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Monday, July 23, 2007

Young guys taking over...part 2!!

So, I finally received feedback from my friend about this blog...and well...he didn't specify what he wanted. So, now that he has, I suppose it's time for me to answer his questions. He wants to know why the NHL is drafting so young. I don't know the real answer to this. I have my own opinions on it though. We draft young because the younger we draft them the more in charge of their workouts, training, and playing we can be. We can mold them into what we want them to become. You look at the Ovechkins, Crosby, and Phaneuf's and you see a multitude of talent. These guys already know what they are going to be what their role is. But, when you draft a guy like say Rob Schremp, he has a ton of talent but he needs to time to adjust so you send him to the minors for a season or two let him develop down there and then he can come up to the NHL and become an impact player.
The NHL has always drafted young guys and will continue to. It's not that we think we're special because we do it this way while the NFL and the NBA does it a completely different way. It's just we want to look out for our talent. Scouts spend days watching these guys play, practice, and how they act, when you draft young you control their development. The NFL and NBA doesn't have that. They draft guys who have this talent but they have nothing to do with the overall development I am pretty sure it makes a difference.
So there you go Mr. Scottie...let me know...by the way...you are impatient.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The NHL used to draft at 20, which is the age at which players used up their junior eligibility. But the WHA was signing a lot of the best "underage" (18-19 year old) players in the 1970s, and in addition there was also a court case (I can't remember the details off-hand) which essentially made it illegal to restrict 18-19 year olds from the draft, so the age was lowered to 18 in 1979.

Bethany said...

I tried finding something on that after you brought it up...I didn't have a lot of time but I am going to look it up this weekend...that's really interesting.