Pictures and audio courtesy of Brandon at Defending Big D
Who the heck is Kyle Palmieri? Hell if I know, but he's the dude that the Ducks selected in this year's entry draft with their second pick in the first round -- 26th overall. Don't worry; it's a name I'm likely to forget soon -- having a nice prospect pool is certainly important for the Ducks, but until kids become NHL-ready, they generally play off my radar -- but that's not to say that SBN Hockey takes the entry draft lightly. Oh no -- amongst Mirtle's 30-team blog-monster, SBN had several bloggers on-hand and credentialed for the TV-murdering event in Montreal.
Now with all the recent Pronger hoopla, and the July 1st league-wide spending contest, and the King's Scuderi-signing, and the Smyth-to-L.A. trade, and the Ducks' Koivu signing, and the Sharks' unwillingness to do anything, this blog has been kind of busy dealing with big-league news, so I've neglected SBN's fine work on draft day -- including the shocking revelation that our Dallas Stars' blogger was making me look bad, and already getting the inside scoop on his future competition.
Brandon's Audio Interview with Palmieri (wav file)
Nothing terribly shocking in the interview -- Kyle seems already well-versed on his hockey cliches, maybe even ahead of schedule -- by the time he hits the big leagues, I expect his interviews will be boringly predictable with a high level of professionalism. But maybe this kid stands a chance of me following him -- the fact that he'll be playing for Notre Dame is a definite asset, as nearly my entire family went to that Irish-loving university.
At any rate, the fact that a Stars' blogger beat me to the "who is Kyle Palmieri?" punch isn't that surprising -- I'm horrible at prospect-tracking (go see Arthur & Daniel's more-than-capable Anaheim Calling for that & more -- here's their Palmieri take). But it's not just one rival Pacific team's fanbase with an eye on this kid -- turns out that Sharks fans are keeping track of Palmieri, too.
The travel path of San Jose's first-round draft pick.
Mymclife, a Sharks-inclined commenter here and at FTF, has started her own blog Fools and Sages, and in one of her draft day posts follows the wayward path of the Sharks' 26th-overall pick, which finally returned to the BoC. She finds sweet satisfaction in the fact that the Ducks ended up with the "sloppy sixths" pick that nobody else seemed to want.
That goes beyond sloppy seconds – that’s sloppy sixths. And as following that pick was the most entertaining part of the draft as a Sharks fan, I’ve decided to follow the career of the guy who was drafted by it as well, a certain Kyle Palmieri.
It's a pretty detailed post, and you'll learn much more in her piece about the kid than you'll learn here, including when he was kicked off the US developmental team. And if mymclife's capable commenting is any indication, it's a blog worth putting on your radar -- she's a sharp cookie (even if her enemy prospect obsession is a tad disturbing).
Still, I have to admit some sweet satisfaction in the path of the pick as well. After serving the Sharks an upset portion of BoC Elimination Cake last spring, I find it a nice follow-up cherry-on-top to nab their first-round pick shortly afterwards.
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So there you have it -- I may not have a very strong grasp of Kyle Palmieri, or for anybody in the Ducks' development pipeline, for that matter -- but when rival team bloggers are doing that work for you, I guess there's no pressing need to address that particular blogger inadequacy. Best of luck to your NHL dream, Kyle, and do those Fighting Irish proud. Who knows, stay on target and someday I might be writing these words about you:
Go Ducks.
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