6th Pick: 2014 NHL Entry Draft

[Prison Bull]

I wouldn't trade up for anyone. I am a hoping Nick Ehlers falls to us but here is my the 7 that I rate before him that I believe the Canucks should take as BPA:

Ekblad - Clearly the top pick in the draft.
Reinhart - Best of the bloodline.
Dal Colle - Only higher selection for the Canucks than Bennett because he is Cassels' team mate

Bennett - smaller but grittier than Dal Colle but basically 50/50 with him

Draisaitl - solid no risk
Virtanen - solid home-grown product. Canucks rarely do this but this is one they should go for if selecting this high r if still available.
Perlini - I see this guy getting 100+ points w/ Niagara next yr

Ehlers - best skills but high risk. Top Q skater available.

I am more excited to miss the playoffs and grabbing one of these guys. No way do we do anything past surprising StLouis.

[thad]

report says they were available as Murray was horny to get Getzlaf-Kesler as his 1-2 punch at center

Can you imagine our drafting for the first 2 rounds as such;

Virtanen-7th(Ott)

Ritchie/Tuch- 8/9th(Ours)

Bleackly- 25th(Ana)

Lemieux-38th(ours)

Brett Pollock-43rd(Tor)

Jack Dougherty-55th(Ana)

I've been saying if the 2 firsts 2 seconds is still on the table at the draft I'd take it and run. Take Fluery with the Ottawa pick and settle for the best available forward at our pick. Gives us a blue chip dman coming down the pipe too. The 7-13th pick forwards are all going to be a crap shoot when it comes down to who's the best player in the long run. Get the second best dman in the draft first, then you still get one of Virtanen Perlini Ritchie Ehlers Nylander or Tuch with our pick.

Then still get a potential sleeper with the Anaheim first. Probably even snag one of the best goalies in the draft in the second round without wasting our only second.

That trade would set our future up amazingly, one trade rebuild and target a bigger name centre in free agent frenzie.

[Lonny_Bohonos_14]

I've been saying if the 2 firsts 2 seconds is still on the table at the draft I'd take it and run. Take Fluery with the Ottawa pick and settle for the best available forward at our pick. Gives us a blue chip dman coming down the pipe too. The 7-13th pick forwards are all going to be a crap shoot when it comes down to who's the best player in the long run. Get the second best dman in the draft first, then you still get one of Virtanen Perlini Ritchie Ehlers Nylander or Tuch with our pick.

Then still get a potential sleeper with the Anaheim first. Probably even snag one of the best goalies in the draft in the second round without wasting our only second.

That trade would set our future up amazingly, one trade rebuild and target a bigger name centre in free agent frenzie.

If we got that deal, I would hope one of Draisaitl or Dal Colle falls to 6th and take them. I think Fluery will still be available at 10th. If not take one of Virtanen, Nylander or Ehlers. Then with the Ducks original pick, I would take Thatcher Demko to stock up the goalie position. I don't think Demko makes it past NJD at 30th.

This draft is pretty much a cr@p shoot after the first 3 picks. Here are two scouts from nhl.com who did a mock draft on Tuesday. Case in point, the WCS has Ritchie going 17th to the Flyers, while the ECS has him going 5th to the Flames. I think you could see a lot of moving picks at the draft. Some teams will want to grab someone specific, while others will rather stock pile picks and go BPA.

Eastern Conference Scout - http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=710656

Western Conference Scout - http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=710956

[thad]

If we got that deal, I would hope one of Draisaitl or Dal Colle falls to 6th and take them. I think Fluery will still be available at 10th. If not take one of Virtanen, Nylander or Ehlers. Then with the Ducks original pick, I would take Thatcher Demko to stock up the goalie position. I don't think Demko makes it past NJD at 30th.

This draft is pretty much a cr@p shoot after the first 3 picks. Here are two scouts from nhl.com who did a mock draft on Tuesday. Case in point, the WCS has Ritchie going 17th to the Flyers, while the ECS has him going 5th to the Flames. I think you could see a lot of moving picks at the draft. Some teams will want to grab someone specific, while others will rather stock pile picks and go BPA.

Eastern Conference Scout - http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=710656

Western Conference Scout - http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=710956

Totally, my dream would be draisaitl falls to 6th. I'd take any of our projected top 5 over Fluery.. I only say take him at 6th cus he's the only dman ranked top ten that isn't named ekblad.them you got a crapshoot of forwards.. Unless the scouts say this forward is way better than the rest, we need to get him, I'd take Fluery and take my chances on whoever left with our pick.

We made off like bandits last year with Horvat Shinkaruk Cassels. Jensen's looking like a stud and Kassian is coming along nicely. I just like the idea of snagging Fluery before he's gone. Not too worried about the forward pick because they're all decent in their own way.

Also we haven't had a top D pick since Bourdon(rip). With 2 potential top tens in this armchair trade, it would be nice to grab one again.

Fluery Corrado

Hutton Tanev

Even with Fluery our future d core is questionable.

I do love the idea of grabbing demko with the late first. Major question marks after the Luongo Schneider saga, another young goalie won't hurt.

[Lonny_Bohonos_14]

Totally, my dream would be draisaitl falls to 6th. I'd take any of our projected top 5 over Fluery.. I only say take him at 6th cus he's the only dman ranked top ten that isn't named ekblad.them you got a crapshoot of forwards.. Unless the scouts say this forward is way better than the rest, we need to get him, I'd take Fluery and take my chances on whoever left with our pick.

We made off like bandits last year with Horvat Shinkaruk Cassels. Jensen's looking like a stud and Kassian is coming along nicely. I just like the idea of snagging Fluery before he's gone. Not too worried about the forward pick because they're all decent in their own way.

Also we haven't had a top D pick since Bourdon(rip). With 2 potential top tens in this armchair trade, it would be nice to grab one again.

Fluery Corrado

Hutton Tanev

Even with Fluery our future d core is questionable.

I do love the idea of grabbing demko with the late first. Major question marks after the Luongo Schneider saga, another young goalie won't hurt.

I like Fluery, but (like with many of this years prospects) I'm not going to be all that sad if we don't pick him up. He's a good pick, like many others, but I don't think he's a can't miss guy. I would be just as happy if we can grab one of Honka, McKeown or DeAngelo. All three of them have top 4 potential.

Either way, I can't wait for the draft.

[Derp...]

Yay for exciting draft year 2! Does anyone else wish the draft was tomorrow already!?

[R3aL]

Yay for exciting draft year 2! Does anyone else wish the draft was tomorrow already!?

most of us dooo!!!

[Lonny_Bohonos_14]

Yay for exciting draft year 2! Does anyone else wish the draft was tomorrow already!?

Maybe not tomorrow, but I wouldn't mind it being June. That's when most of the prospect hype really starts getting in depth.

[Hamhuis2]

I like this idea a lot

Kesler for Etem and OTT's 1st

then with 2 picks in the top 10 -12 we could move those 2 picks and move up in the draft to see if we could get ekblad (although I worry he will just be a victor hedman)

"Just" another Hedman? That would be fantastic if he could be! Hedman is a huge 2-way dman who is already top-2 on most teams, great defensively and finally tapping into his offensive potential. I would put him on par, or maybe slightly lower with our own Dan Hamhuis.

[Bilbro Baggins]

I'm hoping we can get Ehlers, but I feel like Gillis will go to the OHL again. Perlini or McCann probably, unless someone like Dal Colle or Draisaitl falls

[A Lack of Eddie]

If we had a chance to pick twice in the top 12 and lets say some of the bigger kids ( Virtanen, ritchie, perlinni etc ) were gone. Would you guys be fine if we drafted both Nylander and Ehlers? Obviously size is a factor but if we chose two of the most skilled prospects in the draft or if they were the BPA, wouldnt that give us a better chance of having one that would pan out? Imagine if both developed perfectly! High Risk High Reward I'm not too sure how id feel, what are your guys's thoughts??

[canucklax]

If we had a chance to pick twice in the top 12 and lets say some of the bigger kids ( Virtanen, ritchie, perlinni etc ) were gone. Would you guys be fine if we drafted both Nylander and Ehlers? Obviously size is a factor but if we chose two of the most skilled prospects in the draft or if they were the BPA, wouldnt that give us a better chance of having one that would pan out? Imagine if both developed perfectly! High Risk High Reward I'm not too sure how id feel, what are your guys's thoughts??

You win by scoring goals, they both can do that in bunches. Nylander is the one guy I can see slip in the draft with first line offensive ability, and hopefully keeping him in Sweden for a bit can protect him from the media hype until he crosses the pond and is ready for the NHL. Can only imagine what he could learn from Hank at training camp. Ehlers proved himself versus men in switzerland and now is showing how easily he has adjusted to the small ice.

[R3aL]

I'm hoping we can get Ehlers, but I feel like Gillis will go to the OHL again. Perlini or McCann probably, unless someone like Dal Colle or Draisaitl falls

I can see gillis taking : Perlini/Ritchie/McCann

As well, and based off how we are winning games, I see no chance at Dal Colle or Draisaitl, which is too bad I was wishing fo rone of them too. If we are picking after 10th though I would really expect Gillis to take McCann seem to be the mold of player they are wishing to mold the team around.

I wouldnt mind Ehlers either, depends when we pick and whos available though, and I really doubt Gillis will draft Virtanen, our scouts do love the OHL right now and I do not blame them, it seem like a stronger league right now, and look how well are players are playing there right now.

[L. Stanley]

Mcann? looks like a future 3rd liner lol

I would prefer we go with a more dynamic player in this draft - we already have Kassian, Jensen,Gaunce all over 6'2

[Bilbro Baggins]

Out of the players who will likely be available around our pick, Ehlers has the potential to be the biggest gamebreaker out of them all. He's got electric speed and filthy hands. Virtanen has got the size and skill, however he seems very one dimensional in the way he plays the game. Not too high on Nylander either, but I think Kapanen has the potential to be a pretty good playmaker. I'd be fine with Ritchie too, but you always take a risk when picking pure powerforwards. It seems like it's more rare for them to reach their potential. That being said if Ritchie does pan out, he'll be a force to reckoned with.

[Drouin]

Mcann? looks like a future 3rd liner lol

I would prefer we go with a more dynamic player in this draft - we already have Kassian, Jensen,Gaunce all over 6'2

You know nothing.

[JE14]

If no top player falls I would rather the Canucks try and pick someone with a high skill set (Nylander or Ehlers).

[Fozzy]

There is no way in hell I even contemplate taking Virtanen over Ehlers, same with Perlini, and McCann would be like taking another Horvat when there's a Drouin/MacKinnon lite right there.

Jake Virtanen has some tantalizing assets with his size, speed and shot, but his head is not in the right place. He has issues with positioning and work ethic to maintain the puck in the offensive zone and maintain the cycle. Sure with great coaching he can overcome these issues but he has a high risk to bust if he cant adjust. I am a huge fan of his and think that if he can translate his rush play and physical game (remarkable ability to ragdoll dmen with the 'reverse hit') to the NHL and can work on his passing then he will be another Evander Kane.

I'm not a big fan of Perlini. He seems like a player who is worth taking in the teens but in the top ten he carries a risk with him. He is a big body with speed and a shot, but isn't physical. I would much rather take McCann, who has underrated offense

while being a very solid defensive forward.

If you're saying Virtanen can become an Evander Kane with a bit of coaching then surely he is worth that risk?

Virtanen is the guy I want. Unfortunately I think he will go around number 8. Dam this mini revival.

[L. Stanley]

You know nothing.

You know nothing.

Ok enlighten me...

I can only read about junior hockey, no time to watch it

he is not that big 6'0, he is about a point a game in the OHL when ehlers is almost 2ppg and yes I know it is QMJHL but still, ehler's numbers are comparable to Drouin's the year he got draft - still over a hundred points, although drouin did it in like 12 fewer games.

what is so great about him? let me guess - a strong two way player,a 200 foot games just like guys we already have - cassels, horvat, gaunce

[Ossi Vaananen]

Ok enlighten me...

I can only read about junior hockey, no time to watch it

he is not that big 6'0, he is about a point a game in the OHL when ehlers is almost 2ppg and yes I know it is QMJHL but still, ehler's numbers are comparable to Drouin's the year he got draft - still over a hundred points, although drouin did it in like 12 fewer games.

what is so great about him? let me guess - a strong two way player,a 200 foot games just like guys we already have - cassels, horvat, gaunce

He's the 2nd leading scorer on an SSM team that finished ahead of the Knights and Otters in the standings. He's one of those guys that brings the offense instead of benefiting from having a top draft pick to work with (Ehlers). I mean really in terms of forwards on the SSM, it's just him and undrafted, undersized Tolchinsky. He's carrying a very strong team on his back.

Add to all this his repertoire of being a two way forward and you see why he's so highly touted. Plus he'll fight and stick up for teammates while Ehlers would most likey turtle (we have enough of those). Even if you think McCann is redundant with what we have in Horvat and Gaunce, I would rather have young guys that straight outwork the competition (think Colorado this year) than have top end talent that doesn't contribute beyond the scoreboard (Oilers of the last 4 years). It's a pretty clear cut choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cEOl38gHOE