Welcome to the Hotstove! As always, I'm your host, Travis Yost.
I kind of wanted to open up a discussion here to talk about some of the better moves made on draft day, but I didn't want to exclude some of the bigger trades made from the conversation. Obviously, a lot of attention has been paid to the big prospects shuffled to various organizations made in the first-round, but a couple of trades deserve their fair share of attention, too.
I thought, without question, the best move during the draft was the one made by Anaheim to land Ryan Kesler. The Ducks were working in a beautiful position negotiating with Vancouver, one where they were able to land a bona fide top-six center at a fraction of the cost, primarily due to Kesler's refusal to go anywhere except Anaheim or Chicago.
There are durability and age regression questions to be had about Kesler, but for a team that is just on the outside looking in when it comes to legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, I thought this move was an excellent one. Kesler, right now, is a second-line center who can shut down the opposition's best. He can be fed brutal zone starts and competition and come away breaking even, which is going to pay huge dividends for the Getzlaf line over the next couple of years.
What I found most fascinating about the trade was the cost at which Kesler was acquired. You knew Vancouver wasn't going to get fair value, but the fact that the biggest name in the deal was Nick Bonino says everything about the trade. Bonino, of course, is coming off of a career year -- I'm highly, highly suspicious he'll ever repeat, as his underlying numbers aren't there to support the percentages he rode during the 2013-2014 season.
Even if you regress Bonino's numbers accordingly, he's still an OK player. The problem is what comes after -- Luca Sbisa's never really put it together for a long stretch at the NHL-level, and the RD1 pick wasn't Ottawa's, but Anaheim's (24th).
Vancouver was getting pennies on the dollar regardless, but you can't help but wonder why they ultimately settled on a guy who got by riding percentages last season, coupled with a fringe NHL'er and a solid, if unspectacular draft pick.
As for the best draft selection of the day, I think it's hard to argue against any of the top picks made in round one. I look at Ivan Barbashev to St. Louis in the second-round as one of my favorite picks of the draft, primarily because I can't figure out why he even fell out of the first-round (well, I could probably guess, but I wouldn't agree with it).
Barbashev tore up the Q last season to the tune of 68 points in 48 games played last year, and for my money, was one of the better two-way forwards coming into this draft. His flashy offensive play is kind of a cherry on top of his general versatility, but I get the questions about him putting it together more consistently.
Either way, I think St. Louis is going to be very, very pleased with their second-round selection this year.