NHL 1st Round thoughts...

This isn't Panthers related (since we didn't have a first round pick, but we do pick first tomorrow morning in the 2nd round), but I just gotta get your thoughts on this.

Of the 30 selections in the first round of the NHL draft, only 12 were made by teams who were originally in that slot, and 7 of those were in the top 10 picks. That means that in picks 11-30, only 5 were made by the team that was assigned that pick. Is it just me, or is that a little ridiculous? I don't know any other time where something like this happened, in any sport.



Also, just about every player selected is 18 or 19, just coming out of either high school or some junior hockey program. Why is there no public outcry over these kids not going to school for a year? Because that rule is inane. The NBA deems it mandatory that a player attend a year of college before entering the NBA draft. Why? Do they really think that attending classes that you have no interest in, that just get in the way of a kid living his dream will somehow educate him? Change his mind and make him realize he'd rather be a political scientist or botanist or zoologist or any-ist? Just curious...

Clearly, the Panthers weren't the only ones busy on Draft Day.