Blömqvist

If Jake can be as much of a pest AND work as hard as Roussel; Roussel isn't the biggest person, or the fastest, or the most talented, but he shows up to play and makes a difference every night for us. If Jake can work at that level and with his natural skillset then he'll be a very valuable player for us.

He's an NHL vet with over 700 games to his resume; he knows all the on-ice situations, how to react to those, and the safe simple plays to get him out of trouble. If the only knock on Schenn was his ability to keep up with the faster pace of today's NHL, then by all accounts if he puts in the work to improve his skating and passing I do see him extending his career by a few years. If he does just that, I do see him in that sheltered third pairing role with PK time as you said. It's only been a 1 game sample size, but by all accounts Schenn wasn't as slow as advertised which looks good for him.

I would've liked to move Dahlen in a package for a bigger fish that's in the age range of Horvat and that can immediately help us now and into the future. What could Dahlen and a 2nd rounder get us? Or, what about [Roster Player], Dahlen, and a 2019 2nd or 2020 1st?

My semi-realistic scenario for the defense moving forward would be to bring Tryamkin back, sign Tyler Myers, and trade Tanev for immediate forward help. Edler - Tryamkin Hughes - Myers Hutton - Stecher

You sir are correct. Palmu did go back to Liiga earlier this season. Also, last season Juolevi went from North America to Europe (CHL to Liiga). I'm purely speculating here, but with Benning historically giving prospects an opportunity to develop in other leagues, was the relationship between management and Dahlen's camp soured so much that his camp demanded a trade?

Maybe they should've kept Dahlen with his team to play in the SHL; Maybe the SHL could've been Dahlen's next developmental league instead of the AHL.

The only gripe I have with Gudbranson's time here was that he wasn't given an extended look with Alex Edler; Gudbranson's most common defense partners were Hutton (pre-2018.19 revival) and Pouliot. He played with Edler for a short time last season and he looked great. He looked every bit as the physical top-4 shutdown defenseman that Benning advertised him as in that short stint with Edler. And even then, Edler played a "bigger" game too. Unfortunate that he didn't get that extended look with Edler but all the best to him. Half the fan base ragged on him but he will be going to a cup contender in the Penguins without half the expectations that he had here.

I think things are changing, especially with Benning and Brackett in charge. Benning drafted a Russian in his first draft as a GM here (Tryamkin), then a few years later traded for another Russian (Goldobin), and then when he drafted Pettersson he said he reminded him of another elite Russian (Datsyuk). Russians are definitely not on the "Do Not Draft/Do Not Acquire" list. But as you said, maybe we are cursed with Russian players since Bure left and how management treated him. And I also forgot Fedor Fedorov and the great Jan Bulis in that list of Shirokov and Goldobin.

I would give $10/11M per season for Panarin. We would finally have our elite Russian star in Shirokov Goldobin Panarin.

Agreed on the top 3 part. Outside of Hughes and Kakko I want Byram. He is going to be an absolute stud in a few years time. I wouldn't know what we would do with Juolevi, however, unless he or Byram can play the right side.

Newell Brown keeps his job as PP coach?

IF he shows that he is close to NHL-ready I wouldn't be opposed to Jett Woo having an extended training camp and even get a 9-game stint at the start of the season. Have him rotate in and out of the lineup so he can experience the pace of the NHL -- both on the ice and up high -- and so he can get quality practice time, instruction, and mentoring from the world's best coaches, training staff, and players. Can you imagine Gudbranson giving Woo pointers on how to fight (no one in the WHL would dare touch him in that case)? Or seeing the professionalism of Edler and Tanev? Or trying his best to emulate some of Hughes' offensive game in practice? Or going stride-for-stride against Horvat and Pettersson? That said, management should definitely send him down afterwards so he can develop in a 25+min/game #1D role with the Warriors. Nothing like marinating a prospect, but giving that prospect a short opportunity to experience and learn from the NHL will do him wonders for his development.

I'm liking the Edler-Tanev top pairing with Hutton-Stecher as the mobile, puck moving second pairing. It helps to keep Gudbranson away from the more speedy opposition forwards and allows him to put time in on our excellent PK units. I can't wait until Hughes replaces Pouliot's spot in the lineup towards the end of the season. He'll help Gudbranson immensely and Gudbranson the same with Hughes. If that pair hits, we could possibly have a #2D-#2D / #4D-#4D / #4D-#4D defense core in Edler-Tanev / Hutton-Stecher / Hughes-Gudbranson.

I doubt Top 10, but yes I agree Madden would be a first rounder for sure. Great pick by Benning-Bracket and Co. By comparison to other prominent American forwards drafted in the first two rounds in the 2018 draft and playing in the NCAA this season: Oliver Wahlstrom, 11th overall; NCAA: 15GP - 4G - 1A - 5P // WJC: 7GP - 2G - 2A - 4P Joel Farabee, 14th overall; NCAA: 18GP - 6G - 9A - 15P // WJC: 7GP - 3G - 2A - 5P Jay O'Brien, 19th overall; NCAA: 11GP - 2G - 1A - 3P // WJC: 7GP - 0G - 0A - 0P Jack Drury, 42nd overall; NCAA: 13GP - 4G - 10A - 14P // WJC: 7GP - 0G - 0A - 0P Tyler Madden, 68th overall; NCAA: 16GP - 6G - 12A - 18P // WJC: 7GP - 3G - 1A - 4P Jake Wise, 69th overall; NCAA: 12GP - 0G - 2A - 2P // Invited to World Junior Summer Showcase, did not make team

That's a good pickup if he helps the team win and helps guys like Dahlen, Lind, Gaudette, McEwen find their offensive games.

All in the first game back since going down from the big club?

Best case scenario: 1. Edler signs a 2 year, $7.5M per season deal, with a full NTC, $1M in salary and $6.5M in signing bonuses in case of a lockout 2. Expansion draft, no need to protect Edler as he is not under contract 3. Post-expansion draft, Edler signs a 2 year, $5M per season deal, full NTC in the first year and partial NTC in the second year Over the four years: 1. Edler makes $25M, so an average cap hit of $6.25M/season over the two contracts 2. Edler is guaranteed $6.5M even in a lockout year 3. Edler is guaranteed to stay in Vancouver for at least 3 of those years

I had the same thing too when I realized in the replay it was Utunen

DiPietro is amazing. The Finnish shooters couldn't beat him clean. He battles for every save. Definitely Canada's best player for the tournament.

Clutch.

Do I dare look over at HFBoards for their reaction? I mean, with how negative they are on this regime they must be roasting Benning for not getting at least a 2nd round pick for Nilsson.

I think the idea is that Demko can come up and get NHL-level goalie coaching from Ian Clark, who worked with elite goaltenders in Roberto Luongo and Sergei Bobrovsky when he had his two Vezina-winning seasons. One thing that Anders Nilsson provided the team and Markstrom was that in his backup role he could start every now and then and give Markstrom a rest, which reflected in Markstrom's great month of December as the league's best goalie. Demko in his backup role can do the same. Start once in every 3 or 4 games to get exposure and experience at the NHL level and give Markstrom a break. Demko certainly won't replace Markstrom now, but Demko will certainly get the coaching and games needed to start his NHL career.

The Rangers traded up in that draft too, selecting with the 7th overall pick Lias Andersson, who was playing in Sweden at the time too. I strongly believe that Pettersson would not get past the Rangers. In the scenario where we would have Tkachuk in all likelihood we would have picked after the NYR at 7th overall pick in the 2017 draft, meaning no Pettersson but yes to anyone after (Villardi, Liljegren, Brannstrom, etc).