Gudbranson has actually become a very good skater in the NHL. He was billed as a strong skater for his size and I don't think that ended up being wrong. He's fast forward and backward, and he doesn't have a lot of weaknesses in terms of pivoting. He gets burned occasionally but that's because he misreads the play. I expect Silayev to be better but not really because he's taller or a better skater, I just generally like Silayev's defensive reads. I'm not sure whether Silayev tops out around Gavrikov or Chara level defense. Silayev does make mistakes and attackers can get pucks through his long legs.
His ability to weave skating the puck forward is not something I put a lot of stock in. He has the skating for it but zero natural deception. He's not quickly reading defenders when he skates the puck forward.
Yeah don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Gudbranson. I feel I'm one of the few posters who have been defending him since the deal was signed. He's worth damn near every cent when he's properly utilized both on the ice and in the locker room. The problem is that people were expecting Pronger or Phanuef outta the draft and hes been labeled a bust because where he was picked.
And that's why I keep emphasizing that with Silayev you just need to beat it into his head to keep his game simple, especially while he's still young. We don't need him to make big plays, just to make the simple plays. Especially when you have guys like Jiricek, Z and Mateychuk likely on the roster who excel at that.
And fwiw he's also been a captain of the last two Team Russia groups he's played for.
But it's all moot since I would say there's less than a 5-10% chance that we're going to take him. Just trying to have a different conversation than the same one we've been having about Lindstrom and Demidov for the last month.
Kinda shocked to see Catton not in the top 10 after the year he just put up. I just truly don't understand it.
If it's between Lindstrom and a dman, give me Lindstrom. Like others have mentioned, he's going to be useful in some facet if the back is okay.
Thoughts on Sennecke?
There's a few of us who would like the pick. I just can't see us passing Lindstrom given the clean bill of health.