Dispersal Draft Thread [game] - PICKS GO HERE!

[columbia]

People love goals.

On that angle, it's refreshing to *not* see Neal on the list.

[meow]

People love goals.

On that angle, it's refreshing to *not* see Neal on the list.

Not much room for one-trick ponies on a list like that. OV is about the closest comparable to make it.

[pcm]

Parise, MacKinnon, Pavelski, and Couture are all better than Kessel?

Building a team to win the cup, I would take any of the first 3 before Kessel. Building a fantasy hockey team, I'd take Kessel before all but MacKinnon.

I also just don't understand what the criteria is where Stamkos can be ranked 3rd but Malkin is 6th.

In the past 5 years, Malkin has had 1 monster season. The other 4 he's been @ a 70 point guy. Plus injuries.

[Staggy]

Parise, MacKinnon, Pavelski, and Couture are all better than Kessel?

Building a team to win the cup, I would take any of the first 3 before Kessel. Building a fantasy hockey team, I'd take Kessel before all but MacKinnon.

I also just don't understand what the criteria is where Stamkos can be ranked 3rd but Malkin is 6th.

In the past 5 years, Malkin has had 1 monster season. The other 4 he's been @ a 70 point guy. Plus injuries.

Kessel is a better player than all of those players, I don't even think it's close. Just because the rest of his team isn't playoff caliber doesn't mean he's not a great player. If you switch him and Patrick Kane, are the Leafs any better and the Hawks any worse? I don't think so, and then Kessel would be the dynamic winger with two Stanley Cups that everybody loves. When he got a chance to play on a talented team, he was voted the best forward of the Olympics.

[pcm]

Kessel is a talented loser. He's very much in the OV category of players, however you want to define them... I'd much rather a warrior, like any of Pavelski, MacKinnon, or Parise. I'm not a huge Kane fan, as I think he's more a complementary talent, akin to Kovalev. But one thing's for sure, he shows up when the stakes are on the line.

[Staggy]

Kessel is a talented loser because he plays on a bad team. All those guys are warriors because they play on good teams. Pavelski, Parise, and Kessel played on the same team 8 months ago and Kessel blew their doors off. You may not win a Cup if Kessel is your best player but the same goes for Pavelski, Parise, and MacKinnon (at this point) as well.

This all kind of goes back to the Jonathan Toews argument. He wouldn't be any worse of a player if he was born in Austria and played for Edmonton. But nobody would rank him as the second best player in the league if that were the case.

[pcm]

So what you're saying is winners find ways to win, and losers find ways to lose?

Were the NJD stacked with talent when Parise lead them to the finals a few years ago? Ryan Smyth played for Edmonton forever and still earned himself the distinction of warrior. The cream rises to the top. It may just be coincidence, but Boston became a championship team after they traded Kessel...

Anyways, you asked why he was ranked so low, and I'm just explaining the likely rationale of why GM's, coaches, insiders all ranked him so.

[MRandall25]

Phil Kessel reminds me a lot of Rick Nash: can score when he wants to, but is otherwise nonexistent.

They're both what I consider "All Star Game players".

[columbia]

I wish that the people who questioned the Neal trade would read the above.

[meow]

My thought had always been that teams with a one dimensional top 6 forward win the cup approximately 0.01% of the time. The last 10 cups, I can't really think of a winner having a one trick pony is a prominent role.

[Staggy]

Once again, if Kessel is one dimensional then Patrick Kane isn't far behind. Also Marian Gaborik. It just so happens that the rest of their teams are loaded and don't have Tyler Bozak as the number one center.

[MRandall25]

Marian Gaborik is pretty one-dimensional...