|
Post by SteveUL on Jun 5, 2007 9:08:01 GMT -5
I heard that 3 teams called Bernard on draft day called him and he told them as of right now he was returning to the same place he was this year....but he did not mention he was 100% sure he wouldn't play in the Q. I also heard that Alex MacDonald was disapointed on not being selected....as was Jeff Bell. If Bernard somewhat wanted to play in the Q next season, then I think he is the victim of his own game, or of some bad advice ... teams may be willing to gamble on a guy who may or may not report, but they are primarily going to gamble on the high end, high profile guys like MacAusland, LeBlanc, Brown, Clermont, Anthony, etc... Where Bernard was rated a bit lower for the draft, and was much lower profile, teams just didn't bother to take the risk and figured they would draft someone else with comparable potential who was sure to report and save themselves the headaches. With Bernard ... it is likely that the fact he was already attending school in the US made it clear to teams that he was more likley to go NCAA than most kids. He'll be taken next year in the later rounds.
|
|
|
Post by Cristobal Huet on Jun 5, 2007 9:19:18 GMT -5
What exactly is Esposito like situations? What damage do you think the Q would do for it's image if they strictly stopped Q teams from giving players a nickel for their education? NCAA recruiters would have a field day with the parents and you'd end up with half the best players playing Jr.A then to college. The Esposito example is an extreme one...same for Anthony that his dad was playing games and negotiating with teams in the media. PS. Cape Breton gave educational packages to Jared Vokey and JC Sawyer, not sure why you included them in the poor brotherhood. Situations in which a kid says "don't even bother thinking about picking me because i'll be playing ncaa",then all of a sudden he gets drafted by a wealthy team and come august he's at camp....this is alot different than offering a kid an extra say 5000$ a year to go towards education. If this keeps up rich teams will be able to draft 3-4,first or second round players,without even having a pick in those early rounds...\ I have no problem with teams acheiving this through quality scouting...but how often do 1st round quality players get drafted in the 8th round?maybe once or twice per draft through the whole league. As for the C-B thing,I forgot about these 2 cases but I don't remember either one of them saying "i'm 100% sure I won't play in the Q"...I was simply trying to point out a few teams that managed to be competitve several years without the luxury of these "steal of a deal" draft picks/americans. In a lot of cases there are no games being played...the parents know they can get an NCAA scholarship for their kid. Why would they let him go to a team in the Q for nothing? I'm not talking guys in the 5th or 6th rounds...I mean the LeBlancs MacAuslands Browns etc Teams are having to make up for what's lacking in the Q's bursary program...$10,500 pays you about 1 year university in the Maritimes...not 3 or 4. That's where the problem starts. It has to be a tiered system where the kids that have NCAA as an option can get something somewhat comprable from the Q. 1st round Q picks should be eligible for 40-50 k in bursaries if they fulfill certain obligations. Add to that compensation picks for any top 5 pick that does not report, that would encourage small markets to draft and try and convince players to report so you would not see a top 5 overall pick sliding to the 4th or 5th round.
|
|
|
Post by gongshow on Jun 5, 2007 9:46:58 GMT -5
I heard that 3 teams called Bernard on draft day called him and he told them as of right now he was returning to the same place he was this year....but he did not mention he was 100% sure he wouldn't play in the Q. You "heard" that ? Three teams said the same thing ? Do you have a transcript of each phone call for us ? I don't understand your question?...I didn't say 3 teams said the same thing,I said 3 teams called him,and as far as I know they just asked him if he was planning on returning to college next year. I heard this from a very reliable source.....I couldn't care less if you believe me or not.I know that Drum'ville was one of the teams.
|
|
|
Post by Shooooot on Jun 5, 2007 10:53:42 GMT -5
I think the league should implement a rule against NCAA bluffs.....maybe something like a 100 000$ fine to the guilty team and the funds could be split up evenly between other teams to help the smaller market teams....these fines would be dished out for Esposito like scenario's. I know it's not much of a fine,but at least it would a little compensation for teams like C-B,B-C,R-N etc.....who don't have millions of $$$ at their disposal. Funny that guys like Jeff Bell and a bunch of other local guys like him get passed up...meanwhile kids that are saying they are 100% sure of not playing in the Q get drafted in the 2nd round by teams that only have 2 picks in the 1st 5 rounds...smells pretty fishy. Also I can't believe nobody picked up Jessyko Bernard...especially the wildcats...if MacAusland was worth a 2nd round gamble,wouldn't Bernard be worth a 8th or 9th round gamble....if they're both 100 % sure of not coming what would be the difference between the 2 Proving a Bluff is nearly impossible and probably very expensive to investigate. While I am happy for the Cats this year, I have to admit that I wasn't happy when the Remparts were able to pull it off twice. Whether you think it's the team's or management that cooks up the idea, or maybe the parents/players/agents or something in between, one way to stop all of this from happening is to have players sign a card (stating that they would report to their drafted team) to be eligible for the draft. Those that sign the cards would be eligible for the draft, all other uncarded players would not be in the main draft. If a player were to announce they want to remain NCAA eligilbe, they obviously wouldn't sign the card and they would not be in this years draft...maybe they could enter the draft in the following year. This would help level the playing field. I realize it woudn't be quite so simple to do but I think the responsibility must fall on the players to say yes or no as to whether they would report to the Q and to not create an environment that welcomes deception. I agree with all the comments that the Q should address the need to provide better educational packages, maybe in a tiered system. After all, most players will not play pro and a full ride NCAA scholarship is very hard to turn down. If you want a player to dedicate several years of their life to your hockey club and to postpone their post secondary education for a few years, an "educational package" for players is more than justified.
|
|
|
Post by Cristobal Huet on Jun 5, 2007 11:00:11 GMT -5
I think the league should implement a rule against NCAA bluffs.....maybe something like a 100 000$ fine to the guilty team and the funds could be split up evenly between other teams to help the smaller market teams....these fines would be dished out for Esposito like scenario's. I know it's not much of a fine,but at least it would a little compensation for teams like C-B,B-C,R-N etc.....who don't have millions of $$$ at their disposal. Funny that guys like Jeff Bell and a bunch of other local guys like him get passed up...meanwhile kids that are saying they are 100% sure of not playing in the Q get drafted in the 2nd round by teams that only have 2 picks in the 1st 5 rounds...smells pretty fishy. Also I can't believe nobody picked up Jessyko Bernard...especially the wildcats...if MacAusland was worth a 2nd round gamble,wouldn't Bernard be worth a 8th or 9th round gamble....if they're both 100 % sure of not coming what would be the difference between the 2 Proving a Bluff is nearly impossible and probably very expensive to investigate. While I am happy for the Cats this year, I have to admit that I wasn't happy when the Remparts were able to pull it off twice. Whether you think it's the team's or management that cooks up the idea, or maybe the parents/players/agents or something in between, one way to stop all of this from happening is to have players sign a card (stating that they would report to their drafted team) to be eligible for the draft. Those that sign the cards would be eligible for the draft, all other uncarded players would not be in the main draft. If a player were to announce they want to remain NCAA eligilbe, they obviously wouldn't sign the card and they would not be in this years draft...maybe they could enter the draft in the following year. This would help level the playing field. I realize it woudn't be quite so simple to do but I think the responsibility must fall on the players to say yes or no as to whether they would report to the Q and to not create an environment that welcomes deception. I agree with all the comments that the Q should address the need to provide better educational packages, maybe in a tiered system. After all, most players will not play pro and a full ride NCAA scholarship is very hard to turn down. If you want a player to dedicate several years of their life to your hockey club and to postpone their post secondary education for a few years, an "educational package" for players is more than justified. The "opt in" rule is not as simple as it sounds...all players can opt in and just not report. You can't force a 15 year old kid to go play where they don't want to. The other issue is that if you put rules in to ban players from your league, they jump to the OHL as Free Agents. Most of these "NCAA" things are top 10 picks...the Q has built up their reputation in recent years, can they afford to lose a pile of key players and be a glorified Jr.A league?
|
|