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2018 NHL Draft Preliminary Thread

TheBigKahuna said:
The Canes get a shot at the best forward in the draft. Hasn't happened in what, 15 years? I'll take it.
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Fair enough. The last time we took the highest rated forward in a draft it was Staal in 2003.

BTW ... look at the forwards in that draft class. Jeez. Eric Staal, Horton, Carter, Dustin Brown, Parise, Getzlaf, Richards, Kessler, Perry. Think that was a good draft class or what?
 
Brent Burns (drafted as a forward), Loui Eriksson, Patrice Bergeron, David Backes, Joe Pavelski (7th round, 205 overall)
 
Just amazing, that class. The D weren't bad either ... Burns, Suter, Phanuef, Seabrook and Weber.

And ... ahem ... Don Waddell and Rick Dudley selected Braydon Coburn one slot ahead and Phanuef. Hindsight will bite you in the butt sometimes.
 
Big Buff was 2003 as well.

That draft would look completely different in hindsight. The 1st over all is looking pretty darned good right now too.
 
Elsker said:
Like to hear this for myself, but thank you John Forslund (and @brettfinger) for sharing.

My blood pressure just dropped 10 points.
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Finally gave the interview a listen for myself: LINK

Forslund's up at the beginning of that hour of the show.

And, yes, he said sounds like Svetchnikov is a slam dunk and the only one fans should be focused upon among the top three forwards.

Did also say, of course they have to listen to offers for it. But again affirmed Svetchnikov as the slam dunk.

Only caveat is that he acknowledged he had done no research himself ("no time") and was relying more on what outside sources he trusted were telling him than inside sources. So he's really just repeating the consensus of freely-speaking experts.

We OUGHT to pick Svetchnikov. And I do believe we will.

This is at least one of the legit missing top-six level forwards we have been seeking for years, band-aided by overslotting whoever's hot from the bottom six. And with NO loss of assets whatsoever.

That's real progress.
 
This is at least one of the legit missing top-six level forwards
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Agreed, Svechnikov has the POTENTIAL to be an elite NHL superstar. Aho is a great player and may end up a superstar, but Svechnikov, if you believe the experts and he ends up what he could become is a potential 40 goal 80+ point guy. Obviously adding a player like that to anyone's lineup is tremendous.

There is irony though in that statement I quoted Elsker. At the same time we are hopefully adding Svechnikov, we are talking about trading away a player who SHOULD have been one of our top 6 forwards last year, but was saddled with 4th line talent most of the season. Its kind of crazy that a team that is still starved for offense is seriously considering trading away a 26 year old 3 time 30 goal scorer. We sure as heck better be getting a top 6 forward talent back if we are trading Jeff Skinner, its not like this team has some sort of glut of goal scorers even after adding what we hope Svechnikov becomes.
 
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cmaleski2 said:
Agreed, Svechnikov has the POTENTIAL to be an elite NHL superstar. Aho is a great player and may end up a superstar, but Svechnikov, if you believe the experts and he ends up what he could become is a potential 40 goal 80+ point guy. Obviously adding a player like that to anyone's lineup is tremendous.

There is irony though in that statement I quoted Elsker. At the same time we are hopefully adding Svechnikov, we are talking about trading away a player who SHOULD have been one of our top 6 forwards last year, but was saddled with 4th line talent most of the season. Its kind of crazy that a team that is still starved for offense is seriously considering trading away a 26 year old 3 time 30 goal scorer. We sure as heck better be getting a top 6 forward talent back if we are trading Jeff Skinner, its not like this team has some sort of glut of goal scorers even after adding what we hope Svechnikov becomes.
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I agree on keeping Skinner. At worst keep him until the trade deadline to see what he can do under Coach Brindy and get a sense of what his future contract value will be. You can always trade him at the deadline for a 1st round pick assuming he has a normal year (25 goals), if things don't look like they will work out long term.
 
There's a lot to be said for fit, though. For whatever reason, Skinner has proven to be an awkward fit for most of his career with the Canes. Blame the player, blame the GM, blame the coaching staff ... whatever, it's still the truth. We have struggled to find suitable linemates for Skinner for most of his career. Perhaps trading Skinner for someone who still has offensive pop, but is a more versatile player will be happy days for everyone.

Because unless somebody in our front office has a creative center up their sleeve, we're going to be looking at the same problem with Skinner next season ... which will doom us to losing the guy with no return on the asset. That CANNOT happen ... not with a roster this short on offensive pop. Oh and hey ... we're going to have the same problem with Svechnikov down the road. We've GOT to find a decent center somehow. Maybe trading Skinner is the easiest way to do that. And despite what the gum flappers in the press might say, a really good player who is a really bad fit for your roster or the way you're trying to play the game isn't a really a good thing for anybody.
 
It seems to me we have had issues with top tier talent and how to support them properly. Skinner hasn’t been properly supported or used and the same issue with EStaal. I hope that we won’t face the same issue with Svechnikov and that we can continue to support Aho and Teravainen.
 
Some of this depends on Skinner too. He may have already signaled clearly to management that he has no desire to resign no matter how well the team does out of the gate and no matter what the offer. In that case you have to deal him, preferably this summer.

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SlapShots said:
It seems to me we have had issues with top tier talent and how to support them properly. Skinner hasn’t been properly supported or used and the same issue with EStaal. I hope that we won’t face the same issue with Svechnikov and that we can continue to support Aho and Teravainen.
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Partially due to perpetually being short of true top-six talent due to budgetary constraints ($16M below the cap would have bought a lot of talent if utilized) and insufficient internal development of prospects (what few we had with JR continuously buying his way out of trouble with picks). So, lots of over-slotting going on in the top six.

Nonetheless they did keep trying to find Eric Staal a winger, from bringing in his brother to play with him (fail) and acquiring/extending Semin (mostly fail).

Truth is, especially during our period of post-Cup ownership, it was hard to find anyone to play with Eric. My mantra while watching him was: "...annnndddd the play dies off of Eric's stick". Pretty much a black hole for the puck in that once it went in to him it rarely came back and resulted in loss of possession whether by missed shot or simple turnover as defensed doubled up on him.

And speaking of black holes, Jeff Skinner is another puck hog, yes because no one to pass it to, at least until he finds himself below the red line. But also little inclination to do so, seemingly preferring to go 1-on-3 instead. Add in floating and waiting for a breakout pass instead of playing team defense and there's little wonder he finds himself on a "scoring third line", similar to Kessel.

They're both are/were just players that force a team out of the usual line-building mode and require unique deployment to get anything at all out of them.

And sometimes a trade makes sense for that reason alone. Just need a different "top-six" talent that allows line construction/deployment to occur in a more orthodox manner.
 
I'm ok with trading Jeff as long as the Canes get back top talent in return. Not for a project, prospect, or draft picks though. The Canes need goal scoring. You cant give away a 30 goal scorer and not get something huge in return. I was 100% sure Jeff would never resign here with Peters behind the bench. I have no clue on his relationship with Brindy though. Maybe everyone is in "wait and see" mode? Hopefully management and agents, have made intentions clear.
 
bagopux said:
Some of this depends on Skinner too. He may have already signaled clearly to management that he has no desire to resign no matter how well the team does out of the gate and no matter what the offer. In that case you have to deal him, preferably this summer.

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Several have pointed out that Skinner probably wouldn't have changed agents if he wasn't planning to leave. Especially since his old agent was a guy with a long, close relationship with the club. I tend to buy into that point of view. Generally when a player changes agents the summer before his last year of a contract, he's planning a way out.
 
what does an agent make now ? 5% or something in that range? Or is it open to whatever they can agree to?

also the NHL draft combine is going on now in Buffalo
 
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Paulie Walnuts said:
what does an agent make now ? 5% or something in that range? Or is it open to whatever they can agree to?

also the NHL draft combine is going on now in Buffalo
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The modern trend with agents to to hire them to professional services contracts with a set range of fees for various services, with negotiated bonuses for contract negotiations. The old "agent gets 5-10%" model isn't all that popular any more.
 
I tend to take a more global view of the team than worrying about point-for-point trades, but I also muse about how in the world the only natural goal scorer (well, maybe Aho) the team seems to have will be replaced.

But rather than hope for a single savior, I'm upbeat that a lot of goal-scoring AND playmaking talent is being added this off-season with NO loss of assets.

And, there's Faulk for a potential add to the top-six forwards.

So, for Skinner I take what I can get, especially with his NMC and single year of contract status. Maybe even futures.

In the words of Kramer: "...put in 'interesting trades considered'."
 
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