6th Pick: 2014 NHL Entry Draft

[Jimmy_Page]

I heard at the combine the Canucks scouts didn't even interview Ehlers or Nylander. Kind of disappointing by that, seems that we aren't interested in them at all.

Source? this seems like pretty shotty work if its true. maybe benning wants to be there for the interview? i'm scratching my head at the moment.

[MoneypuckOverlord]

Source? this seems like pretty shotty work if its true. maybe benning wants to be there for the interview? i'm scratching my head at the moment.

Maybe the Canucks are not scheduled to do an interview for him until tommorow? Interesting stuff through, saw on hfboards.com the Ducks gave Ehlers a 3rd interview.

but it's a wise move not selecting any of those 2, when we already have a Hunter Shinkaruk.

[messier's_elbow]

There’s no need to rebuild. Last year was an off year where everything went wrong all at once.

We have young players (Kassian, Tanev, Lack) slowing coming and making an impact in the league already. And we also have two stars that are signed for 4 more years. Our D core is strong and with the right coaching can get back on track. Sedins are not 40-50 point players, Edler is not a -30 player. Our team is filled with Olympians is a sign that yes we are strong enough to compete in this league.

Teams that go full rebuild are at that point because they don’t have any more options. The core they have isn’t enough to make playoffs and so they trade youth just to make a playoff push. They are then left with an old core and no youth coming up in the system. Canucks haven’t been trading away our prospects, So we don’t have to go that route.

We have a good core, and even getting high pick doesn’t guarantee that the next core will become any better than the core we already have. We’d waste 5 years of missing playoffs and be right back at the same spot we are now. A core trying to make playoffs and make a push.

As long as this core is good enough to make playoffs without having to add to it by giving up youth, there is no need for a rebuild. With good scouting and a good player development in place we can make the transition to the new core smooth and exciting. Our youth coming up with start to make some of the older players expendable (Horvat eventually replacing Kesler) and allow us to move them for either impact pieces our higher draft picks.

Also the core doesn’t need to be a full line up. In my opinion Higgins, Hansen, booth, Garrison are not the current core. The core is 4 forwards (Hossa, Sharp, Kane, Toews) , 2 Defencemen (Keith, Seabrook) and a goalie. The players outside that core are all expendable if the right deal comes along. (Kassian, Jensen?, Horvat?, Shinkaruk?) (Tanev, Corrado?) (Lack/Markstrom?). At most we should only have a max of 7 NTC’s on our roster.

And if were building that next core and we want this pick to be part of that. We should be picking a center with first line potential. Someone to give us that 1, 2 punch down the middle. Depending on who drop’s but we should either be trading up to get one of Bennett, Reinhart, Draisaitl, or picking Nylander if we don’t trade and he’s still available at 6.

My Opinion anyways

Trading Kesler and Hansen isnt a total rebuild. This is all im proposing. Im not talking trading the Sedins, cause thats not going to happen for better or for worse. We need to get younger or we will be in big trouble in a few years.

[Ossi Vaananen]

I like Bigwhite06 videos. But this one makes me dislike Ehlers even more. The majority of the goals on the video were not NHL goals. He is not going to be able to skate around defencemen in the NHL like he does in the Q. Go watch Bigwhite06 video of Virtanen or Ritchie for that matter to see NHL goals. People are impressed with Ehlers' speed but Virtanen will be a much more effective skater at the NHL level. He may be a notch below Ehlers in sheer speed and agility, but his larger frame will allow him to implement his speed better at the NHL level.

It's true, there were some softies in there. I think the best highlight package I've seen was Virtanen's, seemed to highlight his physicality in addition to his offensive abilities. People complain about Virtanen being one dimensional, but having that physicality is already a dimension Ehlers will never attain.

[messier's_elbow]

Interesting tidbits from the combine interviews today.

Canucks chose not to interview Nylander or Ehlers....but they did have longerinterviews with virtanen and fleury...they also interviewed fabbri, Lemieux,demko.

Saw this on HF. Not a solid source, but thought I'd share anyway.

Could be a case of Benning wanting to trade down, or maybe a trade for the 10th is a possibility as well as keeping the 6th and JB knowing who he wants at that pick already. Or maybe it means none of those things at all .

Id love Ritchie with 6th and Fleury/Fabbri/Ehlers with 10th if we do that deal.

[messier's_elbow]

I wonder if there is some consideration to flipping the 6th to Anaheim for the 10th and 24th?

10th: Virtanen/Fleury

24th: Demko/Lemeuix

I'm not sure where Fabbri would fit in unless they expect he might slip.

Fabbri at 24th in a weak draft? No chance. I bet he goes top 15.

[messier's_elbow]

not crazy at all. Who ever will be available at number 4 is a player that comes by very often anyways. Around 6'0 tall and around 180 lbs. Their are plenty of those types of players. Plenty of those types of players in the following draft year . Mean while a 6'3 230 truculent player who can play offensive don't actually come by very often. I have a strong feeling Ritchie will actually be gone by the 6th pick. OH wells. I will be happy MDC although he despises the Canucks.

I agree I think Ritchie will be a flame.... If so Id love Dal Cole too. Even if he hates the canucks he will learn to love them. Plus it seems the Canucks are getting more respect already with the new hires.

[messier's_elbow]

I appreciate your opinion but I disagree on several fronts.

The team has been in decline before Torts got here . The team won 1 playoff game the previous 2 years. Our depth was for chit.

The twins are not star players. They arent even 80 point players anymore. They werent 80 point players in 2013 and even worse in 2014. They will rebound up to where they should be . 70 point players.

Our depth is still for chit. If we have secondary scoring from Kesler we certainly dont have it from the 3rd and 4th lines.Our defense is solid but our goaltending is not. We got 2 kids whom have never played a playoff game before.

I dont see what your endgame is. What is the point of chugging along . We are competing against Colorado and Minnesota whom both are going to get stronger for the 2 wildcards. What is the point of this? To draft 18th ? 15th? What about next year? The year after that? What is the endgame?

Teams are either building a contender, or contending or rebuilding. Our time has passed to honestly compete for the cup with this core. Lets take our medicine and rebuild. We only have 2 more years after this.

Completely agree. Hopefully management is thinking on the same page we are.

[messier's_elbow]

Early assessment on Fabbri:

His playoff rose his stock, but not enough for us to consider him. The Storm was just a really, really good team this year, and he didn't even lead his team in scoring. Pass.

Who are you quoting? Fabbri or Fleury would be my pick at 10th if we trade Kesler to the ducks. Not at 6th though.

[Salmonberries]

So you're one of those dummies who thinks that Ehlers is expendable just because we have Shinkaruk?

Makes no sense.

I wonder If Carolina will pass on Ehlers because they already have Zach Boychuk. It's a puzzling line of thinking for sure,

[Plum]

They talked on TSN a couple nights ago about how Toffoli and Pearson had conditioning problems but overcame them and now look where they are.

Ritchie has the same problem, these 2 players worked on it I think Ritchie can work on it aswell which could influence some teams in the top 5.

[Smashian Kassian]

Ehlers looks like he's moving 5x's faster than everyone else in some of those highlights.

That video highlighted 3 things for me, his laser beam of a shot, his playmaking ability, and how he uses his speed so effectively.

Someone said Virtanen's skating ability is better for an NHL prospect because of his physicality or something along those lines, but Ehlers is a better skater & uses his skating ability better, so I'm not sure I agree.

[SwissCanucks]

If we trade Kelser to Anaheim for 10th and semething else, we may pick: 6th= Nick Ritchie 10= Ehlers/Nylanders/Virtanen

[JohnLocke]

Where did this whole Dal Colle hating the canucks come from? Did I miss a news story or something? Where's the source?

[ice orca]

I agree I think Ritchie will be a flame.... If so Id love Dal Cole too. Even if he hates the canucks he will learn to love them. Plus it seems the Canucks are getting more respect already with the new hires.

Where did his hate for the Canucks come from, you would think any junior would be open to get drafted period. Sounds like a bit of entitlement to me with a big red flag

[messier's_elbow]

Where did his hate for the Canucks come from, you would think any junior would be open to get drafted period. Sounds like a bit of entitlement to me with a big red flag

Its just a rumor but sounds like it could be true. Someone asked him who he wouldnt want to be drafted to and he said the canucks.

[Knucklehd]

Its just a rumor but sounds like it could be true. Someone asked him who he wouldnt want to be drafted to and he said the canucks.

I find it real hard to believe, any prospect with aspirations to play in the NHL would be silly enough to say something like that. It's like bad mouthing a previous employer in an interview, big no-no. I would be shocked if it's true.

[Hedman]

Early assessment on Fabbri:

His playoff rose his stock, but not enough for us to consider him. The Storm was just a really, really good team this year, and he didn't even lead his team in scoring. Pass.

I wouldn't consider Fabbri at 6th, but if we acquire that 10th overall from Anaheim i would definitely consider him. Not saying i'd pick him, but he definitely deserves some consideration at that spot. I'd say he's the dark horse of this draft. Wouldn't be surprised if he went top10, just because of that strong playoff performance. He's not THAT small, 5'10 and still growing. His skating is not a weakness. Yes Guelph had a great team, but he was still their 3rd best scorer, and their 2nd best goalscorer in the regular season. He scored the 2nd most goals of all players in the playoffs, even though he played 4 games less than most Guelph players. Barclay Goodrow had 1 goal more than Fabbri, and he played 22 games compared to Fabbri's 16 games. On top of that, he was named the OHL's playoff MVP. He went on and had a great Memorial Cup run with Guelph, 6 points in 4 games. Rychel was the only player on Guelph that had more points than him.

[ice orca]

Its just a rumor but sounds like it could be true. Someone asked him who he wouldnt want to be drafted to and he said the canucks.

Maybe he thinks he is Lindros.

[DrChill]

Is any source publishing who everyone is interviewing at the combine?