Draft and so on

Well, well, well. It doesn't seem like it was all that long ago that Evgeni Malkin was staring down the barrel of a 2-0 series deficit, or that he was hauling the Conn Smythe down Boulevard of the Allies a few blocks from my office (in fact, it wasn't: it was 28 days ago and 13 days ago, respectively), and yet the 2009-'10 NHL season has already begun. Yes, the draft was this weekend, and as expected, it was full of news that a lot of people made out to be way more interesting than it really was, and also full of news that kinda matters a little.

Let's start with the moment the media has told you to all have been waiting for: your team's first round draft pick. We are led to believe that, in professional sports, a team's future is determined by its first round pick. As we know, the reports of this importance are greatly exaggerated. Unless you're the Pittsburgh Penguins - then, time and time again, the NHL draft will actually reshape your franchise from "move to Kansas City" to "win the Cup." Anyway, the point is: just like everyone else, we picked the guy we thought was the best guy available when it was our turn. We picked a kid named Chris Kreider. Some will tell you this was a horrible plan. These people miss the point: a hockey team like ours's problems do not get solved by bringing one high schooler into the system. That's dumb. Kreider is, apparently, the fastest skater eligible for the draft this year. He's also 6'2", 201 lbs. That sounds like a good combination, and a good guy to bring into your system and work on. Good work. We'll see how he is in a few years, when we hopefully bring him onto the squad. That's the whole analysis. He's a high schooler. Next year, he'll most likely be playing hockey for Boston College. So let BC worry about whether or not he's the savior. We'll move on to the Rangers.

In even less relevant but somewhat more interesting news, we drafted Ryan Bourque in the third round. This is interesting because, unlike Colton Orr, Ryan actually is the son of the guy you think he might be the son of. Is being as good at hockey as Ray Bourque genetic? I guess we'll see, the end.

To continue in that direction, to news even less relevant and even more interesting, apparently Sather was talking a lot to Senators GM Bryan Murray on Friday night. The word on the street is that Sather wanted to make a big deal for Dany Heatley, but Ottawa was asking too much. What on this squad is too much for Heatley? Must have involved 1-2 of Callahan, Dubinsky, Staal, and Lundqvist. Or, like, 7 players. Anything else probably would have been worth it. But whatever - if Slats is now erring on the side of keeping our kids over getting stars, I'm not sad about it.

There are two things that could actually substantively affect a team's immediate future that happen on draft weekend (again, excepting the Penguins): that team could make a big trade (you know, like, for example, Chris Pronger could become a Philadelphia Flyer), or the salary cap could change in a way that affects that team. Slats didn't make any deals. Guess what my next entry is about.