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The rebuilding years can be a painful time for the impatient. It's one thing to establish a long-term plan to make your team successful; it's quite another to allow that plan the time it needs to come to fruition. The pressures on an NHL executive to deliver a winning team now are great. Fortunately, ownership of the fictional Saskatoon Westerns has every confidence in Ardal Ekrub, himself a man of great patience. His plan is to build his team into one that is a perennial contender for the NHL championship, and to do so through the Draft. Heading into his fourth NHL Entry Draft with the team in 1986, Ekrub was well pleased with his results thus far, but knows it will still be a few years before his team would really be a reflection of his draft picks rather than the quite decent base of players he inherited from St. Louis.
So although his team's 88-point performance in 1985-86 was appreciated, especially by the team's still-hopeful fans, it came as something of a mixed blessing. In some sense, Ekrub would have preferred to start with a team at the bottom of the standings, giving him several years' worth of top-five draft picks to build his team more quickly, instead of having to make do with the 15th overall pick in the upcoming draft. But it's a fine line to tread, as he knows he has to keep the fans happy as well. And after all, his Project-a-Tron objective draft rankings give him a significant edge over his competition, and so far he's still able to select some of the very best players available, as he sees them. To Ekrub's eyes, he's getting the best of both worlds.
As such, Ekrub enters each Entry Draft with just a faint hope of having the best available players fall to him, despite not drafting until the middle of the first round. Finnish blueliner Teppo Numminen is this year's top-ranked player, and although the Saskatoon GM certainly doesn't count on getting him, he knows there's always a chance.
Top 30 Players Available at 1986 Entry Draft
Rank Player Pos League PGVT+ Drafted
1 Numminen, Teppo D Fin 20.4 29
2 Brown, Rob F WHL 18.6 67
3 Murphy, Joe F CCHA 13.8 1
4 Carson, Jimmy F QMJHL 11.7 2
5 Hawgood, Greg D WHL 9.0 202
6 Sjogren, Thomas F Swe 9.0 -
7 Endean, Craig F WHL 7.7 92
8 Nelson, Jeff F CCHA 7.5 -
9 Wahlsten, Sami F Fin 7.1 -
10 Damphousse, Vincent F QMJHL 6.9 6
11 Lebeau, Stephan F QMJHL 6.5 -
12 Djoos, Per D Swe 5.9 127
13 Turcotte, Darren F OHL 5.5 114
14 Bar, Mark D OHL 5.4 83
15 Ojanen, Janne F Fin 5.4 45
16 Laniel, Marc D OHL 5.3 62
17 Garpenlov, Johan F Swe 5.3 85
18 Drulia, Stan F OHL 5.2 214
19 Young, Scott F HE 5.2 11
20 Baseggio, Dave D ECAC 5.2 68
21 Janney, Craig F HE 5.1 13
22 Wolak, Mike F OHL 4.9 87
23 Beals, Darren G OHL 4.9 -
24 Elynuik, Pat F WHL 4.8 8
25 Kurzawski, Mark D OHL 4.8 35
26 Zettler, Rob D OHL 4.8 55
27 Huffman, Kerry D OHL 4.7 20
28 Chapman, Brian D OHL 4.7 74
29 Cain, Kelly F OHL 4.6 193
30 Purves, John F OHL 4.6 103
It's pleasant surprises all around then, as Numminen is still available when Saskatoon's turn to pick comes up in the first round. With their second selection at #33, the top-ranked forward in right winger Rob Brown is still available. Adding to the team's haul in the third line, the Westerns are pleased to find that the second-ranked defenseman, and fifth-ranked player overall, Greg Hawgood is available. Ekrub feels it might be a bit unfair, but of course realizes that his ranking system hasn't really been proven yet, so contains his enthusiasm and books no party just yet.
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Pucks From The Past (10/27)
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