During the first Coach’s Corner segment of the season (now half as long! Thank you, Sportsnet), outspoken analyst and big Maple Leafs fan Don Cherry discussed the Leafs’ approach to drafting under the new regime. As always, it was hilarious, maybe even intentionally so.
And, yes, the Caps were even mentioned.
Caps mention begins at 1:05 mark.
“Let me just tell you that the LA Kings, the Stanley Cup champions, drafted seven [Canadians] — after the Swede — but they draft seven guys out of the OHL,” a yelling Cherry began. “You know how many Canadians the Maple Leafs drafted? Zero!”
“The only other team that didn’t draft a Canadian in the National Hockey League was the other loser, Washington,” he said. “[Toronto] drafted none!”
Then Cherry started rambling about how infinitely better Nick Ritchie is than William Nylander and I don’t even know. Whatever, dude.
The table below shows the percentage of Canadian players drafted by NHL teams since the 2010.
The Caps are dead last– the only club in single digits, too. Cherry is actually right. Weird.
But I have a few qualms with some other things he said.
- There were three teams that didn’t draft a Canadian in 2014. (Dominic Turgeon was born in Quebec and plays in the Canadian Hockey League for the Portland Winterhawks, but he represents USA internationally.) I guess Cherry just wasn’t comfortable with calling Ken Holland and the Wings losers.
- In the same segment, Cherry praised Anaheim Ducks manager Bob Murray for picking Ritchie right after the Leafs took Nylander. Interestingly, Anaheim (managed by Murray since 2008) isn’t much into Canadian kids either.
- Another team that Cherry probably wouldn’t call losers are the Chicago Blackhawks. The two-time Stanley Cup champions are second only to Washington when it comes to not drafting Canadians.
- On top of the list, with all the #truculence in the world, are the Calgary Flames. Stocked with Canadians, but not exactly the Stanley Cup contenders.
- Cherry also said that Wendel Clark was the only “impact guy” drafted by the Leafs, ever. Here’s the list of the Leafs draft picks. Vincent Damphousse wasn’t an impact guy? Lanny McDonald? Randy Carlyle?
- Finally, to Cherry’s “losers” label. Playing the Bruins on Saturday, the Caps had eight different players record points plus a goalie with a shutout. Eight were Caps draft picks, and five were not Canadian.
Why don’t the Caps draft Canadians aggressively? I can’t say that I agree with this theory, but I’ve seen people saying the Canadian Hockey League, where most draftees from north of the border play, is over-scouted and NHL teams overvalue them.
The more substantial argument to me is that the Canadian development system hasn’t provided the results to remove doubts about the continuation of Canadian dominance. In the last five years, Canadian junior teams have combined for a total of one gold medal-winning performance in U18 and U20 World Juniors. Russia, Sweden, and Finland have one each as well, while the US have an eye-popping six.
Thanks for an advice Don. You can keep the Canadians; we’ll keep our good drafting.
