When is the last time the teams picking 2-6 in this draft had the opportunity to draft a player of Michkov caliber? How often does it happen for a franchise to have access to a prospects of this level?
Are a 3 years wait and the risk associated him really enough to justify sniffing on the opportunity of drafting him?
I was listening to NHL Draft Class podcast on Spotify and one of them had Columbus pass only because of those teams, they're the team that looks like they want to compete sooner, so they take Carlsson as he's, at most 1 year away from being an NHL regular.
Ducks taking Fanilli makes sense. Assuming they hit, Michkov would get more points, but Fanilli is a centre with size and the points wouldn't be that huge of a difference, so really you're looking at 3-6 looking at a player that's possibly 2nd in this draft if he wasn't Russia/didn't have that contract, or 1st in most of the recent drafts and possibly the next 2.
Chicago - Bedard
Anaheim - Fanilli
Columbus - Carlsson
San Jose, they're not competing anytime soon and Grier knows this. They can easily wait 3 years for him to come over.
Montreal - They have some good forwards, but nothing like Michkov. In 3 years they'll be looking to be a regular playoff team and adding a talent like Michkov on an ELC might help them overpay for a free agent, get some depth and maybe be more of a threat sooner, rather than later, or at all.
Arizona - That talent with Cooley in their new building... Would be great to see. They're not going to be good anytime soon. Cooley might be to going back to college for another year, so the wait isn't the issue.
Now, if San Jose passes for Smith I kind of get it. He's a centre and a very skilled one at that, so that's not a huge issue.
Montreal passing assuming it's the 3 and Smith gone ? Makes no f***ing sense.
Arizona passing ? Makes even more no f***ing sense.
