2019 NHL ENTRY DRAFT - Vancouver

[Diehard1]

I just got a chill. I think the hockey gawds are speaking to me. Tuesday will be a good day, I hear. Either that or I'm stoned from all the second hand marijuana smoke.

I hope you’re right! I am definitely down on our lottery odds given the past number of years, but luck has to turn at some point right?

[Chef Boi RD]

My prediction - drafting 10th overall

[Chef Boi RD]

Ronnings #firebenning Ghost

He’s locked in, folks. It’s up to him now to save himself, nothing we can do but hope for the best.

[Blob Mckenzie]

We’re walking out of this with the #2 pick.

Pick KK and keep moving. He’s the best player in this draft. Do NOT trade up for Brother Jack

[Lancer]

We’re walking out of this with the #2 pick.

Pick KK and keep moving. He’s the best player in this draft. Do NOT trade up for Brother Jack

Best possible outcome, IMO. Gimmicks aside, I would rather see Kakko in Vancouver silks. Picking 2nd would guarantee it and remove the temptation to pick the younger Hughes. I’m usually a BPA believer but how many star centrex does the team need?

[Cherry Picker]

Cancelled my sportsnet/tsn cable and added Crave for the summer. Getting ready for GOT on Sunday. Not a fan of any team except the Canucks. In my world, true fans can only be fans of one team. I can get enough hockey on CBC. For some reason I can live without Bluejay baseball all summer long, or other Toronto centric coverage. I cancelled before the lottery because I know for a fact the Canucks won’t be picking in the top three - book it!

Oh, I’d also like to wish Edmonton an early congratulations.

[2Fingers]

Not sure if this was discussed earlier but Burke was on the radio last week talking about how the draft should run.

I cannot remember the entire discussion but it went something like this:

First – forget the lottery, let a bad team get a good player
You can only draft 1st overall once but not 2 years in row, if you are bad the following year then the best you can pick is 5th
You can only pick 1st overall twice in 5 years

He was emphasizing that bad teams should get good players to help them rebuild but manage the process so that they cannot win 1st overall like Edmonton has done.

Thoughts?

[ESQ]

We’re walking out of this with the #2 pick.

Pick KK and keep moving. He’s the best player in this draft. Do NOT trade up for Brother Jack

So Blob, if we win 1st overall you're still going KK?

My prediction - drafting 10th overall

Good ol RD keeping us safe from the hockey gods.

[2Fingers]

As for being happy this year - you really just have missed how many times I said to sit back and enjoy the entertainment, it was a ton of fun watching Petey do his thing, Bo improve massively, loved Hughes’ 5 games, thought Demko looked very strong, etc. Yep I enjoyed all of that, and yep, I’m still not happy with where this team is because it could be much better.

As for the unwavering negativity, you are either being intentionally obtuse or you just haven’t read any of my posts in this thread. I call it as I see it, I have no agenda and don’t try to be negative or positive. I don’t blindly follow along and I will criticize Benning, Green, the team, Aquilini when I think it’s warranted. I will also praise them when it’s warranted. Being positive about the future and criticizing past moved are not mutually exclusive. If you think that’s being negative you are again missing the point.

As for not handling a rebuild, I’ve been around here a lot longer than almost anyone, and was on other message boards before that. Been over 25 years now. I think with that staying power I’ve proven time and time again I can handle a rebuild - in fact I’d like to see more of it!

Agree with everything but I am happy where the team is NOW because it could be worse. The Aquas may still be forcing Luke to use the Force and build a playoff team now instead of doing it the right way. I think Aquas and JB have learned a hard lesson on their previous model and now doing it right so the rebuild IMO started a few years ago.

Skyo has me dreaming of a EK signing, just that alone would push this team to the playoffs.

For the draft lottery, will we win tonight? Nope but it is always fun to think about the "what ifs" and who ever we take at 9th will be on the team in 2 - 3 years. Now that we have a stock of good young players we do not have to push anyone up before they are ready, ala Oilers method.

[Blob Mckenzie]

We’re walking out of this with the #2 pick.

Pick KK and keep moving. He’s the best player in this draft. Do NOT trade up for Brother Jack

So Blob, if we win 1st overall you're still going KK?

Yes I would. Kid is a big horse. Hughes is a nice player but imho the Finn is a better player.

[Carl Yagro]

You can put together a list of reasons for each team being able to make the playoffs 3 years after they bottomed out - fact is, they did it when you said we shouldn’t expect it. It happens all the time so why should we expect less from the Nucks?

Jimbo is going into his 6th offseason and 6th season coming up. We should expect nothing less than playoffs this coming year and turning into a contender after that. It’s possible, just requires some more moves and hopefully Jimbo is up to the task.

But they didn't do it. You moved the goalposts about "bottoming out" while ignoring the fact it took at least 4 years.

I pointed out the Canucks and the teams I mentioned have and are rebuilding the traditional way.... it usually takes awhile and only IF they are good and consistent in their scouting, drafting and development.

LA got their core and rebuilt as I mentioned, but it took 6 years of no playoffs. Again, after they "bottomed out" with 68 pts, they were still equally as bad with 71 & 79 pts.

Colorado already had the young core that I listed, and they were a good team before and after their 48 pt season. They were NOT rebuilding from scratch. But they seem to know how to tank in the right draft year it seems.

Pittsburgh? C'mon. These 2 scenarios aren't the norm for rebuilding teams to model. Neither is winning all those lottery picks like Edmonton.

Leaves 2005-06 to 2015-16... one playoffs. In eleven years.

Chicago 1997-98 to 2007-08... one playoffs. In ten years.

Winnipeg/Atlanta 2007-08 to 2016-17... one playoffs. In ten years. Cheveldayoff, who's been masterful in selecting the right 1st round picks, have 3 playoffs in 9 seasons as GM. And he's been building this team the way it should be built since he took over in 2011.

The "norm" of full rebuilds is that it takes time, scouting, drafting, development and lots of luck. What you did with your selective stats isn't the norm.

You just want to keep taking shots at JB with your selective stats. We already said many times much of it had to Aqua's continued direction for the team. This team has missed the playoffs 4 years in a row.

But I wholeheartedly agree with you as will many others here... "We should expect nothing less than playoffs this coming year and turning into a contender after that. It’s possible, just requires some more moves and hopefully Jimbo is up to the task."

Yes.

[Mickey107]

We’re walking out of this with the #2 pick.

Pick KK and keep moving. He’s the best player in this draft. Do NOT trade up for Brother Jack

Best possible outcome, IMO. Gimmicks aside, I would rather see Kakko in Vancouver silks. Picking 2nd would guarantee it and remove the temptation to pick the younger Hughes. I’m usually a BPA believer but how many star centrex does the team need?

Your both right + I couldn't agree more. No side-shows, no gimmicks. Drafting 2nd or 3rd, the possibility of trading up might be tempting
but No. Besides: Pretty soon there's another. yikes.

[Rocky Dennis]

So we finish 23, slotting in at the 9th pick before the lottery results.

Take it away Dude. at least this year we don't have to wait 2 months to find out where we are picking.

They ended up on the high end of my October prediction of a 23rd to 27th finish. I also said a lottery pick with no lottery luck. So hopefully they end up on whatever is the high end of that prediction as well. I would also love to be totally wrong on that one today.

[Puck]

I'd love it if they somehow moved into that #2 spot. Kakko looked like a beast in the WJC and if, for some reason he goes #1, you take the best consolation prize in recent history and start brothers era part 2.

[nuckster]

Well, just wanted to throw my 2 cents in: the odds have to be a little kinder this year, we're in the top 3!! Im leaning towards #2 as well. Gonna scurry from work a tad early to see the outcome on tv.