I’m not gonna lie.
When the Penguins pulled a surprise by selecting Benjamin Kindel with the 11th overall pick, I wasn’t particularly pleased. Promising though he is, Kindel was ranked 21st by NHL Central Scouting, and he was the smallest player taken at that juncture to boot.
The Pens need small like they need…well…decorum prevents me from finishing my thought.
However, in my eyes the real egregious blunder came when Kyle Dubas & Co. promptly peddled the 12th overall pick to Philly for the 22nd and 31st overall picks. In the process, foregoing a golden opportunity to draft one-of-a-kind, wrecking-ball defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson. A kid who could’ve dramatically and forcefully altered our mushy blue-line dynamic while providing an abundance of aggression, swagger and offense.
A no-brainer in my book. Apparently not so to Dubas, who’s proven to be notoriously inept when it comes to constructing a functional defense.
I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the Pens’ war room when Aitcheson’s name came up.
WES CLARK: “Aitcheson’s available. He’s a physical defenseman.”
DUBAS: “What’s that?”
CLARK: “I dunno, we’ve never had one before.”
DUBAS: “Pass.”
I digress.
As they say, to the victor goes the spoils. The Islanders gobbled the kid up at No. 17.
I’m not going to pull any punches (neither would Aitcheson). IMO, this was a brutal move on Dubas’s part. One we’re likely to pay for in spilled blood every time we play the Isles during the coming years.
At this point, I was so thoroughly disgusted I stopped paying attention.
Upon checking back in, I was pleased to see Dubas and his staff walked the dog back in so to speak by selecting power forward Bill Zonnon out of Rouyn-Noranda of the Quebec League with the 22nd overall pick.
I like everything about this kid. Good size (6’2” 190), strong for his wiry build (16 pullups at the recent NHL Combine), aggressive, north-south style…he comes right at you…yet very skilled to boot. Excellent vision and playmaking, as his 55 assists will attest, with an underrated shot.
When I watch Zonnon’s clips he just jumps off the screen and shouts, “Notice me!” for all the right reasons.
Well played by Dubas.
Then our POHO/GM struck another deal, this time with the Kings. In exchange for that recently acquired 31st pick (along with the second-rounder previously gleaned from the Caps) we moved up the ladder to No. 24.
The haul this time (literally)?
Hulking (6’5”) University of Michigan center William Horcoff.
The son of long-time NHLer Shawn Horcoff, William obviously possesses pro bloodlines. He plays an aggressive, take-no-prisoners style, and is solid defensively and away from the puck. He’ll bang around the net in search of dirty goals and is said to possess a decent shot.
What Horcoff isn’t, or at least wasn’t during his freshman year with the Wolverines, is offensively robust (only four goals and 10 points in 18 games). Hopefully that will come in time.
Not a burner, either.
Normally, I’d be thrilled to get a kid of his size and aggressive nature. However, Horcoff seems like a bit of a stretch pick to me, although Central Scouting had him ranked right where we got him (24th overall).
Back to our top pick, Kindel. The Calgary Hitman forward piled up 35 goals and 99 points in the WHL as an 18-year-old. Although undersized (generously listed at 5’11” 180) he has a high-motor and compete level. Too, Kindel’s skilled, crafty and regarded as an outstanding facilitator. Not as fast as you’d like for a kid his dimensions, but an elusive skater.
As I write, I’m reminded that the same description was once applied to Michel Brière. And more recently Jake Guentzel.
There was something the kid said in his interview that grabbed my attention.
“I think throughout my life, I’ve always had kind of a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, and I think that’s a good thing…”
It reminds me very much of a comment attributed to Mark Recchi back in the day. The Hall-of-Famer said being passed over because of his size stoked his will to succeed. We can only hope Kindel responds the way the Recchin’ Ball did.
Apparently the kid’s a darling of the analytics sect, which may explain why Dubas nabbed him early. Kyle loves him some analytics.
So how did we do?
Scott Wheeler of The Athletic placed us squarely in his “Losers” category, in particular questioning the Kindel and Horcoff selections.
Personally, I would’ve been far happier had we kept the 12th pick and grabbed Aitcheson, although selecting Zonnon, another personal favorite, mitigates that to a degree.
Dubas and his staff are constantly at work scouting these kids and far more knowledgeable than a shlub like me could ever hope to be. For now, we’ll need to trust his judgment. Although in the wake of Noel Acciari, Cody Glass, Ryan Graves, Jansen Harkins, Andreas Johnsson, Erik Karlsson, Matt Nieto and Colin White, et al., that may not be the easiest thing to do.
You are so off base that its hilarious. The goal isn’t to vicariously work out your anger issues by icing a team of goons. It’s to have he best possible team. The toughest thing in hockey is to score goals. You need skill and you can only get that early in the draft, unless you are very lucky. Bangers you can always get later, which they did. (Even DK got this right in a podcast last week.) Going for what they viewed as the most skilled offensive player first was absolutely the right move.
It’s also hilarious that Dubas is criticized for reach withing with Kindel when Aitcheson would have also been a reach, when consensus draft rankings (see Elite Prospects) put him at around 18. Kindel was only about 5 spots higher, so there was little difference. If Kindel was reach, so was Aitcheson. After the first 10 spots the draft is very flat, so the concept of “reach” is basically meaningless, anyway. Further, big, physical players are always overrated in the draft so Aitcheson’s rating does not reflect is real usefulness.
However, I do have on slight concern about Kindel. I am in no position to evaluate him as player, but he was Tanner Howe’s linemate when the Pens scouted him. Is i possible that they fell in love with him because they’ve seen him so much? I’ve heard that this can happen when scouts spend a lot of time seeing a player.
Horn’s Top 64 had ranked Aitcheson 7th, Forbes Top 64 had ranked him 11th, Baracchini of the Hockey Writers 13th, Craig Button of TSN 16th, Bob McKenzie of TSN 18th, Future Considerations 21st, and NHL Central Scouting 15th among NA Skaters.
As for Kindel on the other hand, Logan Horn (tHW) rated him as 60th overall, Andrew Forbes (tHW) rated him as 30th overall, Future Considerations and McKeen’s Hockey rated him 27th, Bob McKenzie of TSN rated him 25th.
Almost every scouting site ranks Kindle, at best a late first round to a very late second round, almost third round pick while rating Aitcheson an early to mid-first round pick.
You can flag wave and try to rubber stamp organizational blunders but there were tons of oppositional views from people who follow this for a living. Dubas and you are in a very small minority, befitting bellicose posturing on your part.
If you would, go back in my article and point out exactly where I say Kindel isn’t a worthwhile player.
I said I was surprised at the pick (so were the commentators, as were a lot of draftniks). I pointed out that he was the smallest player taken in the draft to that point, which he was. I pointed out that the Penguins don’t especially need small players, or benign ones, which is also true. Underscored by the fact that most everyone else we drafted did indeed have size, not to mention a level of aggression.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the Panthers won back-to-back Cups in no small part due to a relentlessly physical style.
As for me working out my latent anger issues, perhaps you’re right.
While we’re delving into people’s psyche’s, which you obviously feel qualified to do, you might want to examine your own overarching need to put down and criticize so you can somehow feel smug, smart and superior.
Rick
Hey Rick,
Although I wouldn’t call the Penguins complete complete losers yesterday, like you quote Wheeler, not since they did get Zonnon. However, as you will read in my take on the Dubas and his draft, his 1st and 3rd picks were not really all that highly touted by anyone other than Dubas. Then again Dubas’ draft record in the first round is extremely suspect.