Entries with the tag: nhl+entry+draft

Sometimes, I Can’t Help But Like the Bolts

by Alanah McGinley on 08/04/08 at 03:45 PM
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There are times in the last few months when I (and many others, I’m sure) suspected the Tampa Bay Lightning organization had nearly re-defined the word “crazy”—even by NHL standards.  And then there have been moments when they’ve seized my attention in more positive ways, marketing their team with such a bang this summer as they have. 

But it’s the story of David Carle that I like most of all—a situation that hints they might be both a little crazy and a pretty classy organization. 

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A New Set of Twins & The Surrey Sizzle

by Alanah McGinley on 06/22/08 at 12:10 PM
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The New Twins:

Jeff Paterson, the Canucks Insider, wrote an adoring essay on the Canucks first two draft picks, Cody Hodgson and Yann Sauvé. They also happen to share the same birthday: February 18th, 1990.*

Random trivia on Paterson’s new boys: Hodgson likes to think of himself as Sidney Crosby, has spent most of the last 5 years playing for a coach named “Titanic”, and has a thing for Madonna; And as to why Sauvé was picked, I’m guessing the fact that his favorite book is “Moneyball” probably didn’t hurt.  (Mike Gillis is also a big fan, and geez… how many 18 year old jocks read books on statistical models and sports team management?)

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Media Matters

by Alanah McGinley on 06/21/08 at 02:21 PM
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The coverage of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft has featured a small nightmare for those media members covering it for newspapers and the internet.  And that would be most of them. 

With the exception of the Movie People*—who are no doubt thrilled to have zero problems getting uninterrupted shots of Sara Orlesky on the air—everything else broadcasting out of Ottawa’s Scotiabank Place has run into the brick wall of the building’s badass, non-existent wifi signal.

Hockey coverage in 1998 must have sucked, because this has been a massive pain in the a$$.

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Judgement Day… Draft Day… Same Thing in Vancouver

by Alanah McGinley on 06/16/08 at 10:42 PM
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An FYI from Mike Gillis: Roberto Luongo won’t be traded this Friday. (Did anyone seriously think he would be??)

Anyway, a very good article from Iain MacIntyre at the Vancouver Sun, on the goings-on preparing for Draft day:

Gillis said he has been fielding offers for the 10th over-all pick, and expects many more will arrive before the first round Friday night. The final six rounds are Saturday. Gillis holds five picks, none in the third or fourth rounds due to deals the Canucks made in 2007 and 2005.

This is Gillis’s first draft. This will be the first of many judgement days on his leadership.

Indeed. Read the whole thing here (or listen to the audio of MacIntyre’s interview with Gillis).

The Imaginary Draft Pick

by Alanah McGinley on 06/16/08 at 09:06 PM
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I often worry I should start a blog subject-category entitled “Things Everyone Else Probably Knows Yet Alanah Never Heard Of.” Case in point…

Today, perusing Sabretooth House (and enjoying Anne’s entertaining indictment of Alexander Daigle and the blunders of the Ottawa Senators on draft day 1993) I came across this tidbit from Sabres’ draft history 1974: the drafting of Japanese superstar, Taro Tsujimoto.

Who?

On the off-chance that I’m not the only person who somehow missed out on this awesome bit of hockey history, here’s the story: 

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WWHAD?

by Alanah McGinley on 06/16/08 at 03:04 PM
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The other day we had a discussion around here about the possibility of the Vancouver Canucks ditching their #10 draft pick in favor of picking up an established offensive player.

Today, Jeff Sargeant at BC Sports Beat has something to say on the topic:

Now managing a club that has one of the worst draft histories in the league, Gillis has options many of his 29 adversaries could dream of.  The team has a large amount of salary cap dollars to play with since the likes of Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison, Aaron Miller, and Brad Isbister are set to become unrestricted free agents July 1st.

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An Interview with Gare Joyce

by Alanah McGinley on 11/26/07 at 12:28 PM
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Gare Joyce’s new book Future Greats and Heartbreaks* is an education in the workings of the NHL draft and hockey scouting itself.  It was a riveting read that also had me comparing his observations to old draft guides, and looking up the current stats of the many players he met at an earlier time in their development. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

After reading the book, I had a chance to ask Joyce a few questions about his experiences.  That interview is below, as well as a few more details about the book.

About the author:

Gare Joyce is a writer on the masthead of ESPN The Magazine. He is also a regular contributor to Christian Science Monitor, Canadian Geographic, Maclean’s, and The Walrus. Joyce has won three National Magazine Awards and is the author of three previous books, Sidney Crosby: Taking the Game by Storm, The Only Ticket Off the Island: Baseball in the Dominican Republic and When the Lights Went Out.

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