is it too early to talk draft?

On May 26, 8:49 pm, v.han....TakeThisOut@sympatico.ca wrote:
> No way I see Tampa giving up the #1 pick...although stranger things
> have happened(Mr. Milbury where are you?)....but I wouldnt mind having
> Gainey make a serious pitch for the Stamkos pick, ie, Higgins,
> O'Byrne, Locke and our 1st round pick, maybe more or less...who knows.
> But another interesting option is to move to possibly the 5 or 6 spot
> (gotta be ahead of tke Laffs) to pick up either Kyle Beach or Colin
> Wilson. Both bring different skill sets, however they are similar in
> that they are big offensive centres, and it wouldnt cost as much as
> going for Stamkos......in fact, the more I think about it, I think
> that would be a better option than Stamkos at #1. Certainly wouldnt
> be as expensive, and either pick satisfies our need for a big centre.
> If I were to be put on the spot, I am leaning towards Beach. Big.
> Tough and can score...imagine him in a Boston series going up against
> Lucic....man that would be great!
> Anyways,
> Just my 2 cents
> Vic

What would be interesting,to me, is to see MTL pick up the 1st overall
selection and turn around and flip him for an established franchise
player.... a la Rick Nash or Kovolchuck.... (Obviously wrapping up #1
pick with another commodity otherwise, why wouldn't TB just trade the
#1 directly for a Nash or Iliya...)

Craig
 >> Stay informed about: is it too early to talk draft? 

I think I started talking draft about 11 months ago, so it's certainly
not too early to bring the conversation here too... :)

On May 26, 8:49 pm, v.han... RemoveThis @sympatico.ca wrote:
> No way I see Tampa giving up the #1 pick...although stranger things
> have happened(Mr. Milbury where are you?)....but I wouldnt mind having
> Gainey make a serious pitch for the Stamkos pick, ie, Higgins,
> O'Byrne, Locke and our 1st round pick, maybe more or less...who knows.

That wouldn't be enough. Locke is a free agent and worth nothing,
btw. But even then, Tampa Bay won't move the pick. Stamkos is
already a Lightning.

> But another interesting option is to move to possibly the 5 or 6 spot
> (gotta be ahead of tke Laffs) to pick up either Kyle Beach or Colin
> Wilson.  Both bring different skill sets, however they are similar in
> that they are big offensive centres, and it wouldnt cost as much as
> going for Stamkos......in fact, the more I think about it, I think
> that would be a better option than Stamkos at #1.  

Well, I'm going to assume by "a better option than Stamkos" you mean
in terms of what it would cost for the pick, since of course Stamkos
is a far superior player. That said, I just don't like the idea of
trading up in the draft. It's too costly. Unless you find just the
right mix with just the right market for your surplus assets. But
that's rare. Increasingly rare these days with expanded free agency,
when teams can just go shopping on the FA market for whatever they
need. They don't have to trade 1st round draft picks for players,
they just sign them a couple weeks after the draft when the bidfest
opens up. On top of which, I don't see our team having any valuable
surplus assets.

> Certainly wouldnt
> be as expensive, and either pick satisfies our need for a big centre.
> If I were to be put on the spot, I am leaning towards Beach.  Big.
> Tough and can score...imagine him in a Boston series going up against
> Lucic....man that would be great!

With a bit of luck Beach could still be available to us with our own
pick at #25. That's a bit of a longshot, but if he pulls any of his
stunts at the combine, maybe his stock will take a further tumble. :)
Anyway, I don't think it's very important what type of player we take
with the 1st pick. Just the best one. And it's a pretty deep draft
this year, so I think we'll get a pretty good one just staying at
#25. I think we need to draft a goalie somewhere in the rounds which
follow, however.

l8r,
Gerry
 >> Stay informed about: is it too early to talk draft? 

You are a fool to think that Columbus or Atlanta or any team in the
league for that matter would trade their franchise player away for a
kid that hasn't yet played one NHL game - trust me on this one, people
don't forget about the "Alexandre Daigle's" and the "Patrik Stefan's".

Cheers,


> What would be interesting,to me, is to see MTL pick up the 1st overall
> selection and turn around and flip him for an established franchise
> player.... a la Rick Nash or Kovolchuck.... (Obviously wrapping up #1
> pick with another commodity otherwise, why wouldn't TB just trade the
> #1 directly for a Nash or Iliya...)
>
> Craig
 >> Stay informed about: is it too early to talk draft? 

Bill wrote:
> On May 26, 9:49 pm, v.han... RemoveThis @sympatico.ca wrote:
>> No way I see Tampa giving up the #1 pick...although stranger things
>> have happened(Mr. Milbury where are you?)....but I wouldnt mind having
>> Gainey make a serious pitch for the Stamkos pick, ie, Higgins,
>> O'Byrne, Locke and our 1st round pick, maybe more or less...who knows.
>> But another interesting option is to move to possibly the 5 or 6 spot
>> (gotta be ahead of tke Laffs) to pick up either Kyle Beach or Colin
>> Wilson. Both bring different skill sets, however they are similar in
>> that they are big offensive centres, and it wouldnt cost as much as
>> going for Stamkos......in fact, the more I think about it, I think
>> that would be a better option than Stamkos at #1. Certainly wouldnt
>> be as expensive, and either pick satisfies our need for a big centre.
>> If I were to be put on the spot, I am leaning towards Beach. Big.
>> Tough and can score...imagine him in a Boston series going up against
>> Lucic....man that would be great!
>> Anyways,
>> Just my 2 cents
>> Vic
>
> It's not to early to talk draft at all! Under a month to go, after
> all.
>
> Count me out in any (obviously highly theoretical) discussion of
> trading for the number one pick. It's not just that Tampa Bay wouldn't
> go for it (which they might), or that it would cost way too much
> (which it would!); it's more that it doesn't really fit Montreal's
> needs right now to do so. That's a "build for the future" move,
> whereas I think the Habs have to be in a "go for it now" mode.
>
> The Habs have exactly four players under contract in the season after
> next right now. They're coming off a great year with a still young and
> improving team. This is a team that is a couple of pieces away from
> being a real noisemaker in the playoffs next year (even if, in my
> heart of hearts, I can't see them beating a team as good as Detroit is
> right now).
>
> They should be thinking about signing and trading for players who will
> make an impact right now, not in a couple of years.
Agreed. The Wings have an awful lot of talent all over their lineup but
what impresses is their shutdown of the Penguins attack. They've turned
what many thought was a juggernaut of an offensive weapon into a limp
dicked offence if there ever was one. To me it shows a very few
important lessons that the Habs should use in the coming few years.

As Scotty Bowman has said over the years many times. Defence wins
championships and it is on display right now. It shows the mistake the
Penguins made by trading some grit and future for yet more offence on a
team already laden with it. Perhaps a big move for a defenceman may have
suited them better. It also re-enforces what I believe the Canadiens
should do - chase a legitimate shutdown defenceman. Another Roman
Hamrlik. Give this team a top 4 D that is among the best in the league,
put Price in net and watch what happens.
 >> Stay informed about: is it too early to talk draft? 

"Mike" <mike.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:483be40b$0$4069$9a566e8b@news.aliant.net...
> Bill wrote:
>> On May 26, 9:49 pm, v.han....TakeThisOut@sympatico.ca wrote:
>>> No way I see Tampa giving up the #1 pick...although stranger things
>>> have happened(Mr. Milbury where are you?)....but I wouldnt mind having
>>> Gainey make a serious pitch for the Stamkos pick, ie, Higgins,
>>> O'Byrne, Locke and our 1st round pick, maybe more or less...who knows.
>>> But another interesting option is to move to possibly the 5 or 6 spot
>>> (gotta be ahead of tke Laffs) to pick up either Kyle Beach or Colin
>>> Wilson. Both bring different skill sets, however they are similar in
>>> that they are big offensive centres, and it wouldnt cost as much as
>>> going for Stamkos......in fact, the more I think about it, I think
>>> that would be a better option than Stamkos at #1. Certainly wouldnt
>>> be as expensive, and either pick satisfies our need for a big centre.
>>> If I were to be put on the spot, I am leaning towards Beach. Big.
>>> Tough and can score...imagine him in a Boston series going up against
>>> Lucic....man that would be great!
>>> Anyways,
>>> Just my 2 cents
>>> Vic
>>
>> It's not to early to talk draft at all! Under a month to go, after
>> all.
>>
>> Count me out in any (obviously highly theoretical) discussion of
>> trading for the number one pick. It's not just that Tampa Bay wouldn't
>> go for it (which they might), or that it would cost way too much
>> (which it would!); it's more that it doesn't really fit Montreal's
>> needs right now to do so. That's a "build for the future" move,
>> whereas I think the Habs have to be in a "go for it now" mode.
>>
>> The Habs have exactly four players under contract in the season after
>> next right now. They're coming off a great year with a still young and
>> improving team. This is a team that is a couple of pieces away from
>> being a real noisemaker in the playoffs next year (even if, in my
>> heart of hearts, I can't see them beating a team as good as Detroit is
>> right now).
>>
>> They should be thinking about signing and trading for players who will
>> make an impact right now, not in a couple of years.
> Agreed. The Wings have an awful lot of talent all over their lineup but
> what impresses is their shutdown of the Penguins attack. They've turned
> what many thought was a juggernaut of an offensive weapon into a limp
> dicked offence if there ever was one. To me it shows a very few important
> lessons that the Habs should use in the coming few years.
>
> As Scotty Bowman has said over the years many times. Defence wins
> championships and it is on display right now. It shows the mistake the
> Penguins made by trading some grit and future for yet more offence on a
> team already laden with it. Perhaps a big move for a defenceman may have
> suited them better. It also re-enforces what I believe the Canadiens
> should do - chase a legitimate shutdown defenceman. Another Roman Hamrlik.
> Give this team a top 4 D that is among the best in the league, put Price
> in net and watch what happens.



Osgood isn't that good. Detroit's D makes him look like a world beater.

SS
 >> Stay informed about: is it too early to talk draft? 

On May 27, 8:16 am, Gerry <gerr....DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote:

> #25.  I think we need to draft a goalie somewhere in the rounds which
> follow, however.
>
> l8r,
> Gerry

Why is that Gerry?
 >> Stay informed about: is it too early to talk draft? 

On May 28, 7:27 am, earl <earl_the_habs_....DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On May 27, 8:16 am, Gerry <gerr....DeleteThis@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > #25.  I think we need to draft a goalie somewhere in the rounds which
> > follow, however.
>
> Why is that Gerry?

Because we don't have any in the pipeline now. You always have to
keep up the flow. Anything can happen. Danis seems to have plateaued
in the minors and may not return next season. Desjardins can of
course be considered our property despite his AHL contract, but while
he has played very well and panned out perhaps better (so far) than we
had any right to expect, I don't know if many would yet consider him
to be a legitimate NHL prospect. And that's it. Lacasse was a
mistake, he's just riding out his contract in the lower minor
leagues. You always want to have something on the way. Just having
Price and Halak in the NHL isn't enough. We need a longer term
prospect in the system too.

Supposedly the Habs looked into signing Teslak before the Flyers got
him, and of course they were auditioning Andrew Loverock at the rookie
camp last year. I think they're clearly cognizant of the need at the
position. I also think this is a pretty good draft for goalies, and
we might be in a good position to draft one in the later rounds.
Although if there's a clear BPA goalie earlier on, that can't hurt
either.

My preference would be to try to find somebody on the younger end of
the scale rather than an older college FA or graduating junior free
agent. I'd like to have a veteran gunslinger goalie in Hamilton next
year with Desjardins, as an insurance policy on injuries to our young
guys on the big team. Therefore, to get the younger guy, it probably
means drafting him. Actually, signing a free agent to duel with
Desjardins and/or start in the ECHL wouldn't be a bad idea either, _in
addition to_ drafting an 18-year old. I'm not really ever aware of
the US goaltending prospects, but getting somebody good who's on the
long track from the USHL or high school into the NCAA would be good.
By the time a guy like that turns pro in 4 or 5 years, and you've
tacked on a couple more years in the minors, you're looking at both of
Halak and Price having passed UFA age. Planting the seeds for future
organizational depth can be done quite a long time in advance.

That's why. :)

l8r,
Gerry
 >> Stay informed about: is it too early to talk draft?