Todd Cordell: On Blackwood, the draft lottery, and Schmidt

Blackwood is 20, he'll be 21 in December.

Would love to pick up Schmidt depending on what else Shero does to address the d-core. I'm still going to be praying to the Hockey Gods that Murray goes full Chiarelli on us and decides to give us Lindholm for Henrique or something dumb like that.

What's your view on Middelstadt? He's a guy I favored for a while, but I haven't heard much hype about him recently.

Its too bad Alabany fell short again, but great game for Blackwood.. I have a vacation cabin just outside Binghamton looking forward to checking them out next year. Thats two days in a row without writing about you know who! Kinda surpised especially since it was revealed earlier he will be skipping Worlds to have knee surgery. Not sure of the extent, it probably does not effect him being able to play next season but it has got to raise some more question marks.

Blackwood is 20, he'll be 21 in December.
- Devils9503

yup, my bad.

Would love to pick up Schmidt depending on what else Shero does to address the d-core. I'm still going to be praying to the Hockey Gods that Murray goes full Chiarelli on us and decides to give us Lindholm for Henrique or something dumb like that.

What's your view on Middelstadt? He's a guy I favored for a while, but I haven't heard much hype about him recently.
- CaptCrankypants

He's not on my radar for a top-5 pick. His 5v5 production isn't as good as it should be.

This is the lottery you absolutely could care less about winning...

This is like winning a 10,000 dollar lottery vs. the last two years which were 10 000 000 dollar lotteries... it's like... well yay, it's 10 grand, but it's nowhere near what getting a top two last year was or top three (had Ari picked Marner rather than Strome) was the near before.

10 000 dollars helps you out a bit, pays off some debts, chips at that troublesome student loan... it's a piece moving forward, but not an absolute treasure (random two teams will get that this year)

Schmidt would be great, but I definitely see them letting Alzner walk and not him.

This is the lottery you absolutely could care less about winning...

This is like winning a 10,000 dollar lottery vs. the last two years which were 10 000 000 dollar lotteries... it's like... well yay, it's 10 grand, but it's nowhere near what getting a top two last year was or top three (had Ari picked Marner rather than Strome) was the near before.

10 000 dollars helps you out a bit, pays off some debts, chips at that troublesome student loan... it's a piece moving forward, but not an absolute treasure (random two teams will get that this year)
- archromat

While Patrick or Hirshier won't be Mcdavid or Matthews, they can probably be compare to Seguin or Mackinnon in terms of they'll be superstars, just not generational.

These draft picks are 17-18 years old . No one knows who will be a mega star pr a AHL player. You pick the best you can and try to develop him

Nate Schmidt is not the answer. Not enough offense , Not enough Defense. Same as Quincey , Lovejoy , Stollery , Mozik , Auvitu , Kapla . We do not need in betweeners who can KIND of rush the puck and KIND of play defense.

TOP 6 picks .
1-Patrick
2-Nico
3- Vilardi
---------- Hopefully we get one of these 3 centers.......

4- TIppett -goal scoring RW
5- Mittlestadt
6-Rasmussen

We do need D men . But You say how long ot took LARSSON to develop. And Merrill still not there. We missed playoffs 5 years in a row. We do not have the luxury of waiting another 3-4 years.

Draft speedy young Offense.
Sign and trade for Defensemen........ Until you are established in the PLayoffs.
Then draft them and stock pile them . Like Goalies.

While Patrick or Hirshier won't be Mcdavid or Matthews, they can probably be compare to Seguin or Mackinnon in terms of they'll be superstars, just not generational.
- Devils9503

MacKinnon? No. MacKinnon led his team to a memorial cup and was MVP after scoring two hat tricks I believe in the tournament. He's a Stamkos/Tavares good player on a horrible team. Patrick was injury riddled all year and had an early start to his career because he's big. His ceiling is up in the air... Button brags Getzlaf, but I have no clue... it's hard to compare him to anyone, because he might have just been a guy that grew faster than the other kids in junior, but he'll top out. The only reason he's #1 this year is because he's already peaked... he's NHL ready. He's what you would get on all teams if the draft age was 20.

This year is like 2014 draft, though... you're picking #8 or #9... there's gonna be some really good guys still on the board, possibly better than Patrick or same ceiling as Hischier but would take a year longer...

That's why winning the lottery isn't huge.

These draft picks are 17-18 years old . No one knows who will be a mega star pr a AHL player. You pick the best you can and try to develop him

Nate Schmidt is not the answer. Not enough offense , Not enough Defense. Same as Quincey , Lovejoy , Stollery , Mozik , Auvitu , Kapla . We do not need in betweeners who can KIND of rush the puck and KIND of play defense.

TOP 6 picks .
1-Patrick
2-Nico
3- Vilardi
---------- Hopefully we get one of these 3 centers.......

4- TIppett -goal scoring RW
5- Mittlestadt
6-Rasmussen

We do need D men . But You say how long ot took LARSSON to develop. And Merrill still not there. We missed playoffs 5 years in a row. We do not have the luxury of waiting another 3-4 years.

Draft speedy young Offense.
Sign and trade for Defensemen........ Until you are established in the PLayoffs.
Then draft them and stock pile them . Like Goalies.
- thechezman

Schmidt is a guy who got scratched on a regular basis for the likes of Alzner and Orpik. He has very good underlying numbers and as far as production goes, without looking it up I'd bet he didn't get much, if any, pp time. He's been one of Washington's best players in the playoffs IMO. At the very least he'd definitely be a big upgrade over John Moore.

MacKinnon? No. MacKinnon led his team to a memorial cup and was MVP after scoring two hat tricks I believe in the tournament. He's a Stamkos/Tavares good player on a horrible team. Patrick was injury riddled all year and had an early start to his career because he's big. His ceiling is up in the air... Button brags Getzlaf, but I have no clue... it's hard to compare him to anyone, because he might have just been a guy that grew faster than the other kids in junior, but he'll top out. The only reason he's #1 this year is because he's already peaked... he's NHL ready. He's what you would get on all teams if the draft age was 20.

This year is like 2014 draft, though... you're picking #8 or #9... there's gonna be some really good guys still on the board, possibly better than Patrick or same ceiling as Hischier but would take a year longer...

That's why winning the lottery isn't huge.
- archromat

Mackinnon had Drouin on his wing and Fucale in goal. If they didn't win, that would of been surprising.

Mackinnon had Drouin on his wing and Fucale in goal. If they didn't win, that would of been surprising.
- Devils9503

And he scored 7 goals and 6 assists on a team that scored 18 goals...

He was going into that draft as a franchise talent.

How Colorado deals with their players is an issue of its own and a mystery. It's no mystery that the team's extremely bad right now and his buried in a lousy environment that doesn't allow him to shine "franchise talent" light, but I don't think any other player in the league gets 70 points on that Avs team right now.

And he scored 7 goals and 6 assists on a team that scored 18 goals...

He was going into that draft as a franchise talent.

How Colorado deals with their players is an issue of its own and a mystery. It's no mystery that the team's extremely bad right now and his buried in a lousy environment that doesn't allow him to shine "franchise talent" light, but I don't think any other player in the league gets 70 points on that Avs team right now.
- archromat

Yes, but franchise is not generational, is what I was getting at. Great player, but not on the same level. Patrick and Hirchier will be great players, whether that's superstar or franchise is yet to be seen. Don't forget people thought Jones was gonna be picked 1st overall that year.

I don't have the words to express how happy I am that for the first time in a decade I don't care what happens in the draft lottery.

I don't have the words to express how happy I am that for the first time in a decade I don't care what happens in the draft lottery.
- TheTaoOfSemenko

You could root for us, you guys seem to get the lotto luck. Maybe Hall will continue his lotto track record.

kinda hope we win the lotto

You could root for us, you guys seem to get the lotto luck. Maybe Hall will continue his lotto track record.
- smellmyfinger

Go Devil's!

kinda hope we win the lotto
- MartysBetter88

Would be nice.

Go Devil's!
- TheTaoOfSemenko

Thank you sir

Lets go !!!!

Lets go !!!!
- blizzzard

Everything above #8 is bonus.

Everything above #8 is bonus.
- smellmyfinger

Oh poop

Oh poop
- rmdevil313

(frank) YEAH WOOO