krsmith17

Yzerman wanted to trade down because he *thought* he might still be available at around 10, based on other rankings. He then found out that another team in the top 10 was in on him, so he didn't want to risk losing his guy, and took him at 6...

I just don't understand the talk on Seider being a "reach". Based on what? Seider may have been a reach on other draft boards, but he clearly wasn't a "reach" to Yzerman, or at least one other general manager in the top 10. Sure it's possible that Seider develops into a DeKeyser. Very unlikely in my opinion, but possible... It's also possible that Zegras develops into a Sam Bennett, or Cozens develops into a Jake Virtanen. None of these guys are a guarantee to become anything. I choose to believe that Yzerman has half a clue of what he's doing, and he truly did see something in this kid that few others seen. I'll admit that I wanted Zegras or Cozens at 6, but I'm not going to pretend I know better than Yzerman or any of the scouts in the Red Wings organization. I'm happy with the pick, and it'll be interesting to see how it plays put. I'm confused about what you're WTFing about? Eating? Yes, professional athletes have very strict diets and most teams in the NHL have a team nutritionist. Lisa McDowell is the Red Wings nutritionist, and believe it or not, all of these kids take cooking classes and learn what foods they should and shouldn't be eating. It's actually a very important part of development camp, that starts tomorrow...

I'm not saying we didn't take any centers, only because of Veleno, but I do believe Yzerman, and the organization in general may have more faith in our center depth than you do. The bold is just your opinion. An opinion that doesn't seem to match that of Yzerman and co... This seems like a pretty dumb argument, since one league is Canadian, and one league is German. Of course the Canadian one is going to produce more talent. That doesn't mean that the German one can't produce elite talent...

The BCHL is also a MUCH lesser league than the DEL. Hockey is growing in all European countries and I expect the sport to continue to grow in Germany. I know Draisaitl played junior in Canada, but he still played a large portion of his hockey in Germany, and he was drafted 3rd overall. I'm not too worried about picking a player in more obscure leagues, but after they're drafted, I would prefer them to come over to North America to continue their development.

I may be reading too much into it, but I think this entire draft may say something about Yzerman's confidence in Veleno as a legit 2C... At least that's my hope... I still believe that Yzerman feels he took the best player available at 6. I think at the very least, he feels like Seider is on par with Zegras / Cozens or whoever else he may have been looking at. I don't think Yzerman would take the lesser player to fill a positional need. Just doesn't make any sense to me...

The AHL is also a stronger league, albeit not by a huge margin, which would be better for his development. Not to mention playing on North American ice, and being right in the backyard of the big club, for better resources, training, eating, etc... Playing another year in the DEL wouldn't be the worst thing, but I personally hope he makes the jump to the AHL... I'd also be able to watch a lot more Grand Rapids games than Adler Mannheim, so there's also that... Either way, really looking forward to see what the kid is all about in development camp this week!

Stay away from free agency, unless it's a low cap hit / term signing we can flip for assets later. Kadri may be traded, but it's not exactly a salary dump, so it would take a lot more than that package to get him here. He's a good player on a good contract that I'm sure a lot of teams would be interested in. In saying that, at 28 years old, I wouldn't have a whole lot of interest as a rebuilding team.

I think there's a reason he slipped out of the first round, but I also think there's a chance he could be a steal at 38. He reminds me a lot of Mantha in his draft year. All the raw tools, speed, shot, hockey IQ, but compete and competitiveness may be lacking at times.

Exactly how I feel about the draft. I was shocked with the Seider pick more than anything, but am more than fine with it. I think he has the potential to shock a lot of people, and become a legit top pairing defenseman... The Tuomisto pick was the one I was the most disappointed with, and not only because it was another "off the board" pick, but because there were just so many high-end players that dropped out of the 1st round. We could have had all of Lavoie, Leason, Legare and Beaucage / Grewe in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. I feel that would have been a better haul, but who knows. And like you mentioned, it seems the right side of our blueline may actually be one of the teams' biggest strengths now after the Seider pick.

Sakic had one of the best drafts in my opinion. Doesn't hurt that he had the 4th and 16th overall picks, but getting the top defenseman and one of the top centers was huge for the Aves. I also think they got a steal in the 3rd round with Beaucage and potentially in the 6th round with Burzan...

For a team that has been starving for right-shot defensemen over the past several years, it looks like we finally have a pretty solid stable of them now, with Seider, Hronek, Bowey, Kaski, Lindstrom and Tuomisto... Now we just need to add some high-end right-shot forwards... Not a single one in the entire system...

I'm the opposite. I'm happy with the first pick (despite being higher Cozens / Zegras at the time), and pretty meh on the rest of the draft... I'm hopeful that Yzerman sees something in Seider that a lot of other scouts may have missed. After doing a lot more research on him (I did minimal on him prior to the draft), I like him. He has all the raw tools to become a legit top pairing (potentially number one) defenseman. Big body, really good skater, good first pass, great at getting shots through from the point, and most importantly, very high hockey IQ. I liked a few other picks throughout the draft, but none that get me really excited. I feel there may have been a few higher ceiling guys overlooked in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, but we'll see how it all plays out.

LOL Who is "overexcited"? If anything, people are "underexcited"...

Yes, Lavoie, Legare and Beaucage are all righties. Not the sole reason I wanted them, but definitely a factor. Edmonton got themselves a good player in Lavoie and I think, Pittsburgh and Colorado got absolute steals in the 3rd round with Legare and Beaucage respectively. Wish we had taken at least one of those guys. Oh well... I'm confident that Seider will be a really good defenseman for us, I just hope we hit on at least another couple of our 11 picks...

So you already have Seider pegged as a "bottom 4" defenseman? You don't think Hronek could be a top pair guy? We may still be lacking a truly elite number one defenseman, but it's still possible that Hronek or Seider could eventually fill that void. Although not highly probable, it's still entirely possibly that Seider develops into a Josi type defenseman, and / or Hronek develops into a Letang type defenseman...

I don't give a s*** about height, but f***, get some right-handed forwards in the herr...

Calm down dude... None of us have any idea how any of these picks will turn out. I wanted one of the centers with our first pick, but after doing a bit more research, I'm very happy with the Seider pick. There are half a dozen guys that I really liked and we could have gotten one of them with each of our 2nd's (Lavoie, Leason, Legare) and 3rd (Beaucage)... but I'm not going to sit here and pretend as if I know better than professional scouts that have seen all these kids play live countless games... I have no idea if any of these guys would have been better than any of the guys we took in those spots... For all we know, Tuomisto (or any of these guys) could be the steal of the draft...

Obviously don't "follow" all 200 prospects, but I've done a fair bit of research on the top three rounds. I don't claim to know better than Yzerman or his staff, just some players I really liked, from what I've read and seen of them.

Mikko Kokkonen, another player I wanted goes to the Leafs...

Beaucage gone. Graeme Clarke gone...

Any chance Beaucage slips to 97?...

F***! Really wanted Legare... Gone to Pittsburgh...

Another off the board pick...

C'mon, Lavoie...