So is it almost a given that Sanheim will NOT fall to the 2nd now?
I was excited when we were going to draft Valeri Bure.
So is it almost a given that Sanheim will NOT fall to the 2nd now?
I don't think Benning will be hesitant to draft "Russians" per se. Russians who have come over to play in North America will probably be fair game based on his history, and league-wide tendencies. Benning is reported to be a big force behind the Bruins selecting Alex Khokhlachev, a Russian from the CHL. There's a good handful of Russian CHLers to look at in the 1st+2nd round this year too.
But Russians currently playing in Russia, with a somewhat questionable desire to come to the NHL if offered more money in the KHL...are something to be legitimately wary of, and i'd expect Benning to approach it similarly.
I don't see Lemieux as necessarily having the same defensive prowess as Kesler though. To me, he's more like a "poor man's" Brad Marchand, though slightly bigger. Realistically, i see Lemieux ending up closer to a Patrick Kaleta...which i'm not even positive i'd want on my team, much less at the value of a high 2nd round pick, or even a late 1st as i've seen in places.
People are quick to throw Burrows under the bus (myself included at times) for the ire of the officials he brings down upon the Canucks...a guy like Lemieux isn't going to help that...and i'm not convinced the offensive skillset is there to offset that.
We'd need Anaheim's pick imho.
In my mind it's guaranteed he'll be taken before the 36th pick. I could see him being taken as early as 19th by Tampa, and there's no way he falls past Calgary's 2nd round pick (34th).
What's the worst that could happen? We could get a franchise goalie in the mean time, bring Demko along slowly and develop him into a quality backup, then quality 1A, then alienate our franchise goalie, alienate all other GMs who attempt to trade for him, panic trade Demko at the 2019 draft and then trade the franchise goalie for peanuts and be left with nothing.
Oh....oh dear.
I'm not holding my breath for Sanheim anymore. Personally, i have him as the 3rd D men and i could see him going in the late teens.
I am having the hardest time ranking these Swedish D men. I can't say any truly stood out to me at the U18s, besides Forsling, and reading most reports on them, they all seem to have relatively limited skill sets besides Pettersson or Aho. Tough decisions.
Alright I don't know too much about Nylander but we need a 1C in the future and I read up on him a bit. Do you guys think he is capable of being a 1C? or would he need some AHL time in two years to get better and learn under our system I guess?
Personally I want Ehlers or one of the top 5 like Dal Colle or Drasital.
when does roster freeze end?
I'm not holding my breath for Sanheim anymore. Personally, i have him as the 3rd D men and i could see him going in the late teens.
I am having the hardest time ranking these Swedish D men. I can't say any truly stood out to me at the U18s, besides Forsling, and reading most reports on them, they all seem to have relatively limited skill sets besides Pettersson or Aho. Tough decisions.
Ohhh i have Aho ranked much lower, due to his size. Just feel that most of the Swedish D this year are guys who are rather limited offensively, project to be more positional defensive D-men, some with skating issues too. I don't like taking these kind of guys in the first half of the draft, personally.I like Pettersson more then Aho...to me you can't over looking size here, plus Pettersson plays by far the more complete game. Aho does have very interesting offensive upside...your right it's a tough choice.
With Sanheim likely off the board, I think i'd prefer to go with a forward at 36. My reasoning is that i feel the quality of the forwards at 36 are much higher than at 66, compared to the D men at 36 and 66. I think there are still some good D candidates at 66, but i also wouldn't mind going forward for our first 3 picks.Petterson seems like a guy who Id be willing to take with our 2nd. Hadnt heard much about him until recently but he seems like he has a hell of a lot of untapped potential, looking forward to how he does next season.
Ohhh i have Aho ranked much lower, due to his size. Just feel that most of the Swedish D this year are guys who are rather limited offensively, project to be more positional defensive D-men, some with skating issues too. I don't like taking these kind of guys in the first half of the draft, personally.
With Sanheim likely off the board, I think i'd prefer to go with a forward at 36. My reasoning is that i feel the quality of the forwards at 36 are much higher than at 66, compared to the D men at 36 and 66. I think there are still some good D candidates at 66, but i also wouldn't mind going forward for our first 3 picks.
100% get what you're saying about the Russians,if they're over here then there's a much better chance of them staying here and playing in the NHL.I think you have to be really sure that they're commited to staying and are good enough to make the NHL sooner rather than later as they're not going to want to play too long in the AHL for 100k or less per season when they could be making 10x that much or more at home.
I like Pettersson more then Aho...to me you can't over looking size here, plus Pettersson plays by far the more complete game. Aho does have very interesting offensive upside...your right it's a tough choice.
I still think Bleackley is going to be on the board at 36 and a steal for us. That's who I'm hoping for rather than a Lemieux, especially since I also feel the Sanheim dream is dead.
I'm hoping Honka is available for our 2nd round pick. He is exactly what we need.