Ovechkin Malkin and Olesz are the consensus rankings 1-2-3 on practically everyone's lists ranking this draft at the top....however whether the teams picking 1-2-3 stay with the "BPA" concept or go for position need with a D-man (probably Barker over Lepisto due to size) or trade their pick (#1 overall =OVECHKIN certainly won't get traded down) for picks+ players remains to be seen......I don't know what PIT or CBJ would do if the did not get Ovechkin.......WASH's D-corps after Gonchar is putrid=so they might trade down a bit and take Barker (ie. might move from 2nd to 4th in a trade down) if they don't get Ovechkin...PIT probably needs a new offensive star to sell tickets to fans (D-men don't) --but they may opt for quantity picks and trade down if they fail to land Ovechkin at #1overall after lotto....CBJ in theory has 2 young offensive stars in Nash and Zherdev --time to focus on helping the D-corps? So I can see again a trade down from # 2 after lotto
to #3 or #4 and take Barker UNLESS they believe in the adage always take the BPA
(MALKIN) ......CHICAGO --yes the current D-corps is putrid--but with Babchuk,Barinka,Seabrook,Lasse Kukkone,Duncan Keith,Wisniewski, McCarthy (now injured and out of the current line-up but had become one of the better Hawks 'd-men before going out with injury) ,Kantee, and maybe Jaaskelainen (currently on the 1st D-pairing for Ilves in the Sm-liiga) ---you can see that the future D-corps of the Blackhawks is going to be a lot better than the current shambles.......AND with ZHAMNOV probably going to be traded by the March deadline,and with questions as to which young centre in the organization can assume the #1 line centre position(Arnason?Yakubov? Ruutu moving from wing? Viuhkola currently 3rd in SM-liiga scoring?) well--you can see a lot is still up in the air if any of these can become a "star" in the #1 centre position for the Blackhawks---as a result,I cannot see the Blackhawks passing up a top skilled centre in Malkin or a skilled power centre in Olesz if they have the chance at drafting 2nd or 3rd overall........they might even TRADE UP if need be (if after lotto they are drafting 4th or thereafter) to get one of these 2 centres...unless something is happening with Kyle Chipchura that I wasn't aware of ---I see he's the #1 ranked NA skater by Central Scouting and he is a big centre ......the next centre they have is Rob Schremp at #7 NA skater and he has 2 strikes against him= not that big and a bad rep/attitude problem on some scouts lists (see Kyle Woodlief's of Redline's tirade against him in his USA today rankings)... I guess every NHL team's scouts and ourselves will get to assess Chipchura and Schremp at the top prospects ganme--I doubt either can supplant Malkin or Olesz in the centre rankings--but whether either is good enough POSITION -wise to by-pass a Barker is another question .......SO Chicago could:
1. Trade UP for Malkin or Olesz if they fail on Ovechkin and don't have an outright
shot at either from the #2 or #3 overall...
OR
2. Take the best ranked centre from #4 or thereafter .....
OR
3. Take BARKER if drafting # 4 or #5 or #6 and he's still on the board (old adage: you can never have too many D-men) ......
If the Blackhawks fail on Ovechkin (the hockey gods probably won't allow it-ie. a bottom 4 AND a lotto win) --then Malkin or Olesz would be great fits .....but if they can't get either of those too,then having another prime D-man prospect in a Barker would be an ok consolation.......unless of course we are all dazzled by Chipchura in the TopProspects Game and for the remainder of his season ....
Of course,if the Blackhawks get none of these (an improbable late season run up the standings?) then this "season from hell" will have been all for nought....Somehow the Hockey Gods would be deemed very cruel (to Blackhawks fans anyway) if that should happen,andto rub it in CBJ ends up with Ovechkin--when they already have a Nash and a Zherdev...but who said life was fair?