Curt

Yeah, I wrongly thought he meant that it would be better for the team to draft a D. Personally, I really like Beniers and I think Eklund had a very impressive season. Given the choice, I’d take Beniers. That doesn’t mean I’m right though, and if the pick is Ow(st)en Power(s) I have lots of things I like about him as well. I have my opinion, and the fact that most disagree doesn’t sway me, but everyone else can have their own opinion as well.

Ah, ok, yeah, sure, if Liger and I are wrong and the Sabres are (hypothetically) right.

I don’t see any reason that the Sabres in particular need to draft a LD as opposed to a forward.

Beniers and Eklund, definitely my two favorite forwards, probably my #1/#2 players.

I know it’s kind of counter counterintuitive, as nd probably a little off the mark, but I just don’t want everyone (fans, ownership, management, teammates) looking at one guy to be THE player who is going to make the team good. Probably a result of the trauma the Sabres have inflicted upon me. Lol

Just to clarify. The new rule, (1) starts NEXT season and doesn’t apply retroactively to past seasons, and (2) does not actually limit the number of times a team can pick #1. It limits the number of times that a team can move up in the lottery. For Example: If a team finishes in last place and gets #1, that doesn’t count against them. If a team finishes in 4th to last and moved up to #2, that does count against them. I really hope that Buffalo does not get these players. I don’t want to see another savior anointed.

You picked the team with the most wins in the league. Good job I guess.

Who is Mike Wilson?

Freshmen forwards, or players in their draft year? I only ask because I know that for NCAA players in their draft year, Beniers has produced more than anyone since Eichel.

Its probably true, but it’s crazy that Hall’s contract could be heavily influenced by his performance in one playoff series. Have we not been watching this guy play for a decade? Have we not seen how his career arc is playing out? The NHL talent evaluators really need to see how he does in the Islanders series to determine what Taylor Hall is as a player? Are these guys any good at their jobs? Lol

I don’t know how to answer that. If he wants Beniers, then I guess I trust that unqualified guy, in this case.

Who is seeing the light or changing their opinion? I would definitely draft Beniers.

I don’t think someone would need to be an idiot to favor drafting anyone other than Power. It seems that roughly one third of the people on this forum prefer Beniers over Power. I don’t think that we are all village idiots who think we are geniuses.

I probably just lean lower on floors in general than you, because I would probably set Power’s floor as lower as well.

Ok, just slightly higher than me. I said 30-35 point, good defensively 3C. Owen Power will probably be the pick because he is the easier prospect to ruin and Buffalo likes to do that.

Sorry, my B.

Without revealing your source, could you describe a few things your source has told you about that Eichel does which make him a “cancer in the room” and/or “rotten to the core”?

What do you think his floor is? (Think 20th percentile outcome, assuming good health)

Nope. This can’t be true, in my opinion. Worse case scenario is that his neck becomes a chronic issue causing him to miss lots of time and truly derailing his career. I highly doubt this happens too, but “worst case scenario” isn’t necessarily a likely scenario. What if he eventually opts for fusion surgery and a couple years from now develops degeneration of the neighboring vertebrae and he just can’t get right. Not saying it will happen, but it could.

Yeah, of course we expect more, and it’s likely that we would get much more. You were talking about his floor though, which would be the low end outcome. His floor is much less than a 55-60pt, good 2-way C. That’s probably closer to his ceiling than floor.

Isn’t there a possibility that not all of his game translates well to the NHL and he becomes just a gritty, hardworking 30-35 point 3rd liner? Or something like that?

I guess I just like Comtois. He has already performed like a 40-50 point guy, and as big power forwards tend to develop a bit slower, probably has a little more upside. I think he is a very good bet to be a top-6 goal scoring winger who ends up being a good playoff performer as well due to the physical nature of his game. Is that low upside? Compared to Eichel maybe, but in general I wouldn’t call it a low upside.

There is risk with any player. To me, it seems low in this case. I actually feel just as confident that those two will be good, top-6 players, as I do that Eichel will get back to MVP contender form.

Left with nothing? I earnestly believe that Comtois and Zegras are already top-6 quality players. I don’t have any hesitation with regards to that. It’s just as likely that Eichel’s career is severely diminished due to his injury.

I’ve heard people say that Eichel is difficult to be be around to the point where it could lessen what teams are willing to trade for him. That’s not proven fact and it also doesn’t make him toxic, or a cancer or any other strong descriptor, but I honestly don’t think he is a particularly positive locker room guy.