2017 NHL Draft - Chicago, Illinois June 23-24 2017

[Pickly]

2 hours ago, Mr.53 said:

That's for sure. Aside from Horvat, all of those promising players are Benning acquisitions. Our defence and goaltending too.

 

Juolevi, Gudbranson, and Stecher, (and maybe Tryamkin if he makes a return?) look to be like staples on this team for years to come. Not to our future All-Star goaltender in Thatcher Demko.

 

Left Wing         Center         Right Wing

Goldobin          Hischer         Boeser

Baertschi          Horvat          Virtanen

Granlund          Dahlen          Gaudette

 

Left Defence          Right Defence

Juolevi                    Gudbranson

Hutton                     Stecher

(Tryamkin? Please?)

 

Goalie

Demko

 

I like that future core a lot. Find some role players to fill the gaps and for chemistry, and that core is solid.

Soft as butter 1st line. You need a healthy mix of grit and skill in the top 6 to prevent yourself from being manhandled in the playoffs. Actually, that top 9 is way too soft and small. If the likes of Boeser, Dahlin, and Goldobin all pan out as top 6 you will see the likes of Baertschi and Granlund being dealt. 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Pickly

[Jiggs50]

5 minutes ago, Pickly said:

Soft as butter 1st line. You need a healthy mix of grit and skill in the top 6 to prevent yourself from being manhandled in the playoffs. Actually, that top 9 is way too soft and small. If the likes of Boeser, Dahlin, and Goldobin all pan out as top 6 you will see the likes of Baertschi and Granlund being dealt. 

Acquire as many talented young players as you can and you can always put "goons" around them after. 

[GettinGuddyWithIt]

5 minutes ago, Pickly said:

Soft as butter 1st line. You need a healthy mix of grit and skill in the top 6 to prevent yourself from being manhandled in the playoffs. Actually, that top 9 is way too soft and small. If the likes of Boeser, Dahlin, and Goldobin all pan out as top 6 you will see the likes of Baertschi and Granlund being dealt. 

The Leafs didn't really have much toughness other than Martin and Boyle. Komarov is a gritty type of player tho. They mostly used their speed and skill which is what I see in this line up. If Virtanen reaches his potential and becomes a high end hitter and sign some Martin type players for the 3rd/4th lines then that's enough.

 

Today's NHL is more focused on skill and the Leafs almost beat the President trophy winners by using that model.

[Crabcakes]

9 hours ago, Sugar baby watermelon said:

come on calling people reactionaries, really, what is this high school and a sense of entitlement...  

You don't read these threads much do you?  Do I feel entitled?  What?  No.  I'm realistic about how long it takes to rebuild a team.  I would suggest that some fans feel entitled to a winning team when they have no appreciation of what it takes to become one.  

 

 

 

 

[48MPHSlapShot]

38 minutes ago, Jiggs50 said:

Acquire as many talented young players as you can and you can always put "goons" around them after. 

This.

 

The first step is acquiring skill players to bring the team back to respectability. The next step is to start making moves to fill out the lineup.

 

That being said, I wouldn't be opposed to moving some players if the right deal were to present itself, but to maximize the value we get, it may be better to wait for our young forward group to develop and start putting up some significant numbers before pulling the trigger. Might be the difference between landing a Torres-esque player and a Landeskog-esque player.

[Smashian Kassian]

19 hours ago, Hutton Wink said:

Seems like nothing but positives coming out of Portland on this kid.  Primarily a playmaker with a pretty complete package of skills plus high motor, character, and size -- 6'2 is good already and he's almost certainly going to get even bigger considering his dad and brother.  Having two good solid Canadian boys anchoring our top-6 sounds great to me.  Might be the "safest" pick if we're in the 4/5 slot, and I think he sounds exactly like a Benning guy -- from mynhldraft.com:
 

 

 

 

Seems like everything we need. Size, Center, high compete level, smart, good playmaker, can create offense in any situation. 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Smashian Kassian

[Smashian Kassian]

54 minutes ago, Jiggs50 said:

Acquire as many talented young players as you can and you can always put "goons" around them after. 

Agreed. Skill and smarts first, especially with a high pick.

 

Not to open up old wounds/bickering but the whole Virts/Nylander/Ehlers thing should be a pretty obvious reminder of this. 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Smashian Kassian

[Sugar baby watermelon]

2 hours ago, Crabcakes said:

You don't read these threads much do you?  Do I feel entitled?  What?  No.  I'm realistic about how long it takes to rebuild a team.  I would suggest that some fans feel entitled to a winning team when they have no appreciation of what it takes to become one.  

 

 

 

 

yo crabby yeah ummm i dont read these threads much.... yeah thats it...,  hahaha dude you still get a kick out of talking down to people, you must be the life of the party.  

[kenhodgejr]

2 hours ago, Smashian Kassian said:

Seems like everything we need. Size, Center, high compete level, smart, good playmaker, can create offense in any situation. 

I agree, Glass to me is the guy our team needs. I hope he is available when we pick. He is a player we could build our top six around. A good honest high character, hard working Canadian kid who can lead the team by good example. A welcome addition to our future core. 

[Gaudette Celly]

7 minutes ago, kenhodgejr said:

I agree, Glass to me is the guy our team needs. I hope he is available when we pick. He is a player we could build our top six around. A good honest high character, hard working Canadian kid who can lead the team by good example. A welcome addition to our future core. 

Almost certainly will be, but all depends how the teams ahead of us (if any!) have him ranked.  Worst-case, if we're fifth there's only two prospects (after the top 2 defaults) that need to be taken ahead of him, which could well be some combination of Vilardi, Middelstadt, Necas, Makar, or Liljegren, the latter two because someone in the top-5 could well want a dman.  I don't think we go wrong with him at #5.

[kenhodgejr]

38 minutes ago, Hutton Wink said:

Almost certainly will be, but all depends how the teams ahead of us (if any!) have him ranked.  Worst-case, if we're fifth there's only two prospects (after the top 2 defaults) that need to be taken ahead of him, which could well be some combination of Vilardi, Middelstadt, Necas, Makar, or Liljegren, the latter two because someone in the top-5 could well want a dman.  I don't think we go wrong with him at #5.

I would take Glass at 3

[prix57]

Who would be the best option at 5th?

[kenhodgejr]

25 minutes ago, prix57 said:

Who would be the best option at 5th?

Depends who has been taken 

 

We can assume the first two. If Glass and Vilardi go #3,4 you could argue Mittlestadt, liljegren, and Makar would be good picks at #5

I would lean towards Liljegren so we get our right handed defence man who has size and would make a dynamic duo with Juolevi . 

 

If I was picking for the Canucks I would pick

 

1. Patrick

2. Hischier

3. Glass

4. Liljegren

5. Mittlestadt

6. Makar

7. Heiskanen

8. Peterson

9. Vilardi

10. Necas

11. Tippett

12. Tolvanen

13. Suzuki

14. Valimaki

15. Foote

16. Vesalainen 

17. Kostin

18. Rasmusen

19. Hague

20. Peohling 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by kenhodgejr

[spook007]

10 hours ago, silver said:

While I agree that our prospect pool has improved, we have to Keep in mind that with the natural history of where our team was heading anyways, the prospect pool would've improved regardless of whether jb or gillis was at the helm. Gillis was basically win now mode until 2012  and saw a window and went for it.  Naturally that window closed so our team fell down the standings and got much better draft positions. 

 

The trading of second rounders was huge in my opinion (especially in a deep draft)

The city practically had a parade for jb when he got dahlen in a trade, but I'd argue that a player like dhalen could've been drafted had we just kept our second rather than swapping in the gubranson trade 

 

that said, id say jb possibly hit a homers with boeser and demko. The rest, until they show they can produce in the NHL I'll hold judgement. 

Yes I agree that remains to be seen. Our drafting has improved under JB, no doubt, but I totally get the Gudbranson trade. We were in such a dire need of size on our back end that JB rolled the dice on him. Give him an injury free season and it will show, whether a draft pick would have been better.

 

[funkyfresh]

 

On 4/24/2017 at 11:03 PM, Hutton Wink said:

Seems like nothing but positives coming out of Portland on this kid.  Primarily a playmaker with a pretty complete package of skills plus high motor, character, and size -- 6'2 is good already and he's almost certainly going to get even bigger considering his dad and brother.  Having two good solid Canadian boys anchoring our top-6 sounds great to me.  Might be the "safest" pick if we're in the 4/5 slot, and I think he sounds exactly like a Benning guy -- from mynhldraft.com:
 

 

6 hours ago, Smashian Kassian said:

Seems like everything we need. Size, Center, high compete level, smart, good playmaker, can create offense in any situation. 

He also has a pretty intriguing story; his dad worked two jobs so he could play hockey. He missed two half-seasons because he couldn't afford to play and they had to throw fundraisers for him. I think seeing how hard his dad worked for him is really going to push him to put in the work to continue improving.

[McBackup]

7 hours ago, GettinGuddyWithIt said:

The Leafs didn't really have much toughness other than Martin and Boyle. Komarov is a gritty type of player tho. They mostly used their speed and skill which is what I see in this line up. If Virtanen reaches his potential and becomes a high end hitter and sign some Martin type players for the 3rd/4th lines then that's enough.

 

Today's NHL is more focused on skill and the Leafs almost beat the President trophy winners by using that model.

The Leafs made the playoffs for the first time in a non-shortened season in over a decade before being bounced in the first round.

 

The Leafs are not the team I want to be compared to/built like.

[silver]

27 minutes ago, spook007 said:

Yes I agree that remains to be seen. Our drafting has improved under JB, no doubt, but I totally get the Gudbranson trade. We were in such a dire need of size on our back end that JB rolled the dice on him. Give him an injury free season and it will show, whether a draft pick would have been better.

 

I'm still a Gudbranson fan and agree we need a player like him. Tired of how soft our team is. I'm still holding out hope Pedan can be serviceable #6

[73 Percent]

2 hours ago, funkyfresh said:

 

He also has a pretty intriguing story; his dad worked two jobs so he could play hockey. He missed two half-seasons because he couldn't afford to play and they had to throw fundraisers for him. I think seeing how hard his dad worked for him is really going to push him to put in the work to continue improving.

Thaaaats it. Glass is my official #3

[PuckYa]

2 hours ago, silver said:

I'm still a Gudbranson fan and agree we need a player like him. Tired of how soft our team is. I'm still holding out hope Pedan can be serviceable #6

Agreed. Especially after losing Tryamkin. 

Virtanen needs to turn out to be a top 9 at least. We need to draft one of these big centers available this year. Patrick, Glass or Vilardi & they become top 6.

[Alexandre]

Casey Mittelstadt is 6'1" 201 lbs and is skill that works hard. Having said that, I also like Cody Glass in that 3rd spot.