about Hitchcock all of a sudden.
Yeah, me too. As I keep saying though: he and Armstrong really remind me of Fisher & Snead with the Rams. Keenan was arrogant about insisting on his inane approach but at least when he came here he had won a cup the year before, not fifteen years ago-or never, as in the case of Fisher & Snead.
cprice12 wrote:Gomez did put up decent numbers last year (more points than Berglund in 20 fewer games).
Gomez will only approach those numbers if he plays liberally on the PP and is relieved of virtually all defensive responsibility.