Would anybody care to speculate on players they think Murray is high on that are projected to be selected in the second half of the first round? What do you think it would take to acquire an additional pick in the range that such player may be selected?
Must be a lax player.
Milano is a good talent, and I think he'll be a good NHL player. I just find no reason to pay much attention to him for purposes of the draft, because I think he's going to fall squarely in the donut hole between our picks. Ditto someone like Tuch. Even if we have the ammo to move up to around 20, I think those guys will be gone by then.
I could see Milano fall to the later part in the first ala Tyler Ennis due to concerns about his size.
I see Tuch being a guy that goes a little too early because of his size.
Reinhart was interviewed by Dunleavy at the combine yesterday:
[NHL]622338[/NHL]
This is typical Sam Reinhart from what I've seen these past 13 months, and is reflective of his maturity. It translates on the ice as well. Solid kid.Very levelheaded kid. Still want him with #2. Take the sure thing now and go for home runs next year.
Flashes of Jurco
As a freshman at Portledge School (N.Y.) in 2011, Milano was awestruck by an NHL.com video showcasing the magical hands and creativity of then-Saint John Sea Dogs right wing Tomas Jurco. Jurco went on to be selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the second round (No. 35) of the 2011 draft.
"Me and my friend, Brandon Fortunato, watched Jurco do those tricks during a lunch break," Milano said. "We saw that and said let's try doing that in the lunch room at school. We started stickhandling and doing those tricks the whole year. It was a little private school so we went outside in the parking lot to do them whenever we could."
Milano got pretty good at it.
If Bennett is not selected 1st, I think he is the Sabres selection
One solid moment this week occurred when I not only beat Brendan once, but twice, in ping pong; once for TSN and another for NHL Network. Both scores were actually very close, but I did win both matches. I made him very angry and I was very happy about that (laughing).
4. Who has been the toughest defenceman you have faced in the OHL?
"I saw a lot of [Buffalo Sabres prospect] Nikita Zadorov this year — big, strong, fast defenceman. That's the type of defenceman you see at the next level, so it's great to play against him."
Pretty solid assessment.Sam definitely has the demeanor of a low maintenance player who understands his game and how he needs to go about his business. Almost reminds me of Stamkos in how well spoken he is, unlike many of the top players in most drafts he doesn't seem go give those cliche answers and actually listens to and answers the question. It's easy to see that he is going to be wearing a letter in the NHL sooner then later. He really does strike me as the type of player who is going to have a long career while having consistently good seasons. Another thing I am interested to see what he comes in at, he still looks pretty lanky and has some room to fill out. He is listed at 6-1 185 right now but he may very well be closer to 6-2 200lb in a couple years and at the very least your probably getting a 6-1 190lb which is pretty solid. With his hockey IQ, vision and even size a team is getting alot to work with. If you can get his skating more powerful, along with being little more aggressive then you could be looking at a franchise player. It's in interesting dynamic to the draft this year, you have some very good players but they all bring something completely different to the table. I honestly think it's going to come down to what Buffalo is looking for in a player, both Sam's are future 1st line players from what I've seen relative to comparable prospects coming out of juniors. Both should also be given the opportunity to run with it here which should only help their development.
If I had to guess based on Murray's comments, I would think that the Sabres board might be:
1 - Ekblad
2 - Bennett
3 - Reinhart
Yeah I had the same problemAnyone else have issues trying to get these? Got in right at 1 pm and it said none were available after selecting the amount of tix and typing in the "word" verification.
Pretty solid assessment.
What makes you come to this conclusion? Not calling you out, just curious as I have had a hard time getting a handle on who Murray and Devine are interested in most.
Murray's comment that he has a better chance of getting his guy at number 2 rather then winning the lottery makes me think Ekblad is not #1. Murray stating that he doesn't know if Ekblad has the pace in his game to be an elite dman and Devine stating that he doesn't know if Bennett can play his game at the NHL level and last are both interesting. The one guy neither one has had any question marks about in their comment thus far has been Reinhart. That could mean nothing though.
Personally I would like them to take Reinhart, then Bennett then Ekblad.