I still contend the CBJ ends up with a big haul regardless of where their picks fall. It looks like 4 picks in the top 31 (or 30 if Devils pass). I'm quite certain we end up with a top 4 pick and hope for McKinnon but Drouin, Jones or Barkov would work for me.
No reason we can't come away with 4-5 quality NHL players from this draft. Potentially, I think we could land two top line guys, if we play our cards right.
Hey SL, where do you think Johansen would rank among this years draft class? I posed the question earlier, but I'm really beginning to fear for his development. I'm wondering if packaging Johansen for a guy like Barkov could be a smart move given that the young forwards will have essentially no way to play protected minutes with the depleted forward corps we have for the foreseeable future.
No reason we can't come away with 4-5 quality NHL players from this draft. Potentially, I think we could land two top line guys, if we play our cards right.
No reason we can't come away with 4-5 quality NHL players from this draft. Potentially, I think we could land two top line guys, if we play our cards right.
...so maybe we lost last year's 50-50 chance at the draft so we could win this one?Potentially, we could draft 10 top line players. The probability is what matters. In a previous post I calculated the probability at 45% that we draft two top line forwards in the first round if we draft all forwards. 95% chance of getting at least one top liner, and a 10% chance of getting an entire first line. Combine that with later round picks and I'd say our chances at two top line guys is a bit over 50%.
Losin for Drouin?
To be honest, when I read stuff like "He always has caffeine in his hands", including soda, I start to get concerned.
To be honest, when I read stuff like "He always has caffeine in his hands", including soda, I start to get concerned.
We can only imagine if we had 3 lottery picks. The boards will explode if we have the 1st pick and LA/NYR win the lottery... I can't waitAs I watched the CBJ vs. Stars game last night I think I finally got a clear glimpse of what hockey IQ and speed of the game means to the CBJ. We looked slow. I think much of that was due to so many young and/or new players in the lineup. Thinking rather than reacting. However, I also don't know how much "hockey IQ" we have to help the team game speed up.
My point is, I think we need players that can SEE the game as it happens. Several have commented that Johansen has this ability, I believe Brass does too. Others, I'm not sure. Adding a few (several: ) skilled, intelligent players would really make me happy. From what I've read, this draft appears to have several players that fit the bill, including competitive and physical speed. I'm excited to see how this all plays out. Right now we have pick 1, 9 and 13. While I don't expect that to remain the case I think that would be a great way to start the JK era.
Ludicrous Speed said:I really want 2 top 4 picks dammit
To be honest, when I read stuff like "He always has caffeine in his hands", including soda, I start to get concerned.
A lot of prospects are like that. Rocco Grimaldi used to tweet what he was eating, and it was stuff like a list of food from Dairy Queen followed by #stillhungry and a list of stuff from McDonalds. And Rocco is a midget.
4-5?
I think that is overly optimistic.
I don't think Ryan Johansen would be enough to get into that range to select a guy like Barkov. A team picking 3rd/4th overall isn't going to want to deal down, away from that type of player, in exchange for a guy like Johansen (even if combined with another first round pick). What I see in Barkov is a guy that could be a very serviceable top-2 center, a "20 year" guy with whichever team selects him, because he does so much so well.
Play soft for Barkov?