With the Wild moving Burns back to d...

[thestonedkoala]

I think the Wild could benefit taking a garbage goaler like Wolski or Kaspar (I believe that's what I heard of Kaspar) instead of a defenseman (AGAIN) in the first round. What do you guys think?

We do have Schultz, Michalek, Bolduc, Misharin, and Reitz coming in or on the roster, I know they aren't the best but so far the Wild have one of the top GAA and a good SV this year even with a horrid team they had.

They thrive on picking up bad defensemen, so...Here's hoping they still pick up a defenseman in the first round but I can't complain now that Burns has moved back to d if they pick up a potential garbage goaler.

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[Vlad The Impaler]

Don't you think there is a chance that Brent Burns won't remain on defence?

I think the smart thing would be to take that decision (at least concerning next year) during or after training camp.

Furthermore, I doubt very much that Burns position would be a factor in their drafting. At least I hope so. It's very rarely a good idea to draft based on needs.

 

[VernonForrest]

I dont think the Wild selected him based on position but I don't see why they would move him back to defense. Basically the reason he was such a hot commodity around draft time is that he was playing defense for the Battalion, not doing very well, was moved to forward and showed a heck of a lot of potential based on his size, first step, skating ability and some other parts to his game. It was only after he became a forward that scouts took heavy notice of him. I dont see why the Wild would move him back to defense where he was just a marginal blue liner in the OHL but I guess we will see.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Actually Lemaire has been extremely impressed with Burns on the blueline and recent comments from Lemaire suggests that he will stay on the blueline. His confidence and his play has really picked up since moving back to defense and the Wild sourly needed a raw offensive-defenseman like him. He has also grown quiet considerable since Brampton, I believe he jumped from 5" something to 6'4", so he still has to adjust to his size.

There is a small chance that Burns might not stay on defense but like I said Lemaire has been impressed by him on the blueline and usually if Lemaire is impressed, you stay at that position. Given the weakness of having a puck moving defenseman that can actually hit someone too, the Wild should and possible could keep Burns on defense for the rest of his career with Lemaire helping him until he can play on his own.

I think also that yes you still pick the BAP but when you lack someone like Kaspar or Wolski, you pick them up. The Wild do need a couple defensemens but now I really think they will pick them up in the later round. They just a potentially big forward in Burns and a garbage goaler, someone who sits on the crease (he did that during the Traverse Camp and then quit!) and picks up the few odds and ends goals. Wallin does this but he's a bit lanky and would get punished badly.

I think your right, Vlad that it's a bad reason to draft players in the first two rounds for needs but sometimes you have a range of players that are pretty good and then you pick out of those on needs. Like Schremp, Wolski, and well Green, I know they aren't all the same, Schremp could be better than Wolski but Wolski does something differently. That and if you have around 6 goalies, you don't take a goalie

But in all seriousness, I think Burns is going to be a permanent resident on the blueline. Lemaire has been really, really impressed, so I'm guessing they are going to stick to their plans and pick up another winger to compliment Wallin, Gaborik, O'Sullivan, Bouchard, Koivu, and Dupuis.

 

[Debrincat93]

Don't you think there is a chance that Brent Burns won't remain on defence?

I think the smart thing would be to take that decision (at least concerning next year) during or after training camp.

Furthermore, I doubt very much that Burns position would be a factor in their drafting. At least I hope so. It's very rarely a good idea to draft based on needs.

and we all know that need is scoring. Gaborik will be good obviously for years, koivu everyone has mixed feelings on, dupuis is good and o'sullivan wont be bad either, but they still need another scorer...

 

[Brock]

I dont think the Wild selected him based on position but I don't see why they would move him back to defense. Basically the reason he was such a hot commodity around draft time is that he was playing defense for the Battalion, not doing very well, was moved to forward and showed a heck of a lot of potential based on his size, first step, skating ability and some other parts to his game. It was only after he became a forward that scouts took heavy notice of him. I dont see why the Wild would move him back to defense where he was just a marginal blue liner in the OHL but I guess we will see.

Ugh.......ok

Brent Burns never played defense in the OHL. He played a few seasons of defense before coming to the OHL. As soon as Burns hit training camp, Stan Butler decided that he was going to play on the Wing. He spent a vast majority of the year stuck in a 4th line checker role until Brampton suffered some injuries, he got his chance to excell on a scoring line and never looked back. Unless he played a few games here and there on defense as a fill in, and I don't remember, he never played a game of defense in the OHL.

The reason he was so hot around draft time was because he didn't just show potential, but he was putting up results to. You make it sound like Burns wasn't scoring and was a first round draft pick because he's a big kid who could skate and some scouts went "oh, ok maybe that kid can play". Guys like that go in the 8th round. Not the 1st. Burns went a point per game for the last chunk of the season and then went a point per game in the playoffs.