NHL 2017 -Official Discussion Thread

[Smitty-48]

Might as well just keep losing, get those high draft picks for a couple more years at least, jettison everything, play out the bad contracts, bring up the AHL players, focus on amassing prospects, the Shanaplan is only the way to go in the salary cap era, the Leafs swooning into a spiral in 2014 and 2015, is paying off now in the form of Marner and Nylander.

[StCapps]

Might as well just keep losing, get those high draft picks for a couple more years at least, jettison everything, play out the bad contracts, bring up the AHL players, focus on amassing prospects, the Shanaplan is only the way to go in the salary cap era, the Leafs swooning into a spiral in 2014 and 2015, is paying off now in the form of Marner and Nylander.

When we get high draft picks though it rarely works out for us. See Duchene and Landeskog, MacKinnon is the exception. We're like the Oilers pre-McDavid and Draisaitl, plus when we go into the toilet extra hard we end up losing the lottery.

Not that I can think of a better strategy, I'm just saying. Thing is we aren't amassing draft picks as of yet, so we might want to get started if that's the route we're going.

[Smitty-48]

Next year's draft is deep, Dahlin, Svechnikov, Merkley, Hughes, Boqvist, Tkachuk (Brady), Wise, Khovanov, Voleno, McLeod, Wilde, Groulx, Wahlstrom...

[StCapps]

Next year's draft is deep, Dahlin, Svechnikov, Merkley, Hughes, Boqvist, Tkachuk (Brady), Wise, Khovanov, Voleno, McLeod, Wilde, Groulx, Wahlstrom...

So try and pull a Calgary or Boston and get three first rounders, 2018 would be the year to do it. Avalanche are too dumb to do that, we'll only have one, maybe two if I'm really lucky.

[Smitty-48]

Next year would be a good year to have 3 x 1st rounders, the first round is stocked with talent, lots of blue chip defencemen, can't go wrong.

[Smitty-48]

2018 Draft has Quinton Hughes, but 2019 draft will have his brother; Jack Hughes, remember that name; the Next One.

[Fife]

The moment is now.

[StCapps]

Anaheim on the verge of choking. Where have I seen this movie before? The Preds don't even have any healthy centers, and that's their performance at home in Game 5? This would be one of the Ducks worst post-season trainwrecks yet if they don't win two straight, and that's saying something. Calle Jarnkrok as a top line center should not be enough to get it done against a team that good.

Also Peter Laviolette, is fucking awesome. That man is a god damn miracle worker.

[Fife]

:goteam: :drunk:

[Smitty-48]

Ryan Johansen is out... and Matt Murray is back? Uh-oh, Nashville...

<sniffs>

...I smell the Hockey Gods, feckless and cruel.