#3 and Hedman for our #1? We're smoking some damn good stuff to kick off the summer.
Seriously. With all of the complaining we all do about Leafs fans and lopsided Stastny proposals, we're sure doing a good job of mimicking them.
I look at it this way:
If the Avs move the #1 pick to a team a spot or three below them in the draft order, a reasonable expectation in return is one good (not franchise) roster player in return, along with that team's 1st round pick. That's it.
They're not likely to get any of several possibilities in that scenario:
1) a just-drafted player with every bit of upside (or more) as the #1 pick (like Hedman or Huberdeau).
2) any player that was just drafted highly in the last year or two by a still-crappy team (because what's the point? - they'd just be weakening their youth and beefing up their youth at the same time).
3) any player critical to next year's success on a team with true playoff aspirations (I'm not sure I see too many of those in the top 10 of the draft though).
So, we should probably just forget those.
Now, if the Avs are willing to move down a bunch of slots in the draft, that changes things. In that scenario, they could in fact reasonably get a couple of good roster players (or perhaps a good roster player and a good prospect), that team's 1st round pick, and unload a garbage salary in the process.
For example (totally random example here), if the Avs traded the 1st pick to, say, Winnipeg - then I think it's reasonable to ask for, perhaps, Bogosian and one of Winnipeg's good prospects (Scheifele? - don't know Winnipeg's prospect pool that well), Winnipeg's #13 pick, and Winnipeg takes on Zanon's or SOB's salary. I haven't really thought that through specifically and am just throwing that out there, but leaving specifics aside, my point is, only if the Avs really move down the draft board can they get a whopping return like that. IMO.
