What to do with #2?

[nessus]

I am the furthest thing from a "Failure Fitz" guy, but there's just one thing that makes me wonder. The things Kent Hughes said at the draft made it seem like Montreal actually was undecided about the 1OA pick until the last possible day. He said something like "we decided on Slafkovsky Wednesday morning, but wanted him to meet with ownership on Thursday (literally draft day) just to be sure". Compare that to the last draft where it was close (2017), where Shero said something along the lines of "we entertained trades, but at the end of the day we didn't want to leave round 1 without Nico". 

I do believe that Fitz's draft board was 1. Slaf, 2. Nemec. But I think Slaf was ahead of him by a considerable margin. I also think Fitz must have known that Montreal was between Slaf and Wright, and that their preference for one over the other was not that significant. You really wonder if a trade to swap picks was discussed to any extent. In that scenario, Montreal gets an asset to allow NJ to pick one of 2 players who MTL sees as about even. NJ gets the player who fits perfectly with their future, and is by far their preferred player.

Obviously all of this is conjecture, and maybe the price to move up would have been too high, but it really seems like a good opportunity could have been there. And maybe NJ was even higher on Nemec than we thought.

I will say, though, that Montreal probably is less likely to move the first overall pick in their own building, which certainly contributes. And also, the fact that they had the media leaking hints that Wright may not be the pick may suggest that they were more sure than they led on.

[Devil Dan 56]

25 minutes ago, nessus said:

I am the furthest thing from a "Failure Fitz" guy, but there's just one thing that makes me wonder. The things Kent Hughes said at the draft made it seem like Montreal actually was undecided about the 1OA pick until the last possible day. He said something like "we decided on Slafkovsky Wednesday morning, but wanted him to meet with ownership on Thursday (literally draft day) just to be sure". Compare that to the last draft where it was close (2017), where Shero said something along the lines of "we entertained trades, but at the end of the day we didn't want to leave round 1 without Nico". 

I do believe that Fitz's draft board was 1. Slaf, 2. Nemec. But I think Slaf was ahead of him by a considerable margin. I also think Fitz must have known that Montreal was between Slaf and Wright, and that their preference for one over the other was not that significant. You really wonder if a trade to swap picks was discussed to any extent. In that scenario, Montreal gets an asset to allow NJ to pick one of 2 players who MTL sees as about even. NJ gets the player who fits perfectly with their future, and is by far their preferred player.

Obviously all of this is conjecture, and maybe the price to move up would have been too high, but it really seems like a good opportunity could have been there. And maybe NJ was even higher on Nemec than we thought.

I will say, though, that Montreal probably is less likely to move the first overall pick in their own building, which certainly contributes. And also, the fact that they had the media leaking hints that Wright may not be the pick may suggest that they were more sure than they led on.

I think most of that lines up, but I don’t think there was any way Montreal was going to pass on the opportunity to make that #1 pick in their building. 

Edited July 9, 2022 by Devil Dan 56

[xxchaznjxx]

I don't think MTL had any plans on trading that 1OA once they had the Dach trade lined up.

 

[mfitz804]

3 hours ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

Here’s our 7th rounder hitting our almost-first rounder

Man, dude got his bell rung. 

[Guadana]

On 7/8/2022 at 10:59 PM, DevsMan84 said:

From the same GM who panicked when Rangers took Schneider and didn't know Hammond was injured, I believe this 100%.

Failure Fitz seems to have a lot of trouble when things don't go 100% according to plan and often looks rattled/unprepared when they do.

He's an RFA lol.

 Its a lie he failed and panicked because they scout amirov and had three picks. And Schneider could be picked much earlier easily. This is how draft works. And even didn't take a pause or more minutes. Why this narrative doesn't stop is pretty interesting question. 

Edited July 10, 2022 by Guadana

[Guadana]

19 hours ago, nessus said:

I am the furthest thing from a "Failure Fitz" guy, but there's just one thing that makes me wonder. The things Kent Hughes said at the draft made it seem like Montreal actually was undecided about the 1OA pick until the last possible day. He said something like "we decided on Slafkovsky Wednesday morning, but wanted him to meet with ownership on Thursday (literally draft day) just to be sure". Compare that to the last draft where it was close (2017), where Shero said something along the lines of "we entertained trades, but at the end of the day we didn't want to leave round 1 without Nico". 

I do believe that Fitz's draft board was 1. Slaf, 2. Nemec. But I think Slaf was ahead of him by a considerable margin. I also think Fitz must have known that Montreal was between Slaf and Wright, and that their preference for one over the other was not that significant. You really wonder if a trade to swap picks was discussed to any extent. In that scenario, Montreal gets an asset to allow NJ to pick one of 2 players who MTL sees as about even. NJ gets the player who fits perfectly with their future, and is by far their preferred player.

Obviously all of this is conjecture, and maybe the price to move up would have been too high, but it really seems like a good opportunity could have been there. And maybe NJ was even higher on Nemec than we thought.

I will say, though, that Montreal probably is less likely to move the first overall pick in their own building, which certainly contributes. And also, the fact that they had the media leaking hints that Wright may not be the pick may suggest that they were more sure than they led on.

Wright wasn't a bpa on three teams list. Even Arizona drafted another center. We can't name it "drafted for needs". Slaf is very great player, but I believe they could ask something like Holtz or Mercer. And you wouldnt trade two potential top 6/top 4 players for one potential top 6 player.  That realy sad we didn't draft Slaf. But I hope we will compensate it after Tkachuk will sign one year deal and will go to the FA market. I like Slaf skating better, and his playmaking is better. But we can't have every sweet candies.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Guadana

[SterioDesign]

Interesting.

Quote

 

According to insider Elliotte Friedman, a lot of teams including the Canadiens, Devils and Coyotes felt that Shane Wright had a “bad” attitude which caused him to drop to fourth overall in the NHL Entry Draft.

They also mentioned that many teams questioned Wright's «work ethic» at the scouting combine, citing some believe he may not have the same passion NHL scouts look for.

Teams pushed Wright to answer why he chose not to play overseas during the pandemic, as they believe this contributed to the lack of development in his draft year.

 

 

[Nicomo]

Yeah, I’ve definitely seen some speculation about him being a bad interview. He was already kind of an unexciting #1OA to begin with, so I don’t really blame the teams at the top for passing on him. 

[Devil Dan 56]

8 hours ago, Nicomo said:

Yeah, I’ve definitely seen some speculation about him being a bad interview. He was already kind of an unexciting #1OA to begin with, so I don’t really blame the teams at the top for passing on him. 

Imagine how that must feel having one of the top picks and seeing this kid with talent and then interviewing him and realizing he might be a dud mentally