Nashville Predators 2014 NHL Draft preview

[HF Article]

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The second straight season of missing the playoffs led to the dismissal of Barry Trotz, the only coach the Nashville Predators have had in their 15 years of existence. With David Poile as the general manager and much of the hockey operations team still in place it is not likely that Nashville's organizational philosophy will be all that different.



The Predators, perennially in need of a dynamic offensive player, used the fourth overall pick in last year's draft to select Seth Jones, considered the top defenseman and in some corners the top player overall in the 2013 NHL Draft.… read more



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[Gnashville]

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The second straight season of missing the playoffs led to the dismissal of Barry Trotz, the only coach the Nashville Predators have had in their 15 years of existence. With David Poile as the general manager and much of the hockey operations team still in place it is not likely that Nashville's organizational philosophy will be all that different.



The Predators, perennially in need of a dynamic offensive player, used the fourth overall pick in last year's draft to select Seth Jones, considered the top defenseman and in some corners the top player overall in the 2013 NHL Draft.… read more



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seems like the Poile thing to do, take a Defenseman. But I hope ownership is pulling his strings this draft and request he take a forward.

 

[INDhockeyfan]

If Poile picks a Finish defenseman with the 11th pick I'd shoot the TV. It wasn't like last year with Jones. The top 3 forwards were gone and Jones was by far the BPA. Disappointed with not getting Barkov or Drouin but can't argue with Poile taking Jones. You could hit or miss with whatever guy you pick at 11 and I'd rather it be a forward.

 

[PredsV82]

with the 11th pick it doesn't matter… whoever we pick won't be a Pred for 3-5 years.

take BPA, or trade the pick for some more immediate help

 

[NoNecksCurse]

with the 11th pick it doesn't matter… whoever we pick won't be a Pred for 3-5 years.

take BPA, or trade the pick for some more immediate help

the latter option please

 

[braindead]

Bpa
and all.... Sure

But has anyone seen any suggestion until this article that honka will be that guy?????

Lame IMO.

And then they have the wild getting fiala at 17...... We are getting punked.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

My reaction to the article

 

[GeauxPreds]

Yeah, if the predators draft a defenseman not named ekbald(if he were to somehow fall, not saying I expect him, but really the only one that at 11 could be justified as clear BPA) there's gonna be a lot of people calling for Poiles head. With so many forwards in this draft I would be shocked if we take Honka that high. Also for whatever reason, people seem to think we don't have a logjam of defenders with the Ads right now. I could see us drafting a Dman at 42 or 46 but not at 11.

 

[PredsV82]

Yeah, if the predators draft a defenseman not named ekbald(if he were to somehow fall, not saying I expect him, but really the only one that at 11 could be justified as clear BPA) there's gonna be a lot of people calling for Poiles head. With so many forwards in this draft I would be shocked if we take Honka that high. Also for whatever reason, people seem to think we don't have a logjam of defenders with the Ads right now. I could see us drafting a Dman at 42 or 46 but not at 11.

which again would be really stupid over the 11th pick.

 

[PredsHabs]

I hope we do not take him at 11 but if we do trade our two seconds for another first I want Honk if he is still on the board due to his overall play and he is a RHD.

 

[Paranoid Android]

Take the best player available. Position doesn't matter. Our prospect pool has pretty much equal needs across all positions. Just don't take a goalie

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Yeah, if the predators draft a defenseman not named ekbald(if he were to somehow fall, not saying I expect him, but really the only one that at 11 could be justified as clear BPA) there's gonna be a lot of people calling for Poiles head. With so many forwards in this draft I would be shocked if we take Honka that high. Also for whatever reason, people seem to think we don't have a logjam of defenders with the Ads right now. I could see us drafting a Dman at 42 or 46 but not at 11.

It's not really a logjam of NHL ready defenders though, and it's fairly questionable how many of those guys will ultimately work out, and how long it will take them to be ready.

Concur with some of the last few posters in that I have no issue with a defenseman if we don't trade the pick and he's clearly the BPA on the board. Like PredsV82 says, it's a player that probably won't be ready for 2-5 years anyway.

 

[Dave is a killer]

I will be drinking heavily (under the bar) if this plays out to fruition.

 

[bdub24]

Not too worried about whomever we select 11th (if we keep that position which I doubt) because:

A) it's 11th pick - marquis names are gone on even the best years
B) this year is generally regarded as a weak batch to pick from anyway

 

[Gnashville]

I honestly think ownership has put it out there that the pick better be a certain position (forward) or else. Poile has never said "I know what position I will be drafting this year". If Fleury is still there @ 11 and someone in the 15-20 range really wants him then pick up another pick in the 2nd or 3rd.

 

[Viqsi]

They did the same thing with the Jackets' mock draft. There, it was "The Jackets have a lot of quality forwards in the system and on the roster, but are running out of defensemen; therefore, forward." Here, it's "The Preds recently took a top defenseman, and badly need forwards; therefore, defenseman."

Seems a little backwards to me.

 

[GeauxPreds]

It's not really a logjam of NHL ready defenders though, and it's fairly questionable how many of those guys will ultimately work out, and how long it will take them to be ready.

Concur with some of the last few posters in that I have no issue with a defenseman if we don't trade the pick and he's clearly the BPA on the board. Like PredsV82 says, it's a player that probably won't be ready for 2-5 years anyway.

I wouldn't hate a defensemen but to me it seems like teams are more likely to get good defenseman later in the draft, particularly in the 2nd round, while good forwards are much more likely to come in the first. I could see our draft going BPA FWD, D, then C for the first three picks. I wouldn't terribly hate defense at 11, but there are many more forwards projected to be there than D, and while draft boards could be drastically different as they are every year I still wouldn't be exactly happy with someone like Honka at 11 who could go anywhere from 10 to early second round.

 

[I Will Son]

Fabbri
Fabbri
Fabbri

Or trade it

 

[kypredsfan]

I honestly won't be upset with whatever happens with the #11 pick. Hopefully we trade it for some help though preferably. If we keep it and a dman is honestly the BPA, then fine.

 

[alexmanu]

Hope we pick a forward, any forward with high-offensive upside.

 

[braindead]

I wouldn't terribly hate defense at 11, but there are many more forwards projected to be there than D, and while draft boards could be drastically different as they are every year I still wouldn't be exactly happy with someone like Honka at 11 who could go anywhere from 10 to early second round.

This. My complaint is that the article has us picking a guy that is a complete stretch at this spot. Poile rarely if ever stretches on this type of top 10 pick so why would he do that for a d-man? It reflects poorly on the mock draft in the article.

As an aside: Poile will of course say he picked bpa so will people be satisfied if he picks a projected 3rd round d-man and declares him bpa?

 

[RaiderDoug]

I think i'd be pretty ticked if we picked a defenseman at all (other than Ekblad, if he fell for some reason).

1. Defenseman is not clearly BPA at that point. Fleury/Honka are not clearly above the offensive guys that might be available like Barbashev, Perlini, Fiala, etc. Unless the guy making the pick is just so defenseman oriented that he can't pick anything else - which means we have bigger problems than who we picked at 11.

2. I don't care about stocking the Ads. Even if it took 4 years for the player to get here - you know who is still on the team at that point - Josi, Weber, and Jones. So you're wasting a high pick on a guy who's the 4th defenseman, best case scenario, if/when he gets here.

3. Our high-potential forward prospect list is Forsberg, a maybe in Leipsic, and a bunch of Let-keep-our-fingers-crossed type guys. (I am assuming Jarnkrok is not really a prospect anymore). We need more high-end forwards in the system. One of them will pan out eventually.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Overall, I'm agreeing with most here. I don't mind drafting a D, but it's the player mocked I have issue with. I'm far from a prospect expert, but based on all the rankings I've browsed, Honka has been consistently ranked in the low 20's (Red Line Report has him at #31). It just seems like a huge stretch going that far down this early in the draft.

 

[PredsV82]

I will be drinking heavily (under the bar) if this plays out to fruition.

I just have to ask why you would fret over this years draft?? Regardless of who we pick, it wont have any effect on the team during the next three seasons... and in those three seasons we will either regain our perennial playoff contender status, or Poile will be gone and we will rebuild, but whatever happens wont happen because of what we do or dont do this draft

 

[Viqsi]

This. My complaint is that the article has us picking a guy that is a complete stretch at this spot. Poile rarely if ever stretches on this type of top 10 pick so why would he do that for a d-man? It reflects poorly on the mock draft in the article.

As an aside: Poile will of course say he picked bpa so will people be satisfied if he picks a projected 3rd round d-man and declares him bpa?

I still more or less trust Poile, so I'd give him some of the benefit of the doubt (that and this draft looks like it could be a confused mess after the top 4), but I would not be all that thrilled.