Curt

High risk high reward. That’s how we do baby.

I liked Cowan as an option for Buffalo in the 2nd round

I wonder if Benson is going to grow anymore. He is fairly young for the draft and he kind of looks like a 15 year old tomboy. If he ends up being 5’11” 190 five years from now, woah, watch out.

I like Ritchie a lot

I think they need to really focus in on D in rounds 2-5. I tend to think that forwards are better value in the lottery though anyway.

I don’t know if he really is the best defensive forward in the draft, but he busts his butt being a real 200 ft player. Has a little pest in him too.

I agree. Some of these guys are going to get moved along at some point. But from my perspective, they didn’t just add another name to the group. They added a guy who is better than everyone else in the prospect pool. These kids are going to be excited by the idea of playing together and know they need to bust their butt to make it to the NHL. Let the cream rise to the top and trade the surplus.

This is fair, but rolling 3 lines that can really score is a great goal.

Measured at the draft combine 5’9.75” 170 lbs.

Don’t want to quibble, but 5’10”. Briere was like 5’8”, no?

Half of the rankings out there have this kid in the 5-8 range. He isn’t big, but at 5’10” 170 he isn’t that small. He doesn’t play small either, putting in great two way effort. Very good skater but not a burner. Could gain explosiveness in that skating as he puts on muscle. One of the smartest and most skilled players in this draft. He is immediately our top prospect not in the NHL. From my point of view, getting this guy in the system makes some of these other smaller forward prospects expendable, especially Rosen and Östlund.

They actually did it!

Benson, Benson, Benson Please

Way to go Stevie Y!

Teams just can’t help themselves from over drafting defensemen sometimes.

I doubt SJ would want Pesce as part of the trade. They are young to want picks and young guys.

He is entering his near age 30 season? Thats a fun way to say that he is entering his age 29 season.

No one has cap space. Need to retain on Olofsson.

Sabres have better young depth forwards, Devils have Dougie Hamilton.

Yeah, there are not many players who fit that mold, and I’m not sure it makes sense to trade 13 OA for a guy like that.

If Benson is there and Buffalo passes, I’ll be pissed, lol. If that happens, just use Rosen and Östlund as trade chips and roll with Savoie and Benson. Or even trade Savoie and keep Östlund if they think that’s best based on their player evaluations. If Benson was 5’11” instead on 5’9.75”, he would be a lock to go in that 5-10 range.

1) Chicago - Bedard 2) Anaheim - Fantilli 3) Columbus - Smith 4) SJ - Carlsson 5) MTL - Leonard 6) Arizona - Reinbacher 7) Phildelphia - Michkov 8. WSH - Dvorsky 9. Detroit - Moore 10. St. Louis - Simishev 11. Vancouver - Danielson 12. Arizona - Barlow 13. Buffalo - Benson

I don’t think Montreal will take Michkov. Just my opinion based on their history with Russians in that market.

It’s not so much an issue of being left or right handed, it’s a matter of whether that guy can play the position. If you take a left handed player at 12 years old and have him play nothing but RD, yeah, he will get good at it. But taking a 28 year old lefty who has played LD almost exclusively his whole life and just sticking him at RD might not go so well.

This is going to happen with some guys this offseason. Teams declining qualifying offers on young plays who want a little raise. Kostin, Comtois, Newhook got traded partly for this reason too. There will be more. Cap crunch.