What would everyone here do for the import draft if you were Raftis?
I know that we like our young defensemen, and this is no slight to them, but I would probably be looking at drafting at least one, if not two, defensemen.
Karki (D) - FIN - A+
Nordh (F)- SWE - DNR
Kudryavtsev (D) - RUS - A+
Lutz (F) - GER - DNR
Malik (G) - CZE - B
Pucek (F) - CZE - F
Pytlik (F) - CZE - B+
Sandin (D) - SWE - A+
Kupari (F) - FIN - DNR
Makinen (F) - FIN - C
Tokarev (F) - RUS - F
The above is the drafting record of Raftis. He's only taken 3 defensemen in the draft, and all 3 have reported and worked out perfectly. The one goalie he took (Malik) worked out ok (although some argue this). But the 7 forwards he's taken have been a disaster. I would argue that only Pytlik was worth the pick, and he was only a borderline 1st line center.
Our D this year is:
Kudryavtsev '04
Karki '04
Carlisle '04
Gibson '05
Virgilio '06
McConnell-Barker '06
Evans '06
Solomon '07 (affiliate)
Consider that our two imports are gone after this year. In addition, Gibson should be shipped at the deadline for a good youg player and picks to help replenish. If we could bring in a couple of young import defensemen this off season, we might also be able to ship Carlisle off for a decent OA picks package.
What would you do if you were Raftis?