Quote:
Originally Posted by The Original FFIV
Taking d that early is boom/bust. Much more comfortable taking f all things being equal. Apart from the ekblads, too many instances of taking a d and passing on f have bit teams in the ass. When you have d like weber going in the second, just reinforces the security of taking a f over d that early.
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Pretty sure TB is happy with Hedman over Duchesne. Pretty sure PHX was pretty happy taking OEL over Kadri, Glennie and Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson don't you think? I'd rather have Trouba, Lindholm, Murray, Ceci over Yakupov. FLA isn't regretting taking Ekblad. Jones and Ristolainen aren't regrettable picks.
Go look at 2008
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2008e.html
Kind of destroys the forward over d-man argument generalization doesn't it? You'd rather have Doughty, Bogosian, Pietrangelo, Myers, Karlsson, Carlsson, Josi (2nd round), Scandella (2nd round), Voynov (2nd round) over almost every forward taken that year except Stamkos who went #1.
This defeseman riskier than forward or less valuable idea is overstated.
Chychrun is considered to be very close to Ekblad calibre if not right there with him. Better skater, not as good of a point shot. NHL ready. He'll go early, not that much risk with him IMO.
When evaluating F over D you also have to take into account what type of value that player would have when fully developed. Arguably top two defensemen are much more valuable in this league than most scoring wingers. Almost impossible to find those top two D, almost impossible to trade for. Therefore drafting one gets you a very valuable and hard to find asset. As valuable as big #1 centres, or big, #1 line power forwards.