BACKSTROM or STASTNY

[BigB]

If you had to pick one over the other..who would you pick. At the draft auction in September I\'ll have to decide who I\'m willing to spend the $ on. Stastny\'s a sure thing..(although, like Dobber, I too am worried about a sophmore slump). But Backstrom\'s upside is so tempting....

[doulos]

You won\'t go wrong with either guy.

But I\'d go with Stastny personally.

[hockeylifer]

Hello BigB:

That is an interesting proposition. I hadn\'t thought about that one. Having said that, I prefer Stastny. Why? I like what Stastny did last year and Backstrom hasn\'t played yet. Who has the most upside? I am not sure. I think Stastny will be bigger than projected, to be rhetorical, based on bloodlines. Backstrom will be good with Ovechkin. You then look at supporting casts and question \'who has the most upside\'? The immediate upside might favor Stastny. Long term it might favor Backstrom. I know that I am \'fence sitting\'. At this time I don\'t think there is a clear answer to your question, long term. Short term, I go with Stastny.

Bottomline: I would love to have either on my team.

[Fergie]

I guess it\'s either you want to win next season or in a couple of years.

Long term, I would go with Backstrom.
Short term, you\'ll have a sure shot next season with Stastny.

[smoothfun]

stastny for the present and backstrom for the future .

[Sly1]

I have the exact same dilema for my draft this September. I have the first overall pick and these two are definitely the top two players available.

Although I did go back and forth on this one for a while, I think I\'ve now settled on Backstrom. Stastny may have the slight edge in the short term, but how can you pass up an upside like Backstrom!!! Ovechkin is an absolute pure sniper, probably the top in the league for a very long time. While Backstrom is a pure playmaker with an incredible vision of the game. Together, how can it not be pure magic. Dobber has described this guy as having the potential to be \"Peter Forsberg centering Mike Bossy\", or even another \"Henrik Zetterberg…imagine how he would do centering Ovechkin?\". Stastny has proven himself this past year and may even end up surpassing his upside, but mid and long term you have to give the edge to Backstrom, I know I will.

I must admit, that I also have the 5th overall pick and pray that Stastny is still available by some miracle.

[Thieving Giraffe]

I\'m with Sly.

Backstrom: Worst-case scenario (in my mind) is that he ends up Stastny-esque in scoring (80-90/season), but takes an extra year or two to get there.

But the reward for taking that chance may be a guy who puts up over 100 pts a season, maybe even 110-120 if he and Ovechkin really hit it off.

Seems worth the risk to me.

[The Good Sir]

I also have the same Dilemma, although I have decided to pick Backstrom and not look back.

[Sly1]

So does this latest signing of Nylander to a 4 year contract change things for Backstrom? Will he now be limited to second line duties alongside Semin for at least the next 4 years? Does this change your thoughts on taking Backtrom ahead of Stastny?

I\'m not sure anymore on who to take with my first overall pick in our draft. Maybe I should take Stastny now and Backstrom will now slip so that I can grab him with my 5th overall pick. What do you guys think?

[87Flyer]

i like backstrom, heres why. with the signing of nylander you figure he\'s going to be centreing ovechkin with maybe clark again(they seemed to have some chemistry so why change it), backstrom gets semin and kozlov. 2 fairly solid looking lines. the biggest factor i think tho is that the big line is going to draw the opposing teams top defensive unit every night and that leaves the 2nd line against whatever is left for the opposing team to try to shut them down. unless theyre playing a team that is very deep this might not be an easy task. when you also consider the division they play in this team might just be able to wreak some havoc for 32 of their divisional games.

when you look at colorado they have improved with smyth but for the most part they are coming back with the same lines as last year so i would think the production should be somewhat similar to what they have already done, maybe slightly better. they also play in one of the tougher divisions aside from their free 8 games against the oilers(sorry oiler fans).

in the end to my way of thinking anyway, AO and semin had decent years with no real centres, now they have 2 fairly decent ones(providing the talk of backstrom is valid) and that could translate into a lot more points. just my thinking.

[Loki]

When it\'s close go with the \"Dobber 300\"...Backstrom

[dynamo45]

I am going to go with Stastny...yes beware the sophomore slump, but he is also a semi proven commodity. Backstrom has an enormous amount of expectation on him from just about everyone...can he handle it?
With Nylander now in Wash, I think Backstrom will be on line 2....
In Colorado with Joe and Smyth there...Stastny will have some great leadership to overcome any slumps imo

[BrianSTC]

Backstrom...hands down.