Saturday, September 11, 2010

NHL-Draft 2010 / Goalies

To my surprise two goalies were drafted in the first round. While Jack CAMPBELL was not a surprise at all - in my eyes he is a "high-end" prospect and already VERY close to be NHL-ready - the Phoenix Coyotes' pick Mark VISENTIN (27th overall) came with quite a big surprise, for me at least. Also in the second round two goaltenders were picked - so we have four goalies in the top60 in this draft and all this in a year I really did believe it will be not a good draft for goalies.  Thanks to "Goalies World" I have some interesting statistical facts: In 2009 the first four goalies picked in the NHL-Entry-draft were from Europe. This year it's more than the opposite: The first seven goalies picked in the 2010 NHL-entry-draft are all from North America! 21 goalies did get picked overall and only one of them is under 6 feet tall (Cody ROSEN, New York Islanders, he is "only" 5.11). 9 of the mentioned 21 goalies are 6.02 or taller! All this means that the trend of selecting big, tall goalies is ongoing. Personally I do agree with the tendency of counting on taller goalies, good size is definitely an advantage because nowadays a lot of tall goalies are quick, fast and mobile at the same time. However... I also think that the latest drafting-trend towards goalies is a bit exaggerated, I guess the "being taller means being better goalie-wisdom" is slightly overrated. What's on the horizon for 2011? Again I personally think it's a bad draft-year in terms of goalies but maybe again I will be surprised in June 2011.

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