Senneke and Catton both should be excellent choices at our pick. It really comes down to what you are looking for in a prospect. Catton has one of the highest end playmaking, if not the highest, in this draft. Senneke is a bigger kid who could potentially become a PF type and is more of a goal scorer. The fact that Catton has elite playmaking certainly makes me lean more towards drafting him. Someone like him could be a perfect compliment to Wright.
FWIW I hear Sennecke characterized just as often as a high end playmaker. More often a playmaker than a goal scorer. I think Catton is obviously the best junior playmaker. He's incredible. The question is about their frames - if Catton gets pushed to the perimeter more in the pros (or injured), and if Sennecke's extra five inches (is he 6'4 now?) allows him to buy time with the puck more. I could be persuaded to go Catton there, but thinking Sennecke now.
Would Calgary really pass on Iginla? I think that would be a real controversial thing to do, especially if they are going to pick a forward anyway. How would they justify that to their fans? I mean, fans aren't normally a consideration, but in this case I think passing on Iginla to pick Helenius would be seen as a betrayal that a lot of Flames fans would take very personally.
I don't think they'd pass on Iginla for Helenius, but if their scouts aren't interested in Iginla, then there are ways to do it. You leak beforehand that you're not taking Iginla, to take some of the sting off before the draft. If they don't leak, I'd assume they're taking him.
Like to see the Kraken continue to draft Forwards with their 1st Rounder then address Defense in the 2nd round with one of their picks(Kraken and Rangers)Like to see Tij Iginla fall to the Kraken at numero otto(8)
Depending on who is there, I think this is a good strategy. A bunch of these D in the top group are not really top pair guys. You can get 2nd pair D-men in the 2nd round, if you take enough of them. We might have just done that with Ryker Evans.
I'd put Dickinson in that category - he's more of a Darnell Nurse type than a real top pair D. He can take advantage of offensive opportunities, but he can't create them.
Silayev I think is a #2/#4 complement - where you could maybe see him covering defensively for a great offensive D, but either way I don't see him being the best guy on a good pairing.
So those are good players but nothing you can't get later, with a little luck.
The other D are a little more interesting.
Levshunov has upside but has a long way to go, very sloppy right now. People are assuming a lot thinking he'll grow completely out of it. There are D in this league who would be great if they could clean up their games but some never do. I'm not sure if I'd take Levshunov at #8.
Yakemchuk also has a long way to go but his upside is higher than Levshunov, high enough for me to risk it at #8.
Parekh is a special player, but a lot of bust risk with how often he gets thrown around, and a long way to go to defend acceptably. I'm not taking him top ten.
Buium I'd take at 3 or 4, I'd cry tears of joy if we can get him at #8.
