[bigrangy]

Would have preferred:

Brink
Dorofeyev

Would feel are roughly comparable:

Lavoie
Afanaseyev
Suzuki
Leason
Matt Robertson

In my mind, a trade down to 31 or the early 2nd would have been a good maximization of assets, but the opportunity might not have been there. I can see why teams passed on Brink/Dorofeyev with the NCAA and Russian factors respectively. No risk like that with Pelletier.

I was hoping to get someone probably a little more talented in carrying a puck in transition and in the offensive zone through traffic, and with some better bull-to-the-net abilities, like Bennett tries to do (although he’s held back by his puck skills). Judging by the highlight pack on page 1, I don’t see Pelletier doing a whole lot of that. But he gets to the right positions, sees open guys and gets the puck to them that most don’t see, and has some decent hands. At 26 you’re never getting the complete package, so now we hope for good development and future top 6er a couple years from now.