NHL Draft Lottery - June 2

[Eskimo Brother]

Power to BUF and Beniers to SEA just make too much sense. The Athletic mock has Guenther to ANA, but I feel that it's more likely they go for a Dman. Probably Clarke or Hughes - coin flip to Clarke.

[havanablast21]

The LA KINGS will jump from 8th to 1st with the Hail Mary win!

I managed to mess that one up as well!

[Pengwin7]

Power to BUF and Beniers to SEA just make too much sense. The Athletic mock has Guenther to ANA, but I feel that it's more likely they go for a Dman. Probably Clarke or Hughes - coin flip to Clarke.

I agree - the 1/2 picks seems pretty steady.
Anaheim is definitely a wildcard. I like the Guenther pick. They'll need high-end complimentary forward for Zegras.
Rakell is not aging well, and Comtois is solid, but more of a 2nd line wing. I think having a Zegras-Guenther high-end pairing is better than adding a 2nd offensive D-man.
Most teams run a 4F:1D PP... and I think it works a lot better to fit that out first.
Having two high-end offensive D-men is nice... but not essential, IMO.

Also - a Hughes/Hughes NJ pairing is just too much fun to not root for!!!

[Eskimo Brother]

I agree - the 1/2 picks seems pretty steady.
Anaheim is definitely a wildcard. I like the Guenther pick. They'll need high-end complimentary forward for Zegras.
Rakell is not aging well, and Comtois is solid, but more of a 2nd line wing. I think having a Zegras-Guenther high-end pairing is better than adding a 2nd offensive D-man.
Most teams run a 4F:1D PP... and I think it works a lot better to fit that out first.
Having two high-end offensive D-men is nice... but not essential, IMO.

Also - a Hughes/Hughes NJ pairing is just too much fun to not root for!!!

Definitely agree that Hughes in NJ would be great (he probably doesn't drop to 9th overall for the Canucks.

As for ANA, they do have a few other guys in their system like Terry, Steele, Jones, Perreault, Lundestrom, Volkov, Tracey, etc, so they're not barren for F options. You might be right though that they do have their PP guy set. Yes I know that some of those gusy play C right now, but the gusy that do probably won't all finish as Cs.
However, we've seen them in past snap up high end Dman after high end Dmen in the draft (Lindholm, Fowler, Theodore, etc), so going back to that well wouldn't surprise me.

[Pengwin7]

All those forwards you listed, IMO, are 2nd line or 3rd line forwards. They'll be solid.
But I just love what I see with Pastrnak-Bergeron in BOS or Rantanen-MacKinnon in COL or Draisaitl(C/W)-McDavid in EDM.
Obviously past pairings of Ovechkin-Backstrom have worked too.
It's very rare that a center can carry/elevate a wing the way Crosby has done over his career.

And yes, I know ANA has made a point of drafting a high-end D... but it hasn't worked well for them (IMO) over past 10 years.
The Pronger/Neidermayer days may have got them too entrenched in feeling like they need two.

I look at recent cup champs, they just need one bonafide elite D (Hedman TB, Pietrangelo STL, Carlson WAS, Letang PIT, Keith CHI, Doughty LA, Chara BOS, Lidstrom DET).
It can be nice to also have some good defensive-D... or an offensive-D (like Rafalski pairing w/Lidstrom)...
But ultimately - I think ANA has their guy in Drysdale.
I don't really see them benefitting by drafting a 2nd high-end D when they don't have a 2nd high-end F.

We'll see. I like Guenther for them.

[to counter my own point... if they think they will be atrocious next season... then maybe they (GM/scouting) expect to land one of the 3-4 uberAmazing 2022 forward kids.]

[Eskimo Brother]

Yeah, I'm not saying I 100% think Anaheim will take a D, but with the way the draft looks this year vs the next couple it wouldn't surprise me if they do.
If they are targeting a forward and Beniers is gone, then it would have to be Guenther or Eklund.

[PicklePickle]

RIP Owen Power

[PenguinHunter]

RIP Owen Power

Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin are going to end up being one of the power D pairs in the league in 4-5 years time.

[rataylor22]

Unless Buffalo doesn’t want to play 2 LHS together

[PenguinHunter]

Unless Buffalo doesn’t want to play 2 LHS together

Well if they truly want to they can. This whole LHS/RHS is overrated if the D-men are truly great!

Scott Niedermayer/Scott Stevens
Ray Bourque/Glen Wesley
Larry Robinson/Guy Lapointe

[Dr.Brad]

Sure. Other elite players have blossomed there ... oh wait - that was LAST millennium.

[rataylor22]

Well if they truly want to they can. This whole LHS/RHS is overrated if the D-men are truly great!

Scott Niedermayer/Scott Stevens
Ray Bourque/Glen Wesley
Larry Robinson/Guy Lapointe

I agree, but Mike Babcock said it one time and now every coach is seemingly obsessed with it.

Wonder if Beniers broken ankle will impact his draft stock at all.

[PicklePickle]

I agree, but Mike Babcock said it one time and now every coach is seemingly obsessed with it.

Wonder if Beniers broken ankle will impact his draft stock at all.

Is it officially broken?

[PenguinHunter]

I agree, but Mike Babcock said it one time and now every coach is seemingly obsessed with it.

Wonder if Beniers broken ankle will impact his draft stock at all.

Yes. its crazy how everyone is obsessed with it. Its annoying.

I am sure there are D-men that prefer to play their off-hand side- Coaches should do more coaching and less playing follow the leader.

[rataylor22]

Is it officially broken?

IDK. We probably won't officially know until the tournament is over, but I'd be surprised if it isn't.