The Draft Board: John Tavares
by Chemmy on Jun 1, 2009 2:46 PM EDT
in Question of the Day
57 comments
In preparation for the NHL Draft, we're going to run down the top 15 players as ranked by the ISS and have our users vote for how good they think each player is to help us prepare our draft board. Up first, the ISS #1, John Tavares.
Described as the future face of a franchise John Tavares is the consensus #1 overall pick in this year's draft. On that note, down 0-2 Pittsburgh is probably already wondering if it's too late to tank this season and end up with the #1 pick. You've all had his achievements drilled into your heads by now but here we go; at the age of 14 he was the first player taken with Exceptional Player status in the OHL draft. 2006 rookie of the year. 2007 player of the year. Broke Wayne Gretzky's record for most goals scored in a single season in juniors (edit: as a sixteen year old, thanks jrwendelman). All time leading goal scorer in the OHL. 2009 WJHC MVP.
His final OHL stats:
| GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| 247 | 215 | 218 | 433 | 255 |
The one issue surrounding Tavares is a question about his work ethic. Tavares had a great showing in the WJHC but a disappointing playoffs in the OHL. Personally, it seems that Tavares is bored playing hockey in the OHL. He missed the age cutoff for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by the thinnest of margins, and indeed last year there was discussion of moving the draft cutoff deadline to include Tavares. So have at it PPPers, rate John Tavares as a prospect to help us build our draft board!
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DOH!
Epic fail! I read the vote wrong and pick 1… Meant #1… as in 5… Doh….
I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it. - Dogbert
heh
Ok, I thought it was someone trying to be funny!
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Jun 1, 2009 2:49 PM EDT up reply actions
So you’re the Stefan vote? Thought someone was doubting Tavares.
A Nation of Masochists a blog dedicated to Toronto sports fans, who are continually punished but keep coming back for more.
Yeah, I added labels to clear that up too, no big deal.
Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.
It worries me that the current NHLer that he’s most compared to is Jason Spezza…..
"Life is just a place where we spend time between games. Hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death." - Fred Shero
Giggles? Really?
I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it. - Dogbert
he’s got a chance to be better than Giggles…especially since he’s not going to be coached by defensive guru Martin (I so stole that from FHF)
Mee-Mee-Meep Meep Go Leafs Go Meep Meep! MEEP!!!
by blindfolded tank driver on Jun 1, 2009 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions
being coached by a defensive guru is usually good for these players… see Hitchcock’s influence on Modano. Stevie Y was also pushed to become a better defensive player.
I dunno, I am somewhat skeptical at this point, and wouldn’t be really that upset if we get someoene else.
"Life is just a place where we spend time between games. Hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death." - Fred Shero
Personally I’d rather have Duchene based on the likely price, but I think that getting Tavares would be enormous for this franchise.
The point of these polls is going to be a straight up ranking though, so I selected franchise. He’s got to be better than Stajan, right?
Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.
I look at it this way…at the combine he didn’t fully participate, likely due to injury so I go with Chemmy’s line of thought…kid was bored in the OHL…hurt…and he does seem to need a kick in the pants. I hope he sucks if he goes anywhere but here.
Mee-Mee-Meep Meep Go Leafs Go Meep Meep! MEEP!!!
by blindfolded tank driver on Jun 1, 2009 2:58 PM EDT up reply actions
And he was there so long that people start to nitpick his game.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Jun 1, 2009 3:00 PM EDT up reply actions
that’s what happens when you Lindros the OHL draft to get in at 15
Mee-Mee-Meep Meep Go Leafs Go Meep Meep! MEEP!!!
by blindfolded tank driver on Jun 1, 2009 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions
Giggles never had Ron Wilson busting his hump.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Jun 1, 2009 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Wilson kills him and OLAS ressurects him…it’s a touching tale of rebirth and forgiveness!
Mee-Mee-Meep Meep Go Leafs Go Meep Meep! MEEP!!!
by blindfolded tank driver on Jun 1, 2009 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Ehhhh, he doesn’t do it for me. I don’t see his amazingness.
(843): the red head has a bf
(1-843): just because there's a goalie doesn't mean u can't score
by wrap around curl on Jun 1, 2009 3:10 PM EDT reply actions
C’mon Wrap. You’ll be jumping up and down with the rest of us if when Burke swings the deal to get him.
A Nation of Masochists a blog dedicated to Toronto sports fans, who are continually punished but keep coming back for more.
I think she’d be happier if we nab Cow Cow, Schenn 2.0 and that poor goalie that is stuck with the Lightning, Tokarski
Mee-Mee-Meep Meep Go Leafs Go Meep Meep! MEEP!!!
by blindfolded tank driver on Jun 1, 2009 3:26 PM EDT up reply actions
I am preparing myself to be exceptionally disappointed with the draft.
(843): the red head has a bf
(1-843): just because there's a goalie doesn't mean u can't score
by wrap around curl on Jun 1, 2009 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
i’m curious, on the Tlusty NSFW scale, how many Tlusty’s of excited will you be should the Leafs draft Cowen?
"Ninety percent of the game is half mental."
The Left Coast Lock
I’d be really ridiculously happy and excited. But I have already told myself it won’t happen.
Besides, half y’all would throw a fit if they Leafs did get Cowen.
I accept the future of disappointment.
(843): the red head has a bf
(1-843): just because there's a goalie doesn't mean u can't score
by wrap around curl on Jun 1, 2009 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Throw a fit??? I would LOVE for them to draft Cowen IF they were to pick at 7 and Schenn was not available.
Schenn and Cowen patrolling the D? Opposition forwards wouldn’t know what hit them!
Disappointed since 1984
I agree.
When we get back to the playoffs, a blueline of Schenn/Cowen would be ridiculous. Can you imagine what it’d be like getting half and hour a night from each of them? All we’d need from our third defencemen would be 15 minutes.
Crosby and Malkin aren’t doing anything to us if they’re both dead.
"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into Iraq"
- Major Mike Shearer
Ive been saying this for HOW long?
Because Taking The Leafs Seriously Is Not An Option
by JaredFromLondon on Jun 2, 2009 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions
I don’t think I will be…
(843): the red head has a bf
(1-843): just because there's a goalie doesn't mean u can't score
by wrap around curl on Jun 1, 2009 3:46 PM EDT up reply actions
That photo...
Didn’t 8-gold-medal-swimmer guy land in a lot hot water for being caught in a photo like that?
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
by Dominik on Jun 1, 2009 3:14 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
8-gold-medal-swimmer guy
And they say the Olympics has lost its relevance…
Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.
I’m just glad I got the number right! (I think.)
But oh, who could forget that year’s javelin toss? Took my breath away. And the ribbon thingy? Positively exquisite.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
The real test is the speedo test.
(843): the red head has a bf
(1-843): just because there's a goalie doesn't mean u can't score
by wrap around curl on Jun 1, 2009 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions
Didn’t they sear that 8-gold-medal-swimmer guy’s name into your heads in the U.S.?
A Nation of Masochists a blog dedicated to Toronto sports fans, who are continually punished but keep coming back for more.
Sear is too light of a word...
(843): the red head has a bf
(1-843): just because there's a goalie doesn't mean u can't score
by wrap around curl on Jun 1, 2009 3:50 PM EDT up reply actions
Lord knows they tried, but resistance — in this case — was not futile.
Lighthouse Hockey: Side effects may include Weight gain and frequent game loss.
Ernie Godden Defense Dept.
Chemmy, I think the junior record of Gretzky’s that JT broke was for "most goals by a 16-year old. "
Most goals in a junior hockey season – that’s a record that is still held, I believe by one Ernie Godden of the Windsor Spitfires, not to mention (for 5 games in the 81-82 season, anyway) your Toronto Maple Leafs. The record is 87 goals. Yes, kids, Ernie Godden; after ripping up the OHL, Ernie had a five-game cup of coffee with the Leafs, within a couple of years was playing in Austria (briefly) and then left pro hockey completely.
It might seem like nitpicking, but Godden’s record has stood the test of time for 28 years now; it should be taken away from him (if at all) fair and square rather than through a misunderstanding about Tavares’ accomplishments.
jrwendelman
The Artist Formerly Known as "Junior", who blogs at heroesinrehab.ca/blog
"But if someone so eager to engage into fist talk, we can always meet after season end in Minsk." (Mikhail Grabovski and a well-meaning but not particularly skillful translator)
hmm…. now that I am more familiar with the Leafs history, any prospects that look like complete failures from the Ballard years seem, to me, to be as much a symptom of the organization’s problems with developing prospects as drafting. See: Boudreau, Bruce.
"Life is just a place where we spend time between games. Hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death." - Fred Shero
The comparison to Boudreau is pretty much spot on.
I was an Ernie fan when he played for the Spits – how could you NOT be at that time – and I always wondered what happened with his pro career. A few months ago, I found this Windsor Star article about Ernie from December ’07.
Smallish by NHL standards at five-foot-eight, 160 pounds, Godden was selected 55th overall in the 1981 NHL entry draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
He tallied a goal and an assist with the Buds in that five-game stint during the 1981-82 season. It’s the one part of his hockey career that still leaves Godden irritated.
“It was the wrong team and the wrong time,” he said. "I asked the Leafs to trade me, but they said I was too much of a drawing crowd for their farm team, so they wouldn’t move me.
“I just wanted a chance to play in the NHL somewhere.
In short, Ballard’s front office killed his pro career because they wanted to sell a few extra tickets for the St. Catherines Saints games. There is, I trust, a special place in hell where Pal Hal is still roasting in eternal agony for this and a myriad other indignities inflicted upon the Leafs and Leaf players. Hello, Dave Keon on line 1…
jrwendelman
The Artist Formerly Known as "Junior", who blogs at heroesinrehab.ca/blog
"But if someone so eager to engage into fist talk, we can always meet after season end in Minsk." (Mikhail Grabovski and a well-meaning but not particularly skillful translator)
by jrwendelman on Jun 1, 2009 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
yes it’s quite sad…. especially how Conn Smythe meant for the Leafs to be a family legacy and Stafford Smythe taking Harold Ballard on as a partner really led to the downfall……
"Life is just a place where we spend time between games. Hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death." - Fred Shero
Yeah, there has to be some sort of study that’s been done on the propensity for failure among the offspring of people like Conn Smythe – the magnate who builds his own impressive enterprise who leaves it to his or her son/daughter quite often finds that sonny boy don’t know shit about the business and proceeds to mess it up thoroughly.
Something to ponder for Yankees fans out there…
jrwendelman
The Artist Formerly Known as "Junior", who blogs at heroesinrehab.ca/blog
"But if someone so eager to engage into fist talk, we can always meet after season end in Minsk." (Mikhail Grabovski and a well-meaning but not particularly skillful translator)
actually
Stafford was apparently quite good at picking out hockey talent and the team did well in the few years under him – but once he died, and Ballard, who previously was mostly just responsible for finances, not finding hockey talent, took over, the team really went down hill.
Also, Conn Smythe didn’t leave the team to his son – his son basically bought him out despite Conn wanting to wait on Stafford taking over. Only after selling his son most of his shares did he find out that Stafford had Ballard and someone else as a partner, and he was apparently really upset at this.
"Life is just a place where we spend time between games. Hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death." - Fred Shero
I did not know that! I’m going to have to dip in to my pre-Ballard history, it seems…
jrwendelman
The Artist Formerly Known as "Junior", who blogs at heroesinrehab.ca/blog
"But if someone so eager to engage into fist talk, we can always meet after season end in Minsk." (Mikhail Grabovski and a well-meaning but not particularly skillful translator)
Your team wins the Mem Cup and now you’re the king of junior hockey. Pfffft.
Pension Plan Puppets*
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Mem Cup
Don Cherry does not approve of this comment…
jrwendelman
The Artist Formerly Known as "Junior", who blogs at heroesinrehab.ca/blog
"But if someone so eager to engage into fist talk, we can always meet after season end in Minsk." (Mikhail Grabovski and a well-meaning but not particularly skillful translator)
Dude it’s allowed.
(843): the red head has a bf
(1-843): just because there's a goalie doesn't mean u can't score
by wrap around curl on Jun 1, 2009 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions
I wonder how many of the top 10 draft picks will be NHL ready next year? Yes, Tavares, Hedman, and Duchene will be, but what about Kane, Schenn, Schroeder, or the awkwardly named Paajarvi-Svensson?
I can't be the only one...
who thinks this when he reads “Schroeder”
"Ninety percent of the game is half mental."
The Left Coast Lock
Kane has a lot of attitude issues, so I can see that really holding him back.
(843): the red head has a bf
(1-843): just because there's a goalie doesn't mean u can't score
by wrap around curl on Jun 1, 2009 5:14 PM EDT up reply actions
I think a lot of that will depend on who drafts them…. Whoever is picked up by Tampa and the Islanders will be playing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Avs decide to give their guy some time in the AHL…. and so on…
"Life is just a place where we spend time between games. Hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death." - Fred Shero
I guess what I’m really wondering is whether or not the 7th overall selection will be good enough to play for the Leafs next year.
I dunno if that player will be… or even if we want him to be. Just gotta wait on Burke and Wilson for that one, i guess.
"Life is just a place where we spend time between games. Hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death." - Fred Shero
agreed
and we’ve seen what waiting can do, when a player is developed properly.
no matter what Burke says, I’m signed on to the 5 year re-build plan. Whatever goodness comes our way in that time is all gravy.
"Ninety percent of the game is half mental."
The Left Coast Lock
is that 5 years to a cup, or 5 years to consistently being in the playoffs and competing for the cup?
"Life is just a place where we spend time between games. Hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death." - Fred Shero
5 years until consistency. I won’t put a timeline on a cup…
"Ninety percent of the game is half mental."
The Left Coast Lock
fair enough
I think those are reasonable expectations
"Life is just a place where we spend time between games. Hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death." - Fred Shero
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