2018 NHL Entry Draft

With an April 28th date being talked about for the draft lottery, it is about time we start talking next Ottawa Senators here.

I just watched Bouchard play last night and outside the consensus top 3, picking 4-6 is going to be tough to decide.

There is a consensus top 4 not 3.

And I’m saying that the consensus top 4 might be changed as the draft nears to top 3 because Bouchard might be able to make it interesting.

There is a consensus top-one.

That is likely to be the most accurate post yet.

Dahlin is a leftie, like Chabot. Playing with Karlsson would be his best introduction to the league (Karlsson/Chabot will take the bulk of the ice time and Dahlin will get his steak cut into little cubes for a while).

On the other hand, if they get Bouchard, instead, who is a rightie, and they still manage to keep Karlsson, then I guess Wideman is gone.

No matter how you slice it, Ceci is still anchoring our 2nd pairing (or is our 2nd pairing anchor, if you wish). God help us.

Why did you go and ruin a good post with one full of assumptions, hypotheticals and foreshadowing? Oh well, at least it is better than trying to pretend you actually know more than Sens management and insiders.

Dorion went to Barrie last night and Svechnikov made sure he was noticed.

Lots of things to look forward to.

I think on draft day, when Ottawa has to decide if they keep their 1st or give it to Colorado, in my opinion, we will essentially know if Ottawa plans to make Karlsson a long term Senator or not. If they keep the pick, it would make sense to assume they think they can keep Karlsson. If they give this years pick to Colorado, I think Karlsson will be traded at some point before next season as well.

wprager wrote:Dahlin is a leftie, like Chabot.  Playing with Karlsson would be his best introduction to the league (Karlsson/Chabot will take the bulk of the ice time and Dahlin will get his steak cut into little cubes for a while).  

On the other hand, if they get Bouchard, instead, who is a rightie, and they still manage to keep Karlsson, then I guess Wideman is gone.

No matter how you slice it, Ceci is still anchoring our 2nd pairing (or is our 2nd pairing anchor, if you wish).  God help us.

It depends if they think Bouchard can play in the NHL next year. I still think the best approach is to let these guys develop in the minors unless you're a generational talent like Dhalin. Even then, we can't expect him to be a superstar right away.

I've made it clear I am not a Ceci fan. I hope he's moved whether the intent is to keep Karlsson or not. One should not impact the other, though I see why the organization wants to address a big hole on the right side...

Ceci is a whopping -33 over his last two seasons.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:Ceci is a whopping -33 over his last two seasons.

Karlsson is -27 this year alone. OEL is a - 60 over the last two years. DOesn't mean much of anything.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:Ceci is a whopping -33 over his last two seasons.

I’m not a big fan of the +/- stat but even though Ceci plays the toughest minutes of the Sens defence, he continues to make the same rookie  mistakes over and over.

I also thought he’d have more offence to his game then he does to date.

Lagoon wrote:I think on draft day, when Ottawa has to decide if they keep their 1st or give it to Colorado, in my opinion, we will essentially know if Ottawa plans to make Karlsson a long term Senator or not. If they keep the pick, it would make sense to assume they think they can keep Karlsson. If they give this years pick to Colorado, I think Karlsson will be traded at some point before next season as well.

I think the Sens will end up keeping this year's pick regardless of whether they think they'll be worse next year. That's strictly what I think will happen.

I think it's reasonable to think that, even without Karlsson, we won't be a bottom 5 team next year, unless the "rebuild" plan includes not only getting rid of Karlsson, but also dealing Hoffman and beyond. You're right though...if they give Colorado this year's pick, it foreshadows things to come.