2004 Entry Draft Cliff Notes

[Marshall]

I figured everyone could put their favorite teams needs and strengths in one thread, so it could be used as a reference for people putting together Mock Drafts.

Here's the Caps:

Need: Defensemen
Have: Goalies and forwards
Possible moves: Will probably take Ovechkin #1, and probably try and deal to the middle of the first round

Click to read more...

 

[punchy1]

Kings.

Need: An elite talent Pivot. An elite goalie prospect.
Have: Tons of very talented defencemen and character/grinding/scoring wingers (Mostly RW).
Possible moves: Will do one of two things. Will either draft Schwarz or Montoya with the 11th pick or will do the right thing and try to move up to get the best center left after Malkin (I have no hope we will move up to get Malkin).

 

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Flames: They seem to place an emphasis is usually on skating, grit, heart, physical play, etc. while still looking for skill. Look for them to shy away from guys who have question marks on consistency, effort, physical play, etc. Darryl Sutter seems to value defensemen a little higher than forwards so if there's a defensemen they like and no standout forwards you can expect them to go that way. Sutter has given the scouts the go ahead to take a goalie if they feel really strongly about one and our head scout has said it's a great year for goalies. That said the biggest hole in our system at the moment is lack of top calibre forwards. It's not a problem on the team with Kobasew, Saprykin and Lombardi all having established themselves in the NHL but our prospect base doesn't seem to have too many top line candidates.

Biggest needs in the system: Top line powerforward, top line playmaking centre with size.

What they will do?: I'd expect them to go with the player they like best regardless of position. The only thing I think is safe to rule out is them going with a soft European forward, that doesn't seem to be Tod Button's style of player nor Darryl Sutter's.

 

[Alex Kovalev]

Penguins

Need: An Elite Offensive forward
Have: Solid Forward depth, defensive depth, and goaltending.
Possible Moves: None, take Malkin 2nd overall.

 

[leafaholix*]

Toronto Maple Leafs...

Need: Offensive forwards. Top goaltending prospect. Big, nasty defenseman.
Have: Defensemen, mostly offensive defensemen.
Possible moves: May move up into the first 2 rounds with roster move.

 

[sehnsucht]

with the flames, I'm hoping they take a top forward with the 1st rounder. Our defence is stacked, it just needs depth which Sutter can get with the 2 4th rounders we have (no 2nd or 3rd rounders which I hope is also addressed). I wouldn't be adverse to getting a goalie but there's no place to put then, we need a farm team of our own more than anything.

 

[Lowetide]

Oilers

Need: Skill up front and on the backline, and a goalie too.

Have: 3-4line forwards, grit, stay at home defensemen.

Possible Moves: Everyone talks about their team moving up in the draft, but Kevin Lowe traded down in 2002 (Mtl-Higgins/Niinimaki) and 2003 (NJ-Parise/Pouliot).

 

[PhoPhan]

Coyotes

Needs: Elite 1st line player
Strengths: Forward Depth, Defense in all facets
Possible Moves: If Olesz even falls that far, most likely Tukonen or Olesz, possibly Ladd.

 

[Jovavic]

Jackets

Need: Everything, depth
Have: Two positions of the future first line filled, decent defensemen depth
Moves: Trading Spacek. Moving down if Hawks take Barker.

 

[montreal]

Habs

Needs: Size, especially down the middle. Top pairing defensemen.

Strength: Prospect depth overall. Scoring forwards

Possible Moves: Could try and get a 2nd round pick through trade. A rough guess would be a package of say Hainsey or Hossa, and either our 3rd, Sharks 3rd or Hawks 4th, as all 3 picks should be sort of close together. (say 78th, 85th and 92nd + however many comp picks there are)

At 18th I would love to see the Habs try to move up as well, if not go for Bruce Gramham or Boris Valabik if possible. I hope the Habs find a way to land David Booth as well, Fredrick Naslund and perhaps one of the big 3 from the Hitmen or one of the NCAA defensemen of Borer, Sigalet, Bristill, Lundin

 

[HockeyBurd*]

New York Rangers...

Need: Top line forwards particularly at C and LW. Top pair stay at home defenseman.
Have: Offensive and two way defensemen, grinders, 3rd and 4th liners, goalie depth.
Possible moves: Will gamble on Shremp at the number 6 pick if Olesz is unavailable. Otherwise will draft Ladd. Look to see the Ranger package there 1st rounder from Toronto with a second rounder to try and take Valabik or some mid first round talent. Perhaps Poti and/or Lundmark are moved in a package to try and move up. I wouldn't be surprised if the Rangers pay through the teeth to deal with the Pens for Malkin.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Minnesota Wild:

Need: Scoring Wingers!
Have: A ton of grinding wingers, good size at center, good depth on goal.
Possible Moves: I want them to move down but they will take the BAP. Maybe package together their massive amounts of picks in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th, to do something, what I don't know? Trade Fernandez hopefully...other than that...They will sit.

 

[monster_bertuzzi]

Canucks:
Need:Size on defence(Valabik?). Scoring *right* winger. Potential 1st line centre.
Have:Goaltending depth. Enough ''sure fire'' NHLers.
Possible moves:I wish they would trade down to the mid teens if theres a player they're coveting. Sopel would definitly be expendable, as well as King.

 

[Fat Elvis]

Notice that most of the teams have the same needs, Top line talent.

 

[Divine Wind]

Here's the for Oil:

Need: One-shot sniper winger, Offensive Defensemen, a Top 5 goalie in draft
Have: defense depth and winger depth
Possible moves:try to acquire a pick in the early 2nd round

Players i would be trying to aquire in this first 3 rounds of this years draft from a EDM perspective(without trading up for a top 10 pick):

fowards: Picard, Radulov, Lisin, Bickell, Lappeenranta, Voloshenko, Kaspar
Defensemen: Green, Meszaros, Valabik, Smid, Lepisto, Schultz
Goaltenders: Dubnyk, Schwarz, Montoya, Schneider, Peters, Shantz

 

[Jacob]

Penguins

Need: An Elite Offensive forward
Have: Solid Forward depth, defensive depth, and goaltending.
Possible Moves: None, take Malkin 2nd overall.

Yep. I'd add that the Penguins really shouldn't take any goalies at all, and won't exactly be searching the world over for defensemen, either. So if they do take one, he must really be something else.
They need forwards with upside.

I can potentially see them combining some of their picks to move up in the order, specifically combining their two 2nds for possibly a late first.

 

[Askel]

Canucks:
Need:Size on defence(Valabik?). Scoring *right* winger. Potential 1st line centre.
Have:Goaltending depth. Enough ''sure fire'' NHLers.
Possible moves:I wish they would trade down to the mid teens if theres a player they're coveting. Sopel would definitly be expendable, as well as King.

Couldnt agree more the canucks need to draft some players with top-2 line talent, bt I wouldnt say no to a 6´6 foot gigant either. A first line center would be nice too.

 

[KH1]

Islanders:

Need: Winger who can go to the net for Yashin, Defenseman
Have: Plenty of finesse players. Some 20 goal scorers who could be moved (Parrish, Scatchard)
Possible moves: Trade up with Hamrlik or Parrish if somebody gets them really excited, Trade down to get more picks and better value if (and it's a big if) Chipchura, Green and Valabik are all off the board.

 

[thestonedkoala]

I must reinterate that there is almost NO possibility that the Wild will draft a defenseman in the first round unless for some miracle Barker falls or maybe even Thelen. As I keep saying their philosophy is that defense can be taught, offense can't.

 

[DaveG]

Carolina Hurricanes:

Have: Young forwards, high-level goaltending prospect.
Need: top-end defensive prospect, 2nd line or better LW prospect, potential #2 center.

Possible Moves: Trade up to take Barker (Columbus is a likely candidate here), Trade Jeff O'Neill to acquire another first and/or a prospect d-man. Will most likely not trade down in the draft.

 

[Gwyddbwyll]

Coyotes

Needs: Elite 1st line player
Strengths: Forward Depth, Defense in all facets
Possible Moves: If Olesz even falls that far, most likely Tukonen or Olesz, possibly Ladd.

I'll add to that by saying

Needs: Winger - Elite Sniper, Winger - Grinder, Backup Goaltending
Strengths: Depth in prospects projected as 2nd/3rd liners
Possible Moves: Coyotes arent shy in dealing 2nd rounders to move up (Sjostrom) or to add roster players (Ference) and they have three 2nd rounders this year.

 

[Boomhower]

RED WINGS

Needs:A Quality Defense prospect, doesn't matter the type and forwards with size.... A pick in the first round.
Have: 3 Quality goaltending prospects and a couple smallish skilled forwards.... A pick in the third round.

Possible moves: Moving up to the 2nd round to get a quality defnseman,(their should be some intigueing defense prospects in the 2nd) or possibly a big forward prospect like Miikka Tuomainen. Standing pat and praying someone is completely overlooked.
It also wouldn't surprise me to see the Wings take Lennart Pettrell somewhere in the middle or late rounds, they've gone after European pests before at the draft.

 

[Prussian_Blue]

It also wouldn't surprise me to see the Wings take Lennart Pettrell somewhere in the middle or late rounds, they've gone after European pests before at the draft.

I should have known that someone else would have been looking at Petrell in the mid-to-late rounds. I was hoping everyone would have been turned off by his freaking out at the WJC.

I would hope that, since the Blues have made at least one trip over to Finland to check out Juhamatti Aaltonen in the Finnish Junior league, they'd have gotten a good look at Petrell in that league also. Aaltonen looks like a possible late-round sleeper for the Blues, and I'd like to see Petrell fall into that category for them as well.

Oh, by the way... here's my take on the Blues' needs, etc.

1). First round is a tough call. The organ-I-zation has little in the way of solid scoring forward prospects. As it stands now, the only guys with a real chance to make any kind of impact as NHL scorers are Zakharov, Shkotov and Backes, with MacMurchy and Aaltonen as longshots.

That being the case, I've advocated elsewhere that the Blues go after Lukas Kaspar in the first round. He's big, skilled, and has played most of the last season with men in the Czech Extraleague, where he didn't embarrass himself from all that I've heard. Some people might say that taking him at 17th overall would be a stretch, but unless the Blues can somehow acquire another, later first-round pick, Kaspar will be gone before their szecond-round pick comes up.

2). The Blues are also supposed to be still looking for their goalie of the future, dedspite a strong season by Curtis Sanford in the AHL, and despite both Tuomas Nissinen and Konstantin Barulin being right about where they should be on their respective development paths. Montoya's name has been thrown around as a possible first-round pick, as have the names Marek Schwarz and Cory Schneider. I didn't know much about Schneider until recently, but ater having taken the time to dig up some things about him, I'd be willing to take him with a first-round pick as well.

Myself, I think I'd draft Kaspar in the first round, and Schneider or Devan Dubnyk in the second round. Then fill in with forwards with scoring upside, another goalie (I like Martin Houle in Cape Breton as a mid-round pick), and another couple of big right-hand shots on defense.

3). The Blues have a lot of depth on defense. The core at the NHL level is probably set for the next decade with Pronger, Jackman, Backman, and Matt Walker. Salvador is in the mix as well, and there are some kids at Worcester (Trevor Byrne and Mike Stuart), in junior (Shawn Belle and Zach FitzGerald), and in Europe (Robin Jonsson) who all have upside and potential.

4). Pavol Demitra and Doug Weight will probably be made available for trade at the draft, or in the off-season. Don't be surprised to see Pronger's name in trade rumors as well, but the Blues know they'd have to be getting a lot back if they gave up Pronger.

PrussianBlue

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

Another (but similar) Wild take:

NEEDS:

-Blue-chip defensive prospect. Absolutely MUST have large offensive upside, ability to qb a pp.

-First line winger worthy of playing with Gaborik. If not a pure beast of a pf, he must have pretty good size and a physical dimension to his game. Wanvig or Foy might end up being this guy. But I certainly wouldn't give them 1st line talent labels.

HAVE:

-playmaking centers with suspect goal scoring ability, Koivu, Bouchard, Wallin (better scoring upside)

-our share of smallish forwards who shy away from traffic, wouldn't be too big on adding another unless he was a real gem. (no more Bouchards)

-plenty of depth to fill out the 3-8 defensive positions into the future

********************
This team has demonstrated that it can pull just about any scrap-heap d-man off the waiver wire and turn them into a rock solid defensive d-man who can get the job done in the GA department. I would like to see them add a blue-chip talent with the assets to help out in the goal-scoring department. Barker and Thelen are the only ones who fit the bell at the 12-spot. They'll be gone. I say no to O'Neill since he seems to have the rap of a likely stay-at-home guy. Green isn't worthy of the #12 selection in my opinion. I'd be open to trading down a few spots to select him if a team was really desperate to move up, but that's unlikely. We're probably taking a forward. I'm expecting Picard or Stafford if he falls. I think Radulov and Wolski would be possibilities if one of them slid too.

 

[katodelder]

4). Pavol Demitra and Doug Weight will probably be made available for trade at the draft, or in the off-season. PrussianBlue

Interesting PrussianBlue:

Ottawa needs a great passer like Weight. They don't need prospects. The Blues and Ottawa should swing a deal. Obviously money would be an issue, but money seems to be the number 1 issue around the league right now.

Again, the Sens don't need prospects, they're close to winning the Cup. All they need is a true playmaking number 1 centre like Weight (Spezza would be a good number 2, Bonk and Smolinski are useless), a goalie (easier said than done, no doubt), and one or two specialists (playoff vets with jam).

So, the Sens shouldn't be a player in the 2004 draft, unless it's to trade away picks to rebuilding teams like St. Louis (for Weight?) or Washington (for Kolzig?).