Quote:
Originally Posted by MisterJoji
It'd be nice to get a top flight Dman like Jones, but we have been starved for a true #1 Center for 20+ years and our current defensive prospects are stronger than our Centers.
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Disagree on your last point. For top 3 young defencemen we have only Brodie. None of our d-men prospects project as more than #4 guy at best unless one if them really develops like crazy. For young centres we have Backlund (and Horak before he was switched to wing) with Jankowski, Reinhart, and then depth guys like Arnold, DeBlouw, etc. If Jankowski pans out then we've got two good young top 2 line centres with him and Backlund and then Reinhart as a 3rd line centre.
So I would argue our defensive depth is one of our weak points. No top 3 guys projected and we just lost Bouw. C, LW and G are probably our deepest positions in the system.
That said I'm a big believer in number one centres and would love to see us land one. However The argument that we don't need top pairing defencemen as much doesn't really hold water for me.
The only argument I can agree with for passing on Jones is if you think he'll be harder to lock up long term because he's American. I do think it more likely a Canadian or Scandinavian would stay long term.
A lot of special players at the top end this year. People shouldn't fool themselves into the poor historical argument that just because some of the d-men taken top 3 in average years did not become franchise players that it must mean Jones cannot or will not be a franchise player. Jones is his own player and there's a reason why he's ranked #1 by most scouts in a strong draft year. He's a special player with a massive upside.
As I keep saying its hard to go wrong at the top end. Potential #1 d-man vs two potential #1 centres vs a potential franchise winger.