conundrumed

So you want change but you're okay with not one Ritchie, but both? Our one common consistency is too many low skill players. Are you sure you're okay with that? It's like trading a throwaway 4th line for, well, yet another throwaway 4th line.

Next time you buy garlic it may have come from his hometown.lol Christopher Ranch are good quality jarred products.

The Fla first from chucky

No overreacting what?? You're no fun anymore.

Well this is fun...

I'm most interested in seeing where BT goes. We're going to go through our vicious cycle again. New GM, make big splashes at the expense of picks, stay middle of the road. Up and down like a whore's drawers. Same old movie. I'm not going to hold my breath on picking a new direction. This is always the direction. For players I'd like to turn the page on Backlund, Toffoli, Tanev and Mangiapane primarily. Hanifin if we can't afford him at $6.5-7per. Lindholm's worth the Larkin deal. None of this will happen. We'll get a new GM and we're back to, "let's see what we've got".

So I guess now we win our last game to draft 16th instead of 14th? Time to tee up the "ifwehadda" arguments to not change much. Like "but you didn't" isn't a thing.

So before we trade the whole team for picks and only have an AHL team left, is there anyone slated to go in rd 2 that anyone's interested in? Around the 45-50 mark. I wouldn't be against RD Cam Allen, although I'm not sure if he'll make it past 40ish. We don't have a 3rd or 5th, but if there's a scouting group that can hit in the later rounds, I'd say ours is pretty stealthy. The 1st rder can be a number of players to make a case for, the 2nd and 4th will be important. I'll just say it now, I don't really see any Scandinavian fwds that impress me much. And I'm not thinking that this draft is a lot deeper than your average draft. A coupla bonafide studs, a handful of high potential and then scout hard. Same as every draft. Next year will be the same. Queue the Mack Celebrini fanfare. What is up with these Van kids? Do we have to start scouting Atom there?lol

I have. He's running out of leagues where he's at. I'd project him as a 1D. Great wingspan, great skater and smart. I like him a lot. Large and in charge I like Wallinder a lot, but that kid is a 1D imho. He's the dominant D on his pro men's team. Nobody is doing what he's doing on D at 17. Nobody. It's not even close imho. .

2 players have had a huge impact on the 4th line. Pelletier and Duehr. It doesn't matter. I loved our coach once upon a time, but now it's pretty much just him stoically thinking everyone else is dumb. I'm shocked that he would rather die on this sword than show any hint of being progressive. I'm pretty sad that he's chosen this slow death. It's pretty selfish to not even consider change. I was one of his biggest supporters. Now he can't leave fast enough. That feeling of you really want someone to succeed and it ends with you being tired of their bullSatoshi Nakamoto? Yuuup.

Wood is a winger. Would I like both? Sure. If Reinbacher is there, I'd do that. I like a lot of players at our 15th or whatever pick. There really isn't a bad pick. I just don't want us to play consensus. If Heidt is your guy, fine. It doesn't really matter all that much. I'm more interested in rds 2 & 3 and beyond. As @The_People1 indicated, it's pretty tight from probably 10 to 30. I don't think this is half of the deep draft they're selling us. It's an average draft. Hopefully we've scouted the D depth in this draft. I feel like the high end D is limited, but the depth is pretty damn good

I should also add in Ritchie put up 19g/26a/45pts in the O as a 16yo. Add in 4/3 7pts in the 6 playoff games. Those 18-20yo target you young punk kid. He fought through it. There's a lot there. He'll fight through the AHL/NHL guys feeling the same way. I'm a big fan of FU attitude,

Okay. So I'll give my take. I've seen Ritchie live twice and I've watched him on TV prolly a dozen games. About the same as Monahan honestly. The comparison isn't really there. You're comparing their skating and it's quite a bit different. Mony has good edges and good stride but I agree he's not fast. Ritchie matches the edges at the very least. His stride is choppier but he's faster while showing really good puck control at speed. Mony is definitely a scorer first whereas Ritchie is a more complete player. What Mony lacked in D play and puck-carrying/moving Ritchie doesn't. Mony when healthy is a solid 1B/2C. So is Ritchie. I agree with MacKenzie for a change. I don't really link this too often, as I feel it's all of the best attributes on the scouting and none of the worst. I'm pretty comfortable here with what they say about Ritchie. http://www.mynhldraft.com/2023-nhl-draft/player-profiles/Calum-Ritchie I find Scott Wheeler seems to most consistently, though not always, matches what I think. You don't have to sell me on Matthew Wood. I like the player a ton. "Who will score your big goal"? Well...Matt would. I really like his background and development. And yes, "who are you playing with/where are your minutes played" is one of the top 3 things that I like to consider. I finally went to a USNTDP game a coupla weeks ago, which is kinda sad seeing how it's no different than driving to London an hour away. Sadly they beat Muskegon 10-0. Hard to have takeaways.

One 3rd rounder, Adam Fox, is the sole argument you have. Soooo, here's where your direction would leave us: No scouting Russia, NCAA, USHL, NAHL and the powerhouse hockey high schools/leagues in Minny, Michigan, Massachusetts, California, Chicago, St. Louis etc etc. That effectively removes half of the NHL players and rising because of one Adam Fox. Alternatively, you could just say, "Blockchain Adam Fox", and continue to turn over every stone for every best player in the world that you can possibly find. Isn't that a better idea? Bare in mind, the other 31 teams are still going to take Canadians and Scandinavians in the only markets that you're scouting.

I streamed some of his KHL games awhile back. That kid will be tearing that league up by the time his contract expires. I'd likely have him at 2nd but where execs stand in that volatile political environment likely means the selection could be equal volatile. I think Dmitri Simashev(LD) could end up being the steal of the draft if he falls due to being Russian. For dmen, personally, I'd put him with Reinbacher as the top 2 Dmen in the draft. Myself, I'd focus on hockey alone and block out the other stuff but I have no skin in the game. I do think that the draft will reach about 14-16 and someone (Nashville?) will take a dman and the run will start on 4-5 Dmen for the rest of the rd. I'll be surprised if Reinbacher isn't the first. I can't wrap my head around either Sandin-Pellika or Gulyayev as 1st rd Dmen. I'm just not swooned by O-first dmen like others. I'd be fine with Reinbacher, Simashev or Willander at our pick. But for the latter 2, if Calum Ritchie is still on the board, it's a rock and a hard place. I don't think I could walk by him. I see a 1B/solid 2C in him. He's the top available C in what most consider the top CHL league. There is a lot to like and checks all of the boxes for what you wanna see. The Oshawa commentators are literally laughing that he's ranked around 24th. "If a team gets him at 24, they're going to be extremely happy". I agree. He's ranked too low. I could easily slot him around 11 and definitely within the top 15. I don't want us drafting Perrault. He's surrounded by Smith, Leonard, Moore. When someone takes him before Leonard, and they will, I will laugh. The former laps up the hard work of the latters. Leonard reminds me a bit of Tkachuk, like an old dog on a pork chop and great O instincts. Snarly and great around the net.

No he isn't. You're making it up. 3g 8a in 8games in the Big 10 playoffs including 3a in a 4-3 victory over Minny in the final. Both Ritchie and Musty will be nice picks too.

Any love for Calum Ritchie, Quentin Musty or Gavin Brindley?

No we won't. We just spent 80 games proving that we're about the 18th best team in the league.

Yup. There was no decision one way or the next so this is the one to cheer for. At least there is something for a reason to watch, however fleeting. I have no faith that they'll pull it of, but I'll play along. They need 3 perfect games in a row and they've left me with zero faith that they are capable of that. Let alone the enormous perfection of help they need overcoming the other 2 teams. My realist kicked in long ago. I'm a fan, but I'm not deaf, dumb and blind. TIL, it's the anniversary of the SNL "Cowbell" sketch.lol "Don't Fear the Reaper" song would be our ideal song if they dropped the "Don't".

Not. Even. Close.

Look at #32 we took 72nd. #72 we took 50th.

Zary's consensus ranking averaged 17.5. Here is the source, but read how there consensus ranking works to eliminate misreading: https://www.habseyesontheprize.com/2020-nhl-draft-rankings-consensus-lafreniere-byfield-stutzle-bob-mckenzie-athletic-hockey-prospects/

There are so many F around our pick that there is no saying which one(s) will be the one that really takes off imo.

Any chance we can pick up 2017 19thoa 3C Filip Chytil for free? That would be a real sweet one! What? 19th oa and he's only a 3C? What a pack of losers. How much would you have paid to jump 8 to 14 spots in a 1st rd? That would be XXXXpensive. Like, not worth it XXXXpensive. Braden Schneider? So that current 3rd pairing Dman at 15mins/night is what you're hanging your hat on? Not sure why you have it in for Zary. At 21 he's a 20-40 C in the A. That's good progression. Could potentially make the roster out of camp next year.

It comes down to projection between Cossa and Wallstedt imo. Detroit's scouts likely decided that Cossa offered more to develop, as opposed to where they were in the right now. Sometimes I think that you cheer for the Flames scouting to Blockchain up. I know tmac watches the Wranglers all of the time so I'll leave it to him as I'm unable to stream AHL games in the west and start times work against me subscribing. But if Zary is keeping up the middle C projection that's a really good pick. Adding Poirier, who was always going to be a project, in the 3rd rd is a nice touch. I can't fight the feeling that you're using hindsight. No one has hindsight at the draft table. Regarding Janxy, I wanted us to take Maatta or Vasilevsky at 14. When the 2nd was Sielloff, who played for Windsor, I was mortified. I knew nothing about Jankowski. At the end of the day, I felt like Feaster and his sidekick were acting like they are way smarter than everyone else. That is a critical blunder. Every team has the world's best scouts. If you think you're pulling the wool over everyone's eyes, it's likely because they want you to think that. Dallas GM Jim Nill has a lot of eyes here due to his time in Detroit seeing as you brought up Wyatt Johnson. He's also a top GM for using his scouting, as is BT. Every pick won't be perfect nor will it ever for anyone. We aren't privy to the reasoning but it exists, whether we understand it or not. Only? You make it sound like making deals with other GMs and their scouting depts is a cakewalk. Did you even know who Dawson Mercer is at the draft table? You are looking at kids in the NHL right now and potentially too early to support your arguments. Also known as hindsight. Nill waited it out with Robertson and it's paid off huge. Should the Devils have waited on Mercer? If they weren't an atrocity, I'm sure they would have. Same with Buffalo and Cozens. Same with Bennett in Calgary. The AHL agreement is painful. But you can never say, well that guy put up 100pts in jr last year, there is nothing left for him there. Critical blunder. Almost all of them are still building mass and muscle so waiting on that alone is worth it. Rather than everything all at once in the NHL. There are exceptions, but there sure aren't many.