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Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 12:19 pm
by BillP.
NHLTIM wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 10:52 am
Dread_Pirate_Westley wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 8:38 am
ratonmono wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 11:30 pm

Jarmo is poop. Toews Kessel or Backstrom were the best players available. Everyone knew that, EJ gave a bunch of scouts hard-ons with a strong finish leading up to the draft but I never, almost never take a D-man over a C 1st overall.
You say "everyone knew that" and yet none of those guys were the first player nor the first forward off the board.
If you remember that draft year...Johnson rose through the draft rankings rapidly. Scouts became enamored with his size and skill and couldn’t help themselves.
The way it went down there should have been at least a red flag or two especially when a guy like Kessel had been the best player in North America from the age of 15 or so. Even with the Blues...how do you pass on Toews? You knew he was a great player and a center. It was a mistake for sure...I know every scout would have taken Johnson 1st overall but sometimes you have to find the red flags and they were there....they were just covered up by all the size and skill drool.
I believe the Blackhawks were the only team that didn’t have Johnson ranked #1 overall and they got there guy with the 3rd
Great post. Didn’t know that about Hawks.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 12:28 pm
by SpacemanSpiff
The issue with EJ moving up to the first overall pick was what he did in the WJC's that year - he was simply a man among boys and it was against his peers. Much like Puljujarvi did in 2016.

That's what drove up his ranking. I had talked with a couple of scouts after he was drafted and they both gushed about his physical prowess - but they both said it remained to be seen if he had the hockey sense to be a dominant player at the NHL level. That and the partying dragged him down.

I was actually hoping the Blues would have traded down, but the issue is they couldn't trade out of the top five because of the drop off after the top five players, and like others have said, if it wasn't Johnson, they coveted Staal.

Re: Erik Johnson Retrospective

Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 1:10 pm
by Dread_Pirate_Westley
SpacemanSpiff wrote: Thu May 28, 2020 12:28 pm The issue with EJ moving up to the first overall pick was what he did in the WJC's that year - he was simply a man among boys and it was against his peers. Much like Puljujarvi did in 2016.

That's what drove up his ranking. I had talked with a couple of scouts after he was drafted and they both gushed about his physical prowess - but they both said it remained to be seen if he had the hockey sense to be a dominant player at the NHL level. That and the partying dragged him down.

I was actually hoping the Blues would have traded down, but the issue is they couldn't trade out of the top five because of the drop off after the top five players, and like others have said, if it wasn't Johnson, they coveted Staal.
His physical tools were out of this world. It's very easy to see why so many fell in love with him. His size, his skating, his shot, WOW. He very much should be having a Hedman type career. But it just wasn't important enough to him.