Quote:
Originally Posted by Caged Great
From my point of view, moving forward, we likely have the following spots filled with young players
not filled-not filled-not filled
Baertschi-Jankowski-Gaudreau
Backlund-Knight-not filled
Horak-Reinhart-Bouma
Brodie-not filled
not filled-not filled
Wotherspoon-Sieloff
Breen
Gillies/Ortio/Brossoit (all maybes)
I know some might question Sven being on the 2nd line, but I figure that we need star players on our first line to be a contender, and while Sven is really good, I don't know if he is that good.
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Well both Gaudreau and Baertschi are LW and potentially could solve the first two lines. I think between the two of them we could get a real 1st line player. Here's hoping
In my lists I didn't hand the role to a particular player but I've said who I think will compete for those roles in the next few years.
LW
1 - Baertschi/Gaudreau
2 - Gaudreau/Baertschi
3 - Agostino/Hanowski/Ferland
4 - Bouma
I think Baertschi and Gaudreau both show 1st line upside. After that we've got Agostino/Hanowski/Ferland with too little pro experience to really judge them. Perhaps they have 2nd line upside and 4th line downside with 3rd line a nice middle ground? Bouma seems like an ideal 4th line grinding winger.
C
1 - ????/#6/Jankowski
2 - Backlund/Jankowski/Granlund
3 - Knight/Backlund/Reinhart
4 - Reinhart/Arnold
We're really starting to get some depth at centre IMO currently only lacking at the top end. Jankowski has top two line potential but is still a few years away. Backlund looks like he's matured into a #2 centre who may have to fill in as our #1 temporarily. Granlund has skill but is far from stepping in IMO. Knight is a nice pickup and looks like he may compete fairly soon for a role. Reinhart showed some potential as a checking line centre IMO but he may start the year in the minors.
RW
1 - ????
2 - Horak
3 - Hanowski/Nemisz
4 - Nemisz/Aliu
RW the depth is absolutely abysmal. No top line potential. Horak IMO showed 2nd line upside at RW last year. I really like him as a player, he's very smart, has some skill, has gained strength and is one of our rare players who shoots right. His move from C to RW turns out to be pretty good longterm with the acquisition of Knight, our likelihood of grabbing a centre at #6 and our depth at C. I think we can see from this list why they are willing to give Nemisz more chances. We pretty much have nobody else. If Nemisz can rebound next fall he can certainly contend for a role in the future.
D
1 - ????
2 - Brodie
3 - ????
4 - Wotherspoon/Sieloff
5-7 - Wotherspoon/Sieloff/Kulak/Culkin/Breen/Ramage/Cundari
Good depth at the bottom end. Only have Brodie for top line guy. Wotherspoon has #4 upside. Haven't seen enough of Sieloff to say with authority but I'll give him some credit.
G
Gillies, Ortio, Brossoit, Ramo, Berra
We certainly have a few kicks at the can in progress. All 5 highly touted at the various levels they played at last year.
Based on this you'd say we should be looking for a #1 centre, #1 RW and top 3 d-man in this first round this year. Some would like us to draft three centres. I'd prefer C, D, D or C, RW, D.