2018 NHL Entry Draft

22_4_ever wrote:

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:

PTFlea wrote:Ottawa could really use some snarl up front.  And there's been a few glowing write ups on Tkachuk recently.  We'll see...

I think they can address that snarl with Noel later in the draft. Not sure a crash and banger as your best asset is a good fit for a top five pick.

We've disagreed before, but he's more than a crash and banger.  I don't know how much you watched him play this year, but he was at least as good as Shane Bowers which everyone lamented as being part of the trade for Duchene.  He's more of a set up guy than Bowers, but he also is a big body that loves to get dirty.  He's a very underrated 200ft player that can defend as well as anyone on Ottawa now, and has offensive upside to set up a scorer.

I watched about 20 of the BU games this year and as a freshman he was as dominant as anyone on their team.


I'm just saying if Zadina and Svech go before him and they pass on him for a defenseman they will regret it in 5 years.  I don't see Bouchard, Hughes, Dobson and especially Boqvist being anything significant for at least 5-6 years.  If Ottawa takes one of them, then Karlsson is gone, and they are going to tear this thing apart.

Admittedly I have not watched Tkachuk outside of the world juniors. I'm basing my opinion on what I have read and his low point productions (and high PIMs) in college

PTFlea wrote:

Lagoon wrote:If you are saying Tkachuk is “at least as good” as Shane Bowers, you are either hyping Bowers big time or under selling Tkachuk. Which is it? The two players are basically the same age and you don’t often hear them being considered equal. That’s a big knock on Tkachuk you just threw in my opinion while you defend him.

I think Bowers goes on to have a solid NHL career and he reminds me a lot of one Mark Stone. Yes, I scratched my head when I saw that he was the prospect added to the Duchene deal. Nicely done by Sakic.

I don't mind the package they got, but I continue to not understand trading Duchene now that I've had a really long look at him.  I'm probably like most fans in that I only saw him play maybe 10 times the year before the trade, but I've always really liked him, but seeing him play long stretches and the effort he gives, the strength along the boards, the apparent leadership he shows according to articles, the drive, the f-ing hands he has, the shiftiness - he's got it all.  I'm not naive to Colorado sucking so long something had to be done, but you expect Landeskog and Duchene to form two pillars of skill, grit and leadership and lead you out of it - or look in different areas to fix your team.

Although you look now and they're having success...especially with Rantanen exploding, so you really never know.

Maybe they thought he wasn't going to re-sign there and they traded him while his value was high. They got a huge haul for him while shedding a ton of salary. Sakic did extremely well.

This is such a wide open draft this year it seems:

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-mock-draft-rasmus-dahlin-number-1/c-298337670

Another one with Tkachuk going to the Habs

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/nhl-mock-draft-2018-rasmus-dahlin-andrei-svechnikov/

I must say I really do like the prospect of adding Wahlstrom somehow but I don't think he makes it past Vancouver at the latest.

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:I must say I really do like the prospect of adding Wahlstrom somehow but I don't think he makes it past Vancouver at the latest.

If we were picking 5th and Hughes was gone, I’d want Wahlstrom. He’s a crush of mine. 

If he is still there at Vancouver’s pick and I think he will be, Vancouver will most likely pass as well because I think they will take a Dman. Dobson probably.

EASports mock draft has Tkachuk slipping to 8th.

https://twitter.com/EASPORTSNHL/status/997949173952462849?s=19

Lagoon wrote:If you are saying Tkachuk is “at least as good” as Shane Bowers, you are either hyping Bowers big time or under selling Tkachuk. Which is it? The two players are basically the same age and you don’t often hear them being considered equal. That’s a big knock on Tkachuk you just threw in my opinion while you defend him.

I think Bowers goes on to have a solid NHL career and he reminds me a lot of one Mark Stone. Yes, I scratched my head when I saw that he was the prospect added to the Duchene deal. Nicely done by Sakic.

I think Bowers is more than just a projected "solid" NHL player. The loss of Bowers IMHO is more severe than having lost Brown or Formenton. Colorado's amateur scouting schooled Ottawa's in my opinion, or possibly Ottawa is so in love with those two that they don't see the other issues. Brown has a major attitude problem and if it isn't corrected quickly he'll end up like Lehner...a player with so much potential but never reaching it.

If you're asking Tkachuk to score 25 goals then you're looking at him the wrong way. He's likely to get only 15 goals a year, but I think he can be counted on for 50 assists...which means he's a solid 65 points a year Power forward. He'll be your 2nd line shut down forward like Bergeron, that can play all 200 feet and when needed won't back down physically. Pair him with a shooter and those totals will climb higher.

Yes Svechnikov and Zadina scored more than Tkachuk, but they also didn't play against players that were 19-22 in age. Most of which were already men in experience, and physical maturity. Tkachuk was a top player in a league mostly made up of older players whereas the CHL is mostly a 17-18 year old league with some 19 year olds mixed in.

My point in all this is that simply, taking a defenseman over Tkachuk would be a huge step back and signal that Karlsson is gone. none of the defensemen that would be an option will amount to anything for the next 5-6 years. They all need time in the same leagues they are now, and then more time in the AHL/Elite Leagues maturing both physically or mentally before they could help. Even if you take the projections of their potential, none of them offer an upside better than Tkachuk. If Svechnikov or Zadina are available you jump on them, their scoring ability and offense is something this team desperatly needs, but I doubt they are....


Hopefully Carolina or Montreal love him more than a scorer (both teams need scoring more than Ottawa thought) and then you get the offensive talent we all know they need, but I doubt that happens and then you have to take Tkachuk. If you don't then you might as well buckle up, because I think you'll see Karlsson leave, followed by Duchene and then likely Stone.

Yes I think at best Stone signs a 3 year deal if they don't keep Karlsson and they take a dman and then he leaves for UFA in 3 years....

The dominoes are stacked...

wprager wrote:https://twitter.com/EASPORTSNHL/status/997949173952462849?s=19

I wouldn't put much stock in the Easports (or other simulators) draft projections. They are purely analytical and all based on an algorithm the evaluates current rating and projected rating. It doesn't account for positional need, or plans of the organization. I worked on several of these games inluding one of the most popular ones out there, specically on the analytical engine. They are all just statistical calculators, and rely on the ratings, which are created by humans (individual or panels) to determine those ratings you see for shot, skating, offense, potential...etc

All of those numbers are used to evaluate the player and then the engine does the drafting based on the previous season...it has no ability to look at the organizational needs and select based on a plan.

The only draft rankings I've found to be even remotely dependable, are Bob Mackenzies and after getting the chance to talk to him a couple of years ago he admitted he has zero inside knowledge. All he does is talk to about 20-25 of the Head Scouts of the teams and gets their ratings of the players and then he does a form of an average.

All it will do is give you an idea of what the Scouts on the teams think of the players, but it also doesn't account for the Organizational plans.

We can speculate all we want about who they should take, but that's a loaded question. If they know at the time of the draft either they can't resign Karlsson or they don't want to pay what he is going to ask for, then they have to take a defenseman like Bouchard, Dobson or Boqvist, but if Karlsson is something they know they can get done, then they take the best winger available. I'd love it if they would take Wahlstrom, but they'd be idiots to take him at 4th.

I really hope that if Zadina or Svechikov go at 2 and 3, that they trade picks with Vancouver. Offer them the 4th, for their 7th and their 2nd round pick (37). That way they don't really suffer from picking 7th, they either get Wahlstrom, one of the defensemen you're all salivating over or maybe even Tkachuk if he does drop. Plus they pick at 22nd, and then get an early 2nd rounder....

Thank might be a pipe dream though

EASports it's not the only one that has Tkachuk dropping. Saw a couple others where he was ranked 5th and 8th. TSN and Bobby Mac still have him at #4, true. Guess we'll know soon enough.

Been in Europe for a week or so now. Saw the Sieloff news. Ugh. Any news or rumors on anything else going on ?

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:Been in Europe for a week or so now. Saw the Sieloff news. Ugh. Any news or rumors on anything else going on ?

Probably nothing much and that’s very telling.
Melnyk’s empty words about hiring more front office and scouting/player development personnel still hasn’t materialized. 
This situation is a joke. 
Karlsson’s Probably  got Uber on his phone ready to go for when they part ways.

Well, they fired two scouts. That's news.

wprager wrote:Well, they fired two scouts. That's news.

Apparently they were fired around a month ago??  The situation just keeps getting weirder.

tim1_2 wrote:

wprager wrote:Well, they fired two scouts. That's news.

Apparently they were fired around a month ago??  The situation just keeps getting weirder.

I’m all for firing scouts if they’re responsible for recommending busts but are we replacing them with anybody? That’s the big question

Flo The Action wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

wprager wrote:Well, they fired two scouts. That's news.

Apparently they were fired around a month ago??  The situation just keeps getting weirder.

I’m all for firing scouts if they’re responsible for recommending busts but are we replacing them with anybody? That’s the big question

Apparently no replacements yet.

tim1_2 wrote:

Flo The Action wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:

wprager wrote:Well, they fired two scouts. That's news.

Apparently they were fired around a month ago??  The situation just keeps getting weirder.

I’m all for firing scouts if they’re responsible for recommending busts but are we replacing them with anybody? That’s the big question

Apparently no replacements yet.

So the scouting department got melnyked. Surprise....