D-Day

So here we are.

Must admit---now that we've had a few days to digest it---we're feeling ambivalent about this week's big trade.

No question Byfuglien is a nifty guy, but was he worth Jeremy Morin? Of course Morin might come to nothing, but I'm having nightmares about him scoring goals in a Blackhawks jersey. Essentially, we've become seriously grittier and more physical, which is good, but I worry about our stock of players who can put the puck in the net.

It seems we've built up something resembling the supporting cast of the Chicago Blackhawks (which now includes actual Chicago Blackhawks) without ATL equivalents to Patrick Kane or Jonathan Toews. Who, after all, were the biggest factors in turning around Chicago's misery. I'm willing to learn, though: if I'm mistaken, just who are our equivalents to Toews and (P.) Kane? Or Hossa, for that matter....

BUT I'm willing to suspend serious judgement until this team actually starts playing. And of course the team isn't even completely assembled yet; who knows what might happen during free agency?

So, draft day. My own opinion is that we have no choice but to trade our #8 pick for a decent top-six forward, but that probably won't happen. I'm a bit wary of this #8 position, but who knows? We might get a Devin Setoguchi.

We could have gotten the ACTUAL Devin Setoguchi at #8 in 2005, but we traded down and picked up Alex Bourret instead. An argument against my "trade the 8th thing" argument? Perhaps, but I say WRONG LESSON TO LEARN TRADE IT DUDLEY, etc.

Now. If I could choose any player within range of this #8 pick, I'd take Swiss hero Nino Niederreiter and greet him with chiming cow bells and Roger Federer statuettes.

He'll be gone by #8, though, so....who's left?

Why not his Portland Winterhawks teammate Ryan Johansen? Uh, yeah, let's go with Ryan Johansen. Playing on the same team as Niederreiter makes him close enough, and he's probably related to Scarlet Johansson, despite the varied spellings (that's Hollywood for you).

Anyway, yeah, um...so it looks like Chronicle operative "Krisabee" and her inconvenient boyfriend Mr. Speaker are dragging Monsieur Catalogues and me to the Official Draft Party at Philip's tonight, which could be interesting. Never been to one of these official Thrashers draft parties before.

Happy Draft Friday, comrades. Drive carefully if not safely.