It's draft week!
Just a few more sleeps till we find out how the Vancouver Canucks will supplement their prospect pool in 2018.
The biggest news on the hockey wire on Monday morning is Dave Tippett signing on as a senior advisor for the potential expansion franchise in Seattle.
I'd originally expected that we'd get the official board of governors approval for the Seattle franchise this week - either at the NHL Awards on Wednesday or the draft on Friday. But the paperwork on the Key Arena renovation is not yet complete, which I assume is the main reason for the holdup. Word came out during the Stanley Cup Final that an announcement is not imminent and will more likely come in the fall or winter. I wonder if that leaves enough time to get the building in hockey shape to meet the original target of starting play in the fall of 2020?
Secondly, we got a no-update update on the status of Barry Trotz as we headed into the weekend:
I was surprised to see this. In the aftermath of the Caps' Stanley Cup win, it seemed like both sides were amenable to bringing Trotz back even though it had long been rumoured that he'd be out the door and assistant coach Todd Reirden would be promoted.
UPDATE:
Elliotte Friedman is now reporting that Trotz and the Caps have agreed to part ways. He's a free agent, effective immediately.
It also sounds like Sheldon Keefe won't be making the jump to Long Island after winning the Calder Cup as coach of the Toronto Marlies.
I'm also waiting on the announcement of the 2018-19 salary cap number, which should come any time. We're expecting a good-sized jump this year. I think that'll create a bit of a seller's market in free agency, but we'll have a better idea how that will all shake down once we see exactly what the final number will be.
So, at this point the biggest news of the day is that Bob McKenzie's Top 93 list is out!
As expected, we see Jesperi Kotkaniemi surge into the top five—and more than ever, the feeling is that he's Montreal's target.
I feel like this is good news for the Canucks, who didn't seem to have Kotkaniemi on their radar in any meaningful way.
This should leave them some options among the group of defensemen—McKenzie has Noah Dobson at six, Evan Bouchard at seven, Quinn Hughes at eight and Adam Boqvist at 10.
I'm curious to see how much wingers Filip Zadina—and, potentially, Brady Tkachuk—will fall. They're both impressive talents, but I feel like even though NHL general managers generally talk about wanting to take the best player available, there's a premium attached to the best centres and the best defensemen, who are believed to be more important cornerstones than the best wingers.
Or, maybe that's just recency bias. In 2017, only four wingers were taken in the entire first round: Owen Tippett by Florida at 10, Kailer Yamamoto by Edmonton at 22, Kristian Vesalainen by Winnipeg at 24 and Eeli Tolvanen by Nashville at 30.
In 2016, eight wingers went in the first round, but four were in the top 10: Patrik Laine at 2, Jesse Puljujarvi at 4, Matthew Tkachuk at 6 and Alex Nylander at 8.
In 2015, 10 wingers went in the first round, but just two in the top 10: Timo Meier to San Jose at 9 and Mikko Rantanen to Colorado at 10. The Canucks, of course, we able to grab Brock Boeser down at 23.
It seems like Andrei Svechnikov has a Patrik Laine-like grip on the second spot but behind him, I wouldn't be surprised to see Zadina and Tkachuk slide down the board. Should the Canucks diverge from their plan if one or both are available in the seven spot?
I've been more impressed by Zadina than Tkachuk. His seven goals at World Juniors certainly caught my attention, as did his good speed and skating. I have also been impressed with how he comes across in interviews. He has worked hard on his English—not an easy thing for Czech kids, who are still taught within an Eastern European school system back home, learning from teachers who are not native English speakers themselves. By all reports, Zadina has a star quality on and off the ice. He says he models his game after Nikita Kucherov—that works for me.
I'm less excited about the prospect of Brady Tkachuk, but he'd probably fit in well with Vancouver's ever-growing crew of American college stars—Boeser, Adam Gaudette and Thatcher Demko. He would bring an element of grit that's in pretty short supply on the Canucks roster, and I suspect he's the kind of player that you like a lot more when he's on your side.
What do you think?
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