who whould you pic at # 6

[ZDH]

Kotkaniemi is shooting up the rankings...starting to see him as high as 3/4 on some lists.

So many options....

 

[Hen Kolland]

Since we are doing stylistic comparisons, I will throw out Tkachuk Rasmussen has a Getzlaf-Perry or Wheeler-Scheifele ability. Big guys where one is a dominant in tight finisher and the other is an incredible passer that can handle heavy traffic areas and still set people up. Also tons of fun to play against for 20 minutes a night with them leaning on you.

Stylistically speaking, this is great. I'd rather have Ovi and Backstrom over Getzlaf and Perry, and mainly due to personalities. But if we had the ability to completely dominate possession and wear other teams down physically, you wouldn't hear me complaining for a second. I think a lot of people are very aware of what Tkachuk is capable of, and certainly wouldn't riot if he were selected, even if he isn't their first choice.

Side note: that selection would absolutely force Holland to move on from someone in the top 9 part of the roster. If we run with the assumption of Rasmussen to get a spot on the 3rd line wing and Tkachuk being NHL ready, someone is going to get moved. Your competition for top 9 forwards going into the year include: Zetterberg, Bertuzzi, Larkin, Mantha, Nielsen, Rasmussen, Tkachuk, and the players on the bubble (two can stay, the rest are gone or 4th liners): Abdelkader, Athanasiou, Helm, Nyquist, Frk, Svechnikov, Pope. The last two having GR as an option. That's quite a conundrum because the capable players are the ones who easiest to move or easy to bury in GR, and the ones you'd most like to move on from hold power over whether or not they can be moved.

 

[jkutswings]

Your competition for top 9 forwards going into the year include: Zetterberg, Bertuzzi, Larkin, Mantha, Nielsen, Rasmussen, Tkachuk, and the players on the bubble (two can stay, the rest are gone or 4th liners): Abdelkader, Athanasiou, Helm, Nyquist, Frk, Svechnikov, Pope. The last two having GR as an option. That's quite a conundrum because the capable players are the ones who easiest to move or easy to bury in GR, and the ones you'd most like to move on from hold power over whether or not they can be moved.

One more reason that a tie goes to a defenseman. In that scenario, I think Holland moves AA and buries one of the kids, rather than get out from under a bad contract to give the youth some space.

 

[lilidk]

here final mock draft
By Craig Button
https://www.tsn.ca/craig-s-list-svechnikov-solidifies-hold-on-second-spot-1.1103996