This past weekend, I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Entry Draft in Montreal. While I do not have anything to compare this to, seeing as I had never been to an Entry Draft prior to this weekend, I was pleasantly surprised by the experience.
First off, the City of Montreal was a tremendous choice by the NHL. Regardless of the team’s centennial hockey season, the city is hockey, hockey, hockey all the time. The streets were packed with people excited about the game of hockey near the end of June, so it made for an exciting weekend.
One thing that stood out to me was the amount of hockey people who came into town for the Entry Draft. People from the CHL, USHL, AHL, NHL, NCAA were all there in attendance. Some seemed to be there for a specific draft-related reason, others just seemed to be there for the camaraderie. Either way, you were hard-pressed to walk within three blocks of the Bell Centre and not see somebody involved in the game roaming around the streets of Montreal.
Speaking of the streets of Montreal, there probably aren’t many better streets to roam in North America. Distractions abound, so good thing Eugene Robinson wasn’t in attendance–as Kyle and I were offered to see a Lesbian Show about seven times by the same guy on Rue St. Catherine. But I digress.
Maybe the most interesting part of the draft experience was watching the draft floor. When you watch the Entry Draft on television (which I had always done prior to this year), you don’t get the full extent of the team discussions and the dynamics on the floor at all times. When you are in attendance, you can see teams attempting to negotiate trades, teams laboring over which player to draft and teams sitting laid back waiting until they can hit Rue Crescent.
Considering the lack of action, in terms of trades, for most of the year, it was exciting to see teams attempting to consummate multiple deals on the draft floor. Unfortunately, aside from the Chris Pronger deal on Friday and the Jay Bouwmeester trade on Saturday, a lot less trade activity took place than anticipated.
That said, it does not mean that draft weekend was not without its highlights. So, without further ado, here are my highlights from draft weekend:
Funniest moments of the weekend:
Most unnecessary part of the weekend:
Most disappointing part of the weekend:
Most impressive part of draft weekend:
Funniest sightings of the weekend:
What stood out most after seeing them in person:
In summation, the NHL Entry Draft was a great experience that I recommend every NHL hockey fan attend at one point or another. While I’m not sure if other cities are capable of replicating the job done by the City of Montreal, just the action that surrounds the NHL Entry Draft makes it a worthwhile experience.
Recap of the game.
Thoughts on the big 5-0 win.
Keeping you up-to-date with all the latest pro hockey news in Manitoba.
The Jets have an extra forward with the Gus Bus out of the shop and…