Neech

Yeah, if he pans out to be just a bottom pairing plug then we'll have missed out on a decent return. I'd rather bet on him though. It would be awful to see him thrive somewhere else.

Arber has far more offense than Komi ever had, both shooting and passing. If he played next to Markov I'm sure he'd look like a defensive stalwart too (and not have his lunch handed to him when challenged physically).

Great shooting from Slaf, maybe the two nicest goals of his career so far. Why is Arber playing fewer minutes than Gignac? It seems like he's being scapegoated. Hopefully it's a part of a process and we're sticking with him, because he's shown more for me than Harris or Barron.

Good to see Arber back out there! At least one of our young defenders will probably get dealt this offseason and I hope it's not him.

Wow, we have the worst goalie pool in Canadian hockey history (I thought Demko was Canadian for some reason). Only Sweden perhaps of the top 5 nations has it worse at the moment. Helps to have the reigning Cup winner though, and it's a short tourney where you only need to get hot for 3 elimination games.

Newhook will have a tough go playing as the 2C with mediocre linemates. His future is likely on the wing.

Good return, I expect the 1st to be flipped for another young player but I wouldn't mind them using it to draft another forward. Keeping the retention slot is huge if we're able to move Armia or Savard. The rest of the season won't be pretty with our current centre depth.

Seems kind of crazy to see a guy with 39 goals and 74 points in his one full NHL season as Josh Anderson. Those are first line numbers that Andy has never even sniffed. Also, the first round pick will only be #29-32 if the Canucks make the conference finals. I'd get trading this haul for a future core piece, but a rental on a down year is questionable and could look pretty bad down the road.

Seems like a HUGE return, bodes well for Monahan. I guess the Canucks had to unload salary with Kuzmenko and Tocchet didn't like him, but being a salary filler throw in on a deadline deal is a poor outcome for him IMO. Calgary should be able to flip him for more assets.

True enough, we'll see if they use a high value pick on a Russian rather than a late-rounder. My complaint was more about the general anti-Russian bias of this era, where Russians have been passed over and excluded. Demidov doesn't seem to be on our radar based on the previous posts in this thread. Michkov would have gone before Will Smith fifteen years ago. Lol this catty personal shot is out of nowhere.

Is it Drury or is it Gorton bringing his personal grudges with him?

I'd love to take a flyer on Kakko as a two-way middle-6 winger. He'll probably never live up to his draft position but it seems like he has a lot of positive qualities that will eventually result in production. Sort of like how Lekhonen seemed snakebitten for years until things came together (obviously I'd hope Kakko would be better offensively than Lekky). Maybe we could get him in exchange for Monahan and a 2nd?

Some mock drafts have 3 Russians in the top 5, and it's a shame that they're probably all off limits to us. Demidov might be the second best forward in the draft and will probably fall to us just like Michkov did.

As a declining, overpaid vet, Gally needs to get more disciplined. He takes too many dumb penalties in general, and an egregious dirty hit like this not only hurts the team but tarnishes his reputation.

I feel like Eiserman with his scoring ability and Lindstrom with his scoring and size will go quickly. Those are the two I put above the rest at this point (this will likely change by June). I hope you're right and that at least 2-3 defensemen make their way into the top 5.

I'm afraid that drafting at #5-6 again will put us just out of reach of an elite forward like it did last year.

Out of these I'm most excited about Eiserman and Lindstrom at this very early stage.

Well it sure made the end of the game more exciting. Seanahan upping his trade value!

Wow, dirty elbow to the head from Gallagher. Ylonen will get his chance back in the lineup for the next few games.

Sens are creeping up the standings and may finish ahead of us yet. I'll wait till we have a roster actually capable of competing at the NHL level before judging Marty. For now, he seems to be doing a good job at development. Hopefully we come out of another lost year with some more forward talent in the system.

Steiner has sure been getting a free ride lately.

We're already in position for a bottom 10 finish, but we have the 5th worst goal differential. I'd feel good about our pick if it landed at #5-6.

Mock drafts appear to be all over the place as far as the top forwards go. After Celebrini, it's usually Eiserman or Lindstrom in some order.

Well, at least we didn't get any more points we don't deserve.

I must have missed the pregame ceremony honouring Mike Hoffman.