My prediction is that when centers in the tier in front of them start coming off the board they try and trade one or both of their current second round picks to move up. They know they have depth in terms of prospects; they need the top end guys. I think they want a 2nd for Addison, but I also feel like they would move him for a high 3rd at the end of the day.
I would be shocked if they do this. Addison is want you want your 2nd rounders to turn out to be....a NHL'er who will probably have a long career ahead of him. He is more the exception than the rule. IMO, he is worth a late 1st at least, partly because of the above, and partly because he is a RHD. All this despite Dean and BG seemingly conspiring to drive down his value with negative comments about him in the press.... never fails to amaze me how they will dump on a 22 yo, but will cut their tongue out rather than criticize veteran players.
Trading him for a 3rd would be an awful piece of business.
As to the draft - my view is that we need to get at least two C's in the first two rounds, unless there is a player from another position who is so far above the others that they have to pick him. Once you get past the first 4 C's, to me the tiers are, roughly;
-
Dvorsky, Danielson, Moore(?)
- Yager, Stenberg,
Ritchie, Edstrom, Heidt
- Stramel, Brindley,
Wahlberg, Rekopf,
Molgaard, Nelson
-
Sawchyn, Lind, Perron, Whitelaw,
some Finnish dude
If we get one from the second group, and one from the third i'll be satisfied. Happy if we get one from the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th group, but if there is a good RHD available like Strbak in the 2nd then you have to grab him. Whatever D we get in the first two rounds needs to be RH, and be over 6'. In the later rounds I want them to pick some giant Dmen - our version of Clague, Whitecloud, and McNabb.
I have very little hope that we will trade up into the first group, and i don't think that we should spend much trading capital to do so. I don't think any of them are pegged to be 1st line talent, and i can easily see Ritchie being as good Danielson, Yager being as good as Moore, etc. In other words, i would rather that we have an other early 2nd for Addison than use him and 21st to get Danielson. I would rather have Ritchie and Edstrom/Heidt.
