Yea I dont see a game breaking offensive center in draft even if we actually get lottery luck. I think next offseason Yzerman starts making some more moves to be competitive. He is hoarding picks which I like. Blashill can't be back next season
We are set at a lot of places. 4 top 6 Wings 1 top 6 Center 1 above average 3rd line Center 1 top pairing D 1 2nd pairing D Still need 1 top 6 center 1 top pairing D 1 2nd pairing D Goalie And we need to acquire those in the next two years
No huge forward prospect. Also doesn't help guys haven't played much in last year. A lot of good defenseman it seems at top of class
I doubt they take a goalie that early. No matter how good he seems. It’s also difficult for scouts to evaluate this year as a lot of prospects haven’t been able to play. Based on last year, the top 10 has been very heavy with defensemen, but you never know who might have developed over the past year.
We have the picks and the assets to get a couple more firsts. It’s about time we try to get more elite pieces rather than a bunch of second and thirds that may or may not turn into roster players.
I’m with you. It does seem like some of those 2nd and 3rd round picks are panning out. If you it on 1/3 that’s pretty good.
Panning out is full time nhl player at that point. That being said, analysts are saying some like Johansson and a few others could be top 6 wingers or top 4 D. the winged wheel podcast has talked a bit about it over the past couple months.
Some of wings recent 2nd rd picks I think still have high upside. Hell i think Berggren has 2nd line potential or higher and is outplaying and younger than Veleno in Sweden this year. Berggren im pretty sure I read is the youngest player to be in top 10 in scoring in Sweden in at least 5 years. I think he has a shot to be special. Givani Smith, Gustav Lindstrom, and Hronek were all 2nd round picks as well. Hronek is already our best D Man and other two have or are on verge of contributing in NHL although neither I see being stars. More recent guys its too early too tell
Berggren: Who of Mantha, Bertuzzi, Zadina, and Raymond is he gonna be better than? Givanni Smith’s potential is a bottom 6 forward, Lindstrom’s is a third pairing D, and Hronek is a second pairing D on a playoff team. And those guys panned out. We HAVE to get higher potential prospects.
Well of course we need better players, but the 2nd round if you get nhl players its usually pretty good. We would get top guys rd 1. If we can pick up nhl level players rd 2 with guys like Berggren and Hronek mixed in i think you're doing pretty well. And just because we have 4 other top 6 potential wingers doesn't mean Berggren doesn't have top 6 potential talent. There is also a 6 year age difference between him and Mantha, so he could start 3rd and move up
We are going to have cap space to sign someone like Nugent-Hopkins to play 2nd line center who is still only 27 and a ufa this offseason after back to back 60+ point seasons and 61 in 65 games last year. Bertuzzi-Larkin-Mantha Zadina-Nuge-Raymond Fabbri-Veleno-Berggren Smith-Rasmussen-(Hirose, Brome, etc) Seider-2021 1st rd pick Hronek- And then a combination of Stretcher, Cholowski, Lindstrom, Johansson, McIsaac, Wallinder and Tuomisto, hopefully 3 turn into 2nd/3rd line guys. Honestly that has potential to be a solid team in 2-3 years. Obviously a lot depends on the development of Raymond, Zadina, Seider, whoever we draft 1st this season and continued development of some of our younger guys
The draft strategy the last couple years has been picking boom/bust potential players I think. Tuomisto, Wallinder, Neiderbach and even Raymond to a lesser extent all fit that strategy. They just need some lottery luck the next few years. There is not much room for error drafting 9, 6, 6, and 4 while maybe being the worst team in the league over that period
RNH is a 40-50 point player when centering his own line and not playing as a wing to the league MVP, IMO.
My issue with RNH is you would be paying him beyond his prime while not having a realistic shot at the cup during his prime. I think trading for Dubois makes sense for a few reasons. 1. There doesn’t appear to be a true center at the top of this draft. Maybe Johnson can be, but I think he ends up a wing. Beniers could be a Larkin clone, and that’s great, but that’s if he hits his ceiling. That’s a big ask. 2. We won’t be bottom 5 bad in 2022 just based on adding more talent through prospects, plus further development of our existing kids. And that doesn’t take into account the very likely coaching change we will also have. Of course you’re not guaranteed anything in the lottery, but the likelihood of Wright or Lambert is low. I wouldn’t deal this pick, since we are still a lottery team and we know anything can happen. I just wouldn’t bank on getting another top center through the draft. For those reasons, I would trade our 2021 first, completely unprotected for PLD. He’s under control next season, plus he comes with one more RFA season after that. I would be completely fine adding Veleno or Berggren to the deal as well.
Also, I cannot stress enough the improvement this team will see when Blashill is gone. He’s just a very bad game coach, with the antiquated USA hockey old boys club vision for how the game should be played. The irony is that I think he’s done a good job developing our kids. Not all of them of course, but whatever he does off ice as far as preparation for the young players works for the lions share of them. His systems are just so bad.
Bah I have to bitch more because I just saw the DeKeyser was still rolling with the first PP. Before I get into why this is to terrible, let me first state that handedness is overrated. The caveat to that is on the PP, where having some diversity is a plus since it opens up passing lanes. So, to that end I get having a LHD at the top of the PP. Mantha off the dots is a strength, so you want a LHD feeding him for bombs. The problem is that DeKeyser has no puck skills and hardly any offensive awareness. So once the puck hits his stick, everyone knows it’s going to Mantha, or back to the half wall from whom ever got him the puck. You saw Thursday how often the puck stopped moving once it hit his stick. That’s a huge issue. Since Cholowski isn’t getting ice time, I would honestly say our best bet would be to put Zadina up top where he can give us plenty of options. There should be zero fear running a five forward PP.
I'm not in disagreement we need another top 2 line center. I'm not sure giving up what could be imo a top 6 forward and a top pairing D man for Dubois is the move i make. Obviously we aren't going to be good this year or probably next year. I think I'd rather see what FA brings or see if a team gets in a cap crunch before making a move like that. I'm not sure Dubois is good enough to command that type of return. But if they did make that trade I probably wouldn't be overly mad, just not a move I'd make if I'm in charge IMO.
That said I would be tempted to do Veleno and a 1st. I like Veleno but I dont think he has the upside Berggren does. Also think we can grab a solid DMan in 2022 first round. Looks like a solid group of DMen in this year's class but not sure there is a generational type guy.
The trade the WWP guys brought up was Mantha for PLD. Younger, plays center, we have wingers I believe was the gist.
And the Tigers signed two LA middle infielders who will undoubtedly be light-hitting disappointments.
Problem is that its rumored the reason Staal waved his no trade clause to come here was that Stevie gave him a handshake deal saying he'd get minutes here. But yes, he's atrocious and Cholo or Djoos should be playing instead of him.