Ik we've had this argument already but what if he re-signs in the KHL, or if his game doesn't translate, the GM taking him that high would look stupid. It's the same reason Michkov fell in the draft, teams knew he may not come to NA, and that they'd have to wait for him to come over. I can't say I've seen Nikishin play but he sure seems like he'll be a stud when he comes over, but putting him top 5, over guys that are established NHL's contributing to their team's at a really high level and are only getting better seems crazy to me. It really depends on the team picking's situation more than anything. If an already competitive team has the choice of a guy that won't come to the NHL for 5 years but has crazy potential vs a guy that can play immediately but may not be as good at his peak, they'll probably take the guy that will help the team now rather than later, and since I didn't redraft this with team's situations in mind, the player that can't come to the NHL for another year while others have been in the league for 3-4 years didn't get picked highly

EDIT: If I was an NHL GM looking back at the draft 4 years later seeing how some of the guys I passed on are thriving while my pick still can't play in the NHL I'd somewhat regret my pick, and as an NHL GM you easily could be fired before your pick makes it to the NHL, and that pick could've been the difference in keeping or losing your job, even if you made the right decision to wait it out, you're job could be lost before the day your pick makes his debut. And god forbid he sucks after waiting 5 years for him to play, that'd go down as one of the worst decisions of your career

Okay, so let's take your entire hypothetical and all these other branches from that tree as what will happen: who said GMs never make a regrettable move?

I mean, you can what if it up and down and all around, and it's not going to change the current reality that 32 of 32 teams would take Nikishin over Hutson by a country mile and a half.

when did hutson get involved in this? and the whole point of a redraft is to take the best option available, which in my opinion a guy that hasn't played in the NHL can't be ranked that highly compared to guys that have, but once he does then you can say he's top 5 or wherever you rank him.

Pardon me, I was mixing up two different similar discussions.

And again, you're going off of what has already happened, which is only so relevant. What matters most in a redraft context is who would you rather now. And who would rather now is mostly about what they'll do moving forward. Plus, most teams picking so high up are not contenders. They would not necessarily judge by best player today. Very often, they will do the opposite. But regardless of team situation, it's a pretty unanimous take that Nikishin would be way up near the top. That is an ice cold take, man.

you forgot lohrei

yeah, definetly could put him in over shakir at 31, maybe a bit higher

a lot higher.

i wouldn't say higher than 26th personally

he's been better than drysdale.

Lohrei isn't even a full-time NHLer, Drysdale is good when healthy, he just can't stay healthy

Outside of some paper transactions, Lohrei stuck when he got called up. Hockeydb isn't telling you the story here pal.

he's played a third of his games in the AHL and is there currently, doesn't seem like a full timer quite yet

which is....a paper transaction in essence. again, hockeydb isn't telling you the story here pal

per capfriendly, he's been in the AHL for the bruins last 2 games and still isn't back for tonight, don't know what about that is a paper transaction, he's purposely being sent down and not called up for games

you don't watch the bruins much, do you?

not at all

it shows. usually if i don't watch a team i ask questions rather than stating things that i don't know about as objective facts.

i'm just saying, a third of his game have been in the AHL, and the stats aren't special, just seems like a decent 6/7 dman

actually, hockey might just not be the sport for you....it isn't played on paper. baseball and basketball. those might be more your wheelhouse.

having not seen a player play, what else am I supposed to use to judge a player aside from their stats?

very simple answer to that - don't judge them.

so say I've never seen David Pastrnak and Curtis Lazar play, and look at their stats, I'm not allowed to assume Pastrnak is better?

tell ya what, you can make exceptions for players who have lead the national hockey league in goals. you're cherry picking quite a bit here.

novel though - don't know anything about a player...ask questions instead of making assertions.

you say don't judge guys without watching them play, then complained that I didn't pick Lohrei in this redraft, how was I supposed to rank him if I can't judge him without watching him and don't plan on watching him play?