In his eloquent book, The Home Team: Fathers, Sons & Hockey, beloved Canadian hockey writer Roy MacGregor devotes a chapter on the lottery known officially as the NHL Entry Draft.
In case your man cave has been flooded and your cable is down, the draft goes today in New Jersey. All seven rounds will be shown on TSN starting at noon our time.
Vernon’s Curtis Lazar (Edmonton Oil Kings) is projected as a first-round choice, while Vernon’s Jedd Soleway (Penticton Vees) and former Viper Adam Tambellini (Surrey Eagles) are also on the radar.
All 30 teams pay their own scouts while following the league’s Central Scouting Bureau. Numbers don’t always add up as expected and some players never spend a minute in the NHL. Others, given little chance to play in the show, wind up in the Hall of Fame (ninth-round pic Luc Robitaille for one).
Writes MacGregor on the 1994 draft in Hartford: “They come here like families arriving to celebrate a wedding, also knowing, yet never thinking that it could happen to them, that five or six hours from now, some will look like families leaving a funeral.”
He also paints a very graphic picture of the teenagers waiting for their names to be called.
He writes: “The young men who come this day wear new suits in which they do not yet feel right, Italian weave at times clashing with acne, pleats and sharp creases drawing attention to walks they have not yet settled on, their step somewhere between adolescence and manhood. Some are beet red, some are sweating, some sit with their young fresh-shaven faces in hands with tortured fingernails.”
B.J. Johnston of the Oshawa Generals was at the Hartford Civic Centre with his father, Doug, and was never summoned to the stage.
Wrote MacGregor: “He initially felt he had somehow failed his father, failed his family, failed himself. He went back to hockey largely because he didn’t know what else to do with himself.”
Johnston started slowly the following season in Oshawa, and in November, demanded a trade. He finished strong with the Sarnia Sting and the draft day misery was fading.
“I don’t even much care anymore,” he told MacGregor. “There are so many teams in pro hockey now and by being a free agent I can pretty much go anywhere that wants me. I’d rather be in the position I’m in than have gone to the New York Rangers in the 14th round or something.”
Vernon’s Dave Oliver was chosen 144th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the ‘91 draft after four years with the University of Michigan Wolverines.
Oliver will likely be at the Colorado Avalanche draft table today since he’s the Director of AHL Operations and assistant coach with the Avs’ affiliate Lake Erie Monsters.
Oliver, who helped the Vernon Lakers win the 1990 Centennial Cup on home ice, realizes the draft doesn’t always produce slam-dunk talent.
“You shouldn’t be in a hurry to get to the NHL,” he said back in his senior year at Michigan. “A lot of guys who try to get there quickly end up leaving quickly. I had a realistic impression of the draft. In other words, I know it doesn’t matter. I’ve played with a lot of first-rounders who are done, finished; and a lot of 10th-rounders who are playing in the NHL. You just do all you can and hope they’re paying attention.
“But I didn’t even know they (Oilers) knew I existed until two months ago.”
Oliver, now 42, finished his NHL career with 49 goals and 49 assists in 233 games. He was runner-up for the 1994-95 Calder Cup as top rookie in the lockout-shortened season with 30 points in 44 games. The winner was Peter Forsberg.
The big Swede was drafted sixth overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the ‘91 sweepstakes. The Hockey News had ranked Forsberg as the 25th best prospect in its ‘91 draft preview, saying he was “a solid second rounder who could move into the first.”
The pick was criticized by the Philadelphia media, prompting Flyers’ GM Russ Farwell and the team’s chief European scout to reply that time would prove them right.
As for today’s draft, several teams have loaded up in anticipation of hitting the jackpot. Columbus and Calgary each have three picks in the first round. Buffalo and Dallas will select twice.
