Most of the clamoring here has been that he didn't get a 1st which perplexes me personally. The pick is the part of the deal that bothers me less.
They know what was on deck for this draft, if you don't really like what you can get at 17, it's a good idea to bounce the pick back to next year where theres a much, much deeper pool of players to choose from. The additional 2nd gives you a ton of flexibility moving forward too, it can be used for a player at the deadline if needed, or to package with another pick to move up in a draft where the talent pool will be deeper and you ultimately get a player better than what you would have gotten at 17 this year. The "optics" look better if there was a 1st attached to it I guess and while I would have loved for that 2022 pick to be a 1st rounder, no one was giving up their 2022 1st for Buchnevich.
Of their 'grind' players, I would have liked Barbashev or Sanford which is what irked me here. Blais isn't horriawful, but easily the worst of the 3. I anticipate St Louis felt the same way.
