MONTREAL, QC — Jarred Tinordi, the seventeen year old intimidating defenseman with NHL bloodlines, is now a member of the Montreal Canadiens’ organization.
Canadiens’ GM Pierre Gauthier was impressed enough to pay handsomely to move up in the draft to get him.
“He’s a big strong defenceman like that with a lot of character and leadership, that’s something that every team would look for,” said Gauthier.
Tinordi is still three or four years away from making the Habs’ roster, but that didn’t discourage the Montreal media from welcoming him in their own unique way.
Le Presse journalist Francois Gagnon chose to attack the young rearguard for the one characteristic Tinordi can do nothing about. “Another American…” is the title of Gagnon’s blog piece.
Gagnon couldn’t even be bothered to find a photo of Tinordi to head his article. Instead, he chose one picturing American David Fischer with Bob Gainey in 2006. Given that the Canadiens have walked away from the failed-experiment named Fischer, the photos gives Gagnon’s readers a clue to how he feels about the Canadiens’ 2010 first-round draft selection.
While Gagnon acknowledges some good reasons for taking Americans (if ‘following the parade’ is considered positive) he quickly counters by associating Tinordi with so-called mistakes of the past.
RDS’ Norman Flynn was another who didn’t hide his disappointment with Pierre Gauthier’s selections in this year’s NHL draft. Flynn’s article features a photo of Jonathan Brunelle of the QMJHL who was invited to the Canadiens’ mini-development camp but went undrafted during the weekend.
Care to guess what his message is?
Flynn generously gives Gauthier the green light to select players based on merit for the first four rounds of the NHL draft. Well, how enlightened!
However, for the remainder of the draft, Gauthier might as well toss out the scouting reports according to Flynn. Just one piece of information is needed to fill out the draft card for the final three rounds, in his opinion. Birthplace.
Flynn advises the Canadiens to restrict their fishing to the shallow end of the prospect pool after round four. He goes out of his way to write that draftees playing in the QMJHL who weren’t born in Quebec aren’t part of that tiny pond.
If the final rounds of the draft are a crap shoot, then roll the dice with a Quebecker. Is that about right, Norman? So, is it a good idea to recommend that the Canadiens be so cavalier when some very valuable players have been taken after round four? You may have heard of Andrei Markov, Jaroslav Spacek, Ryan Miller, Daniel Alfredsson and two Detroit Red Wings: Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.
I can hear the yawns from some of you. Flynn and Gagnon are just two examples of journalists whose reactions to the draft are predictable given their non-stop focus towards a player characteristic that is irrelevant to hockey.
Some will say that the Canadiens should be representative of their fans. I’m not clear how that ‘logic’ applies to a team like the Tampa Bay Lightning, but let’s think about the Habs for a minute.
My advice to people making this argument is be careful what you wish for. The notion that fans are primarily located in a specified radius around the Habs’ hometown arena is archaic.
It’s been 28 years since Mats Naslund became the first European to play for the Canadiens. Today, the Habs’ global fanbase easily outnumbers the locals.
But assembling a team shouldn’t be about adding players born within a particular set of area codes. The Canadiens should be guided by the principles of a meritocracy.
It’s simple — choose the best!
If Flynn, Gagnon and their colleagues were fair-minded and truly concerned about the Canadiens’ talent pool, they would be signalling the alarm bells about the lack of players in the system from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
Five of the first eight players taken in the 2010 draft are from the OHL including the top three. It was the fourth consecutive year that the No. 1 overall pick came from the OHL. The league had 42 players selected in the draft.
Yet, none of the Canadiens’ selections at the 2010 draft came from the OHL. It should be noted that at this point, first-round pick Tinordi is committed to playing for Notre Dame (CCHA) for the 2010-11 season. However, there is an outside chance that he could be heading to the London Knights.
At the Canadiens development camp in June, none of the 22 players ended the season with an OHL team. Equally surprising, none were from the WHL.
41 per cent of the players selected in this weekend’s draft came from two Canadian junior leagues, the OHL and WHL. Yet finding one in the Canadiens’ organization is as rare as candidates for the Habs GM position under Pierre Boivin’s proverbial rock.
These statistics seem to have escaped the view of Messieurs Flynn and Gagnon. Perhaps they were too busy checking birth certificates.
Why is all this important? It isn’t, really.
We can still hope that, one day, Canadiens’ fans will be treated to a few more grown-up sports journalists who will write about the talents of players without whining about silly old language issues.
Alternatively, readers will continue to turn to new media, like blogs and web magazines, and away from some of the increasingly irrelevant main-stream hacks.
A complete list of selections by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2010 NHL amateur draft
Jarred Tinordi, D, Under-18 (USHL) Round 1, 22nd overall
Height: 6-5 Weight: 205 lbs.
2009-10: 26 GP, 4 G, 5 A, 68 PIM
CS-NAS No. 38 ISS No. 25 THN No. 22 TSN No. 23
Mark MacMillan, F, Alberni Valley (BCHL) Round 4, 113th overall
Height: 6-0 Weight: 150 lbs.
2009-10: 59 GP, 26 G, 54 A, 44 PIM
CS-NAS No. 135
Morgan Ellis, D, Cape Breton (QMJHL) Round 4, 117th overall
Height: 6-1 Weight: 197 lbs.
2009-10: 60 GP, 4 G, 25 A, 56 PIM
CS-NAS No. 97
Brendan Gallagher, RW, Vancouver (WHL) Round 5, 147th overall
Height: 5-9 Weight: 163 lbs.
2009-10: 72 GP, 41 G, 40 A, 111 PIM
CS-NAS No. 174
John Westin, LW, MODO (Swe Jr.) Round 7, 207th overall
Height: 6-0 Weight: 183 lbs.
2009-10: 31 GP, 16 G, 10 A, 18 PIM
CS-ES not ranked
Prospect ranking services
CS-NAS = Central Scouting, North American Skater
CS-ES = Central Scouting, European Skater
ISS = International Scouting Service
TSN = TSN’s Bob McKenzie
THN = The Hockey News
(photo credit: Getty)
I agree 100%. These hacks, including uberHack bertrand raymond and his anti-CHambre pals need to be brought down a peg. The day the Nordiques are back is the day these pure woolers can all go north.
Great article.
If you scout players thoroughly, I seriously doubt that you get to a point that you say "yeah these players are practically identical"…. "so let's pick Mr X because il est francophone"….
There is always some characteristic that makes one player different then another… if not in their puck handling skills, shooting, defense…etc… maybe it's work ethic… maybe it's humility, teach ability…. etc…
You're bang on about the fact that there are still some valuable players in the late rounds sometimes….. you just can't ignore that and draft for location.
There sadly is a percentage of the Habs fan base who care more about having a team full of "locals", rather then icing "the best NHL team possible".
I personally would love to see a team that works hard every night. And of course, having a local hero is cool too. But let's not get carried away.
Can it be assumed that since the season is over, Gagnon lacks the creativity to come up with stories that aren't dropped in to his lap, or fed to him during post-game scrums?
Instead of bitching and moaning about how the Canadiens didn't pick any Quebecois, why don't these "media" instead aim their crosshairs at Gilles Courteau and the QJMHL? Or at Hockey Mineur Quebec? Clearly, both are not developing the elite talent that NHL teams are looking for.
Do we remember the fuss that was made about Angelo Esposito being the next "next one"? Instead, he's been hampered by injuries and overblown reviews as he's struggled to escape junior hockey.
It is beyond unfortunate that prominent media members continue to beat the same dead horse. It is even more unfortunate that so many people follow their lead with a slavish devotion.
Are we, as fans who simply want the Canadiens to draft the best players, with the intent of icing the best team at all times pissing in the wind? I don't want to say yes, but it sure feels like it at times.
I just love how Ellis is the only Q player they picked and he's a good ol' PEI boy who's team sits in Nova Scotia. That must irk them more than anything.
Either way, not everyone needs to be drafted. They've already signed anyone remotely useful from the Voltigeurs who haven't already been drafted…what more do they want?
I couldn't have said it better. But there is some hope… as you said, more fans turn away from these media types and rely more and more on alternatives sources of information like this blog and other web based magazines and forums.
Keep up the good work.
Just had to point out there are still some mainstream media types who are worth reading. For all the Flynns, Gagnons, Raymonds and cohorts around, thank goodness I can still read Mathias Brunet in La Presse.
His latest column is a must-read: "Canadiens draft: take a step back, please"
Original French: http://www.cyberpresse.ca/sports/hockey/201006/29/01-4294091-repechage-du-canadien-un-peu-de-recul-svp.php
English translation via Google: http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cyberpresse.ca%2Fsports%2Fhockey%2F201006%2F29%2F01-4294091-repechage-du-canadien-un-peu-de-recul-svp.php&sl=fr&tl=en
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