elias2600

Nice post. I'm with you. Lots of people are ready to write Lou and everything he has done for this team off (or at least slag him off) based on one or two decisions they don't agree with (some of which we don't know the full outcome of yet) .

Just making my opinion known in that I'm not suggesting that's what we should do either (trade down). I'm just saying that it's a possibility that will happen (which our draft history supports). Therefore, I thought it would be useful to discuss who we think we should take in that case. at 14/15 area I could see us looking at Wennberg, maybe taking Lazar (his draft rankings vary drastically, and sometimes players like that get taken on the high end of their ranking). Rychel is also interesting, but is geneally ranked around 20. Those are all forwards, which we need now (and drafting for now is not great), but considering last year we took mostly forwards intentionally, maybe they just go BPA at 14/15. Could we see a goalie like Fucale?

If the Devils win the lottery, I think they'll take Jones. The only way that doesn't happen if they don't believe he is the best prospect in the whole draft, or if Jones publicly pulls a Lindros before hand. Let's say they want Barkov more than anyone and they have #1, I wouldn't be surprised if they just take Barkov at #1.

I think they would be willing to consider trading down if there are multiple people available that they like equally, or someone specific they think will still be available later. We've seen this in the past, and Lou has explicitly said that was their strategy, so why not again? The thing I want to clarify is that I do not believe they would trade down until their time to pick (not before draft day). It would be highly dependent on who is still available around the time their pick comes around.

I wouldn't be surprised if we trade down from our spot (if we don't get #1). I could see that happening to acquire more picks in later rounds (an extra 2nd or replace our missing third) I believe we only have 1,2,4, and 6 round picks this year. That's not very good considering we only picked 5 times last year. Anyway, imagine we do trade down, let's say 5 spots to 14 area. Who would we target there? Wennberg?

If we won the lottery, I would probably just take whoever the scouting staffs likes the most, regardless of position. If that's Seth Jones, then I'm okay with that. I don't think you want to be short sighted when picking #1. That said, if we did have the top pick, I wouldn't be adverse to trading down a few spots either. It depends on the return though. In 2002, the return was the option to swap positions in the first round the following year. We would obviously have no interest in that since there wouldn't be a pick to swap. I also don't see us trading a #1 pick away when the draft is in our home building though. I am sure management is aware that they just had a great fan response this season in terms of turn out and ticket sales, and wouldn't want to lose that excitement following a heartbreaking turn for the worse this season. Then again, this team usually does what's best for the team and not the fans, so....

If he sticks with the NJD roster, having a guy with moves, skills, and release like his is helpful in the shootout. We lost such a great shootout guy in Parise, so there will be a hole to fill there.

I liked him when he first arrived at Ottawa, and then things went downhill for him from there. Hopefully he's still got that potential that he showed early on. Not a world beater signing, but definitely something we needed, even if he ends up in the AHL.

Hall of Fame goalies aren't cheap boys. I'm just happy he's back.

The new rule places additional trapezoids along the boards where Zubrai (plural of Zubrus) are not allowed to play the puck.

I think the devils did a pretty decent job attempting to reach their specific goals for this draft. As an interview with Conte shows, it wasn't their goal on the second day to always go after BPA. He said they identified more specific things that they wanted, and generated multiple lists based on those things. I have a feeling that's how a player like Thomson is picked where he was. Devils wanted more size and toughness, and clearly he was high on their list of big tough guys. It feels like we ended up with two guys in the vein of big and tough, Matteau and Thomson. They are both sort of a poor mans Tom Wilson, who was drafted much earlier than we picked. Clearly this is something the scouting staff wanted to address. Matteau I think has other abilities that Wilson doesnt though, allowing him to become a useful player even if he doesnt reach his max potential (which I am guessing is probably something like a David Clarkson from this season). Wilson is more boom or goon, where I think Matteau is boom or bottom six utility player. I like the selection of Severson, even though there were plenty of attractive options still available, I think at this point in the second round with the way things fell, they stuck with a BPA mentality based on our scouts list. Certainly Shore or Zharkov, or one of many other players would have also made sense here, but we've got to trust the scouting staff, and from 24hrs of perspective, it looks like they got someone different from other dmen in our system. I am interested to see what happens with some of the remaining picks. If one of Johnson, Black, Kerfoot, or Gavrus pans out, I'll be happy. Typically we grab clear bottom six limited potential players during these rounds. While some of these guys may develop into NHL bottom six guys eventually (which is fine), I think they all could have untapped offensive potential, which isn't always the case with 3rd round picks and later. Johnson - probably most potential from this group of four to continue developing. He will most likely get a bigger role in Windsor next year, which should help immensely. Gavrus - could be a steal if he stays healthy. Not really his fault he was cheap shotted twice last year. Black - A late bloomer who has potential to surprise some people and climb our depth charts, or fade away without anyone noticing. Kerfoot - I'm hoping he'll head to college. This seems like a smart kid with some playmaking potential. Would like to see what he can do in NCAA, and give him more time to develop. More thoughts about the other picks: Matteau - I am not down on this pick, though it was sort of a shock that we actually picked him (even though we knew where he was ranked). I think this kid has tools in his toolbox to adapt his game depending on how his development goes. I don't think he is strictly boom or bust. I see his potential outcome fitting into buckets best to worst: 2nd line power forward -> bottom six utility/heady player -> 4th line Steve bernier role -> total goon/bust I think realistically we're looking at the second bucket, but if his offense takes off, or his ability to make space for linemates translates to pro level, he could slot into the top 6. Severson - all round d with a focus on offense and puck-moving sounds good to me. Off the jump it sounds like Burlon, or a player on the devils might be Andy Greene. It seems like Severson will have more size than either of those players, and if his goal is to become the next Shea Weber, I don't have a problem with him striving towards that goal. Thomson - to me this is closest thing we have to a total boom or bust pick. he shows he has some offensive tools, and like black, just might be a late bloomer. I will be watching his progress in Kitchener to see how he develops. Maybe being drafted will be a kick in the rear that this once passed over player needs to spur his drive to continue to improve.

I have a similar trending feeling, but it depends on what is available at our pick. It might be a worthwhile risk depending on what's there.

Maybe talking about us drafting Malcolm, since they apparently have similar outgoing personalities.

probably 5 spots at the most.

BPA, please.

For those looking to watch tonight, according to TG, here are the TV details. Tonight NBC Sports Network: 7pm to 9pm NHL Draft round 1 (picks 1 through 15 or so) NHL Network and CBC: 9pm to End of round 1 Tomorrow NHL Network: 10am rounds 2 through 7.

+1 BPA with the early pick(s) is the way to go. We'll address depth with the later picks.

Wow. Debbie Downer.

It's not too late. 4 wins are required for a KO. Last I checked, they don't have that many.

Oh well. Can't expect to win a game by giving away breakaways in OT. It looked like Marty lost his footing on that one, but really, was nice patience by Kopitar. Could have won if we buried our chances. At least test Quick with those chances. The good news is that we can play with these guys.

Would I be a fool if I bought some tickets off of stubhub within the next couple days for game 5, 7, or both? I was out of town the past couple days and didn't have access to the pre-sale. I don't anticipate the prices for those games will get much better, but maybe I'm wrong. I'm willing to pay if it's the best way.

seems likely. Refs saw rupp was out to do some damage, and had their eye on him. Anything over the line was going be a call.

I thought the whole thing was blown out of proportion. Refs did a good job diffusing it, but it didn't seem like a fiasco to me.

It seemed like the devils figured out how to get good opportunities in Game 2, and then in game 3 they decided to go back to wasnt working. I feel like I just watched game 1 again. Both games I feel the final score does not reflect the balance of play. however, that's hockey. Quick swings of momentum can be cruel, and that's what's happened.

Devils are outplaying the rangers for 75-80% of the games so far. It's tough to take that they are behind 2-1, but we all knew going in that defense wins championships. This is the balancing factor that the rangers have had on their side so far.