Good and Bad Historical BC Lions Draft Picks

[Robbie]

Another thing I like about the new http://www.bclions.com web page is that it provides a summary of the historical BC Lions draft picks:

http://www.bclions.com/index.php?module ... y&ceid=473

This leads me to another topic which I don't think was ever discussed.

It seems like draft picks do not generate too much attention in the CFL, at least not compared to other leagues such as the NHL. In the past, the local media have analyzed historical Vancouver Canucks first round draft picks. You can see a list of historical Canucks draft picks at:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey ... vancouver/

Anybody who follows the Vancouver Canucks would likely agree with this assessment about their historical first round draft picks, as would most sportswriters. This is not a complete list, as I will only list five seasons for each of the three categories.

GOOD CANUCKS FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS
Daniel and Henrik Sedin (1999)
Mattias Ohlund (1994)
Trevor Linden (1988)
Cam Neely (1983)
Rick Vaive (1979)

FAIR CANUCKS FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS
Bryan Allen (1998)
Petr Nedved (1990)
Jim Sandlak (1985)
Garth Butcher (1981)
Don Lever (1972)

POOR CANUCKS FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS
R.J. Umberger (2001)
Libor Polasek (1992)
Alek Stojanov (1991)
Jason Herter (1989)
Bill Derlago (1978)

Since there has been very little discussion about historical BC Lions draft picks, let's start one right now. What do you think were some good, fair, and bad historical BC Lions draft picks? I will start off this thread by listing my own opinions. For the bad draft picks category, I will only list players that were drafted in the first round as, like most others, I place them at a higher standard since those drafted in the first round are expected to be good.

GOOD HISTORICAL BC LIONS DRAFT PICKS 8)
Jason Clermont (2002)
Ryan Thelwell (1998)
Bret Anderson (1997)
Tom Europe (1993)
Jamie Taras (1987)
Jamie Buis (1983)
Gerald Roper (1982)
Nelson Martin (1981)
Rick Klassen (1981)
Kevin Konar (1980)
Lui Passaglia (1976)

FAIR HISTORICAL BC LIONS DRAFT PICKS
Lyle Green (2001)
Steve Hardin (1998)
Doug Peterson (1992)
Carl Coulter (1990)
Derek MacCready (1989)
Larry Clarkson (1987)
Paul Nastasiuk (1986)
Scott Lecky (1986)
Bernie Glier (1982)
John Pankratz (1980)

:x POOR HISTORICAL BC LIONS FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS
Adriano Beli (2000)
Robert Meier (1999)
Patrick Burke (1993)
Lorne King (1992)
Bart Hull (1991) - Brett Hull's brother
Ian Beckles (1990)
Frank Balkovec (1984)
Jacques Chapdelaine (1983)
Randy Graham (1976) - drafted before Lui
Jim Hughes (1957)

What are your thoughts?

I think one of the reasons why draft picks don't generate much attention in the CFL is that it is more unlikely they will turn into superstars. If you take a look at the historical BC Lion CFL award winners at:

http://www.lionbackers.com/history/awardwinners.html

You will see that none of them, even the Most Outstanding Rookies, are direct BC Lions draft picks.

[Simon Says]

It also doesn't generate a lot of interest because not many players make a huge impact the first season after being drafted. Compared to the NBA where guys like Lebron and Duncan are all stars in their rookie seasons.

[Robbie]

You will see that none of them, even the Most Outstanding Rookies, are direct BC Lions draft picks.

I just realized one big exception. I didn't see it at first because the referenced web page only contained data up to 2001. Jason Clermont was a first round draft pick (fourth overall) in 2002 and he won rookie of the year that year.

[Rammer]

Also not sure I would put Beli on the bad list either, he is a pretty big factor on the line for Montreal and Hamilton now. Why doens't Hebler make that list, or did he fall under the protection list?

[spikos]

I take exception to calling Bill Derlago a poor draft pick. He had 84 pts in 75 games for the Leafs in the 81-82 season and he tallied 40 goals in the 83-84 season.

Definitely does not belong with the rest of the chumps in the poor draft pick category

[smphantom]

Rick Vaive had most of his success with the Leafs.

[danregier]

Didn't the canucks draft Pavel Bure? - i know he wasn't in the first round, but should still deserve some metion?

[Lionheart]

Rick Vaive had most of his success with the Leafs.

It really doesn't matter, the point was "good draft picks"

Vaive was a good one for sure.

[KnowItAll]

I dont think Chapdelaine was that bad?

[Hambone]

I wouldn't classify Meier or Beckles as poor picks. When I think of "poor draft picks" I think of guys who failed to live up to the expectations of their selection position. If anything both exceeded those expectations as both managed to fashion nice NFL careers. There's always a risk when drafting players who garner NFL interest because you might not see them for a few years if at all. But history shows that unless the CFL draft eligible player is a guaranteed high round NFL selection such as Jerome Pathon or O.J.Santiago odds are his NFL career will be brief.

Meier and Beckles were high CFL picks in their respective drafts who became mid to late round NFL picks. In Meier's case he was a late 7th round NFL pick at #241 of 254 total players selected in 2000. BC had to make their decision on him in 1999 a full year before he was eligible for the NFL draft. Being chosen that late means he was far from guaranteed to make it in the NFL. Similarly Beckles became a 5th round NFL pick at #115 by Tampa Bay. He went on to forge a 9 year NFL career. I tend to think the Lions made very good assessments on these players. It's just that the players in question worked their butts off and earned NFL spots. Had these guys failed in the NFL then came back to the CFL and failed to make it up here THEN I'd consider them bad picks.

As for Bart Hull it may be a bit of an unfair assessment. I can't remember the exact order of events but seems to me Bart's career was for all intents over before it began. He tore up his knee bigtime I think before his first training camp was over. Somewhere along the way he wound up in Ottawa, but the knee was done. Can't remember if he tore it up while with BC and they shipped him to Ottawa the following year after he recovered or if they shipped him to Ottawa during that first camp then he tore it up. Derlago in some ways was similar to Hull. Derlago tore up the WHL with Brandon. He started his rookie year down on the farm with the Dallas Black Hawks and had 13 points in 11 games. Vancouver called him up and he had 8 points in his first 9 games and was starting to look like the player who scored 185 goals in 124 games in his last 2 years of junior. Then he tore up his knee badly. While he had a couple decent years with the Leafs I don't think he ever was the same after that knee injury in his rookie year.

[Hambone]

Didn't the canucks draft Pavel Bure? - i know he wasn't in the first round, but should still deserve some metion?

Bure was good sleuthing by the Canucks Chief Scout Mike Penny. He actually wasn't taken until the 6th round #113 overall. It was a controversial pick because the other 20 teams in the 1989 Draft didn't think he was eligible. Needless to say they all cried foul when the Canucks chose him and it was several months after the draft before the NHL finally ruled that he would remain Canuck property. There were some rules in place at that time where no 18 year old could be drafted after the third round unless he had played more than ten games in 2 seasons in a major league. The NHL Media Guide stated that Pavel had only played 5 games the year before, but Penny discovered proofs in the form of scoresheets which had recorded that Pavel had played 11 games in that previous year. At the time of the 1989 Draft the Iron Curtain was still firmly in place. Teams didn't use high draft picks on young Russians at that time because unless they defected there was little hope of seeing them until the Russian Hockey Federation allowed them to leave their programs. The KLM line of Krutov (me like Big Mac), Larionov and Makarov all came across for the 1989 season after long negotiations and big transfer fees. They were all around 30 by that time. Mogilny and Fedorov also joined the NHL in 1989 after defecting.

[Robbie]

Didn't the canucks draft Pavel Bure? - i know he wasn't in the first round, but should still deserve some metion?

Well, this thread is about BC Lions draft picks and not Vancouver Canucks draft picks.

[Robbie]

I dont think Chapdelaine was that bad?

Maybe it's better to say that Jacques Chapdelaine was a fair draft pick rather than a bad draft pick. At first, I felt he was a bad draft pick because his performance was overshadowed by the other great receivers of the early 1980's, and although he did play 2.5 seasons, he was eventually deemed expendable and sent off to Montreal before the 1985 Grey Cup.

Now that he's back with the Lions as offensive coordinator, I think he's been doing a great job.

[img]http://www.bclions.com/themes/bc/images ... ELAINE.JPG[/img]

[sports & stuff----ric]

John Pankratz should be in the very good picks. Whenever we needed a big 2nd down conversion Roy Dewalt would find
pankratz over the middle.

[TheLionKing]

I still have not forgiven Chapdelaine (probably never will) for dropping that 3rd down pass from Roy Dewalt in the Grey Cup game. Had he caught the pigskin the Lions would have won the Grey Cup at BC Place.