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Rossi will be a center. Stutzle will be a pivot, playing more on the wing. Lundell sounds like another Larkin. We need better. No. Just not a homer. Somewhere in between.

We need a center with offense. If Yzerman and the scouts don't think any of those guys are going to be centers, then take the defenseman or goalie and draft your 2C next year. However I really haven't seen any credible sources say that Rossi A) isn't going to be a center, and B) isn't going to be a 70+ point guy (or better). We definitely don't need a guy like Lundell, as that's basically what we have in Veleno. You've got to have guys that can generate offense in different ways. Specifically we need guys who can run the powerplay off the half wall like Dats and Z used to do. We've got shooters in Mantha and Zadina but nobody on the other side who is really good at getting pucks through to them. Larkin is a good 5 on 5 scorer, and especially good in transition, but his playmaking from the blueline in isn't that good.

Admittedly I don't know s*** about goalies, but I'd have to give a long hard look at Askarov at 4. If your scouts genuinely believe that he's going to be another Price/Lundqvist/Luongo then he absolutely makes sense at 4th. But I have no idea what the likelihood of that is. Otherwise, there's no reason to overthink this. We need to take a center. We've been searching for a 2nd line center since Stephen Weiss. We have all the goal scoring on the wing we'd ever want. Mantha (if his dumbass would stop fighting) scores at the same rate as other top power forwards (like Ratanen) without half the talent around him. Zadina's goal scoring skills are obvious despite playing with total puds all year. Even our complimentary guy (Bert) scored over 20 goals. But we HAVE to get a center with dynamic offense. A guy that can kill teams on the half boards on the powerplay. A guy that can generate offense in all situations when you need it. I don't see Perfetti as a center. So it's either Rossi, Stutzle (if someone REALLY likes Drysdale) or (maybe) Hendrix Lapiere in a trade back scenario. The last one is risky because of his injury a year ago, but he was easily on his way to being a top 5-10 player before it.

Personally, I don't want Askarov at 4. That being said, the thought of having a blue chip goalie prospect in the system that by all indications projects as elite tier is exciting, Mostly just shows how many massive holes Yzerman has to fill.

Of course you'd argue, that's your default setting... however Vernie was right there numerically with the guys of his era and was out conn smythe winner. He also played against those stacked Oilers teams more than say Patty Roy... his numbers are as good or better than guys like Fuhr. If Vernie wasn't elite he was what every comes just before it.

I don't mind AA's on ice contributions one way or another. He's one dimensional, he's a possession black hole, he barely tries, and will never, ever, ever, win a puck battle, he's not especially useful on the powerplay, and he's the ultimate passenger. He hurts your team in a million ways, but he does score. All of which would be fine if he was like Michael Grabner and was content to sign 3-4 million dollar contracts and play on a team's 3rd line permanently. But I'm afraid he values himself a little more than that. So good riddance. Plus, he went to the Oilers and was almost immediately relegated to the 3rd line because he blows there too.