Draftsite.com's Bill Placzek grades the Flyers 2013 draft

[jammer2]

  Found this very interesting site a few months ago. This Bill Placzek seems to really know his stuff. Gives some positive feedback....and some disturbing negatives from the Flyers most recent draft. This was written shortly after the draft, so things have progressed since the July date of it's writing. Overall, the Flyers got a solid B on their draft overall. This is actually the middle page of a 3 page article, it goes by alphabetical order....the other 2 pages are worth a look also...this guy has some very astute insight into these prospects. Anyways, its a fresh perspective on our kids, so figured it was worth starting a new thread.

 

 http://www.draftsite.com/article/NHL-2013-Draft-Grades-P-Z/133/

 

 This site also has a 5 round mock for 2014 and even a 2 round sneak preview of the 2015 draft starring Conner McDavid. I can't for the life of me figure out why we are picking 2nd in the 2015 mock, except it may have been written during our horrid start? Never heard of the d-man we are supposed to take either.

 

 Homepage for draftsite.com, which covers all the major sports

 

 http://www.draftsite.com/

 

 

 The Flyer portion...

 

 

Philadelphia Flyers: Grade  B

1

11

Samuel Morin

D

Rimouski (QMJHL)

6' 5"

185

2

41

Robert Hägg

D

MoDo U-20 (Sweden)

6' 2.25"

204

3

72

Tyrell Goulbourne

C

Kelowna (WHL)

5' 10.75"

195

5

132

Terrance Amorosa

D

Holderness School (HS-NH)

6' 1"

185

6

162

Merrick Madsen

G

Proctor Academy (HS-NH)

6' 4"

177

7

192

David Drake

C

Des Moines (USHL)

6' 3"

169

 

"While injuries continued to decimate the Flyers defense before the season was in full swing, they could take solace in the fact that their drop in the standings provided a quality return by means of a strong draft class of defenseman. They selected Samuel Morin, who still has footwork issues and despite being as tough as they come, has gap control issues and trouble in his pivots. The interesting thing is that Hägg has similar issues defensively but has more up-ice ability and game. Their remaining five picks went to more long-range guys with Goulbourne, Amorosa, Madsen, and Drake."

 

  Now, if I'm not mistaken, Bill is talking about a lack of fluid movement in Morin's transition from skating forward to backwards. That is troubling, because I believe you can only teach that kinda thing so much,either you naturally have it or you don't. Gap control can certainly be taught, but if you are choppy and non fluid in the pivots....that is trouble IMHO....AND they both suffer from this??? on a positive note, love to hear "as tough as they come" about Morin. Sounds a bit like Kevin Hatcher minus a bit of the offense?  A kid that big AND tough as nails, that is a rare mix indeed!!

[flyercanuck]

@jammer2

 

 I've asked on a QMJHL site about Morins progress...his inconsistancy is apparently, well, consistant. One game he's an in-your-face monster and the next he's watching.

 

 The Blues get an "A" and they don't have a pick until after we select Hagg???

[jammer2]

@flyercanuck  Yeah, a bit puzzling, huh? Apparently Bill really likes the Vanelli and Carrier selections, they do look like steals, I was expecting Vanelli to go late first, but 4 picks and a A rating seems a tad overzealous.