Should have a disclaimer beforehand that readers may want to keep some antidepressants handy.
This also has me wondering: if you took the top 2 picks of each team every year for the past decade and totalled the games played/points scored, how bad would it look for the Coyotes? I can't name another team that's laid an egg in the draft as frequently as them.
Those are almost more depressing. So many swings and misses, you have to think we didn't do the best job developing either. Do you know if there was much done to address the scouting department in the mid-2000's or the following decade (prior to Chayka)?
They were operating with a skeleton crew for many of those years. That was a major part of the problem. Don Maloney told me that at one point, they had one, part-time European scout. That's just nuts.
However, I believe that many a Yotes fan has done this exercise over the past decade out of morbid curiosity. If you ever need to get rid of a good mood, read this article 😆😭
I went through and counted, Tampa and Boston had four mentions each. They are tied with Philly, Montreal and...wait for it...St. Louis. 😁 Also of note GMBA started scouting for the Blues in 2004 so this post covers his whole St. Luis career.
What's really depressing, is excepting the last few years, almost none of these guys is still with the organization. Maybe that's normal for teams, but thought I might sew a few more familiar names.
It’s crazy how if they just hit a few of those second round picks where they’d be. Even with subpar drafting it could be worse for them. It weirdly gives me hope for the future. Thanks for the amazing article Craig!
Brutal way to start my Sunday morning Craig. And thinking about the times the lottery balls have not fallen the Coyotes way made it worse.
Is there a disproportionate number of Russians in those later round gems that other teams have found? Watching Tampa and Dallas in the final may be skewing my thoughts on that topic.
Eh, playing in Europe is a pretty sweet deal. There are many aspects of it that are more attractive (at least to me) than playing in the NHL. Did you ever read that piece I wrote on Peter Mueller (linked in this story)?
Excellent read. GMBA has a task of trying to change the culture here and it is a ponderous task.
We have rookies who come here to fail, leave here and suddenly become Guy Lefluer.
We have former Guy Lefluers who come here and suddenly become busts.
We have fans who live here, kids go to school here, the food on their table comes from the life they make here and they scream against the Coyotes for the other cities teams... who don’t need fans.
It may be that life is too good here. There are too many distractions.
Nobody does it well? Perhaps because it's difficult to do and judge? So many players/picks are traded that it is tough to evaluate. They get better or worse on their new team but is that a resources to develop thing? Is it coaching, or maybe system? Probably a bit of all of that. Who knows if a player becomes what they are on the stat sheet under one coach or system versus another? No me.
I prefer to evaluate the GM's since they are responsible for putting it all together. Have a look at Tampa....damn fun to watch and wow they are filled with solid players....so much so they are where they are without their Captain(a guy readers would have loved to see AZ pick had we been able to I'm sure!)
It's pretty hard to read the more than a decade of missed opportunities and choices. It does become clear when it's all on one page the mistakes that were made over the years. It also shows the good choices that some teams made to get where they are now.
You almost have to give a pass to Maloney / Tippett year GM and scouting staffs as they did so much with so little. Much of their background material probably came from Sportsnet and its no surprise there were a lot of misses.
Thanks for putting this all on one page for depressing Monday morning reading.
Now this from the article:
Forward Jordan Martinook. Coach Rick Tocchet was not a big fan of Jordan Martinook’s game.
I never could figure out why the departed GM traded Marty for who was basically an older, less talented version of him. I still view this as perhaps the worst trade of the departed GM's career here. Interesting to infer that this trade had the blessing of Tocchet. It makes me wonder how much Tocchet values grit, physicality and board work, the exact qualities he was known for in his career.
Marty has carved out a nice career in Carolina, regular 3rd line work and once in a while 2nd line. A good locker room presence and a leader on the team. His skills have been missed. I read that Tocchet had played that he did not like shipped out over his first year, I just wonder who else was out of favor ?
I have said it before and I will say it again: Chayka's drafts seemed predicated on proving he was smarter than everyone else. Results would indicate he wasn't. Good riddance.
Remember: It is the scouting director who generally runs the draft and ID's the elections. GMs have say, of course, but it is the scouts' day(s) to shine. It's too early to judge 2018 & 2019.
He may have overlooked some better players, but at least the guys he's drafted in the early rounds look like they'll make some contribution at the NHL level. I may not think Keller is ever going to be a game-changer, but I'll take him over Samuelsson every day of the week.
Is there more to the Blake Wheeler story? I always thought of it as an Eli Manning type situation where he refused to sign and have hated his guts ever since. Are the Coyotes partially to blame?
This a great article Craig. BUT I will die on the hill that I wanted Quinn Hughes at 5. His skating was so elite compared to everyone else in the draft he seemed so worth taking a chance on. I'm glad another team I liked ended up picking him. I don't think Hayton was a bad pick, and avoiding Zadina seems like a great call that most wouldn't have predicted. Hayton can hopefully be a 1C. But Hughes seems like a special player.
Should have a disclaimer beforehand that readers may want to keep some antidepressants handy.
This also has me wondering: if you took the top 2 picks of each team every year for the past decade and totalled the games played/points scored, how bad would it look for the Coyotes? I can't name another team that's laid an egg in the draft as frequently as them.
A project for another day. How about those second-round picks?
Those are almost more depressing. So many swings and misses, you have to think we didn't do the best job developing either. Do you know if there was much done to address the scouting department in the mid-2000's or the following decade (prior to Chayka)?
They were operating with a skeleton crew for many of those years. That was a major part of the problem. Don Maloney told me that at one point, they had one, part-time European scout. That's just nuts.
Even for the Coyotes, that is absolutely wild. Wow.
Well done Craig, the article clearly took a lot of work to complete.
If the Coyotes chose Tampa’s picks when available. They might still be playing right now.
Hard work? Craig Morgan? Yes.
However, I believe that many a Yotes fan has done this exercise over the past decade out of morbid curiosity. If you ever need to get rid of a good mood, read this article 😆😭
lol
Tampa & Boston kept appearing. Interesting.
I went through and counted, Tampa and Boston had four mentions each. They are tied with Philly, Montreal and...wait for it...St. Louis. 😁 Also of note GMBA started scouting for the Blues in 2004 so this post covers his whole St. Luis career.
A happy coincidence? 🤔
An insightful and depressing read. Thanks Craig!
Sorry. I should have included a warning.
What's really depressing, is excepting the last few years, almost none of these guys is still with the organization. Maybe that's normal for teams, but thought I might sew a few more familiar names.
It's hard being a Yotes fan.
Yes, that is very telling.
It’s crazy how if they just hit a few of those second round picks where they’d be. Even with subpar drafting it could be worse for them. It weirdly gives me hope for the future. Thanks for the amazing article Craig!
Like I said, it’s the lifeblood of an organization.
Thanks. Sarah.
This read just get me sad thinking about all that talent we left on the draft board. Hindsight is a painful thing sometimes.
Yep, but rest assured, it happens for every team and every fan base. Some cases are more extreme than others.
Brutal way to start my Sunday morning Craig. And thinking about the times the lottery balls have not fallen the Coyotes way made it worse.
Is there a disproportionate number of Russians in those later round gems that other teams have found? Watching Tampa and Dallas in the final may be skewing my thoughts on that topic.
I haven't done that research but it is interesting how the same teams keep popping up in those later rounds.
The lottery conjures bad memories. Just one lucky bounce over the years could have altered this franchise's course.
Moral of the story, if you're a Coyote's second-round pick, make sure you have a college degree that you can fall back on to make a living.
Eh, playing in Europe is a pretty sweet deal. There are many aspects of it that are more attractive (at least to me) than playing in the NHL. Did you ever read that piece I wrote on Peter Mueller (linked in this story)?
Woof. That was a tough read. I hope our new GM can find late round players like he did for the Blues.
There is definitely an art to that.
Excellent read. GMBA has a task of trying to change the culture here and it is a ponderous task.
We have rookies who come here to fail, leave here and suddenly become Guy Lefluer.
We have former Guy Lefluers who come here and suddenly become busts.
We have fans who live here, kids go to school here, the food on their table comes from the life they make here and they scream against the Coyotes for the other cities teams... who don’t need fans.
It may be that life is too good here. There are too many distractions.
GMBA. You wanted a challenge? You got it!
At least he has the track record. We'll see...
Have you yet introduced #GMArmy to Miss Rita?
Mrs. Rita's didn't see the pandemic coming. Hmm...
Nobody does it well? Perhaps because it's difficult to do and judge? So many players/picks are traded that it is tough to evaluate. They get better or worse on their new team but is that a resources to develop thing? Is it coaching, or maybe system? Probably a bit of all of that. Who knows if a player becomes what they are on the stat sheet under one coach or system versus another? No me.
I prefer to evaluate the GM's since they are responsible for putting it all together. Have a look at Tampa....damn fun to watch and wow they are filled with solid players....so much so they are where they are without their Captain(a guy readers would have loved to see AZ pick had we been able to I'm sure!)
Like I said, it's the toughest of the 4 major pro sports. An educated crapshoot.
It's pretty hard to read the more than a decade of missed opportunities and choices. It does become clear when it's all on one page the mistakes that were made over the years. It also shows the good choices that some teams made to get where they are now.
You almost have to give a pass to Maloney / Tippett year GM and scouting staffs as they did so much with so little. Much of their background material probably came from Sportsnet and its no surprise there were a lot of misses.
Thanks for putting this all on one page for depressing Monday morning reading.
Now this from the article:
Forward Jordan Martinook. Coach Rick Tocchet was not a big fan of Jordan Martinook’s game.
I never could figure out why the departed GM traded Marty for who was basically an older, less talented version of him. I still view this as perhaps the worst trade of the departed GM's career here. Interesting to infer that this trade had the blessing of Tocchet. It makes me wonder how much Tocchet values grit, physicality and board work, the exact qualities he was known for in his career.
Marty has carved out a nice career in Carolina, regular 3rd line work and once in a while 2nd line. A good locker room presence and a leader on the team. His skills have been missed. I read that Tocchet had played that he did not like shipped out over his first year, I just wonder who else was out of favor ?
Yeah, that blew me away too. Martinook plays the exact style of game that Tocchet preaches. What else can you ask out of a third liner?
I have said it before and I will say it again: Chayka's drafts seemed predicated on proving he was smarter than everyone else. Results would indicate he wasn't. Good riddance.
Remember: It is the scouting director who generally runs the draft and ID's the elections. GMs have say, of course, but it is the scouts' day(s) to shine. It's too early to judge 2018 & 2019.
He may have overlooked some better players, but at least the guys he's drafted in the early rounds look like they'll make some contribution at the NHL level. I may not think Keller is ever going to be a game-changer, but I'll take him over Samuelsson every day of the week.
Is there more to the Blake Wheeler story? I always thought of it as an Eli Manning type situation where he refused to sign and have hated his guts ever since. Are the Coyotes partially to blame?
This a great article Craig. BUT I will die on the hill that I wanted Quinn Hughes at 5. His skating was so elite compared to everyone else in the draft he seemed so worth taking a chance on. I'm glad another team I liked ended up picking him. I don't think Hayton was a bad pick, and avoiding Zadina seems like a great call that most wouldn't have predicted. Hayton can hopefully be a 1C. But Hughes seems like a special player.
Also as another note, with our history, maybe losing a 1st and 2nd rounder doesn't mean all that much. Oof.
That's been my dark humor joke that's gotten me through the penalty.