I do not care how the rankings go after the consensus #1CELEBRINI goes off the board..
You can make cases for ranking 9 or players coming after him indifferent order positions ...none are clear BPAs after Celebrini who is THE BPA
..too many different opinions how to order them after that...but different teams have differing needs for the pipeline e..I Hawks case it is Either take next best Center after Celebrini OR take a RD from 3 terrific options ...(in my order of prefernce
Zayne Parekh,Carter Yakemchuk ,or Artyom Levshunov all who could be taken in top 6 or 7 anyway over forwatds (after Crlebrini and Lindstrom go off the board 1 and 2 respectively..
You Centers and top ten RD are goibg to be valued over other positions in a lot ofc eams draft target lists
Sam Dickinson the top LD might go anywhere from #2 to #6 on many lists...but IF Hawks are takibg a dman they would prioritize one of the 3 top RD prizes..
So thevonlyvquestion IF Hawks draftcat #2 is do they go Center with Lindstrom or RD with their choice of any of thesec3 resll goid RD high end prospects?
I may be wrong but I think KD would go takecKindstrom at #2..but if at #3 or#4 or#5 I thinknhe grabs his RD preference.
My own preference for RD is Parekh then Yakenchuk the Levshunov but all are great forchelingvthevHawkscrepkace the stiffs they have now at RD...yes stuck with $9.5 for 6 more seasons.. but Barfy has got to be replaced by a RD with actualntalent who could be our pp qb and playdriver from the back end..
RiNZEL woukd bea great 2RD..onevof these 3RD would be a great 1RD ...then we can shove $9.5 down to 3RD because he should not becac2RD or even 2RD..because he stinks forvthe vast expense he costs us.. His ROI is worse than zero.
This shows how important adding top quality hogh end RD is forvthe Hawks..but Big Centers as talented as Lindstrom are also very hard to get after tge first few picks in a drFt ..Hawks have a chance to grab him if they lose in the Celebrini sweepstakes
AS Good as NAZAR might be,hevis small and we already have a smalk C in Bedard..
So my question to all;
Who would you take positionally at #2 given Hawks structural needs fora Cup Team in future;
BIG TALENEED CENTERE OR Potential 1RD difference-maker?
IF you prefer going RD and not taking Lindstrom ....then which of the 3 high-end RD would you want KD to take if that kid is still on the board?
If Hawks draft at #3 then if Lindstrom off the board ,Hawks will take aRD so which one do you prefer? Or if team draftibg at #2 left both Lindstrom and alk 3cof the prize RD on the boatd
..do you take Lindstrom at #3 anyway?
So forvthec2024 draftvitvshould not matter how Mckenzie or any other ranking source ranks them after Cekebrini goes off the board..It only matters if they full a big hole in the positional need for our future goodcteamand those needs are a 2C (with 1C talent) to impact play on line 2 while Bedardcdrives the bus for line1...and a 1Rd impact dman who takes over for the failed $9.5 while Rinzel improves 2RD making us forget we ever saw Barfy play ...we cannot get the RD we need later in this draft ...ie our TB pick if we take Lindstrom earlier...
So it will be decision time as to greater priority ...Big Center solution OR top end RD solution..
We may get a BiG C with talent solution with our TB pick (18-23?)...Dean Letourneau..but no guarantee he lssts that that pick.. but if off the board then we miss out on a Big Center solution as other centers are not going to have the ceilings of Lindstrom or Letpurneau ...Letourneau isxa longer wait..Nrxt season in USHL ...then season after next starts at Boston College (probably 2 seasons there)...
So maybe KD takes RD with Hawksvown pick in firstv ound then gambles he gets Letiurneau with thecTB pick later in the first-round?
