GAME DAY:Ottawa Senators @ New York Rangers - 7:00pm ET - THU. Mar. 24, 2011

Dash wrote:Neely, why is it in your opinion that you have ranked the prospects the way you have?

Larsson I haven't seen enough of so I have to go by what everyone else says. Top 3 for sure. RNH is an offensive powerhouse that has the highest potential in the draft and playing in a very tough league. Landeskog IMO has more Iginla in him than Morrow, can score goals, lead, skate, so on and on. Safest pick IMO based on what I personally have seen and know. Those are the top 3 for those reason.

After that, I think Strome has the highest upside in terms of forwards and it isn't close. Hamilton has size, speed, skill, toughness, everything you want in a D man and he is the safest pick after the top 3 for those reason, he's pretty much can't miss in terms of a top 4 D man. After that, that's when I look at Couturier and Huberneau, those 2 IMO are neck in neck in terms of who will go next. They both look to be legit picks. Couturier looks to me to be a number 2 center at worst and a number 2 center at best, he will be a number 2 center. He's a safe pick in that sense because I think he is the most obvious prospect in terms of what he will be in The NHL. Huberneau is a guy that could be a home run or bunt... not sure which way he will go but he is indeed on par with Couturier at this point.

I think the top 3 in this draft are obvious and Strome and Hamilton go 4, 5 (interchangable) based on what I just commented on. I think at this point if The Sens draft 4th Strome is a Sen, Hamilton is a Islander, and Couturier is a Devil.

Big Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:Couturier is not the safest pick for a lot of reasons, after the top 3 it's Hamilton, no doubts about it. There are a ton of doubts about Couturier and for good reason. Like I said before, I think he falls out of the top 5 for sure. Strome is a better player at this point and more dominate.

Dominant. Dominate is a verb.

The only doubts are his mononucleosis. If he didn't get that he would have finished with more points, but his PPG is dam good anyway. I just don't think Strome is a better prospect because of one dominant season. SC is up for MVP of the Q as well.

There is a lot of stat padding where he plays, I'm not convinced he can put up the points he does in tight games or games that there is a lot ridding on. You will see Strome's stock go up or down based on his playoffs coming up.

Also Hoffman won the MVP in the Q and he is barly an AHL player. Winning the MVP in that league is almost a curse.

I think the consensus top 3 is Larsson, Nugent-Hopkins and Landeskog.

That is why after that it's a tough choice. You really do not want to make the wrong one.

Big Ev wrote:I don't like how Strome is not as good as SC away from the puck, and he is prone to being invisible a lot of times. He may one-dimensionalish.

I would say Couturier is 100% a more complete player than Strome, but that's not to say he projects to be a better player. Like I said in a post above, I think it's 100% certain what Couturier will be and is, Strome, not so much.

Dash wrote:I think the consensus top 3 is Larsson, Nugent-Hopkins and Landeskog.

That is why after that it's a tough choice. You really do not want to make the wrong one.

Can't make the wrong choice when there isn't one to make.

...and Couturier's stock will rise or fall a bit depending on his playoffs as well.

Hoffman was an over-ager. Couturier is 18. You can't even compare the two. Hoffman also played on the best team in the league, and Couturier is carrying his team.

...and I don't wanna pick on you for spelling, but it's Huberdeau, not Huberneau.

Also, I can't see the Isles or Panthers pass on SC if they pick 4th and 5th.

Big Ev wrote:...and Couturier's stock will rise or fall a bit depending on his playoffs as well.

Hoffman was an over-ager. Couturier is 18. You can't even compare the two. Hoffman also played on the best team in the league, and Couturier is carrying his team.

...and I don't wanna pick on you for spelling, but it's Huberdeau, not Huberneau.

Also, I can't see the Isles or Panthers pass on SC if they pick 4th and 5th.

Hoffman had a crazy good year the year before as well, playing on ironically enough Couturier is playing on now. Either way, I don't think Couturier's stock will rise or fall whether he has a fantastic playoffs or an awful one.

I agree about The Panthers not passing up on him though, which kind of contradicts what I was saying. The Islanders will take Hamilton though, if they are picking at 4th or worse, Hamilton is an Islander.

If Florida and Colorado would show *some* pride, we wouldn't even be having this convo. Come on Panthers, I don't really care about 2nd or 3rd, but I care about 3rd to 4th.

NEELY wrote:

Big Ev wrote:...and Couturier's stock will rise or fall a bit depending on his playoffs as well.

Hoffman was an over-ager. Couturier is 18. You can't even compare the two. Hoffman also played on the best team in the league, and Couturier is carrying his team.

...and I don't wanna pick on you for spelling, but it's Huberdeau, not Huberneau.

Also, I can't see the Isles or Panthers pass on SC if they pick 4th and 5th.

Hoffman had a crazy good year the year before as well, playing on ironically enough Couturier is playing on now. Either way, I don't think Couturier's stock will rise or fall whether he has a fantastic playoffs or an awful one.

I agree about The Panthers not passing up on him though, which kind of contradicts what I was saying. The Islanders will take Hamilton though, if they are picking at 4th or worse, Hamilton is an Islander.

Yeah this is what I had in the other thread and I really think it will go down like this.

1- EDM - Larsson
2- COL- Landeskog
3- OTT - RNH
4- NYI - Hamilton or Murphy
5- FLA - Couturier

But I could really see the Isles take Couturier to be the second-line centre behind Tavares. Pretty good 1-2 punch on paper.

You don't need to put Murphy there, NYI has de Hann. Hamilton will go before Murphy.

We should stop talking about the draft for a while, it's still 3 months away

If Ottawa grabs RNH, I agree that Strome might slide back to 6th or 7th. If Ottawa doesn't, Strome goes top 5.

When's the lottery?

SDH89 wrote:When's the lottery?

Right after the season ends. 2 weeks and a bit.

Damn, can't wait!

That's when I'll seriously start looking at potential draft outcomes.

SDH89 wrote:Damn, can't wait!

That's when I'll seriously start looking at potential draft outcomes.

For once I'll actually look forward to TSN's Draft Lottery show.

tim1_2 wrote:

SDH89 wrote:Damn, can't wait!

That's when I'll seriously start looking at potential draft outcomes.

For once I'll actually look forward to TSN's Draft Lottery show.

I wonder if The Gene will be there in person... you know he loves the spotlight... typically it's just the GMs.

shabbs wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

SDH89 wrote:Damn, can't wait!

That's when I'll seriously start looking at potential draft outcomes.

For once I'll actually look forward to TSN's Draft Lottery show.

I wonder if The Gene will be there in person... you know he loves the spotlight... typically it's just the GMs.

He'll probably be wearing a Bert's golf shirt to promote Bert's and hurt Marshy in the process.

What a sick (rich) mofo.