What if...The Wild had selected Claude Giroux instead of James Sheppard?

Let's try to make some sense out of all this.

Stats

Until I figure out how to actual making embedding stats on here work (sigh... you'd think after two years, I'd know how), here are Sheppard's stats and here are Giroux's stats.

It would seem as though Giroux had a much better junior career than Sheppard, yet Giroux was overlooked by many teams and was even an undrafted junior. He was INVITED by the Gatineau Olympiques, in what has to be one of the most brilliant coups the organization made, because Giroux brought them a championship with that 51-point playoff run.

Giroux has also won a countless number of awards, ranging from QMJHL rookie of the year to the John Wannamaker award, given to Giroux for his contributions to the Flyers by the Philadelphia Sports Congress. I can't seem to find any awards James Sheppard may have won, although there exists a James Sheppard award, given to a Sackville, Nova-Scotia minor league player who examplfies leadership, has strong academic results and outstanding athletic ability. I've been trying to find out if it's the same James Sheppard. It probably is, since Shep is from Sackville.

So what is it that made people doubt Giroux? What is it that made Sheppard a more appealing choice?

Read on.

Scouting reports

First off, The Hockey News' take on James Sheppard after the 2006 NHL draft:

Here's their take on Claude Giroux:

Here's what Hockey Future had to say about James Sheppard:

Same site about Claude Giroux:

Interesting to note that Hockey Future had Sheppard as a 7.5 out of 10 on their talent scale while Giroux was a 8.5 and Sheppard's probability of success was ''B'' while Giroux's was ''A''.

Draft

Another factor was size. Sheppard has nice size for a budding NHL player. One of his best skills was keeping the puck on his stick using his body. I remember him drawing quite a few penalties that way, which is the only contribution I can remember from him. Giroux was overlooked his entire career because of his size, so he let his skills do the talking and that's how he became a first-rounder. He easily could have fell some more, the Flyers' pick was seen as a gamble at 22nd, but also a possible steal. Funny story: Bobby Clarke actually FORGOT Giroux's name when he announced the pick.

Claude Giroux Draft Day (via

In short, the Wild didn't want another Pierre-Marc Bouchard, they wanted their first-ever power forward. They needed size, scoring prowess and leadership. They swung for Sheppard. They missed. It happens. How much of that was because of the actual choice of player and how much of that was because of the way they handled that choice? Well...

Development

Meanwhile in Philly...

Giroux was given two more years in Junior, where he finished 4th and 2nd in league scoring respectively. He also helped Gatineau to the President's Cup, awarded to the QMJHL champions, and participated in the Memorial Cup tournament, where he posted a much less impressive goal and assist for 2 points in 3 losses.

After that, he went to the Flyers' training camp. He was deemed not quite ready and was wisely sent to their minor league club, the Phantoms, for some AHL conditioning. He played about half a season there as a point per game player and was called up to the Flyers for the rest of the season where he played about 15 minutes per game and scored about half a point per game. The rest is history.

What if the Wild drafted Giroux?

Would the Wild have brought Giroux up to the Wild after just one more year of Junior like they did with Sheppard? If so, he never would have posted that amazing final playoff run with the Olympiques, which means he never would have won a QMJHL championship. Plus, it's very doubtful he would have been immediately ready for NHL action with his small frame. Giroux may have had more raw talent than Sheppard had, but that means very little if you can't withstand the punishing rhythm of pro hockey. The Olympiques and the Flyers BUILT Giroux into a winner. If the Flyers had rushed him, he probably would have been a broken player, much like Sheppard. Instead, they gave him the opportunity to succeed. They waited until he had nothing else to learn and gave him an adequate opportunity once he came up. Of course, the Flyers could afford to do that because they already had a solid squad.

To sum it up, it's hard to tell if Giroux would have been rushed by the Wild, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. The track record suggests they would have, but at the same time, they didn't need a Giroux as much as they needed a Sheppard. They did need a clue though.

Would Giroux have made the Wild better?

Well, that's a pretty difficult question too. If we overlook the ''rushed, not-rushed'' argument, Giroux's skill set didn't exactly fixed what was (and still was before Parise got signed) the problem for the Wild: Lack of scoring. Sure, he would have added his fair share of points, but I'm very doubtful of him being quite as good with the Wild as he has been with the Flyers. That being said, he likely would have made the Wild better, but only marginally. In my honest opinion, he simply would not have become the same player.

What about Sheppard with the Flyers?

Again, impossible to accurately tell, but the Flyers were always a robust enough team, so there wouldn't have been any real rush to bring Sheppard up to the big team. They had a good mix of size and offense in 2006 and beyond. That doesn't mean they would have given him as much time as Giroux, but the Flyers aren't known for rushing their prospects. I think with better surroundings and smarter development, Sheppard would have become a much better player.

To summarize