I like the trades with the exception of trading down at the draft. You say we need to address the C position. Well you did that with trading for Tyler Johnson, but you want to trade down to get a center? Not likely. There are tons of defenseman and good wingers in the draft. Plus Dallas has plenty of young centers in Faksa, Smith, and Dickinson. That being said I'm not sure Tampa gives up Johnson, regardless the return. Sure they have Brayden Point, but is he ready to take that 2nd line C spot?

Other than that I'm a fan. I would rather Rads stay on the top line and see how Val does on the second RW spot with JVR and Johnson.

Barrett Hayton is better than Kupari and is slated to go around where Dallas picks. Unless the Isles go Veleno/Hayton, one of them will b available at #13. The Stars don't need to move down unless the prospect pool is in such shambles that the extra 2nd is a must.

Can't really speak on the other trades outside of I'm not sure why the Flyers would want to be in on Spezza.

I would personally like to see us get lucky and draft Veleno.

When I said we need to address the Center position, I was referencing our prospect pool. We are extremely shallow in that aspect of our prospect system. We have defense, goalies, and wingers, but we have no top-6 potential Centers. Dickinson and Smith are both good, young Centers, but they are both bottom-6 guys. Veleno, Kupari, and Kotkaniemi all have top-line potential. That's a piece we would be smart to add to our prospect pool. The Johnson trade has nothing to do with the fact that Tampa wants to give up on him, but with a lot of their young pieces needing contracts over the next two years, they are in desperate need for cap space. Johnson and Killorn are two guys that they could very well be looking to move at some point over the next season, in order to free up the cap space for guys like Point, Kucherov, Paquette, Miller, McDonagh, Stralman, Koekkoek and Gourde.

And as much as I loved Rads on that top line, I'm a big fan of spreading the wealth. Putting Nichushkin on that top line isn't going to hurt the production much, if at all, and it really bumps up the production of our 2nd line.

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of Hayton. His numbers were greatly inflated by a stacked Sault Ste. Marie team this year. Kupari skates better, has better vision, and is a better scoring Center than Hayton, in my opinion. I'd rather trade down for one of the Centers I mentioned in my description and get another pick than draft Hayton. He's good, but he's not as good as his numbers indicate. Again, all this is simply my opinion.

hayton is a good player seen him play alot i like the pick in that area

I factor age more than I do teammates. Had he been playing top line with Frost and co, I'd completely agree with you. But, iirc he was driving the 2nd line at a point-per-game pace as a 17 year old. He just turned 18 yesterday. The only real advantage he had playing in the Soo was having access to defencemen capable of breaking the puck out and wingers that could keep up to his play. I genuinely think he could be a 100pt player next season with the 1st line being all his own.

I do hold Veleno ahead of Hayton for what it's worth. It's more of a personal thing: if Veleno was good enough to be considered a top-5 pick this time last year, it's for a reason. Had he played all season for a Drummondville-esque team he probably still would have been a top-10 pick. Hayton didn't have that hype. He did however, make the most of his time on that 2nd line, and probably picked up a great deal of stuff from Frost. Dallas would be happy to have him I think.