2008 Draft Review: Pacific Division.

Anaheim:

Rd # NAME BY NOW POS OA GP PTS
5 148 Josh Beaulieu ANA L 46 0 0

With only a 5th round pick it’s hard to pass judgement on this draft. Looking back through the records it seems EDM traded the 1st round pick in a deal that included Marty Turco. I think most GM’s in this league would make that deal at the time. I like the return on the 1st round pick and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round picks were all included in solid trades but this is a draft review and hence the score.

Score: 5/100

Dallas:

Rd # NAME BY NOW POS OA GP PTS
2 47 Jesse Turkulainen DAL PHI D 73 177 57
5 130 Kelsey Tessier DAL TOR C 66 3 3
5 149 Nico Sacchetti DAL PHO R 63 0 0

Another team who traded their 1st rounder, this time they got Chris Pronger in the deal. In the second round Dallas took a chance on Finnish youngster Jesse Turkulainen and he has turned out to be a solid 5/6 defenseman. There are maybe a couple of forwards who could have been chosen instead of Turkulainen but most of the other D are of a similar upside. Tessier is a good Con Boost pick in the 5th round, he’s been shuffled a few times without a boost though. Sacchetti looks to be a AHL regular and that’s a bonus for a 5th rounder.

Score: 55/100

Los Angeles:

Rd # NAME BY NOW POS OA GP PTS
1 16 Philippe Cornet LA LA C 78 91 48
2 46 Ryan Hillier LA LA L 67 0 0
4 106 Chris Campoli LA LA D 68 0 0
5 136 Leonardo Genoni LA LA G 64 0 0

It’s hard knock a 93 potential forward at draft time. LA took the punt and so far has worked for them. There were a few guys who we can look back on and think they would be better picks but every GM has needs to fill and a different mindset. LA comes away with a super consistent scoring threat for years to come in Cornet. LA swung for the fences in picking Hillier over some better D options. Those high OFF ceilings just don’t make up for a lack of D. Campoli is a great pick this low, but like 29 other GM’s there was still a better player on the board(But more on him later). Genoni has yet to see the AHL but would be a decent AHL starter or backup a solid pick none the less.

Score: 72/100

Phoenix:

Rd # NAME BY NOW POS OA GP PTS
1 14 Billy Sauer PHO PHO G 77 194 0
2 44 Nathan Moon PHO VAN C 67 0 0
3 89 Brandon Sutter PHO VAN C 58 0 0
4 104 Harrison Reed PHO PHO R 63 0 0
5 134 Andrew Bodnarchuk PHO PHO D 59 0 0

Sauer is a solid pick and probably should have gone higher. HFCHL has a lack of top goalies and they fetch a pretty price on the trade market. I think this is a good pick in the middle of the first round. Some dead set good players left on the board when Moon is picked, a real head scratcher as his ceiling are mediocre at best. Sutter is another shaky pick with some better AHL calibre players on the board. Reed however is a solid 4th round pick with very good AHL stats. Bodnarchuk has some interesting ceilings but lacked the POT to make anything of them.

Score: 51/100

San Jose:

Rd # NAME BY NOW POS OA GP PTS
1 10 Nikita Filatov SJ WSH R 74 171 141
2 40 Lukas Vartovnik SJ SJ L 82 146 81
2 51 Sergei Korostin SJ SJ L 76 99 72
4 100 Mike Hoeffel SJ SJ C 67 0 0
5 150 Rene Bourque SJ SJ C 52 0 0

One thing with looking back is hindsight. Why didn’t I take him? One could say that about pick10 and pick 11 Chris Stewart. Looking at the ceilings of Filatov it’s easy to see why. Back to back 60+ point seasons with more to come would make most of the GM’s here happy. Vartovnik was a solid 2nd round pick who has put up 15+ goals in his 2 seasons so far. Korostin is making SJ’s draft a solid one. Good ceilings and took the gamble on the low CON has paid off with Korostin nearly a ppg player this season. Hoeffel is a solid AHL player and the 5th round pick was a throw away. A very solid draft with the only pity that Filatov was traded.

Score: 86/100

Awesome job mahn!

Again, this wasn't a draft I actually was around for. I think I traded Filatov early on in my career here - didn't think he'd pan out (I was wrong, but I guess it was his defensive stats that scared me). I think I moved him for an older guy though for a cup run, so I'd probably make that kind of move again in that situation - but methinks I would have looked for more in return.

Meanwhile, I think I'm even more surprised that I've been able to get decent NHL production out of guys like Vartovnik and Korostin. They're pretty horrible in the defensive zone though.

Nice start Craig, I cant wait for the rest of them!

Maca it seems like you have been around for a long time now what was your first draft?

Yeah SJ traded there 1st ,filatov and valach to WAS for hedjuk, cuma and a 3rd.

Thanks for doing this, great work so far!

Agree with your assessment of my draft. I was lucky to have Cornet fall to me, and had he been able to play 2 extra games his rookie year in the AHL, he would've been even better with the ceiling boost. Hillier...boy I really screwed that one up. Hard to argue about the Campoli vs. Cichy pick since he was one of those CON boost guys and wouldn't have ended up my property anyways. Campoli is a perennial AHL all-star so I guess that worked out.

Looking forward to see how I rank in the big picture.

Pretty poor trade that I made - though, I was looking to add Hejduk to my top line with Marleau. *shrug*

Technically the next one to be featured - 2010... but I think I had joined up and never scouted that season, so I traded all my picks away.

2011 was the first season that I really made any serious picks (taking defenseman Alex Wall with my first rounder).

lol, looks like I'll get to have my 149th OA pick (Martin Ylven) rated next season :P

I think you are sounding like a good volunteer for next seasons look back articles.
;)