Draft Results Without The Waiting

Let's pretend that today is June 26, 2000. Come on, you remember what pretending is, right? Like back before the world crushed your soul with car insurance payments and wakes with mostly strangers? Yeah, there it is. Ok, so it's the morning of June 26th and you're enjoying a cup of coffee in front of your brand new, state-of-the art Apple computer that's shaped like an astronaut's helmet (but has orange trim because, hey, you're a Flyers fan) and you wander over to Hockey's Future to read Bill Meltzer's review on the Flyers draft, because you've never heard of any of these guys. Not a single one. And for good reason - this isn't football and you don't get many OHL games on your 4 cable channels (2000, remember?)

So you see this:

Alexander Drozdetsky (W, St. Petersburg KA, Russian Championship League)
HT: 6-0
WT: 174
Shoots: L
Rankings: #54 by The Hockey News, #51 European by CSB
1999-2000 Stats: 32 GP, 2 G, 0 A, 2 PTS, 10 PIM

Wow, a Russian. That's a little surprising. We've drafted one Russian in each of the last four drafts and that's the last I ever heard of them. Hmm ok, so what do they say about this kid?

From Hockey's Future Flyers 2000 Draft Review:
Alex Drozdetsky is the son of longtime Red Army player Nikolai Drozdetsky His stats from this past season may not look like much but the Flyers were more excited about this pick than any other they made in the draft. Flyers chief European scout, Inge Hammarström is rarely given to hyperbole when assessing a player. He pushed hard for Drozdetsky's selection. Clarke listened and was prepared to take the Russian winger with the Flyers first round pick. Hammarström told him that he thought Drozdetsky had not been scouted properly by the CSB (not the first time that ex-CSB scout Hammarström has taken issue with their rankings) and may still be available when the Flyers turn came up in the third round. He was right.

After the selection of Drozdetsky became official, Hammarström was unusually excited, telling Clarke that the Flyers had just "hit a home run," comparing Drozdetsky to a young Igor Larionov and predicting that Drozdetsky would be a Flyers regular within two years. While no one is infallible, Hammarström has a track record of being proven right when he feels strongly enough about a prospect to lobby hard for their selection- the most famous examples being Peter Forsberg, Mikael Renberg, Dmitri Yushkevich, and Janne Niinimaa. Even a couple of his "misses" (Patrik Juhlin, Viacheslav Butsayev) at least played in the NHL and were regulars for a time.

Everyone likes a deal, and we got this kid we were going to take in the 1st round in the 3rd round - sold. The mention of names like Larionov, Forsberg, and Renberg probably got you so excited you picked up your Palm Pilot and tried to send an e-mail to Jim in accounting telling him that you're going to order a "Drozdetsky 89" jersey. But you can't find your little plastic pen so you decide to stay online and check your personal e-mail. Probably an AOL account, or Hotmail if you were slightly more advanced. And you see this subject on an unopened e-mail from the future.

"Drozdetsky Never Leaves Russia"

The e-mail is dated May 29, 2009, but that must be some sort of Y2k glitch. You check to make sure your Norton Anti-virus is on and you open the e-mail. It's too tempting to resist:

"Dear Professor Grumblebut,

My name is Fran and I'm from the future. While I have the capability to send e-mails to the past I should probably be doing something more useful, but I just saw your Drozdetsky 89 jersey for sale on eBay (you'll get used to hearing that) and thought I might be able to save you $250, and some embarrassment.

So that review you read, the one by Bill Meltzer, it's a crock of shit. Not only does Alex Drozdetsky never come to the US, he never even evolves into top level talent in Russia. During the summer of 2002 the Flyers will try to sign the prospect to an entry level contract, but he'll say no, or more likely "nit" because he never learns English, citing that he doesn't think he's ready for the AHL yet. As the 2004 NHL season kicks off Drozdetsky will still be listed as a Flyers prospect, above even Randy Jones, Ben Eager, and Jussi Timonen. A year later this review will be posted by Al Alven:

Not too long ago, Drozdetsky was viewed as one of the top prospects in the Flyers organization, a mega-talented, second-generation star in the making who possessed limitless potential as an all-around player, with offensive ability to spare. Well, time has certainly soured the reputation of the still-skilled, still-young, yet, underachieving Russian winger.

Drozdetsky has become, essentially, an inconsistent journeyman in the Russian Super League. He turned in what was seemingly a breakthrough campaign for perennial contender Ak Bars Kazan two seasons ago, but floundered once again in 2004-05, despite the presence of several locked-out NHL stars on the team’s roster (including Vincent Lecavalier and Ilya Kovalchuk).

So poor was Drozdetsky’s overall performance last season, Kazan loaned him to non-contending Nizhnekamsk near the end of the regular season, then let him walk away as a free agent. The 6’0, 180 lbs. winger eventually signed with Avangard Omsk, his fifth RSL team in eight years.

Drozdetsky has yet to establish himself as a consistent or reliable player in his homeland, and his interest in coming over to North America has always seemed tepid at best. Such a combination makes it seem less and less likely that this once-heralded prospect will ever don an orange and black jersey in the NHL, especially as the years continue to go by.

By the end of the 2005-06 season Drozdetsky has completely fallen off the Flyers prospect list. He'll spend the next three years playing in Russia and putting up 1/2 a point a game while some repatriated Phantoms will double his output. He'll drink vodka by the bottles.

So no need to get excited about this one, Professor. And while I'm telling you about the future...Williams will be decent, Chechmanek will be decent, and none of the other 5 picks will ever score a point for the Flyers. And if you can somehow get assistant GM Paul Holmgren's ear tell him to trade for the kid that the Rangers took in the 7th round. He's going to turn out to be a pretty decent goalie.

Invest in Google!
Fran"

You'll probably disregard the entire e-mail. Write it off as some sort of prank by a friend. But boy won't you feel stupid when this pick ends up like 80% of the Flyers picks - a shot in the dark that missed the barn.