NHL Entry Draft 2019 Entry Draft Discussion

[aragorn]

I think you assumptions are incorrect. Pronger and Niedermayer didn't see their roles reduced when they played together, Karlsson (when healthy) and Burns continued to be used to their fullest on the same team.

Also, Wolanin is 5 years older than Brannstrom. I like him a lot but he simply was nowhere close to Brannstrom at the same age. One guy is nearly a finished product the other just two weeks older than Tkachuk

I'd be far mor receptive to trading one of our D for a RD who plays a more well rounded game than moving one for a winger. Wingers are the easiest spot to fill, really not interested in going that route at the cost of the best D prospect in the system.

You think Wolanin is a finished product at 24 yrs old & 1 yr of pro under his belt? Don't defencemen take longer to become established stars in this league? I've made proposals for a RD but the vast majority don't won't to move the next perceived EK for any reason. Who would you say is the better prospect Cozens or Brannstrom?

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

We should still be able to get some good players with a late first and our second round picks. Some combination of jakob pelletier, Jamieson rees, samuel poulin, Brett Leason, albin grewe, egor afanasyev, nick Robertson and Nolan Foote should be available

I like Leason.. Good size , speed, skills .. likely closer to NHL ready. I also have become a Jamieson Rees fan. Love the way he plays. One of those guys at 32. I would probably go with a D at 44 in that case as well. Thomson and Korczak two RHDs would interest me.

I personally would not put Grewe, Afanasyev, Robertson or Foote at the same tier. I think Legare and Tracey are in the race in the 2nd as well;
Its too bad we don't have our 3rd in this draft as well.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

I like Leason.. Good size , speed, skills .. likely closer to NHL ready. I also have become a Jamieson Rees fan. Love the way he plays. One of those guys at 32. I would probably go with a D at 44 in that case as well. Thomson and Korczak two RHDs would interest me.

I personally would not put Grewe, Afanasyev, Robertson or Foote at the same tier. I think Legare and Tracey are in the race in the 2nd as well;
Its too bad we don't have our 3rd in this draft as well.

I listed Grewe, Afanasyev, Robertson and Foote because they will very likely be available with our first 2nd round pick and possibly even our 2nd first round pick. Poulin, Leason, Rees and Pelletier might be available at 32 but that isn't that likely.

I will have to look into Thomson and Korczak, I don't focus on d men as much. I also don't know as much about Legare and Tracey. There is a thread on Tracey in the prospect forum and some posters were critical of him. He might be a high riser because of his point production but he might not be the best pick so early.

We still have Pittsburgh's 3rd though. Where does their pick end up ranked? They are 23rd in the league but does their 3rd round pick jump because they were out of the playoffs early? We will have 32, 44 and then 84 (or earlier). Then 92, 115 and 164. Then we still have our first wherever than ends up.

 

[Micklebot]

I understand the basis of your point. But also you are talking about two the the premiere defensemen in the game in their prime.. They were 100% elite.; no ifs or projections. Although I threw the concept out there more as food for thought than a proposal, if we were talking Pronger or Neidermeyer vs Brannstrom I don't think there is much room for a discussion. I agree the value of moving a 18/19 + Brannstrom to move up into even 3rd overall is likely too much considering the possibility of being able to add a good prospect in this draft at that position. I don't think Wolanin is as good a prospect as Brannstrom but he is still a good player and capable of being a top 4.
I think if 19 + Brannstrom could get you Kakko there would be more interest. Regardless its just discussion material, and I doubt Dorion will move the player that gave him his proudest day as a GM.

I don't think the fact that pronger nieds Karlsson and Burns are all elite franchise dman takes away from the point. @aragorn was suggesting Brannstrom needed to be ahead of Chabot to get the required icetime to be effective. I was just showing that there is enough icetime for more than one elite dman as has been proven numerous times over the years. We proved it when we had Chara and Redden.

I also think its far too early to assume one of wolanin or Brannstrom is expendable. Neither guy has even played a full season.

 

[BondraTime]

I don't think the fact that pronger nieds Karlsson and Burns are all elite franchise dman takes away from the point. @aragorn was suggesting Brannstrom needed to be ahead of Chabot to get the required icetime to be effective. I was just showing that there is enough icetime for more than one elite dman as has been proven numerous times over the years. We proved it when we had Chara and Redden.

I also think its far too early to assume one of wolanin or Brannstrom is expendable. Neither guy has even played a full season.

Brannstrom isn't being traded, for anyone. Not sure why, well I do, it's even being brought up.

He's the best prospect they have, they need to add more guys like him, not subtracting him and adding to get a similar guy.

Brannstrom at this point likely has as much value, if not more, than every pick in the draft after #2.

Cozens may be available at 10th regardless, he's not as set in the top 5 as he was at the beginning and mid point of the year, I'd say he is closer to 10th than 3rd

 

[Micklebot]

You think Wolanin is a finished product at 24 yrs old & 1 yr of pro under his belt? Don't defencemen take longer to become established stars in this league? I've made proposals for a RD but the vast majority don't won't to move the next perceived EK for any reason. Who would you say is the better prospect Cozens or Brannstrom?

I said near finished not finished and i stand by that. He won't be getting any bigger or much stronger, he won't see significant skills improvement, he will likely adjust to the pro game and refine his reads though. Brannstrom though has far more potential for growth. As for who is a better prospect, Cozens or Brannstrom, likely the former but not so much as to throw in 19th OA to make the upgrade.

 

[BonkTastic]

Brannstrom isn't being traded, for anyone. Not sure why, well I do, it's even being brought up.

He's the best prospect they have, they need to add more guys like him, not subtracting him and adding to get a similar guy.

Brannstrom at this point likely has as much value, if not more, than every pick in the draft after #2.

Cozens may be available at 10th regardless, he's not as set in the top 5 as he was at the beginning and mid point of the year, I'd say he is closer to 10th than 3rd

In a couple of years, IF WE DO THIS REBUILD CORRECTLY, teams are going to hate playing against us because once Chabot gets off the ice, Brannstrom will be getting on it. Those two will be responsible for like 50 minutes played on the left side out of every 60 minute game. It's going to cause a lot of matchup issues for a lot of teams looking to isolate our skill players. Whoever our 3rd pairing LD is at that point can be a PK specialist who only ever sees 10-12mins/game.

Of course, that depends on us doing everything else right, but I agree that Brannstrom should not be traded. We need to build the blueline off of these two, not trade them away for total unknowns.

 

[18Hossa]

Brannstrom isn't being traded, for anyone. Not sure why, well I do, it's even being brought up.

He's the best prospect they have, they need to add more guys like him, not subtracting him and adding to get a similar guy.

While those hockey reasons alone justify not trading Brannstrom because we need skilled prospects like him there is also the PR side. If Dorion blew his load over getting Brannstrom for Stone, and it being his "proudest day as gm" then the optics of him then trading Brannstrom for magic beans looks awful, and I'd think even the Sens are aware how badly that would blow up in their faces.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

In a couple of years, IF WE DO THIS REBUILD CORRECTLY, teams are going to hate playing against us because once Chabot gets off the ice, Brannstrom will be getting on it. Those two will be responsible for like 50 minutes played on the left side out of every 60 minute game. It's going to cause a lot of matchup issues for a lot of teams looking to isolate our skill players. Whoever our 3rd pairing LD is at that point can be a PK specialist who only ever sees 10-12mins/game.

Of course, that depends on us doing everything else right, but I agree that Brannstrom should not be traded. We need to build the blueline off of these two, not trade them away for total unknowns.

How is keeping a soft, puny Swede going to be any part of doing it right?

You need to trade Balcers, Pageau and Brannstrom for the 10 OA pick. Use the pick on Seider or his slightly taller brother who played hockey for a while but is now into volleyball.

Then trade Abramov and a 2nd round pick for the rights to Paul Gaustad.

Send a 3rd and Davidsson to Calgary for the rights to Buddy Robinson so that we can ink him for that 8th year.

Bring back Dziurzynski and give him the C. He's no longer a 1st line player but he's a leader and he's tough. Play him on the 3rd line and maybe move him up to the 2nd if one of hose creampuffs decides they don't want to drop 'em in a meaningless show of toughness in a meaningless October game.

Bring in Hal Gill as a player/coach.

THEN you've got a team that isn't quite so small, soft and Euro and therefore much better. Still pretty puny though.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Theoretically, the CBJ pick could move up two spots for us if...
1 - BOS def CBJ
2 - COL def SJS
3 - DAL def STL

Both COL and DAL are behind CBJ in the standings. Division final appearance then would seed them in the back of the round which pushes our pick up by two spots. So we could pick 17th.

Of course, if EK is going to re-sign in San Jose, the more ideal situation would be the above tweaked with SJS def COL. Our CBJ pick would only move up to 18, but we want San Jose to make the Cup final so that if they re-sign Karlsson, we get their unprotected 2021 1st to go with their 2020 1st we already own. (Buffalo gets their 2019 1st)

 

[TT1]

Habs board is doing their annual mock draft, I'm drafting for Ottawa, so far i've gotten:
HF Habs: - Official 2019 Mock Draft (Teams are assigned, starting on the 18th)

1(19): Cam York
2(32): Jakob Pelletier
2(44): Brett Leason

I know Ottawa has good LD depth and are in need of RD, that said York is my #11 ranked player so i couldn't pass up on him. Ditto for Pelletier and Leason, those are BPA picks as well. I'll look into getting some good RD value picks in, if available.

 

[aragorn]

Brannstrom isn't being traded, for anyone. Not sure why, well I do, it's even being brought up.

He's the best prospect they have, they need to add more guys like him, not subtracting him and adding to get a similar guy.

Brannstrom at this point likely has as much value, if not more, than every pick in the draft after #2.

Cozens may be available at 10th regardless, he's not as set in the top 5 as he was at the beginning and mid point of the year, I'd say he is closer to 10th than 3rd

While I agree Brannstrom isn't being traded but to say that Cozens may be available at 10th regardless is a stretch. You also said that Tkachuk might go as high as 8th & he has turned out to have a better yr than at least two players drafted ahead of him, at least in their first yr. It will be interesting to see how both guys do in the pros or more interesting will be how they do in a playoff environment.

 

[aragorn]

How is keeping a soft, puny Swede going to be any part of doing it right?

You need to trade Balcers, Pageau and Brannstrom for the 10 OA pick. Use the pick on Seider or his slightly taller brother who played hockey for a while but is now into volleyball.

Then trade Abramov and a 2nd round pick for the rights to Paul Gaustad.

Send a 3rd and Davidsson to Calgary for the rights to Buddy Robinson so that we can ink him for that 8th year.

Bring back Dziurzynski and give him the C. He's no longer a 1st line player but he's a leader and he's tough. Play him on the 3rd line and maybe move him up to the 2nd if one of hose creampuffs decides they don't want to drop 'em in a meaningless show of toughness in a meaningless October game.

Bring in Hal Gill as a player/coach.

THEN you've got a team that isn't quite so small, soft and Euro and therefore much better. Still pretty puny though.

Gesus ... should we only talk about the players you like? Are you the controller of the boards? If so list the players we can talk about & the players we can't & who we should like & not like. Otherwise piss off.

 

[danielpalfredsson]

Dorion isn't trading his new girlfriend.

 

[BondraTime]

While I agree Brannstrom isn't being traded but to say that Cozens may be available at 10th regardless is a stretch. You also said that Tkachuk might go as high as 8th & he has turned out to have a better yr than at least two players drafted ahead of him, at least in their first yr. It will be interesting to see how both guys do in the pros or more interesting will be how they do in a playoff environment.

All of Boldy (6'2), Turcotte and Byram have leapfrogged or gained a lot of ground on him, then there is Dach and Poldkozin, then there is Krebs and Caulfield. Cozens being available ~10 isn't a stretch whatsoever, there are lots of guys who may be taken ahead of him.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

While I agree Brannstrom isn't being traded but to say that Cozens may be available at 10th regardless is a stretch. You also said that Tkachuk might go as high as 8th & he has turned out to have a better yr than at least two players drafted ahead of him, at least in their first yr. It will be interesting to see how both guys do in the pros or more interesting will be how they do in a playoff environment.

I think he is just making a point that Cozens stock could fall some.. Byram Dach, Krebs, the US players Turcotte, Zegras, Boldy, Caufield are all highly touted. As is Podkolzin, plus there are other players pushing to get in there. 3-10 is hard to call. Cozens was right up there in earlier rankings. Its quite possible that he falls a little. Cozens was more impressive at the Hlinka than he has been at the U18 worlds to date. Thats part of the problem with moving up to the 3rd spot.. I am not sure anyone really screams that they are above the others in the next few spots. I don't think Bondra was expressing his own personal ranking there . The rankings are all over the place after the top 2. Lets see where Mckenzie has him when he comes out with his final rankings from the 10 NHL scouts. He had him 5 in April and said there was not much separating Dach, Cozens and Byram (4,5,6). He may not drop to all the way to 10 but he could drop a couple spots.

 

[aragorn]

I think he is just making a point that Cozens stock could fall some.. Byram Dach, Krebs, the US players Turcotte, Zegras, Boldy, Caufield are all highly touted. As is Podkolzin, plus there are other players pushing to get in there. 3-10 is hard to call. Cozens was right up there in earlier rankings. Its quite possible that he falls a little. Cozens was more impressive at the Hlinka than he has been at the U18 worlds to date. Thats part of the problem with moving up to the 3rd spot.. I am not sure anyone really screams that they are above the others in the next few spots. I don't think Bondra was expressing his own personal ranking there . The rankings are all over the place after the top 2. Lets see where Mckenzie has him when he comes out with his final rankings from the 10 NHL scouts. He had him 5 in April and said there was not much separating Dach, Cozens and Byram (4,5,6). He may not drop to all the way to 10 but he could drop a couple spots.

Agreed, it may not be worth it to PD to move up if they are going to get a pretty good player that they like where they end up drafting from. From all the different rankings like every draft some players can move up sometimes quite a bit as we get closer to the draft while others can start dropping for any number of reasons. PD may need to do something of significance in this draft IMO given that Ott lost their 1st overall for Duchene & now Duchene is gone too. He has the assets to move up but what their strategy is going into this draft can be anyone's guess.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

Gesus ... should we only talk about the players you like? Are you the controller of the boards? If so list the players we can talk about & the players we can't & who we should like & not like. Otherwise piss off.

Who said anything about not talking about any players? What are you even talking about?

 

[Acidrain66]

Agreed, it may not be worth it to PD to move up if they are going to get a pretty good player that they like where they end up drafting from. From all the different rankings like every draft some players can move up sometimes quite a bit as we get closer to the draft while others can start dropping for any number of reasons. PD may need to do something of significance in this draft IMO given that Ott lost their 1st overall for Duchene & now Duchene is gone too. He has the assets to move up but what their strategy is going into this draft can be anyone's guess.

Have to ask...were you a huge Eric Lindros fan?

 

[OD99]

Have to ask...were you a huge Eric Lindros fan?

Who wasn't?

 

[Que]

Have to ask...were you a huge Eric Lindros fan?

He’s my 2nd cousin. (Or something. His Grandma and my Great Grandpa were brother and sister).

I also use inappropriate tools for the job and get caught lookin’ all the time.

Genetics...

 

[Micklebot]

Who wasn't?

Dackell

 

[bert]

You think Wolanin is a finished product at 24 yrs old & 1 yr of pro under his belt? Don't defencemen take longer to become established stars in this league? I've made proposals for a RD but the vast majority don't won't to move the next perceived EK for any reason. Who would you say is the better prospect Cozens or Brannstrom?

Youre right Wolanin isnt close to finished. He has only been playing d for 4 years now. Lots of growth left in his game lots of talent he is a late bloomer.

After watching Cozens at the U 18 id have to say id go with Brannstrom

 

[bert]

All of Boldy (6'2), Turcotte and Byram have leapfrogged or gained a lot of ground on him, then there is Dach and Poldkozin, then there is Krebs and Caulfield. Cozens being available ~10 isn't a stretch whatsoever, there are lots of guys who may be taken ahead of him.

There is no chance id take Cozens over Boldy, Poldkozin, Byram or Turcotte. Watching Canada at the U 18 both Newhook and Krebs look way better. Cozens is slow the better the opponent the least noticable he becomes. I dont like drafting small players but I dont know how someone that has watched the u 18s could pick Cozens over Caufield.

I dont think him going 10th is out if the question whatsoever. I would not trade Brannstrom for him 1 for 1.

 

[Micklebot]

Youre right Wolanin isnt close to finished. He has only been playing d for 4 years now. Lots of growth left in his game lots of talent he is a late bloomer.

After watching Cozens at the U 18 id have to say id go with Brannstrom

Wolanin switched to D in 2012 when playing with the Gamblers so 7 years in the position. He actually started the year before when the little ceasers u18 were short on d and the tried him out there.

Im not saying there isn't some growth left for him, but the point was this and Brannstrom's potential aren't even comparable.