Take the BPA no matter what! We have pick Carey Price with a Hart/Vezina winner in the net with a lack of a true #1 center since a decade and it was the best thing that happen to this organisation since Koivu in the first round; HM to Slaf.
If they pick only 1 d-man in the top 4, this guy will be a d-man at the rank we pick if no "surprise" in the Top 4. Let's the scout do their job, they have a good eye since 2 years, not perfect but a lot better than it was and don't put yourself in a corner!
I would pick a effective d-man who can play 24 minutes every night before a forward of 50-60 points. I have no issue if they pick a LD like Dickinson or Buium because he will become your best prospect at this position and we never have too much of good players!
I don't say to not take a forward, I want a forward, Demidov or Lindstrom; HM to Catton, but I want the better player we can add to built the team the right way and not taking a forward for the pleasure of taking one. You pick the player you think he will help you the must going forward! The scout know better than me who to pick to realise that and for the first time since Serge Savard I believe this staff will do everything they can to win the next Stanley Cup in Montréal and that start by not being dumb at the draft table!
I think we overestimate way too much your D prospect; quantity doesn't mean quality.
Guhle and Xhekaj are injury prone! One can play 22-24 minutes every night on the top 2 but he can't play 20 games in a row and the other is a heavyweight fighter but when he fight he injure is shoulder close to each time. I was probably the highest lover of Hutson here, the potential to be a factory points who make everyone around him better, but with lot of issue, the defensive side and his size issue can be something he will have difficulty to deal with it. Struble give me the De La Rose vibe, after 15 games I think he would play 1000 NHL games, impress by his maturity at the start but the more he play the more we saw is limitation! Harris is good at everything but not great, very good mobility but he would pay because of that; the others have a "special" talent not him. The only other one valuable for me was Engstrom, I like him a lot!
With Guhle, Xhekaj, Harris and Struble in the lineup, we can't manage to keep an advance of 1-2-3 goals and we give 25 scoring chance each games, your goalies need to goal on their heads all the time to be competitive.
I know they are young and not a finish product but to hope they become a shutdown D able to win the Stanley Cup is a freakin gap aka a dream! For me, Struble is the next Romanov who will be dealt for another assets where we have some flaws because I can't see Struble/Xhekaj in the lineup at the same time in a couple years and with the prospect we have a choice will need to be made and for me even if it's an untapped potential if I need to make a choice between the 2, I keep Xhekaj because of his unicorn package and I hope for the best!
For the RD, I'm not sold at all with what we have. I like Reinbacher but he need some time before knowing what we really have and I hope he will be able to manage to play in Montreal, he seem concerned about what the people said on him way too much! Mailloux and Barron are not my kind of d-man at all, an offensive d-man need to make people around there better for me it's the first requirements and this 2 guy just don't have it. They are better "individually" than a team game and a d-man who score has much as he pass it's a big red flag for me! They produce because of their tools, shots, mobility, strength etc... but not their hockey sense primarly; A la Subban, not Markov and they are not good enough offensively for what they bring in the defensive side to compensate! I like a lot Kornyushkov but I doubt he will came here at some point and he has rejected a trade to stay with his team in the KHL; it will be very hard to have him in Montreal without doing some miracle!
In my thought, we have Guhle-Hutson-Xhekaj-Engstrom-Reinbacher-Kornyushkov has really interesting prospect at D; HM to Mailloux but I still don't like him, give his tools to Hutson and it will be a 6 times Norris winner before the end of his career but not Mailloux.
I would be ready to listen for everyone outside of this top 6 to manage to bring something who can help us. I don't think we have the foundation yet for the next Stanley Cup with the defensive prospect we have without being bad at all and if they thought the right choice was to pick a d-man, even a LD, just do it!
Remember the 2017 Draft! Nolan Patrick, Nico Hischier, Cale Makar, Miro Heiskanen! The right choice was the d-man and we need to pick the right guy more than the right position ...
www.tsn.ca
