Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher
For me there's two tiers of guys I like at the top end. Tough to differentiate them
Tie
1a) Ekblad. We don't have anything close to him in the system. Big, strong, mobile, skilled, character guy who is a right shooter. Should be a top pairing d-man. Only knock is that you'd like him to be meaner, more physical
1b) Bennett. The total package. Breakaway speed, extremely skilled, very competitive, very gritty. Only knock on him is average siize but that shouldn't hold him back.
Tie
3a) Reinhart. Amazing hockey sense and shot. Biggest concern is very mediocre skating and only has average size. Some believe he could make a better RW. I like him but Bennett's speed, competitiveness and grit has him ahead.
3b) Draisaitl. Fantastic passer and puck protector. Needs a bit of leg strength but I feel his skating is reasonable. No issues if we take this guy, he's a little bulkier than Reinhart/Bennett.
3c) Ritchie. Beast on skates with high level of skill. Prototypical powerforward. Our system is almost completely lacking in this type of player. He has the size, strength, meanness and physicality that we need on our top two lines. I think a lot of fans underrate the importance of powerforwards.
6) Dal Colle. Great puck protection, shot, hockey sense. Lacks the physicality of Ritchie. Sounds like he might not be in consideration for our pick.
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I think that type of player is obsolete now.
You can win without them. I would rather have a guy that is 1-2" shorter and 20 lbs lighter but can skate.
Treliving and Burke keep talking about heavy hockey, but if you look at teams like ANA and LA, they have guys that are bigger but can skate.
The big question is can Ritchie keep up with Kane, Hall, Ducshene, Seguin, etc..
Second point, you look at all the championship teams from 1980 onwards and most of them, if not all of them have a solid 1-2 punch up the middle.
Gretzky/Messier
Lemiuex/Francis
Nieuwendyk/Gilmour
Yzerman/Fedorov
Sakic/Forsberg
Nieuwendyk/Modano
Lecavalier/Richards
Kopitar/Richards
Towes/Kane (although Kane played the wing too)
Getzlaf/MacDonald
Krejci/Bergeron
You win with a 1-2 punch up the middle.
IF we get a chance to snag one of Bennett, Reinhart, or Draisaitl you have to take him. This way Monahan can slide down to line 2 where he may be better suited.
Reinhart/Bennett/Draisaitl
Monahan
I think it will go down like this:
FLA-Ekbald
BUF-Bennett
EDM-Draisaitl
CGY-Reinhart
To have Reinhart and Monahan moving forward is a much better plan than Monahan and Ritchie.