The only question for me is whether Reinbacher was the BPA at the slot he was taken. And that still has to play out.
I can’t fathom a team drafting for need with such an early pick. If that’s the approach, and they wanted a first pairing D that badly, there was a far greater chance of hitting on one with this year’s draft crop.
Also, nothing precludes them from trading one of their valued D prospects for a top 6 quality forward and then replace that outgoing D with one selected at this draft.
However, if they do go this route, they ought to remain flexible such that position or need does not determine their pick in the event that there is a clear BPA that falls to them.
It's rather hard even in the NHL to assess what I like to call most effective player available. Take someone like prime Pietrangelo. And someone like panarin or kaprizov cause those are the closest comparables for the players imo. Which one would most people say I'd better, probably the forwards. But come playoff time, which is the more effective one when it comes to winning?
I've been quite consistent on the forum with my take that imo, forwards are the least important position come playoff time. For example, whatever you thought about the Habs 2021 playoff run, they still beat 3 decent to very good teams. And it wasn't off the backs of their forwards. It was from 4 big D and Carey Price playing god for 3 rounds. That's basically what happened in 2014 too. Now it's forwards who with ultimately be the deciding factor in close games if everything is equal but for me, I prize a shutdown D who can log 25+ minutes like a Pietrangelo or a Weber more than a great forward unless they're like a Crosby or Bergeron michkov will never be.
Another example is the Chicago Blackhawks runs. Most Blackhawk fans I speak to while saying kane is amazing and was brilliant for them in those runs, come back to Keith being the most important player on those teams.
Disagree. We knew we were going to suck this year, and it's loaded with D. Last year draft Michkov, Leonard and then if the russian doesn't want to play here trade him, its a highly rated asset. Newhook is barely a 2nd line forward still, has a lot of work to do especially when movin gthe puck at top speed he suffers.
I hope I'm wrong, but Reinbacher still looks like a 3-4 at this point and Newhook is a dime a dozen NHL forward that every team employs.
I disagree with your assessment of Reinbacher. The dude is elite defensively. I would like to see a bit more physicality to him but people underrated his type of Dmen far too often while hyping offensive defensemen who arent nearly as effective come playoff rime