Goodbye Jones
Hello MacKinnon, Drouin or Barkov?With the draft just a week away the excitement for Avs fans build. Some disappointment is building too with a faction of fans. The statements made by Joe Sakic about taking a forward at first overall instead of Seth Jones. I will admit I was on team Seth. The Avs need defense and in a bad way. Seth is projected to be franchise defensemen for 15 years.
That all being said there are a number of reason why I can see the Avs move away from Seth towards a top forward. Let’s start with the obvious history of number 1 over all D-men. It has more lost cause and bust then the history of first overall forward busts. It is risky no matter what. This is why you employ scouting staff to help minimize risk.
There is a reason the draft is more than just one round. A lot of world class players come from after the first round. A lot of great defensemen come from deeper in the draft. I tweeted this earlier in the week but it deserves a repeat. Last 5 Norris winners and draft position: Subban (43), Karlsson (15), Lidstrom (62), Keith (54), and Chara (56). Out of the last five best Defense men in the league only Karlsson comes from the first round. With that said he wasn’t even a top ten draft pick.
Success can come outside of the top pick. Look at the Oilers 3 first overalls in a row and still not much better off. Yes you will most likely have success with top end draft picks and it can reshape a franchise like it did for the Pens and Hawks. But you can also be like the Bluejackets and Islanders be picking top of the pack for years and just barely making or missing the playoffs this year. The difference is deeper drafting and not putting all your chips on one guy saving the franchise. I will admit this one guy can save the franchise in a marketing sense and make you a lot of money. But one guy isn’t going to win you the Stanley Cup.
As Avs fans it time to look past the first overall at possible later picks that could help the back end one day. Sakic gave this warning for fans to have time to adapt and move on to other ideas. I agree with that and embrace it. I mean look at Elliott and Barrie second and third round picks. As of right now they look to have a very bright future. Hopefully this future is with the Avalanche not elsewhere. Right now I choose to put my trust in Sakic and Roy. Two guys who know the game infinitely better than I do. As fans we need to trust in them to do what is best for the team.
Adam Stark, Canada, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
23/06/2013 - 17:30
