Sundinisagod
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Drafting Crouse scares me too. Seems like such a Nonis-Burke pick. Would take him with our NSH 1st if he's there but not in the 3-6 spot.
But I think Shanny/Hunter have been/are going to draft skill over size (at least I hope so).
Drafting Nylander over Ritchie last year shows that Shanahan will likely go with skill over size.
I have no doubt they'd take Strome or Marner over Crouse.
Personally I'm not convinced we wouldn't draft Crouse over Marner or Strome. I could see us targeting that type of player, a big power forward with intangibles.
We've kind of a got a first round pattern starting of drafting big one year, then go for skill the next. From that I get a hunch we're going with a bigger player, and considering most of our skill guys are on the smaller/medium size we do need some size in the top end of our line up. Some size to compliment Rielly on D, or some size up front to go with Nylander or Kadri.
I could see Crouse, Rantanen, and Werenski being up there on our radar, they are all big players with strong skating abilities, not Gauthier like at all. That said, I can see why our fanbase wants Marner or Barzal, the skill picks are looking a lot better than the size picks.
Schenn - size
Kadri - skill
Biggs/Percy - size/skill
Rielly - skill
Gauthier - size
Nylander - skill