Give Me One Reason To Stay Here

This is the 1974 draft, one that I tracked with something close to my adult brain. The Hockey News had miles of lists for this edition of the draft, partly because of the WHA and partly because underage players were being drafted for the first time. Would you believe an offer sheet?

I didn’t know it at the time, swearing as I did at Sam Pollock for having so many draft picks, but the best mousetrap in the 1974 draft belonged to the New York Islanders. Bill Torrey and his staff drafted Clark Gillies in the first round, Bryan Trottier in the second round, Dave Langevin in the seventh round, and Swedish defenseman Stefan Persson in the 14th round. The Islanders smashed every team that year, even Sam Pollock and his Montreal Canadiens.

The NHL was concerned about the gap in knowledge of amateur talent between the best and worst clubs. The Islanders quickly became a contender, while the California Seals missed on too many prime draft opportunities. So, the league invented Central Scouting in order to give teams at least a floor in terms of draft knowledge.

In modern times, the Central Scouting list is a guide for NHL teams. Many years ago, a now-retired scout told me the only impact Central’s list had on him was the first list published in the fall. If the list had a player in his area he hadn’t filed on, the scouting director would want to know why.

On this site, I’ve used math for years as a way to rank the annual talent pool. It isn’t perfect, but does highlight some players who may be under the radar on draft day due to various reasons.

So the Ottawa 67’s have a draft eligible forward named Jasper Kuhta who I noticed as having great offensive numbers while being ranked far below dozens of shy scorers. Why? Don’t know. He might be a terrible checker, or have the slow boots. His offense (32-31-63 in 62 games) are excellent, and the Elite Prospects scouting report says nice things. He is 6.02 and he is 19, so what’s up?

Brock Otten at OHL Prospects likes him, but worries about his skating. That’s a concern. However, there are examples from NHL history, including the very same California Seals drafting of Charlie Simmer in 1974, and the Ottawa Senators picking Mark Stone in 2010, of slow boots delivering electric results.

I don’t know jack doodley about Kuhta. Maybe he has bad table manners or daydreams all day. I do know that despite being 19 and having questions about his skating, the young man got caught in my math trap so I’m interested.

I hope NHL teams have some nerd chasing down these math outliers for the scouts. Not as an ‘aha!’ moment like Central, but as a ‘could this guy be a Simmering Stone?’ double check. I don’t think there’s anything ridiclous about that idea.

On the Lowdown today, we’ll have Eddie Steele to talk Elks at 12:40 and Kevin McCurdy to talk Oilers at 1pm. Noon to two, Sports 1440 and You Tube. See you on the radio!