Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
If someone in our top 8-10 falls to the teens then we have to look at potentially dealing up. Could be similar to the Ducks trading the 32 and 36th picks for the 25th overall pick to draft Perry. It is very likely there will be possibilities like this available.
If we don't deal up then here's what I'd like to see:
Get a #1 centre. MacKinnon, Barkov, Lindholm or Monahan.
Get a big defenceman. Nurse, Zadorov, Ristolainen, or Morin. Really hoping one of these guys drops to our STL pick or perhaps we deal up to get one of them as per above.
Grab another solid prospect. Erne, Lazar, Morrissey, Horvat, Wennberg, Domi, Shinkaruk, Mantha, Hartman, De La Rose (big centre), Gauthier (big centre), Zykov, Bailey (big centre), Compher, Bowey, Heatherington, McCoshen all appeal. Those who want us to grab three big centres should keep their eyes on De La Rose and Bailey as I think those are a couple guys with some upside who could end up as big top two line centres.
Such a deep first round. Can't wait.
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Couldn't agree more about the apparent depth in the first round. I think Feaster and his team deserve a bit more recognition than they seem to get for actually landing those two first round picks with the two deals. It's also becoming more clear to me why Feaster was the only GM to acquire any additional first round picks leading up to the deadline. Too many players with too much upside to risk trading one of those picks away.
And Feaster got two.
Every team's scouting staff has known about this depth a lot longer than we have, and I'm sure Pittsburgh and St. Louis knew full well what they were potentially passing up on when they included first rounders in each of those deals. In hindsight, it seems as though they both payed a heavy ransom, and likely knew full well how steep that price was at the time they payed it.
I recall a lot of dismay among much of the fan base at the time of the trades surrounding the lateness of the firsts and at the fact that the prospects were unheralded. Now I think we have cause for more optimism. While perhaps not top flight talent, the prospects seem like they could fill important roles on the team moving forward, and with the depth of the first round, even these late picks could return some very good players with long NHL careers.
I'm squarely in the "keep all three picks" camp. It sounds like there are home runs to score towards the end of the first round.
Finally a set of circumstances that seem to be working to the teams's advantage. Hopefully they make the most of it with three great selections.