As much as it would be great to have a future star d-man with size and ability to produce (Ekblad), I would still put a surefire franchise winger or center above that in terms of priority. Monahan, Sven and Gaudreau are all looking to be top 6 guys, (gaudreau being that with the most 'star' potential) but with the position we're likely to be handed, we need to land our MacKinnon/Barkov/Drouin next draft. Just out of the worry that our current guys end up 2nd liners (won't be a disappointment) but we've had an excess of those in the past and we all know that didn't pan out too well. If that option is gone though, then absolutely we should go the d route and get a future top pairing guy. I'm still going to hold out hope that we already have 2 potential top pairing players growing in the system right now though in Brodie and Wotherspoon..
As much as it would be great to have a future star d-man with size and ability to produce (Ekblad), I would still put a surefire franchise winger or center above that in terms of priority.
Why do you think any of those would still be available with the 30th pick?
Ross McLean (head scout for ISS) put on his blog a few weeks ago who teams might draft over the next 3 drafts if their draft position is the same in those years. It's just for fun and I am sure he knows the rankings aren't likely to hold.
But still, it's interesting to get a sneak peak at who the high profile kids are in advance.
