By Brad Lee
The NHL draft is a crapshoot. As guys like Alexander Daigle will tell you, sometimes it's very difficult to project what a players will be like after he gets drafted and faces a higher level of competition. It's interesting to go back and look at how a player was described and see if the judgements are accurate.
This is what Brian Weidler, the Game Time Prospect Department, wrote about David Perron RIGHT after the NHL draft last June:
He is a smooth skater, but does not possess elite speed; he does, however, have exceptional hockey sense, and an arsenal of moves and skills that can dictate the pace of the game. He plays the point on Lewiston’s power play, and his quick release and hard, accurate shot make him valuable in that role.
His only-average speed, a tendency to over-handle the puck on occasion, and an inability to avoid demonstrating frustration on the ice when a move or a play doesn’t go his way, are the areas of his game that still require attention, but these are all areas that are correctable with proper coaching and willingness on the player’s part to apply himself.
Holy. Crap. Granted, it hasn't been a full year since Perron was drafted, but nearing the end of his first NHL season No. 57 is still showing some of the same tendencies that were considered the knocks on him before the draft. Perron has too much confidence carrying the puck in traffic and he was ripped in the media for flapping his arms at teammates when they didn't make a play he expected of them.
Two questions: How far has Perron progressed in his rookie year and will anyone doubt what the Prospect Department says about a guy in the future?