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Scott Wheeler’s mea-culpa: when Matt Savoie is ranked ahead of Juraj Slafkovsky

 Matthew Garcia
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Scott Wheeler’s mea-culpa: when Matt Savoie is ranked ahead of Juraj Slafkovsky
Credit: Getty Images
The 2022 draft (that of Juraj Slafkovsky) was probably the most difficult to predict in recent years.

Unlike the 2024 (Macklin Celebrini), 2023 (Connor Bedard), 2021 (Owen Power) and 2020 (Alexis Lafrenière) drafts, even the first overall pick was far from set in stone. The proof: many Canadiens fans were not happy (in 2022) with the selection of Slaf over Shane Wright.

Not everyone had the Slovak in the first rank like Kent Hughes and his group. Indeed, one of the most influential journalists in the media world, Scott Wheeler, had ranked him 5th. Today, he has made his mea-culpa: he knows it was a mistake.

Wheeler was impressed with the Habs protégé that year and knew he was going to be a good player, but he ranked him behind Shane Wright, Simon Nemec and Logan Cooley. So far, so good… If you’d told me that two years ago, I’d have found it quite normal.

But the journalist also ranked Matt Savoie ahead of Slaf. Yes, yes, the guy who was drafted ninth overall and traded for Ryan McLeod. Wheeler was very impressed with his work in the AJHL and USHL. He saw him as one of the best skaters in his draft, which was not untrue.

But two years later, Savoie is still a long way from Slaf and the other players ranked higher.

In addition to Slaf, who is better than anticipated by The Athletic ‘s journalist , Wheeler blamed himself for having ranked Cutter Gauthier (drafted fifth) so low. In fact, the Ducks forward was ranked 18th. That’s very low.

Wheeler admitted it: Gauthier was very difficult to evaluate in 2022. He was playing on the first line at Boston College with Jimmy Snuggerud and Logan Cooley, two excellent players, too. And his statistics didn’t necessarily stand out (65 points in 41 games). The columnist knew he was going to be an NHL player, but he didn’t believe in his ability to become a natural playmaker. Nor did he believe in his cerebral qualities to be a top-5 pick.

Yet he was, and is one of the NHL’s top prospects.

At least he’s able to admit he’s wrong. Journalists, scouts and experts don’t always knock for 1,000…


Overtime

– Internal battles will be interesting.

– Well done.

– Good luck to them.

– Steve Yzerman: his dismissal approaches? [THN]

– Behind the scenes of his contract signing.

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