NHL is cursed - results of NHL draft lottery

[Rob Graff]

Pittsburgh wins Draft lottery, so most exciting prospect in years will toil away in obscurity on a team financially neutered.

At least the NBA made sure Ewing made it to a major media market.

Wild pick 4th If you go back and look at the '03-'04 league standings Wild should have been drafting 12th as Wild had the 12th worst record in the league.

[KnoxVegas]

Actually, the Pens are in pretty good shape under the terms of the new CBA. They have some decent YOUNG talent and plenty of money. The Igloo is a crap barn but with gambling now approved in PA, the plan is to make the first casino/arena across the street from the Igloo. Toiling is not the word, when gambling is involved.

[byualum]

C'mon Rob...forget the NHL. Renew your UMD Bulldog tickets so you can catch DU on their way to a 3-peat.

[Rob Graff]

ByuAlum: Unfortunately cannot - 7 year old Son is convinced he's going to be drafted into the NHL (after playing Hockey/Lax for Michigan), so he always follows the NHL.

[Kojima]

Pittsburgh wins Draft lottery, so most exciting prospect in years will toil away in obscurity on a team financially neutered.

you gotta remember, Crosby's only 17.. 5'10.. a lotta pressure on this kid and i don't think he's gonna deliver right away.. i'm more interested to see last year's first round selection, Alexander Ovechkin.. i like his cockiness and i think he's gonna be the real deal.. i expect Brule's gonna do well in Columbus too, with cdn Rick Nash (first overall, 02).. ... anyway, the NHL has lots of talent and a great game to market.. the question is whether you guys down south care...

[onpoint]

The talent is there, for sure. Problem is that the league is having trouble marketing these new names. ESPN said it best, if you could name one person after Crosby in this year's draft, you were in the vast minority. That's the league's problem right now. I could reel off names and teams from NHL '94 all day long, but to be honest, I feel like I don't even know most the players in the league anymore. The reason all this pressure is building up on Crosby is because yester-year's big name stars are all gone or fading. Gretzky, Lemieux, Hull, Belfour, Roy, etc. Those names are synonymous with the game of hockey itself. Now we have maybe a couple names that really transcend the game to make it marketable. Forsberg, uhh . . . Lecavalier, or maybe Iginla? See what I mean? Unless you are a big time hockey fan, you really can't name 10 or 12 players that you can identify with. Hockey needs Crosby to be its new face after this lockout more than he is probably able to live up to.

[byualum]

Very happy with the Avalanche draft...three solid college players that can remain with their programs for the immediate future. Stastny at Denver, Fritsche at Ohio State and TJ Hensick at Michigan. Very solid draft that should pay dividends in the next 3-4 years.

[Pinball]

Hey Rob shouldnt you be cheering for your boys back at your old school harvard?? They should be able to at least outsmart the fellas at UMD.