2020/2021 line up

[aragorn]

If we draft Byfield and play him 10 minutes a night on LW on our fourth line, while Nick Paul plays first line minutes, I might have to find a new team to cheer for.

If you think an 18 yr old rookie is going to get more ice time than a guy who has played pro for several yrs than you having been paying attention. It will be interesting where they start Byfield but for his protection it would make sense to ease him into the lineup slowly. That doesn't mean he plays on the 4th line all yr but he will need to play his way up the depth chart.

No Brown or Norris ?

Ooops for got about C. Brown, I imagine he will be there as well somewhere likely up the lineup & maybe another reason to keep Byfield in junior.

 

[The Worst One]

No Brown or Norris ?

Nevermind.

 

[The Worst One]

If you think an 18 yr old rookie is going to get more ice time than a guy who has played pro for several yrs than you having been paying attention. It will be interesting where they start Byfield but for his protection it would make sense to ease him into the lineup slowly. That doesn't mean he plays on the 4th line all yr but he will need to play his way up the depth chart.



Ooops for got about C. Brown, I imagine he will be there as well somewhere likely up the lineup & maybe another reason to keep Byfield in junior.

Lol at Paul on the first line.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

Lol at Paul on the first line.

Haven't you been paying attention? He's been a pro for a few years now.

 

[Samsquanch]

....Even Lemieux played his 18 yer old season in the CHL, didnt hurt his development.

Lemieux has a late birthday and was one of the oldest players in his draft, missed the cut off by just a few days, much like Lafreniere.

Lemieux turned 19 on October 5th, so your technically right I suppose - but he didnt back to junior for extra seasoning, he went back because he wasnt drafted yet.

 

[bert]

Lemieux has a late birthday and was one of the oldest players in his draft, missed the cut off by just a few days, much like Lafreniere.

Lemieux turned 19 on October 5th, so your technically right I suppose - but he didnt back to junior for extra seasoning, he went back because he wasnt drafted yet.

Didnt suggest he did. The point was posters are arguing that the extra year of Jr can stall a players development. I find it shocking sens fans of all teams want to rush players to the NHL. Has any organization been a better example of a team that when they have waited on players they develop and if they rush them they dont?

So many examples of taking their time working for them. The few times players have been rushed they have busted.

 

[Sweatred]

Lol at Paul on the first line.

Not really sure what you are getting at ... Byfield likely gets eaten alive in unsheltered minutes next year.

They should be on different developmental curves but Paul should be ahead of him.

 

[The Worst One]

Not really sure what you are getting at ... Byfield likely gets eaten alive in unsheltered minutes next year.

They should be on different developmental curves but Paul should be ahead of him.

I'm just laughing at Paul on the first line. That's it.

 

[JD1]

Before we get into serious hypothetical debate on how Byfield will do in our lineup maybe we should wait a bit until getting Byfield isn't hypothetical

 

[Sweatred]

I'm just laughing at Paul on the first line. That's it.

I consider Brady’s line as the first line ... however it gets slotted.

 

[thinkwild]

Just anecdotally, it usually feels like the general consensus here is that there is no harm in over-ripening prospects in development leagues. It's usually held up as a standard like why cant we be like the good teams who always develop prospects a long time outside the nhl. Until it is one of our prospects and then suddenly attitudes seem to shift.

If we were lucky enough to draft QB and he came to camp and knocked everyone's socks off then we can have a difficult debate. But im assuming by default that's not likely, he is so young. This is supposed to be the year that he leads the Cdn Jrs.

 

[MatchesMalone]

Didnt suggest he did. The point was posters are arguing that the extra year of Jr can stall a players development. I find it shocking sens fans of all teams want to rush players to the NHL. Has any organization been a better example of a team that when they have waited on players they develop and if they rush them they dont?

So many examples of taking their time working for them. The few times players have been rushed they have busted.

I just feel like too many fans automatically default to "don't rush the player" if it is even at all debatable. I'm a strong believer that optimal growth comes from struggle. The current NHL-CHL transfer agreement sucks ass. I think everyone can agree on that. There are times where players are too good for junior but not good enough for NHL, and AHL would be the best option, but it isn't an option currently. People take it too literally when I say "too good for". It just means their development is less than optimal because they aren't challenged enough.

Same as what you call "stalling" a player's development. I'm not saying Byfield would literally stop developing for a year. But his development would be slower than it would if he played pro (assuming he got even a halfway reasonable amount of icetime).

To clarify: I still think junior is the best development route for the great majority of players, but there are exceptions.

And I don't care for the argument that "because we've witnessed x and y prospect rushed and bust, it must be because they were rushed". It is a reasonable assumption, but not logically valid. There is no way to know that those prospects busted because they were "rushed" and not just because they were bad picks. Although of course development is very important, I tend to believe that drafting is a much bigger aspect of the "drafting and development" equation than development is, if that makes sense? As with any art or craft, you need the right starting materials in order to end up with an ideal finished product.

 

[Micklebot]

If you think an 18 yr old rookie is going to get more ice time than a guy who has played pro for several yrs than you having been paying attention. It will be interesting where they start Byfield but for his protection it would make sense to ease him into the lineup slowly. That doesn't mean he plays on the 4th line all yr but he will need to play his way up the depth chart.

What line did Tkachuk start on? (he played with Smith and Stone his first game)

They have all training camp for him to figure out where he belongs in the depth chart, and if the only spot they can find a fit is 4th line out of his natural position, they might as well send him back down and try again next year.

 

[MatchesMalone]

I'm actually somewhat optimistic about the new NHL-CHL transfer agreement. CHL doesn't have nearly the same leverage over the NHL as it did ten or twenty years ago, now that more and more NHLers are coming through college or Europe. I think something like this still wouldn't hurt the CHL's bottomw line too badly: top ten draft picks are able to play AHL at 18, and top 20 picks are able to play AHL at 19. Or if that is too tough for the CHL to swallow, I'd even be ok with top five picks can play at 18 and top ten picks at 19.

Also, to keep this post on topic. If the Sens drafted Byfield, I would be looking to trade Logan Brown. Not just for the sake of it, but he's a piece with some real value, and there are guys like Sergachev, Nylander, Ekblad potentially available, or at least Cernak, Kapanen, Johnsson, Tuch.

 

[Nabokov20]

Duclair - Tierney - Brown
Tkachuk - Byfield - Batherson
Anisimov - Norris - Ryan
Paul - White - Hawryluk
Sabourin

Chabot - Hainsey
Brannstrom - Zaitsev
Reilly - Boro
Wolanin
Drysdale for 9 games

Nilsson
Hogberg

Draft Byfield and Drysdale
Sign Duclair, Tierney and Brown until they're UFAs
Sign Paul, Hawryluk, Sabourin and Hainsey to 1-year deals

Essentially, tank again with this squad in 2020/2021 and then bring up all the kids for 2021/2022 and tank for Shane Wright

 

[Clayonator]

Tkachuk - Norris - Duclair

Lafrenniere - White - Batherson

Balcers - L.Brown - C.Brown

Simmonds/Martin - Eakin - Paul


Chabot Demers

Brannstrom Zub

Wolanin Zaitsev

 

[MatchesMalone]

Playing around with Tankathon and I picked a random draft order and made an off-season gameplan, continuing from my last summer's idea on rebuilding in phases or waves, I got 1 and 4. A little optimistic, but not best-case scenario:

1. Ottawa (from SJS) - Alexis Lafreniere - Dorion has had success from the Q.
2. Detroit - Tim Stutzle - Yzerman returns to Adler Manheim.
3. Anaheim - Quinton Byfield - Getzlaf's replacement.

Sens trade picks 4, 21, 33 to New Jersey for 6 and 10.

4. New Jersey - Lucas Raymond
5. L.A. - Jamie Drysdale
6. Ottawa - Anton Lundell - Head European scout Mikko Ruutu is a big voice in this year's draft. He's close to NHL-ready. Plays the game the way the Sens want to play it - defensive specialist, high compete.
7. Buffalo - Marco Rossi
8. Montreal - Alex Holtz
9. Chicago - Cole Perfetti
10. Ottawa - Dawson Mercer - Maritime connection with Trent Mann. Plays a 200 foot game but is also highly crafty offensively.

Cap will be down next year. That is incredibly valuable to the Sens. At the end of draft day one, Sens have 46, 51, 54, 64, 73, 95. Dorion trades Logan Brown, Erik Brannstrom to Tampa Bay for Mikhail Sergachev.

51. Ottawa - Cross Hanas - LS LW, high end raw skill, just lanky and not getting a ton of opportunity on a stacked team. Portland connection with Bobby Strumm.
54. Ottawa - Brock Faber - RS RD, we know Dorion and Janecyk like the NTDP. Faber looks like a potential steal to me; very smart defenseman.
73. Ottawa - Yegor Sokolov RS RW, QMJHL again, maritime connection. Dorion likes overagers on occasion, and Belleville is being depleted by graduations, Sokolov can jump right in.
95. Ottawa - Landon Slaggert - LS C/LW, NTDP again. Just a good depth player.

Try some Euros in the late rounds. Maybe a goalie, if he's Europe or NCAA. No junior keepers who will be AHL-ready in a couple years.

Trade Duclair for MacKenzie Weegar plus 2021 5th. Weegar has played a lot of difficult minutes in FLA. Say what you will about his upside, if you're looking for a defenseman who can play hard minutes at a cheap price, Weegar is a stud. Sign C. Brown for three years and Tierney for two. Go into 2020/21 with:

Alexis Lafreniere - Chris Tierney - Connor Brown
Brady Tkachuk - Josh Norris - Bobby Ryan
Rudolfs Balcers - Colin White - Artem Anisimov
Nick Paul - Filip Chlapik - Drake Batherson
veteran depth signee

Thomas Chabot - MacKenzie Weegar
Mikhail Sergachev - Nikita Zaitsev
Christian Wolanin - Mark Borowiecki
Christian Jaros

Anders Nilsson
Marcus Hogberg

AHL:

Alex Formenton - Anton Lundell - Vitali Abramov
Michael Carcone - Parker Kelly - Jonathan Davidsson
Jonathan Gruden - veteran signee - Chris Wilkie
Markus Nurmi - Mark Kastelic - Yegor Sokolov
Andrew Sturtz

Olle Alsing - Jack Dougherty
Maxime Lajoie - Jonathan Aspirot
Andreas Englund - Lassi Thomson

Joe Daccord
Filip Gustavsson
Kevin Mandolese to ECHL
loan Mads Sogaard to a lower European pro league, where he'll get starts.

Play the Tierney line a lot early in the year. Over the course of the season, as prospects develop and players gain value, trade Tierney, Anisimov and Boro throughout the year for picks and prospects who can help the AHL team short-term, as Lundell and Formenton will go up to replace them.

After there is no Cup awarded this year, St. Louis will want to keep the core together and keep trying. Pietrangelo will cost them at least 10 million if they keep him. Even if they don't, 7.5 for Schwartz, 7 for Binnington, 5.5 for Dunn, 3.5 for Sanford. And I think I'm being conservative on some of those. Depending on the season he has next year Robert Thomas might cost 6 or 7 million, which probably does't leave them much room to fill out their roster. The Blues want to keep their core together and keep going after Cups. Sens offer something like Connor Brown, (an ideal third line winger with two years left on a decent contract), Rudolfs Balcers , JBD and a 2021 second round pick for Robert Thomas. Maybe we can give Seattle a pick or prospect to take Bobby Ryan, but most likely they take a goalie. Draft Brandt Clark with a top 5 pick. Go into 2021/'22 with:

Tkachuk - Norris - Batherson
Lafreniere - Lundell - Thomas
Formenton - White - Ryan
Paul - Chlapik - Davidsson

Chabot - Clarke
Sergachev - Zaitsev
Wolanin - Jaros

Marcus Hogberg
Anders Nilsson

AHL:

Gruden - Pinto - Sokolov
Nurmi - Kelly - Abramov
Crookshank - Kastelic - Mercer
Novak - Lodin - Wilkie

Alsing - Thomson
Lajoie - Guenette

That's assuming all of the prospects turn out decently. Of course some may need to be filled with AHL signings.

 

[Micklebot]

Ok, so assuming a near worst case scenario, we lose big at the lottery and draft Holtz and Raymond and give them both a 9 game trial...

Tkachuk - Norris - Ryan
Duclair - White - Batherson
Holtz - L.Brown -Raymond
Paul - Tierney - C.Brown
Hawryluk

Chabot - Zaitsev
Wolanin - Zub
Boro - Brannstrom/Reily

That doesn't look that bad, does it?

Ok, now, a step better, we do good at the lottery, draft Byfield and Drysdale, again 9 games to see how they do.

Tkachuk - Norris - Ryan
Duclair - Byfield- Batherson
Balcers - L.Brown - C.Brown
Paul - Tierney - Hawryluk

Chabot - Zaitsev
Wolanin - Drysdale
Brannstrom/Reily - Zub

I could live with that.

Ok, now the Cadillac; Lafreniere and one of Byfield or Stutzle

Tkachuk - Byfield/Stutzle - Duclair
Lafreniere - Norris - Batherson
Balcers - L.Brown - Ryan
Paul - Tierney - C.Brown
Hawryluk

Chabot - Zaitsev
Wolanin - Zub
Boro - Brannstrom/Reily

Top 9 looks amazing long term...

There are still going to be holes no matter how good we do in the draft, JBD and Thomson, along with Formenton, Abramov ect could go a long way to help out with that.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Playing around with Tankathon and I picked a random draft order and made an off-season gameplan, continuing from my last summer's idea on rebuilding in phases or waves, I got 1 and 4. A little optimistic, but not best-case scenario:

1. Ottawa (from SJS) - Alexis Lafreniere - Dorion has had success from the Q.
2. Detroit - Tim Stutzle - Yzerman returns to Adler Manheim.
3. Anaheim - Quinton Byfield - Getzlaf's replacement.

Sens trade picks 4, 21, 33 to New Jersey for 6 and 10.

4. New Jersey - Lucas Raymond
5. L.A. - Jamie Drysdale
6. Ottawa - Anton Lundell - Head European scout Mikko Ruutu is a big voice in this year's draft. He's close to NHL-ready. Plays the game the way the Sens want to play it - defensive specialist, high compete.
7. Buffalo - Marco Rossi
8. Montreal - Alex Holtz
9. Chicago - Cole Perfetti
10. Ottawa - Dawson Mercer - Maritime connection with Trent Mann. Plays a 200 foot game but is also highly crafty offensively.

Cap will be down next year. That is incredibly valuable to the Sens. At the end of draft day one, Sens have 46, 51, 54, 64, 73, 95. Dorion trades Logan Brown, Erik Brannstrom to Tampa Bay for Mikhail Sergachev.

51. Ottawa - Cross Hanas - LS LW, high end raw skill, just lanky and not getting a ton of opportunity on a stacked team. Portland connection with Bobby Strumm.
54. Ottawa - Brock Faber - RS RD, we know Dorion and Janecyk like the NTDP. Faber looks like a potential steal to me; very smart defenseman.
73. Ottawa - Yegor Sokolov RS RW, QMJHL again, maritime connection. Dorion likes overagers on occasion, and Belleville is being depleted by graduations, Sokolov can jump right in.
95. Ottawa - Landon Slaggert - LS C/LW, NTDP again. Just a good depth player.

Try some Euros in the late rounds. Maybe a goalie, if he's Europe or NCAA. No junior keepers who will be AHL-ready in a couple years.

Trade Duclair for MacKenzie Weegar plus 2021 5th. Weegar has played a lot of difficult minutes in FLA. Say what you will about his upside, if you're looking for a defenseman who can play hard minutes at a cheap price, Weegar is a stud. Sign C. Brown for three years and Tierney for two. Go into 2020/21 with:

Alexis Lafreniere - Chris Tierney - Connor Brown
Brady Tkachuk - Josh Norris - Bobby Ryan
Rudolfs Balcers - Colin White - Artem Anisimov
Nick Paul - Filip Chlapik - Drake Batherson
veteran depth signee

Thomas Chabot - MacKenzie Weegar
Mikhail Sergachev - Nikita Zaitsev
Christian Wolanin - Mark Borowiecki
Christian Jaros

Anders Nilsson
Marcus Hogberg

AHL:

Alex Formenton - Anton Lundell - Vitali Abramov
Michael Carcone - Parker Kelly - Jonathan Davidsson
Jonathan Gruden - veteran signee - Chris Wilkie
Markus Nurmi - Mark Kastelic - Yegor Sokolov
Andrew Sturtz

Olle Alsing - Jack Dougherty
Maxime Lajoie - Jonathan Aspirot
Andreas Englund - Lassi Thomson

Joe Daccord
Filip Gustavsson
Kevin Mandolese to ECHL
loan Mads Sogaard to a lower European pro league, where he'll get starts.

Play the Tierney line a lot early in the year. Over the course of the season, as prospects develop and players gain value, trade Tierney, Anisimov and Boro throughout the year for picks and prospects who can help the AHL team short-term, as Lundell and Formenton will go up to replace them.

After there is no Cup awarded this year, St. Louis will want to keep the core together and keep trying. Pietrangelo will cost them at least 10 million if they keep him. Even if they don't, 7.5 for Schwartz, 7 for Binnington, 5.5 for Dunn, 3.5 for Sanford. And I think I'm being conservative on some of those. Depending on the season he has next year Robert Thomas might cost 6 or 7 million, which probably does't leave them much room to fill out their roster. The Blues want to keep their core together and keep going after Cups. Sens offer something like Connor Brown, (an ideal third line winger with two years left on a decent contract), Rudolfs Balcers , JBD and a 2021 second round pick for Robert Thomas. Maybe we can give Seattle a pick or prospect to take Bobby Ryan, but most likely they take a goalie. Draft Brandt Clark with a top 5 pick. Go into 2021/'22 with:

Tkachuk - Norris - Batherson
Lafreniere - Lundell - Thomas
Formenton - White - Ryan
Paul - Chlapik - Davidsson

Chabot - Clarke
Sergachev - Zaitsev
Wolanin - Jaros

Marcus Hogberg
Anders Nilsson

AHL:

Gruden - Pinto - Sokolov
Nurmi - Kelly - Abramov
Crookshank - Kastelic - Mercer
Novak - Lodin - Wilkie

Alsing - Thomson
Lajoie - Guenette

That's assuming all of the prospects turn out decently. Of course some may need to be filled with AHL signings.

I would be very disappointed to trade away 4, 21, and 33 to end up with Lundell and Mercer. I would much rather have Raymond or Drysdale at 4, One of several at 21 (Gunler, Jarvis, Amirov, Mysac, Holloway,Zary) .. one has to be there and at 33 there is a host of other possibilities at good prospect.. eg (Foerster, Chromiak, Khusnutdinov)

SO Lundell, Mervcer vs Drysdale or Raymond if you prefer, Amirov, Khusnutdinov for example. There are too many good options at 21 to pick Mercer 10 , plus we get 33. I definitely would not make that trade.

 

[MatchesMalone]

I would be very disappointed to trade away 4, 21, and 33 to end up with Lundell and Mercer. I would much rather have Raymond or Drysdale at 4, One of several at 21 (Gunler, Jarvis, Amirov, Mysac, Holloway,Zary) .. one has to be there and at 33 there is a host of other possibilities at good prospect.. eg (Foerster, Chromiak, Khusnutdinov)

SO Lundell, Mervcer vs Drysdale or Raymond if you prefer, Amirov, Khusnutdinov for example. There are too many good options at 21 to pick Mercer 10 , plus we get 33. I definitely would not make that trade.

You know what? That's a very reasonable criticism. But I dunno, I'm trying to think like Dorion. I'm a really big Mercer fan. I don't understand this criticism I keep hearing that he's a two-way player without high end upside. But from my limited viewings, he seems extremely skilled and creative. I've toyed with ranking him ahead of Perfetti throughout the season. The purpose behind this particular gameplan was getting players who will be NHL-ready as soon as possible. Lundell is already there, in that he could be a 4th line player already but could benefit from a year on the top six in Belleville. That Mikko Ruutu is the Sens lead European scout and had a strong voice in the Thomson pick last year, leads me to believe Lundell is a player the Sens will be heavily targeting early in the first.

Lafreniere is ready to be a top nine NHL forward already. Mercer as a late birthday two-way forward, who will likely need one monster year in junior followed by a strong rookie AHL season before he's ready for a top nine NHL role in 2022/'23. I'd expect some fans would prefer Jack Quinn or Marco Rossi to Dawson Mercer here, and I'd be ok with that too, but I just can't see Trent Mann passing on Mercer. And it's not just tendencies; I'm telling you man, Mercer is on Stuetzle's level of crafty, if he's a step behind skill-wise. He has NHL top six potential as a center or right wing, easily.

I mean, I've been abundantly clear what a huge Raymond fan I am, and I say a lot of nice things about Drysdale, but I just don't think either is the most likely scenario for the Sens, as Dorion doesn't like smaller players. I'd love if we took Amirov at 10 over Mercer, but I'd be utterly shocked if the Sens take a Russky in the top ten.

Also in my opinion if you look at Mercer vs. Khustnutdinov, Foerster, Perreault or Bourque, the difference in how close Mercer is to NHL-ready and what a safe bet he is to be an NHL player outweighs those player's upsides, especially when I think Mercer has a pretty high upside in his own right.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

You know what? That's a very reasonable criticism. But I dunno, I'm trying to think like Dorion. I'm a really big Mercer fan. I don't understand this criticism I keep hearing that he's a two-way player without high end upside. But from my limited viewings, he seems extremely skilled and creative. I've toyed with ranking him ahead of Perfetti throughout the season. The purpose behind this particular gameplan was getting players who will be NHL-ready as soon as possible. Lundell is already there, in that he could be a 4th line player already but could benefit from a year on the top six in Belleville. That Mikko Ruutu is the Sens lead European scout and had a strong voice in the Thomson pick last year, leads me to believe Lundell is a player the Sens will be heavily targeting early in the first.

Lafreniere is ready to be a top nine NHL forward already. Mercer as a late birthday two-way forward, who will likely need one monster year in junior followed by a strong rookie AHL season before he's ready for a top nine NHL role in 2022/'23. I'd expect some fans would prefer Jack Quinn or Marco Rossi to Dawson Mercer here, and I'd be ok with that too, but I just can't see Trent Mann passing on Mercer. And it's not just tendencies; I'm telling you man, Mercer is on Stuetzle's level of crafty, if he's a step behind skill-wise. He has NHL top six potential as a center or right wing, easily.

I mean, I've been abundantly clear what a huge Raymond fan I am, and I say a lot of nice things about Drysdale, but I just don't think either is the most likely scenario for the Sens, as Dorion doesn't like smaller players. I'd love if we took Amirov at 10 over Mercer, but I'd be utterly shocked if the Sens take a Russky in the top ten.

Also in my opinion if you look at Mercer vs. Khustnutdinov, Foerster, Perreault or Bourque, the difference in how close Mercer is to NHL-ready and what a safe bet he is to be an NHL player outweighs those player's upsides, especially when I think Mercer has a pretty high upside in his own right.

To be clear I don't have an issue with Mercer .. I like him in the early-mid teens, so quite a bit, but not in the top 10. Him and Lundell would be ultra safe picks though. Mercer over Perfetti? For upside? Don't see that. For a safe pick that will play in your bottom 6 if nothing else sure so if you are after the safest guys left in the top 15 .. I think you got the right guys.

 

[MatchesMalone]

To be clear I don't have an issue with Mercer .. I like him in the early-mid teens, so quite a bit, but not in the top 10. Him and Lundell would be ultra safe picks though. Mercer over Perfetti? For upside? Don't see that. For a safe pick that will play in your bottom 6 if nothing else sure so if you are after the safest guys left in the top 15 .. I think you got the right guys.

Yeah I don't think we're that far apart here. Of course for upside I'd take Perfetti over Mercer, but overall as prospects I think it is pretty close. Mercer has a high floor, and I think his upside is being underrated by most. So yeah, I'm going for safety and NHL-readiness here primarily, but I also see some room for upside in both of Lundell and Mercer.

 

[Micklebot]

I mean, I've been abundantly clear what a huge Raymond fan I am, and I say a lot of nice things about Drysdale, but I just don't think either is the most likely scenario for the Sens, as Dorion doesn't like smaller players. I'd love if we took Amirov at 10 over Mercer, but I'd be utterly shocked if the Sens take a Russky in the top ten.

Why do you think Dorion doesn't like small players? He was a huge booster for picking Pageau for example, as well as Karlsson.

As for Russians in the top 10, we were supposedly very much targeting Sergachev in 2016, we traded for Zaitsev, and are now rumoured to be signing Zub. We've also apparently increased our scouting in russia from none to some...

Personally I see both Mercer and Amirov as reaches in the top 10, so I'd be shocked in that regard, but I think both are players that we might take if we were around the 15-20 range, heck, maybe even reach a little bit as high as 12th.

Honestly, I'd be thrilled with Amirov, when it looked like the NYI pick might be 15th with them missing the playoffs, he was the guy I was targeting.

Personally, I see this draft as the one we should be going after upside first and foremost. I like a guy like Jarvis with the NYI pick, I like Stranges with one of our 2nds if he's still available. We have the quantity of picks and prospects in the system to strike out and not worry too much.

 

[ijif]

That’s your opinion and a common belief. What would you do if your 18 year old 1-2OA threatened to sit out (play in Europe, demand a trade) if you didn’t start his UFA clock?

I get you can play hardball ... I don’t think this org is looking for that type of noise (see Colin White contract, Chabot extension). The Sens hurdled money as fast as they could at those guys.

I don't draft the player to begin with. That is the point of the interviews before the draft, so you can avoid the players with bad attitudes.

EDIT: Sorry, someone else made the same point as me earlier. I should have read all the old posts.

 

[bert]

Playing around with Tankathon and I picked a random draft order and made an off-season gameplan, continuing from my last summer's idea on rebuilding in phases or waves, I got 1 and 4. A little optimistic, but not best-case scenario:

1. Ottawa (from SJS) - Alexis Lafreniere - Dorion has had success from the Q.
2. Detroit - Tim Stutzle - Yzerman returns to Adler Manheim.
3. Anaheim - Quinton Byfield - Getzlaf's replacement.

Sens trade picks 4, 21, 33 to New Jersey for 6 and 10.

4. New Jersey - Lucas Raymond
5. L.A. - Jamie Drysdale
6. Ottawa - Anton Lundell - Head European scout Mikko Ruutu is a big voice in this year's draft. He's close to NHL-ready. Plays the game the way the Sens want to play it - defensive specialist, high compete.
7. Buffalo - Marco Rossi
8. Montreal - Alex Holtz
9. Chicago - Cole Perfetti
10. Ottawa - Dawson Mercer - Maritime connection with Trent Mann. Plays a 200 foot game but is also highly crafty offensively.

Cap will be down next year. That is incredibly valuable to the Sens. At the end of draft day one, Sens have 46, 51, 54, 64, 73, 95. Dorion trades Logan Brown, Erik Brannstrom to Tampa Bay for Mikhail Sergachev.

51. Ottawa - Cross Hanas - LS LW, high end raw skill, just lanky and not getting a ton of opportunity on a stacked team. Portland connection with Bobby Strumm.
54. Ottawa - Brock Faber - RS RD, we know Dorion and Janecyk like the NTDP. Faber looks like a potential steal to me; very smart defenseman.
73. Ottawa - Yegor Sokolov RS RW, QMJHL again, maritime connection. Dorion likes overagers on occasion, and Belleville is being depleted by graduations, Sokolov can jump right in.
95. Ottawa - Landon Slaggert - LS C/LW, NTDP again. Just a good depth player.

Try some Euros in the late rounds. Maybe a goalie, if he's Europe or NCAA. No junior keepers who will be AHL-ready in a couple years.

Trade Duclair for MacKenzie Weegar plus 2021 5th. Weegar has played a lot of difficult minutes in FLA. Say what you will about his upside, if you're looking for a defenseman who can play hard minutes at a cheap price, Weegar is a stud. Sign C. Brown for three years and Tierney for two. Go into 2020/21 with:

Alexis Lafreniere - Chris Tierney - Connor Brown
Brady Tkachuk - Josh Norris - Bobby Ryan
Rudolfs Balcers - Colin White - Artem Anisimov
Nick Paul - Filip Chlapik - Drake Batherson
veteran depth signee

Thomas Chabot - MacKenzie Weegar
Mikhail Sergachev - Nikita Zaitsev
Christian Wolanin - Mark Borowiecki
Christian Jaros

Anders Nilsson
Marcus Hogberg

AHL:

Alex Formenton - Anton Lundell - Vitali Abramov
Michael Carcone - Parker Kelly - Jonathan Davidsson
Jonathan Gruden - veteran signee - Chris Wilkie
Markus Nurmi - Mark Kastelic - Yegor Sokolov
Andrew Sturtz

Olle Alsing - Jack Dougherty
Maxime Lajoie - Jonathan Aspirot
Andreas Englund - Lassi Thomson

Joe Daccord
Filip Gustavsson
Kevin Mandolese to ECHL
loan Mads Sogaard to a lower European pro league, where he'll get starts.

Play the Tierney line a lot early in the year. Over the course of the season, as prospects develop and players gain value, trade Tierney, Anisimov and Boro throughout the year for picks and prospects who can help the AHL team short-term, as Lundell and Formenton will go up to replace them.

After there is no Cup awarded this year, St. Louis will want to keep the core together and keep trying. Pietrangelo will cost them at least 10 million if they keep him. Even if they don't, 7.5 for Schwartz, 7 for Binnington, 5.5 for Dunn, 3.5 for Sanford. And I think I'm being conservative on some of those. Depending on the season he has next year Robert Thomas might cost 6 or 7 million, which probably does't leave them much room to fill out their roster. The Blues want to keep their core together and keep going after Cups. Sens offer something like Connor Brown, (an ideal third line winger with two years left on a decent contract), Rudolfs Balcers , JBD and a 2021 second round pick for Robert Thomas. Maybe we can give Seattle a pick or prospect to take Bobby Ryan, but most likely they take a goalie. Draft Brandt Clark with a top 5 pick. Go into 2021/'22 with:

Tkachuk - Norris - Batherson
Lafreniere - Lundell - Thomas
Formenton - White - Ryan
Paul - Chlapik - Davidsson

Chabot - Clarke
Sergachev - Zaitsev
Wolanin - Jaros

Marcus Hogberg
Anders Nilsson

AHL:

Gruden - Pinto - Sokolov
Nurmi - Kelly - Abramov
Crookshank - Kastelic - Mercer
Novak - Lodin - Wilkie

Alsing - Thomson
Lajoie - Guenette

That's assuming all of the prospects turn out decently. Of course some may need to be filled with AHL signings.

Considering there is a good chance they can get Mercer at 21 that deal just doesnt make any sense to me. I actually dont think its out of the question they would take Lundell at 6 if they do get Lafreniere. Id be very dissapointed with the deal personally but its not impossible.

Florida needs d men already and has Hoffman to sign, I like the idea if getting Weegar just dont think its happening for Duclair

Appreciate the hard work you put into the entire post though. I interesting ideas. Fun excersize well done.

Ill do one later today, feel free to critique me as I did with you.

Love the Sokolov pick agree on targeting euros later on in the draft.

I would be very disappointed to trade away 4, 21, and 33 to end up with Lundell and Mercer. I would much rather have Raymond or Drysdale at 4, One of several at 21 (Gunler, Jarvis, Amirov, Mysac, Holloway,Zary) .. one has to be there and at 33 there is a host of other possibilities at good prospect.. eg (Foerster, Chromiak, Khusnutdinov)

SO Lundell, Mervcer vs Drysdale or Raymond if you prefer, Amirov, Khusnutdinov for example. There are too many good options at 21 to pick Mercer 10 , plus we get 33. I definitely would not make that trade.

I agree 100 percent.

Before we get into serious hypothetical debate on how Byfield will do in our lineup maybe we should wait a bit until getting Byfield isn't hypothetical

I guess we just shouldnt debate any hypothetical at all then?.... May as well shut down the boards all together. Whats the point of this post other than to take away from other posters discussions? You didnt have to comment.