NHL entry draft

[Porter Stoutheart]

Well, it wasn't Edmonton, Pittsburgh, Toronto, or Winnipeg. So I can live with it. The Rangers make for a good NHL dynasty, I suppose.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Just glad it was an Eastern team that won it. 11th overall is still our highest draft pick since we took Fiala at 11 in 2014 so I'm hopeful we can can end up with a good player. Our other 11th overall in recent history was Ryan Ellis and Forsberg was also taken there so pretty good track record from that spot for us even though that doesn't mean much.

 

[Gnashville]

Jack Quinn or Seth Jarvis please

 

[King Weber]

can't wait to draft Noel Gunler, develop him, then trade him because """attitude issues""" and have him go onto become an elite forward for someone else.

 

[maplepred]

My lucky number is eleven so I feel like whoever we get there will be better than laf anyways!
You just wait and see!!

This almost adds more fun to the whole thing as it’s a surprise who we will draft rather than knowing it’s laf.... right?!?!

 

[FedorTyutin]

How much chance do you think you guys actually draft Askarov?

 

[Osprey]

My lucky number is eleven so I feel like whoever we get there will be better than laf anyways!

There's only one teensy problem with that...

Lafreniere wears #11.

 

[BigFatCat999]

How much chance do you think you guys actually draft Askarov?

0.0% chance

 

[Gnashville]

How much chance do you think you guys actually draft Askarov?

Not much as Polie has struck out with Goalies in the past.
Hopefully he’ll be there at 11 for a trade down with someone like Ottawa (Islanders pick) and we can pick up a few later picks.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

How much chance do you think you guys actually draft Askarov?

It would definitely be a contentious issue with the fanbase. But I would definitely not be against it... well, just based on reading things. I've only seen Askarov in the WJC and he didn't look all that, but I am willing to accept there is more to what got him into this stratosphere of the draft rankings than that one tournament.

It is not easy for a goalie to get ranked anywhere near the top-10 in the draft anymore. Because just like we've had our own skeletons in distant closets with using 1st round picks on goalies, so have other teams. To get ranked that high really requires a degree of "specialness" that is difficult to attain. So to me, I am taking it that Askarov at least has that potential to be something special.

Nothing is ever guaranteed, but an elite goalie might be better than a decent top-6 forward or decent top-4 defenseman, if those are the other options. NOBODY is ranked anywhere near Askarov at his position. Choices amongst F or D may or may not pan out also, but they are largely blended in amongst competing options at their positions.

Saros is young, but he is not going to grow 4 inches. He will be our #1 goalie this year and next. But then we'll see. Ingram has done very well in the minors... but... that's no guarantee of anything at all. So I think it can be expected that we'll at least have Askarov as part of our conversation heading into the draft. Whether we end up going that direction or not, I have no idea. Maybe he's gone before us and it's moot. But I suspect we'll be pondering that one for the next couple of months.

 

[BigFatCat999]

Not much as Polie has struck out with Goalies in the past.
Hopefully he’ll be there at 11 for a trade down with someone like Ottawa (Islanders pick) and we can pick up a few later picks.

I'm thinking NYI pick and 2 2nds. Ottawa can get a center, defenseman, and a goalie. Preds can have a metric ton of picks to do what they want. 1 1st and 4 2nds. Question is what 2nds do Ottawa give?: 33, 49, 50, 53

 

[Gnashville]

I'm thinking NYI pick and 2 2nds. Ottawa can get a center, defenseman, and a goalie. Preds can have a metric ton of picks to do what they want. 1 1st and 4 2nds. Question is what 2nds do Ottawa give?: 33, 49, 50, 53

33 for sure jumping 11 spots in the 1st round is costly. The other 3 are so close it’s hard to differentiate. Probably 50 just to be even
Then the Predators would have 22, 33, 37, 42 and 50 which is good amount of draft capital.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Not much as Polie has struck out with Goalies in the past.
Hopefully he’ll be there at 11 for a trade down with someone like Ottawa (Islanders pick) and we can pick up a few later picks.

No, no, no. Maybe Askarov is and maybe he isn't the answer for us at #11. But there is no way we should trade down. We need to get more elite talent, and the best place to do that is higher in the draft. So while we probably have to talk about Askarov a little bit, if the conclusion is to go another direction, we should still be focused on using that pick, not trading it. Some very good forward options have been mentioned in this thread already. We already have those 2 2nds, we need the elite pick at #11 more than we need a couple more 2nds.

In a way, this becomes our chance to replace "What Might Have Been" from Fiala.

 

[Scoresberg]

Well, it was fun to dream for a while there...

In all seriousness, this was the 2nd best solution after us getting the 1st. Lafreniere stays out of the Central and we move up one spot.

I actually looked up and whether Askarov goes in the top-12, this draft is stacked at the top. The quality drops after that. I hope we get Lundell or Quinn.

The 11th spot has also treated us well lately. Ryan Ellis & Kevin Fiala both 11th overall picks.

 

[Scoresberg]

No, no, no. Maybe Askarov is and maybe he isn't the answer for us at #11. But there is no way we should trade down. We need to get more elite talent, and the best place to do that is higher in the draft. So while we probably have to talk about Askarov a little bit, if the conclusion is to go another direction, we should still be focused on using that pick, not trading it. Some very good forward options have been mentioned in this thread already. We already have those 2 2nds, we need the elite pick at #11 more than we need a couple more 2nds.

In a way, this becomes our chance to replace "What Might Have Been" from Fiala.

I don't know.. the top-10 forwards are strong but after that it drops a bit. Unless someone takes Sanderson or Askarov or someone else not supposed to be taken there, I'm with you. However, I wouldn't go for a defenseman in the early 1st round, and if we could get something like 13-15 + a 2nd rounder I would consider it just because I don't see much difference between the forward picks after the top-10, Jarvis, Gunler, Mercer etc.

Although, I could see us taking Sanderson if the organization isn't sure about Farrance signing with us.

3 picks in the top-42. A good chance to restock the pipeline after a solid draft last year.

 

[Pr0fet]

Anyhow you guys see is moving up in the draft? Im thinking that Buffalo should be in a position where they need NHL ready players more than they need prospects to develop? Moving up to 8 could give us a shot at Alex Holtz which would be interesting. Not sure who we send the other way though, but Im all ears for anyone not named FF/Arvy/Josi/Ekholm/Fabbro

 

[Scoresberg]

Anyhow you guys see is moving up in the draft? Im thinking that Buffalo should be in a position where they need NHL ready players more than they need prospects to develop? Moving up to 8 could give us a shot at Alex Holtz which would be interesting. Not sure who we send the other way though, but Im all ears for anyone not named FF/Arvy/Josi/Ekholm/Fabbro

Could see Buffalo moving down, I see them as the front-runner for Askarov who probably isn't going as high as 8th. Depends on the player we would be moving but Jarnkrok or Watson + 11th for 8th? I think that's a bit much for moving up 3 spots. Don't know if Holtz is worth giving up that much.

 

[King Weber]

Beyond The Scouting Report: Seth Jarvis

sounds good to me

 

[Scoresberg]

Wouldn’t mind Jarvis but he’s another small guy and probably a winger at NHL level. Also, that scouting report made him sound like the second coming of Guy Lafleur.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Some guy on reddit made this post about how if the Leafs had beaten David Ayres that we would have won Lafreniere and I thought it was too good not to share.

"Let's go back to that fateful night that created the legend of David Ayres. What if that game had ended the way everyone expected it to?

Reseeding the qualifying round
If Toronto had won that game and Carolina lost, the Eastern Conference standings would look a bit different:

As a result, the qualifying round looks like so:

5 vs 12: Pittsburgh vs. Montreal. No change to result.
6 vs 11: NYR vs Toronto. Hard to say who wins this matchup, but it doesn't matter as we'll see later.
7 vs 10: NYI vs Florida. The Islanders won their qualifier and the Panthers didn't, so let's say the Islanders win this matchup. Edit: I am technically correct, so I'm going to leave this.
8 vs 9: Columbus vs Carolina. Again, hard to say who wins, but it doesn't matter. Either team would get lottery ball #1.

The lottery The balls were dropped in alphabetical order by team geography. If we look at the order of the balls in our theoretical scenario compared to reality, it looks like this:

Lottery Ball Number	Actual Team	Theoretical Team
1	Edmonton	Carolina/Columbus (doesn't matter which)
2	Florida	Edmonton
3	Minnesota	Florida
4	Nashville	Minnesota
5 (lottery winner)	NYR	Nashville
6	Pittsburgh	NYR/Pittsburgh (depending on outcome of Toronto/NYR series)
7	Toronto	Pittsburgh/Toronto (depending on outcome of Toronto/NYR series)
8	Winnipeg	Winnipeg

[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Conclusion: Alexis Lafreniere would be a Nashville Predator if the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to beat an emergency backup goalie."

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Um... the league still would have put in a slightly lighter or smaller ball, or one loaded with a little magnet, or whatever for the Rangers, so regardless of what order they were loaded into the machine, the Rangers still would have won. Duh.

 

[Gnashville]

Um... the league still would have put in a slightly lighter or smaller ball, or one loaded with a little magnet, or whatever for the Rangers, so regardless of what order they were loaded into the machine, the Rangers still would have won. Duh.

They could have filled ours with helium and everyone else’s with Sulfur Hexafluoride.

 

[BigFatCat999]

and if COVID f***ed off, Nashville would have picked 16. Preds won 5 spots.

 

[ViktorBaeArvidsson]

I might be one of the few who would actually like to see Nashville take Askarov, Russian goalies have been a hit lately so I definitely would like to have one of my own. If not him, then I really like Jack Quinn, and Seth Jarvis.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Quinn and Lundell are the two we get in NHL.com's latest mocks.