McLeod may be a safer bet than Brown, (I'd argue Brown is a pretty safe pick though), but we really need to start taking some homerun swings. There's only so many middle six two way forwards you can ice. Including our NHL team, AHL team and prospect pool outside of Zacha we really don't have anyone with true 1st line potential. Gotta start taking some risks on guys with that potential or get used to picking in the 10-15 range for a long time.
- Mr.Bobby

Looking at the names in my comment and thinking of line combinations I thought well we have our middle 6 / bottom 9 pretty well filled out for the near future, now if we can just somehow find a way to ice a true 1st line and we will be set lol.

The other thing I realize when looking at who we have I just don't see where Elias (as much as I like him for another year) fits on the roster. We have plenty of LW and Centers and are slim at RW.

I like the idea of Elias next to Zacha but I also think Zacha next to someone fast and creative like Blandisi or Quenneville would be tough for teams to defend against. Put Blandisi - Zacha - and someone like Yakupov on a line. Man if we could get Yak, we could ice something like this in the near future:

Camm - Rico - Palmieri
Blandisi - Zacha - Yakupov
Boucher - Quenneville - Bennet/UFA
Kalinin - Zajac - DSP

or

Rico - Zacha - Palmieri
Camm - Quenneville - Yakupov
Blandisi - Zajac - Bennet/UFA
Boucher - Kalinin/JJ - DSP

Looking at the names in my comment and thinking of line combinations I thought well we have our middle 6 / bottom 9 pretty well filled out for the near future, now if we can just somehow find a way to ice a true 1st line and we will be set lol.
- TRDevil

That's what you wind up with when you have had one top 5 pick since the early 90's and you don't take a risk on the upside guy.

Listen Q, Zacha and McLeod are all fine prospects who probably have NHL careers ahead of them, but they were frustrating picks because they were picked instead of the guy who could address organizational needs.

Q over Lemieux. We have no snipers, yet Lemieux had 106 goals in 209 OHL games and has started his AHL career with 2 goals in 5 games.

Zacha over Provorov. This one is a real head scratcher, how are we at puck moving defenders? Provorov is an elite option there. Everyone drooled at Q's fantastic goal last year, but it's easy to forget the guy who made a 140 foot outlet pass to him on the fly was Provorov.

McLeod over Brown. I'll let this one be, but I really think this one is going to sting in a few years.

Take a risk on a guy with star potential, or be loaded with safe two way forwards.

That being said, we draft exceptionally in the second round, and the more I look at Bastian the more I think they drafted really well in the second again.

The other thing I realize when looking at who we have I just don't see where Elias (as much as I like him for another year) fits on the roster. We have plenty of LW and Centers and are slim at RW.

I like the idea of Elias next to Zacha but I also think Zacha next to someone fast and creative like Blandisi or Quenneville would be tough for teams to defend against. Put Blandisi - Zacha - and someone like Yakupov on a line. Man if we could get Yak, we could ice something like this in the near future:

Camm - Rico - Palmieri
Blandisi - Zacha - Yakupov
Boucher - Quenneville - Bennet/UFA
Kalinin - Zajac - DSP

or

Rico - Zacha - Palmieri
Camm - Quenneville - Yakupov
Blandisi - Zajac - Bennet/UFA
Boucher - Kalinin/JJ - DSP
- TRDevil

I really want to see a Blandisi-JJ-Kalinin 4th line next year. I think that puts each of those guys in a position to excel instead of our 4th line being league worst.

Blandisi has decent size, speed, he's an agitator and doesn't shy away from physical play. I see him as a real nice Ryan Carter replacement.

The other thing I realize when looking at who we have I just don't see where Elias (as much as I like him for another year) fits on the roster. We have plenty of LW and Centers and are slim at RW.

I like the idea of Elias next to Zacha but I also think Zacha next to someone fast and creative like Blandisi or Quenneville would be tough for teams to defend against. Put Blandisi - Zacha - and someone like Yakupov on a line. Man if we could get Yak, we could ice something like this in the near future:

Camm - Rico - Palmieri
Blandisi - Zacha - Yakupov
Boucher - Quenneville - Bennet/UFA
Kalinin - Zajac - DSP

or

Rico - Zacha - Palmieri
Camm - Quenneville - Yakupov
Blandisi - Zajac - Bennet/UFA
Boucher - Kalinin/JJ - DSP
- TRDevil

Slow down with Q. He's still a good year, maybe two away from cracking the NHL. Now that the draft is over, our chances of landing yak are slim to none. Let's give patty one more year. It'll be really good for zacha's development.

Slow down with Q. He's still a good year, maybe two away from cracking the NHL. Now that the draft is over, our chances of landing yak are slim to none. Let's give patty one more year. It'll be really good for zacha's development.
- rawwdogg88

Also with an abundance of cap room he's a no risk signing, and playing him doesn't hurt anyones development considering there are sure to be some injuries.

McLeod may be a safer bet than Brown, (I'd argue Brown is a pretty safe pick though), but we really need to start taking some homerun swings. There's only so many middle six two way forwards you can ice. Including our NHL team, AHL team and prospect pool outside of Zacha we really don't have anyone with true 1st line potential. Gotta start taking some risks on guys with that potential or get used to picking in the 10-15 range for a long time.
- Mr.Bobby

who would have been a homerun swing there? Bellows? Gauthier?

who would have been a homerun swing there? Bellows? Gauthier?
- Senor_Elias

Trading up and getting Keller, I think we all pretty much knew he was going before 11, or standing pat and taking Brown. Brown has more risk than McLeod, but the potential reward is much higher as well, the reason he shot up the rankings is he was rapidly improving throughout the year.

I didn't really pay too much attention to these guys too much before the draft honestly. I can only handle so many scratchy youtube videos with over excited announcers that sound like they drank a gallon of Tim Horton's before picking up the mic.

There is nothing we can do about it now, but watching the highlight reels post selection, I like Mcleod over Brown anyway. Mcleod has a higher potential in my opinion, I think Brown relies on his size too much which might not carry over to the next level. He looks pretty average just big to me. He could be a total bust, John Scott 2.0.

I feel better about the future of this team today than I did last year at this time of the year.

Zacha - Quennville - Mcleod - Bastian - Wood - Speers - Blandisi - Boucher - Kujawinski + at least one of the other 3/4/5 rounders that might evolve into something we actually have some kids in the cupboard at forward. Another year of this and a few big trades we might have something to talk about.

The moves were mundane to a point the last two days but we still have all of our pieces and added some speed and size.
- TRDevil

John Scott never had the projections that brown does. Scott made it to the NHL with his fighting abilities.

John Scott never had the projections that brown does. Scott made it to the NHL with his fighting abilities.
- shvingter88

I know, I was being facetious.

Trading up and getting Keller, I think we all pretty much knew he was going before 11, or standing pat and taking Brown. Brown has more risk than McLeod, but the potential reward is much higher as well, the reason he shot up the rankings is he was rapidly improving throughout the year.
- Mr.Bobby

I would've loved to have done that but who knows what the asking price was to move up from 11 to 7 and its not like Shero knew who was going to be picked 6-10