Confirmed with Link: Flyers trade Cutter Gauthier to Anaheim for Jamie Drysdale and 2025 2nd round pick

[GKJ]

(EDIT)

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[deadhead]

Bonk doesn't project as a top pairing defenseman. Every scouting report I've seen had him as a top 4 (one had him as bottom pairing) and that he doesn't have any particular skills that stand out, but was the "safest" defensive pick in the 1st round.

Of course, he can always develop and become a top pairing defenseman over time. But nothing to date says that it is a likely outcome.

He's been playing with Dickinson for two years, I think as a pair they'd be fine, and that would give you 2 solid pairs that could eat the lion's share of defensive minutes. You don't need a true #1 if you have two pairs that can hold their own in any situation and play big minutes. See Florida.

I think Briere would like to find a LHD to pair with Bonk who can play 22-23 minutes a night.
Doubt it's Andrae, and no one else in the system.

If Seeler/McDonald - Drysdale is your 3rd pair, you can shelter Drysdale and use him to best advantage (the way teams use Ghost the last few years). If he doesn't work out, replace with Gill or another RHD. It's much easier to fill out a 3rd pair playing 12 ES minutes in sheltered situations than one playing 15-18 ES minutes.

 

[trostol]

I think if Dickinson fell, they would have jumped on him.
More of the prototype 1D, and a perfect pairing with Bonk.

Luchanko is probably their prototype top 6 center, full sized, elite speed, two way player who can cover for scoring wings with defensive issues. I think next season you'll see Luchanko and Michkov joined at the hip.

Ideally, they land another top six center in the 2025 draft, make Frost the 3C (if they keep him) and move Couts to LW in a couple years.

that's terrifying

 

[thedjpd]

Copium.

Forget equivalents, I think I would rather take my chances with TK actually playing defense over Drysdale. That’s how bad it’s been.

And no, Buium was a much better and more accomplished prospect than Drysdale entering the draft. Yes he played on a stacked team, but he led the country in TOI as a draft eligible defenseman. They were stacked in large part because of his impacts (especially in the playoffs).

Oh and he scored more per game in college hockey as a defenseman than the player they picked in the first round as a 1C in the OHL. In no way shape or form was that an “easy choice”.

It’s not hard to find articles pre-draft that call Drysdale a #1, elite player based on production and projection.

Jamie Drysdale - 2020 NHL Draft Prospect Profile - The Hockey Writers NHL Entry Draft Latest News, Analysis & More

We profile Erie Otters' defenseman Jamie Drysdale. He is among the best defensemen available in this draft class. How high will he go?

thehockeywriters.com

Thinking otherwise is just revisionist history. Buium has all the same hype now, still pre-NHL, but still somehow taken 6th in his own draft class.

Are NHL GMs infallible? No, absolutely not. But the trend lately is to hype up prospects like crazy before they make the NHL, reaching to the far side of their upside.

Even over talented players only have a small chance to reach that upside, so treating Buium as high likelihood to reach those goals is in itself disingenuous at best. He can; but so can a lot of players at 18-19.