SI.com's Allan Muir has his 2008 NHL mock draft* up, and while he has the Caps taking a two-way defenseman named Tyler Cuma with the 23rd pick overall, this line stuck out to me:"A goaltender wouldn't be a surprise at this spot, considering the disappointing development of 2006 first-rounder Semen Varlamov..."
Huh?
Is he talking about the same Varlamov that made Russia's gold medal-winning World Championship team this past spring?
Is he talking about the same Varlamov that one of the world's foremost goalie coaches recently called "the most talented young goalie [he has] seen in many years" who "has potential to be a real NHL star in the future"?
Is he talking about the same Varlamov that at the 2007 World Junior Championship "was the second best goalie in the entire tournament, giving up only nine goals on 136 shots, with a 1.51 goals against average"?
Is he talking about the same Varlamov that was first in games played and shutouts, 12th in goals against average and 13th in save percentage in Russia's Super League this past season at the age of 19? [Update: And, as B19 points out in the comments, "Varlamov lead his team to the RSL finals. In 16 playoff contests, Varlamov had a 1.62 GAA."]
Nah. He must be talking about the Varlamov that had one bad series last summer that just happened to be televised in Canada.
Quality stuff, Allan.
* On a mostly unrelated note, if mock drafts are your thing, DC Pro Sports Report is your site - they've got the web's best collection of 'em, as far as I can tell.
7 comments:
And how long did it take before Pittsburgh's precious Marc-Andre began to fulfill his promise, as a NUMBER ONE OVERALL pick? Almost five years?
So time to give up on Simeon after two, I guess.
And Varlamov lead his team to the RSL finals. In 16 playoff contests, Varlamov had a 1.62 GAA. Some people thought he should have been voted MVP of the playoffs.
I think you're absolutely right. All he has seen is the Super Series. And the entire Russian team was bad.
People deserve to be lied to if they trust SI or ESPN for their Hockey news.
please jesus let us draft Maxime Suave...how awesome
Doesn't it seem like Prospal for a 7th is an extremely cheap deal?
@ Rage: Prospal's a UFA come July 1 (unless the Bolts sign him, of course), so they gave up the pick(s) just for a couple of weeks of exclusive negotiating rights.
These deals (like Hartnell/Timonen to Philly last year) make little sense to me.
They make little sense unless:
Just for the sake of argument, let's suppose that TBL had contacted Vinny Prospal's people quietly last week and PHI got wind of it. (We all know this stuff happens. This is how complicated deals get done/announced at 12:01.)
Is it possible that PHI told TBL that a seventh-rounder was the price of them not filing a tampering complaint with the league?
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