COL needs to draft a defender with that first pick and not Patrick...

Not if the defender is not the best player in the draft. You always have to take the best available when going 1 - 4 after that fill in needs. If CO gets#1 there's no way that they do not draft Patrick unless they somehow make a trade.

Also we are dead last tin goals for, so we need more help up front --- we need help all over the ice, but a huge piece of getting better is getting rid of the expiring contracts ie: Tyutin, Mitchell, Golobef etc.

IF Col gets the first draft pick, I think you take Patrick, and trade away someone else for a D-man. You can't give up a first pick like that unless you are getting someone like Karlsson on D.

No they dont, you dont draft a Dman first overall by taking someone off the board. There is no Dman that is worth to be in the Top 3 right now.
You do not leave talent on the board with a Top pick

And no that team still doesnt make the playoffs.

They have a lot of nice pieces but there is too much crap still. Team needs to really be proactive getting rid of Beauchemin, Colborne, Soderberg, Comeau. And even look at moving on from Varlamov is the right move is available.

My draft board probably goes
1. Hischier
2. Tippett
3. Gabriel Vilardi
4. Nolan Patrick

.. if COL gets the #1 pick I'd trade down to the 4-8 range and take best player available then and grab other picks in other rounds. Draft one of the defensemen that they like. I get drafting best player available but when you have a top-6 of Landy, Duchene, MacKinnon, Rantanen, and Yost is drafting another forward as important as solidifying the defense? Idk.. Patrick would be great there, but that defense still gets smoked by most teams. I'm just saying it as a Flyers fan that watched Voracek, Simmer, G, etc. try as hard as they can to be good but without a true #1 defender they can't do it.. The Patrick pcik makes more sense to me if you are considering trading one of duchene and Landy for a defenseman

Strong no. This teams takes Patrick or hischer with there 1 or 2 pick.

Sorry bro Patrick is the best player hands down in this draft. Hischier is second. Then a combo or vilardi, Tippett and the chec kid. Patterson is a strong 5-10 pick as well.

I get the drafting d point. But also look at 2018 draft. We will be in a top 5 pick position there and we will get our d cornerstone there. And most likely a 9 or 92 will be traded for a top 4 dman this year.

Its never as simple as just trade down, unless you are getting full value for trading down you are taking a gamble that that Dman is even available at 5-8. You never know.
The safe bet is to take the best most talented players in Nico or Patrick and then figure out how to make the pieces work. If you take Patrick at 1st overall then you can easily move duchene for a Dman that is ready and not gamble on one of the Top Dmen in this draft who aren't projected to be Studs like the past guys in Werneski, Provorov, sergachev.

If anything Avs will want to gain a late first round draft pick to take a Hague or Foote to go along with the Top Fwd prospect they get. Avs do not have the luxury of picking and choosing their talent they are able to draft. They need home runs and not draft for positional needs

I would say no you are not making the playoffs. So many question marks in this lineup.

Still need good d and goaltending...