Draft 2008

[black ace]

This was Mike Gillis' first draft and although he had only been in the job a few months (April 24th -June 20th) it has now been 4 years so I thought i would take a look back at his first year picks.

10th overall - Cody Hodgson Looked like he was having a bit of a break out season but we then learned it was all part of a master plan by Gillis and AV to inflate his value. Eventually traded pretty much straight up for Zack Kassian who is a year younger and while bigger less offensively gifted and therefore a little bit behind in development.

41st overall pick - Yann Sauve I thought Sauve would play some games in the NHL last season but it never happened. I thought he looked OK the year before but perhaps because there weren't the big list of injuries this year limited that. He is 22 and I would think if he is going to be a full time NHL player he will need to get time this year.

131st overall - Prab Rai 6 points in 24 games in the ECHL last year which was his first as a pro. He will turn 23 this year and will never contribute at the NHL. Nice guy though.

161st overall - Mats Froshaug Cant find much info on him. He isint going to play.

191 overall - Morgan Clark Son of our former goalie coach. Long gone. Played 7 games last year for a Canadian College.

2 players who we are still waiting for (Sauve and Kassian) and 3 that are gone. If Kassian can become either a top 6 forward or a really good 3rd liner and Sauve becomes a bottom pair defenceman then it will have been a good draft for us.

[dbr]

Not to say they were on track for NHL careers but Rai and Froshaug both missed huge amounts of time (Rai due to a back injury, I think from a car accident - and Froshaug due to some mysterious illness that I'm not sure anyone ever figured out) at what should have been key developmental phases.

[BladesofSteel]

If Sauve can come to camp in terrific shape and play lock-down hockey in his own end, he has an outside shot at making the club as the 7th d-man (off season acquisitions pending). He's big, moves well and isn't afraid of the physical game. While its evident his offensive game will likely never evolve as once hoped, he still has all the attributes to be a solid shut-down defender.

Time is ticking however, with others in his rearviewmirror.

[Fred]

Sauve from what I can gather is yesterdays child. Polasek has over taken him. This is his first year out of Junior and he's challanging LeBlonde

http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/104953


http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/109194

plus he can play hockey.

[BladesofSteel]

Sauve from what I can gather is yesterdays child.

What have you gathered to help lead you to this conclusion?

Polasek has over taken him.

Ummm, MacT leaned on Sauve all season as his primary shut-down guy, giving him top PK time in the process. Polasek was a press box regular. He didn't even suit up for a single post-season match.

Honestly Fred, where do you come up with this stuff?

[black ace]

I liked the simple game that Sauve brought with him when he played here in 10-11. I hope he was left down in Chicago to get some big minutes and develop but I really didnt hear much about him...Could just be the difference in having the team in Winnipeg vs Chicago.

[Per]

I agree that Mats will most likely never reach the NHL, but he is holding his own in Norway; had 53 points in 43 games (26G 27A) last season, plus another 12 in 16 playoff games. He's also more or less a regular on their national team.
That being said, there have been very few NHL quality Norwegian players.
Or, to be more exact, seven: http://www.nhl.com/ice/careerstats.htm? ... AllSeasons
(Albeit in all fairness, I'm not even sure all of these truly were NHL quality players... )

Frøshaug was showing a lot of promise, he was the best scoring foreigner in the Swedish J20-league back in 07/08, but he never succeeded in the SEL and after failing to establish himself in Linköping went back to Norway in the middle of the 09/10 season. In 101 career games in the Norwegian league he has 101 points. But let's face it, the Norwegian league is not that competitive. Seems he has settled for being a big fish in a small pond rather than trying to fight his way upstream and play with the best.

Still, you never know. He's just 23. He should be getting loads of ice time in Norway, and probably assume some leadership as well. If he makes it back to the SEL before he's 25, and then manages to perform here as well...
Nah. Probably not.

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=6251
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mats_Fr%C3%B8shaug