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Hughes unanimous No. 1 in look at first round of 2019 Draft [NHL.com]

Personally, I'm 100% sold on Kakko being THE #2 guy. One of the key reasons Kotkaniemi was so attractive is that he performed well against men in the Finnish Elite League (SM-liiga, "Liiga" for short), the top Finnish pro league. Another key reason: he stood out at the WJC. 10 goals and 29 points through 57 Liiga games (2017-18) 3 goals and 9 points through 7 WJC games (2018) Remember all the HYPE! surrounding Patrick Laine? Same deal: 17 goals and 33 points through 46 Liiga games (2015-16) 7 goals and 13 points through 7 WJC games (2016) Jesse Puljujarvi: 13 goals and 28 points through 50 Liiga games (2015-16) 5 goals and 17 points through 7 WJC games (2016) Mikko Rantanen: 9 goals and 28 points through 56 Liiga games (2014-15) 2 goals and 5 points through 7 WJC games (2015) Aleksander Barkov: 21 goals and 48 points through 53 Liiga games (2012-13) 3 goals and 7 points through 6 WJC games (2013) Mikael Granlund: 13 goals and 40 points through 43 Liiga games (2009-10) 1 goal and 7 points through 6 WJC games (2010) So that gives us some perspective. If you're surpassing or even merely flirting with 30 points in the Liiga as a 17-18 year old and your name isn't Jesse Puljujarvi, your floor is probably high and your ceiling is wayyy up there. (Barkov is arguably the best two-way pivot in the NHL. Laine, Rantanen, and Granlund are big-time scorers.) That being said, here are Kakko's numbers: 11 goals and 22 points through 29 Liiga games (2018-19) 2 goals and 5 points through 7 WJC games (2019) My thoughts on Kakko, beyond just the production? I think he's pretty close to perfect. He's elite in nearly every meaningful category and he doesn't have any meaningful shortcomings. He's the Platonic ideal of the modern-day power-forward made flesh. The total package. If Jack Hughes is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers, Kakko is crushing everyone at checkers. Is he better than Kotkaniemi was at this time last year? I think so, yes. Kotkaniemi is maybe more valuable because he's a centerman's center (Kakko's a natural winger who plays center sometimes). Beyond that, I think Kakko has him beat in pretty much every way. The biggest thing is the skating; Kakko is an outstanding skater, which gives him a dimension that Kotkaniemi lacks. If Kotkaniemi skated like Kakko, Kotkaniemi might've been drafted 2nd overall. I'd say Kakko is more similar to Svechnikov; they're both ultra-projectable all-around scoring wingers. I think Kakko is a little more tantalizing than Svechnikov was at this time last year, as Kakko is excelling in a tough pro league (Svechnikov was dominating the OHL) and Kakko arguably delivered the more impressive WJC performance (Svechnikov registered no goals and 5 assists through 5 games at the 2018 tournament). tl;dr Kaapo Kakko is the real deal. I'll follow this up with some thoughts on Podkolzin and Cozens. Have to head out for a bit.

E is used to an 82 game schedule. Cholowski isnt. There are multiple reasons to sit a kid. Rest is one of them. I agree with the premise that the season is lost, so use your games to more to develop the kids. But gassing a young player isnt useful either. You have to be smart about it.

Thanks for sharing this. The Wings will be picking no lower than 4th so these nhl.com noobs can get bent!

Unanimous top 3 amongst these three apparently... 1. Hughes, 2. Kakko, 3. Podkolzin Any idea where Kakko and Podkolzin would stack up against Svechnikov and Kotkaniemi? I think Kakko could be a lock at 2, but I'm not as sold on Podkolzin. From what I've heard / read, he has all the raw skill / talent, but lacks hockey sense. That's the exact type of player I'm looking to take in the mid to later rounds, not in the top 5. Hockey sense is so vital in today's game, and only having the raw tools could end up being another Yakupov... If we don't land Hughes, I'm still hoping we take Cozens. Even if we're picking at 2, I'd strongly consider trading back. Cozens has great hockey sense, strong two-way game, is an elite skater, good puck handler, and passer, and has a decent shot. He lacks strength and needs to fill out that big frame, but when he does (and he will), I think he could be a force, similar to prime Getzlaf.

Cholo got a night off. Not too worried about it.

Official. 2019.

Right, which is why I said I don't have a problem with the stats themselves. The Cholowski-over-Ericsson argument can be a winning argument based on empirical data, but there's a reality beyond pure numbers. Maybe Blashill will sit Cholowski and not Ericsson because it's smart to give a rookie a break every now and then. Maybe when people say there's no reason why Cholowski should be sitting instead of Ericsson, they should also point out that Cholowski's underlying numbers suggest he's been struggling. I'm expressing frustration that's been building for a couple of years now. I'm seeing more and more people becoming intellectually lazy and/or dishonest in the way they value and employ these stats. That's just my experience, though. To be clear: I'm not trying to slag the many people who do good, honest, important work with analytics. Agreed. Point was, basically, we seem to have a system that more or less gets the job done in the D zone. If you cycle in new blood that can 1) play this system effectively and 2) provide better puck movement and other contributions on offense, that might (*might*) be all we need. In that sense, I agree with you that our defense isn't necessarily the disaster that it's generally understood to be and we might not need a Victor Hedman type. Hell, every time we lose a close game I wonder where this team would be if it had a dependable power play.

You wish.

I'm over Jonas Mahonas

Lol. None of our current prospects has shown that they'll turn into a 7 time Norris trophy winning, hall of fame, all time legendary defenseman? Whelp...I guess we're screwed.

I find it somewhat surprising that we are dead last. Everyone knew we weren’t going to have a good team but I think overall we have played pretty well this year. There were two early blowouts in the first seven games when we went 0-5-2 by the Bruins and Canadiens. Since then we have been close in every single game even against the upper eschelon teams. All of our younger guys are scoring and we seem to have found a couple of good rookie defensemen. Our prospect pool seems good at forward and defense. Even 3 or 4 of our junior goalies are having stellar seasons. A good draft this year and we will looking pretty well I think