Wading through entry draft preparations

I'm knee-deep in draft-related stuff now. The HF servers got moved today, far enough in advance of the draft that I hope this means that we'll be able to handle the enormous spike in traffic on draft weekend. I think so.

I'm getting much closer to finishing the features I'm writing on draft-eligibles. I have only Rajala and Bertilsson left. I'm very close to finishing Rajala and then Bertilsson will be tough because of his lack of English. It will probably be mostly his coach talking.

A few years ago when I had covered the draft, but no players leading up to it, I came away with the impression that 18-year-olds have much less to say than other players because they just haven't has as many experiences to put things in perspective. But I found working on them this year more interesting than I had anticipated. The biggest drawback was having to deal with parents. That's not fun. Luckily it's not often.

I found out that it's a myth that all Swedes speak English. They understand English, but they can't all respond.

Another thing I came away with was that there's much less consensus about where someone should or will be taken than fans like to think. Opinions vary widely on guys. Who's to say who's right at this point. We won't know for a few years.

Oh and the combine is critical. It's not until then that teams really decide who they are going to take with their picks. So to me it's pretty worthless to do a mock draft until after the combine, after some scuttlebutt actually comes out. Looking forward to that happening next week!
.