By Darren Eliot –
As evidenced in the preceding pages, the draft is all about looking ahead. There is so much hope and optimism attached to the event for all in involved. The smiling faces of the players tell their story. They are the focal point and even though the reality is that the draft signifies their entry into the big business of professional sports, this is a moment for both them and their families to acknowledge all that it took to get to this point.
After the lights dim and the interviews stop, the draft is a milestone and nothing more without continued growth on and off the ice. It is another starting point. Granted, most are on an established and chosen path, whether it’s the NCAA, USHL, or major junior. Once drafted, that path can change, dictated by the NHL team who now holds their rights. It doesn’t always happen, but it now becomes a matter of a potential employer having input on how they see the best way to maximize a future asset. The stakes are high and the competition fierce. Welcome to the business side of the game.
That’s why we see more players change their commitment from one track to another. NHL teams will often counsel players deemed physically and mentally mature to opt for the game-heavy junior route. Conversely, the message to those selected who need more time spent focusing on off-ice training and refining their skills in practice is to stay the course in college. The point is that the draft validates a player to that point in his development. It guarantees nothing. The odds are still long, with players taken in the top 100 picks each year comprising the bulk of the NHL workforce that reaches even 100 games played.
For the NHL clubs, the draft is the same as it is for the players – simultaneously embracing the future, while serving as the culmination of all the hard work invested leading up to the event. All of the hours spent watching and evaluating young players – not to mention the miles traveled – by scouts everywhere. Countless meetings and discussions held by each scouting staff, going over their list time and again and holding it up to numerous draft scenarios. No wonder the draft has a celebratory feel to it. Everyone has earned the right to bask and breathe, even if for only a moment. They know that the work begins immediately, as they slot this recent crop of draftees into their organizational player development timeline. There are workout regimes to get these kids dialed into, prospect camps to prepare for and setting of expectations.
It’s all about moving forward – the process, the organization and the business. The players are part of that, with new candidates identified annually. This is when organizations separate themselves from one another. Our Red Wings have a model they adhere to on draft day, looking for speed and puck skills above all else, demonstrating it again in 2012 by selecting Martin Frk and Andreas Athanasiou with their first two picks. Those players have a minimum five-year path to the Wings line-up, with the development track as well established as the draft model. The culture is set and these prospects serve as the R&D element of the business.
Contrast that with the Edmonton Oilers, who selected first overall for the third consecutive year. They are in straight to the Alberta assembly line mode. Nail Yakupov joins Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins as the trio taken first. At 18 years old, Yakupov will likely join the Oilers immediately – conceivably on the same line as the three forwards have all positions covered up front. Asking teenagers to come into the NHL, produce, refine their skills and mature as individuals – all at the same time – is hardly a plan. It rarely works. It might all come together for the Oilers in a few years, but if it does all I take away is that these young players have exceptional character. To go from draft day euphoria to grinding through a NHL season in a matter of months – where the business expectation is to win each and every night – is hardly ideal.
The wonderment of the future is gone when it becomes an instant reality. Those draft day podium grins fade quickly. And the Oilers aren’t alone in rushing picks into their line-up. There are legions of players who played too soon at the NHL level only to take that on-the-job training and flourish elsewhere. The Red Wings have it right. Winning and staying competitive today is immediate and one part of the business. Developing depth in case of injuries is another layer of the business. And the drafting and development of prospects is yet another aspect of the entire business model. There is overlap, but the better teams keep them distinct in the proper perspective.
It allows for competitiveness near-term and long-term. For the Wings’ picks it allows them to naturally go from smiling teenager, where the world is theirs, to prepared professional – for the world they hope to enter. That being the intensely competitive forum that is the National Hockey League, which is miles away from the draft day stage and for most, should be years away as well.