Samu Perhonen is big, 6'5 big. His hair is bigger, but man, the ladies must line up to sniff it and feel it. PUURRRRRRR. Size as a goalie helps now-a-days because of the style. Goaltending now is all about the percentages. "I'm taking away the easy shot, try and pick a corner, bro". That's all it really comes down to, if the NHL wants scoring up they need to shift goaltending style back to the 80's days. That won't happen though. Anyway, Perhonen plays in Finland and was drafted 62nd overall. He is struggling this year, but goalie development, as we all know, is a crap shoot. Most goalies taken in last year's draft were in the 6th round, you think we could have waited a little longer to take him? Probably, this doesn't look good for Stu, his decision to draft this guy so early...
Nathan Lieuwen
Nathan Lieuwen is arguably the top goalie in the WHL, he was drafted 167th overall, he is also 6'5. Like I said earlier, goaltending is a crap shoot, but this comparison is more or less showing you that you can acquire goalies in the 6th round who are better than goalies you acquire in the 3rd round. Why we wasted our early pick? I'll never know, but Nathan Lieuwen has more up arrows than Samu does. Doh!
Adam Lowry
Lowry suffered a wrist fracture this year, injuries to prospects are huge down arrows, because years 17-20 are the most crucial development years in their career. The 67th overall pick to the Jets had a decent draft year, but what really seems sexy is his size, the 6'4, 187 pounder is a big boy, so if the offense fails he can atleast make it as a fourth liner. You don't draft 4th liners in the third round, but at least he has a solid shot at making the NHL.
Nick Cousins
This man was a PPG player in his draft year, drafted 68th overall, the 5'10, 168 pounder plays in the OHL for Sault Ste. Marie. Cousins sounds like a good kid and he has better arrows than Samu. The reason you do the draft is to get future NHL talent, it's my opinion that you take kids with the best chace possible. Maybe it's my Canadian bias, but taking kids in the CHL seem like a better bet than taking kids in tier 2 Finland, but hey, Pekka Rinne was scouted in warm-up. Let's hope Perhonen is the next Rinne, he's got the height.
The 2010 draft by the Oilers looked good, real good. Tyler Dellow's analysis brings some light on the reality of prospects, as does Jason Gregor here, whenever we see a down arrow, it's not good. A prospect needs to sky rocket up from draft day to have a shot at the show. TSN's job of marketing the draft is sublime, you can't blame them because it's all about money, but people have become in love with prospects and these kids have to swim across the Pacific to make it. The chances of a person's favorite prospect, after the first round, making it is so damn slim that we really shouldn't get so excited about the draft.
We certainly shouldn't hype amateur scouts either, they live and die by fluke and chance.
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