OilTastic
Embrace The Hate
This is kind of where I stand right now as well. Do you just take the safe pick in Hanifin or do you go for Strome/Marner and use the other picks for D? Guys like Jeremy Roy, Thomas Chabot among others could turn out to be better d-men in the long run and, like you, I believe more in the D that are ranked late 1st / 2nd round than the forwards. Taking Strome/Marner or even trading down and taking Crouse/Zacha and then later on picking up two defensemen with PIT 1st and one of our 2nd's could be a better option than going Hanifin-Boeser-Chlapik for instance. Really tough call. Not that you necessarily can't pick more D if you select Hanifin or vice versa, but still. I think, taking a lottery ticket on two d-men with PIT 1st and one of our 2nd's gives us a pretty good shot at getting one really good d-man at least. Either way, I'm happy with both scenarios. There's so many good prospects in this draft it's hard to go wrong.
doesn't one of the ranking services actually have Strome at #3? if we took Strome, then i am on board as well with picking a d-man like Jeremy Roy with the Pens pick. this appears to be a deep draft for d-men and i'd like to see the Oilers take maybe 2 but no more, we still have Nurse, Musil, Oesterle, Simpson, Davidson and LaLeggia all wanting spots on the NHL roster.