Quote:
Originally Posted by bubbsy
I get the size thing, but we are seeing a sudden surge of smaller dmen being selected earlier on in the draft, and around the league we are starting to see some success in that frame, if they having the skating, stick/body positioning, and brains to be effective defensively.
With regards to the risk of him not signing, i don't believe that's something to worry about until it becomes something to worry about. We all do this every season it seems, but the guy gets signed, or in Hickey's case, the team is able to utilize the asset in a trade.
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Personally I just think if we are going to move one of the 4 dmen he is probably the best from a returned value perspective.
I wonder how we would rate Valimaki, Andersson, Fox, Kylington if they switched routes. Would Kylington and Andersson be lighting up the NCAA just as much as Fox has if they went that route...probably.
Would we all be as high on Fox if like Kylington he went right to the AHL after his draft - maybe not as some defensive holes might be more glaring if he's playing against older AHL quality forwards.
If you look at draft+1 season for all of them from an NHL Equivalency perspective (considering that points is a terrible indicator for d-men but really it's the only way to compare their offensive production across leagues)
Kylington (AHL-hardest step up) - 9 points
Andersson (OHL) - 23 points
Fox (NCAA) - 21 points
Valimaki (WHL) - 23 points
I think we sometimes discount just how good of prospects Andersson and Valimaki are - comparable draft+1 results. Especially Andersson who continues to prove himself at the AHL level and looks dominating at times.
When I look at risk/reward and just how close those 4 d-men are from a talent perspective, and their perceived value to the rest of the league right now (Fox may actually be the highest), I tend to lean towards moving Fox since I think the actual potentials of the 4 are pretty close but he has the highest perceived value right now in the league.
Really I wish we didn't have to move any of the 4 and that we would have used the assets we traded for Hamonic to get a top 6 forward and Andersson was up with the big team all year long.