Comments on: In Phoenix, Wheel(er) of Misfortune

By: CP2Devil

CP2Devil — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:01:37 +0000

Yotes problems were organizational, especially after Ellmen/Gretzky duo took over. Thankfully after Moyes took control last year he got rid of Gretzky’s cronies at the top, Barnett and Fletcher, and hired Don Maloney. Don never would have drafted Wheeler that high. That pick is all on Gretzky. Wayne fell in love with the kid and as a result he got drafted way too high. langway is right that they could have had him much later in the draft.
No one here in the Valley is panicking about the situation. With 11 days to go still plenty of time to sign the kid. Yotes lowballed with first offer and will probably wind up having to give the kid the rookie max or very close to it. For some reason they think he could play right away in NHL. Probably Wayne’s blindness kicking in again. I don’t buy it and want Radim Vrbata re-signed like yesterday. This team had little offense last year to begin with. Without Radim its Mueller, Doan, and a bunch of 3rd liners.
I think I’d rather have Mike Green than Blake Wheeler regardless of how good Wheeler turns out to be. .

By: langway

langway — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:16:19 +0000

That’s a fair point, though the NHL draft is far from a certain thing even when you’re picking in the top five some years. There was definitely talent available at five, though, as you point out. That same need for a safe selection when picking high is in part why McPhee went with Karl Alzner last year, imo. He was a safe pick…maybe even an underrated pick because he was already so polished for his age that his future ceiling wasn’t thought by some to be terrificly high. (I didn’t agree with that then and still don’t.)
In hindsight you’d think Phoenix would have been able to trade down, pick up other assets and still get Wheeler. That way if they did miss on their home run shot they don’t look quite as bad in the process. But if you go back and look at their earlier first round selections from late 90’s until ‘04 it’s not a very pretty picture. In that respect, Wheeler is just the tip of the iceberg. That long of a period of not netting solid talent in the draft can often be the precursor to a team eventually needing a full-on rebuild, as Phoenix has since had to undergo in the past couple of seasons and just the Caps had to do after quite a few years of not getting a whole lot through the draft.
One more note: the Arizona Republic has Wheeler’s sign date as June 8th.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/0517yotenb0517.html

By: pucksandbooks

pucksandbooks — Tue, 20 May 2008 00:25:49 +0000

Langway,
Thanks for those helpful contributions. The main point I was trying to drive home here was how serious a squandering Phoenix made back in ‘04. It seems to me that any team drafting from a lottery position has some level of obligation to secure a high-end talent that will help the team 2-4 years down the road — sooner (as is the case with Nicklas Backstrom) if you’re lucky. I think a main reason for the uproar over Phoenix’s selection of Wheeler wasn’t so much that they were going off the proverbial board with the pick but that lodged in a privileged position in virtually any draft, the Coyotes committed an unforced error, and lengthened their rebuild in the process.

By: langway

langway — Mon, 19 May 2008 23:21:20 +0000

Wheeler will still be limited to entry-level salary limitations. If he does hit the market then he’ll be in a situation similar to that of Fabian Brunnstrom. In other words, money won’t be the deciding factor…though perhaps that’s why he originally decided not to join the Phoenix organization.
Phoenix is still free to make their last minute offers and this could perhaps just be a late negotiating tactic but it is a danger with some draft picks. If nothing else, Phoenix will at least get some compensation in the form of the 35th pick in this year’s draft. That’s more than Boston can say about losing Yuri Alexandrov–their second rounder in ‘06–who has already decided not to sign with Boston before the coming deadline and is now an entirely wasted pick.
But Phoenix did have four years to evaluate Wheeler. That’s longer than teams have to evaluate players that take other developmental paths. Bottom line: just because a player is drafted by a team doesn’t mean they’ll eventually be a part of the organization even if the team desires it.
Nick Larson–also taken late in the ‘07 draft–fits into the same situation as Glass and Bruneteau as players taking the NCAA route but not immediately doing so after being drafted. In Bruneteau’s case, he could potentially play out another year in the USHL due to a number of factors. And from the ‘06 draft, Brent Gwidt is another Caps prospect following a similar path. He’s now played two years in the USHL after being drafted and will attend Nebraska-Omaha this fall.

By: MulletMan

MulletMan — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:48:25 +0000

How was that written into the CBA? I would have thought that an unsigned rookie would be a RFA instead of a unrestricted.
Didn’t the league learn anything from Mush-head? Does he still fall into the cap limitations that will set a max $ on his new contract. I would hate to see first year or two players earning big league dollars.
Wonder is this is going to lead to another lock-out.

By: Mark Tucker

Mark Tucker — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:22:59 +0000

So perhaps, the moral of the story is to BEWARE when drafting so young under the new CBA, as teams will have less time to truly determine a player’s upside.

By: pucksandbooks

pucksandbooks — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:13:06 +0000

Phoenix made their offer to Wheeler, and by all appearances, either (1) it insulted him and or (2) he had plans all along to get into free agency once he left the U.
I, too, wondered about Phoenix’s ability to counter offer. But apparently it’s been made known around the league that he’s a free agent come June 1.

By: Mark Tucker

Mark Tucker — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:50:38 +0000

pucksandbooks:
But Phoenix has his rights until June 1, right?
Can’t they tender an offer that will retain his rights?

By: pucksandbooks

pucksandbooks — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:36:02 +0000

Mark,
Wheeler I think is a solid bet to have a pro career, but this news — from my vantage — means that Phoenix seriously pissed away a top 5 pick. And in a first round that produced some terrific talent.

By: Mark Tucker

Mark Tucker — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:23:29 +0000

Perhaps I’m missing something, but for a guy who isn’t playing at a high enough level 4 years after his draft year (especially a forward), doesn’t this hurt “Blake” more than the Yotes?
As for the Caps prospects…who?