Direction this team is heading

[Count Von Grabo*]

Although, I would have preferred them to draft a guy with a better ceiling than Gautier. With Bolland, Mac, and Colbourne on the roster, we could have opted to go with a potential top 6 guy.

 

[Liminality]

Although, I would have preferred them to draft a guy with a better ceiling than Gautier. With Bolland, Mac, and Colbourne on the roster, we could have opted to go with a potential top 6 guy.

He is a potential top 6 guy

 

[HeroNtF]

Defensively sound doesnt mean he cant be top 6. And is colborne.

 

[RoyalGremlin]

Its fine to me, we have our developing 1C in Kadri, with Colborne in the wings ready for a spot next year. If we sign Lecavalier we have an awesome 1-2 punch with him and Kadri, otherwise, we are set down the middle for next season regardless.

 

[Ricky Bobby]

I like the Bolland acquisition vs. overpaying Bozak.

Bolland is that center that we needed who can play against big physical forwards. I was getting sick of seeing our roster get run over whenver they ran into a team or line that didn't play transition hockey.

 

[charliolemieux]

I like the Bolland acquisition vs. overpaying Bozak.

Bolland is that center that we needed who can play against big physical forwards. I was getting sick of seeing our roster get run they ran into a team or line that didn't play transition hockey.

Whoa.

How'd you sneak in? Becareful, they hunt us.

 

[yakfish]

It's going in a great direction. Here's what acquiring Bolland allows:

1. It allows Grabovski to become a scoring forward again. He was bottlenecked into being a shut down center last year, and that went poorly. He's much better when used offensively. Bolland can take those shut down responsibilities.

2. It takes some of the weight off of McClement. Gives us 3 very dependable PKers up front: McClement, Bolland, Kulemin. Carlyle likes Bolland for a reason.

Yep +1

 

[AvroArrow]

Bolland was a good pickup. reliable no.3 centre, can even be slotted into the no.2 centre spot if needed. It's not like we gave up three 1st's for bolland, it was a 2nd and two pretty late/bad picks. I can see Kadri centering the top line if we cant sign weiss or lecavalier. He just needs to work on his faceoffs and he'll be good there. He's a good skater, playmaker, hitter, solid defensively. His only downside is sometimes
he tries to make too many pretty plays and turns it over.

Also don't like how you label gauthier as a '3rd line centre' the kid got drafted less than a week ago. Anything can happen. Nik Lidstrom, Shea Weber, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Loui Eriksson, Patrice Bergeron, Alex Edler, Kris Letang, Johnathon Quick, Keith Yandle and i can go on for days. All drafted out of the first round and have turned into high end/star players. Don't count this kid out before he's even given a chance.

I'm happy with our picks and the direction this team is heading in. It's progressing day by day. We made the playoffs this year, got some good experience as a team. JVR has been a solid addition, i like the bolland pickup. Kadri is looking like he's ready to become a star. I can see this team seriously contending for a cup in 2-3 years, IF we can retain our big name players (Kessel,Lupul etc.)

 

[blueberrie]

This whole boom/bust prospect thing is becoming ridiculously overrated.

 

[MajorityRules*]

This whole boom/bust prospect thing is becoming ridiculously overrated.

There seems to be no middle ground in the HF world

 

[613Leafer]

Although, I would have preferred them to draft a guy with a better ceiling than Gautier. With Bolland, Mac, and Colbourne on the roster, we could have opted to go with a potential top 6 guy.

He is a potential top 6 guy

Yep. He was behind a few older guys on the depth chart, and was getting some heavier defensive minutes.

He's a smart player, decent skater, and put up decent points considering his age/role on the team/rookie status.

Looking at defensive bottom 6 centres in the NHL that have limited offence.. McClement, Gaustad, Sutter, etc all had worse offensive numbers in their draft years.

Gauthiers numbers were comparable to J. Staal, Bolland, Stoll, Getzlaf, Bergeron, ROR, etc. keeping in mind that Gauthier was a rookie whereas most of these guys were in their 2nd or 3rd CHL seasons.

I think Gauthier definitely has a shot to be closer to a 50-60 point centre than a 25-30 point guy. With an outside shot at becoming a 60+ guy if he's able to take big strides in the next few years.

 

[pucky]

Even Leaf fans on HF think the Leafs' draft was bad?