Morning Skate: Draft Nuggets, Re-signings Begin
Your daily update of NHL rumors, news, and musings. Today's topics include the NHL Draft, free agency updates, and more.
Good morning everyone! We’ve got many things to talk about this morning, so let’s get right to it.
2020 NHL Draft
Last night was the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft. Remember all those trades we were supposed to have? Yeah, they didn’t happen. Frankly, most of the first round was pretty darn boring. We didn’t even get Bob McKenzie sneaking in some trade rumors. But there’s still some stuff to talk about.
First, here’s my recap of the first round, with pick by pick analysis.
My 5 Favorite Picks
Marco Rossi to the Minnesota Wild. The Wild need more offense and Rossi has the potential to be a number one center.
Anton Lundell to the Florida Panthers. Barkov Jr. gets to learn under Alexander Barkov.
Hendrix Lapierre to the Washington Capitals. Capitals are getting a top 10 talent if he can stay healthy.
Connor Zary to the Calgary Flames. Love how the Flames traded down twice and still got their guy.
Mavrik Bourque to the Dallas Stars
5 Biggest Reaches
Yegor Chinakhov is having a nice start to the 2020-21 KHL season, but I had him as a sixth round pick.
Shakir Mukhamadullin is a very nice defensive defenseman but he’s still quite raw on offense. Had him as a third rounder.
Lukas Reichel was a big gamble by the Blackhawks. Had him as a late second round pick. While I respect their moxie for drafting someone who’s very skilled, why not go all-in and draft someone like Lapierre?
Ridly Greig was graded as a late second round pick by me. He’s not that skilled.
Jake Sanderson is a first round talent, but I’m not sure how he went before Jamie Drysdale. I like him defensively, but you don’t draft defensemen for their defense in the first round.
Honorable mention: Braden Schneider. In a vacuum, drafting him 19th overall is fine.I love his defense and think he has second-pairing upside. But with the Rangers prospect pool, I really don’t get it. There were plenty of skilled centers around with the 19th pick and the Rangers desperately need more of those. That said, if their end game was to make the Devils reach for a third-round prospect, that’s some impressive 4-dimensional chess.
Free Agency And Trade Updates
Brenden Dillon re-signed with the Capitals for 4 years, $3.9 million AAV.
Zack McEwan re-inked with the Canucks. 2 years, $850K AAV.
Columbus and Montreal swapped Max Domi (plus a third round pick) and Josh Anderson.
Detroit Red Wings bought out Justin Abdelkader
Montreal Canadiens bought out Karl Alzner
Idiot Of The Day - Jim Benning
Looks like overpaying a bunch of bottom six forwards has finally caught up to Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning.
Just a reminder, the Canucks gave up an excellent prospect in Tyler Madden to get Toffoli because they were confident they could re-sign him.
Dad Joke Of The Day
So Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad all went to elementary school together. Mario and Luigi were always hanging out, pranking everybody else. Toad always hanged around them, even though Mario and Luigi didn’t really like him. Toad was someone who ate glue, so Mario and Luigi mainly just ignored him.
One day during art class, Peach and Toad were put together for a class project. Peach created this beautiful paper mache masterpiece with some help from Toad. Actually, Toad just ate glue the whole time. But he asked if he could put some finishing touches on the project. Peach obliged, despite objections from Mario and Luigi.
The next day, Toad came to school without the project. Peach asked where the project was and Toad admitted he ate it. Peach ran into the bathroom crying. When she left, Mario and Luigi asked her what’s wrong. Peach told them Toad ate her project.
Mario and Luigi looked at each other and said, “Well, we tried to tell you… Toad’ll eat clips of the art”