Ugh, I'd love to have him, Byfield (Think he'd get 9 games, then head back to JR for the rest of the year) or Drysdale on the team. Also, was running an Anaheim franchise in NHL 20 the other day and signed Vat-man back. Miss that guy.

But, something tells me that, because of our heartache of the past couple of years, the Ducks end up picking 8-10ish.

Still, anyone else in the top 10 isn't a bad consolation prize!

Cap ending up somewhere around $86-88 mil could be a big help as well.

100%.

Originally, I was thinking about an order of preference of Lafreniere, Byfield, Raymond, Drysdale, Holtz, Quinn and Schneider, but the more I think about the first round, the more I think Drysdale should be third on Anaheim's list. (That doesn't go for other teams, of course.)

The thing about Drysdale as a RD is that he probably doesn't end up on the team until 2021. With the big jump in the cap this summer (Probably?), they might be able to fill 1-2 holes through free agency.

I know the desperate need for RD, and i know that Drysdale is likely going to get taken in the top 4, but picking him over Stutzle Raymond Byfield or obv Laf would be a mistake, for any team, and I'd rather have Niemela or Grans over Quinn or Schneider

Burying Backes in the minors is a strong possibility but not Gudbranson. He's been really solid for us and doesn't even make that much money. I'd rather have him instead of Sami, to be honest. He's younger, will most likely be cheaper and plays better defense. I don't anticipate our RHD needs will be filled via free agency. A trade is much more likely.

As for how we use our pick, I want the best d-man. I used to be BPA advocate but I'm done with that. It's almost impossible to acquire a #1 d-man in this league, the vast majority of them are drafted. Unless the BPA is a for-sure superstar forward I think we have to take the best d-man. I will be more than happy with Lafreniere if we miraculous end up with the first pick but if not, we have to take the top d-man.

I'm not sure I agree with you about Stutzle over Drysdale, but I have a sneaking suspicion Grans will go much higher than people are saying. Grans is one of the defensemen I would love Anaheim to draft.

Just saw Mike Morreale's latest ranking of first-rounders and neither Niemela nor Grans (nor Krutil) was on it, which gives me hope for the second round. Speaking of which, I sure wish we could turn some of our surplus assets into a second-rounder.