Neech

I sure hope they give him an extended stint in the AHL to hone these skills.

Seeing more hype around Benson. Is the gap between him and Smith really that big?

You could say this in a less condescending way. Maybe retire the 'you're joking' bit entirely.

We also have a glut of D prospects at the moment, with not many good forwards.

Unfortunately, that pain will last a while. Chances are that whoever we get around #30 goes the way of most of our late first-rounders of the last decade (nowhere), and there will be a few studs picked between 17 and 30 that we'll always regard wistfully. The Leafs and Bruins f'd us.

Dang it, KK contract is looking decent.

I would be fine with 8x8.35M. Sign him up, Jent!

Old Marinaro sauce had an interesting discussion with three different scouts about our #5 pick and the rest of the top 10. Woodlief is sky high on Michkov, while McCagg loves Dvorsky. Definitely makes me more optimistic about landing a star with our pick. (scouts start around the 40 minute mark)

It seems that the Oilers, once again, don't have the defense and goaltending to be a true contender.

I think it'll be Michkov that'll be there for us at 5, but like you, I'd be thrilled to get a potential superstar talent and wait 2-3 years for him to come over. Ending up with Dvorsky or Benson would seem a bit second tier.

I have a feeling that we'll pass on Michkov if he's there for us.

gotta say that drafting at 5 and 29-32 is pretty disappointing from such a season of futility. Now we just have to hit on our picks. Also sucks that Chicago got rewarded for their intentional suckage.

Not to mention all the great players drafted between 17 and 30. It seems that the best way forward for Habs fans is to grit our teeth and let the Leafs win one more round, and hope like hell they can't win 4.

Kyle Connor was drafted at #17 in 2015 and he'd be our best forward of this century.

Nichushkin leaving the team for reasons unknown, very weird.

If Slaf is a star then it's worth it. No way we bottom out that bad with Danault. I agree they are both special defensive forwards for whom we'll be searching for replacements for a long time.

Wow, the Islander player gets high-sticked in front of the ref and the Canes score the OT winner moments later. We'd be burning the city town if that happened to the Habs!

Great play to even get that pass on net. What a steal that contract is turning out to be. Heartbreaker for the Oilers. What was Nurse doing on the winning goal in OT? So fun to have playoff hockey and basketball back!

#17 is a nice pick, lots of talent still on the board there. We were teased with the chance of the 12-15 range, but we would have been ecstatic before the season with #17 from the reigning President's Trophy winners. I hope we hold on to it and get two studs from this draft.

Arizona finishes with three games at home, where they've been much better than on the road, so hopefully they can pick up some points there.

Nick is a breakaway/shootout genius. A new career high in points! Next year, with a healthy roster, he'll hit 75 easy.

PLD has too many red flags (history of quitting on teams, spotty production) to move heaven and earth for him. There's no rush at this point in the rebuild - next year is the perfect time to add a big UFA.

A 6'5" RHD with a CANNON of a shot doesn't come around often. We just need to take our time with the classic Red Wings model and give him at least two FULL seasons in the AHL to shore up his defensive game, and let the negative PR baggage dissipate a bit. If we still want to trade him then, his value will have only gone up.

Unfortunately the Panthers are looking good to make the playoffs now, three winnable games and then two against teams with likely nothing play for. Pittsburgh's schedule is not strong but they probably need 10 of 12 points, and I don't know if they're in form to pull that off.

I'm watching on RDS and they have a puck tracker onscreen like I'm a darn football brain yankee? What is this?