DON

MIght be strange and lack hometown forwards, but i will bet after all the top quality d-men and top euro/russians in the 1st round, you will still find many canadian kids, like Laughton/Sissons/Troock and at least a couple dozen of others from just the CHL alone, whom all project to be solid NHLers as per most drafts. Is reason i still think will be bout average when all said and done and looked back at down the road. So by your list the Habs, if grab BPA, be picking Murray (as per Bob McKenzie list as well and he(TSN)are batting 100% correct for 5 years running, for ranking the #3 who is taken at #3) And you had Dumba at #5, but that was before his showing at U18s, would you say his stock is higher or still #5? I would take the chance and have Dumba as the top d-man (and a flip of coin for him or Gaalchenyuk at 3rd pick), even though Murray is better at present and safest pick.

Even if that is how to judge, i see some in the 70s to 90s that seem promising for sure, whether more than normal or less i ait got a clue?

Sorry, am from Saint John and a pet peeve. I see him rushing, coughing up puck and still getting back in time,which as Subban found out, cant be done vs pros without costing goals. But as with Markov who started out as a forward and Habs turned him into d-man, defense can be taught/learned at a later stage and Subban has improved greatly over past 2 years, but the AHL year was needed and will be for Beaulieu as well. Which is why, if he cant defend at AHL level, move him up front is one option (likely never come to that but). But with several defensive d-man also turning pro this year, should work out fine.

Re-read and recall article, points out how viewed/percieved by others. Galchenyuk/Reilly seem to have recovered and both still top 10 and likely both close to top 5. And several others likely wont fall too badly due to injuries. As for the couple overhyped players who fell like Ebert, there are some other prospects as always (like Collberg/Teravainen) who have moved way up to fill those spots. But by and large most top 10-15 guys are still in top 10-15. So seems to be another average class to me and as was last year with Rattie/Jurco/etc, there will be some skilled scorers and other solid role players still to be had in 2nd round.

Great to see your prospect profiles, well done. I hear more and more, that this year's draft referred to as thin, but it seems will have same quality players available in 2nd round as were last year. And in 1st round is just heavier to defense is all eh? So by and large, will likely be an average draft class.

St.Johns; NFLD has no major junior team, an AHL team yes. Saint John N.B. does have a solid QMJHL junior team. Beaulieu has sketchy defense, but he has what cant be taught, offensive talent and great skating. Now we just need to keep fingers crossed that his defense is not MAB weak and more like Subban, which i think is likely the case.

You could of had Scotty Bowman with George Halas and Vince Lombardi as assistants and the Habs would have missed the playoffs. If you add up the production from 79, 13, 11, 14, 21 (irregardless of why) and the salary spent on those players, no team could win when $25-30 million gets you only 40 or so goals, pretty simple, plus Eller/Gorges/Leblanc had no training camp and spent all summer rehabbing, plus had several rookies/sophmores playing key minutes. if you want to blame Cunnywoth and think Martin got the short end of stick, so be it. History now, no sense beating dead horse.

Burke is an american and Samuelson is also, but i was just tossing it out there, almost impossible to guess correctly with a draft after the first few spots, but would seem a fit is all. I can pull for/guess, Habs to take Bozon at 33rd and Luke Sutter to still be available at 55th and maybe Coda Gordon at 64th and Steven Hodges at 94th, but likely 1:100,000 to get even 1 correct? 1st round is a bit easier but still a crap shoot.

You got a point and Martin Hockey may be being used, and that is why it is so freakin boring and as entertaining as watching paint dry. At least Philly Pitt series was fun to watch, too bad it is over. But thanks god the Blue Jays are playing OK and still fast and entertaining junior hockey to watch. I will pull for Sens, but not even likely watch them play and they will be likely be golfing tomorrow anyways.

Edmonton vs Moose Jaw has had a rink full of scouts for past couple games, now that Morgan Reilly is back and up to speed, he certainly shows flashes of Coffey-like play. Several GMs like Stevie Y and the announcers thought Bighead Burke was also at game, checking out Reilly as well as Griffin Reinhart and others. Reinhart can skate for a big guy and should go right around 10th or so and Reilly may be quite appealing to Burke at #5? Henrik Samuellson has been looking very good, much more entertaining hockey than that trap-crap the NHL is showing. Samuellson seems to be playing his way into 1st round, big body, can skate OK, back checking, has some offense and threw a sneeky dirty elbow, which his father or Craig Ludwig would of been proud of. I can just picture Burke drooling, but i dont think Samuellson is a big scrapper?

I thought you were saying Price is run of mill goalie, which i would disagree with and goaltending issue or trading Price is just so far fetched and off the radar that is not even worth discussing for a retooling of 2012-13 roster. No offense intended, just how i see it and i get defensive when people criticize or start pondering trading Price even before he has developed fully. I also dont agree bigger is always better, it can be but there are so many super skilled impact leaders who are sub 6 foot and <200lbs, that going big like San Jose just dosent always pay off. Likely a mix is best and why almost every NHL barely varies from average of 6'0" and 200lb and Habs are right in the middle as well. But to have a couple 6'3" or 4" 220-230lb skilled guys or guys who screen or run over goalies never hurts.

i see it the same way, once again the blue paint means absolutely nothing. But, NHL is more like the WWF; it is just entertainment business and lacks integrity, which all the real sports leagues have. In football, a hold by O-lineman in pre-season is called exact same as with 5 seconds left in superbowl and their is no whining by players/coachs; also there is no totally lame, "Putting Whistle in their pocket and let em play" crap! But owners and Bettman pull the strings and produce whatever product they want on any given day. Calling too many penalties, the give thier puppet refs the word to ease up and same goes for suspensions and Pinocchio Shanahan.

In my opinion Price is a franchise goalie and bout same as Fleury and 20 or more teams would kill to have stability between the pipes. Price was drafted a long time ago, what does he being picked at #5 have to do with rebuilding/retooling? Do you think drafting Marc Stall instead would put the Habs in a better spot today? Sure, you and i am sure some others arnt big fans of his and no he hasnt won any cups yet, but goaltending is not an issue the new GM or Molson will lose any sleep over, nor consider trading away. Firefly approach by Gainey is just about history already i hope, and i more tweek at centre for upgrade up front is all that is needed. Especially if Gallagher is as good as we hope, casue i dont think having all of Desharnais, Gionta, Plekanec would allow for Gallagher to be added to top 6. Again would have 4 smallish top 6 guys, which is 1 too many in my opinion. Maybe Gallagher can play 3rd line starting out? would be out of his element i think becasue he needs ice time and skilled offensive guys to play with to be most effective. But him on a line with Eller and Leblanc may work fine (but i see Eller as a #2 centre sooner than later)? He is just like Gionta and Pacioretty, i that he shoots alot and from everywhere. But, see how he does in Halilton first i suppose.

Not sure what firefly approach is? But till Tnordi/Beaulieu/Ellis and Dumba develop to NHL readiness i wouldnt dare trade Subban, he is about the only "Core" skater on the roster i think and it would have to be a sceaming good deal. There are alot more good centremen out there than there are Prices, i would guess? Also whomever is picked at #3 this year will have no bearing on 2013-14 roster and likely only a relatively small impact in 2014-15, so retooling/rebuilding plan should totally disregard some saviour riding in from draft on a white horse for next year. In the same way Timmins has to pick from 2 possible choices (given Yakupov goes #1) and i bet he will simply take best player left after 1st two are chosen, no matter of position he plays. I mean could you really lose with either Galchenyuk or a Dumba?

Wilson certainly didnt fill the net this year, with 9 goals in regular season, better in playoffs but will go too high i bet due to fighting and size, but i am biased and already have a better choice, in my opinion, for 33rd pick, in Lukas Sutter, who has shown much better offense than Wilson and likely will never be Lucic's size but has the grit side covered (similar to his father Rich), could be similar to Ryan White.

Somehow dealing away a young franchise goalie is low on Molson's priority list and rightly so, I have said only 2 real needs, big d-man needed till Pateryn, Ellis or Tinordi ready and i would aim for Bryan Allen (or a similar d-man, even an OBrian maybe)? And a switch of one of top 2 centres, Thorton, Marleau, Getzlaf or Stastny, for Plekanec & stuff maybe? Or failing to get a upgrade at centre, find a top quality winger like Parise, Iginla, or Kane. Other than more offensive production and a crease clearing d-man, no big issues at all.

At 33rd there will be quite a nice group still availabale to pick from for sure and even at 55/64 should be fine quality as well and Timmins has done super with later picks, so fairly confident it should be a good haul in June.

thanks, i am still not sold that he will be that good a NHLer anyways (i know he was team MVP, had OK numbers and some are fairly high on him), but was looking forward to see how he stacked up vs pros and suiting up next to Bournival, Holland and Gallagher this coming fall. Oh well next year.

Is this unusual for NCAA guy to be offered contract and turn it down? Is just maybe finishing school and possible NCAA title likely all there is too this? Not doing the above and also, maybe at suggestion of his agent (are they allowed to have? "family consultant" maybe?) that to hold out, he could have some sort of bidding war next year and also may not be sold on Habs and would maybe prefer to stay and play for USA based team??

Hey, that is exactly like Cammalleri, cept the talent part.

I would also toss Glen Sather in there, he offered Redden huge money and he is now the highest ever paid AHL player. Chara also had good genetics, both parants were world class athletes and Chara didnt even take up hockey till relatively late (if i remember correctly), Tinordi's old man was a solid defensive d-man who could fight. So we shouldnt expect a Chara/Pronger/Blake type d-man, but more a better skating,shooting, puck handling and tougher Hal Gill.

I know MacKinnon is very good; but several others CHL forwards could challange him possibly?; Sam Reinhart/Curtis Lazar/Shinkarak/Monahan and Anthony Duclair are all promising kids eh? Darnell Nurse and Josh Morrissey must be couple of top CHL d-men for 2013; but Jones seemed as advertised at U18s and will likely be in a class by himself as far a d-men go.

i watched Chara play junior in the WHL, he was very rough and like he is today, not one prone to initiate trouble, but was still a freak, in a good way. And he was just another example of why Mike Milbury is doing TV and not in hockey, as he traded him away to Sens (who i guess you might say were just as dumb in trading him to Bruins, but all in hindsight is easy to criticize). I commented that Tinordi looked very good and all i said was his skating needs improvement (which goes for 80-90% of junior players). But you are correct in being patient, for sure, I am just hoping for him to make the jump ASAP.

I think your assertion about botom 6 has some merit for sure. I admired Kostopoulas's heart and willingness to lose every fight on behalf of his teammates, but he has no real skill, like Darche, who i also admire for work ethic and being a team player. But the Canucks lost the last 2 series because their highpaid stars didnt score (+key injuries), not because of LaPierre or Malhotra's play. But bottom six guys can be the deciding factor for sure, when 2 teams are fairly equal, but if the stars are the game stars you are going no where, Habs have zero all star forwards and that is and has been their biggest weakness for a few years. Could they use some more scoring from 3rd and 4th lines, for sure but, when highest paid d-man and all your highest paid forwards (cept #72), dont score (due to injury or just sucking) you end up in 28th place. If had a couple snipers who can score in shootouts, Price wouldnt have a bad record in shootouts and If #11, 13, 14, 21 could of managed 60+ goals between them, Habs would be playing the Bruins or Rangers right now. I see a bit more depth coming for bottom 6 in next year or 2 and with Bournival/Holland/Leblanc/Kristo/White/Blunden/Moan/Geoffrion/Shultz/Engqvist they should be able to scape togeather a solid bottom six group. I am tired of a new 4th line every October and hope one of the bottom six group can just learn how to win some more facoffs and fill the void.

He is younger than a washed up Cole or Iginla. But yes he may be on downside? But i would make the deal as long as SJ not asking for too much. I see moving either Plekanec or Desharnais and adding a bigger top 2 centre (or simply moving Desharnais to wing) as a necessity to really revamp forward group. But if not Marleau, i have said Stastny/Getzlaf may also be a good fit? And i had included Kopitar but i doubt he is going anywhere now that L.A. has righted the ship.