Hey everyone, it's all over but the crying at this point, so let's chat about who we got, what we did, and didn't like.

Ducks picks per the Athletic

2OA Leo Carlsson

33OA Nico Myatovic

59OA Carey Terrance

60OA Damian Clara

65OA Coulson Pitre

85OA Yegor Sidorov

97OA Konnor Smith

129OA Rodwin Dionicio

161OA Vojtech Port

@OldNYIfan @LosPatos @GeneralLandro

@Manson @Lenny7 @Salzy

Please tag anyone else I missed

Well, I certainly look like a prize idiot (not for the first time) after the Carlsson surprise because I spent the last two weeks fending off moronic Monteal trade-up scenarios by claiming that Fantilli was a generational talent. I hope that I'm only half wrong, and that Carlsson is, too.

Myatovic I don't understand because I'm convinced that he would still have been on the board at #59. I would have taken Ethan Gauthier at #33, Myatovic at #59, Riley Heidt at #60 and Koehn Ziemmer at #65. If we weren't going to trade up for Bjarnason or Hrabal, I don't see why we would take the 5th goalie prospect in the levee.

All in all, it's clear that I'm on an entirely different page from the scouting staff -- maybe even in a different volume. But maybe nothing could illustrate that better than the fact that I had Caden Price going to the Kings at #22 back when they still had a first-round draft pick, and they passed on him at #54 and again at #78.

I've read the profiles of Carlsson & many others. And I'm sure I'll become a Carlsson fan. But does anyone have an insight as to why NOT Fantilli??

My speculation is that the Ducks have not had good luck with NCAA players and that Verbeek considered that a negative re: Fantilli. But are there other reasons to pass on Fantilli??

Honestly, I think his game is going to struggle at the NHL level. He's taken advantage of being the fastest and the strongest kid basically his entire career, and from the footage I saw, he takes a lot of low percentage shots and tries to force plays instead of using his team mates. I think he knows he is hot sh*t and acts like it. He also didn't seem to like demotions much when he was bottom 6 wing at the WC. I just kind of get the sense that Fantilli has a bit of an attitude. There's also a lot more opportunity for him in Columbus to be the 1C right away, I think he may have wanted to go straight to the NHL and would have been resistant to Verbeek methodological approach to player development.

To quote miracle, Verbeek is looking for a player who knows the name on the front of the jersey is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back, and while I have nothing to back it up outside a hunch and fringe evidence, I think Leo understands that, and Adam doesn't, or at least doesn't yet.

I was more frustrated than I was happy this draft. Carlsson I’ve come to understand after some research.

But like @OldNYIFan said: we took a few players way too early when we could gotten someone like Gauthier with the 33rd pick. I’m not super impressed with the Ducks this draft at all. Seems like we only took high risk, high reward picks.

I think I’m coming to realize that Verbeek has no intention of having this team being competitive for the next 3 years, especially with what moves have (and haven’t) been made the past 6 months

I think I'm sufficiently happy with the draft, the only real head scratches is Myatovic. I would have taken Gauthier instead.

I love the Leo pick, he was my guy.

I don't know what Verbeek saw in Myatovic, but he saw something he liked. He did end up drafting three right wingers (I'm counting Terrance as a right shot center who often played wing) so it's not like he was oblivious to the need. Most of the RW are high risk high reward guys, but I think I'm okay with that. More reading on Myatovic and I'm starting to get it. They went for net crashing goal scorers, looking for guys with Henrique like qualities.

I see the intrigue with Clara, I'm just not sure I would have taken a goalie this year, we could have waited until next year with the quality of goalie that was left by 60, maybe Clara turns into the next Stolarz for us (an excellent backup that is very different stylistically from our starter). We've generally had very good luck with our goalie development, so hard to fault the pick, yet.

I'm still going to give it until free agency. Verbeek showed last year he likes to do things himself. I can understand the unwillingness to add via trading capital at this point. We've got money to use on UFAs, it makes more sense to go that route. Next off-season we might see draft capital start to move out the door.

My issue is Gibson should have been gone at the draft. Even if it was a lowball offer, because now if we do trade Gibson, we’ll have a lot less options for someone to play with Dostal or someone who’ll start if Dostal goes to San Diego.

I love Gibby but he needs to go. He wants to win and he isn’t in our timeline anymore unless Verbeek Cronin and Verbeek pull something out their ass before the season like a blockbuster (which won’t happen)

Same with Comtois, if we knew he wasn’t getting a QO, why not trade his rights for something rather then letting him walk for nothing?

I jsut feel Verbeek is being too conservative with trades right now, and we can’t just build a competitive team off of free agents, especially this year

I'll start by saying if Gibson actually asked for a trade, it would have been headline news, not buried in an off-season trade article. I think he still loves being here, though I could see him wanting to go to a competitor.

That said, the league has shown there is no appetite for cap this season. Outside the PLD trade, everyone with cap has gone for next to nothing. Smith got a 3rd, Hall went for some reclamation project prospects, RyJo and Hayes with 50% retention went for next to nothing. Even Yamamotoe had to have a former 1st attached to move him.

I think Max's QO wouldn't have been given by anyone, so there was no ability to trade him for anything.

And I think moving Gibson this year would have been a mistake. Dostal still needs cover and a tutor, Anaheim still needs a starter, and Gibson is still under contract. I think the smart play is rebuild the defense, train the team to have a much tighter defensive structure to let Gibsons stats rebound, and then look at a trade next off-season, assuming Verbeek even has the desire to move him.

I'm doing alright after all of that. I think I'll grow to love Carlsson, but the idea of handing Fantilli over to Columbus just sucks.

So. Much. Upside.

With the rest of the picks? I thought adding Gauthier at RW would have been big, but at the end of the day, Martin Madden has run the draft for the past few years, and has pulled this stuff off many times before, and it's resulted in guys like Luneau/Zellweger/Warren/Pastujov/etc. being added. Heck, Soap and Minty were both considered "reaches" when they were picked, and both have shown that they were worthy of those picks.

Re: the lack of upgrades to the actual roster so far-Who do we want? Gotta think age-wise any major additions that aren't on expiring deals would have to be 26 or younger given the teams timeline? Just off the top of my head, would we have been happy giving up Mintyukov for Dach (I wouldn't have been...), or Mintyukov+Luneau/Warren+3rd for Debrincat (I would have been at the time, but not now...), or 33OA+Luneau for Newhook? I just don't see it. Let the kids stew for a bit, and see what we've got. THEN you deal from the pick/prospect pool.

I honestly think Verbeek put a high price tag on cap dump acquisitions, and it's backfired (a bit). That being said, I think that there should be a premium put on freeing up cap space, and once it starts to flow, teams *might* bite.