[BlueLine]

Originally Posted by macrov

A friend brought up this scenario to me a few weeks ago. With Colorado likely drafting Seth Jones, suppose the possibility existing that Florida was willing to trade their 2nd overall pick to Calgary for Calgary's 6th, 20th, and 30th overall.

If you were the GM, would you pull the trigger for the purposes of drafting Nate McKinnon?

He said he would because:
(1) Calgary has a poor draft record so why not take a sure thing rather than 3 unsure things
(2) The only way to get a top franchise centre is through the draft. I mentioned Joe Thorton was acquired via trade. But I couldn't think of any other active players for which this was true.
(3) Calgary lacks true first line talent rather than 2nd line or 2nd pairing talent, which was a hole Nate McKinnon could fill.

I was on the fence. I think 3 first round picks is a great way to start what is likely to be a 3-5 year rebuild, because you get one almost ready player, plus get to draft a couple projects that would be hitting 21 and 22 as the flames start to emerge from the darkness. Also its a strong draft, so the hit probability is higher further down the draft. On the flip side, I think having 3 top 6 forwards in the line up next year all 25 or younger (Backlund, Baertchi, McKinnon), and 5 in the top 12 (Reinhart, Horak)...all who have top 6 potential would be amazing. And it would be a pit poetic - The club traded joe nieuwendyk for Iginla and Iginla in part for McKinnon. Its a bit like the story of the Phoenix.

Your friend is a God damn genius. Buy that man a white rum n coke...or 12!