Ken Holland showing his genius on a level playing field.
Quinn Hughes goes next.
Reading on Twitter he traded the Chychurn pick to Arizona with Datsyuk so he could signs Fran Nielsen lol.
Just a goalie away
He traded down 5 spots in the first round and picked up a second in the process. That second was used to select Hronek who was then traded for a first and a second round pick in this years draft. A prime example of failing upwards. If the Red Wings selected Tage Thompson (who was available) this would be seen in a much different light.
I've really appreciated your inside hits the past season. Also I understand that sometimes what is reported shifts quickly and don't hold those that report what they heard at a point in time responsible for their accurately reported take not coming to fruition. Just wanted to say that upfront.
On to your comment I'd like to build on. When it comes to picks, prospects and players, they should all fit on a risk / return frontier in my opinion.
Risk being measured as probability of success. Return being their likelihood of fulfilling their positional role with AAV accounted for.
E.g.: Kadri would be an AAV of $7m and a 99% COS of being a 2nd line center with 50pts. A 2nd round draft pick would be a 20% COS of being a 2nd line center scoring 50pts, but would only cost $895k.
If a particular draft pick has less than a 13% chance of scoring those 50pts then they're even with Kadri's risk.
Now for years I assume that the Flames have some version of this ranking with age cohorts vs a model of what they need to win a Stanley Cup (e.g. Elite Dman, Elite Centre, Elite Goaltender, etc), but the more I hear from the inside the more I have my doubts.
I like the theory, but you're only getting that $18k per point from a 2nd rd pick for maybe 1 year (ELC 1 = 30gp, ELC2 = 80gp 20 pts, ELC3 = 50pts, but still some young player mistakes)...and that will be 5 or 6 years after you draft them. Then you'll be paying them commensurate with production.
So will you luck into that productive ELC year(s) aligning with your team's contention window, like it did with Robert Thomas and STL? I hated the Kadri move based on the 1st, but the team is at the culmination point of the build so the general idea did make sense
Not surprising. A guy who really could have benefitted from more development time in the minors but played hardball and forced his way onto an NHL roster before he was ready. A cautionary tail.
Yup, this is why I always say 1st rnd picks are overhyped, the majority of them don't become impact players.
But the majority of impact players are first rounders, your statement implies there are better ways to acquire impact players.
Drafting is the best way and there are no guarantees but it's much better than over paying for UFA's which I would argue has much less success than trying to draft in the first round.
__________________
I have Strong opinions about things I know very little about.
The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Icantwhisper For This Useful Post:
But the majority of impact players are first rounders, your statement implies there are better ways to acquire impact players.
Drafting is the best way and there are no guarantees but it's much better than over paying for UFA's which I would argue has much less success than trying to draft in the first round.
Yes, majority of impact players are lottery picks or at least 1st rounders