Senator Stanley
Registered User
I think Levshunov is 100% off the board by the time we draft. Dickinson, Buium and Silayev are maybe 50% off the board with Perekh being around 25% likely gone by the 7th. We will likely have the chance of picking one of the four defencement with Yakemchuk or a forward being dark horse picks. Should be a fun draft and unless they pull a Boucher really anyone ranked in the top 15 has a fair argument for being a good pick at 7.
Edit: I actually think Silayev may be around so moved him into the second group.
He's hard to get a proper read on. Bob's list would suggest he's firmly in the top 5, but he's Russian, he can't come over for a few years, and he's the most theoretical of the prospects in this top range (despite, ironically, playing at the highest level). So you can see how a string of teams might pass on him because the next guy on their list is close enough in talent and just that much easier to be comfortable with.