Saturday, June 27, 2009

Official Editorial Position on This Year's Draft

Success.

Now on to free agency and the re-signing of Ilya Kovalchuk.

8 comments:

Jay said...

Agreed. Love the Morin pick. I was really surprised by the lack of trade activity. Pronger and Bouwmeester being the only big names. I like Pronger, but I think Anaheim got one hell of a return for him.

the jointhead said...

Anaheim just got a haul for an old prick that will be elbowing the thrashers in the head for a few years. I hate that fucker.

Big Shooter said...

DW said he wanted to add a top four D through trade this draft. Didn't happen, so I don't call it a true success. Unless of course we are still able to do that (along with a top six forward).

Jay said...

When it comes to the trade front, the Thrashers should look at teams that need to shed some salary. These teams might be willing to give up some pretty good players for draft picks or prospects.

Philadelphia-Simon Gagne and Daniel Briere

Detroit-Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Flippula

Dallas-Brad Richards

NY Rangers-Michal Rozsival and Scott Gomez

Boston-Phil Kessel and Marc Savard

Any of the players above(except maybe the Rangers players) would definitely be welcome additions to the Thrashers. Philly and Detroit in particular are REALLY hurting for cap space. Their players might come really cheap just for the salary relief.

Some free agent defensemen to target:
Mattias Ohlund
Derek Morris
Johnny Oduya

I don't think these guys would break the bank and I would consider them good enough to pair with Hainsey on the 2nd line.

One guy who I think is miscast in his role and I would LOVE to have is Jordan Staal from Pittsburgh. He is not a winger or a third line center. He should be centering for Kovalchuk and Little. Todd White, Exelby, and a 2nd round pick next year for Staal seem fair? White is really more of a second or third line center anyway. Exelby gives Pittsburgh a fallback if they can't resign Scuderi. Oh well, I can dream.

Big Shooter said...

I agree we should target teams up against the cap. I just worry about some of those outrageous contracts. Mainly Richards, Briere, and Gomez. Those guys are worth no where near what they get paid. Obviously it would be easier for us if we could spend to the cap, but we are a budget team, so bad contracts hurt us just as much (maybe more) as other teams when you don't get bang for your buck. We are just working with a smaller number.

You are exactly right about Staal, but I suspect the Pens will not trade him. But as you said, we can dream.

the jointhead said...

A young NHL ready goaltender would be very tempting to the Red Wings. We happen to have one of those.

Jay said...

Jointhead-

Isn't Jimmy Howard a top prospect for them who is close to being NHL ready?

Teams that I think might look into some goaltending:

Colorado-probably the most glaring, but do they have anything that we need? Stastny isn't going anywhere.

Edmonton-Roloson is a FA, and talks have kind of stalled.

Dallas-Might be looking for a young goalie for Turco to mentor.

Philadelphia-They definitely are not going to put all of their eggs into the Ray Emery basket.

Toronto-I don't think Toskala is what they want. Maybe Pavelec and a bit more nets Kubina? I would think Burke would want to save some money to spend on Free Agents. Speaking of that, has anyone mentioned Toronto going after Hossa? Burke likes that big splash...

the jointhead said...

Jimmy howard was supposed to be the answer but no one seems high on him in the organisation. There going to give him a shot at back up this year, but that might be it if he doesn't show he can hack it. He hasn't looked good in the NHL in his few call ups.