In general there were so many good choices in the top 10 of that draft well besides the 2OA pick 6OA and 7OA pick

Never seen someone who's 6'5" 230lbs beat on as many pucks as Mantha was tonight. First game back from a nasty injury but good Lord.

I remember being one. I liked Hischier, Heiskanen, and Pettersson in that draft as well as Oettinger but Makar seemed like a reach at the time even at #4. We were in such bad shape after that 2016 bomb of a season that drafting a kid that was 3-4 years away felt like we were in for a really rough time at the NHL level; the other guys were ready to step in right away. After losing O'Reilly it really felt like we needed to get a 2C type guy.

Thankfully Sakic & Co. had patience and foresight.

Breakfast and hockey is going to be nice!

Wild seem to be finally giving Marco Rossi his chance as he is centering the top line of Zuccarello and Kaprizov again.
Eriksson-Ek with Hartman-Foligno in a matchup line.
Gaudreau with Boldy-MoJo getting lots of offensive zone starts.

Lindy Ruff roasted the hell out of him the other day. In a gist, essentially said "That defensive structure made Gravy(Graves) a lot of money" there was more context but I'm to lazy to find it.

He's exactly right though. Graves played well because of where he was. and he cashed out.

If that’s true we are screwed. Sully knows one way to coach.

Which also indicates a bad mistake for the Penguins pro scouting team to miss that he didn't have the skill/hockey IQ to play in their system successfully. Or maybe it's early in the season and he is still fitting in.

Imo he was the Devils 5th best dman, brought up because he played with Hamilton.

I never really liked the deal for PIT. Felt like a panic move by Dubas to improve team, for the final years of Crosby's career. Same with Jarry and Karlsson tbh. Although Karlsson has done what he's supposed to so far.

Their offseason felt very Hextall esque to me ngl.

The Karlsson deal was such a big swing that I admire the balls to do it; but am not sold it will work. EK65 is a great individual player but the team almost has to be completely built around him for it to be successful. That is a lot of cap for a long time tied up and will limit them; they already are seeing the impact on the wingers not being as productive as their salary expectations and their goalies getting exposed.

They certainly have the talent to turn it around but again, it's a big gamble.

Great article giving insight into how Carey Price is doing lately on NHL.com: Price talks life, future away from hockey in Part 1 of sit-down with NHL.comNHL.com

That's pretty much what he was with the Avs too; a very good 3rd pair guy who could float up into top 4 in emergencies but not someone we were going to pay that type of money to.

To be fair there is also the case where a player looks like they would adapt than dont. Many systems often are so specialized players just dont adapt

In general Graves to me never felt like a Dman for Pitt. I actually had him going to Carolina lul.

Funny enough Carolina and Pitt reversed who I thought would go where lul

As I had Orlov at 6m to Pitt.

Maybe that's a deal both teams would take right now!?

Patrik Laine is a healthy scratch tonight for #CBJ in Philadelphia.

He has no points in his last 4 games and only played just over 12 minutes in each of the last two. Ouch.

To me CBJ is just not the team for him. Since he left WPG he has never been the same

Honestly a return to WPG or a similar team should be explored

As it seems CBJ is built for very specific players and guys like him and Gaudreau just dont fit

Laine was drafted with attitude issues, and now it's the 2nd team he's fumbled on. After awhile it's not just a coincidence.

He did have attitude issues but then he seemed to get things in order but was bullied out of WPG by Wheeler and Scheifele

With a new leadership group and Wheeler gone I wonder if things would go better as to be fair there were a lot of guys with issues on that team many are gone now.

Laine would do great on a team like Carolina that has strong locker room, structure, and a big need for a finisher like him.

I have a feeling Brid'Amour would absolutely hate this guy

Thats the vibes I get. His system feels like something Laine would not be great at. Maybe not but I feel it just wouldnt work

Last 2 seasons he was great. PPG or just below PPG in both seasons, and was a little more responsible defensively last year. I think this year has just been tough, he was a bit frustrated at the start, then he got injured for a month, and he came back and the team already wasn't playing well, his issue right now is he needs a goal, that will get his confidence back a little. Gaudreau scored yesterday, I think we'll see him to start looking like himself again.

Also gonna note. Vincent has constantly juggled lines, no one has had time to gain chemistry, I think he's been saying the right things in interveiws but not a fan of how he's handled some situations this year.

He gave them the points but you could just tell the fits not entirely there. Its not like WPG where he was a monster. He had moments but to me CBJ is not a place for guys like this

Things could improve but I feel for either him or Gaudreau a move could be in the works.

St. Louis has about 8 years of plays tailor made for Tarasenko sitting in a drawer waiting for Patrick Laine.

My favorite draft. Not only because my team got a good player…but because it was the ultimate underdog draft class. After 2015, 2016…everyone said it would be worst in decades.

Well..2017 is all growns up now.

Graves said Pittsburgh played the “polar opposite” type of structure in d-zone. To which, Lindy responded, “it made him a lot of $$”

He was good here…mostly a guy we let play and kinda forgot he was there. Low event dman.