Crusader1969

78 points bottom 10 in league but making a huge step forward and ready to content in 16-17.

now reported that it is close to 100% Matthews to Europe however teams from Sweden and Finland have entered the bidding.

didnt post link - assumed most didn't have access to it.

Corey Pronman from ESPN just released his mock draft and at 21 he selects Nick Merkley from Kelowna. "Merkely is 18 on my board, and has a ton of offensive upside although he's not the biggest player" from Future Considerations: STRENGTHS: Merkley is consistent all game in his work ethic and shows he has an excellent sense for creating offense. Very confident with the puck, loves to have possession and hold the puck far away from his body and cradling it away from oncoming checkers with poise and deliberation. His motor is his best asset. WEAKNESSES: Despite his ability to work through it, his size is a bit of a factor in why he is not rated as high as he could be. His skating also needs some fine tuning before he will be able to play at the next level.

That should be the Coyotes posting that.

Initial Top 10 from Future Considerations: 1). C Auston Matthews, US NTDP U18 (USHL), 6-2, 200 2). D Jakob Chychrun, Sarnia (OHL), 6-2, 200 3). RW Jesse Puljujarvi, Karpat (Liiga), 6-3, 200 4). LW Matthew Tkachuk, US NTDP U18 (USHL), 6-1, 190 5). LW Max Jones, US NTDP U17 (USHL), 6-2, 200 6). D Chad Krys, US NTDP U17 (USHL), 5-11, 185 7). LW Tyler Benson, Vancouver (WHL), 6-0, 200 8). LW/C Dmitri Sokolov, Omskie Yastreby (MHL), 6-0, 215 9). C Sam Steel, Regina (WHL), 5-11, 170 10). D Sean Day, Mississauga (OHL), 6-2, 225 its being reported that the Matthews decision is coming today or tomorrow. He is either going to Everett of the WHL or Switzerland.

they also do a mock draft and they draft one of my top 3 guys; With the 21st pick the Buffalo Sabres select from Charlottetown of the QMJHL, RW Daniel Sprong. DRAFT NEEDS: They need a true puck rushing defender, depth on the backend and scoring on the wings. NOTES: The Sabres add the top potential goal scoring winger in the draft, but one who comes with a buyer beware warning tag attached. note they have Zboril going 20th to the Wild.

Just purchased the Future Considerations Draft Guide. Zboril is ranked at 21 - a portion of what they wrote about him Strengths: "Zboril is a silky smooth defender with an elite understanding of where the play is headed. Amazing feet and constantly makes high-end reads on the breakout" Weakness: "A lack of consistency is the largest negative we can find with him as he can have a real impact one shift and then look like a total passenger the next five shifts." Zacha is ranked at 15 and I would love to see the Sabres move up to grab him if he indeed falls this low.

I just think there are enough good prospects at D that you can pick one up at 31. Heck, Kylington may be there at 31 the way his stock is dropping. This isn't scientific at all but if you look at the top Dmen in the league they are either: 1) Drafted top 10 - Doughty, Pietrangelo, Suter, Hedman Ekman-Larsson or just as likely to be drafted in the 2nd round or later (Weber, Chara, Keith, Subban, Vlasic, Giordano) as they are to be drafted in mid to late 1st (Karlsson, McDonagh, Kronwall) List taken from: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=729524 Im sure there could be arguments on others to be included or excluded.

to me your top 4 for the next 10 years will be Risto, Zadorov, Pysyk and Bogosian. Is there any other team that would have 4 1st rounders in top 2 pairs?

I dont agree, you have your top 4 set for the next 10 years. you can always find guys to fill the bottom pair. Roll the dice with a high skill guy like Sprong, Bracco, White or Svechnikov. If you really want to pick up another Dman you can always use pick 31. Ideally id like for them to package 21 and 31 and move up in the draft to 11-14 range. Especially if a guy like Zacha slids due to his suspension/injury filled year he just had. To get the Girgensons pick at 14 in 2012 the Sabres traded pick 21 and 42 to acquire it. could 21 and 31 get pick 11? There are so little draft day trades of picks I doubt it will happen.

last years Hockey News 2014 Draft issue had an early mock of the 2015 draft and had White at #5. Didn't follow him all that close but I believe he may have had some injuries that may have contributed to his falling draft ranking. I think you could argue with the same thing with Zacha whom I hope the Sabres move up to draft.

I was lucky enough to see Perreault beat the Leafs in Maple Leaf Gardens, don't remember the year but would have been late 70s. I can remember him scoring from just over the blue line with a wicked slap shot. Unfortunately, goals like that one and the iconic Lafleur goal vs Boston aren't seen anymore in today's NHL. Great person / athlete to have as a child hood hero.

Non-sellouts started to happen last season: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/maple-leafs-13-year-sellout-streak-ends-loss-wild/

Lets just see how committed they are after a year or two of empty seats, empty luxury boxes and fans throwing jerseys on the ice. Not to mention having to deal with the media day after day. They need elite centers that are found at the top of the draft. Is Babcock such a good coach that he coach them up to 20th spot? only hope I see them having is actually getting Stamkos to come home to play.

It will be interesting to see if either starts the season with them next year.

anyone else think Nolan may have a bit of a smile on his face this afternoon? That being said, I'm not bothered at all that Babcock isn't coming to Buffalo and may actually turn into a good thing in the long term. The 2 gold medals don't impress me at all as most anyone could have coached that team to the Gold and really hasn't done much with the Wings over the last few years.

whats one step lower than delusional? one step above would be a Leaf fan. I'll give you whatever 1 step lower is but no more. what would the lineup look like for this team to make the playoffs?

Sorry, was meaning delusional if they believe Sabres will be a Play-off team not out of the top 7. Though I wouldn't discount their ability (or non-ability) to still finish in bottom 7. Adding 30 points to last years club would still give them the 7th pick overall (depending on lottery results).

I think that a person would have to be delusional to think anything other than them being a lottery team. They would barely be a non lottery team if you added both of the last two seasons together. Going from low 50's to 75 to 80 points is a great leap forward for this team.

Future Considerations Top 30: 1 Connor McDavid Erie OHL C 6-1 195 CAN 2 Jack Eichel Boston University NCAA C 6-2 205 USA 3 Noah Hanifin Boston College NCAA D 6-3 205 USA 4 Dylan Strome Erie OHL C 6-3 185 CAN 5 Mitchell Marner London OHL RW 5-11 165 CAN 6 Mikko Rantanen TPS Liiga RW 6-4 200 FIN 7 Ivan Provorov Brandon WHL D 6-0 200 RUS 8 Zachary Werenski Michigan NCAA D 6-2 210 USA 9 Lawson Crouse Kingston OHL LW 6-4 215 CAN 10 Mathew Barzal Seattle WHL C 6-0 180 CAN 11 Travis Konecny Ottawa OHL C 5-10 170 CAN 12 Jeremy Roy Sherbrooke QMJHL D 6-0 185 CAN 13 Pavel Zacha Sarnia OHL C 6-3 210 CZE 14 Kyle Connor Youngstown USHL C 6-1 180 US 15 Colin White NTDP U18 USHL C 6-0 185 USA 16 Timo Meier Halifax QMJHL RW 6-0 210 CHE 17 Nick Merkley Kelowna WHL C 5-11 190 CAN 18 Evgeny Svechnikov Cape Breton QMJHL LW 6-3 210 RUS 19 Daniel Sprong Charlottetown QMJHL RW 6-0 190 CAN 20 Jakub Zboril Saint John QMJHL D 6-2 185 CZE 21 Jeremy Bracco NTDP U18 USHL C 5-9 175 USA 22 Thomas Chabot Saint John QMJHL D 6-2 180 CAN 23 Jansen Harkins Prince George WHL C 6-1 180 CAN 24 Oliver Kylington AIK (Loan) Allsvenskan D 6-0 180 FIN 25 Jake DeBrusk Swift Current WHL LW 6-0 175 CAN 26 Joel Ek Eriksson Farjestads J20 SuperElite C 6-2 185 SWE 27 Brock Boeser Waterloo USHL C 6-1 190 USA 28 Paul Bittner Portland WHL LW 6-4 205 USA 29 Jacob Larsson Frolunda J20 SuperElite D 6-2 185 FIN 30 Denis Guryanov Ladia Togliatti MHL RW 6-2 195 RUS One of my top guys falls to Sabres in this ranking. Jeremy Bracco - speed and skill.

Id start thinking about the 2017 NHL draft thread if I wasn't so busy with the "What am I am currently eating and drinking" thread.

Marc Crawford was on the Fan 590 yesterday (team that Matthews may sign with). He was saying that he doesn't expect the European avenue to be used very often. Teams only get 4 import players and they need them to be able to play in the top 6 or top 2 D pair. It is rare that a player be ready to at 16/17 to play vs men and command that type of ice time. So it may happen again but it will be only be with guys who are in the Eichel / McDavid class.

TOP PICKS FOR 2016 and current Teams Auston Matthews Undecided (Everett CHL rights) Jesse Puljujärvi Karpat (Finland) Jacob Chychrun Sarnia (OHL) Logan Brown Windsor (OHL) Matthew Tkachuk London (OHL) Sean Day Mississauga (OHL) Tyson Jost Undecided - CHL rights Everett Michael McLeod Mississauga (OHL) Max Jones Undecided - CHL rights London Patrik Laine Tappara - Finland Tyler Benson Vancouver - WHL Sam Steel Regina - WHL Dante Fabbro Undecided - CHL rights Seattle Jake Bean Calgary - WHL Kale Clague Brandon - WHL

Potential top 10 pick Matthew Tkachuk commits to London Knights http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/2015/5/8/8575855/matthew-tkachuk-signs-london-knights-ohl