Do you think DeHaan was the right/best pick for the isles at #12 in the 2009 draft?

I was higher on Kulikov, Moore, and probably Runblad(from the sound of his scouting reports) over DeHaan for a top 4 puckmoving/goal-scoring blueliner. I loved Kassian’s skills and size too, but am not 100% sure we should have picked him when our system looked barren in the puckmoving/goal-scoring department since A-mac wasn’t around and Hamonic was still a prospect. That said, Kassian’s overall possibly high-impact package is hard to ignore. Based on my projections/expectations, I would no question have taken Kulikov and Moore over DeHaan(likely Runblad too), and would have been 50/50 on taking Kassian over him.

I think that everyone and their mother thought Garth was zeroing in on Kassian, a player who seemed to be everything that we needed. I admittedly was disappointed with the selection of DeHaan, but was hoping the hockey minds behind the scenes had found a hidden gem. That remains to be seen. I had Kulikov and Moore rated higher also. Personally, what I think happened is Garth targeted Ryan Ellis, and figured there was no way Nashville would take him at #11, being that they have a bevy of good young defensemen in their system. So, DeHaan was probably the next highest rated defenseman on his list, and therefore made him the pick.

Fire Garth Snow!

I don’t see how anyone judge a player who hasn’t played in NHL yet, or is 20 yrs old.

My answer is, the Jury is still out.

If you want Snow fired and it wasn’t meant with sarcasm… You might as well let him leave with all the players he’s brought to this team. Don’t cheer for Grabner, or Moulson. You can Boo; Montoya, Hamonic, & Parenteau every time they touch the puck.

First, Dmen always take longer to develop.

Second, DeHaan’s injuries have derailed his development and held him back at least a year.

Ask this question again in June, 2013 and (please only) once every year thereafter, and you will be in a position to get a better answer.

Thank you for your attention. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

This is a thread about “opinions”. I want to gauge what everyone thought about the pick.

-Did you like DeHaan at #12 or would you have preferred someone else?
-So far(in hindsight), would you rather anyone else picked after dehaan at that #12 pick?

Obviously, no one knows yet. But this wouldn’t be an arugable or even thought provoking fanpost if it was clearcut. That’s why I did this. So please, no more we don’t know yets. This is a, in your opinion, would you have taken de haan at #12 or someone that was picked after him in the 1st round and why?

That’s all. A simple opinion asking fanpost. There is enough evidence to have an opinion on this topic (scouting reports, draft rankings, juniors numbers, even some nhl numbers so far, injury issues, intangible news, etc).

The way David Rundblad has developed maybe yes, he was overdrated. Gotta agree Kulikov has been good. But I liked what I saw from CdH at the WJC. I thought he was one of very few players who were good on that Canadian team. There seems to be a lot of potential there. It’s also interesting that he got leadership skills.

As I’ve said before, Bridgeport will be very fun to follow next season.

is an opinion…also mine.

None of these guys have done anything in the NHL, so I am fine with deHaan until there is some evidence. What people forget is that Cal was JT’s teammate during his time at Oshawa. Our scouting team got to see him plenty and they got to see how he played with our franchise center on the PP.

Our scouting team also leans heavily on psychological testing…he showed heavy leadership, battled through and recovered from injury/surgery, played well in the playoffs and was selected to a couple of WJCs where he also played with Hamonic. I think given the history of how even our low pick D men pan out, you have to give the benefit of the doubt until they are all playing at the NHL level. He also has bulked up quite a bit and was a kid that battled through some adversity as indicated in this article fanshotted by lostsin44.

"I guess you could say I was a little bit of a late-bloomer because I didn’t play as a 16-year-old in the (OHL)," said de Haan. "But I took the time in Jr. A to refine my game and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

"When he’s on the ice the game calms down," said DePiero.(Oshawa coach) "He doesn’t rush, he has puck control whether that’s within a series of shifts, a period or a whole game, it’s amazing."

"You can always trust him to make the right plays," said defensive partner Colin Suellentrop. "Sometimes if I’m unsure, I’ll try to just give him the puck and let him make the right play because he’s always making the right choices. He’s a very reliable player."

He said he bought into DePiero’s rebuilding plan when the Generals traded star forward John Tavares and defenceman Michael Del Zotto – now both NHLers – to London in an effort to get younger…."I think in his mind, he wanted to see this through," said DePiero. "And the fact that we had the year we had, from that standpoint, it was one of the best record’s for the Generals in the last 15 years and for him to be the captain of a team that’s done that is a credit to him. I think he recognized where we were going."

Lets wait till he gets some games in. I know Corey Pronman rated De Haan before this season as his #15 prospect. Now he’s not taken a big step forward, but there was the injury and well he’s still not even played in the NHL yet.

He WILL be in the NHL at some point next year. Then we can judge.

I was all for kassian at the time and still would pick kassian over dehaan. i dont know who will pan out better, but personally i would covet a guy with kassian’s characteristics. I immediately think milan lucic and kassian is further alone than milan was at that age. To me, having guys like that on your team is priceless and they are very rare. A fighter/protector/scorer/power forward. Regardless of how our d was then and how it is now i would still take Kassian. I was shocked they were able to move up so high and was shocked when they didnt pick Kassian. Seemed kind of weird we would move up so high to draft a guy that was slotted right around where we were originally selected to draft.

Victor Hedman
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Jared Cowen
Ryan Ellis
Calvin De Haan
Dmitri Kulikov
Nick Leddy
David Runblad
John Moore
Simon Despres

I don’t think Garth is dumb, so I’m thinking De Haan’s leadership and exposure (playing w/ tavares) is what won Garth over. Maybe he’s not big on Russians (Kulikov), maybe he didn’t want a troublemaker (Kassian), but Garth has shown that, rather than go for the best player available, he knows EXACTLY what he’s looking for, and moves up or down to get there.

In June 2008, the year prior, Garth stocked the cupboard on character/talent at all positions with his 13 picks. So, June 2009, Garth drafts Tavares, so okay he’s got the franchise center. I guess next on his list was a PP QB. I’m sure if he could’ve moved up for Hedman, Ekman-Larsson, or Ellis, he would have, but the best he could do was the 12th pick. Who was the next best QB available? Looking here, it’s not hard to argue De Haan as your choice if a calm, cool, PP QB with leadership is what you’re looking for. Could he have gotten De Haan at 26? at 20? Who knows, but he didn’t wanna take any chances (maybe Ryan Ellis was his target, maybe not).

I’m not a big Kulikov fan, so I’m happy he didn’t take him. Nick Leddy is small and he isn’t Ellis, so I’m good with that. David Runblad apparently improved more than people thought after he was drafted, so yeah it’ll be interesting to see how he and De Haan compare over the next 5 years.

I like both De Haan and Runblad, so I’m happy with the pick as far as best PP QB available.

Oh, and as for Kassian, I can’t find the newsday article on their website where Garth is asked why he didn’t pick Kassian. Does anybody have any info on either the article or why Garth didn’t take him?

Who the hell cares if he overpaid/overdrafted to guarantee getting the guy he wanted? We gave up a spare third round pick and a seventh. I’d argue that is essentially nothing. We still took seven players in the draft (a year after drafting, what, 13?).

This isn’t a rotisserie draft where picking a guy too high can hurt you. If the Isles wanted de Haan, then they were smart to move up and take him rather than hope he fell to where they picked. The risk lies in being cautious. Especially when the cost was as low as it was.

My answer, I wasn’t high on anyone past #10, DeHaan was/is fine.

I can name players rated in the top ten in this years draft, anything past that? Haven’t a clue.

I trust Snow & the Scouts, if he was the one at 12? He was the one.

Garth picks characters guys period. CDH is just another example of such a player. I would have loved to have Kassian protect Tavares wing but Kassian has a few issues. More importantly Snow has managed to restock our organization with good and young players. Which is wonderful news.

Regarding the other D-Men available who knows and who knew.

We got our guy and it looks like this will be his year to make the NHL.

Did we get the right guy? I have no freaking clue. But we got our guy and I am crossing my fingers he is successful.

Dishonourable mention: Zack Kassian, Windsor Spitfires (OHL)

The Spitfires right wing is facing a suspension for the match penalty he earned for drilling the Owen Sound Attack’s No. 1 defenceman, Jesse Blacker, some 100 feet behind the play as Owen Sound was scoring its empty-net clincher. The Rogers Television broadcast did not catch the act, but a match penalty is self-explanatory. It also topped off a night where Kassian hurt Windsor’s chances with a couple undisciplined penalties — including a high-sticking infraction that gave him a front-row seat for Wilson’s game-winning goal.

Itis too early to tell if deHaan who was drafted #12 was drafted too early or was the right/wrong pick. Give this kid a chance get to the NHL to prove himself before we dub him not worthy of a #12 pick. Very few players are NHL ready coming right out of the draft, many need time to develop. I was OK with him being the #12 pick.

there is no guarantee De Haan will be a top line defenseman at 12 about anything in the draft.

But there is a much bigger percentage of first rounders that make it than every subsequent round. Goalies are usually taken in the later rounds because there are only 2 per team and basically…the need isn’t there to draft early, and lately, teams are winning and going through the playoffs without top-tier goalie talent. I hear you about the bulk of the picks, but the picks were not of high quality to begin with. Petrov went late because of that contract, and Kabanov had the “character” issues…Spare that, both of those guys would have gone in the first round. Talent that good doesn’t drop that far that often. Hamonic was another “late bloomer” that Snow found somehow. If he was draft eligible last year, he would have gone in the first too. It is the ability to see past where everyone is right now, to where they will be based on where they are now. How many people were saying that Poulin and Hamonic were going to be great before 2 years ago? If that is the trajectory that deHaan is taking, won’t it be worth it?

We already had Tavares who was NHL ready so I don’t see anything wrong with taking a chance on De Haan. It is way to early to know if we made the rigth pick there but either way I don’t fault Snow.
   de Haan’s stock rose after Tavares was traded from Oshawa and De Haan’s production remained steady. His numbers were on par with mid first round defenseman and his skating is what go scouts excited. It the same argument a lot of people are making for Dougie Hamilton- that skating in a17 year old defenseman trumps polish and I don’t disagree.
    It is easy to play the who we drafted in retrospect game but I am not sure ultimately it serves anyone to do so. Its been done quite a bit with bailey and we’ve even seen it done with Tavares, especially after he hit the skids before the Olympics last year. Its still too early to do that with Bailey so its also way to early to do it with CDH, especially as others have pointed out defenseman take longer to devolop

To guage talent that most of us haven’t seen play aside from a few preseason and/or world junior games. Look at Tavares, look at what type of player we were told by hack writers he was supposed to be. Writers and fans try to sum up a lot about players based on stats and size but really its all meaningless until we see them play day in and day out. So let’s at least wait until we’ve had the opportunity to watch CDH play before we make judgements about him.

After #1- #10… The percentage that any player between 10-20 make an impact decreases.
Sure, there’s always been years that plenty past #10 become impact players. You always hear; “Hey this guy was drafted 180th” We never hear of the majority that don’t.

In the case of DeHaan? I believe Snow made the right choice. A D-man at #12 was the safer pick.

Use this years draft for example. RNH, Landsekog, Huberdeau, Larsson, Couturier, Hamilton, Strome, Zibanejad, Saad, Barteschi… You MIGHT find a Murphy, Beaulieu, Siemans after #10…

I would draft any of them before any other forward available.

And I am not just saying that now after he has struggled. I have always been against using top three round picks on goalies.

…and I tried to read most of the comments above, but if I’m restating anything I apologize.
Just a few points:
1. Standing pat would have gotten us a pretty good RW who will probably be in the NHL next year in Kyle Palmieri… plus all the darts we gave up to get to 16, and then 12. So when thinking about CDH you have to think with the reverse mindset that we think of Bailey. When I put all of that in the computer I find it hard to justify the pick at this stage….but…
2. Calvin was an OHL rookie when he was drafted so there wasn’t a whole lot of info except what the scouts were saying as they watched other Oshawa players. I assume that Janks fell in love… he seemed pretty excited when the cameras caught him on draft day making the deal with Minn.
3. The Isles weren’t alone. Calvin, after that rookie showing was a big part of the canadian WJC team. He winds up getting hurt, but his selection and level of responsibility was an endorsement of what to expect of this kid… or at least that expectations were pretty high from others besides the Islander braintrust.
4. He’s had two good camps… As said before, this most likely won’t get him to the NHL in September, but a good AHL showing and he will be moving into Eaton’s apartment as soon as the van leaves.
5. Don’t forget that the ISLES interview (like every other team does) each potential draft pick. When you look at the guys who have reached the team, or are about to reach the team, for the most part (I’m looking right at you KK) CHARACTER is a big part of what they are drafting. It’ll be fun to see what CDH brings to the Soundtigers and the Islanders…. It would be great if we got a young Mark Streit…. but that’s a pretty high standard.
6. FRAGILE (maybe he’s from Italy) I don’t think he’s fragile.. but that label has been taken out of the box. A few more appearances on the IR and it might even stick. He’s had size issues that he has worked to overcome, and he has had injuries to beat. I think this year will give us a pretty good indication if Garth made a good selection (on his own merit). If you check back about 12 years from now we’ll be better able to assess whether it was the best choice.
After all that, I’d have said they sould have thrown more darts… two years ago they still had a million organizational holes. I hope that CDH proves me wrong… but I havea feeling that Jankowsk’s releasei was the first sign that this isn’t where the organization needed to go.

Has anyone actually seen CDH play? I am excited that he may make our roster but the self doubt is tiring.

Let’s enjoy what we have and the potential to add another blue-chipper to our team.

I forget is it 20 or 21?
Does it depend on the contract also?