YearoftheNuck

No worries mate. I didn’t catch that at first but it makes sense now. Thank you

Nope, I am not one of those people. Despite hating to see him go, I am all for trading him. Like I mentioned in that post, I think we just try to either get him back in the off-season “or it at least some other serviceable muscle…” I don’t think I’m being an irrational fan like it seems like you just made me out to be. Come on man, live up to your namesake and be a gent lol

Great points. And if we happen to win the draft lottery then we better get Schenn back, or it at least some other serviceable muscle to help protect Bedard.

Even after Lysell’s weak WJC performance, he still might have a bit of promise with the rookie campaign he’s having in the A. Would you consider doing something like this: To Van: Smith Lysell To Bos: 3rd round pick

Right shot, defensive D man Erik Johnson is out indefinitely. Of course Schenn is not the same caliber as Johnson, but he would provide a similar strong, stable veteran presence on the backend. I wonder if this make the Avalanche consider him as a replacement? https://www.nhl.com/news/avalanche-erik-johnson-out-with-broken-ankle/c-341281798 I just took a peek and the Avalanche don’t have many picks in the next two drafts though (no 2nd or 3rd in 2023 or 2024) so I think they would have to offer us a decent prospect for Schenn.

Barlow is a straight up stud. He was so good at the top prospects game. I would be stoked if we got Barlow with our first first (lol) and Reinbacher with our second first. That combo would insert a lot of size into our prospect pool too.

I was in the exact same boat with you as McTavish and Seider. I remember some people busting my chops on here because I wanted us to target McTavish when he was still ranked much lower than our pick. I definitely think Reinbacher will be this year’s Seider in the draft, and hopefully in his career arch too. I would love it if he managed to fall to our islanders pick. If we’re picking top six, I might even be tempted to take him over Benson, but not the rest of the players in that top bracket. I’m so excited for this draft!

If we can miraculously stay where we are, in fifth spot, that would be amazing as it would almost guarantee us either Smith or Benson. It seems like there’s a big six in this year’s draft (Bedard, then Fantilli, Carlsson, Michkov, followed by Benson and Smith) and if we could land any one of those six that could be a game changer for our franchise. Of course there’s a ton of promising prospects outside of those six, but the way the rankings are shaping up, it’s truly beginning to look like a consensus top six, whereas the rankings for the players below them seems to vary considerably.

Lol true enough. Although, it’s not a matter of who they didn’t draft, it’s a matter of giving up second round picks in the first place for another team’s low impact players. Vey and Dermott were clearly never going to be home runs, yet a second round pick could be. Not the highest likelihood, but solid players are selected in the second round every year.

That Dermott trade was a kick in the gut mainly because we just watched the previous regime waste so many picks and players like that… for example the Linden Vey trade lol

Based on where we currently sit in the standings, this is my wish list for our first three picks in the draft: 6th - Will Smith 13th - either Reinbacher or Sandin Pellikka 38th - Aram Minnetian It’s kind of cheating to have two names at the 13th spot there lol, but I’m truly torn between the two.

Absolutely! He is unbelievably good. He and Pettersson are next level talents that we should build around.

I’m very nervous that St Louis will catch us in the standings. They’ve been free falling lately. I hope Blais lights it up for them lol

The fact that his agent was saying this makes me think that this is a real possibility (trading him now and then signing him in summer). They should definitely sign him again in the summer and offer him an A! He deserves to wear a letter.

With the top ten picks likely being all forwards taken in this years draft, you can bet that a handful of the first picks in the second round will be defensemen. This hammers home just how badly we need to tank so that we can draft ahead of others and therefore still have some of these promising d men available to us when we make our second round selection.

This might be a loaded question, but if you don’t mind, in what order would you rank: Sandin Pellikka Reinbacher Dragicevic Bonk Wallinder Allen I’m usually all for draft strictly BPA, however I feel like our franchise really needs to begin adding some high end RHD talent into our prospect pool and I’m hoping that they do so with either our NYI pick or our 2nd rounder. Long story short, I’ve only watched half of these players and would love a little more insight into them or any other to RHD that I might’ve missed. Thank you

Yeah Bonk had a solid showing in the top prospects game.

I definitely would. Schneider would help our week back end tremendously and he’s a perfect age.

Where are you getting these stats dude? On a sidenote, when I went to Abby Canucks stats to fact check your whacky numbers, I noticed that Christian Wolanin was killing it down there… 46 points in 42 games! I thought he was great in the preseason and I was shocked when he didn’t make the cut. He might be a good option on the big club for next year.

I actually still had the Islanders vs Canucks game on my PVR from January 3rd, so I watched it again today, basically just to get a better look at AB and Raty. It was only one game of course, but here were my takeaways from it: - I honestly believe we got two of the islanders’ most tenacious players - Raty got limited ice time, playing on the fourth line with wingers who are anything but offensive weapons, yet Raty consistently looked dangerous - Raty - he’s fast yet his skating is kind of choppy and could use some work - Raty - wicked awesome shot! - Raty - good stick handling - Raty - he looked strong in FO circle, and even though his sample size is limited (12 games) his FO percent is 52.24 which is solid, especially for a rookie - AB - very quick to the puck and always heading to the corners and dirty areas - AB - pretty defensively sound - AB - his offensive awareness seemed pretty good too - AB - he looked rather slight out there but wasn’t afraid to get physical I feel with AB that a change of scenery might do him wonders. The fact that he so tenaciously pursues the puck and wins a lot of battles makes me think that he can be a great complimentary piece to highly skilled linemates like Pettersson, Kuz, Miller, etc. As for Raty, I’m pretty stoked on this kid. As mentioned, he and AB were both very tenacious and it’s clear that he’s got some high end skills… That shot cannot be taught. Gaining a bit more experience and maybe even working with Bo’s old skating coach could help this kid get to the next level and I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns into fantastic 2c or possibly 3c. Bo was great on and off the ice. Nothing but respect for him, having said that though, I really do believe that in time we will see that we won this trade.

Absolutely! I thought there was no way Raty would still there when we selected our 2nd round pick and when we passed on him I was so upset. The universe has a funny way of working out sometimes lol

You nailed it

Definitely. And for once we have an abundance of picks… six picks in the first four rounds, in a draft class that is apparently very deep!

Hands down we trade the picks for Bedard, but I don’t think anyone would make that trade with us.

Here’s a very informative article on Raty: https://eyesonisles.com/posts/a-year-later-the-ascent-of-aatu-raty-after-his-fall-at-the-nhl-draft-01g8r1ahm3ss/amp I gotta say, I’m pretty amped on this kid, and I get why many islanders fans are upset right now that they’ve lost him.