Neech

Lekky gets the deal he deserves. I like him at that number more than Nichushkin at his.

What are the chances we give the kid another season to marinate in the minors?

Tank confirmed.

Sergachev is the first Tampa player to not take a discount. Great offensively, but I'm not sure if I'd want him at that number.

Watching some highlights from rookie camp, and it looks like Hutson will join Caufield as a 3-on-3 OT MVP candidate.

I doubt he'll ever be a Pleks level two way producer, but maybe 80% of that?

Go Oil and Rangers in the next round! Though I suspect the favourites will advance with relative ease.

Do you think Carolina wishes they waited till the offseason to give KK 8 years?

Sure, I think we'll get some FA's if we pay slightly above market value to offset the high taxes. But I doubt there will be superstars who have decided on MTL or bust like Panarin and Fox did for the Rangers. We'll have to build the team from the ground up like most other teams, with the added disadvantage of having the lowest total player salary in the league due to taxes. I don't give Gorton that much credit for where the Rangers are now because their best players pushed their way on to the team, something that is unlikely to repeat here. He also lucked out bigtime twice in the lottery and made consensus choices that hardly appear to be homeruns right now. I do think that we can build ourselves to be a world class, player friendly organization like Toronto seems to be at the moment, and that it doesn't seem like we were under Bergy. About players saying that they like playing here, of course they will play up the positives to the media. It's in their training to say what an honour it is to put on this storied jersey and play in front of a rabid fanbase. They don't often say how much they'd rather just collect a (higher) paycheck in a sunny clime with no pressure, but it's surely just as common a sentiment as loving the pressure cooker environment.

Won't be so easy in Montreal. Fox, Panarin and Trouba all pushed their way to New York. No one doing that for the Habs.

Go Oilers, but I wouldn't mind a game 6 and 7 either. As long as they close out these Flamers.

Sorry to point out that Gaudreau and McDavid are also primates.

We're still going to suck and pick in the top 10 if not top 5. Add our best non-Caufield-or-Suzuki forward and our top prospect to that?

Why would you overpay so much for #2 when next year is supposedly a better draft?

Me too, I love the kid and he'll always be a Habs legend after the goal that sent us to the finals last year. I hope he gets himself a nice payday with a good team.

I think Crosby during his most dominant stretch, right before he was concussed by the cursed Leaf Steckel, was the only player of this century that you could put on McDavid's current level. But the way that McDavid is doing it is something we've never seen before - the crazy wheels and high speed dangles. He could be the rightful heir to the 'Rocket' nickname.

Giordano re-signs with the Leafs for peanuts. They've had a few guys sign for less than they could have got elsewhere, as well as being picked a few times by the top European/NCAA free agents. We need to become this sort of destination for players.

Not the most exciting projections. I'm starting to worry that he's another Nugent-Hopkins and will have a few superior players drafted immediately after him.

It's nuts, he's a one of a kind athlete. My closest comparable is Messi.

Where does Wright stack up against the past few presumptive first overall picks in terms of pre-draft buzz? Not too favourably it seems. Maybe roughly equal to Power, behind Laffy and Hughes, and way behind Dahlin?

Carolina with another defensive clinic. I hope we have our version of Slavvin, Pesce and Skjei among our crop of prospects. Amazing how good they've been after losing a Norris candidate. KK and Domi with less than 10 minutes playing time each.

McDavid with an unreal performance in game 1, it's a shame their defence is so incompetent. I hope we get 7 games of this series!

The problem with homegrown talent in this particular market is the downside is so much greater than the upside. Imagine if Lafreniere had been drafted by the Habs - he'd already have been dragged through the muck for two years.

Go Oil and Avs! Can't say I like anyone left in the East...

Danault also had a hell of a series. His arrival helped turn that team around. I hope Wright is our Danault on D while putting up 80 points.