Brian Burke, president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced Tuesday that the hockey club has signed draft picks Mikhail Stefanovich, Carl Gunnarsson and Juraj Mikus (YUHR-ay MEE-kuhsh) to entry level contracts.
While this doe not mean we will see the likes of Mikus and Gunnarsson next season on the Leafs, Stefanovich has displayed the talent to be seen as a Leaf next season and if that were the case this fourth rounder from the last draft would enter the official steal category, really solidifying the true usefulness of JFJ in the office, not necessarily the guy you want running your franchise, but the amateur scouting has been unrivalled when compared to past leaf franchises.
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While this doe not mean we will see the likes of Mikus and Gunnarsson next season on the Leafs, Stefanovich has displayed the talent to be seen as a Leaf next season and if that were the case this fourth rounder from the last draft would enter the official steal category, really solidifying the true usefulness of JFJ in the office, not necessarily the guy you want running your franchise, but the amateur scouting has been unrivalled when compared to past leaf franchises.
Except that JFJ was gone and it was Fletcher and his team that drafted Stefano...
Mikus and Gunnarsson are both good players in their own right. Most people have only seen more of Stefanovich, which as mentioned, was a Fletcher pick, because he's been playing in North America for the past few years. At one point, he was projected to be a first rounder in that draft, so yes, a fourth round pick was a steal for him.
Other than that, I don't see any of the three making the Leafs next year. Burke prefers to let his players develop in the AHL system, so these players are probably two years away at the earliest.
Except that JFJ was gone and it was Fletcher and his team that drafted Stefano...
except that our head of scouting who replaced armstrongs 10 years of uselessness is JFJs guy along with two thirds of our ameteur scouting essentually everypick from here on out until about five years down the line will have been influenced by JFJ whether you wish to give him credit or not.
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except that our head of scouting who replaced armstrongs 10 years of uselessness is JFJs guy along with two thirds of our ameteur scouting essentually everypick from here on out until about five years down the line will have been influenced by JFJ whether you wish to give him credit or not.
Stefanovich was heralded as a first round pick and fell to the fourth round. He has all the physical tools and skills, but he's far from a sure thing, so I wouldn't be touting the current scouts usefulness on this one pick, it usually takes five years before you can decide whether or not it was a quality draft or not.
I compare his situation to that of formers Leafs pick Robbie Earl in 2004. He was seen to have skill, but he wasn't a sure thing, because of this, he fell to the 6th Round and was traded earlier this season.
Also, the current Head of Pro Scouting had his first draft with the Leafs in 2001. I'm not sure when Armstrong left, but Penny was there before JFJ. At least according to an article I read where he said he handled the 2001 draft with only three scouts.
Stefanovich was heralded as a first round pick and fell to the fourth round. He has all the physical tools and skills, but he's far from a sure thing, so I wouldn't be touting the current scouts usefulness on this one pick, it usually takes five years before you can decide whether or not it was a quality draft or not.
I compare his situation to that of formers Leafs pick Robbie Earl in 2004. He was seen to have skill, but he wasn't a sure thing, because of this, he fell to the 6th Round and was traded earlier this season.
Also, the current Head of Pro Scouting had his first draft with the Leafs in 2001. I'm not sure when Armstrong left, but Penny was there before JFJ. At least according to an article I read where he said he handled the 2001 draft with only three scouts.
Victor Strahlberg went 4th round under JFJ and is developing into a steal, Chris DiDomeneco has down termendously well in developing and he was 5th rounder, got a gold at the WJs with team Canada. Then you consider Vorobev if he ever makes the jump across the pond has teared it up in the KHL over the last three seasons and is a 4th rounder. Our 6th round pick form last season finished witht he best best 2nd half in all the Q, Champaign..
And I am talking Amertuer scouting Dave Morrison, who was behind the drafting of Schenn, Kulemin, Tlusty, Pogge, Rask, Stephonovic and everyone following.
The real thin is after the third round if you have someone finding poetincal NHL contributors, then as a team you have to view that as a success, and JFJ is responcible for this team finally doing it.
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The only things I will remember JFJ for are the Raycroft and Toskala deals. Both horrible and both are still hurting this franchise.
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You ask Ovechkin if he would trade his Art Ross and Richard Trophies, to trade places with Sidney Crosby last June.
The only things I will remember JFJ for are the Raycroft and Toskala deals. Both horrible and both are still hurting this franchise.
No doubt, though Toskala might not be a bad trade it really has to pan out first, but JFJ made horrible discussions, when it came to putting together the finish product, but that might be becasue all he was before being handed a GM post was an ametuer scout. At the end of the day JFJ excelled at what he knew and that was scouting youth talent, and because of that the Leafs are in a decent position not only to produce some great hockey players out of the farm, but also grow exponentically in that area. JFJ may be the reason we need to rebuild, but he is also the reason the rebuild wont take forever, like it did in Pheniox or Florida, or Chicago.
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I have to admit JFJ was handed a lousy situation. He was put in a position to fail. When the MLSE board was only giving him a 1 or 2 year deal it made him have to win NOW, not build. That does not excuse him from trading the highest touted goalie prospect in the league for a one year wonder. Then moving draft picks in a strong draft for a back-up goalie who was unproven for more than a 30 game stretch as a #1, is another bad move. JFJ would have been better off just bringing Rask up and ruining him than doing what he did.
__________________
LEAFS TANK NATION: Well we Can't Tank, we got no 1st round Draft Pick.
LEAFS FAN: WTF is a 1st round Draft Pick?
CLIFF FLETCHER: Draft Shmaft!
Sig. Courtesy of VICE.
You ask Ovechkin if he would trade his Art Ross and Richard Trophies, to trade places with Sidney Crosby last June.
Victor Strahlberg went 4th round under JFJ and is developing into a steal, Chris DiDomeneco has down termendously well in developing and he was 5th rounder, got a gold at the WJs with team Canada. Then you consider Vorobev if he ever makes the jump across the pond has teared it up in the KHL over the last three seasons and is a 4th rounder. Our 6th round pick form last season finished witht he best best 2nd half in all the Q, Champaign..
And I am talking Amertuer scouting Dave Morrison, who was behind the drafting of Schenn, Kulemin, Tlusty, Pogge, Rask, Stephonovic and everyone following.
The real thin is after the third round if you have someone finding poetincal NHL contributors, then as a team you have to view that as a success, and JFJ is responcible for this team finally doing it.
Again, it takes roughly five years to determine how a team did at a draft. While some of these players do look good, they're still developing, and when the five years pass by, they'll be closer to their full potential. That's when you determine whether a pick was a steal or not, otherwise, it's just another player with potential. Basically, they aren't a steal until they play in the NHL and prove that they can play on an equal level or better than the players that went before them.
As such, you seem to have your draft years / drafting rounds mixed up. Stalberg was a 6th Round Pick. DiDomeneco was a 6th Round Pick. And Vorobiev was a 5th Round pick.
Stalberg was a draft pick in 2006. DiDomeneco was a draft pick in 2007. Both haven't had enough time since being drafted to prove that they're true steals.
Vorobiev has been drafted for five years, so I feel he can be evaluated. He hasn't been "tearing it up" in the KHL, and his heart conditions and reluctance to come over to North America seems to lead him to be a bust instead of a steal. To my knowledge, he's been suspended indefinitely due to the heart condition after the Cherepanov passing.
Your 6th round pick from last year is a pick from last year. Again, too early to tell.
I'm not saying that the guys you've said won't be steals, it's just far too early to definitively call them as such. It's one thing to be optimistic about their potential, but they won't be official steals until they play in the NHL, since if they don't, it'll just be a wasted draft pick.
Also, assuming that this guy was appointed by JFJ like you said, look at the drafts prior. There were plenty of steals that the Leafs drafted too. Whether they gave up on them and traded them is irrelevant. For their careers and where they were drafted, they could classify as steals, since they could have easily gone higher. Let's jump back 15 years to 1994.
Fredrik Modin was a 3rd Round Pick and Sergei Berezin was a 10th Round Pick in the 1994 Draft. Tremblay and Markov were 6th and 9th Round Picks in the 1995 Draft. Kaberle was a 8th Round Pick in the 1996 Draft. Ponikarovsky was a 4th Round Pick in 1998. Wellwood was picked in the 5th Round in 2001. And Ian White was a 6th Round Pick in the 2002 Draft. Clearly it was happening before JFJ.
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