My 2009 NHL Draft Journal

6:51- The rumor starts that Pronger is going to Philly for Lupul.  I swear to God, I almost…uh…well, this should stay at least PG-13.  But you can guess how I reacted.  I sure as hell hope there aren’t too many of these good moments tonight or I may be completely out of gas by 7:30.

Conversation between my teammate and I:

Alan: Tavares looks like that kid who thinks he’s hot but really isn’t.

Cody: Kinda like you, Al.

Alan: Yeah, but I actually am hot.

Cody: …

This night is gonna be sweet.

7:05- The Pronger trade was made (almost) official.  Pronger, a 35-year old superstar defenseman, may be out of his prime, but he is still a catch for the Flyers, who were able to get rid of an overpaid Joffrey Lupul ($4.25 million) in order to boost their defensive corps and perhaps help develop some young players.

7:12- Bettman’s French is indeed a nice touch, although his little smirk afterwards kind of killed it.  Nonetheless, a surprisingly good speech by him.  There was a part of the speech that didn’t make it onto TSN:

“By the way, everyone, we’re expanding to Las Vegas.  And Quebec.  And Winnipeg. And this place called Kuala Lumpur, but I’m not sure where that is.”

7:19- Garth Snow announces that John Tavares is the first overall pick of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.  Good pick, because Charles Wang had a knife on his wrist.  He just slowly moved it away.  Slowly.  

Thank God that this is all done now as to “who is the first pick in the draft.”  I called this, by the way.  Everyone said Tavares wasn’t good enough to be the top pick.  There’s a reason he is an “exceptional player” according to the OHL.  He’ll be an exceptional player in the NHL, too.

7:22- “Garth had the best poker face I’ve ever seen,” says Tavares.  Maybe he should actually play poker using that face.  Maybe the team would actually have money to spend on players.

7:25- I just found out that Holmgren actually traded Lupul, Sbisa and two first rounders for Pronger.  I am going to beat the crap out of someone.  

Trading the organization’s best defensive prospect in decades and two first round picks for a player who will play for another year or two is unacceptable.

7:36- Who is Ryan Dingo and why is he being traded to Philadelphia?

7:38- This draft journal is not as funny as I expected thus far, but I am simply that pissed over this trade.

7:40- From my dad: “Chelios is 47, why don’t we trade Richards for him?”

7:46- I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Evander Kane is a beast.  Kane, Kovalchuk, Kozlov.  The Little Black Russian line.  Oh snap.

7:50- I literally have gone through the five stages of grief for this Pronger trade.

1. Denial- “No f***in way!! We didn’t actually trade Sbisa, did we?”

2. Anger- “GAAAAAAAAHHHH”

3. Bargaining- “If you cancel this trade, Holmgren, I’ll buy season tickets.  Please.”

4. Sadness- *sob*

5. Acceptance- “Okay, fine, I guess this is true.  Maybe we’ll trade Briere, then I’ll feel better.”

7:56- So much French in this speech by the LA Kings.  Just pick Schenn already so that Burkie can have his heart attack.

7:57- Brian Burke is shown on TSN shaking his head, giving that glare of his.  You know, the one that kills little children when they see it.  Man, I wouldn’t want to be at that draft table right now.

8:00- The New York Islanders swapped first rounders with the Columbus Blue Jackets.  But TSN isn’t sure for what, yet.  I hope like hell Scott Howson got something good for that, because he deserves to win.  

You know, because he is nice to me and takes the time to talk to me.  Yeah.  I said it.  

P.S. He took time out of the Scouting Combine to talk to me and get to know me.  Class act right there.

8:03- Phoenix goes a bit off the board, in my opinion, taking Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Don't get me wrong: OEL is an unbelievable player, and he deserves to be in the top ten.

But I, like many, assumed that Jared Cowen would be heading to Phoenix. Nonetheless, I like this pick.  It’s as unpredictable as the Islanders’ farm system.

8:06- It was just announced that Jerry Reinsdorf has officially put in his offer for the Phoenix Coyotes.  It is an offer of $148 million and will keep the team in Phoenix.  I have a tough time believing that the NHL will reject this offer.  Balsillie’s efforts to buy the Coyotes, according to his spokesperson, Bill Walker, “will continue.”  

Yeah, okay.

8:10- Brian Burke is still my favorite person ever.  Simply basking in the boos of the Montreal crowd for a good fifteen seconds.  Wow.  I love him with all my heart.

8:11- Oh yeah, they picked Nazem Kadri.  Bryan Murray is pissed.  Now who will replace Heatley?  My next bet of the evening; Murray will screw this Heatley deal up so much that he will have to talk Gretzky into donning a Senators’ uniform and playing.

8:12- I love the fact that TSN is allowed to mic these GMs and play the sounds afterwards.  This is amazing footage, hearing Bryan Murray telling Burkie that he wants Kadri, then hearing Burke say, “Okay, well then we’re gonna take him.”

8:13- The Bell Centre is chanting “67” as the Leafs make their pick.  I wouldn’t be so quick to poke fun, Montreal.  You have Bob Gainey as a GM.

8:15- The fact that they have baby pictures of Nazem Kadri is just plain creepy.  They should show us Pierre McGuire as a six year old.  I’ll bet he’s bald back then, too.

8:17- I had a moment that I actually felt bad for Bettman.  Can you imaging constantly being booed by thousands of people at once, simply because you can’t please everyone in the job you have?  Apparently, he really is a nice and humorous guy.  Too bad we can’t see that side of him in interviews…

8:22- You know what’s ridiculous?  I will have gone through a full night of TV, an article, dozens of conversations with friends, phone calls and text messages, a baseball game tomorrow, a trip to the CN Tower, and the Flyers will still not have selected their first pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft!

8:30- “There’s just not enough there to make it happen,” Bryan Murray says about the Heatley fiasco.  Sounds like what my girlfriend says…

8:34- Kevin Lowe has just waved to Brian Burke in the crowd.  Burke responds by getting on all fours and barking, with foam pouring out of his mouth.

8:38- Steve Tambellini claims that Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson plays “Oiler Hockey.” Wait, MSP not only doesn’t skate, but he fails at winning, too?  That can’t be right…

8:44- Ryan Ellis has two gorgeous women sitting with him.  I hope at least one of them is his girlfriend and not his sister, because that would just cap off a perfect life. Drafted in the first round of the NHL draft, beautiful girlfriend, incredible abilities…on the ice, too.

8:47- Minnesota GM Chuck Fletcher is on the phone and has been since his team has been on the clock.  They do not look like they’re getting up.  I’m guessing that means a trade.  Gaborik, anyone?

8:49- “Some of our fans are so embarrassing,” Derek Harmsworth says.  Sounds like every sports fan in existence.

8:51- I like how they’re showing this trade go down live.  AKA, Bill Daly is standing there while a lawyer watches both GMs sign the contract.  So cool.  See, this is what a GM wanna-be enjoys.  It’s pathetic.

8:53- Garth Snow goes off the board by moving up four spots to draft a defenseman who would most likely still have been waiting for his name to be called.  This is more unexpected than when the Islanders score a goal.

8:54- A note about Long Island…when I was going college hunting and visited Hofstra University, the college across the street from Nassau Coliseum, you could see the emptiness outside the arena.  

There were more people walking through the college during spring break than there were in Nassau Coliseum the day of a game.

9:04- Doesn’t Darcy Regier look like he could kill someone just by looking at them? Kinda like Brian Burke.  Are they related?

9:09- The first Russian is taken in the draft at 14th.  Dmitri Kulikov is an unbelievable player; the Panthers are lucky he slipped this far.

9:15- I love how whenever a big name player is available, Glen Sather is on the scene.  Has he not learned from his millions of mistakes that tons of money does not always equal a Stanley Cup?

9:17- Ironic, isn’t it?  The Ducks make a blockbuster trade with the Flyers, then draft someone who’s been compared to Jeff Carter.  Hmmm…

9:22- Minnesota picks Mr. Hockey with their draft pick.  Pretty funny, according to the TSN announcers, who laughed so hard that you would’ve thought Bettman was on TV. Oh wait, he is.

9:24- I’m looking over what I have written so far.  It seems almost bipolar.  But that’s basically every Philadelphia sports fan.

9:25- Bob McKenzie explains that the St. Louis Blues' pick from all over the map, then proceeds to be unable to name more than two players on their roster; Perron and Eller.  *Applause*

9:26- Did you notice that when Bettman was going down the line of Blues’ executives, he just completely skipped over shaking the little kid’s hand?  Wow, what a great way to get kids involved in the game: by ignoring them completely.

9:28- Pierre McGuire on David Rundsblad: “This is a really, really good defenseman.” And they say this TV stuff is hard…

9:35- Montreal fans got their wish: Louis LeBlanc, the ivy-league bound center who will (hopefully) bring the bleu, blanc, et rouge back to glory.  Some kind of glory.  Or at least a winning record.

9:44- Do you know how many times Pierre McGuire has said, “This kid is probably the best skater in the draft”???  At least seven times.  Which is weird, because the best usually means just one.

9:51- Wow, another ironic moment…Hall of Fame inductee Lou Lamoriello just made a trade with the team that stole his coach.

9:53- Lou Lamoriello just announced that the Devils have eight to ten thousand fans. That can’t be right…it has to be less than that, right?

9:58- Anaheim trades Philadelphia’s pick to Columbus, who chooses John Moore.  My prediction of the year: Moore will become an NHL Hall of Famer, because that always happens to Philadelphia.

9:59- I apologize once again for the lack of funny conversations during the draft, but I blame TSN for having such unbelievable draft coverage.  

Seriously, though, TSN did a great job presenting this 2009 NHL Entry Draft and it truly makes me want to move to Canada.  You know, except for the whole “high taxes” thing.

10:00- I’m ending this draft journal, because it’s simply getting too long and I’m sure most of you have already stopped reading.  Nonetheless, thanks for reading and stay tuned for more articles!

Alan Bass is a Senior Writer for Bleacher Report, the Community Leader for the NHL and Philadelphia Flyers’ section, and a writer for Prohockeynews.com,Insidehockey.com, and Hockey54.com.  You can contact him at ALN424@aol.com.

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