Monday, June 28, 2010

For the Record

Despite my wailing and teeth gnashing, I have nothing against Burmistrov. I was very concerned that any Russian would be a risky pick, but his comments about the KHL have quelled those fears.

My outrage with Dudley's choice of Burmistrov isn't a knock on him, it's a commentary on the fact that Fowler and Campbell were both available and would have been a gift. As The Falconer will tell you, franchise D-men and goalies just don't come along as UFA's or in trades but once in a blue moon. Goal scorers are much easier to come by, so you should use your draft picks on the guys who will keep the puck out of your net.

If you misuse your draft picks, you end up with a team like we had last year that was able to put a lot of rubber in the other team's net but can't keep your own twine clean. That is a recipe for 9th and 10th place finishes, just out of reach of a playoff spot. Much like this:



Now that it's done, let's welcome Burma and hope he turns into a dynamic little scoring machine.

4 comments:

the jointhead said...

Fully agree here. Leaving a NHL ready d-man on the board will likely bite us in the ass. But if Burma is as close as they say then I'm Okay with it, and we do need centers. But man Fowler looks like a stud.

wallflower said...

I agree that it'll be tough to watch Fowler blossom into a killer NHL D-man (if he does like expected), but Burma shows tons of potential and sounds like he's got a great head on his shoulders. So I'm happy with the pick. For the record, the Falconer also says that quality d-men are usually cheaper to come by on the free agent market since their skill is much harder to quantify and therefore put a price on. Hopefully our young d-men will make us proud in a season or two (so long as they don't get traded...I, too, have nightmares of Morin lighting the lamp non-stop for the Hawks).

Big Shooter said...

Interesting timing, Razor. I'm working on a Dudley post now. Not sure when it will be ready but it will show that perhaps he isn't the know all do not question genius that some think he is.

Anonymous said...

No, it's easily much harder to find goal scorers than D-men. Falconer even stated as much in his post.

"They used their high pick to land the scarcest of commodities, a genuine top six center."