Why couldn't they? When healthy, they are rolling with Slavin, Hamilton, Pesce, and Gardiner in their top 4 but Gardiner apparently has not fit in with their D core on the 2nd pairing. That's why they were after Brodin even before all the injuries. With the injuries, they basically have Slavin and Gardiner and Edmundson... Not exactly inspiring.

At least one of Hamilton and Pesce will be out until the playoffs, after which the cap disappears, so there is no cap consideration. Next year Carolina would have Slavin-Pesce and Brodin-Hamilton for an exceptional top 4, with one defensive star teamed with one offensive force in each pairing.

I have my fingers crossed because then Minnesota would get the #2C (soon to advance to #1) the Wild have always needed and Matthew Boldy might be ready, too.

Beat me to it, as usual.

Boldy has switched back to being a winger at BC and since then he has been torching the league. I think he's a winger in the NHL, unfortunately. Our only real center prospect is Khovanov but he projects to be more of a middle 6/2nd line guy than a first liner.

You added a good point about their D core being excellent next year, though. That D core is probably top 5 in the league, if not top 3, with Brodin. And of course they have tons of fire power up front with Aho, Svechnikov, Teravainen, etc.

Oh, I just assumed Boldy was going to play wing. I never thought of him as a center. My point was that with Necas, Boldy and Fiala, that's a pretty good start on a first-class top-6. I was hoping that Greenway would get there, too, but that doesn't seem so likely now.

That second first-round pick you guys have should be interesting this year. Since my direction has been on Anaheim's major problem, I've been looking at right-handed defensemen in this year's draft pool, and there are a few in particular who might come into play after #20. Do you think you'll go forward-forward or forward-defenseman? ('Cause there are some excellent lefties, too.) Aaah, it's probably too early to speculate. But what else do I have to look forward to between now and the lottery draws?

Plus Ryan Suzuki might soften the blow of losing Necas, and then they have that dark horse Luostarinen. Plus Bokk, but I think that like Boldy, he belongs at wing.

Belpedio has more utility because he can play either RD or LD. Wild have Pateryn and Hunt (offhand) that play primary RD. There isn't much for LD in Iowa (Bartkowski) currently. Putting Seeler though waivers is looking like an even dumber move now.

Gotcha, I misunderstood. We have Kaprizov, too.

I think it has to be forward with the first pick, and hopefully a center, although I'm big believer in taking best player available and not drafting for need. I've been a huge fan of Stutzle since the summer, but it seems like his stock has skyrocketed and the only way we'd get him is if we luck into that 3rd overall pick. I may like him a little more than Byfield since he seems like more of a distributor than Byfield (thus fitting our needs more), but I do think Byfield will be the better player, of course, and I wouldn't complain one bit about getting either of them. That's a pipe dream, though. The only center I'm not a fan of is Lundell because we already have a ton of defensively minded centers (Kunin, Eriksson Ek. and Sturm) who would fill the same role that Lundell would. We need an offensive star. For the second pick, it seems like scouts are all over the board after picks 1-12 or so. I wouldn't mind grabbing another center, but if it's a defender it should probably be a LD. Poirier is pretty much the only D I know much about, but I've read a little about Wallinder and Guhle. I guess this doesn't really answer your question, but I'm hoping for either center-LD or center-center.

Barring a top-5 pick; Lundell and Guhle are the players I'm looking for in the draft.

Wallinder and Poirier are possibles, as are Schneider, Barron, Grans and Niemola.

Because he isn't good