you also don't know if they will all reach their ceiling. You don't just take 1 center with a #1 ceiling and be all, we got our #1C no reason to draft anymore now. If you have 3 then there greater your chances of having that elite 1C and if the other work out great, play 1 at 2C and 1 on the wing.
I like the idea of Nylander playing center. That actually really solves a lot of our problems going forward.
I also think that if we actually run 4 lines, there's no reason the 3rd line C can't be a quality player. Kadri might even be more effective on a third line because I think his game is much better against weaker opponents. IIRC, Kadri was on the third line during the short season where him and Frattin racked up all those points behind Bozak and Grabo.
It also depends on whether they think they can sign someone like Stamkos. If they want to go with Stmakos - Nylander - Holland - Gauthier ... then there's no room for either Marner or Kadri. (Babcock might even like Bozak as the number 3 going forward).
For this coming year, I think Marner should play center in the OHL because that gives him a greater chance to dominate down there. But I wouldn't mind if we got the coach to play him for 1/3 of his games on wing too. Even if he plays center in the OHL, there's no reason he couldn't shift to playing wing when he plays for the Leafs or the Marlies.
Ultimately, I think it might be better to have Marner as a winger. With Kessel gone, we're pretty weak on RW.
Our two best forward prospects by a mile are Marner and Nylander. It might be a good idea for those two to be line-mates going forward and hope they develop some chemistry. And from what I know about about these two players, Nylander will probably make a better center than Marner.
Nylander's ahead of Marner and could see full-time with the Leafs in 2016, whereas Marner may just be playing his first AHL season at that time
Just looking back at drafts right now. Man if we picked Ritchie over Nylander I'd b bangin my head off a wall. Nylander will be elite and I'm stoked for the future.
yeah no i couldnt see Marner going back to London for 2016-2017...
A lot of people got annoyed with me during the draft year when I said we needed to draft him and raved about him every single day.
Me Leading Up To Our Pick
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=87093767&postcount=809
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=87094507&highlight=#post87094507
Me When He Got Picked
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=87096011&highlight=#post87096011
A couple things from that thread
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=87053137&highlight=#post87053137
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=87082547&highlight=#post87082547
blasted_Sabre reallllly, reallllly wanted Ritchie.
He wanted Strome also.
yup.
he doesn't really luck out on Draft day does he.
I'm happy to say that I'm glad he didn't get who he wanted in these 2 cases.
well to be fair, we'll not know how Ritchie or Strome will fare in their perspective organizations - however, me too. I like Nylander + Marner
Yea of course, its just my opinion.
Too much self congratulation in this thread. People are going to strain a muscle patting themselves on the back. It would be more interesting to hear about players we missed on or times we pumped the tires of the wrong players. Me? MPS recently and, a long time ago, this kid who played for the Soo. Amazing scorer and setup guy, but very slight and not really fast. He would never last in the rigours of the NHL. The Kid turned out OK.
We all get things wrong from time to time.
Too much self congratulation in this thread. People are going to strain a muscle patting themselves on the back. It would be more interesting to hear about players we missed on or times we pumped the tires of the wrong players. Me? MPS recently and, a long time ago, this kid who played for the Soo. Amazing scorer and setup guy, but very slight and not really fast. He would never last in the rigours of the NHL. The Kid turned out OK.
We all get things wrong from time to time.
I went back and forth a bit on the 2014 draft...
Bennett was always my fav...
Went back and forth mainly on Nylander and others...
Eventually i honed in on Nylander...
Its funny though for a bit i was actually praising Kapanen and i was trying to make a case for him at #8...
My thought process was that he had the skill and speed of Nylander and was a more aggressive puck hound... Obviously after further research i decided Willy was the best pick but funny that we ended up with both.
Bennett was my favourite player in last years draft as well. Marner was my favourite this year so i am glad that we got 1 of them. Last year at the time i also really liked Virtanen but now i am really happy we have Nylander.
A lot of people got annoyed with me during the draft year when I said we needed to draft him and raved about him every single day.
Me Leading Up To Our Pick
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=87093767&postcount=809
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=87094507&highlight=#post87094507
Me When He Got Picked
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=87096011&highlight=#post87096011
A couple things from that thread
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=87053137&highlight=#post87053137
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=87082547&highlight=#post87082547
Players I had wanted us to draft in the past few drafts.....
- Nikita Kucherov
- William Nylander
- Mikhail Grigorenko
- Filip Forsberg
- Nikita Scherbak
- Nikita Zadorov
- Nikita Korostelev
I have had some good predictions on players who I thought had great potential and have shown it in the NHL (Forsberg, Kucherov.) Where some have shown to be sub par (Grigorenko, Zadorov.)
Also of note for some reason I tend to want the guys called "Nikita" and seem to lean a lot towards the Russian's. Although the Russian thing has more to do with the fact they tend to fall further than they should due to the stupid "Russian factor" which does not seem to effect as many players as we expect.