Derrico

I don't think Dudacek is saying you don't have to draft well. I think he's saying there's an alternative approach than purely building your team through the draft. Having said that, this seems to be a pretty good draft for picking 7th so any deal would have to blow me away to move the pick. Their other first rounder I have no problem moving if the right deal is out there. Again, whether they keep the two firsts or not, the team still has to draft well whenever they're on the clock.

As others have said, I don't have a huge preference for him but if this is JBott's guy then I hope we land him. I won't get excited with whomever it is until I see winning.

Then that is who I want. A little concerned about Turcotte injury history but this is the way the NHL is moving IMO. Thanks for giving me the names, I'll have to do some digging on them.

Agreed. I think Botts realizes that one way or another he has to bring in a 2C. Mitts will drop to 3C and get significant PP time. I think 45 is a reasonable estimate if he stays healthy. Huge offseason for him this year but from everything I've read before we drafted him he is a very hard worker and takes his training seriously. I have no doubts he will come back much stronger in October.

Give me the guy with the best combo of speed and hockey IQ who could be available at 7. That's who I want.

Firstly, you cannot mention Ehlers and get NS going..... Secondly, if you are suggesting we trade 7 to the Leafs for Nazim Kadri than you can just ***** right off (but don't really do that because your an excellent poster).

Ya I'm fine with this playing out a little longer. I hope he doesn't decide for a couple of weeks. That way we can see if some playoff team who gets bounced in the playoffs fires someone. Who know Cooper's Lightening lost last night ? I'm joking by the way, no chance he gets fired. I honestly don't give two hoots how this 'looks.' The franchise has been a mess for 8 years now but there is still a good enough core here now that I think we can turn it around sooner than later. I don't care what it looks like, this HAS to work out whoever it ends up being. Whether it takes 4 more hours or 4 more weeks just make sure you get the right friggen guy.

While I agree with this, I've also been saying this is the last high pick we will have for a long time starting with the Nylander pick. Then came Mitts. Then came Dahlin. Then came Pick #7. Sounds like it's a good draft so I would prefer to stay and make our two picks. At the same time, I completely understand True's idea to use this to get better today. How many more years are we going to waste Eichel? This team has to take the next step soon. Having said all that, I would keep and make atleast the 7th OA pick. If we can use the late first in a trade then I would be open.

Agreed. It’s also crazy if 5 year deals for coaches is the standard. Sure it happens but what percentage of coaches make it a full five years. I doubt it’s even 50/50. Coaches should get 3 years max. But as we’ve said, there’s no salary cap on coaches and it’s pegula bucks so here we are.

I don’t hate this idea at all. However, I’m hearing that almost whoever we draft at 7 is going to be the next Patty Kane or superstar so that makes it much more difficult.

Ok this is getting crazy. All I’ve heard is how unbelievable all of these top 10 guys are. Is this really the best draft we’ve seen in forever or are some of these getting overly hyped? Not asking just you.

Sounds like there isn’t too much of a difference in quality between 4 and 7. I wonder what the ask would be.

Are they allowed to block a promotion? I don’t think they can in the nfl. I would be pissed if I’m Keefe and that happened. Them doing that with the assistant gm was one thing as they planned on him being the next gm. But doesn’t Babcock have like an 8 year contract or something crazy?

Ya 5'7 is crazy. It's not the 90's and I don't need all my guys over 6' but 5'7 is bordering on ridiculous.

Wow. Usually there is a near Consensus top 10 or so. Feels like this year there may not be a big difference between 3-8 or 10

I don’t see any issue with what botts said. If it’s guartenteed he would be signed already. If he’s close to signing botts would still say a similar type thing. This isn’t really newsworthy imo.

I do like the sound of that. I haven't followed as closely this year but sounds like it must be a pretty good draft.

Then forward is fine by me. I'm still going with 3 years. Look at our last two 8th overall picks. Neither has had a meaningful contribution yet. Nylander has had 3 years and has not.

I would define it as who has the best chance at becoming the best player. Period. Regardless of position. It really wasn't that long ago we were screaming for more D. The 7th overall pick will likely take at min. 3 years before any meaningful contribution. Maybe we've traded away two D prospects to upgrade our forwards by then. I have no idea what will happen in the next 3 years. That's why I'm ALWAYS going BPA.

Go BPA. Always go BPA. Wasn't long ago Centre was our biggest strength and D was biggest weakness. I think there's an argument to be made that both are the exact opposite a short 2-3 years later.

I don't go on twitter very much so I appreciate and rely on you guys for these relevant tweets. Keep up the good work my friend!

No hes the leafs assistant coach and previous CHL head coach

AV or DJ Smith for me. I could live with Keefe too.

So I haven't been up to date with the draft as much as past years. I was going to read up on the old draft thread but it's now gone. Cole's note version, what kind of prospect should we expect at 7? Some years the draft is much deeper at the top, other years it's weak after the first two or three picks. Hearing some names but haven't read anything yet.....

Very classy phil.