Blömqvist

I was thinking about that -- one of the reasons I would prefer Zebras/Boldy/Caufield over Krebs, in that order. Player development at this stage in their young careers is huge, and IMO the NCAA has been great these past few years in helping players develop and transition into the professional leagues. For one, the game schedule allows for a lot of time in the gym to focus on strength and conditioning. Another is that players enter the league as rookies and have to learn to play against bigger and stronger competition. Lastly, NCAA players have the opportunity to sign and join their professional-affiliate at the end of each season. CHL players, on the other hand, have a full schedule with a lot of travel meaning less time in the gym. In their D+1 season, most draftees will be in their third or fourth year in the league and will definitely be the "top dog" playing against less physically developed and more inferior competition. Lastly, CHL players have to wait until they finish their fourth year to be eligible for the AHL, although they can join the NHL immediately. IMO Jake Virtanen would have been better served going the NCAA route. He was too physically dominant in the WHL and when he was in the NHL he clearly needed more development but was unable to go to the AHL. Krebs for sure is a top talent but he would have to play 2 more years in the WHL before he would be AHL-eligible. That D+1 year in the WHL would serve him well, but how well would that final D+2 year be? Would he even be ready for the NHL at that time? Or would he be in that limbo, much like where Jake was.

Philippe Myers for me please. Send them Virtanen and Sutter -- he can be the third line centre to play behind Couturier and Patrick -- and we can take back MacDonald as a (one year) cap dump, in addition to the main prize that is Myers.

Maybe an indirect trade if they want to fix their 2nd line. They can trade the additional prospect and picks for extra offensive help at the deadline. NSH: Kapanen + [VAN Top Prospect] + [2020 VAN 1st round pick] + [2019 VAN 3rd or 4th round pick] TOR: Tanev VAN: Subban

Would rather trade for Trouba at this point. That said, I would still be open for Subban depending on the price... I'm assuming it would take Tanev (replacement RHD), a top prospect, a 1st round pick, and an additional mid-round pick. In terms of said top prospect, it's too bad we traded Dahlen away so quickly...

Yes to Podkolzin at 10 every day of the week and twice on Sundays. High-end skill, non-stop motor, 200-ft game, and a sizeable frame to boot. Would be absolutely filthy playing alongside Pettersson and Boeser.

I wonder if EDM and VAN would consider swapping the 8th and 10th overall picks along with Lucic and Eriksson, respectively. Recent events has Lucic being open to play for VAN in the near future and Eriksson not in agreement with coach Green. EDM would save on the 1 year of the contract (Lucic w/ 4 yrs @ $6M vs Eriksson w/ 3 yrs @ $6M) and VAN would jump up two spots, guaranteeing that one of the top-rated forwards are available. Hughes/Kakko/Byram form the top 3. That would mean that one of Dach/Turcotte/Boldy/Cozens/Podkolzin would be available for the Canucks as pick 8 should VAN and EDM swap picks as proposed.

With all this "friction" there's certainly grease to make the wheels turn for a trade of Eriksson and Lucic. Even Milan said a few days ago that playing in Vancouver was a possibility.

Eriksson and the 10th overall pick to Edmonton for Lucic and the 8th overall pick.

I woke up late and just missed the USA-RUS game. Has anyone been keeping tabs on Podkolzin throughout the tournament? How has he been and how was he against the US this game?

Prior to the U18s, I was really hoping the Canucks would be able to draft Matt Boldy. The way he is playing it seems like he's playing his way up the rankings and just outside our reach. You never know how things will go with teams picking on need or prioritizing centres and defenseman, though. Cam Robinson of DobberProspects has this extended take on Matt Boldy. Definitely worth a read, and note the player comparison at the end, which I thought was interesting.

Holy, I said the same thing a few pages back... lol

IMO the only other defenseman considered at 10 should be Soderstrom. He is already playing against men in Sweden and has a high-level skillset, hockey IQ, and vision to go along with his skating. An all-situations puck moving defenseman, could be a great d-partner for Juolevi. Broberg reminds me of a defenseman version of Virtanen -- good in the defensive zone but when he gets the puck it's a full head steam up the ice to get into the offensive zone but nothing happening after that. He has a lot of tools to become a dynamic player but what about the toolbox? All that said, Benning should really go for a forward. Horvat needs a wingman and I don't think Virtanen is that guy. I really like the US forwards. I'm hoping that one of them is available at our pick. Any one of Turcotte, Zegras, or Boldy would be perfect. If Podkolzin falls to us he should be a no-brainer pick.

I guess there's the two extremes with regards to the butterfly effect of taking Tkachuk instead of Juolevi. On one end, there's the argument that we may have not ended up with Pettersson and Hughes, and on the other end of the spectrum there's the argument that we may have ended up with Pettersson and possibly Hughes too. I wonder if in an alternate universe there exists a version of our world where Benning chose Tkachuk and still ended up with Pettersson and Hughes. And in that alternate universe Tkachuk would very likely hover around ~1P/GM playing alongside Pettersson and Boeser and we would sneak into the playoffs as one of the wirld card spots. We would still be down a Top-4D prospect though, but that would be solved this upcoming draft with Broberg, Soderstrom, Seider, York, and Harley in that second tier of defensemen and all likely to be picked in that 10-20 range. I guess maybe the argument should be, if we hold Pettersson and Hughes as constants in either scenario, are we a better team with the combination of Juolevi and Boldy/Zegras/Krebs or the combination of Tkachuk and Broberg/Soderstrom/Seider/York/Harley? Will the difference between Tkachuk and Boldy/Zegras/Krebs be greater than the difference between Juolevi and Broberg/Soderstrom/Seider/York/Harley?

Ahhh I see I see. That's totally possible. I guess we'll never know.

I'm assuming that Pettersson would still be a top-10 pick in 2017. With Tkachuk in our lineup that year we would be in the playoff hunt until the end of the season, thus giving us a 10-15 pick in the draft. Moreover, the Rangers traded Stepan for the 7th overall pick and drafted Lias Andersson. Of the 7 players they drafted that year, 5 of them were in European leagues, 2 of which were which in the various Swedish leagues. They were heavily scouting Euro players and I'm sure they would have taken Pettersson with the 7th overall pick if we didn't with ours.

Our team would look a lot different with him, that's for sure. A top line of Tkachuk, Horvat, and Virtanen would be hella entertaining to watch in the playoffs. We would also have Gaudette and Boeser on the second line. We certainly wouldn't have Pettersson that 2017 draft, but we may have been that 10-15 position where Villardi, Necas, Brannstrom, Foote, and Liljegren were. Chances are Benning would have gone by positional need instead of BPA and as such we would have likely taken Liljegren. Then for the 2018 draft we would likely be in that fringe playoff position, I'm guessing 15-20. We would be in that tier just after Bouchard, Wahlstrom, Dobson, and Farabee, and would likely be choosing another defenseman for need. In hindsight, Smith at #17th overall looks like the best choice, but there was also Miller, Merkley, Sandin, and Lundkvist taken afterwards. One forward who dropped was Veleno, who we may have taken as well. For this year, I would assume we'd be another fringe playoff team and draft in that 15-20 range. There would be more leeway this upcoming draft for Benning, especially if he went Liljegren in 2017 and Smith in 2018. Names such as Lavoie, Seider, Kaliyev, York, and Harley come up. Hypotheticelly, we could have a lineup consisting of: Tkachuk - Horvat - Virtanen _______ - Gaudette - Boeser Smith - Liljegren _____ - Seider Demko Which looks a lot different from what we have now: Boldy - Pettersson - Boeser _______ - Horvat - Virtanen _______ - Gaudette - ______ Hughes - ______ Juolevi - ______ Demko IMO, as good as Tkachuk is currently and in a time vacuum with Smith looking like a solid pick, I would rather have Juolevi along with Pettersson and Hughes. Pettersson and Hughes have that electrifying ability -- something can happen at any time they're on the ice. Anyways, back to Juolevi, I still believe that he will be a minute-munching all-situations puck moving defenseman who can contribute and play key roles on the powerplay and penalty kill. Think of an Alex Edler type with similar size but less physicality and more mobility. Juolevi has always had years of positive development and played a significant role on every team and in every league that he's been -- OHL, Memorial Cup, WJC, Liiga and Liiga playoffs, and in his short time in the AHL. He just needs to work on getting stronger and faster, and that itself will come with time and training.

That's what I was thinking too. IIRC but I did some research on Matthew Boldy and he was at the same school (Dexter) as our very own Jack Rathbone. I'm expecting one of Turcotte (if he falls), Boldy, Zegras, or Soderstrom as our pick. Possibly Caufield if Bennning and Brackett believe he can realistically reach his upside. If Boldy is really comparable to Mark Stone, then a line of Boldy - Pettersson - Boeser would be dynamite.

BS of course the first time the 'Hawks are in the lotto the win a lotto spot. Then all three American teams, with New Jersey winning a lotto spot again. Rigged man.

I stand corrected. Imagine our defensive zone breakouts and our controlled zone exits with Hughes on one pair and Soderstrom on another. Both the eye test and analyticz crowds would have a collective orgasm everytime one of them rushes the puck up ice.

I agree. Go big or go home this draft. If we pick a defenseman it should only be Byram. Otherwise, pick BPA and highest ceiling -- we need players that will drive play, not complementary passengers.

I would honestly look at trading Jake+ to Columbus for Josh Anderson. The potential is there for Jake to become that big, fast, physical forward who can score 20 goals/season, but IMO it won't be here. He's nowhere near the level of consistency in both his physical and offensive game as we need him to be. Might as well cut our losses and give him an opportunity to flourish elsewhere. Virtanen and Hutton to Columbus for Anderson? Or Virtanen to Philadelphia for Myers?

I agree, he's shown more than enough to earn himself another contract with the Canucks. He brings much added truculence while playing a steady, simple, defensive game. The added connection to the Hughes family (spending time with Quinn's dad Jim Hughes during his time as the Director of Player Development with the Leafs) makes it a no-brainer to re-sign him. A 2 year $2M per season deal is more than fair.

We need Goldobin Tryamkin Bure over here ASAP to show him the Vancity highlife.

It would be foolish to trade Olli Juolevi considering his trade value as a former 6th overall pick has plummeted. The only case it makes sense is for another highly-touted, recently highly-drafted prospect that also has yet to reach their potential. Like Jesse Puljujarvi. Or Tyson Jost.

Byram is going to be a stud. If we are fortunate enough to draft him our defense will be set for the next decade with two potential #1Ds in Hughes and Byram and solid two-way top-4 guys in Juolevi and Woo. We would still need some extra firepower up front to support Pettersson, Boeser, and Horvat but thankfully the two Northeastern kids Gaudette and Madden look like gems.