Why The Devils Are Better Than The Rangers

In yesterday's Daily News, Sherry Ross (who used to do the Devils play by play) wrote the following:

"Both the Rangers (at No. 12) and the Islanders (at No. 15) had chances to draft Zach Parise in 2003 before the Devils traded up to get him at No. 17, in case you're wondering why the best hockey organization in the tri-state area is the one in New Jersey." http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/story/500475p-422016c.html

That got me thinking about the hockey draft in a way that is typically reserved for football. By examining the draft of both the Rangers and the Devils, one begins to see why the Devils have been the far better franchise since the ealry 1990s.

The 1st Round

I think a good place to start is 1987. It is the earliest draft that you still find a significant number of currently active players. Plus, with the typical trajectory to the NHL, 1987 is probably the best draft to look at for players impact in the 1990s.

1987 - Devils drafted 3rd Selected Brendan Shanahan; Rangers drafted 10th selected Jason Moye. Shanahan is still an all-star, was once one of the top players in the game, and brought the Devils back Scott Stevens. Moye was a journeyman defenseman who stuck around the NHL for a long time.

1989 - Devils drafted 5th Selected Bill Guerin. Rangers drafted 20th selected Steven Rice. Guerin also was one of the best players in the league. Rice was a speedster whose game never matched. Guerin brought the Devils Jason Arnott in a trade. Arnott was the pivot between the Devils famous "A" line.

1990 - Probably the worst "mismatch" draft year. The Rangers select 13th take Michael Stewart who never played an NHL game. The Devils select 20th and take hall of famer and one of the top goalies ever, Martin Brodeur. To make matters worse, the Devils actually traded down to get Brodeur.

1991 - Devils select 3rd, take Scott Neidermayer, one of the best all around defensemen in the game today. Rangers select 15th, take the highly skilled Alexei Kovalev. Good pick by both teams.

1993 - Rangers select 8th, take Niklas Sundstrom, a productive defensive forward. Devils select 13th, take Dennis Pederson, who turns out to be the same.

1995 - Rangers traded away 1st round pick in previous years run to the Stanley Cup. Devils trade up and grab Petr Sykora. In parts of 7 seasons, Sykora would score almost 300 points for the Devils.

1998 - The Rangers have the 7th pick and select Manny Malhotra who has found his place in the NHL as a 3rd liner. Selected with the last 2 picks of the 1st round, the Devils select Mike Van Ryn, the effective defenseman who bolted the Devils by going to juniors, and with the last pick of the 1st round, the Devils select the electrifying Scott Gomez who is quite the Rangers killer today. This is where is starts to get really ugly.

1999 - Much is made of the Rangers 2 high draft picks, 4 and 9. They take Pavel Brendl and Jamie Lundmark. Neither is ever a factor for the Rangers. Lundmark is still bouncing around the NHL while Brendl is playing somewhere in Europe. By contrast, the Devils 2nd round Pick Mike Commodore won a cup with the Devils and is the leader of the Hurricanes.

2000 - A bad Rangers team trades away its 1st round pick. Selecting 22nd, the Devils take current NHLer David Hale.

2003 - The Rangers and Islanders pass on Zach Parise, the Devils gladly scoop him up. He is on pace to score about 40 goals this year.

2004 - The jury is still out. The Rangers had the 6th pick and take prospect goalie Al Montoya. Selecting 20th, the Devils take Travis Zajac, currently in his rookie year as the Devils 2nd line center.

The "Other" Draft Picks

For this section I am going to look
at current players on each teams roster that where drafted by that team in any round besides the first.

The Rangers - Petr Prucha was drafted in the 8th round and had a highly productive rookie year. His 2nd year, not so much. Fedor Tyutin was slected in the 2nd round. He is a solid defenseman with potential to get better. Ryan Hollweg is another 8th rounder. He is a tough 4th line player. Henrik Lundqvist is an 8th round pleasant surprise.

The Devils - 2nd rounder Patrik Elias is the Devils captain. 3rd Rounder Brian Gionta has a knack for finding the net. He had 48 last year and was leading the team this year before he hurt his groin. 2nd rounder Sergei Brylin is a plugger who has been a key part of 3 stanley cup winning teams. Paul Martin and his offensive defensive skills were a steal in the 2nd round. Another 2nd rounder, Jay Pandolfo is probably the best defensive forward in the NHL. He is the guy you put on Jaromir Jagr to stop him. And stop him he does. Colin White, a 2nd round pick, is the backbone of the Devils blueline. Mike Rupp was drafted by the Devils in the 3rd round after the Isles failed to sign him after they took him in the 1st round in 1998. Rupp has been dealt and brought back and brings size to the PP in addition to his role on the 4th line. Jim Dowd is back with the Devils after a long career. The 4th line forward was originally an 8th round pick in 1987. Cam Janssen, a 4th round pugilist, is one of the NHLs most willing fighters. In his 2nd season, he scored his first career goal against the Caps this weekend. My wife and I still can't believe it.

Thats a pretty significant mismatch.

The Undrafted Free Agents

Every team has players who, for whatever reason, did not sign professional contracts. Some were drafted but never signed, others went undrafted and developed later into NHL players.

For The Rangers that group includes plucky Jed Ortmeyer, and NHL defensemen Daniel Girardi and and Thomas Pock.

The Devils again blow the Rangers away in this category as their undrafted players include top NHL defenseman Brian Rafalski who the Devils stole from Finland after a productive career at the University of Wisconsin. John Madden's coach at the University of Michigan told undrafted John Madden he would never be an NHL player. Madden has scored 20 goals in a season, won the Selke trophy for best defensive forward, and is probably one of the best 3rd line centers in the entire league. The Devils have grabbed other undrafted college players as well, including defensemen Andy Greene and Alex Brooks, who are both with the Devils but injured, Forward Rod Pelley who has been with the Devils for 4 games this year and is rumored to be on the trading block, and even Scott Clemenson, the ever patient backup goalie, who won his first game against the Caps this weekend.

This does not address trades because they are too hard to assess. The Rangers brought in Jaromir Jagr, who is the most talented player on either team to be acquired by trade. However, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that the Devils trade for unhrealded Jamie Langenbrunner was actually a better trade.

So, leaving trades aside, the Devils have done a better job scouting. They have done better in the 1st round regardless of where they have picked. They have had far more success in the later rounds and the heart and soul of the Devils was slected outside round 1 (Elias, Gionta, White and Pandolfo). And they have done a better job scouting and signing undrafted players.

One day, Lou Lamoriello will retire or leave the Devils and a whole bunch of NY Rangers fans will breathe a sigh of relief. Until then, the Rangers, with all their NY glitz and money, will always be looking up at the Devils in the standings.

Disagreement vs. Hatred

My last post asked the question whether liberals were just as bad as conservatives when it came to rhetoric. The answer, for me, is no. I think the left has a long way to go until their rhetoric and hyperbole matches the bile spewed by Ann Coulter and her cult of hatred. At the same time, I concluded that the Left is getting there, and not so slowly.

Hatred is not something we should aspire too. Vilifying and degrading your opponent gets you nowhere. It wins you no friends and gets you no closer to a resolution. Instead of breaking down the walls of disagreement, it creates even larger blockades. One does not need to hate in order to disagree, and one does not need to respect their adversary to act with respect toward their adversary.

I don't hate Republicans. I don't even hate George W. Bush. I disagree with them. Often, I disagree with them forcefully. I think the vast majority of their positions are bad for America. Unlike Ann Coulter, or Bill O'Reilly, I don't have to make them the enemy in order to disagree with them. I don't have to insult them in order debate them.

One thing in particular that worries me is that when you demonize your opponent you run the risk of dehumanizing them. When politics becomes less about the policies and more about the persons, violence ensues. Aaron Burr and Charles Sumner know that all too well. I look at the political environment and I wonder whether we will have a future of political violence.

I think back to the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in Israel. The rhetoric at the time was vile from both sides, but particularly the far Israeli right. Instead of a debate about whether the Oslo accords were in the bets interest of Israel, Rabin became the focus. Rabin was a Nazi. People publicly talked about the wrath of God would be brought down on whoever surrendered Jewish control over any part of Judea or Samaria. Rabin, as Ann Coulter smeared all Democrats years later, was a traitor. Likewise, Rabin and the Israeli left lambasted the Israeli right. They ignored the needs and the complaints of Israel's religious community calling their Rabbis "Ayatollahs." The left did not talk, act or feel, like their right wing opponents were human beings. The right wing not only felt the same, but thought that God was on their side. Everyone ignored the rhetoric as "politics as usual," but it made Leah Rabin a widow.

I don't bring this up to get into who was right, who was wrong, or whether the Olso accords are a good thing. I bring it up just to point out that the less human you make your opponent out to be, the more likely that violence can follow. It is no surprise that militias dehumanize their opponents in order to brainwash their fighters. Likewise, it is no surprise that negotiators try to humanize a kidnappers victim.

George W. Bush is wrong. His views are doing America harm. His policies are making the rich richer and sending our youth to fight in an unnecessary war. But George W. Bush is not the enemy. He, and the Republican Party, are the opponent, but they are not the enemy. There is a difference and it is one that I encourage everyone to try to understand and embrace. My fear is that if we keep following the same path that we are on, as I posted in October of last year, politics and violence will be forever intertwined.
http://angryyoungdem.blogspot.com/2006/10/is-this-what-politics-has-come-to.html

Are We Worse Than They Are?

This is a diary that has been brewing in my mind for awhile. I am frustrated by the state of political discourse in this country. Rhetoric substitutes for substance. Insults substitute for argument. Hatred substitutes for conciliation. In short, political discourse in this country is dead.
I don't think I am the first person to say this. I remember reading a book when I was in college called "Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman. I don't think I fully appreciated the book when I was in college, but when I look back on it, I understand Postman to have been saying exactly what I am saying. However, I think Postman goes further, squarely blaming entertainment, particularly television, for killing political discourse in America. I never blamed television for killing political discourse. I blamed the right wing. Theirs was the rhetoric of hate. Ann Coulter demonizes liberals. Bill O'Reilly insults anyone he disagrees with. Right wing politicians constantly verbally assault the judiciary. Weekly political discussion revolves around people yelling at each other. Everyone talking but no one listening. Lately, however, it has seemed to me that liberals are guilty of the offenses I always ascribed to the right. A court recognizes the right to gay marriage and the right starts the "tyranny of unelected liberal judges" assault. It disgusts me. But a military judge rules that he has no jurisdiction to rule on the legality of the Iraq war and he is dismissed as "a pure Bush toady, ignoring the US Constitution in his rush to support Bush's illegal war." Republicans accuse Democrats as being traitors and liberals accuse George W. Bush of being a war criminal.

I used to believe in hyperbole. I was really really guilty of it. But eventually I realized that it was counter-productive. It was good for expressing anger and outrage. It was bad for getting anyone to actually listen to me. I don't have to prove how outrageous I can be. I don't have to out-liberal the next person. Extreme language is fine if you want to be viewed as the political extreme. But the political extreme is marginalized, and rightfully so.

I want the Democrats to adopt a progressive agenda. I want the Democrats to push even further for equality. Racial equality. Gender Equality. Equality of all sexual orientations. I want the Democrats to fight for gun control, universal health care, stem cell research and better education. But the way to encourage that fight is not to use fighting words, but to fight for your ideas. To do so we need to ramp down the rhetoric and ramp up the argument.

Lets not be the Left’s version of the radical right (which has represented the Republican party since sometime around 1994). Our anger should not substitute for our argument. Lets be the party of fact, fairness and forward-thinking and leave the Republicans as the party of derision, distraction and destruction.

This is kinda cool

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/02/07/prehistoric.love.ap/index.html

Great New Political Site

From the creators of the best sports Wiki around (www.armchairgm.com) come a new political Wiki. http://politics.wikia.com/index.php?title=Main_Page.

Since shortly before the last election, I have been a devotee of www.dailykos.com. I really appreciate a liberal community on the web, and I believe that it plays a crucial, and practical role in electing Democrats to Congress. However, I have been frustrated with the intellectual discourse (more specifically, the lack thereof) at DailyKos. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not insulting DailyKos. I think it is the premiere liberal site dedicated to electing Democrats to Congress. I plan on continuing to be an active member of the DKos community.

I am also aware of what I consider to be the shortcomings of DailyKos. Most specifically, the flame wars, and the fact that many serious diaries, with serious ideas get ignored while people flock to the most base, inflammatory junk of the day. Knowing the people who created ArmchairGM, I think that politics.wikia is going to be a welcome addition to the world of political blogging. It has a main page and a page for people of all political persuasions. Anyone familiar with ArmchairGM, knows that this new site is going to be a terrific place for debate, and a smashing success. From now on, you will also be able to find all of my political musings at http://politics.wikia.com/index.php?title=Main_Page.