Quoting: hailmcjesus
I believe Cozens is a better player than Podkolzin. Podkolzin had worse numbers then Kraftsov when Kraftsov was a year younger. And we do need a RHS for the pp. Ever heard of the one-timer?
I don't think Sekera will come off of LTIR. The entire LTIR business is shady. Players like Lupul are probably able to play. In which case I could give Johansson a 1 or even 2 million raise.
While statistics show that alternating handedness for a powerplay does tend to lead to a more successful powerplay, it isn't gospel. Edmonton ran 5 left shots for a bit when they had right-handed options. Their powerplay isn't much better with Puljujarvi on it than it was off it.
Regardless, drafting for handedness or position instead of taking the best player available is a mistake 9 times out of 10. Relying on an 18 year old to be your #1RW or be the target shooter for your #1PP is equally as much of a mistake. If you're at #3, you take the guy ranked at #3 unless you have a damn good reason not to (like knowing he's a bum etc).
If you're going to make the comparison between Kravtsov and Podkolzin - which is fair - then consider all aspects of the two players, not just the scoring. The KHL and its affiliate leagues are incredibly political and quite often player stats end up skewed because of which. Kravtsov is a year and a half older than Podkolzin, which gave him both a size and strength advantage in his pre-draft year and his draft year. Podkolzin, due to who his KHL draft rights belonged to, was kept on the national program for additional playing time. Kravtsov also had the advantage of not trying to earn icetime on the stacked SKA St. Petersburgh team; Podkolzin has to compete with a myriad of former NHLers on the squad that's been hand-picked by the Russian government to perennially contend for the Gagarin Cup. While I'm not discounting what Kravtsov did as an 18 year-old in the KHL last year or what he's continue to do this year, I think more attention needs to be put on Podkolzin being 18 months younger than Kravtsov and has played KHL games as a 17 year old. It's incredibly rare for the KHL to play 18 year-olds, nevermind someone even younger. Other things to consider regarding these two players? They both played in the WJC's as 18 year-olds, but only Podkolzin put up points in the tournament. Podkolzin has represented Russia in more international events, and has shown to be more suited to playing on the smaller ice. Podkolzin has a higher ppg average at every level of international play (except the U20s, which he'll be eligible for the next two and will bring that total well beyond Kravtsov's).
Also, do note that this year's draft class is weaker than last year's: Kravtsov going 9th last year means nothing to where Podkolzin goes this year. If Kravtsov were eligible for this year's draft with the numbers he had last year, he's be contending for #1 status.
Sekera is already skating with the team, and is expected to be playing sometime in March. After the shenanigans that the Leafs pulled with Lupul and Robidas, plus Chicago's way of getting Hossa off the books, the league isn't going to tolerate any more tomfoolery regarding LTIR. There is no conceivable way that the morons running the Oilers could come up with something clever enough to sneak it past the league.