GASabresIUFAN

If I remember correctly UPL got hurt in early March. When healthy he’d be no.1 over Togarski

Right now UPL is our No. 1 goalie.

https://www.tsn.ca/ryan-suter-zach-parise-minnesota-wild-buyout-1.1667311 Any interest? I doubt either guy is interested in coming here. Both likely want to hook up with a contender top get a ring, but we could use their leadership on the right deals.

Are any of these guys really worthy of the No.1 overall pick in an NHL draft? Do we know? Has COVID made this evaluation year next to impossible? This draft reminds me of the D heavy 2012 draft. There are a few skaters who will end up being good to very good NHL players, but no skater stands out as a franchise leading type player. I'd argue that Forsberg (11th), Wilson (16), Teravainen (18) and Lindholm (6th) are the best skaters from the 2012 draft. Of course we took Grigorenko (12th) and Girgensons (14th), missing out on the top players in the draft. How much better would we be with Hertl or Teravainen along with Vasilevsky (19). Also like 2012 2 goalies are among the top rated prospects. Vasilevskiy, who is the only franchise leading player from that draft, and Malcolm Subban. This year it's Wallstadt and Cossa. In this draft Eklund seems like the only forward with at least Forsberg type upside.

How about FREE!

I have 12 updated or final rankings and here is the consensus so far. 1). There is a distinct top 10 in 4 tiers. Tier 1- Powers; Tier 2 - Beniers & Eklund; Tier 3 - Clarke, Hughes & Guenther; Tier 4 - Edvinsson, McTavish, Johnson & Wallstadt 2.) 11-18 is in two tiers. Tier 5 - Lucius, Sillinger, & Svechkov (I think he is the most likely to jump into the top 10). Tier 6 - Lysell, Raty, Cossa, Coronato & Lambos. 3.) 19-21 - Tier 7 - Othmann, Chibrikov, and Olausson. 4.) 22-23 - Tier 8 - Rosen & Pinelli with Pinelli likely to drop on draft day. 5.) 24-28 - Tier 9 - Ceulemans, Bolduc, Bourgault, Robertsson, & Samoskevich. I think Ceulemans will go before 24, while the remainder could easily slip further down or easily into the early second. 6.) 29-33 - Tier 10 - Stankoven, L'Heireux, Chayka, Toumaala, & Dean. Stankoven has guys that love his game and others who don't. 7.) 34-38 - Honorable Mentions: Guys who could break into the first - Pastujov, Behrens, Martino, Svozil and Koivunen. In all 64 guys got at least one vote as a first rd talent. Only 13 players were unanimous. Svechkov has one detractor, but is otherwise the faster riser on the board. The first 21 were on 11 or 12 ballots. After them this is a real crapshoot.

There is no one we are going to lose that will hurt. Borgen is 24 and has 14 games of NHL experience (with zero points). I like this player, but projecting him as anything more then a 3rd pairing guy is over enthusiasm at this point. Samuelsson does everything Borgen does just better. Asplund if left exposed is the only player I can say we might miss, but he is replaceable as well.

Sadly IMHO analytics are somewhat dependent on who you play for however Asplund's offense stats are some of the best on the team despite starting 60% of the time in the D zone. His corsi and fenwick are both better then Bjork, yet somehow Bjork received more PT.

Not if we use analytics to help make the decision.

We can't over think this. We are going to lose 1 player. I'd love for them to take KO or Miller off our hands. I'd give them a small incentive to take KO (6th rd pick) and none to take Miller. What is the worst they can do to us? Take Borgen or Bjork. Enjoy! You protect At Forward : Skinner, Eichel, Reinhart, VO, Mitts, Asplund & Thompson. Then they can choose from Girgensons, Eakin, KO, Bjork and other garbage. On Defense: Dahlin, Jokiharju and Risto. They can choose from Miller and Borgen (and his 14 games of NHL experience.) Not exactly a list of NHL great to grace their expansion team.

Then you weren't watching him when he was pairing with McCabe or the years he QB'd our PP or the years where he carried this team in minutes or the seasons he put up 40 points or more. Not a perfect player, but definitely one that can make a positive difference when utilized properly.

You are forgetting that they need to get 50 mil minimum of contracts. Would you prefer 5.4 mill of the effective Risto or 6 mill for two years of KO? He can run their PP add offense from the blue line and if they get the right partner he can be a very effective player for them. Risto is then trade-able at the deadline if they aren’t a playoff team. If he has success and is playing with the right partner they can always re-sign him.

They’d get it back when they trade him at the deadline.

KA should be talking to Seattle to try to get them to take KO or Miller off our hands. I even like the idea of turning the tables and see what they would give us to leave Risto unprotected. I’m not trading him to them and then allowing them to take another player in expansion, but if they want to give us a second this season and say a 3rd next year or a player to be named later to secure Risto I’d certainly listen.

He won’t be traded until he’s healthy

Case for acquiring Seth Jones. The more I research this draft the more crazy it seems it's going to be. Getting Jones gives us a good D (although with similar flaws to Risto) and the potential of trading him at the deadline to a contender (where he wants to go) for a 1st rd pick a year from now.) Just a thought.

I’m going to throw a log on the Rossi vs Quinn debate. Let me begin by saying I’m in the Rossi camp. However this seems to be a case where organizational need won out. Last offseason we had the following centers in our pipeline: Cozens, Mitts, Asplund and R2 who you could project into roles in the NHL (yes all can play wing), but who were our top scoring wing prospects? We had none. Post the draft we had Quinn and JJP. Now the center pipeline needs to be refilled. Can you say Beniers or Eklund?

I got an idea, lets re-sign our guys, trade Jack OR Sam if we have to and leave cap space for the deadline?

I don’t get the animosity toward Risto. He is a flawed player and has never made the strides defensively we and the team had hoped. However he has positive attributes such as PP and offensively plus he is physical. He can also be effective defensively with the right partner. He is also a very hard worker who plays hard every shift and has always worked in the off-season to get better. In my view he is a victim of this poorly run team. We over played him, gave him crappy coaches and linemates and expected him to dominate as he got beat down season after season with overwhelming minutes against the best opponents in the league. He deserves a good opportunity elsewhere. He also really doesn’t fit our youth movement. Dahlin, maybe Power, Joki, Bryson, Borgen, Samuelsson, Johnson and Laaksonen are the group going forward. We need a couple of stay at home guys to bridge to when some of these guys fully develop. Risto doesn’t fit that job title. We also still have Miller if he isn't lost to expansion to fill Risto’s O role. Get what we can, save the $5 mill and move on.

Has anyone seem FC Hockey’s updated list?

I agree and disagree. The culture change started the day Rasputin was fired and Granato installed the kids into bigger roles part out of necessity and part because KA and Granato took the team in a new direction. Guys like Asplund, Thompson, Mitts, R2 and others went from limited or no roles in the team to key roles. Dahlin, Joki, and Skinner were rehabilitated. That said I do agree we need more fresh faces but no free agent who will come here will change the course of this team. We need to let our kids grow together and draft and develop. It’s the only way this gets fixed long term. PS Bye Risto and I’m sorry you never had the right support while you were here.

I wouldn’t be surprised. I hear he has knee issues.

I am but different league back then. Maybe I should use the caveat of modern team. The Lidstrom Red Wings teams come close.

Ok, Kucherov vacations for the season to keep TB under the camp and then comes back for the playoffs to win another Cup. How does TB keep the band together this off-season?

Congrats to TB, maybe the deepest and best hockey team I’ve ever seen.