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Originally Posted by smalltownref
With that said, and looking at the projected draft lineup for next year, 11 of the top 15 players are forwards. This is off of draftsite.com. But, in the top 8 (which is where I assume the Flames will be drafting next year), 3 of them are defensemen. The site even lists Noah Hanifin at #2 overall, sandwiched between McDavid and Eichel. So there will be quality D men available at that time, but there is also going to be some franchise altering players like McDavid and Eichel.
If the Flames management were mapping out a plan on where they want to be in the next three to five years, the 'smart' move right now would be to draft Ekblad and give him the extra year to develop before we draft another forward. If we land in a spot next year to draft McDavid/Eichel, AND we take a forward at this years draft, it would be a bit of overkill would it not?
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We can't make our picks for this draft under the assumption that we might take player A or player B next year, and it's for the same reasons you stated - there are going to be top players at each position available every draft. We can't count on the possibility of picking McDavid/Eichel next year because anything can happen in the standings. Also, there is usually a slew of players who are highly touted the year or two before they are drafted and end up falling out of the conversation completely (I'm not saying at all this will happen to McDavid or Eichel - they are definitely top 5 next year, but the group of forwards after them could be completely forgotten by this time next year and it so wouldn't be a good idea to rely on that)
The best thing to do right now is pick the best player available and handle the situation one year at a time. If we don't trade up to get Ekblad this year, it is not a worry to me because there will be defensemen in the future who will be just as good or even better than Ekblad available to us.
As far as the concerns about Reinhart/Bennett/Draisaitl not being true top line centers, they don't have to be true top line centers for us - Put one of them with Monahan and that appears to be a solid 1a/1b combo. Having two solid 50-70 point centers has proven to be just as successful in recent years (if not more) than the 80-90+ point centers (ie. Krejci/Bergeron, Kopitar/Richards in 2012 outplaying the likes of Malkin, Crosby, Getzlaf in recent playoffs.) In the case of Malkin/Crosby/Getzlaf, they seemed to have their best playoff success in the first few years after the lockout where there was higher scoring, more open ice, and could rely on their sheer talent alone - but since then they have been neutralized by the tighter checking and team play seen in recent contenders. Today teams like Pittsburgh and Anaheim are no longer at the same tier as an LA or Boston - It doesn't have to be an absolute must that the next forward we draft has to be a true top line guy. While it would be nice to get a McDavid/Eichel next year, we shouldn't bank on that happening and it's not an absolute must that we get Ekblad this year and one of them next year, especially now since the #4 pick looks like the perfect opportunity to secure the outlook at center. Of course, if the opportunity to draft one of them next year arises you can always shift other centers to the wing, and the surplus in wingers we gain from this can be used to acquire defense as well.