HoweFan

I'm starting to get worried. Kostin, Necas, and Tolvanen are all in the area of the nine spot. They top my no go list.

I haven't seen his name in the box scores for Toledo lately. Did we let him go?

His red hair would look good in our uni. Susuki, Tippett, Glass are my wish list at the moment.

I see Mike got into a fight in his first game at Toledo. Anyone know how he did?

Maybe if we can't get a first we should ask for Marchenko back. Then we could say we traded someone for one of our own players

Just curious. Has he played anywhere yet? I cant find him in any stats for the Leafs or Marlies

Its disturbing that the young players have regressed. They are not responding to Blashill. That is a head scratcher in that he coached a number of them at Grand Rapids

When they took him I got the feeling of Babcock just trying to give the Wings a little dig. It was just kind of an annoying move on there part if nothing else. Now that they haven't played him a minute I think it isn't showing the player much respect. They could have dressed him a couple of games. If I'm Marchenko I wouldn't have many good feelings for Babcock. Kind of reminds me of what Babcock did to Commodor a few yeago

Penguins just got Hainsey. I would guess Smith to the Pens is out now.

For arguments sake I'm going to say we pick in the 4-7 range this year. I have a suspicion we will take Elias Petterson. While he's not my choice I guess I wouldn't throw a fit if we did. He's having too good a year, and Hakan's influence will swing it. Personally I seem to be wavering every week as to who my choice is. The ones I really hope we don't take with our first pick are Tolvanen, Kostin, and maybe Necas.

Good teams font usually fire their coaches. If a coach wants back in he can pick the best of the worst.

I decided it is my Bruin hatred that is clouding my judgement of Julien. We need to get someone that our younger guys will respond to. Blashill is surprisingly not getting anything out of them after having coached most of them at one point. I think he is afraid to step on the old boys toes or something and continues to play them. If we want to go for the playoffs we need a coaching change and Julien is the best option.

Defensively I think we will protect Green, Dekeyser, and Ouellet. They wont take Kronner or Ericsson. That leaves Jensen or Sproul.

I want to believe in Blashill. None of these unemployed coaches intrigue me that much to replace him. BUT. Not one of our players is having a career year. Not one is even having a really good year. Mike Green is doing well. Vanek and Neilson are doing pretty much what should have been expected of them. Zett is doing as well as can be expected but is on the downside of his career. Mantha is doing well but its his first year and nothing to compare to. Our young guys don't seem to be responding to him. Larkin has regressed. Andres seems to fallen out of favour somewhat. That cant be doing much for his confidence. Mrazek has been highly erratic. Marchenko was cut after some promise. Sproul needs to play but it doesn't look like it will happen. Abby has been invisible. Nyquist, Tatar, and Dekeyser are having down years. None of the young ones seem to be responding to Blashill and the system. That worries me a bit.

I think we are going to lose Ryan Sproul. I cant see them taking an expensive goalie like Howard.

If 11 teams passed on him he was close to untradeable. Too bad I had some hopes for him at one time. Oh well The Leafs take on his 1.45 million cap hit. Now Holland has a bit of room to play with

The time has come to sell but it will be difficult to trade with anyone and get draft picks in return. Almost everyone is up against the cap. That means getting back undesirable contracts. Compounding the problem is the expansion draft and teams adding extra players to protect. Trades wont be easy.

If you get the first pick in the right year the rebuild can be almost immediate. That is unlike most other sports. The Oilers and Leafs were nothing until they finally got their men that changed things around. I don't think this year is one of those years and we likely wont pick first anyways. Hopefully we can pick up a couple of pieces to the puzzle. The top two seem set with Patrick and Hischier. For me the next group has Vilardi, Rasmussen, and Tippett. Unless Hakan can sell me on Liljegren, he falls to the next group with Mittelstadt, Necas, and Petterson. After that it will be the defensemen dominating with Foote, Hague, Makar, Valimaki, and Heskainen in no particular order. We have a good shot at picking anyone other than the top two.

I had resigned myself to the fact we sucked and were about to get a high pick. I was looking forward to it. After these last three wins over some excellent teams I cant believe how much better my mood has been. I'm cheering for the wins and we will pick wherever. This draft seems to be all over the board and even the first three picks seem to have question marks. Maybe Nico seems a little more stable than Nolan or Timothy. Wherever we end up I think we could get a good one like Foote, Hague, or Rasmussen. Go Wings

Central Scoutings rankings just came to me over my phone. Liljegren is ranked 7th among the Internationals. Wow that is almost getting to second round material. Klim Kostin is #1? Shoot me if we pick him

With these last two wins we are creeping down the draft board. Maybe Hague, Rasmussen, or Tippett won't be such a stretch for me. They have been my favourites for a while

Yeah that sounds good too. I like your choice of Ruzicka in the second if he lasts

I'm not sold on Liljegren so I kind of hope he is gone before we pick. I liked Hague but maybe that would be an overdraft at #4. I'm going with Tippet or Rasmussen at this point

As of right now I think we are drafting fourth overall. If Patrick, Liljegren, and Hirschier are gone who is your choice?