Draft Pick Watch - WE PICKED NYLANDER!!1!!

[L K]

If they could grab a guy who can become an elite two-way C I'd be over the moon.  Just looking at a lot of the recent Cup winners...Chicago, LA, Boston...all 3 have a C like that.  Toews has never cracked 76 points or been PPG in a regular season.  Patrice Bergeron's high is 73, 8 years ago.  Kopitar has been close to a PPG at times (81 points in 82 one season) but recently is in the 70-76 point range.

Seems like the most successful teams these days are driven by these types of players - don't have to consistently put up 80-90 points but be a force at both ends.

Hell, my vote for best Leaf of all time (Sundin) was rarely >PPG with the Leafs.  I think the biggest thing about being a star player is more about consistency out of the position.  You need the two-way element out of your #1 (or he needs to be something unique like a punished power forward who can control the play for extended periods of time) but you need more consistency in their offense than a guy who goes off for 3-4 points and then disappears for 5 games at a time.

I would agree with that, although for the record, Sundin was above a PPG for his career as a Leaf.    Was PPG or above 8 of 13 seasons in Toronto and, I don't know if this has ever been mentioned before, but holy crap was he consistent (I'm aware it's been mentioned countless times).

Yeah, I was just being lazy and encompassing +/- a few points as the mark for PPG.  Most of his >PPG seasons were like 83 points in 82 games 76 in 75, 78 in 74.  He had a few bigger seasons but for the most part he hovered in the 70-80 point range.  Absolutely consistent though.  You knew what you were getting from him most nights and that was always good consistent play.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

If they could grab a guy who can become an elite two-way C I'd be over the moon.  Just looking at a lot of the recent Cup winners...Chicago, LA, Boston...all 3 have a C like that.  Toews has never cracked 76 points or been PPG in a regular season.  Patrice Bergeron's high is 73, 8 years ago.  Kopitar has been close to a PPG at times (81 points in 82 one season) but recently is in the 70-76 point range.

Seems like the most successful teams these days are driven by these types of players - don't have to consistently put up 80-90 points but be a force at both ends.

Hell, my vote for best Leaf of all time (Sundin) was rarely >PPG with the Leafs.  I think the biggest thing about being a star player is more about consistency out of the position.  You need the two-way element out of your #1 (or he needs to be something unique like a punished power forward who can control the play for extended periods of time) but you need more consistency in their offense than a guy who goes off for 3-4 points and then disappears for 5 games at a time.

I would agree with that, although for the record, Sundin was above a PPG for his career as a Leaf.    Was PPG or above 8 of 13 seasons in Toronto and, I don't know if this has ever been mentioned before, but holy crap was he consistent (I'm aware it's been mentioned countless times).

Yeah, I was just being lazy and encompassing +/- a few points as the mark for PPG.  Most of his >PPG seasons were like 83 points in 82 games 76 in 75, 78 in 74.  He had a few bigger seasons but for the most part he hovered in the 70-80 point range.  Absolutely consistent though.  You knew what you were getting from him most nights and that was always good consistent play.

Every now and then if you catch yourself forgetting a bit, you look at his stats as a Leaf and just marvel.  Every single season, he was just a workhorse.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Mats! Mats! Mats!  How much we miss you!

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Some of you may be interested in this (I can't fathom putting this together...) - it is a sortable spreadsheet of EVERY player drafted into the NHL between 1963 and 2013: http://theleafsnation.com/2014/5/25/justin-s-nhl-draftbook-2013-1963

 

[Redleaf]

http://read.thestar.com/?origref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.ca%2F#!/article/5383b997ec0691e98c000016-maple-leafs-prepare-for-draft-at-nhl-combine

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/top-two-picks-may-be-available-at-nhl-draft/

One scout aware of multiple offers for the top two picks said, ?The going price to move up into those [first two] spots would be picks ? a high first and a second or third ? and an established player that helps your top two lines.?


I'd offer the 8th overall pick and our 3rd rounder,  along with Lupul. Make sense?

 

[bustaheims]

I'd offer the 8th overall pick and our 3rd rounder,  along with Lupul. Make sense?

Honestly, I don't think the guys at the top end of the draft are valuable to the point where they'd contribute more on their own than the player the Leafs could get at 8 plus whatever they could get from moving Lupul in a separate deal.

 

[ZBBM]

I'd offer the 8th overall pick and our 3rd rounder,  along with Lupul. Make sense?

Honestly, I don't think the guys at the top end of the draft are valuable to the point where they'd contribute more on their own than the player the Leafs could get at 8 plus whatever they could get from moving Lupul in a separate deal.

Hear hear. This draft is one where you will vastly overpay to get a crack at guys who have goodness written all over them.

 

[bustaheims]

Hear hear. This draft is one where you will vastly overpay to get a crack at guys who have goodness written all over them.

Yeah. I mean, if the Leafs can get Nylander or Ehlers at 8, they could very well end up with a player who is basically as good as whoever goes at 1. The guys at the top of this year's draft are very good, but, there isn't a huge separation from the top couple guys and the next few guys like we've seen in other drafts. It's almost like this year's draft starts at the same place as 2nd or 3rd in most other drafts, but makes up for in terms of there being more than 5 guys who could conceivably be top 5 types.

 

[Redleaf]

Hear hear. This draft is one where you will vastly overpay to get a crack at guys who have goodness written all over them.

Yeah. I mean, if the Leafs can get Nylander or Ehlers at 8, they could very well end up with a player who is basically as good as whoever goes at 1.

Of course, no one could know this for sure, so I'll wait and see what the Leafs do on draft day. Historically players chosen first overall generally have had better NHL careers than those that have been chosen at number 8, so there's that.

While not true in every single case, I've always been of the opinion that the team that walks away with the best player in a trade usually wins it. Of course, we won't know how any of these players at the draft pan out for many years to come.

 

[freer]

I got this on another fan page, yesterday.

RUMOUR: Howard Berger is reporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs and The Florida Panthers could be working on a trade that would see the #Leafs send Dion Phaneuf, Nazem Kadri and the 8th overall draft pick to the #Panthers for the 1st overall draft pick and Ed Jovanovski.

Gawd I hope not.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Yeah. I mean, if the Leafs can get Nylander or Ehlers at 8, they could very well end up with a player who is basically as good as whoever goes at 1.

I'd pay a premium to be able to draft a centre like Reinhart or Bennett though. And while their top-end potential might be close to a Nylander or Ehlers, Reinhart and Bennett seem to be more likely to hit theirs.

With that said I'm not sure that premium is Lupul, but I also have no idea what it actually is. I'd prefer to trade him for a top-4 defenceman, but if that can't happen maybe I part with him here. I'd probably be looking to take an extra pick back as opposed to giving up another 3rd though. We could sign a guy like Hemsky who is much better defensively and will probably score at a similar rate to replace him anyway. 

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

I got this on another fan page, yesterday.

RUMOUR: Howard Berger is reporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs and The Florida Panthers could be working on a trade that would see the #Leafs send Dion Phaneuf, Nazem Kadri and the 8th overall draft pick to the #Panthers for the 1st overall draft pick and Ed Jovanovski.

Gawd I hope not.

Yeah, because we're in the business of helping the Florida Panthers.

 

[Redleaf]

I got this on another fan page, yesterday.

RUMOUR: Howard Berger is reporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs and The Florida Panthers could be working on a trade that would see the #Leafs send Dion Phaneuf, Nazem Kadri and the 8th overall draft pick to the #Panthers for the 1st overall draft pick and Ed Jovanovski.

Gawd I hope not.

Yeah, because we're in the business of helping the Florida Panthers.

If management sees Kadri and Phaneuf as part of the problem and Ekblad, for example, as the Leafs future number one defensemen moving forward, than this deal makes sense. It's all about what Nonis, Shanny and the staff believe. Personally, I don't know enough about any of these draft picks to make a call like that so I won't, but if a move like this is made, than I would hope they have done their homework.

 

[Kin]

If management sees Kadri and Phaneuf as part of the problem and Ekblad, for example, as the Leafs future number one defensemen moving forward, than this deal makes sense. It's all about what Nonis, Shanny and the staff believe. Personally, I don't know enough about any of these draft picks to make a call like that so I won't, but if a move like this is made, than I would hope they have done their homework.

I don't think management needs to see them as part of the problem, necessarily, to think that getting the #1 pick in the draft is a rare opportunity that they need to get in on.

 

[Redleaf]

If management sees Kadri and Phaneuf as part of the problem and Ekblad, for example, as the Leafs future number one defensemen moving forward, than this deal makes sense. It's all about what Nonis, Shanny and the staff believe. Personally, I don't know enough about any of these draft picks to make a call like that so I won't, but if a move like this is made, than I would hope they have done their homework.

I don't think management needs to see them as part of the problem, necessarily, to think that getting the #1 pick in the draft is a rare opportunity that they need to get in on.

'Problem' might not be the right word. Lets say Expendable.

 

[L K]

I got this on another fan page, yesterday.

RUMOUR: Howard Berger is reporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs and The Florida Panthers could be working on a trade that would see the #Leafs send Dion Phaneuf, Nazem Kadri and the 8th overall draft pick to the #Panthers for the 1st overall draft pick and Ed Jovanovski.

Gawd I hope not.

Rumor = arbitrary statement made to incite page views
Howard Berger = man living in his mother's basement

I'm torn on the concept of that kind of trade.  It's a terrible trade from a value standpoint.  Kadri's performing as one of the better draft picks in his draft class.  I'm not sure how his value isn't worth a 1st round pick (and a decently high one).  Phaneuf is overpaid but he's still an upper tier defenseman.  What that trade really does is free up a big long cap hit for a team that really hasn't done a good job of managing player salaries.

It would put the Leafs in a bad position for next season though.  I really wouldn't consider them a playoff team but they still wouldn't be one of the 3-4 worst teams in the league to contend for the #1 pick.  Next year really should only be about a clear playoff push or making sure you take a serious shot at Connor McDavid.  Obviously moves can't just be looked at from a 1-season perspective, but I'm not sure that Ekblad is the kind of player that you want to give that much up to acquire.

 

[LittleHockeyFan]

Do it!

Ekblad= all kinds of awesome, I've been lucky enough to watch him play with the Barrie Colts the last couple years. He's for real. And he's 10x better than Phaneuf.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I'm torn on the concept of that kind of trade.  It's a terrible trade from a value standpoint.  Kadri's performing as one of the better draft picks in his draft class.  I'm not sure how his value isn't worth a 1st round pick (and a decently high one).  Phaneuf is overpaid but he's still an upper tier defenseman.  What that trade really does is free up a big long cap hit for a team that really hasn't done a good job of managing player salaries.

It reminds me a little bit of the Joe Thornton trade where the biggest asset Boston got out of the deal was cap space. They used that money to sign Chara though, while we'd probably use a big chunk of it to re-sign Bolland as our 2C.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I'm torn on the concept of that kind of trade.  It's a terrible trade from a value standpoint.  Kadri's performing as one of the better draft picks in his draft class.  I'm not sure how his value isn't worth a 1st round pick (and a decently high one).  Phaneuf is overpaid but he's still an upper tier defenseman.  What that trade really does is free up a big long cap hit for a team that really hasn't done a good job of managing player salaries.

It reminds me a little bit of the Joe Thornton trade where the biggest asset Boston got out of the deal was cap space. They used that money to sign Chara though, while we'd probably use a big chunk of it to re-sign Bolland as our 2C.

Yeah it's not exactly a strong UFA class, so unless you're just banking space for future years...

 

[losveratos]

Do it!

Ekblad= all kinds of awesome, I've been lucky enough to watch him play with the Barrie Colts the last couple years. He's for real. And he's 10x better than Phaneuf.

I realize it's an exaggeration but even then... 10x seems just astronomically silly to me. There isn't a player in the world 10x better than Phanuef at any position. I'd go on the record saying that Gretzky isn't 10x better than Phanuef.

An order of magnitude is an epic amount of additional ability. I'm not sure why people are so hard on the guy. We trade him without an nhl player coming back in the deal and we're a bottom dweller until we probably overpay to fix it or wait until the youngins become men.