Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

If you are a fan of hockey, you must read this! There has been a lot of coverage and movies about football and baseball drafts but not so much about NHL drafts. The information in this book was very interesting and really added a new layer of understanding to the NHL draft process. Now I am anxious for the next draft to begin! Thank you for this book!

Wonderful idea but a little haphazardly written. Need a better flow. Also less Sam Pollock worship.

Being a lifelong fan of hockey, the topic was interesting to me but I found that at times the book was a little too padded with unnecessary information. That said, if you’re a hockey fan (or sports fan in general) with a borderline academic interest in the historical trivia side of hockey, you will undoubtedly enjoy this quite a bit. Just know that this is absolutely *not* a primer on the draft itself nor is any terminology explained. This sometimes felt like the sports equivalent of a 400-level college course. You will be thrown into the deep end, and frankly, anyone interested enough in NHL Draft history that they want to read this book will probably not have many issues here. It is assumed you know such things like what C-forms are. If not, you’re going to be doing some googling.

Overall I thought it was an interesting and entertaining book. I enjoyed little tidbits like seeing people like Frank Selke and Conn Smythe mentioned - spoken about as the people they were rather than as the trophy names and “achievements” we know them as today. I learned a lot, too. I have never paid that much attention to the draft and had no idea Lindros refused to play for the team that drafted him. (I also didn’t know that was an option.)

I especially enjoyed reading about how the draft evolved into what it is today. It is (or can be) a very complex process that involves a lot of luck but can also turn a team into a talent-stacked juggernaut when manipulated with great skill. Though I’d still call the act of drafting an art form rather than a science, inexact or otherwise.

3.5 stars out of 5

Thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press for the ARC.

I thought this book might be just dry stats and boring. It was anything but. If you want an in-depth, fun look at the business of drafting hockey players, then read this book. The authors have put a lot of thought and information into the players they selected to be highlighted. If you love hockey, or are just starting to be a fan, this is a great book to get you understanding the inside world of players.
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this copy for my unpaid, honest review.

This is a great book. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and so should any hockey fan. It is wide ranging across teams, across eras, across players.

But it's not the book it says it is. Billed as "a fascinating in-depth analysis of six of the NHL's most interesting drafts," Inexact Science promises to "deliver the remarkable facts behind captivating NHL drafts and explores the lessons learned from guessing hockey horoscopes."

Much of it, however, is not that at all. Five of the six drafts focus heavily on five generational players who were destined to be first overall no matter what (Gretzky, Lemieux, Lindros, Crosby, and Lafleur-Dionne 1-2), and three of the six drafts covered are notable anomalies -- WHA pros as young as 18 eligible in 1979, Eastern European players taken in large numbers in 1989, and every team in the post-lockout draft lottery of 2005.

I understand these choices. These guys sold tickets, they sell books. Their stories are truly compelling, and the Dowbiggins do emphasize their stories as they relate to their draft years. And to repeat, this makes for an excellent hockey read. But Gretzky wasn't even drafted, Lindros refused to play for the team that drafted him, and Detroit drafting Lidstrom in 1989 was a singular scouting coup, not a watershed moment.

The true vagaries of the draft are only addressed as a secondary plot -- 65-75% is about the aforementioned stars and anomalous drafts. I would have liked to see the mix reversed, a closer examination of typical draft years and typical draft scenarios rather than these outlier years -- certainly 1986, 1990, and the incredibly loaded 2003 draft.

And 2000! We get some detail about the Islanders trading Luongo knowing they'd draft DiPietro first overall, and why selecting goalies with high picks is not the slam dunk you'd think it should be. But they leave out the part where the Islanders traded Jokinen with Luongo while failing to draft Heatley or Gaborik, only to end up with DiPietro, Kvasha, and Parrish -- my personal candidate for worst trade ever in any sport. Ever.

Meanwhile, the best goalie in that draft year, one of the top five players overall in that draft, was 7th round, 205th overall, likely Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist -- the 22nd goalie drafted! Interestingly, the authors tell the story of how little-known (at the time) Swedish scout Christer Rockstrom identified Lidstrom for Detroit in 1989 in the 4th round -- Rockstrom was responsible for Lundqvist too. Drafting, scouting -- Rockstrom and his peers should have been the stars of this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing this book for review. It's a good book, definitely worth reading, despite my perhaps overly picky criticisms.

If one of the annual highlights in the NHL season for you is the entry draft, "Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Year in NHL History" (ECW Press, 2021) by father-son tandem Bruce & Evan Dowbiggen will be the next book you want to read.

The Dowbiggen's aim to recount the "curious and captivating events of the NHL's drafts five plus decades through the six most compelling years in its history." (p. xii). Reviewing the years 1971, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1991, and 2005, they describe both the broader social and political contexts contributing to the significance of those six drafts.

There is little controversial about their conclusions. How could anyone disagree Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros or Sidney Crosby were generational players?. Helpful analysis of why some picks flourished and others didn't is sometimes useful and insightful, though there are times one wishes for more interaction on some seemingly sure-thing selections who crashed. Other hockey sources quoted, are not all broadly known in the hockey world and represent a narrow breadth of hockey perspective.

There are times when the authors go down too many rabbit trails. For examples, a ten year history of Czechoslovakian defections is a lengthy introduction to Petr Svoboda's sudden appearance when the Canadians select him fifth overall in 1984). The stories are interesting enough, but the reader could forget where the meandering path is going. (Headings would have been beneficial)

I would recommend you pick this book up from your local library (rather than spend the money) as its not likely a repeat read, though it is interesting, entertaining, and contains thoughtful analysis and observations.

"Inexact Science."

When it comes to the National Hockey League draft, you've got that right.

It's never easy to predict the future when it comes to a player's performance in professional sports. Hockey might be the most difficult of all of the major sports in that regard. A scout for an NHL team has to look at a 17-year-old and figure out what sort of player he might be at the age of 23 or so. Everyone makes mistakes in this area, but make enough of them when you do it for a living, and you might have to find a new living.

The NHL's drafts are the subject of a book from Evan Dowbiggin and Bruce Dowbiggin called, yes, "Inexact Science." To be more specific, the Dowbiggins take a look back at some of the most interesting drafts in the last 50 years. That's almost as long as the NHL has had an open entry draft.

The authors decided to pick six of the drafts, and look back at what happened. They start with 1971, when the Canadiens had the chance to pick either Guy Lafleur or Marcel Dionne with the first overall choice. There were no bad options there, of course, but Lafleur, a Quebec native, was a natural choice. However, the Dowbiggins reveal that the Canadiens at least talked about trying to obtain the second choice in a trade so they could have both. Montreal might have won even more Stanley Cups in that decade than the six they did claim if that trade had gone through.

And away we go through the drafts. The best player who could have been available in 1979 was Wayne Gretzky, but he wasn't eligible for some complicated reasons. That's also the year that 18-year-olds became eligible, which changed the draft business quite a bit. Mario Lemieux arrived in 1984, and the actions by the team looking to draft him helped change the rules of the draft down the road. The world started to open up to the NHL scouts in 1989, and the Red Wings got there first with a draft that set up their dynasty. Two years later, we had a repeat of sorts when Eric Lindros became eligible. He was supposed to be the next star, and he used his leverage to force a trade to the Flyers. Finally, there's the story of Sidney Crosby, picked by the Penguins in 2005 after they won a unique lottery for the first choice.

The Dowbiggins covers the subject in a professional manner. They talk to some people to obtain fresh perspectives on some of the issues. For example, Lindros's actions about refusing to play for the Nordiques look a little different now, knowing what we know about Aubut (charges of sexual harassment led to his resignation from the Canadian Olympic Committee) may alter our perceptions of the player's actions. They also do a redraft of the players available in a particular year, knowing what we know now. That's always fun.

One complaint about the choices might center on Gretzky, who receives most of the coverage in that chapter. That was a heck of a draft because of the extra talent that became eligible that year, although it was hard to sort it all out. Eleven players who were taken in the first round played at least 1,000 games in the NHL, and six more turned up in the later rounds. The best player taken in the first round might have been Ray Bourque, who went eighth. Michel Goulet was taken at No. 20. The latter might be more interesting than the former, although it's tough to go wrong when you are writing about the best player ever.

This is a relatively easy read, although I wouldn't call it compelling. I was guess a lot of big hockey fans know a great deal about the circumstances about each of these famous drafts. That means they might not learn a great deal here.

Therefore, those looking for some basic information about the specific stories and years in the book will enjoy it. Others not in the sweet spot still will find "Inexact Science" at least entertaining.