Comments on: Five teams you could call winners at the NHL Draft

By: polegojim

polegojim — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:53:20 +0000

That’s exactly how I fee Constantia – even as an avid Red Wings fan, born and bred in Detroit, I was regularlly pulling for Ottawa for several years (once we were out of course).

I wanted to see them win, but even I got tired of the results. Alfie will get his due only after some serious contention… ala Rick Nash. Both awesome players whose presence has not lifted their team to any significant level of success.

I’d go the Winnipeg route before the Ducks!

But your second post really does lend to the issue – big market or small market (I don’t think Florida is a ‘big’ market tho), it starts with building the reputation for ‘getting it done’. If Joe, James, and other Hockey reporters said good things about Ottawa’s draft, it would have this asterisk… **** “It appears that the Senators did well in the draft, but we’ve said this before and they’ve yet to prove us right any further than the regular season”.

The Ottawa org has to shake things up to find out why that is true..and fix it.

By: Constantia Private Security

Constantia Private Security — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:57:10 +0000

Mind you, that really isn’t the question…the question was how the teams did in the draft, and to not say Ottawa did’t fare well enough to get in the top 5, with 3 good picks and a good trade in the first round, is insane.

Its not a question of how well they do in the season, its a question of bias towards big market teams.

By: Constantia Private Security

Constantia Private Security — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:52:41 +0000

You know, @polegojim, I can’t argue with your logic. My biggest bone of contention was always how well they could do in the regular season, only to be brushed aside in the first round…Forget always a bridesmaid, never a bride, they’ve barely made it past flowergirl.

But as far as Alfie is concerned, there are a lot of players out there who never get a chance to lead, who don’t have his talent, but get tons more recognition. The sens have 1/2 seasons…they either start well, and hit the skids, or more often, start slow, and pull their socks up to get into the playoff spot.

I live in California…if the Sens don’t perform, I may have to start buying seasons tickets to the Ducks (*puke*). Better yet, Winnipeg has a team again, and it would be nice to be able to cheer for my home town’s team. I’m a sucker for the underdog.

By: polegojim

polegojim — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:27:41 +0000

Great Job to the Wings front office and scouting.

Here’s to another 20 years of post season play and Stanley Cup Contention

By: polegojim

polegojim — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:23:47 +0000

Sorry guys – Ottawa has a TON to live down before they get credit for many hockey decisions.
They’ve had STELLAR talent for years, but did squat with it in the post season.

@ConstantiaPS – Alfredsson may enter the HOF with huge stats, but a Leader…not so much. You have to LEAD your team to something more than the locker room showers after regular and dependable quick post season exits to be a ‘STELLAR’ leader.

The Sens have no one to blame but themselves for the deserving ommission. They’ve earned it.

By: Constantia Private Security

Constantia Private Security — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:36:20 +0000

Ottawa ALWAYS gets omitted…the bias isn’t you, the bias is the reporting. After an 11 season playoff streak, as all teams tend to do, they hit their wall because of constant low draft pick placement. Ottawa doesn’t have the market for all the endorsement deals that augment players salaries beyond the caps, so they aren’t “fan favorites”.

Look at Alfredsson…he’s been a stellar captain and leader, generally tends to have high numbers, and excels in ALL areas of being a player, but is almost always overshadowed by lesser talented fan favorites from these big market teams. Even after as many seasons as he’s played, and all the injuries that age tends to bring on, he can still skate and handle the puck better than most forwards on the ice.

By: triplepropalm

triplepropalm — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:30:33 +0000

With the Regehr trade done and the Sabres getting a couple of guys with really solid offensive upside in Armia & Catenacci, I’m really happy with what the Sabres got done over the weekend.

By: govtminion

govtminion — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:30:12 +0000

I’d have to include Boston as well. Fresh off winning the Cup, you get a top-10 pick and get a massive shutdown-defenseman? Not bad- maybe not quite up there with the others here, but still a pretty good way to put an exclamation point on one hell of a season.

By: theslippy

theslippy — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:18:31 +0000

Certainly biased as fan, I don’t kow how you omit Ottawa fromt this list. Three first round picks, a good offensive talent in Prince in the 2nd round, and turning a third round pick into Nikita Filatov (which has the potential to be the biggest additon to the team).