thad

I wonder if this could be why they've been having extended meetings with Kesler? Perhaps there's a Florida offer and they wanna sell it to Ryan. No doubt if Tallon is looking to shop the pick for win now vets, Kesler would be better than anything else he could get. It really isn't that bad from keslers point of view. Florida isn't in complete disarray like buffalo. They just got the go ahead to spend money, got a franchise goalie and loads of young talent. Another move or 2 and they could be in the mix. Tallon has 2 yrs to get something going for him or he can walk.

Who knows. They could be on the rise sooner than us if we plan on trading Kesler too. Maybe even edler starting to feel like a change of scenery would be good. Florida has a good young core, good GM and a green light to go for it. I see them like islanders, ready to take flight. That would a be a beauty way to get it done. Overpaying in stuff I don't mind getting rid of to get a future elite top centre haha. Sedin Sedin Jensen Reinhart Kesler Kassian Higgins Horvat Burrows Matthias Richardson Hansen Jesus that looks deep with pretty high end youth mixed in. Look at the mentors for them. Jensen with the twins. Kesler teaches Kass and Reino to leave it all out there night in and night out. Higgins and Burr are the Rupert brothers x100 haha. Then a beast of a 4th line. If there's a way to get it done I say do it

Yeah it would sting a lot losing 3 young assets eh.. but if it pays off and Reinhart turns into a superstar, I'd say it was worth it in the end. Really, yeah Tanev totally killed it last year, but we'd get corrado in the nhl. Not as calm and cool as Tanev but he's probably going to put up more points and be good in his own right. Losing Jensen kinda sucks as we finally got a top six youngster in the line up and gotta give him up.. But Kassian is also ready to move up and you could throw Reinhart right up there on the wing too. I'm seriously down to overpay to get the kid the more I think about it. Just close your eyes and pull the trigger on a high end young centre and find his wingers in a Kesler trade.

Not gonna lie, as pissed as I'd be checking the tsn alert on my phone that we traded shinkaruk Tanev and the 6th or something insane for Sam Reinhart.. I'd still be like holy crap we got Reinhart, bring on the new era, baby!

Boston has serious balls when it comes to trades. I find this very interesting. I just hope it doesn't involve Bo or Kassian. Although I'm hesitant to wanna overpay, I'm down to look the other way while Benning and Trevor pull the trigger on this one. Let's be Honest, getting Sam Reinhart would be pretty freakin cool. So go ahead boys you have my blessing on a big splash, please don't make it sting toooo bad.

Anyone got a link to their height and weights at the combine? Curious where Nylander is at

I hope 5 teams really value pull ups haha

Kapanen is such a beauty hahaha

Kids had a tough go but he is an NHLer in my mind. He's got what it takes to play the game at this level and he can hang. Problem is we had a serious contender under Vigneault so he wasn't stealing any roster spots and wasn't really ready then. Them we went for torts who cut the roster down to 3 lines made up of the best forecheckers on the team. The 4th line was miscast skill players and Sestito lol. We need a real offensive minded coach to come in and maximize our young players talents. Remember when we started that season with Kassian on the top line? Kid hit the ground running after being used as a grinder in buffalo. We said Zack, your not a grinder, go do what you did in junior and he did great. I say we start the year with Schroeder on the second line. Kids got more skill than most of our freakin team, play him with skilled players and he just might start popping up 50+ points. If your just gonna play him with Sestito then yeah he's obviously going to bust. Either put him on keslers wing and see what happens or trade him to someone who won't waste away his career. He's a peacock captain, you gotta let him fly.

I'd throw in our 2nd to get that done. None of those players would make it to 26 though. Maybe Ho sang falls to 26? Ritchie Nylander Ho Sang would be a hell of a draft.

Thanks for the insight DJ. Yeah I only seen Vrana at the U18s and was thinking how is this guy not top ten. He looked like a hell of a player from the small sample I got. Interesting about Pastrnak, I wouldn't be too hurt if we took a chance on him but I think there may be other slips that could be steals as well. I'm really hoping for sanheim. If he rises as quick as he did this year, he could look like he should have gone 20 picks higher by next year. More Canadians is always good

Vrana is another beauty pick if he goes in the second. Seen a little bit of him on TV. He looked like he could be one of those late firsts that hits the ground runnin Hertl style.

he was ranked much higher earlier in the season wasn't he? Could be a steal if the only reason he dropped is because some chl kids took flight. I heard he's got major heart. Could be a pretty good player if he's as skilled as they say he is and has a Hansen like heart. I'd take him with our second for sure if he's there.

I see more perimeter game in Virtanen, actually. He seems to try and do it all himself and skates around and shoots from the boards a lot. Ehlers cuts to the middle and makes plays all over. I'm a Ritchie guy but I think I may be more into Ehlers than Virtanen if I don't get my man.

I still wanna see linden and benning have some success out of the gate but getting one of those players would be unreal haha. If we do tank next year I kinda hope we take a dman(unless Mcdavid or Eichel are there). Do the opposite of what Edmonton did, grab the franchise dman first then start taking forwards. Then your 23 yr old dman steps into the league and grows with your star 20yr old forwards.

That's my feeling on it. If we didn't already have the 6th spot I would be all over it. But the jump from 6 to first isn't worth Kesler.. this year anyways. If there was a Tavares there then yeah but I don't see Reinhart in that class. If Kes was willing to go there and we could trade a mid range prospect I would do it. Even something like Kesler Gaunce. That would be more the value I see for getting that pick. Equivalent of Kesler and around the 20th pick.

Lol

I got a feeling Cody Hodgson goes on to put up more points than Jake Virtanen when all is said and done.

I was thinking about this the other day, shinkaruk centre our future top line. With full control of utica we can develop him that way. He's got the high skill to be a first line centre if he pans out. Having a guy like Ritchie or Kassian on his wing could be what makes the plan work.

The thing that I like about Ritchie is he's not just a size bull that drives the net against midget defenders for all his points like a lot of the lower ranked power forwards seem to. He's a smarter player than that. He finds the hot spots, gets to the right areas at the right times and gets an outstanding shot off very quickly. That's what seperates him from the rest and ranks him so high. That's also why I have him ahead of Virtanen. Jake has some unreal skating skills and an unbelievable shot but the points tend to come from being a one man show. I think it will be a lot easier to develop a guy like Ritchie, he's already got the frame/reach to go in and battle an nhl defender. Add to that, he's got the hockey sense to be an all around player. You get him working on his first few strides and packing on muscle for the next couple years and you could have a real star on your hands. As I've stated before if they pick someone else I'm cool with it.... but I can't help but think if every one of the top ten become all stars, I want the one who's an absolute bull and will drop the gloves if someone even looks at our next Henrik. Him and Kassian in the top six for years to come would be unreal.

I'd be very happy with a Nylander pick. I'm a Ritchie guy if none of the top 5 fall but if the scouts pick Nylander with our highest pick since the twins, it means their pretty damn sure about him. I can internet scout these kids till the cows come home but these guys are pros and watch the hell out of them. It would honestly be nice to hear his name called on draft day. It means the scouts see enough of a a future star to take him over a safer pick like Ritchie or Virtanen. Until then though, Ritchie is still my pick haha

Haha I don't doubt that they may know some people that work for the canucks. I'm pretty sure those guys wouldn't be in the very inner circle and if they were, they almost certainly wouldn't share their plans with their old friend that works at a sports store. Trotz is high on everyone's list and I'm sure very high on ours. The weber thing is kinda silly, it's not really how it works lol. Is it poile's going away gift to Barry? Thanks for all the hard work my friend, I'll trade you shea weber as soon as you find a job haha

Yeah I could care less if there's a pick involved if those 2 are in the deal. It's all about getting quality back. 2 quality youngsters that are pretty much sure bet nhlers, one with a massive ceiling. Take it and run. Hell I'd throw in the Diaz 5th rounder to make it work haha

That would be unreal, I could see him end up being the best of all of them. The toews that shoulda went first.

If the 10th pick is the major piece of the deal and we plan on taking Fluery, I'd rather try to get pouliot from Pitt. Higher end upside dman, then take a skill guy later in the round with their first. One of fabbri Fiala Ho-sang goldobin should be still on the board by the time Pitt picks. If those guys are all taken then there should be a real gem waiting for us at the pitt pick, Milano?. If I had my way and I'll probably get flamed but I take Ritchie at 6(unless someone falls). Trade Kesler for pouliot bennett 3rd or pouliot sutter first. We figure our centre problems out elsewhere. I think pouliot has higher upside than Etem or the 10th overall. If we can get Bennett, great, I'll take a lower pick. If we have to settle for sutter(who looked pretty good in the playoffs) then I'm comfortable we can get a good player in the late first. Even Ho sang would be great. Subtract Kesler if he really wants out and leave the draft with Ritchie Pouliot Sutter Ho-Sang. Sutter may be redundant but I think he's better than both Matthias and gaunce. One of the 3 can be used as future trade bait.