Speculation: Where does our top six rank in two years (Division)?

CobraAcesS

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After Winnipeg won the draft lottery I was curious to see how we'll stack up in a couple of years. So I included Laine, and some other teams prospects as well.

Chicago :

Toews, Kane, Hossa, Panarin, Anisimov, Teravainen

Colorado :

MacKinnon, Duchene, Landeskog, Girgorenko, Rantanen, Compher/Soderberg/10th O/A?

Dallas :

Seguin, Benn, Sharp, Spezza, Nichushkin, Eakin

Minnesota :

Parise, Koivu, Pominville, Coyle, Granlund, Niederreiter/Zucker/Vannek

Nashville :

Johansen, Neal, Forsberg, Smith /Ribeiro/Fisher/Wilson/Jarnkrok

St. Louis :

Tarasenko, Steen, Stastny, Schwartz, Fabbri, Bakes/Berglund

Winnipeg :

Little, Wheeler, Laine, Ehlers, Scheifele, Armia, Conner, Petan/Dano/Lemieux

_______________________________________________________________

Curious where everyone thinks Colorado ranks, and how the Division ranks out just in terms of forwards.
 
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AWSAA

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^ Missing 2/3s of the Jets' top line (Ehlers & Scheifele). Also like Petan's potential more than Armia,Dano, and Lemieux's.
 

CobraAcesS

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^ Missing Ehlers & Scheifele for the Jets. Also like Petan's potential more than Armia & Dano's.

Ok, thanks I'll change that

If anyone sees anything missing for any team let me know. It was just a quick look at the roster and HF's prospect lists.
 

tigervixxxen

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You know not assuming any trade we still only have 4 top 6 forwards. MacKinnon, Landeskog, Duchene, Rantanen. Grigo has the ceiling but a long way to go for that. #10 maybe, depends who it is. If I had to guess right now I'd say Soda and #10.
 

CobraAcesS

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You know not assuming any trade we still only have 4 top 6 forwards. MacKinnon, Landeskog, Duchene, Rantanen. Grigo has the ceiling but a long way to go for that. #10 maybe, depends who it is. If I had to guess right now I'd say Soda and #10.

Yeah our depth actually stacks up quite well when you look at all of them.

I think it's Dallas, COL/WPG, Chicago in two years. Chicago's long term depth sucks, but you can't put them any lower because of Kane & Toews.

Neal is a UFA soon in NSH as well

Edit : Oh about Greg, I think hes in the top six next year, and has a great chance to take another huge step forward if that is the case.
 

Tweaky

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Chicago wont be able to afford both TT and Panarin, but they will fill in with a suitable replacement, so probably still the best top6 as long as Hossa does not fall apart (not expecting it).

Colorado is probably #2 or #3, barring any FA signings.

Dallas is a contender for #2 as well, depending on how Sharp and Spezza age.

St. Louis has a strong shot at that spot as well. Stastny, Steen and Backes might be past their prime, but the youngsters should be able to carry them.

Nashville will have a solid top6, but not one that will be considered elite.

Minnesota is in trouble. Their best guys are getting old. They same some good kids, but no real top liners IMO.

Winnipeg is tough to call. Lots of promise, but no guarantees. Could be scary good, best in the league. Or could have a rash of developmental failures and be dead last. On the whole, I expect them to push us and Chicago for best top6 in the Central.
 

CB Joe

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It's difficult to predict rosters in two years time. You have expansion and a slightly stagnating cap to contend with. If I'd have to guess I'd put the Avs at the middle of the pack, maybe slightly better.
 

Freudian

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I don't really see it with Grigorenko. If he can turn into a somewhat consistent 35-40 point third liner for Avs, I'm happy with his development.

The flashes he shows are nice but too few .
 

cgf

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Preds-suspend-Radulov-Andrei-Kostitsyn-Q01DDIOM-x-large.jpg


I can't help feeling like somebody's missing
 

Iracundia

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5th - just ahead of Nashville and Minny. If Sakic makes another silly trade it could be even lower
 

CobraAcesS

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It is interesting how all over the place the voting is, but when you look at it. We're not bad off as far as being competitive offensively inside our Division long term.

Minny & Nashville both will need serious help soon.

Preds-suspend-Radulov-Andrei-Kostitsyn-Q01DDIOM-x-large.jpg


I can't help feeling like somebody's missing

I hope you're right, was hoping to wake up to some good news this morning. Nothing yet though
 

lonelybadger

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If radulov or drouin come in, it helps a lot. I definitely think MacKinnon has the potential to be the best forward in the division except for Kane but until Iginla is replaced with an all star level talent, it will be impossible to be better than any team but the wild and maybe Nashville.

I also do not think the jets are as good as some people think they are so I have some bias.
 

CobraAcesS

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If radulov or drouin come in, it helps a lot. I definitely think MacKinnon has the potential to be the best forward in the division except for Kane but until Iginla is replaced with an all star level talent, it will be impossible to be better than any team but the wild and maybe Nashville.

I also do not think the jets are as good as some people think they are so I have some bias.

Not yet, but they have the deepest group with the most potential probably.
 

RockLobster

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Ours looks pretty bad. For one, Grigorenko really shouldn't be listed there as we have no idea how he'll continue developing. He made some good strides this year, but that was also coupled with stretches of play where he either was invisible or didn't play well. We've seen the glimpses of talent from him, but we have no way to know if he'll tap into it yet.

Also don't know who the Avs will draft with their 10th overall either. Right now I think it is likely to be a forward, but if Chychrun or Sergachev are there at 10, then I think there's as much a chance they go with one of them.
 

lonelybadger

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Two years is a long time, I'm really hoping for an infusion of Drouin and Radulov shaped miracles.

On paper lando, mack, duchene, and hopefully rantanen is nice but I agree it's nowhere close to wheeler, little, schief, ehlers, laine, Connors.

Forgot Connors.... Welp... At least their defense only has big buff, trouba, Morrissey.... Ahhh man
 

CobraAcesS

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Ours looks pretty bad. For one, Grigorenko really shouldn't be listed there as we have no idea how he'll continue developing. He made some good strides this year, but that was also coupled with stretches of play where he either was invisible or didn't play well. We've seen the glimpses of talent from him, but we have no way to know if he'll tap into it yet.

Also don't know who the Avs will draft with their 10th overall either. Right now I think it is likely to be a forward, but if Chychrun or Sergachev are there at 10, then I think there's as much a chance they go with one of them.

I had to include guys with potential, you can't see that?

I had to include older guys with expiring contracts for some teams just to get to six or seven players on that list.

Most teams actually do not have 'Six top six quality forwards', even Dallas and Chicago.

TT isn't really a top six forward yet, much more like Grigorenko IMO. Neither is Nichuskin, and Eakin is a tweener who plays higher and provides a checking role.

STL is probably the closest to having six true top six forwards right now, but not a lot of potential for replacing guys like Bakes and Berglund to keep it that way.

So with all of that said, including Grigorenko since he played in our top six and is expected to next season makes perfect sense.
 

Pierce Hawthorne

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I think in 2 years we're at least 5th.


I still like our Top 6 a lot more then Minny and Nashville.


I also think in 2 years from now Chicago wont be as good either, and we may be better then them(Hossa wearing down, one of Teuvo/Anisimov/Panarin gone, possibly 2 of them).





I think we're definitely 5th and maybe 4th. Honestly, it also depends on Mackinnon and Rantanen's development as well. If Mack is a PPG(75-80+) forward and Rantanen can be a 60-70 Point strong 2way guy for us in 2 years, I think we'd rival Dallas and WPG for the top spot. But if they haven't taken those steps forward then we're back in the 5/6 range still.



Also depends on X factors like Radulov. Adding him would instantly bump us ahead of Chicago and STL I think.
 

cgf

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Two years is a long time, I'm really hoping for an infusion of Drouin and Radulov shaped miracles.

On paper lando, mack, duchene, and hopefully rantanen is nice but I agree it's nowhere close to wheeler, little, schief, ehlers, laine, Connors.

Forgot Connors.... Welp... At least their defense only has big buff, trouba, Morrissey.... Ahhh man

TBH...I think we have the talent on D to be better than them in the not-too-distant future. I was a huge Morrissey fan, but at this point; I'd rather have Bigras. And Zads absolutely has the potential to match, or even surpass, Buff. While Trouba reminds me a lot of EJ (minus the injuries), and I'll take Tyson over his former partner Myers. With Meloche on his way to replace Beauch next to Zadorov, and Geertsen/Boikov/Siemens/future-picks on their way to battling Gelinas/Holden for the final spot, it's really hard for me to taper my excitement about how good our D could be in the later parts of this decade/early 2020s.

Gotta love the Jets forward depth; but if we do pull Rads (or Drouin), I'd feel pretty confident in our top 9 matching up against any team's in the coming years...what with Rads, Dutchy, MacK, Landy, Mikko, Greg, JTC, and who ever's left of: Soderberg / Matthias / Comeau / Beaudin / Greer / Nantel / picks-still-to-come
 
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Duchene2MacKinnon

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Every team has 2/3 young good offensive players, not just in the division. Even teams like Coyotes have Duclair/Domi...the difference will be who they are surrounded with.

It's hard to answer this question because their are so many variables and 2 years from now is a long time. That being said the avs could be 4th, maybe even 5th as of right now.

Hawks,Stars,Blues and avs/Jets?
 

dahrougem2

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As long as I can say with complete certainty that in 2 years' time Minnesota is the worst, I'm fine :laugh:

Really though, a lot can happen. The 10th overall pick could turn into another Rantanen. TT might not even be a Blackhawk due to expansion, Backes might not be in St. Louis past this season, Koivu/Pominville might not be in Minnesota in 2 years. So it's tough to gauge.

The one thing I will say is that I believe Winnipeg will have the most well-rounded forward corps. Wheeler is an excellent player, and Laine is going to be their game-breaker. And there's a whole heap of depth after that. They're looking mighty fine moving forward.
 

PAZ

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Behind Chicago and Dallas.

Close to St. Louis, Winnipeg, and Nashville.

Ahead of Minnesota.
 

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