A lost selection?
As a coveted young defenseman with pro potential, David Carle enhanced his burgeoning talent with poise and maturity beyond his years. Now, the 18-year-old from Anchorage is leaning on those same virtues to deal with the end of his hockey career.Except Tampa Bay drafted Carle in the seventh round, 203rd overall. The move was intentional, however, as new Lightning owner Oren Koules "knows the family and the diagnosis might not be as severe as first believed."
Carle on Friday said he will no longer play the game after doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., diagnosed a heart condition that puts him at risk for sudden cardiac death if he exerts himself too strenuously.
Carle said Mayo Clinic doctors on Thursday diagnosed him with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart that has been cited in the sudden death of young athletes.
He had been a lock to be selected in today's NHL draft, possibly as high as the second round, but withdrew his name from consideration after receiving the diagnosis.
"The kid worked his whole life to be drafted in the NHL, and I don't see a reason he shouldn't be," he said.
Carle is the younger brother of Sharks defenceman Matt Carle.
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Labels: Lightning
by James Mirtle @ 2:38 PM
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Well, if nothing else, it's a class gesture; gives him an option if the diagnosis changes. Worst case scenario, the number of seventh-rounders (and later in past drafts) that have turned into real NHLers is farily small anyway, so what the hell.
Didn't Senators (maybe CFL Roughriders) draft a dead player so this is way better.
It's a classy move.
Didn't Senators draft a dead player ...
I think Kaigorodov was technically considered alive.
I guess I'm a heartless bastard, but you don't make classy gestures with your draft picks. They are a severely limited resource, and you just don't waste them. Sure, 7th round picks don't usually work out, unless you're the Red Wings, but they might.
There are lots of ways to make classy gestures that don't involve committing something that you have so few of. Sign him to a free agent deal with various clauses depending upon ability to play. Provide some other form of assistance. There's no reason to use a draft pick for this.
That said, there's no evidence that the Lightning made this move to be classy. It can justify this pick from a purely practical standpoint. If Carle can ever play, he's clearly deserving of being drafted higher than he was. So, there's nothing wrong with taking a flyer with a pick that isn't likely to produce a useful player anyway. It's just that Carle is unlikely to become a useful player for different reasons than the other 29 guys drafted in the 7th round.
So a player that Tampa had connections with makes it public he can't play any longer and opts out of the draft, a player expected to go pretty high. Suddenly Tampa picks him up conveniently with their last pick suggesting maybe this condition of his isn't all that bad?
It sure would be "clever" if this heart condition miraculously goes away. No offense to the guy, and I really hope the best for him. Just saying...
It's a very serious condition - I recently saw a documentary about a Canadian couple who were both long distance runners training for Beijing. The husband dropped dead in a marathon race and was later diagnosed with cardiac hypertrophy. A quick search on NCBI indicates that diagnosis of this condition (often post-mortem) is becoming a more common finding in high performance athletes.
I'd like to believe that TBay used the pick so that the kid could realize his dream of being drafted to the NHL.
Dreamer.
It's hard to believe the NHL approved these penniless scam artists as owners.
Anonymous, there is no scam here. Carle won't get to play for the University of Denver next year (a program where his brother is a legend) because of the condition. The school is making the much classier move of still honoring his scholarship despite the fact that he will never play a game for them.
It wouldn't be "clever" if Tampa Bay is pulling something. Even if Carle ever makes a comeback his lost draft position would have lost him potentially millions.
Here's the deal: if they think that his condition isn't as bad as originally diagnosed, then they aren't being classy; they're drafting our of self-interest. And if his condition is as bad as it says, this is a form of favoritism, in an effort to make a gesture towards a talented athlete that isn't deserving of the gesture (that is, he isn't deserving to be drafted if he can't play professional hockey). I have nothing against David Carle, but Tampa Bay just spent a draft pick on thumbing their noses at providing someone else the opportunity to develop into a player like Zetterberg. I'm not saying that there are many other Zetterbergs out there in the 7th round, but if they're not going to draft under the assumption that they can find talented players at that point in the draft, why have the 7th round at all?
I guess I just don't see how this isn't one of those really unfortunate and untold stories of kids who work their asses off to play, but have it fall apart through no fault of their own. There are alot more of them then we know, but that doesn't mean he should have been drafted.
Sorry I misunderstood.
I don't see it as an opportunity lost though. I think probably just as many NHL regulars come from being undrafted as they do the 7th round so its not really a major loss.
Also considering the sorry state of TBL's farm system, David Carle may have saved another prospect here rather than cost one a job.
Can his condition be corrected with surgery, or any other form of treatment?
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