NHL '14/'15 Thread
- Thread starter Jagger69
- Start date
- Status
Edmonton wins the McDavid sweepstakes. This means for the 4th time in 6 years, the Oilers will pick #1 overall. They still need a goalie, a defenceman & they better add a babysitter for this bunch of talented kids. Buffalo falls to #2 & will probably pick Jack Eichel, a very talented American kid. Grapes was right. He said the hockey Gods would get the Sabres for firing Ted Nolan. Phoenix picks #3 & the Leafs pick #4.
God, I hope Babcock doesn't leave The Wings! Your have a great franchise, but a fan base that demands a ton. He would be the guy, but rebuilding is a tough job.
I would like to see Babcock stay in Detroit. It's a good fit there. However, the lure of winning a Stanley Cup in Toronto may lure Babcock out of Detroit.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
We'll see what the addition of McDavid does for Edmonton. Hall, Nugent-Hopkins and Yakupov haven't exactly moved the needle much but I think McDavid is a premium prospect head-and-shoulders above the other three so we'll see what happens. He should be a great centerpiece around which to build but they have to have the right players around him and the right leadership and management to make it work. Good luck to them.
What the fuck. Edmonton doesn't deserve another #1 to ruin. Fuck it. At least they won't ruin one of the more promising Yanks in a while.
So, I don't really understand this "Edmonton doesn't deserve another #1 pick" train that so many people (the media included) are on. The entire premise of the first overall pick is that it should go to the worst teams in the league. That's why the team with the worst record has the best odds of getting it...
And I don't think that Connor McDavid can be ruined.
And it's not like we "ruined" Nugent-Hopkins, Hall, or Yakupov (our other #1 picks). Yakupov was one of the hottest players in the NHL after Todd Nelson took over as the interim head coach and put him and Derek Roy (whom I really hope we re-sign) on a line together (and prior to that Yakupov had been so poorly utilized by our earlier bonehead coaches) and tied for the rookie scoring title his rookie season, Hall was in the top ten in scoring last season (tied for sixth, in fact) and put up 50 points in 45 games during the shortened season the year before that, and Nugent-Hopkins just had a great season and made the All-Star team this year and was a nominee for the Calder Trophy his rookie season after tying for the rookie scoring lead despite missing a good number of games. All three were the consensus first overall choice (even Hall, which was the year that it came down to him or Tyler Seguin). The notion that we "ruined" our first overall picks is obviously false. In fact, I don't really think that "ruining" the first overall pick is a notion that even makes sense since the first overall pick is almost always an easy pick that almost all teams would have gone with. If a team went against the consensus and drafted someone else who turned out to be a bust then you could make the claim that they "ruined" their first overall choice, but that obviously isn't the case. We've ruined a lot else (see Devan Dubnyk), but let's keep it real...
Our problem hasn't been bad first overall picks (like I said, they were consensus picks), it's been scouting and drafting in the later rounds and putting together a good roster (our defence is abysmal and we traded Jeff Petry this season to Montreal at the deadline).
Like I said, we haven't "ruined" our first overall picks, but none of those picks have been a game-changer the way that McDavid will be and has been hyped to be. What if years back when the Penguins were in the exact same boat as the Oilers their first-round picks (Marc-Andre Fleury #1, Evgeni Malkin #2, Sidney Crosby #1, Jordan Staal #2) hadn't been the same level of game-changers (which, let's face it, is a LOT more likely than getting the dearth of talent they got from those four picks). That's pretty much what the Oilers have had with their first overalls; yeah, they're all good players, but none of them are Crosby/Malkin/Fleury level game-changers (and I could say the same thing about the Blackhawks who got Toews (#3) and Kane (#1) in back-to-back drafts).
Saying that the Oilers don't "deserve" another high pick because of how bad they've been for so long goes against the entire premise of the draft lottery; I don't really get it...
I get it.
I guess it's just disheartening to see the Oilers get another #1 in so many years. I'd have much rather seen a team like Buffalo, Carolina or even Arizona get him (for various reasons).
I guess it's just disheartening to see the Oilers get another #1 in so many years. I'd have much rather seen a team like Buffalo, Carolina or even Arizona get him (for various reasons).
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
Thanks feller. Unfortunately, this IS the Blues version of a deep run. I posted this on the Wild message board just a moment ago:
Go Cardinals!!!!
Sorry to hear that Jagger. Blues & Leafs have the same Cup drought.
Looks like they made up that mile.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
Sure did. What a goal by Kuznetsov....eye-popping clutch series winning goal....the kind of goals my Blues don't score. :surprise:
How many of them Blues....er, Minnesotans, wind up in Minnesota next season? Oshie? Backes?
Minnesota Wild...the place where players go to die.
Minnesota Wild...the place where players go to die.
Jagger69
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
Backes isn't going anywhere....he's deeply entrenched in the local community and has a no-trade clause so I doubt that he'll be leaving. Oshie? Possibly but it depends what we get for him. Give us Granlund or Zucker straight up and I say OK. :thumbsup:
Your not giving yourself enough credit. You'll beat the Hawks if you guys play rock steady like you did against us. Your goaltender is on fire (although I'm not exactly ready to proclaim him the next Martin Brodeur) so you need to ride the hot hand. Chicago's goaltending is a mess.
The series is going to be good, but as I told you in the IM I think the Blues-Hawks was the series like 90 percent of the world wanted to see, and in many ways the series I wanted to see as well.
I concur about the goalie situation and I feel like the Wild are all around playing fairly steady - I personally have said on that other forum (hockey forum that it is) that I take Minnesota in 7 - personally see it could go either way but for me the deal breaker is Dubnyk compared to a shaky net on Chicago's side.
And both Zach (JP) and Ryan (Bob) want to win it all for their late fathers within this past season. It would truly be epic if they could win it all for them - Zach and Ryan will both live on in Minnesota pro sports lore if they win the cup here.
I concur about the goalie situation and I feel like the Wild are all around playing fairly steady - I personally have said on that other forum (hockey forum that it is) that I take Minnesota in 7 - personally see it could go either way but for me the deal breaker is Dubnyk compared to a shaky net on Chicago's side.
And both Zach (JP) and Ryan (Bob) want to win it all for their late fathers within this past season. It would truly be epic if they could win it all for them - Zach and Ryan will both live on in Minnesota pro sports lore if they win the cup here.
K, so I got 7/8 correct. I have yet to get all 8 correct in the first round before, but 7/8 is pretty good, methinks. But I have to revise my later picks now that the second round has begun (and the only team I incorrectly predicted to move on (Winnipeg) I also had going all the way to the Finals, but let's face it, it was a gutsy pick on my part and most are probably not surprised that the Ducks won that series):
Chicago over Minnesota in 7 (not as confident on this one as I was before the start of round 2, but sticking with it)
Anaheim over Calgary in 6
Montreal over Tampa Bay in 4
Washington over NY Rangers in 7
Chicago over Anaheim in 6
Montreal over Washington in 7
Montreal over Chicago in 6
Go Habs Go!!!
- Status
