Where O Where Is Our Next Franchise Defenceman?

[Mofletz]

3 way trade.

Edmonton gets Hamhuis
Canucks get OEL
Arizona gets Eberle + Corrado

 

[Free Edler]

To be fair, we have no idea what the limits of Craig MacTavish's stupidity are. Maloney, however, would slam down the receiver hard enough to make Benning's ears pop.

 

[canucksfan]

Bourdon...?

Haha nope. Would have been lucky if he turned into a top 4 defenseman.

 

[canucksfan]

What level of recognition in junior would be the cutoff that stops someone becoming a franchise D man?

It all seems a bit arbitrary to state someone WILL NOT be a franchise D man if pretty much no one can predict someone WILL be a franchise D man at the same age...

To get one of these guys you need an overachiever... for that to happen they need to do better then you thought...

All I am saying is most players that turn out to be franchise defensemen were highly touted when they were in junior. Obviously there are exceptions but Subban won't be one. A 5'9 dman will not be a franchise defenseman.

 

[VanJack]

Didn't realize that both Tryamkin and Forsling played in the KHL and SHL as teenagers.....has to be some hope for them over d-men still in junior or guys in their early 20's still playing college hockey...Giordano has morphed into Norris Trophy consideration in Cowtown, so there is hope someone could grow into the role.

 

[701]

Hutton is a pure offensive dman who still needs to work on the defensive side of his game. I'm pretty sure he'll finish his degree so 1 more year (after this one) before we'll see him in Utica (assuming we sign him). Mcnally i believe grads this year so we'll either sign him or he'll be a UFA in Aug.

McNally is an odd case, in that he's done with the NCAA when this season ends, but he's got one more year to go at Harvard before he gets his degree . . . so far as I can tell.

He played about 7 games as a sophomore before withdrawing, so that blew an NCAA year. But having withdrawn, he did not complete his sophomore year, and had to do that the following year, which otherwise would have been his junior year. So now he's an NCAA senior and a Harvard junior, which accounts for his variable class attribution depending on which Harvard site you're looking at.

This isn't gospel, just my take on it, and things like summer school could perhaps close the grad gap. However, not playing any hockey for (yet another) full season in order to stay in school to graduate would be a really bad idea if pro hockey is on his mind. Which I'm sure it is, given his return to the form that made him such a sensational freshman. My bet is that he turns pro after he completes his junior academic year in May. That would make sense hockey-wise, and like Schneider he could easily finish a final academic year later in segments, to get his degree, without much difficulty.

I'll be in Cambridge in late May for a reunion, so I'll ask if I run into him