The day before the CBJ run (10 wins in 12 games) the team was battling for the 5-6 draft spot. Twenty points later...and feeling good about those twenty points...the CBJ are battling for the 6-8 draft spot. Not sure that's really "screwing".
Can you GUARANTEE the #5 player drafted will be better than the #8 player?
I didn't think so.
It's only a shame that post has no basis in reality. We were "battling" for the 4th pick, firmly in 5th. Now we have the 7th and getting ready to leapfrog Philly for the 8th.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the winning as much as anyone, but playing loose because you have no pressure seems to be what this franchise does best.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the winning as much as anyone, but playing loose because you have no pressure seems to be what this franchise does best.
Fine, my bad. can you guarantee this year's #4 pick will be a better NHL player than the #8 player? You still can't.
It's only a shame that post has no basis in reality. We were "battling" for the 4th pick, firmly in 5th. Now we have the 7th and getting ready to leapfrog Philly for the 8th.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the winning as much as anyone, but playing loose because you have no pressure seems to be what this franchise does best.
Fine, my bad. can you guarantee this year's #4 pick will be a better NHL player than the #8 player? You still can't.
You know the whole "playing loose" would have more merit if we were playing Buffalo the last twelve games. We are beating Anaheim, Chicago, St Louis and teams battling for the playoffs like Vancouver and Calgary. It's harder to play loose when your opponent is scratching and crawling for every point.
The difference is this team is healthier in the last month than they have been all season. Drafting high hasn't exactly helped Edmonton and drafting low hasn't stopped Boston, Detroit or LA from being perennial playoff teams...and SC winners.
I would be way more concerned if we got all our players back from injury (the excuse we heard all season) and the team was still tanking. Concerned that JK & JD don't know what they are doing, concerned Richie needed to be replaced, concerned that the club needed to significantly overhaul the roster and concerned one high draft pick is not going to cure all of the team's troubles (that's where the whole Rick Nash draft scenario played out...it didn't work).
Winning changes all of that. It has me confident this team can win with the parts it has and just needs tweaking rather than a blowup. It gives me the confidence that Richie should stay and that the organization and players believe in him.
Put this another way...I assume you would prefer to be picking #4 rather than #8. Of course...who wouldn't. But to pick #4 we would have to be Toronto. Would you trade the Columbus organization plus the #8 pick for the Leafs organization plus the #4 pick? I wouldn't want to make that swap with any of the teams below us in the standings...and quite a few above us too. Yes I realize this paragraph is all hyperbole but it makes a point...to get the high pick you really need to suck...and I don't want to really suck.
We are fine where we are...we should get an excellent prospect in the top ten and we can only hope we are healthy to start next season and can keep the train rolling in the right direction.
You shouldn't need to be reminded that last year and the year before, our streaks of very high level hockey occurred in the very thick of playoff races.
So, it's a good thing your post has no basis in reality
Yep, especially with the young guys. Watch Connauton and Goloubef in the Chicago game for instance, they gain noticeable confidence during the course of the match. If winning now means they go in next season with the confidence that they can smack down top teams, I'm all for it.I think winning at this time of year in this situation is going to help in the future, draft position be damned. The history of this team is not believing it can beat the better teams, like 0-4 to Pitt. last season. But they learned something in the playoffs last season, that they could win even in Pitt. This year, right now they are learning they can beat anyone (mainly playoff teams) and that will go a long way next season with whoever we draft. Winning begets winning and weather it's playing loose or being healthy that is winning games right now i'll take the wins.
The day before the CBJ run (10 wins in 12 games) the team was battling for the 5-6 draft spot. Twenty points later...and feeling good about those twenty points...the CBJ are battling for the 6-8 draft spot. Not sure that's really "screwing".
Can you GUARANTEE the #5 player drafted will be better than the #8 player?
I didn't think so.
I'll take this winning streak and the potential it proves we have, over a few draft spots. This team is playing very well on the road vs teams jockeying for playoff position. The scoring is coming from all over the line up, unlike early season when Joey and Nick were doing all the offensive work.
I tend to agree that 5 vs 8 isn't a big deal.......but these list may shock you.
#5 vs #8 picks going back to year 2000.
5th overalls:
Dal Colle
Lindholm
M Rielly
Strome
Niederreiter
B Schenn
L Schenn
Alzner
Kessel
C Price
B Wheeler
T Vanek
Whitney
Chistov
Torres
8th overalls:
Nylander
Ristolainen
Poulliot
Coutourier
Burmistrov
Glennie
Boedker
Hamill
Mueller
Setoguchi
A Picard
Coburn
PM Bouchard
P Leclaire
Alexeev
lol. Kinda proves what most people have been saying I guess.
But didn't ya know, in THIS DRAFT the 8th best player is a TOP 5 in most years
The flip side is the fifth best player (strome) would be the first in most years appearantly.
The third side - Raffi Torres was the 5th overall pick??!!! I'd forgotten.
And Brule was a #6....although that's only because MacLean was a hockey drafting idiot!
Don't sell Doug short, he's a complete idiot