2026 NHL Draft

[donlever]

Watched some highlights of that this AM.

He has a solid release.

Also been watching a good deal of Stenberg highlights.

Tough choice.

Shame neither cradled that born to them talent to the middle of the ice...

[dbr]

Yeah it would have been real nice to tick that "Mystical all situations consensus 1C" box right away. We'll just have to find him with Minny's pick

While I am in here - it may be time to start keeping one eye on the Senators on the OOTS.

With their first round pick this year forfeited I was originally just pleased that Minnesota's first (and every other pick we hold after our own first) will slide up the order by one. However, they are now 23rd overall in the league (3.5% chance to win the lottery).. if they miss the playoffs they will go into the lottery and win, everyone behind them moves up 1 - which means the last place team can pick no lower than 2nd.

The Sens have the toughest strength of schedule remaining of any team in the league, have won just 3 of their last 10 and have been getting comfortably the worst goaltending in the league even when Ullmark has been on the roster - and he's the best of their options by a country mile.

[donlever]

....saw a Brady post game line the other night after a loss....should have clipped it but basically a whole lot of zeros.

0 shots
0 points
0 hits
0 takeaways
- overall

.....nothing against him as a player, he can play for me any day.

But that's clearly not good from your Captain.

Especially in the midst of a bad losing streak and team turmoil.

Something rotten in the State of Ottawa indeed methinks.

Edit....also, McKenna.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT4QcBmg ... RkZWN3Zw==

[Aaronp18]

Interestingly enough I was going to post about McKenna and his post WJC games the other day, before the hatty game. It’s going to be tough not to pick him if we get the first OA.

The rest of the draft focus on D and centres!

Really like Daxon Rudolph out of PA. And then if we could swing picking up the Ruck twins in the second round, they played with McKenna last year (not the same line he had Weisblatt and Richie with him I believe) but Marcus can distribute the puck well and Liam is no slouch in the goal scoring dept.

Anyways, it’s good draft to pick up even more picks in the second round. There’s a lot of solid choices and it’ll be a great start to the rebuild.

I’m sure you can see my tendency to be taking kids from the west here. It’s about damn time!

[Aaronp18]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT4QcBmg ... h2cG95MHM0

Not bad at all!

[donlever]

...lol..didn't I link that up there???^^

[theman]

Still hoping for a top 2 pick.

Take McKenna if the Canucks can. If not Stenberg. If 3rd overall, take Verhoeff if those 2 are gone.

[Meds]

Now you’ve gone and done it AP.

[Aaronp18]

...lol..didn't I link that up there???^^

Hah. Sorry, missed the edit!

Probably why it hit my feed as soon as I went to insta though.

[donlever]

...at least it wasn't Mëds doing it.

[Carl Yagro]

Most already know my take. If McKenna is there for the taking, you take him.

Watch not only what these prospects do, watch them think... and you see that his hockey mind is near generational. The processing and vision is on another level, while his skating, hands and shot is already very high-end.

How many of these opportunities have we had to draft someone with a ceiling like this? Much less a Canadian talent at this level in our backyard? (I'm invoking my own Monroe doctrine here)

While I don't disagree with Stenberg's skills or Verhoef's beast potential (I see him develop into a Mo Seider), we've tried the Swede route many times already (Don't call me Mëds, lol). If we're left with those options, my inclination would be Stenberg as our forward pool is weak.

The other thing I've often mentioned is when you have such top level, play driving wingers (ie. Kane, Kucherov, Kaprizov), you don't need to have that top ten 1C. You just need a very good, well-rounded one at both ends. A PPG? Sure. 100pts? Not really. A guy in the mold of a Robert Thomas or ROR, I like.

If you do this right within this 3-5 year window of pain and you hoard bullets, hopefully you can find that 1C, 2C and a nice core. Or have trade assets to acquire those pieces from tankers as the team rises up.

But yeah, I don't have the faith in these clowns to pull this plan off.

[donlever]

...or Brendan Morrison.

A la Marco Rossi.

[Aaronp18]

...or Brendan Morrison.

A la Marco Rossi.

Yeah, I’ve even likened Braeden Cootes to BMo as well.

When you have an elite winger a defensively responsible, puck distributing centre is a great option.

[Meds]

While I don't disagree with Stenberg's skills or Verhoef's beast potential (I see him develop into a Mo Seider), we've tried the Swede route many times already (Don't call me Mëds, lol). If we're left with those options, my inclination would be Stenberg as our forward pool is weak.

As I have always said, Swedes are good hockey players, the ones we have had here we have simply miscast. The Foppa’s and Lidstrom’s are rare.

Naslund. I’d take him on my team any day during the regular season, and even be OK with him as a Captain in that context. But in the playoffs? Definitely not wearing the C. And certainly not driving the offense. Still top line scoring wing.

Ohlund. Eye injury allegedly derailed him. I don’t see him play much at all before it. I don’t know that he would ever have been a stud 1D. But even what I saw was a top pairing guy on most teams, at worst he was a 2nd pairing anchor. But the team leaned on him to heavily, and I watched too many mistakes in big moments.

Edler. Same story as Ohlund, minus the injury. But the team decided he was a 1D.

Sedins. HoF careers, unreal people, insane hockey smarts, but neither of them worthy of being a captain in the playoffs. Tough as fuck considering the abuse they took, but too passive imho. No question 1st line calibre players.

Petey. IMHO he would have been an amazing 1st line scoring winger riding shotgun to a 1C. I’ll leave it at that because the rest is known.

All of them have been heralded by this organization, local media, and fans, as things they are not. Likely because we’ve never had the thing we wish they were (until Hughes).

[Ronning's Ghost]

All of them have been heralded by this organization, local media, and fans, as things they are not. Likely because we’ve never had the thing we wish they were (until Hughes).

That opens up what might be an interesting line of inquiry.

I think most posters here have a kind of player that they like to cheer for, and a kind of play style that they to watch.

Do you want management to pay any mind to your aesthetic preferences as they try to rebuild the team, or do you just want the Best Player Available (whether to you that means highest ceiling, or highest floor) ?

In formulating your answer, remember that it might not be possible to break even in a trade involving two players of equal statistical value to get the kind you want. For example, there are seldom more than a few true "power forwards" playing in the League at any one time, and other teams covet them, too. If you don't draft one, then (much as a top RHD) you have to overpay for one.