Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Graded Players

Atlanta Thrashers

v. 2008

Historical Review of Draft Results

Graded Players, Summary Of

Please reserve comment for a future post wherein I will request commentary on the review as a whole.

Applying the Player Grading System to the draft pool of the Atlanta Thrashers I came up with this:

Hall of Fame level (grade A+ / score 600)

We know who these guys are, their accomplishments speak for themselves. While Hall of Fame players are often called 'superstars', this is actually quite limiting. A Hall of Fame player can also be a player who has been a 'star' long enough, and consistently enough, to earn the universal respect of the hockey world. Kevin Lowe only has one remarkable statistic on his Hall of Fame resume - the number 6 - which is the number of Stanley Cup rings he earned in his underrated, and brilliant, career.

-


Star level (grade A / score 300)

Star caliber players have excelled, literally excelled, at their position or role on the team. However, they have never done enough to be considered one of THE elite players at the position. Players that get this rating don't always have to have amazing point totals; Guy Carboneau never had great point totals but he did win a whack of Stanley Cups and trophy hardware, enough in fact that he could be Hall of Fame material - let alone a 'star'. Brendan Shanahan may be hard pressed to get in the Hall, as will Doug Weight, but they are both 'star' caliber players.

Dany Heatley, Ilya Kovalchuk


Solid level (grade B / score 150)

Never quite gaining 'star' status, a 'solid' NHL player is welcome on any NHL team. Their contribution(s) to their team’s - whether from talent (think Slava Kozlov) or desire (think McSorley – pre-hatchet work) - is generally not in question. They have produced enough, long enough, to be considered an asset of some worth. Note that there are two additional sub-classes of 'solid' players - high-level 'journeymen' who have incredible longevity (a Van Allen type) and those 'star' players who don't have the longevity (think Poddubny).

Kari Lehtonen


Journeyman level (grade C / score 90)

No NHL team can survive without the role-players on the team; someone has to do the dirty work. They are 'solid' players in their own right but never achieve the higher rating for one of two reasons: they never played enough games or they never really rose above the 4th line/#6 defenseman status they had. Where a player like Grier will probably attain a 'solid' player ranking (given a few more years), a player like Dowd will be hard pressed to ever be considered more than a 'journeyman' (even though playing with Gaborik may have obfuscated the issue).

Patrik Stefan, Garnet Exelby, Darcy Hordichuk, Jim Slater, Braydon Coburn, Tobias Enstrom


Borderline level (grade D / score 30)

Players who never fulfilled their potential, and ultimately, frittered away their NHL career. Some players in this category could have had one, or even two, remarkable seasons - they just never put it all together for any real length of time. 'Borderline' also describes players in the NHL right now who have careers in a state of flux - will they pan out, or not? Consider Jimmy Carson - a great rookie (L.A.), a decent sophomore (Edm.) and a lackluster career (everywhere). Too talented to be a 'journeyman', never a 'star' and not around long enough to be a 'solid' player.

Pasi Nurminen


Coffee level (grade E / score 00)

As in 'Cup of Coffee'. This is the guy who shows up for a few games as an injury fill-in but is sent right back down when expendable. No impact at all on the major leagues (as a player at least).

Luke Sellars, Zdenek Blatny, Derek MacKenzie, Tommi Santala, Simon Gamache, Michael Garnett, Colin Stuart


Unranked players and prospects (grade F or UNR / score - 30)

Didn't even make the show. Not a reflection of character (none of the categories are really). Just a fact. Note that this ranking applies somewhat differently to prospects. In the case of prospects, what matters is the 'buzz' surrounding that player. Unranked prospects, by definition, aren't expected to make the show. Most late round draft picks fall into this category by default while most early round draft picks have to play their way into it (not a good thing btw).

Too many to name - 35 players, 26 prospects... and counting.


Star level prospects (grade STP / score 120)

The next big thing. Will score goals by the bucketful or stop everything bigger than a pea from getting into the net. Every team wants to draft these players (or trade for them) and few teams have them. No one exactly what the new guy will do in the show but everyone KNOWS they will do something. Of course, 'will do' often turns into 'should have done' but we will leave that alone for now.

Zack Bogosian


Solid level prospects (grade SLP / score 60)

Sure this guy may not be the next Selanne, but everyone thinks that he MIGHT be able to do something at the pro-level. He might just end-up as a 'journeyman' that bounces from team to team and pots 20-40 points a year OR he might be the next Glenn Anderson, BUT at least he it hoped that he will do SOMETHING. Please note the distinction there - 'solid prospects' might while 'star prospects' should.

Brett Sterling, Ondrej Pavelec, Bryan Little


Borderline level prospects (grade BRD / score 00)

Will this guy even make it to the NHL? Who knows? They may be a surprise to everyone if they ever find the right situation with the right team. Question is: is Atlanta that team? Most '?' prospects will probably get a cup of coffee with the team, but anything more than that is a guess. Expansion figures large with this category as talent depth is so thin everyone sifts through waiver wire prospects for copper.

Boris Valabik, Grant Lewis, Alex Bourret, Jordan LaVallee, Riley Holzapfel, Spencer Machacek, Daultan Leveille

------

Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Introduction
Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Draft Results Summation

Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Yrs 1999 to 2003
Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Yrs 2004 to 2008

Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Draft Results By Year
Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Draft Results By Round
Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Draft Results By Pick
Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Draft Results By Age
Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Draft Results By Position
Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Draft Results By League
Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Draft Results By Country of Birth

Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Player Grading System
Atlanta Thrashers 2008 HRDR - Graded Players Summary

------

Have a great evening everyone.