2025 NHL Draft: Lose a ton for Porter Martone

[Juxtaposer]

I was referring specifically to the idea of pace though. You don’t see this issue in the regular season, but when you get to the playoffs and you’re playing the same team repeatedly for an entire series, it catches up to you to have both your top lines pushing the pace (or slowing the game down, a la JT era Sharks).

But if your top line pushes the pace and your second line slows the game down and plays East-West, it’s a lot harder to plan for both and execute in a dynamic game situation.

If there’s a clear drop-off in talent, I think you still take the BPA and figure it out later. But if it’s close, I think these are the kind of details that matter when team building.

I think we're misaligned on the definition of pace. I certainly wouldn't say that Misa has the same frenetic and dynamic play-style as Celebrini and Eklund. I just mean that he moves his feet, forechecks, and closes on pucks quick. Call him a great skater who plays with "medium-pace", if you want.

My greater point is that Hagens is also a mid-paced player. And Martone, who you want to put with frenetic-paced Celebrini and Eklund, is very slow-paced.

Moreover, while I agree with your thought process, I don't think it needs to be segregated to specific lines. Mackinnon and Rantanen play at vastly different paces on the same line and it works well because of it IMO. Part of the reason that I like Misa at #2 for the Sharks is because he would fit what I want out of this team.