The Great 8

Calgary. Should be fun watching the game on the 5th!

I think the short handed goal allowed was Hughes fault. He was standing on the opposite side of the goalie just staring at him. He should’ve tied up the back checkers stick. Regarding Goldy and Virtanen if I were to choose between the two it’d be goldy. He’s got great offensive skill and could’ve easily had 3 assist the last 2 games just no finish from his line mates.Yes he makes defensive mistakes but so does Virtanen. Also in our current system we don’t have a skilled playmaker ready for the NHL besides goldy. We do though have multiple high energy guys who play physical and chip in here and there on offence. JV and Macewan basically play the same game and if Jake wasn’t a first round pick I’d take Macewan every day over him. Mac is bigger more physical, and very similar in production to JV. I think he makes Virtanen redundant. He’s been giving enough opportunities to prove his worth but still hasn’t shown anything. its time that he gets traded or waived.

People hate on goldy too much. He creates offence and is probably our 3rd best playmaker on the team. Turnovers happen when you’re trying to score. Heck Horvat cost us the first goal and no one has mentioned that.. I think he’s our 13th forward this year

Yeah I said earlier as well I don’t think all of his game is going to translate to the NHL. There are players with more skill than him in the top 10 and players with more size and drive to the net. I’m not sold on him even though he has had a good tournament. Also after seeing what happened to gaudreau this playoff I’m saying no to caufield just based on his size. He could be a great regular season 100pt guy if he reaches his ceiling but I think he’s gonna struggle in the playoffs. No to both of these.

Lavoie 3G 1Asst last night for Halifax. This guy is a big time playoff performer.

I like the players you mentioned besides Boldy. I’ve gone back and forth on this guy. He produces great numbers in a good development league but when I watch him play it doesn’t look like it’s all gonna translate to the NHL. Newhook and Lavoie look like they have a game that can translate to the bigs and have good stats. I’d prefer Lavoie though as he is big, fast, and skilled. These players are a premium in this league. I look at the Tampa bay series and their smaller skilled players are getting out worked by bigger but still fast players. That’s what I think we need in our top 6!

No Lavoie in the top 15? He’s the guy I want at 10. Gonna be a steal. 6’4, good skater, good hockey IQ, goes to the net. A power play with him in front of the net would be deadly.

No defencemen in the first round is worth a top 15 pick except Byram. Last year there were so many good defencemen and we got one of the best. This year it’s shallow, the only reason these guys are even ranked in the top 15 is cause there’s no one else. Boldy or Lavoie is who I want.

Definitely don’t want a defencemen this year. Half these defencemen listed in the first round would’ve been second rounders last year.

See I’m not sold on Newhook because Jost who was drafted a few years ago had better numbers in the same league and he looks like a 3rd liner. Also there play style is similar. Why spend a top 10 pick on a guy who’s got a big risk with good upside. When we drafted Petey it was high risk high upside pick. If anything I’d take Caufield over him.

Turcotte would be a steal at 9. I like Boldy as well. Both have first line potential. Im not impressed with the defencemen in the first round. Besides Byram the rest are middle pair potential at best. I would be happy if Benning picked a defencemen with the second rounder like he did last year, with Woo.

Byram and Cozens would be my go to after Hughes and Kaako. This draft has a lot of bigger skilled players and that’s something we desperately need. Look at Vegas 2nd line. Paccioretty-Stastny-Stone. Big, skilled and fast.

The thing with Palmu is that he’s very much like virtanen. Where physically he has the strength to play in the NHL. Just needs the experience and ice time to develop the on ice skills.

Lots of good centres this draft. I would look to solidify that 1-2-3 punch in this draft with Pettersson-Horvat-2019 Drafted Centre. That would be a deep centre core similar to the penguins and Capitals.

I like the idea of splitting Horvat and the snipers but I think the lines would generate more offence if it was Baerstchi-Horvat-Goldobin Pettersson-Gaudette-Boeser

Great trade for the raps. There window to win a championship was closing. Derozen was getting older, Lowry is 33, and although the young guys are decent I don’t believe they have another all star coming up. With Kawhi you get a proven playoff performer and one of the best defensive players in the league. Even if he leaves after this season it frees up 20mil for them to sign another superstar. I think I’m in the minority but this was a great trade. In pro sports you’re team is loyal to its players when results are coming in. 3 years of choking in the playoffs and it was time to make a change.

I don’t get the love for Gaunce. He can’t score, can’t pass, doesn’t hit hard, doesn’t use his size well, can’t step in and win face offs. He’s just a gentle big guy who can play defence. I’d rather give that spot to Archie at least he can skate, throw hits, stand up for teammates, and actually score a couple goals.

Looking at our d-core right now no one brings the speed and skill that Hughes has. I believe he’s going to surprise in camp and be miles ahead of everyone else in terms of speed and skill from the backend. Hard to say no to that. I think he’s ready to get games in the nhl this year. Hopefully he signs a contract and can shuffle between the nhl and ahl .

All he said was $&!#, which is not a big deal haha. You can tell he was frustrated but I don’t think it was excessive.

I highly doubt he trades the 7th pick unless it’s for a slightly older promising prospect like Hanifin. I read an article the other day about rumours of Jim using the pick as trade bait. The article also highlighted all of Bennings mistakes and not his achievements in his time here. People should have faith as since his first year he’s made very good decisions besides the Loui contract. Even that contract doesn’t look as bad considering we have tons of space. Back to the thread though I’m sure Joulevi is going to play lots of NHL games this year and we’re going to be competing for the 1st pick again.

It’s way too early to judge Nylander haha. Everyone says to have patience when it comes to our prospects because it takes time to develop. Well this is Nylanders second playoff he’s played in the nhl and he put up decent numbers as a 21y/o. I’m sure by the time he hits his prime at 27 he is going to get stronger and more accustomed to the playoffs and produce better. Last years playoffs Panarin only had 1pt, this year he was above a point a game. It takes time..

I haven’t been impressed by pouliout or Hutton this year they have been subpar. Ideally I would rather see Juolevi or Sautner for the last spot in the bottom 6. I’ve been impressed with Sautner he’s a smart player who plays solid defensively and can skate very well.

Lind on the wing of the second line is the gritty playmaker you want with Dahlen the goal scorer

Sometimes I don’t know if we are all watching the same player. I thought he played very well at the world juniors and defensively was much more calm and smarter with the puck than hieskenen and company.. he wasn’t in an offensive role but he still put up decent numbers. He was more physical and skating better than a year ago For sure. I still think he’s going to be very good top 4 dman like edler.

Well Horvat would still be our 1st line Center.. They are the same age pretty much and horvat has our produced him. There aren’t many forward comparables from the 5th round in recent years but some good D-men have been found there lately like Will Butcher and Ben Hutton.. I’ve realized that since 2013 our drafting in the later rounds has been money, producing a few guys who’ve played in the NHL like Hutton, Forsling, Tryamkin