Prospect Info: 2019 NHL Draft tracker

[AjaxManifesto]

Welp. The good news is that this is a good year to suck....and oh do we suck.

Some good prospects in the 2019 draft.

Hughes is the top pick. Let's start the Bluesey hopes for drafting him.

 

[EastonBlues22]

It feels like it is time to make this a sticky.

On December 1st.

****ing hell.

 

[carter333167]

We won't settle for second best. It must be Hughes.

 

[Vladdy the Impaler]

Blues need to throw in the towel on this season and be sellers at the deadline. At this point the season is lost with mounting injuries. I think Yeo and company did more damage to the collective mentality of this club than we ever thought they could. Van Ryn needs to be kicked to the curb, I think his schemes played a big part in bringing the defensive core down a couple grades this year. If I were Stillman, I would think long and hard about who I would want to be in charge of making major changes to this hockey club. Armstrong is highly questionable for letting it get this far, especially with the goaltending situation.

1) Tank for Hughes.
2) Sell off everyone besides the untouchables (though who is even considered untouchable at this point is worth debating).
3) Find a proven winner to be the next head coach (Q, Sutter, etc.), just let Berube finish out the season
4) Consider new GM

 

[Blanick]

I think I am leaning farther and farther towards selling. Every UFA and fringe player gets moved for picks/prospects and maybe a core piece or two moved as well.

 

[simon IC]

I know it has been mentioned before, but there still is the matter of the lottery. "Tanking", (which the players won't do anyway), and being sellers do not guarantee us Hughes.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

I hate to say it, but sometimes the culture is so bad you need to change everything and rebuild.

 

[Vladdy the Impaler]

I know it has been mentioned before, but there still is the matter of the lottery. "Tanking", (which the players won't do anyway), and being sellers still does not guarantee us Hughes.

Good point. And because it's the Blues, we all know that even if we ended up with the worst record in hockey, somehow we would end up getting screwed by the lottery with the 5th or 6th overall pick.

 

[carter333167]

Sell now. It will facilitate the tank.

 

[542365]

I know it has been mentioned before, but there still is the matter of the lottery. "Tanking", (which the players won't do anyway), and being sellers still does not guarantee us Hughes.

They’ve definitely neutered the effectiveness of tanking(which I’m 100% in favor of) but it’s still an effective strategy to an extent. The best players, on average, are found near the top of the draft, specifically the top 3. If you’re clearly not going to be a playoff team, you’re still better off tanking than gunning for it because you want your odds for a top three pick to be as good as possible. There’s really no reason to completely bottom out though because the odds difference between the worst and fourth worst aren’t that substandtial.

I don’t think the players need to tank in order to be near the bottom of the standings. We’re pretty clearly one of the worst teams in the league so just playing out the season while giving younger guys like Thomas, Dunn and maybe eventually a couple of the guys from the AHLbigger roles. Give them PP time, PK time etc. We don’t have much to lose, but that experience is incredibly valuable even in losing efforts. We don’t need to dump Petro or Vladdy to tank. We’re doing a great job of it as it is. Wouldn’t be the worst thing to help it along though by playing some inexperienced players more often.

 

[Vladdy the Impaler]

Having Steve Ott draw up plays also helps to facilitate the tank.

#ArtOfTheTank

 

[carter333167]

 

[carter333167]

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I think a few of us owe Etteduag ot Reseob an apology. I’d like to hear his nuanced opinion for what the Blues should do now.

 

[Note fan in Big D]

Would you flip Hughes for Brady Tkachuk and draft picks?

 

[TK 421]

After seeing this footage I think we should start Chad Johnson in every game from here on out while hanging the Maroon anchor on ROR so he can't fully utilize his beard powers to do good.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

Would you flip Hughes for Brady Tkachuk and draft picks?

I'd love to add either Tkachuk, but im not moving Hughes for anyone if we land 1st OV.

 

[542365]

Is the first 2:45 one game?! He had like 25 highlights against that same team. Was is like a weekend series or something?

 

[LetsGoBooze]

Broberg or Bust!

 

[kenfury]

Sabres fan here and I'm not trying to shit on you. Serious question though, if you are Armstrong and have #10OA do you just accept the pain of losing the 2019 pick and move on to avoid a OTT situation where you regress next year and/or the looming small chance of a lottery win in 2020? I dont know just thinking out loud.

 

[Celtic Note]

Sabres fan here and I'm not trying to **** on you. Serious question though, if you are Armstrong and have #10OA do you just accept the pain of losing the 2019 pick and move on to avoid a OTT situation where you regress next year and/or the looming small chance of a lottery win in 2020? I dont know just thinking out loud.

A majority of the time you run with the pick. If he starts selling off core players for prospects and picks, then maybe you let Buffalo take the pick. But that “maybe” is pretty low even if you do that.

Knowing Armstrong, I can’t see a way he rebuilds. Another round of retooling is the likely outcome. He always want to compete and I don’t think next year will be any different.

 

[carter333167]

Sabres fan here and I'm not trying to **** on you. Serious question though, if you are Armstrong and have #10OA do you just accept the pain of losing the 2019 pick and move on to avoid a OTT situation where you regress next year and/or the looming small chance of a lottery win in 2020? I dont know just thinking out loud.

Honestly, we'll finish where we finish. I don't think we can or will attempt to micromanage a tank.

Also, Armstrong may not be the guy going forward.

 

[Mike Liut]

No way do the Blues give up a top 10 pick. The right coach and a couple tweaks and this is a 100 point team

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Sabres fan here and I'm not trying to **** on you. Serious question though, if you are Armstrong and have #10OA do you just accept the pain of losing the 2019 pick and move on to avoid a OTT situation where you regress next year and/or the looming small chance of a lottery win in 2020? I dont know just thinking out loud.

The “top 10” part of the protection is actually pretty scientific, when you look at the likelihood of getting a good player. I think the Blues would certainly use that pick if given the chance.

Armstrong’s moves with the roster remain to be seen, but there are plenty of good players in prime years that they should not be planning to rebuild for a later window. A new coach, goalie, and probably 2 key roster changes are all that are likely. It would be a stretch to imagine they are expect9ng to have a better pick next year. There’s no way they aren’t expecting to compete next season.

 

[Celtic Note]

I think a few of us owe Etteduag ot Reseob an apology. I’d like to hear his nuanced opinion for what the Blues should do now.

Please don’t feed the wild