EHM The Blue Line

alexob18 wrote:That Vancouver trade was pretty good for both teams. Florida had 3 1st rounders plus Grabner... pretty solid pickup.

I'm glad you think so, I'm not totally sold on it myself, Florida made a bad pick I think though at 25, Grabner is looking pretty good right now and could have quite the year next season, would have rather kept him and traded Raymond since Raymond is going to cost more, Bernier glad to be rid of, the 1st trade Gillis made was to get him, and Gillis was totally behind the player, not anymore it seems, Ballard better be good.

IceTimer wrote:

philou21 wrote:Detroit pick Pulkkinen.

Kitsyn wasn't rank in the first round. In the european skaters he was ranked 3rd. But for the hole world ranking I think he was set for the 3rd or 4th round.

Kitsyn was ranked 6th by CSS for Euro's, he now was rated to go anywhere from the 2nd to the 4th round, but awhile ago he was being talked about as one of the very top picks.

That's what I was saying......lol


Hey by the way instead of posting 3 posts in 10 min you can't just make a big one? Or you don't know how to do one, it's annoying.

philou21 wrote:.. Hey by the way instead of posting 3 posts in 10 min you can't just make a big one? Or you don't know how to do one, it's annoying.

It's not annoying, it's well-assorted!

Ehhh, well.....

Ballard is exactly what your team needs to be a legitimate contender.

You might wanna sign some more goalies though.

Go Brett Perlini

Calv wrote:Go Brett Perlini

I'm a bit disappointed that the Bruins didn't make some sort of move to jump up and grab Gormley or Fowler when they fell so far. Those guys were ranked in the top 5 going into the draft. Imagine if the Bruins were able to jump up and grab one of them where they went? Ugh! And I'm really surprised that McIllrath went before them.

Of the 2 second round picks the Bruins had, I'm really interested in Jared Knight. He sounds like my kind of player. Spooner is small and skilled. Okay. But Knight is a decent size and he plays tough. I like what I've read about him!

Fowler--Knocks are undersized and a bit lazy, and only cares about personal stats. He has alot to work on to show he can play in the NHL.

Gormley--Puck can explode off his stick like a time bomb.

McIlrath--Toughest meanest bugger in the entire draft. His puck skills and skating have come a long long way from where he was. He was rising in the minds of everyone, and was the talk of many WHL people (see alot of the blogs) from January on.

Now, do I think McIlrath is going to be better than Fowler AND Gormley. Likely not. However....he will end up better than one of them. McIlrath is 100% team player. Pure great guy.

I have never ever agreed with anything Glen Sather has done since he went to NYR. And I hate NYR. However, this is not as bad a pick as everyone else seems to be thinking. McIlrath is going to be a good strong shutdown Dman. The Rags have none of that.

Canucks deal--Anyone who thinks Ballard is worth what the Canucks gave up is nuts. However, Ballard fits an organizational need for the blueline. But at best he is a #4 dman.

Bernier is soft and Oreskovich is not. That is the difference. Grabner was not going to get a shot in Vancouver's top 6 ever, without 2 injuries so it was time to move on. HE cannot play bottom 3.


Florida Panthers--Make out like absolute bandits in this draft. I am extremely impressed with Tallon's day.

The thing about McIlrath is, all everyone is saying, inculding experts and scout reports, is his toughness. Nothing else. Nothing about him being good in any other aspect of the game. If you want a tough pylon you sign Colton Orr not draft one at #10. Again, just based on all kinds of reports about him.
There's certainly a lot of people liking him as a prospect, just not picking him ahead of Fowler AND Gormley that high. At least trade down and squeeze some additional picks or prospects out.

Of the 2 second round picks the Bruins had, I'm really interested in Jared Knight. He sounds like my kind of player. Spooner is small and skilled. Okay. But Knight is a decent size and he plays tough. I like what I've read about him!

I'm kinda meh about Spooner but Knight intrigues me. I'd also like to find out more about the Russian Dman they picked in the 7th round. Apparently he's NHL ready, he's been playing in the KHL last seasona anyway on the same team Alexandrov does. He's had 13 points in 47 games, is 6ft and 190 lbs but I've got nothing else.

I know that there are not alot of offensive strength reports about McIlrath. I know they talk like he is only tough. That is the number one thing he brings. However, he does bring some HUGE intangibles in terms of leadership and in terms of desire. Although I do not agree with Sather picking him ahead of Fowler anyway (I have not seen enough of Gormley to definitely state) I think that there is alot more to this guy than we have heard. I like him a ton. In fact for the team in this city there is only one other guy the Canucks wanted in the 1st round, and that was the guy Montreal took.

I think McIlrath is going to be like Belak 2.0. I have some issues with him, hate his playing style and lack of offence. Why take him when Gormley is on the board? Also, LOVING the Hishon pick.

Danny wrote: I'm kinda meh about Spooner but Knight intrigues me. I'd also like to find out more about the Russian Dman they picked in the 7th round. Apparently he's NHL ready, he's been playing in the KHL last seasona anyway on the same team Alexandrov does. He's had 13 points in 47 games, is 6ft and 190 lbs but I've got nothing else.

Chudanov is the Russian they got in the 7th. From what I've read, he's got 2 more years on his KHL contract and then he's coming over to North America. The player and his agent have told the Bruins this and he's also supposed to be good friends with Alexandrov. A lot of people say he's a good sleeper pick. In a couple years he could be ready to contribute. They say he's strong and has an edge to his game. He's projects as a bottom pairing d-man but maybe as high as a second pairing.

I'm also kind of intrigued by Craig Cunningham. Lucic works out with him and spoke highly of him. I think he's an older draftee and can play in the AHL right away.

That was an odd pick, Cunningham I mean. Was Vancouver's top scorer last season so maybe batdad can share some info about him. He was much older than most of the other guys as you have said, he's eligible to play in the AHL next season.

I've read up a bit on Chudinov (:p), seems to be projected like a more physical version of Andrew Ference. I guess that's alright. Indeed seems that he's got 2 years left on his KHL contract but Bruins scouts said they've been talking to him and his agent intensively and he's definitely set his mind on the NHL.

Let's hope Chudinov isn't as injury prone as Ference!

Cunningham is Milan's best buddy. They have been buds since they were 14 or 15. He is fast, he is smart. Not sure he will ever play for the Bruins though. But since when has that stopped ex Giants.

Which NHLer (or AHLer ) does he compare to style-wise ? There was a great, deep draft review by one of the Bruins bloggers and he liked this pick the least. Guy knows juniors so that caught my attention.

Small guy, good speed. I dunno, Doug Smail. He is a late developing guy. He goes full out all the time, but other than this season really got not much offensively done. Works extremely hard and is reliable defensively. But is he a stud? No. May one day be an okay 3rd line guy.

Yeah, one of the prospect guys on the Bruins board at HFboards compared him to Martin (Was that his first name?) St. Pierre. He could do a lot at the AHL level but never really had enough to make something out of it at the NHL level.

Yes Martin St. Pierre was the small dude with the Chara-like stick that was in the Bruins organization a few years ago, mostly in Providence. Was actually almost a point per game scorer there, had a few points with the big club that season too. I think he even played some NHL last year in Ottawa ?? Yeah he doesn't really have anything that an NHL team would want except a huge heart...and stick. That's not enough.

Reminds me of something Dutchie and Pierre did on TSN TradeCentre in '08 (Talking about big sticks).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i5zXLZHGI4