2016 NHL Draft

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by GB70

Gods could you imagine the media hype if 1) the flames drafted Mathews, and 2) Mathews turns out to be a better / generational talent then even McHype up north ? . One can dream.

He may very well be better than Eichel if that makes you feel better....

[kn]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

I fully expect him to get RFA offers of $11M+.

Can't wait.

Edmonton would match any offer. The only way McDavid leaves Edmonton is if the organization destroys the relationship through mismanagement and he demands a trade. From what I've seen from him, he's really not that type of guy.

[TheOnlyBilko]

Originally Posted by Poe969

I don't think it's so much that the oilers got some pretty crappy 1st overalls but more along the lines of the oilers made some crappy first overall pics. It's been beaten to death that the team would be a lot better with a combo of any of the other players rated around #1. I mean Hall over Seguin??? That's not bad luck, that's bad drafting. The lack of anything good outside of a top 10 pick is proof that they're bad at drafting.

How can u say picking Hall over Seguin was bad drafting? Hall had literally JUST won his second straight Memorial Cup and Memorial Cup MVP award. Most mocks and scouts had Hall just above Seguin. Not all but most. Better then 60% of them. Even today Seguin and Hall are pretty darn even. Put Hall in Boston and then on this Dallas team the last few years and I bet he would have slightly better stats then a Tyler Seguin who was a Oiler. Hindsight is 20/20 but picking Hall over Seguin was hardly a huge blunder.

Edit-Didn't realize so many commented that this was not a bad drafting decision.

[TheOnlyBilko]

Even the season that Yak was drafted he was pretty much the BPA and most mocks had Yakupov at #1 overall. I wouldn't call Yak a bust quite yet either. He's still very young and him and McDavid have chemistry I can still see Yak becoming a 30/30 guy or better.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by TheOnlyBilko

Even the season that Yak was drafted he was pretty much the BPA and most mocks had Yakupov at #1 overall. I wouldn't call Yak a bust quite yet either. He's still very young and him and McDavid have chemistry I can still see Yak becoming a 30/30 guy or better.

He was far from consensus.

There's quotes that CGY had Galchenyuk #1.
Burke tells Bettman in a behind scenes video that TOR had Reilly #1 as he's walking off the podium after the pick.
Seems like CBJ had Murray ahead Yakupov to me.
I've heard that EDM's scouts actually liked Murray more, and that a couple of their key management guys liked Reinhart more. They took Yakupov because of Daryl Katz.

Just because CSS and Bob Mackenzie had Yakupov #1 doesn't really mean crap that year. It was a weird year in that a couple of the top 5 guys missed most of the season due to injury (Galchenyuk and Reilly).

If you did the draft 30 times with each team picking #1 I'd be shocked if Yakupov was taken by even half the teams at that time. Opinions differ. Not everyone is gonna take a one dimensional goal scorer #1 in a bad draft year.

[TheOnlyBilko]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

He was far from consensus.

There's quotes that CGY had Galchenyuk #1.
Burke tells Bettman in a behind scenes video that TOR had Reilly #1 as he's walking off the podium after the pick.
Seems like CBJ had Murray ahead Yakupov to me.
I've heard that EDM's scouts actually liked Murray more, and that a couple of their key management guys liked Reinhart more. They took Yakupov because of Daryl Katz.

Just because CSS and Bob Mackenzie had Yakupov #1 doesn't really mean crap that year. It was a weird year in that a couple of the top 5 guys missed most of the season due to injury (Galchenyuk and Reilly).

If you did the draft 30 times with each team picking #1 I'd be shocked if Yakupov was taken by even half the teams at that time. Opinions differ. Not everyone is gonna take a one dimensional goal scorer #1 in a bad draft year.

I understand all of this. Like I said "Yak was pretty much the best player available" for that draft at that time. Columbus wanted Yakupov in that draft, they were upset they lost out on him at the time.

[TheOnlyBilko]

" Nail#Yakupov#is the unquestioned top prospect in the upcoming 2012 NHL amateur draft"

Now again, I understand this is one person saying this, but again it was the vast majority.

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles...-from-columbus

"Recapping the draft, the Edmonton Journal’s Jonathan Willis said that Yakupov “was, according to virtually every scouting service out there, the best player available at this year’s draft.” Sure, Corey Pronman said#at Hockey Prospectus#prior to the draft that he questioned the infallible logic that Yakupov was an easy number one, but even he put Yakupov at number one in the end."


http://thehockeywriters.com/nail-yakupov-not-a-bust/

[Calgary4LIfe]

It is irrelevant if Yakupov was or was not the top rated prospect at the draft. I still go by the adage that 'there is no board'. The top rated pick was the one that was chosen first overall. I can't argue that the Oilers didn't choose the top-rated player in the draft - they held the pick, chose him, and Yakupov was (even by default) the undisputed top-rated prospect in that draft.

What we can argue is that the Oilers should have used much, much better judgement and at least traded down to pick up a defencemen + whatever else they could get from the team they traded with. That is exactly where they shot themselves in the foot - not with a handgun, not with a rifle, and not even with a shotgun - they shot themselves in the foot with an RPG and now they are trying to deal with the infection. A few years later, and they still haven't dealt with it, and now they have sepsis.

As for the Hall vs Seguin, RNH vs Landeskog, etc., I do think they just selected who they thought was the BPA.

I do (for the most part) agree that they indeed got it right.

I just think their entire organizational philosophy is a joke, as is their coaching, as was their management, as was their team doctors, as was their culture - and now you have pretty much every player performing below what they should have been.

RNH was an incredibly dynamic playmaker with sublime vision. Now he is looked upon as an undersized 2nd line center. If they had drafted Seguin, Landeskog, Rielly/Murray/Galchenyuk - they would all be sucking just as much IMO.

[TheOnlyBilko]

Calgary4LIfe I totally agree with this quote of yours...

"What we can argue is that the Oilers should have used much, much better judgement and at least traded down to pick up a defencemen + whatever else they could get from the team they traded with. That is exactly where they shot themselves in the foot - not with a handgun, not with a rifle, and not even with a shotgun - they shot themselves in the foot with an RPG and now they are trying to deal with the infection. A few years later, and they still haven't dealt with it, and now they have sepsis"

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by TheOnlyBilko

I understand all of this. Like I said "Yak was pretty much the best player available" for that draft at that time. Columbus wanted Yakupov in that draft, they were upset they lost out on him at the time.

Did they though? They had the worst history with Russians with Zherdev and Filatov as complete busts. I don't know if they would have been comfortable taking another.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sport...iew/55641358/1

Even scouting agencies could see the Oilers should have traded down and taken a defenseman lol.

[Trojan97]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

He was far from consensus.

There's quotes that CGY had Galchenyuk #1.
Burke tells Bettman in a behind scenes video that TOR had Reilly #1 as he's walking off the podium after the pick.
Seems like CBJ had Murray ahead Yakupov to me.
I've heard that EDM's scouts actually liked Murray more, and that a couple of their key management guys liked Reinhart more. They took Yakupov because of Daryl Katz.

Just because CSS and Bob Mackenzie had Yakupov #1 doesn't really mean crap that year. It was a weird year in that a couple of the top 5 guys missed most of the season due to injury (Galchenyuk and Reilly).

If you did the draft 30 times with each team picking #1 I'd be shocked if Yakupov was taken by even half the teams at that time. Opinions differ. Not everyone is gonna take a one dimensional goal scorer #1 in a bad draft year.

The father of one of my best friends is extremely high up in the league office of one of the major jr leagues and I remember him saying the exact thing about Murray/Yak shortly after the draft. He found just prior to the draft that Edmonton was planning on taking Murray and then was shocked when Yakupov was announced at #1. When he inquired about what had changed their minds, he was told that Edmonton's management/scouts did a vote to see who they liked more and the overwhelming consensus was in favour of Murray. Katz happened to be in the voting minority and ended up overruling his management team and instructed them to take Yakupov.

I remember how giddy I was when he told us that story. It was obvious the Oilers were still in deep trouble despite their owners big pockets when it became obvious how meddling he was with the on-ice product.

[KipperFaNaTic]

Would drafting Matthews be smart considering we already have monahan and bennet as our future top 2 centers? How much better is Matthews over Laine/Puljujarvi really, because if it's only by a small margin, I rather draft Laine/Puljujarvi as Monahan and Gaudreau need a right winger.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by KipperFaNaTic

Would drafting Matthews be smart considering we already have monahan and bennet as our future top 2 centers? How much better is Matthews over Laine/Puljujarvi really, because if it's only by a small margin, I rather draft Laine/Puljujarvi as Monahan and Gaudreau need a right winger.

We win the draft I wold seriously consider trading down and try to get a team (Arizona) to cough up other assets along with their 1st to take Matthews. I said it earlier in this thread, my dream scenario is we win the draft lotto, Arizona gets the 2nd or 3rd pick, and we trade them the 1st over all for their 1st rounder and then MacInnis and Christian and costs of getting Matthews, and we take Laine or Puljujarvi. We then package our other picks, hopefully the ones we accrue at the deadline, to move up and draft Gauthier. We would walk away with two high quality RWers and two really good center ice prospects. That would really make out prospect depth unbelievable at all positions.

[Caged Great]

If the Flames won the lotto, I think you'd have to go with Laine if you can't trade down. Fills too many areas of need while being a directly comparable prospect. If you could trade down to two and acquire an asset or two, that'd work, but you would have to have an agreement that they take Matthews in place.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

If the Flames won the lotto, I think you'd have to go with Laine if you can't trade down. Fills too many areas of need while being a directly comparable prospect. If you could trade down to two and acquire an asset or two, that'd work, but you would have to have an agreement that they take Matthews in place.

Huh? If you managed to trade down and picked up a quality prospect or two from Arizona, and then they did you the solid of NOT taking Matthews, you laugh your way to the bank. Hell, trade down again for more assets and settle for the other Finn. If you are happy with the player you would get at three, AND you can get other teams to buck up a quality asset our two to move up, you make those deals. Any of those three players addresses a need. If you come away with other players as well, just for not selecting the other two, you've done well.

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by New Era

Huh? If you managed to trade down and picked up a quality prospect or two from Arizona, and then they did you the solid of NOT taking Matthews, you laugh your way to the bank. Hell, trade down again for more assets and settle for the other Finn. If you are happy with the player you would get at three, AND you can get other teams to buck up a quality asset our two to move up, you make those deals. Any of those three players addresses a need. If you come away with other players as well, just for not selecting the other two, you've done well.

I believe what Caged Great is saying, is that other teams might not pay the huge price to trade up.

In that case he is suggesting Flames still pick Laine over Matthews at #1.

While everyone assumes Arizona might love to have Matthews as he is a local boy, they might not think he is worth the assets to move up and grab him.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

I believe what Caged Great is saying, is that other teams might not pay the huge price to trade up.

In that case he is suggesting Flames still pick Laine over Matthews at #1.

While everyone assumes Arizona might love to have Matthews as he is a local boy, they might not think he is worth the assets to move up and grab him.

If they aren't then you go with BPA. BPA is Auston Matthews.

Arizona would kill for Matthews. They've been watching this kid for a while and think he could really be a boon to the franchise. That's the word in the AZ hockey community anyways.

[sureLoss]

Well yeah every team would kill for a consensus #1 player every year. But considering no one has traded up to the 1st OA pick since 2003, the price has been just too rich for most teams.

[killer_carlson]

I suspect Arizona will sell whatever it needs to from its roster to get Matthews.

[BigTuna]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

I suspect Arizona will sell whatever it needs to from its roster to get Matthews.

They'll try but it won't be enough.