With the aid of 20/20 hindsight: What is your top 10 NHL redraft?

[SDS]

with everything that has happened, individual performances, injuries, etc. How would you re-pick the top 10 of the 2015 draft?

1. McDavid

2-10?

[DarthEbriate]

Is this a kissing book Eichel-bashing thread?

I really am excited about the future of the current roster and the energy and decade-redemption that might come of it. Eichel netted the Sabres Dahlin, Power, Meatballs, a new core, endless memes, and some delicious suffering along the way. I'm all for the Rise and Fall of Jackikin Eichwalker.

2. Buffalo re-selects Jack Eichel

[SDS]

5 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Is this a kissing book Eichel-bashing thread?

I really am excited about the future of the current roster and the energy and decade-redemption that might come of it. Eichel netted the Sabres Dahlin, Power, Meatballs, a new core, endless memes, and some delicious suffering along the way. I'm all for the Rise and Fall of Jackikin Eichwalker.

2. Buffalo re-selects Jack Eichel

So after everything you’ve seen, you still take him number two? 

Right now, I’m trying to decide if Marner, Barzal, or Connor should be number two.

[K-9]

17 minutes ago, SDS said:

So after everything you’ve seen, you still take him number two? 

Right now, I’m trying to decide if Marner, Barzal, or Connor should be number two.

I’d take Marner, Connor, or Barzal at number two and in that order. Then Werenski and Rantanen. 

[thewookie1]

21 minutes ago, SDS said:

So after everything you’ve seen, you still take him number two? 

Right now, I’m trying to decide if Marner, Barzal, or Connor should be number two.

We know Eichel; Barzal had year of safety under Tavares, perhaps he thrives under ROR? Marner has his own issues due to his father. Connor would of taken too long to be kept around.

Edited May 25, 2022 by thewookie1

[DarthEbriate]

16 minutes ago, SDS said:

So after everything you’ve seen, you still take him number two? 

Right now, I’m trying to decide if Marner, Barzal, or Connor should be number two.

Hmmm...

Up front: Kaprizov, Marner, Aho, Rantanen, Barzal, Connor, Cirelli, Hintz, Garland, Mangiapane, Beauvillier, Eriksson Ek.

On defense: Werenski, Provorov, Andersson, Cernak

None of the goalies have really established themselves beyond a backup yet.

[GASabresIUFAN]

I still take Eichel but I don’t acquire ROR, Kane, Bogosian and Lehner.

[SDS]

1 minute ago, thewookie1 said:

We know Eichel; Barnaul had. A year of safety under Tavares, perhaps he thrives under ROR? Marner has his own issues due to his father. Connor would of taken too long to be kept around.

I’m not asking anyone to dive into alternate universes. Just look at the players’ seven year careers and slot them accordingly.

Does anyone want to offer a full list of 10?

[Curt]

Here is my top 12 because I thought these 12 separate themselves.

1 -McDavid

2 -Kaprizov

3 -Rantanen

4 -Marner

5 -Aho

6 -Barzal

7 -Connor

8 -Werenski

9 -Eichel

10 -Hintz 

11 -Meier

12 -Chabot 

Am I hating on Eichel?  It’s really just the surgery recovery.  If he’d shown he was back to his ppg+ ways, he would be in the 3-5 range.

I’m super confident about 1-2.

Barzal’s spot is tough to justify based on production, but on another team, away from Trotz, I think he would be a lot more productive.  We’ll see.

This was an amazing draft.

[Trettioåtta]

I think the reality is that at the draft Eichel was a clear second overall selection - there was no doubt or debate about it.

Right now, there is debate about who should be second overall, and Eichel is not the undisputed choice.

Therefore, Eichel has failed to live up to his pre-draft hype.

(or others have exceeded theirs - or a little of both)

[Weave]

1 hour ago, SDS said:

So after everything you’ve seen, you still take him number two? 

Right now, I’m trying to decide if Marner, Barzal, or Connor should be number two.

Heh.  I remember when the argument here for tanking was, would you rather try to build around Marner or Barzal?

Man did that suck.

[SDS]

30 minutes ago, Trettioåtta said:

I think the reality is that at the draft Eichel was a clear second overall selection - there was no doubt or debate about it.

Right now, there is debate about who should be second overall, and Eichel is not the undisputed choice.

Therefore, Eichel has failed to live up to his pre-draft hype.

(or others have exceeded theirs - or a little of both)

This was not supposed to be Eichel specific. I’m just curious how that draft class played out. 

[Marvin]

1 hour ago, SDS said:

This was not supposed to be Eichel specific. I’m just curious how that draft class played out. 

IMHO, given the acquisitions we had prior to 2015-6, the question is really, "which excellent player from the top of that class would have been ruined instead of Eichel had the Sabres taken him?"  I think the player chemistry and coaching were *that* bad.

[SDS]

15 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

IMHO, given the acquisitions we had prior to 2015-6, the question is really, "which excellent player from the top of that class would have been ruined instead of Eichel had the Sabres taken him?"  I think the player chemistry and coaching were *that* bad.

Please don’t derail my thread. I’m desperately trying to keep this on topic.

[Curt]

My dudes.  This is not a thread specifically about the 2015 Buffalo Sabres.

This is supposed to be a 2015 redraft thread.  It’s where you use hindsight to rerank the players into the order you would draft them today.

If you don’t want to do that, then I don’t know why you are posting in here.

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, Curt said:

Here is my top 12 because I thought these 12 separate themselves.

1 -McDavid

2 -Kaprizov

3 -Rantanen

4 -Marner

5 -Aho

6 -Barzal

7 -Connor

8 -Werenski

9 -Eichel

10 -Hintz 

11 -Meier

12 -Chabot 

Am I hating on Eichel?  It’s really just the surgery recovery.  If he’d shown he was back to his ppg+ ways, he would be in the 3-5 range.

I’m super confident about 1-2.

Barzal’s spot is tough to justify based on production, but on another team, away from Trotz, I think he would be a lot more productive.  We’ll see.

This was an amazing draft.

I think you have Eichel too low. Kaprizov is probably too high but this is the rough order for sure. 

[Curt]

17 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I think you have Eichel too low. Kaprizov is probably too high but this is the rough order for sure. 

Yeah, Eichel could be too low.  I had a hard time slotting him.

For me, Kaprizov is #2, no doubt!  He is such an offensive dynamo.

My criteria was, who would I want starting from next season onward?  Not taking contract into account.

[Eleven]

Eichel is a center.  I think he still goes at 2.  Maybe Barzal?  But I think Eichel is better.  Aho/Barzal/Marner at 3-5 depending on team and need.  The rest is fairly homogeneous to me.  Hanifin wouldn't make my top ten.

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by Eleven

[Eleven]

5 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

Is this a kissing book

Needed this laugh tonight!

[Digger]

While not necessarily answering the original question of the re-draft of the top 10 I would offer that the Sabres would have been better off trading the #2 overall pick (expected to be Eichel) to the Boston Bruins for picks #13, #14, #15 and Torey Krug.  Buffalo selects Matt Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot (which were the actual next 3 picks after the Bruins poor and bizarre choices in the draft that year). 

It was well known that the Bruins wanted to move up which is why they acquired the picks by trading Dougie Hamilton and Milan Lucic.  Boston may have been willing to pay for the chance to get "franchise player" and hometown boy Jack Eichel.

The real dream scenario would have been getting Pastrnak who was an 18 year old rookie for the Bruins that year in place of Krug.

Sabre fans would have freaked if we had traded the 2OA that year after the tank but in hindsight trading it may have led to a quicker way to icing a better balanced team.

[Taro T]

5 minutes ago, Digger said:

While not necessarily answering the original question of the re-draft of the top 10 I would offer that the Sabres would have been better off trading the #2 overall pick (expected to be Eichel) to the Boston Bruins for picks #13, #14, #15 and Torey Krug.  Buffalo selects Matt Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot (which were the actual next 3 picks after the Bruins poor and bizarre choices in the draft that year). 

It was well known that the Bruins wanted to move up which is why they acquired the picks by trading Dougie Hamilton and Milan Lucic.  Boston may have been willing to pay for the chance to get "franchise player" and hometown boy Jack Eichel.

The real dream scenario would have been getting Pastrnak who was an 18 year old rookie for the Bruins that year in place of Krug.

Sabre fans would have freaked if we had traded the 2OA that year after the tank but in hindsight trading it may have led to a quicker way to icing a better balanced team.

How do you figure?  No way Murray would've actually MADE those picks.  He'd've gotten in the history books as having been the guy that managed to trade away 7 of the top 31 picks in the deepest draft in more than a decade.

[Doohicksie]

6 hours ago, SDS said:

So after everything you’ve seen, you still take him number two? 

Right now, I’m trying to decide if Marner, Barzal, or Connor should be number two.

Doesn't matter.  Eichel was a disaster.  But if Tim Murray had picked Marner, Barzal, or Connor instead, Marner, Barzal, or Connor would have been the disaster.  It's as much about Murray's crap team building as anything else.

6 hours ago, SDS said:

I’m not asking anyone to dive into alternate universes.

But that's exactly what redrafts are.

[Doohicksie]

4 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

IMHO, given the acquisitions we had prior to 2015-6, the question is really, "which excellent player from the top of that class would have been ruined instead of Eichel had the Sabres taken him?"  I think the player chemistry and coaching were *that* bad.

[Marvin]

3 hours ago, SDS said:

Please don’t derail my thread. I’m desperately trying to keep this on topic.

I apologise if I misread you intentions.  I assumed that you wanted more thought and analysis than merely who are now the top players from that draft.  I assumed that since you asked about the draft explicitly, then we should include opinions on the state of the teams when they drafted and how they were developed.  Those players were not drafted in a vacuum and did not become who they are independent of their circumstances.  Is Aho as good if he had been drafted by Arizona?  How much better would Eichel be had Buffalo passed on him?  So, "whose career development gets damaged if Buffalo or Arizona had drafted him" is one of the natural questions to ask before I think about a redraft.

Example: I often got questions about what would have happened if the Sabres had drafted Keith Tkachuk instead of Brad May.  I always responded, "then you would have asked me why the Sabres took Keith Tkachuk instead of Brad May just now."  The idea was that the one who hadn't been drafted by Buffalo was, ipso facto, going to be the better player because the Sabres' player development was so lackluster.

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, SDS said:

Please don’t derail my thread. I’m desperately trying to keep this on topic.

You can't redraft 2015 starting at #2 and expect it to not be about the Sabres who had the #2 pick.

(on a Sabres forum, to boot)