Anyone think that if ever we WERE to finally just have a dreadful season, next season would be the one to do it? Get a high pick, trade UFAs-to-be Arnott and Sullivan for young talent at the deadline, and set ourselves up for the next ten years?
Anyone think that if ever we WERE to finally just have a dreadful season, next season would be the one to do it? Get a high pick, trade UFAs-to-be Arnott and Sullivan for young talent at the deadline, and set ourselves up for the next ten years?
I hope not. means we probably lose our head coach and half of our fanbase
Skinner is falling in all the mock drafts I've been reading. If he falls to the Preds, do we take him?
Depends on who else is available at the time...
Skinner has great goal scoring numbers (70 this season alone - regular season and playoffs combined) and fantastic puck skills, but has a knack floating, but doesn't really have any other outstanding qualities. The two biggest things hurting Skinner's draft stock are is size (5'11", 187) and his lack of speed...things that aren't likely to change much...
Don't get me wrong, Skinner is a straight up goal-scorer and that is definitely a need for the organization, however as a one dimensional goal-scoring center...I'm not so sure that he's going to necessarily be the highest rated player on our draft board when our pick comes around...personally though, I think he'll be gone by #18...
If there isn't a sexy forward to pick in the 18 spot I would be the first one to say call Boston and see if they would trade their 2 2nds (And greedily their 3rd) for Nashville's first. (Remember by THN's math 3 2nds = the value of a 1st based on the probability of the players making the NHL)
I hope not. means we probably lose our head coach and half of our fanbase
It's going to happen at some point, though, and I think it's beneficial to the franchise on the whole. What's the alternative? We squeak into 7th or 8th, and *hopefully* make it out of the first round? Or worse, we just barely miss the playoffs, and are rewarded with both a mediocre season and a mediocre mid-first draft pick, and in doing so lose what could have been valuable trading chips in Arnott and Sullivan for nothing? At that point, we have holes to fill, and not a lot in the pipeline to be excited about in terms of scoring, still limited by an internal budget(more than ever, given that we'll likely have Weber\Suter on fat new contracts). How do you think another 5\6 years of being "pretty good" will suit the fanbase, and in turn the coaching staff?
A small market franchise in a salary cap driven sport has to go through a bit "controlled burn" at some point. The fact that we've never had a season bad enough to put us in the top 4 or 5 and in a position to grab a marquee talent is starting to catch up with us--especially when you see the role that Kane and Toews played in the Blackhawks' cup run. There was a time that our future looked as good, if not better than theirs..and a couple of bad seasons later, they didn't jump by us, they leapt. And it's not like their core is expensive FA signings. Hossa and Campbell have big contracts, but they were complementary players on this team. The guys that made the difference...Kane, Toews, Seabrook, Keith, even Byfuglien...are all homegrown. Patrick Sharp was a minor deal made for Jim Vandemeer of all people, after never quite reaching his stride in the Philly organization. Conversely, you look at our cupboard...it's comparatively bare, in terms of top end talent. We have some promising defensive prospects, a decent collection of forwards that might top out as second liners...but continue to lack a gamebreaking forward. We'll never be able to go out and sign one, and the closest we came to drafting one is currently neighbors with Sarah Palin and may or may not ever come back. Will a bad season have a negative impact on the fanbase? Probably...but I think we're fooling ourselves if we think that another first-round exit didn't put a damper on season ticket sales\renewals. In fact, I know for certain that sales are slower than they were a year ago--despite overall improvement in the economic climate. On the other hand...a bad season or two, and we could be looking at having a Stamkos of our own. If we can turn some of the older, overpaid veterans into rebuilding chips along the way...all the better.
Here's the God's honest truth. I can usually see what the Preds are going to pick up in the draft. Wilson was easy, he meet the needs and profile, same with Pickard, Vokoun was traded and Nashville needed a starting goalie in the pipeline to replace him. R. Ellis was a tongue in cheek pick for me but frankly he met the profile, offensive defenseman with a booming point shot.
This year, I have no ****ing idea. The cupboard is stocked with players. Nashville NEEDS as top goal scorer to go with the forward depth. Defense needs some cheap depth. Not A level defenseman but B level to be good but not be expensive to suck up precious cap space. Goal is stocked, Nashville could draft a late round Junior prospect simply because of the time needed to develop said player and by that time comes the goal depth chart will be corrected.
What I expect Nashville to pick up:
Above average Defenseman depth.
Late round Junior Goalie who will need 2-3 years to get to Milwaukee.
Picks for next year.
First round is interesting because the forwards look good not great. Lots of A-/B+ talent, no true OMGs like a Crosby and Ovy. (Hall and Seguin are nice but not the Level of talent that Crosby and Ovy are)
No player screams to me like the players above. That's why I'm thinking Nashville is going to trade the 1st if a quality player is not there at #18 or there are multiple players Nashville wants and thinks they can get in lower picks. Skinner seems interesting to me, same with Etem, I'm not sure about Watson, he doesn't scream at me. The trade to Peterbrough was a blessing to him. I see a lot of "Oh that's nice" not a "Yes, that is a Nashville player."
If Nashville were to trade the pick to Boston for their 2 2nds (#32, #45) I could see it. Fenton was quoted as saying the Preds would not be against gaining more picks. I could also see the Preds making trades for picks next year. Most are saying next year's draft is average compared to this year but as I have commented before. Poile can draft the hell out of kids in crappy drafts. The 1999 being the prime example; Hall, Hutchinson, Erat, Andersson to a degree.
I'll be honest, I have no friggin idea what the Preds will do, but I'm not all that worried.
From the 1999 draft only Erat is still in the NHL contributing and was the only major contributer to our roster.
Poile has only had a handful of great picks. Weber, Erat, Hornqvist and Rinne all come to mind.
I brought a similar comment to a thread around last year's draft that Poile's drafting is severely overrated, both inside and outside of the organization, and was pretty much lynched. His track record in late rounds is more impressive than in the first three, and outside of "accidents" found in later rounds, he's struggled his entire career to draft and cultivate offensive talent. His record in the first two rounds drafting non-defensemen, going back to his time with the Capitals, is alarming.
And it was really a miracle to get ANY NHL players out of that draft.
The badness of that draft is somewhat overstated, though. If you look at the first round, the bust quotient is huge, yes...but we're not the only teams that found a good player in a later round. Some examples of non-first round picks from that draft:
Niclas Havelid
Niklas Hagman
Mike Comrie
Radim Vrbata
Henrik Zetterberg
Ryan Malone
Jordan Leopold
Mike Commodore
Chris Kelly
Ryan Miller
Craig Anderson
Taylor Pyatt
Jeff Finger
Michael Leighton
That's actually pretty decent, if you compare it head to head with many of the drafts in recent times that have had long enough to allow players to "pan out." Is it 2003? No, but few drafts ever will be. The amount of NHL talent culled from the 1999 draft is pretty solid, it's just that it came from unexpected places.
As for Erat, I still clearly remember his "prospect" status before the draft. He wasn't an unknown...and in fact, I remember seeing him as high as the second\third round. However, after he broke his leg in Red Deer pretty severely, his stock plummeted. Credit goes to Poile for taking a no-risk flyer in the seventh round, but it's not like he plucked some diamond out of the rough. It was a gamble(if you call a seventh round pick a gamble) that paid out.
The badness of that draft is somewhat overstated, though. If you look at the first round, the bust quotient is huge, yes...but we're not the only teams that found a good player in a later round. Some examples of non-first round picks from that draft:
Niclas Havelid
Niklas Hagman
Mike Comrie
Radim Vrbata
Henrik Zetterberg
Ryan Malone
Jordan Leopold
Mike Commodore
Chris Kelly
Ryan Miller
Craig Anderson
Taylor Pyatt
Jeff Finger
Michael Leighton
That's actually pretty decent, if you compare it head to head with many of the drafts in recent times that have had long enough to allow players to "pan out." Is it 2003? No, but few drafts ever will be. The amount of NHL talent culled from the 1999 draft is pretty solid, it's just that it came from unexpected places.
As for Erat, I still clearly remember his "prospect" status before the draft. He wasn't an unknown...and in fact, I remember seeing him as high as the second\third round. However, after he broke his leg in Red Deer pretty severely, his stock plummeted. Credit goes to Poile for taking a no-risk flyer in the seventh round, but it's not like he plucked some diamond out of the rough. It was a gamble(if you call a seventh round pick a gamble) that paid out.
if leighton/finger/and anderon are on your list of talent out of a draft...i would say it was a pretty rough draft. only 2 stars on your list.
if leighton/finger/and anderon are on your list of talent out of a draft...i would say it was a pretty rough draft. only 2 stars on your list.
How many drafts are loaded with stars outside the first round? This is pretty much par for the course, especially when you consider that the first round DID produce the Sedins, Martin Havlat, Barrett Jackman, and Tim Connolly.
I'm just saying...getting Erat and a bunch of guys that have either been cup of coffee in the NHL or have only managed to stay up on weaker teams(Hall) shouldn't be used in an argument to boast about Poile's drafting acumen.
yeah, but he seems like a big tough nasty d-man. shut down kinda guy. mean. i like it
Mean nasty and ugly is nice, like a ribbon on a present but if Nashville drafts a defenseman in the first round I want a guy who can play defense. Reading the thread and some of the scouting reports his basement is Wade Belak and his ceiling is Probert.
I'd rather have a goal scoring forward or trade for more picks.
How many drafts are loaded with stars outside the first round? This is pretty much par for the course, especially when you consider that the first round DID produce the Sedins, Martin Havlat, Barrett Jackman, and Tim Connolly.
I'm just saying...getting Erat and a bunch of guys that have either been cup of coffee in the NHL or have only managed to stay up on weaker teams(Hall) shouldn't be used in an argument to boast about Poile's drafting acumen.
strange seeing jackman in the same sentence.
i dont think anyone was bragging about poile's drafting in respects to erat. but if you want to, like you said, they did take the chance on him that no one else did. there arent too many teams that pick winners late in drafts at all, and poile had done it with a few. not saying he is a god, but cant say he is terrible either. i am fine with how he has drafted, especially with our draft positions. kind of coming around on the idea of tanking for a year, letting arnott/sullivan go, get a lottery pick, and sign a star with the remainder after weber and suter.
