Discussion 2016 NHL Entry Draft [June 24-25th || Buffalo, New York]

[Odd.]

5 hours ago, J.R. said:

Perhaps eventually. But yeah...we're going to have to wait and see, it's not going to happen next year as you say.

 

I don't know if he's got Sedin level, future HHOF replacement ability in him but he could certainly be a more than serviceable 1C if he develops well. Might just mean we need to surround him with some higher quality wingers similar in makeup to the WCE era. We've already got Boesser in line for RW...

I remember last year i said that McCann could be a future top line center for us. Out of every center we have, he has the best potential of doing so. Unless we draft Dubois, he will stay like that. Or maybe we could develop Dubois to the wing and have a future Dubois/McCann/Boeser line.

[Noble 6]

I'm starting to believe that Horvat could be our #1C. He has looked very good in the NHL so far. We have Boeser and McCann who look like they could be top-line wingers. I don't think our need for forwards is as dire as everyone makes it out to be. We do however need a #2C moving forward. That's where I think Dubois could fit in. I don't think he will be a #1C in the NHL, but he could be a good #2C. If things go as planned, we could look pretty good up front:

 

McCann - Horvat - Boeser

Baertschi - Dubois - Virtanen

Granlund/Gaunce - Granlund/Gaunce - Etem

Zalewski - Cassels - Zhukenov

 

Having Horvat and Dubois as our 1-2 punch down the middle would be great. 

 

[numb3r 16]

16 hours ago, Horvat is a Boss said:

I'm starting to believe that Horvat could be our #1C. He has looked very good in the NHL so far. We have Boeser and McCann who look like they could be top-line wingers. I don't think our need for forwards is as dire as everyone makes it out to be. We do however need a #2C moving forward. That's where I think Dubois could fit in. I don't think he will be a #1C in the NHL, but he could be a good #2C. If things go as planned, we could look pretty good up front:

 

McCann - Horvat - Boeser

Baertschi - Dubois - Virtanen

Granlund/Gaunce - Granlund/Gaunce - Etem

Zalewski - Cassels - Zhukenov

 

Having Horvat and Dubois as our 1-2 punch down the middle would be great. 

 

Weak

[JamesB]

17 hours ago, Horvat is a Boss said:

I'm starting to believe that Horvat could be our #1C. He has looked very good in the NHL so far. We have Boeser and McCann who look like they could be top-line wingers. I don't think our need for forwards is as dire as everyone makes it out to be. We do however need a #2C moving forward. That's where I think Dubois could fit in. I don't think he will be a #1C in the NHL, but he could be a good #2C. If things go as planned, we could look pretty good up front:

 

McCann - Horvat - Boeser

Baertschi - Dubois - Virtanen

Granlund/Gaunce - Granlund/Gaunce - Etem

Zalewski - Cassels - Zhukenov

 

Having Horvat and Dubois as our 1-2 punch down the middle would be great. 

 

 

19 hours ago, Odd. said:

I remember last year i said that McCann could be a future top line center for us. Out of every center we have, he has the best potential of doing so. Unless we draft Dubois, he will stay like that. Or maybe we could develop Dubois to the wing and have a future Dubois/McCann/Boeser line.

If the best we can do is to project Horvat or McCann as 1C then we are not in good shape. Both Horvat and McCann are good young players but, based on their development so far, neither one projects as anything close to the kind of franchise player that you want at the 1C position.

 

Dubois is young enough that there is still a lot of uncertainty but his record, skills, size, etc. at least allow for a reasonable projection to the 1C position. I think he is the best bet.

 

If he gets taken by Edmonton in the draft, I would not mind seeing the Canucks trade down and maybe get Logan Brown, although trading down and getting a good D is also reasonable. But Benning might decide that taking Tkachuk at #5 is the best way to go. We should trust his judgement on evaluating young players. 

[MoneypuckOverlord]

When 9 in 10 scouts think tkatchuk is better not to mention virtually all other rankings have tkatchuk ahead of Dubois that has to mean something.  I am starting to jump onto the tkatchuk bandwagon, I think he is much safer bet to become a scoring winger then Dubois becoming a scoring centre, not that any of them will bust, but I love tkatchuk puck possession, Down low play , an of not being afraid to go to the bet mentality , something Hopkins Yakupiv and hall don't have ) these attributes come a long way. I'm gonna laugh at edm if they pass up on tkatchuk.  The amount of reports suggesting  he is better reminds me of that time kovalchuk was ranked higher then spezza.

[newgm]

On ‎06‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 5:11 AM, Canuck Surfer said:

How good does that list look?  Not too many flops, Sam Gagner???

 

Pretty good consolation for missing out on Puljujarvi...

Great list.

 

What I find interesting are the numbers generated by Sam Gagner in his draft year, while playing on the London Knights top line with Patrick Kane and Sergei Kostitsyn.

 

Gagner's never been able to replicate that kind of production in the NHL, even playing with the numerous skilled top 5 draft picks on the Edmonton Oilers baby teams.

 

It appears obvious that Gagner's significant deficiency in skating wouldn't allow his skills to translate effectively at the NHL level.

 

It's likely that Tkachuk has similarly inflated numbers ( 57 games: 30 g,77 a:107 pts) which mimic Gagner's draft year totals (53 games: 35g,83a:118pts) playing with Patrick Kane.

 

That said, Tkachuk is a good skater, larger and more physical than Gagner, so while there's parallels in playing on a dynamic line, it's far more likely that Tkachuk's skill set will translate at the next level.

 

 

[stawns]

34 minutes ago, newgm said:

Great list.

 

What I find interesting are the numbers generated by Sam Gagner in his draft year, while playing on the London Knights top line with Patrick Kane and Sergei Kostitsyn.

 

Gagner's never been able to replicate that kind of production in the NHL, even playing with the numerous skilled top 5 draft picks on the Edmonton Oilers baby teams.

 

It appears obvious that Gagner's significant deficiency in skating wouldn't allow his skills to translate effectively at the NHL level.

 

It's likely that Tkachuk has similarly inflated numbers ( 57 games: 30 g,77 a:107 pts) which mimic Gagner's draft year totals (53 games: 35g,83a:118pts) playing with Patrick Kane.

 

That said, Tkachuk is a good skater, larger and more physical than Gagner, so while there's parallels in playing on a dynamic line, it's far more likely that Tkachuk's skill set will translate at the next level.

 

 

Potential is only the opening chapter of the story.  Players need to be developed.  Had Gagne gone to a team other than the Oilers, there's a good chance he would be an impact player now, based on the other players in that list.

[TheSnipeshow91]

We should draft dubois and tank 4 patrick next year.

Dubois-Patrick-Boeser 

[Gstank29]

22 minutes ago, TheSnipeshow91 said:

We should draft dubois and tank 4 patrick next year.

Dubois-Patrick-Boeser 

Thats not going to happen

[TheSnipeshow91]

23 minutes ago, Gstank29 said:

Thats not going to happen

You gotta bolieve.

[Camel Toe Drag]

2 hours ago, JamesB said:

 

If the best we can do is to project Horvat or McCann as 1C then we are not in good shape. Both Horvat and McCann are good young players but, based on their development so far, neither one projects as anything close to the kind of franchise player that you want at the 1C position.

 

Dubois is young enough that there is still a lot of uncertainty but his record, skills, size, etc. at least allow for a reasonable projection to the 1C position. I think he is the best bet.

 

If he gets taken by Edmonton in the draft, I would not mind seeing the Canucks trade down and maybe get Logan Brown, although trading down and getting a good D is also reasonable. But Benning might decide that taking Tkachuk at #5 is the best way to go. We should trust his judgement on evaluating young players. 

I think Horvat is a dark horse for a future 1c here. He had a very good year relatively speaking. 40 points for a 20 year old playing a second line centre role also taking majority of the team's defensive draws being over 50% at them. He's definitely got the drive and tools to be our start and IMO future captain. He wasnt any a sexy draft pick at the time but I think a lot of GM's would love to have the kid. I expect another big year from him next year. Let's not count out Bo just yet. 

[DeNiro]

Getting the Oilers 4th overall pick would go a long ways towards the rebuild. We could basically build our future top line, or take a forward and a D-man.

 

Not sure what it would cost though. Probably Tanev or Hutton as a starting point.

 

Maybe Chiarelli can do a solid for his old buddy Benning.

[Junkyard Dog]

8 minutes ago, DeNiro said:

Getting the Oilers 4th overall pick would go a long ways towards the rebuild. We could basically build our future top line, or take a forward and a D-man.

 

Not sure what it would cost though. Probably Tanev or Hutton as a starting point.

 

Maybe Chiarelli can do a solid for his old buddy Benning.

Tanev would definitely have to be the center piece going to the Oilers. They need a defenseman, a right handed one, and Tanev is the type they need.

 

Fits their age group too.

 

 

[DeNiro]

3 minutes ago, Junkyard Dog said:

Tanev would definitely have to be the center piece going to the Oilers. They need a defenseman, a right handed one, and Tanev is the type they need.

 

Fits their age group too.

 

 

It would be tough to trade him but it would be a big jump start to the rebuild.

 

We could use that pick to take a top line forward and Chychrun though. 

[Junkyard Dog]

Just now, DeNiro said:

It would be tough to trade him but it would be a big jump start to the rebuild.

 

We could use that pick to take a top line forward and Chychrun though. 

Yeah if we went straight rebuild trading Tanev and a few more valued veterans for that matter would be necessary.

 

We're on that bubble though. If JB brings in the right pieces in FA and some of the young guys breakout then we could be looking at the playoffs. If JB brings in UFAs that don't do what's expected of them or don't exceed expectations and not enough of the young guys step up then we could be drafting top 5 again next year.

 

This is an important off-season for JB and co. If he wants to make the playoffs he needs to make the right moves that follow suit. If we wants to rebuild he needs to get a solid return for our valued veterans. IMO he wants to make the playoffs next year and become competitive to develop our youngsters in a winning environment.

 

[DeNiro]

8 minutes ago, Junkyard Dog said:

Yeah if we went straight rebuild trading Tanev and a few more valued veterans for that matter would be necessary.

 

We're on that bubble though. If JB brings in the right pieces in FA and some of the young guys breakout then we could be looking at the playoffs. If JB brings in UFAs that don't do what's expected of them or don't exceed expectations and not enough of the young guys step up then we could be drafting top 5 again next year.

 

This is an important off-season for JB and co. If he wants to make the playoffs he needs to make the right moves that follow suit. If we wants to rebuild he needs to get a solid return for our valued veterans. IMO he wants to make the playoffs next year and become competitive to develop our youngsters in a winning environment.

 

If he wants to build a sustainable winner we're going to have to do more than just sign free agents. We need to be developing a future number 1 D right now.

 

Trading Tanev for that top pick and signing a stop gap D-man to fill in short term until we develop that top pick defenseman would be the best of both worlds IMO.

[Goal:thecup]

I wouldn't have thought it possible to pick up Griffin Reinhart (sp?) or Dougie Hamilton but Edmunchuk and Cowgary have done it.

 

Draft the top fwd, i.e. Dubois or Tkachuk and keep stockpiling cheap, good prospects; then, when opportunity presents itself, maybe we can get some very high end D prospects.

[Junkyard Dog]

Just now, DeNiro said:

If he wants to build a sustainable winner we're going to have to do more than just sign free agents. We need to be developing a future number 1 D right now.

 

Trading Tanev for that top pick and signing a top gap D-man to fill in short term until we develop that top pick defenseman would be the best of both worlds IMO.

The loss of Tanev of be pretty significant. I'd want us to trade a few more pieces for young assets(prospects/picks) if we went this route. Keep enough veterans to help transition this young group to the next core. Pretty much almost a full rebuild. 

 

Not sure JB would draft a D with that 4th or 5th though. He did state he thinks PLD and Tkachuk both can be 1st line players and that he doesn't see any #1 D in this draft but a lot of #2s.

 

If we got 4th i'd trade 5th for a later 1st, where we can draft one of those defenseman, and another good young piece(Player or pick). 

 

 

[DeNiro]

5 minutes ago, Junkyard Dog said:

The loss of Tanev of be pretty significant. I'd want us to trade a few more pieces for young assets(prospects/picks) if we went this route. Keep enough veterans to help transition this young group to the next core. Pretty much almost a full rebuild. 

 

Not sure JB would draft a D with that 4th or 5th though. He did state he thinks PLD and Tkachuk both can be 1st line players and that he doesn't see any #1 D in this draft but a lot of #2s.

 

If we got 4th i'd trade 5th for a later 1st, where we can draft one of those defenseman, and another good young piece(Player or pick). 

 

 

Yea that would be a good move.

 

The idea of drafting Dubois and Tkachuk is pretty enticing too though. We'd essentially have our future first line pretty much built. They would have to make some major moves to rebuild the D-core but our forwards would be looking great.

 

Tkachuk Dubois Boeser

Baertschi Horvat Virtanen

 

or

 

Tkachuk Horvat Boeser

Dubois McCann Virtanen

[Goal:thecup]

I'd use the pick.

 

I like the idea of a future top line like maybe Dubois - McCann - Boeser a few years from now.

 

Next year though we might see the forward lines mixed on an almost daily basis, with the Sedins + being the first line sometimes, Sutter centering the second line and Bo the third sometimes, interchanging wingers, and generally spending a lot of time on player development.