Prospect Info: 2023 NHL Draft (mod warning 1st post)

[Anaheim4ever]

Yeah i know its early but 2022 draft discussion started pretty quickly too last year.
So far its #1 Bedard and #2 Mitchkov but after that what are players you are interested in for the Ducks ?
I don't see Bedard falling like Wright did at all. Who will be this years Slaf and Cooley ?

Blanket warning to everyone - the season is over, the active tanking is over, and everyone needs to remember how to get along.

Polite discussions of different viewpoints is fine. Assertions as to who is a good fan, who is a bad fan, and most particularly trolling behavior is going to result in thread bans and warnings. The vast majority of posters here are great about this. There are a few of you, on both sides of this issue, who are trying to start things, and I would advise you to carefully consider if that snarky comment you just made is worth being your last post in a thread. I would advise the folks who think that making an even snarkier response to make that same assessment. Neither of your posts will be seen by anyone else for long regardless.

It is perfectly fine to not understand how anyone could root for the team to lose. It is perfectly fine to not understand how losing has strong benefits to the franchise king term. There are gaping holes in BOTH positions, that may be discussed and debated…POLITELY.

We are all Ducks fans. Time to remember that and stop being at each other’s throats.

Click to read more...

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I'd like a high end glue guy in our top-6. Rico is a high end glue guy that made either top-6 line become more effective offensively and defensively. We have Rico under contract for one more season.

 

[lwvs84]

I guess I am in the minority, but I would think long and hard about Michov, if we don’t land Bedard. I get all the reasons why it’s a risk, and fantilli/Carlsson are elite prospects in their own right, but I just can’t ignore his ceiling.

Note: while I feel this way, my expectation is that there is a very low probability PV is considering PV with a tip 3 pick.

I like the positional versatility of Fantilli/Carlsson and their size, I'm not as worried as many about Michkov eventually coming over. But from PV's point of view, Michkov pushes the rebuild out one more year. It might be a good gamble, because that's an entry level contract for a guy that will be developed into a super star. Hopefully they go with the guy the scouting staff think will be the best NHL player.

 

[All Mighty]

I'm on Team Fantilli in the Fantilli/Carlsson debate. The main differentiator for me is their pace, not just motor, but pure speed. None of our forwards (prospects included) have have the ability to blow by anybody, with Lundestrom being the exception. Fantilli would help add a new dimension to our group, and it's not like he's sacrificing size to be that fast either.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I'm on Team Fantilli in the Fantilli/Carlsson debate. The main differentiator for me is their pace, not just motor, but pure speed. None of our forwards (prospects included) have have the ability to blow by anybody, with Lundestrom being the exception. Fantilli would help add a new dimension to our group, and it's not like he's sacrificing size to be that fast either.

Jones has speed, but like Lundy, can't finish.

The fear I have in Fantilli is his play against tougher competition. In the playoffs against tougher competition in the Big-10 and Frozen Four tourney, Fantilli's high end offense was muted. Carlsson, otoh, raised his offense in his playoffs against men. At the WJC, Fantilli looked like a whirling dervish flying all about, but he was doing it on his own playing hero puck. With Carlsson, he looked great at the WJC.

The hope is that Fantilli can evolve to fit into a team game. When you're fast, sometimes you attack 1v3 or 1v5 and not wait for your teammates. Often times, your offense gets muted as we've seen a lot with Troy Terry this past season. Still, that elite skating is elite skating and it's very alluring.

I think Fantilli learning how to play within the team can help him evolve and become an even better player at Michigan, not Anaheim or San Diego.

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I’m not predicting anything. But it would be nice if we could hold off on the doom and gloom for next year at least until the start of the season? The Devils finished last year with the fifth worst record. I’m not saying we will repeat their season but it’s not like we have the Hawks roster to build from here.

 

[TopShelfWaterBottle]

We also don’t have an elite number one defenseman signing with us

 

[tomd]

Jones has speed, but like Lundy, can't finish.

The fear I have in Fantilli is his play against tougher competition. In the playoffs against tougher competition in the Big-10 and Frozen Four tourney, Fantilli's high end offense was muted. Carlsson, otoh, raised his offense in his playoffs against men. At the WJC, Fantilli looked like a whirling dervish flying all about, but he was doing it on his own playing hero puck. With Carlsson, he looked great at the WJC.

The hope is that Fantilli can evolve to fit into a team game. When you're fast, sometimes you attack 1v3 or 1v5 and not wait for your teammates. Often times, your offense gets muted as we've seen a lot with Troy Terry this past season. Still, that elite skating is elite skating and it's very alluring.

I think Fantilli learning how to play within the team can help him evolve and become an even better player at Michigan, not Anaheim or San Diego.

well, as we all know there is a 55% chance the Ducks won't have any decision to make...they'll just take whoever is still on the board between Fantilli and Carlsson. Only an 18% chance they have to make a decision.

I’m not predicting anything. But it would be nice if we could hold off on the doom and gloom for next year at least until the start of the season? The Devils finished last year with the fifth worst record. I’m not saying we will repeat their season but it’s not like we have the Hawks roster to build from here.

I just prefer being realistic. It's not doom and gloom to look at the roster (especially the D) and say that this team won't get the 95 or so points needed to make the playoffs. 70-80 points is MUCH more realistic and would show some improvement. And no, free agency is not going to help much.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

We shouldn't be discounting Michkov so quickly

 

[DavidBL]

We shouldn't be discounting Michkov so quickly

I'm not going to lie, I'll be disappointed if we pick Michkov. I'm sure he'll be a great player but to me it would Signal that PV is fine waiting 3 more years. Its not where I'd like to be.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I think you can safely say that the Ducks won’t make the playoffs because of the players we draft this year, but it’s premature to say they don’t make the playoffs. If Verbeek decides to flip prospects for players and sign a few free agents, they could.

For the record, I rate that as a very low but not zero probability of occurring.

I rate the probability at zero of Verbeek flipping prospects for players because it completely negates his rebuild reset of creating depth and that depth to control the cap space. If Verbeek did that, then I'd consider his GM tenure an instant failure b/c it shows he doesn't know what he's doing.

When Verbeek reset the rebuild, I disliked the path, but I accepted it and its long road back to relevancy. We are at an infancy stage of the foundation. Anaheim has a boat load of prospects, but we're not sure who will make it to the NHL and actually stick. There's far too many variable and the fact we still don't have NHL depth. It makes no sense to start flipping prospects for players at this stage of the rebuild, especially with so many unknowns on the blue line.

===================

Using CapFriendly...

Forwards signed next season: 10

Rico​

Silfverberg​

Strome​

Vatrano​

McGinn​

Lundy​

Jones​

McTavish​

Carrick​

Leason​

Forwards who are RFA's, high possibility of being re-signed, and NHL bound: 3

Terry​

Zegras​

Groulx​

Forwards who might be NHL bound: 2

Nesterenko*​

2023 first round pick*​

* = rookie if they make the NHL jump

It looks as though there currently isn't any room to add a veteran forward this summer without exposing a couple of forwards to the waiver wire. We might be doing so if Nesterenko and the 2023 first round pick are to be part of the forward group. I don't think we'll be making any forward FA signings if Verbeek is keeping all these players, tbh.

Expectations of signing a FA forward this summer is: very low

========
Defense

Under Contract for next year: 4

Fowler​

White​

Vaaks​

LaCombe*​

RFAs: 2

Drysdale​

Benoit​

Andersen*​

Could be NHL bound: 2

Helleson*​

Hinds*​

* = rookie if they make the NHL jump

If Verbeek doesn't re-sign Benoit, then there are at least two roster spots open and at most three. We need physical players and Benoit is a physical player, but he's a LD physical player. We need a RD physical player to play opposite of Fowler, preferably a veteran player.

A lot of the players listed are going to be place holders for the incoming blueliners. LaCombe is the first wave and could be joined by others throughout the 2023-24 season. The following season is when we're banking on Minty and Zell joining the NHL ranks for good. We're looking for competent plugs, but Verbeek doesn't have a great track record for competent plugs at the moment.

Expectation of signing a FA RD: high
Expectation of signing a FA RD to a 5 year term: low

 

[Mr Rogers]

I don't think Verbeek would take Michkov, but there's certainly a better chance of it than if Murray were still around. I personally wouldn't be a fan of that initially either. it would really have to play out well, and even then if the other two guys are PPG players when he finally comes, did we really gain much from it?

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I’m not predicting anything. But it would be nice if we could hold off on the doom and gloom for next year at least until the start of the season? The Devils finished last year with the fifth worst record. I’m not saying we will repeat their season but it’s not like we have the Hawks roster to build from here.

It's odd. You say to hold off on the "doom & gloom", but the next sentence is overhyping an improbability of being a playoff team with, "Devils finished last year with the fifth worst record." You are implying of mimicking their season.

NJ has had seven top-12 picks in the last 8 drafts. Two 1st overalls (C Hischier & C J. Hughes), one 2nd overall (D Nemec), one 4th overall (D L. Hughes), one 6th overall (C Zacha), one 7th overall (RW Holtz), and one 12th overall (C McLeod). The other pick was the 17th overall in D Ty Smith. This all started in 2015 draft. Also in that 8-year draft period, they have had a total of 11 first round picks, the lowest is 29th and second lowest is 20th.

Anaheim didn't start drafting that high consecutively until the 2019 draft. They have four top-4 picks. We are just now getting our second top-4 pick in this draft.

Comparing us to NJ is foolish because they've been collecting high end picks for an extra four more seasons than we have. This past off-season, they acquired five players from outside of their system via FA and trade. NJ has been collecting depth to where they can trade away draft picks and former 1st round selections.

Then at the TDL, they acquired Timo Meier.



D Mukhamadullin is a first round pick. Potentially, the Devils traded away three 1st round picks in this transaction. That brings a total of five first round picks the Devils traded away for this season, D Smith and C Zacha were traded away in the summer. And the crazy part is that the Devils kept their three top prospects in #2 overall Nemec, #4 overall Luke Huges, and #7 overall Holtz!

Anaheim is nowhere near that level of depth to lose five first round selections (prospect and/or picks) this summer and at the TDL nor do they have high end talents left afterwards.

We aren't appreciating how long some rebuilds take and what resources was utilized to get out of the rebuild as well as put them over at the TDL. (We're going to exclude expansion teams because they are given so much to begin with that the past two teams have made the playoffs in two seasons or less.) As a fan group, we aren't accepting what happened to us and the path we're on.

I wasn't all that angry and mad at this season b/c I knew how terrible we would be, especially if we didn't replace the defensive talents of a Lindholm and Manson. It appears there's no room for a FA forward this summer. There should be two defensive roster spots open unless Verbeek is willing to push up more rookie defensemen at the NHL level. We're going to be depending on potential 2023 first round pick, rookie LaCombe, Drysdale's return, and a FA defensive plug to improve our fortunes next season.

I'm ready for an improved slogging next year, but I have no aspirations of believing we are going to be the next NJ Devils next year. Why subject yourself in creating a higher cliff expectation to fall off from? We're in a reset rebuild. We're going to have a new head coach and, probably, new assistant coaches. I'm just happy seeing our prospects matriculate into the NHL as well as seeing our young forwards them take the next step. I really want to see how much McTavish can improve next year. We also have all those prospects going to the AHL! It's another development season and I really don't care too much about the losses. Yet, we're still moving in the positive direction with many of our prospects going pro.

 

[DaGeneral]

It's odd. You say to hold off on the "doom & gloom", but the next sentence is overhyping an improbability of being a playoff team with, "Devils finished last year with the fifth worst record." You are implying of mimicking their season.

NJ has had seven top-12 picks in the last 8 drafts. Two 1st overalls (C Hischier & C J. Hughes), one 2nd overall (D Nemec), one 4th overall (D L. Hughes), one 6th overall (C Zacha), one 7th overall (RW Holtz), and one 12th overall (C McLeod). The other pick was the 17th overall in D Ty Smith. This all started in 2015 draft. Also in that 8-year draft period, they have had a total of 11 first round picks, the lowest is 29th and second lowest is 20th.

Anaheim didn't start drafting that high consecutively until the 2019 draft. They have four top-4 picks. We are just now getting our second top-4 pick in this draft.

Comparing us to NJ is foolish because they've been collecting high end picks for an extra four more seasons than we have. This past off-season, they acquired five players from outside of their system via FA and trade. NJ has been collecting depth to where they can trade away draft picks and former 1st round selections.

Then at the TDL, they acquired Timo Meier.



D Mukhamadullin is a first round pick. Potentially, the Devils traded away three 1st round picks in this transaction. That brings a total of five first round picks the Devils traded away for this season, D Smith and C Zacha were traded away in the summer. And the crazy part is that the Devils kept their three top prospects in #2 overall Nemec, #4 overall Luke Huges, and #7 overall Holtz!

Anaheim is nowhere near that level of depth to lose five first round selections (prospect and/or picks) this summer and at the TDL nor do they have high end talents left afterwards.

We aren't appreciating how long some rebuilds take and what resources was utilized to get out of the rebuild as well as put them over at the TDL. (We're going to exclude expansion teams because they are given so much to begin with that the past two teams have made the playoffs in two seasons or less.) As a fan group, we aren't accepting what happened to us and the path we're on.

I wasn't all that angry and mad at this season b/c I knew how terrible we would be, especially if we didn't replace the defensive talents of a Lindholm and Manson. It appears there's no room for a FA forward this summer. There should be two defensive roster spots open unless Verbeek is willing to push up more rookie defensemen at the NHL level. We're going to be depending on potential 2023 first round pick, rookie LaCombe, Drysdale's return, and a FA defensive plug to improve our fortunes next season.

I'm ready for an improved slogging next year, but I have no aspirations of believing we are going to be the next NJ Devils next year. Why subject yourself in creating a higher cliff expectation to fall off from? We're in a reset rebuild. We're going to have a new head coach and, probably, new assistant coaches. I'm just happy seeing our prospects matriculate into the NHL as well as seeing our young forwards them take the next step. I really want to see how much McTavish can improve next year. We also have all those prospects going to the AHL! It's another development season and I really don't care too much about the losses. Yet, we're still moving in the positive direction with many of our prospects going pro.

I think you miss the point of his post. He’s just saying, it’s hockey - anything can happen. Look at Boston losing in the first round. I don’t think we can be a Stanley Cup team next year, but maybe trying to fight for a playoff spot? Why not..

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Look at what I found today at Tankathon...

View attachment 701239

I like the 3 guys right after that hulltanan pick too…. Should be a lot of value on that pick

Strbak would be a nice add, another dmen type we could use.

Butt seems like a potential good fit in our top 6

 

[Kalv]

 

[Gliff]

I like the 3 guys right after that hulltanan pick too…. Should be a lot of value on that pick

Strbak would be a nice add, another dmen type we could use.

Butt seems like a potential good fit in our top 6

I want Strbak so badly, but there are forwards I want more with the early 2nd and I doubt he falls to the late 2nd. Butt and Danny Nelson are who I like right now.

Caden Price would be a huge upside pick. He is an August birth and the youngest guy I have seen in this draft (Im sure there are guys way later that are younger).

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

I want Strbak so badly, but there are forwards I want more with the early 2nd and I doubt he falls to the late 2nd.

I wonder what it would cost to move up 1 of those late 2nds to move up for strbak…. Maybe even like our last 2nd + comtois rights

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

I think you miss the point of his post. He’s just saying, it’s hockey - anything can happen. Look at Boston losing in the first round. I don’t think we can be a Stanley Cup team next year, but maybe trying to fight for a playoff spot? Why not..

Yeah, some people just can't resist wanting to be the first to tell everybody how "smart" they are in predicting the future.

We have some very good young talent, we will add an amazing piece to that and we will bring in a coach with presumably a system better than the last coach. I'd prefer to give them a chance to see what they can do before immediately shitting on next year's team.

 

[Ducks DVM]

I rate the probability at zero of Verbeek flipping prospects for players because it completely negates his rebuild reset of creating depth and that depth to control the cap space. If Verbeek did that, then I'd consider his GM tenure an instant failure b/c it shows he doesn't know what he's doing.

I rate it at close to zero based on what he’s publicly said about his vision, but I could see potentially pressure to accelerate the process based on ticket sale robustness. We have no idea what degree of financial loss was pitched as part of his “slow rebuild” process. I think it’s safe to say that finishing dead last wasn’t part of the discussion, and if we don’t land Bedard, casual fans won’t be impressed by the other two.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I like the 3 guys right after that hulltanan pick too…. Should be a lot of value on that pick

Strbak would be a nice add, another dmen type we could use.

Butt seems like a potential good fit in our top 6

Strbak was my initial choices when I first went looking at who might be around the top of the 2nd round. I would feel more comfortable with him b/c he's going to the NCAA to continue his development physically and hone in on playing defense as a defensive D.

Then I remembered we didn't attempt to take any college guys in last year's first four rounds and kinda made that a self-imposed dicta to avoid college bound players. Thrun happened and Verbeek might just want not to gamble on a college player this early in the draft until a couple of drafts later.

Also, we have a lot of depth at defense and we're lacking top-6 potential in our system.

Prospect/youth D:

RD Drysdale (OFD)​

RD Moore (DFD... NCAA prospect, sophomore this past season)​

RD Helleson (2-way D)​

RD Andersson (Transition-DFD)​

RD Luneau (2-way D)​

RD Warren (DFD)​

LD Mintyukov (OFD)​

LD/RD Zellweger (OFD)​

LD/RD LaCombe (2-way D)​

LD/RD Hinds (DFD w/ offense)​

We could use another shutdown D since Andersson and Warren are made out of glass this early in their careers. We can find shutdown D with our other 2nd round picks since shutdown D often aren't drafted high.

======= Top-6 Forwards

Given: RW Terry, C Zegras, C McTavish, and 2023 first round pick (Bedard shoots right; Adam and Leo shoot right)

We're missing two more top-6 forwards at the NHL level and depth. We could trade for one, but we're probably three off-seasons away for that to happen.

Top-6 forwards youths/prospects in the system (excluding the four given above):

LW Tracey​

RW Perreault​

C King​

Winger Pastujov​

C Kukkonen (NCAA freshman this past season)​

Tracey and Perreault took a step backwards this past season, which prompts drafting for a potential top-6 forward a priority this draft. Both are 6'0 wingers... I guess Elite Prospects has Perreault growing an inch since his draft measurement.

6'3 King and 6'1 Pastujov are goal scorers who are afflicted with the same flaw - slow skaters. King lost a year of development due to missing most of this season. Pastujov is still a work in progress.

5'10 Kukkonen is a fast skating, mostly shooting forward or a "gun slinging jitterbug". He finished tied at 29th overall for goal scoring in the NCAA as a freshman (according to EP) and tied for 5th overall in goal scoring for a freshman in the NCAA (according to CollegeHockeyNews).

We need more top-6 potential in our pipeline.

I don't want to take a chance on any Russian with our top-3 pick or our 33rd pick (first pick in the 2nd round). It's too much of a risk of the unknown for me. If Russian prospects do fall in the draft, then we two other lower 2nd round picks as well as two more 3rd round picks if Verbeek wants to gamble.

 

[lwvs84]

Strbak was my initial choices when I first went looking at who might be around the top of the 2nd round. I would feel more comfortable with him b/c he's going to the NCAA to continue his development physically and hone in on playing defense as a defensive D.

Then I remembered we didn't attempt to take any college guys in last year's first four rounds and kinda made that a self-imposed dicta to avoid college bound players. Thrun happened and Verbeek might just want not to gamble on a college player this early in the draft until a couple of drafts later.

Also, we have a lot of depth at defense and we're lacking top-6 potential in our system.

Prospect/youth D:

RD Drysdale (OFD)​

RD Moore (DFD... NCAA prospect, sophomore this past season)​

RD Helleson (2-way D)​

RD Andersson (Transition-DFD)​

RD Luneau (2-way D)​

RD Warren (DFD)​

LD Mintyukov (OFD)​

LD/RD Zellweger (OFD)​

LD/RD LaCombe (2-way D)​

LD/RD Hinds (DFD w/ offense)​

We could use another shutdown D since Andersson and Warren are made out of glass this early in their careers. We can find shutdown D with our other 2nd round picks since shutdown D often aren't drafted high.

======= Top-6 Forwards

Given: RW Terry, C Zegras, C McTavish, and 2023 first round pick (Bedard shoots right; Adam and Leo shoot right)

We're missing two more top-6 forwards at the NHL level and depth. We could trade for one, but we're probably three off-seasons away for that to happen.

Top-6 forwards youths/prospects in the system (excluding the four given above):

LW Tracey​

RW Perreault​

C King​

Winger Pastujov​

C Kukkonen (NCAA freshman this past season)​

Tracey and Perreault took a step backwards this past season, which prompts drafting for a potential top-6 forward a priority this draft. Both are 6'0 wingers... I guess Elite Prospects has Perreault growing an inch since his draft measurement.

6'3 King and 6'1 Pastujov are goal scorers who are afflicted with the same flaw - slow skaters. King lost a year of development due to missing most of this season. Pastujov is still a work in progress.

5'10 Kukkonen is a fast skating, mostly shooting forward or a "gun slinging jitterbug". He finished tied at 29th overall for goal scoring in the NCAA as a freshman (according to EP) and tied for 5th overall in goal scoring for a freshman in the NCAA (according to CollegeHockeyNews).

We need more top-6 potential in our pipeline.

I don't want to take a chance on any Russian with our top-3 pick or our 33rd pick (first pick in the 2nd round). It's too much of a risk of the unknown for me. If Russian prospects do fall in the draft, then we two other lower 2nd round picks as well as two more 3rd round picks if Verbeek wants to gamble.

I know it's not a popular opinion, but I'm hoping that (if necessary) Gaucher can become a "3rd wheel" on a line, especially if it's Zegras-Terry. He's big, can do the dirty work, and go to the front of the net. He's also supposed to be good defensively, so he can help out there as well. Hopefully he can play the Kunitz role on that type of line. In that type of role, he may actually be useful in the top 6... he wouldn't be expected to carry the offense, it wouldn't run through him, and he can kind of use what he's good at to compliment the real skill on the line.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I rate it at close to zero based on what he’s publicly said about his vision, but I could see potentially pressure to accelerate the process based on ticket sale robustness. We have no idea what degree of financial loss was pitched as part of his “slow rebuild” process. I think it’s safe to say that finishing dead last wasn’t part of the discussion, and if we don’t land Bedard, casual fans won’t be impressed by the other two.

If he feels pressure, then he's lost me in his belief as a GM. Right now, he's got a long leash because he reset the rebuild. There are red flags up he's presented, but in a reset rebuild, he bought himself time. Doubling back on his initial move implies his vision was abysmal to begin with. He sold this vision of a reset rebuild to the owners, which means they're in it for the long haul.

Even though we finished with the worst record, we have a media darling in Zegras that many are tuning in to see and that's sufficient enough. Proof of this are the MLB's Angels with Trout and a sub .500 team or Trout and Ohtani with a sub .500 team.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I know it's not a popular opinion, but I'm hoping that (if necessary) Gaucher can become a "3rd wheel" on a line, especially if it's Zegras-Terry. He's big, can do the dirty work, and go to the front of the net. He's also supposed to be good defensively, so he can help out there as well. Hopefully he can play the Kunitz role on that type of line. In that type of role, he may actually be useful in the top 6... he wouldn't be expected to carry the offense, it wouldn't run through him, and he can kind of use what he's good at to compliment the real skill on the line.

I've thought about it too and really liked that idea b/c he seems to be doing better in front of the net with respect to scoring than Jones. But I think Verbeek is dead set on Gaucher remaining a center b/c Verbeek said it. It's possible that Verbeek plans to eventually move on from Lundy at 3C.

Another possibility in the mold of Gaucher and Jones could be Hvidston. He was drafted as a shutdown forward who took on opponent's best forward lines. This past year, he's developed a scoring touch. If Hvidston can continue to improve both his defense and offense, then I'd really consider him a possibility at top-6. Hvidston is a year younger than Gaucher, but has matched his scoring rate and passed it this year.

​

Gaucher​	vs​	Hvidston​	​	​	​	​	​	​
Player​	Season​	League​	Games​	G​	A​	Pts​	PPG​	Plus/Minus​
Gaucher​	D+0​	QMJHL​	66​	31​	26​	57​	0.86​	30​
​	D+1​	QMJHL​	44​	22​	24​	46​	1.05​	35​
​	​	​	​	​	​	​	​	​
Hvidston​	D+0​	WHL​	58​	13​	19​	32​	0.55​	-5​
​	D+1​	WHL​	59​	21​	44​	65​	1.10​	15​

Hvidston is listed at 6'2 and 165 lbs, which I assume is his D+0 measurements. He's a Sept baby like Zellweger, meaning he's really young and just days away from being a 2023 draftee. If Hvid the Kid can continue this rate of improvement or even half that rate, then we might have a steal of a middle-6 two-way forward on our hands.

 

[Ducks DVM]

If he feels pressure, then he's lost me in his belief as a GM. Right now, he's got a long leash because he reset the rebuild. There are red flags up he's presented, but in a reset rebuild, he bought himself time. Doubling back on his initial move implies his vision was abysmal to begin with. He sold this vision of a reset rebuild to the owners, which means they're in it for the long haul.

Even though we finished with the worst record, we have a media darling in Zegras that many are tuning in to see and that's sufficient enough. Proof of this are the MLB's Angels with Trout and a sub .500 team or Trout and Ohtani with a sub .500 team.

He sold a reset rebuild where he expected to be a 0.500 team, not the last place team that set records for defensive futility. Ownership may want to reevaluate things. I don’t like when owners meddle, but I like even less owners who sell teams because they aren’t being supported enough. We have no idea how bad or not bad ticket sales are right now. Hockey revenue sharing =/= remotely MLB revenue sharing.

 

[lwvs84]

We're not far off from being an exciting team. The casual fan will come to the stadium to see 5-4 games. It's the blowout losses that drive them away. If the team can actually be near .500 and be a higher scoring team, especially one that trades chances, we'll start drawing more fans back. Combine that with Zegras' personality, and we won't sell out every night, but it'll be better than recent years.

Pick-McTavish-Terry
Henrique-Zegras-FA/Trade
Vatrano-Lundestrom-Strome

Fowler-Trade
Trade/LaCombe-Drysdale
Benoit-LaCombe/Helleson

Gibson
Dostal

That's not a bad lineup. We can play musical chairs with the draft pick and the wingers depending on where we pick. I would like to see Perrault/Tracey get a few (pre-season) games with 2 good players (McTavish/Terry/Zegras/Henrique) to see how they would do as 3rd wheels. I get the sense from Perrault that he'll do better when he's given that role over being one of the primary line drivers (which San Diego really didn't have any of last season).