Lundell = M. Koivu
Sanderson = R. McDonagh
Funny when one changes comparable or actually takes the most common one how perspective can change.
Posted above yet J. Staal yet alone an early and healthy J. Staal would be a great pick at 9 not just good.
The outdated takes on Sanderson are amazing come arm chair GMs. Near every major scout and NHL team sees a two-way top pairing at worst top four guy and numerous have him even going before Drysdale... Meanwhile HF arm-chair GM board think still goes off outdated takes or listens to one or two people who compared him to Forbort, Teubert, McIlrath, etc when outside of being defenders little similarity exists.
Not sure I'd take Sanderson at 4 or over Drysdale yet starting at pick 6-10 I strongly look at consider him. Little separates him and Drysdale (who everyone is comfortable with in the top 5) and wouldn't be shocking to see Sanderson end up better.
Went Lundell though as think his offensive upside is greatly underrated and Kopitar would make the perfect mentor.
Sanderson has a muffin shot and even the 'pro scouts' were hard pressed to tell me what good he does offensively other than compile numbers by virtue of being on PP1. And everyone was so focused on his 23 points in 24 games to end the year that they didn't have effort to explain to me why he only had 4 in 20 to start (numbers may not be exact, going off memory).
Like I said in the other threads you're referencing to slyly mock me, tell me what he does differently than Forbort and I'm all ears. Even Forbort's predraft highlight reel has him dangling and turning people inside-out and sniping from the slot. What's Sanderson's offensive skillset? He's fast, with a good breakout pass, and a shot that can get through. That's about it, right? Guys with similar numbers, like Trouba and Shattenkirk, at least had well-defined offensive abilities that would excel at the next level but Sanderson doesn't have anything noteworthy that'll outshine anyone else for PP1 time or offensive deployment.
I just don't think it's worth going on fishing expeditions for possibly-nonexistent offensive upside this early on. 10 and thereafter? Sure. But 3-8? That's where you get elite offensive talents. Relatively speaking, top-4 d-men are a dime a dozen and MUCH cheaper to acquire. I think Sanderson compares well to Brodin, who was a great pick at #10, but would have been picked too high at 5. Or like Hampus Lindholm. Make sense? Or is that just an outdated, armchair GM take?
If you believe he's got 40-50 point offensive upside, then he's probably worthy of a #3-4 pick, honestly, because that's a #1 dman. And I could even see him taken in the back half of the top-10 if people aren't high on, say, Perfetti. But you also can't talk down on people who don't believe he has that since there's only a half-season of evidence in preferential situations that he can do that and I'm sick of the condescending attitude from these sudden-Sanderson-fans who had him ranked in the 2nd round as recently as December, it's all this "if you don't agree you're just a hater, armchair GM" garbage. Give me some reasoning at least. It's great to find a modern two-way 2nd pairing d-man in the first round, especially one that's next to a sure thing. It's not necessarily worth busting a top-10 pick on it.
I'd rather find a way to get Justin Barron later, personally.
On Lundell, though, I'm 100% on board with you there and agree fully that Kopitar is the perfect mentor.