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Poll: Who Will Be The Wild Card Teams In The Eastern Conference?

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Now that the NHL and AHL trade deadlines have passed, the league is full speed ahead toward the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. With between 15-18  games left in the regular season, there are only nine points separating the seventh-place and 13th-place teams in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

If the season ended today, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins would cross the finish line as the wild-card winners in the East. In their last ten games, respectively, the Islanders are 7-2-1, while the Penguins are 5-4-1. Whether or not they have the rosters to get it done, both teams made moves at the deadline in hopes of making the playoffs this year.

Following behind them, the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators are making the strongest case to move past the Islanders and Penguins. In their last ten, the Panthers are 6-4-0, while the Senators are 7-3-0. The Panthers are not the same dominant team that they were last year, but they still have an extremely talented roster led by Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk.

The Senators are following a much different course. After a few seasons of rebuilding, the Senators are finally a fun hockey team to watch again. After signing Claude Giroux and making a trade for Alex DeBrincat, the Senators had hope for meaningful games in April at the beginning of the season. Starting slow out of the gate, it seems this team has put it all together as the season has progressed. By acquiring top trade candidate Jakob Chychrun at the deadline, the Senators have the team to bring the Eastern wild-card race down to the wire.

Rounding out the last of the group that could theoretically reach the playoffs, the Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, and Detroit Red Wings are still within striking distance. The Capitals and Red Wings both chose to sell at the deadline, while the Sabres’ biggest move was acquiring Jordan Greenway from the Minnesota Wild. The Sabres have a similar aura around them as the Senators, after they too have an exciting team after years of rebuilding. However, all three of these teams have a losing record in their last ten games, with the Sabres’ last game being a 10-4 blowout loss to the Dallas Stars.

So who will it be PHR readers? Cast your vote and let us know which two teams will win the wild-card race in the East.

Poll: Who Won The 2023 Trade Deadline Week?

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The 2023 NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, with most of the action spread among the days leading up to last Friday. Playoff contenders were as active as ever, with an eyebrow-raising 13 first-round picks dealt in the weeks leading up to the deadline. With so much activity, though, it’s difficult to immediately say which team (and which general manager) came out on top.

First off, the world-beating Boston Bruins made a pair of significant deals with conference rivals. Their biggest acquisition came in the form of Dmitry Orlov from the Washington Capitals, who had been quietly one of the best defensive defenders in the league over the past few years. His two-way play has made an immediate impact, recording three goals and nine points in just five games with the Bruins since the trade, already doubling his goal total on the season. The team also acquired a pair of aggressive forwards, Tyler Bertuzzi and Garnet Hathaway, who seem to fit seamlessly into the tapestry of a quintessential Bruins lineup.

However, their Atlantic Division rivals were some of the most active teams on the market too. No team made more additions to their roster than the Toronto Maple Leafs, who added a significant complement of defensive-minded skaters in Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari, Jake McCabe, Sam Lafferty, and Luke Schenn while also adding some power-play depth in the form of defenseman Erik Gustafsson. Like Boston, they were able to avoid parting with a top prospect in the process, although young NHLer Rasmus Sandin, already off to a strong start with his new team, the Washington Capitals, was a casualty of the roster crunch.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, looking to make a fourth straight Stanley Cup Final, made one of the most controversial moves of the deadline by parting with five draft picks in exchange for depth winger Tanner Jeannot. They also made some salary cap flexibility by swapping Vladislav Namestnikov for Michael Eyssimont, who’s provided some quiet upside in his first extended NHL opportunities with the Winnipeg Jets and San Jose Sharks.

The best forward on the market on the market was undoubtedly Timo Meier, who the New Jersey Devils landed to complete a formidable top-six forward group alongside Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Dawson Mercer, and Tomas Tatar. The 26-year-old is amidst his second consecutive 30-goal season and is a powerful two-way force. They also acquired Curtis Lazar in a minor deal with the Vancouver Canucks to improve their fourth line.

No team made more star-studded acquisitions than the New York Rangers, not unexpected from one of the most aggressive front offices in the league. A pair of veteran stars headed their way in the form of Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, who the Rangers hope will enjoy some revitalization alongside a more robust core on Broadway. It looks like that’s happened so far for Tarasenko, who’s scored four goals and nine points in 12 games as a Ranger. Kane is still looking for his first point and has a -4 rating in two contests since the trade.

It was one team out of the playoff picture, though, that may have made the most effective roster improvement. The Ottawa Senators acquired defenseman Jakob Chychrun from the Arizona Coyotes for a trio of draft picks, filling a gigantic hole in their defensive makeup. Now 7-2-1 in their past 10 games, the acquisition of Chychrun (under contract through 2025) gives the Senators a fighting chance at making the playoffs for the first time since advancing to the Eastern Conference Final in 2017.

It’s up to you, PHR readers, to decide who they think had the best overall haul at this year’s deadline. Cast your vote and let us know who you think came out on top.

Poll: Will The Buffalo Sabres Make The Playoffs?

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The Buffalo Sabres are no strangers to hot starts that fade quickly. Despite being among the league’s best well into November multiple times over the past few seasons, the franchise has still failed to make a playoff appearance since 2011.

2022-23 seems to have a different vibe for Buffalo, though. The team sits eighth in the Eastern Conference by points percentage at the end of January, with teams over halfway through their regular-season schedules. They’ve surged past an injury-laden Washington Capitals squad to sit in playoff positioning, and they’ve kept pace ahead of other up-and-coming Atlantic Division teams like the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators.

With 33 games left to play in their season, though, can they keep up their play?

Buffalo hasn’t exactly been a model of consistency for defensive play, but that was never the expectation for such a young team. While they sit among the bottom third of teams in terms of goals against, their 185 goals scored rank third in the NHL at the time of writing.

Their patchwork goaltending tandem of 41-year-old Craig Anderson and career backup Eric Comrie raised many eyebrows at the beginning of the season. Now, it’s turned into a more capable trio, including the 23-year-old Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. He’s started 20 games in Buffalo this year, the most among all Sabres netminders and his .900 save percentage is in line with the league’s average. Anderson, while he hasn’t played often, has exceeded all expectations with a .918 mark in 16 games.

Buffalo already has four 20-goal scorers, with Tage Thompson (34), Alex Tuch (23), Victor Olofsson (23), and Jeff Skinner (20) leading the way. Thompson, Tuch, Skinner, and Rasmus Dahlin all produce over a point per game. 21-year-old Dylan Cozens is enjoying a true breakout campaign with 43 points in 48 games. 20-year-old Owen Power is near the top of the Calder Trophy conversation and is playing more than any other rookie defenseman this year, averaging 23:39 per game.

There are many reasons to be optimistic. But with such an inexperienced and young team, along with the franchise’s recent history of disappointment, there are obviously questions about sustainability.

However, many questions can also be raised about their competitors for Wild Card positioning in the Eastern Conference. Alarm bells are sounding in Pittsburgh, as the Penguins have won just three games in regulation since Christmas. Similar concerns can be had about the aging Capitals, who are cooling off after a December hot streak and continue to encounter injury news at an uncomfortable pace.

Both the Red Wings and Florida Panthers, their closest Atlantic Division threats, have dipped into negative goal differential territory and have hovered close to the .500 mark for most of the past couple of months. It still may be premature to discount the Panthers, considering their tantalizing scoring depth on paper, but they also haven’t been able to keep the puck out of their own net with any consistency this year. Unlike other teams in the conversation, Florida also has no salary cap flexibility to add at the trade deadline.

That’s one area where Buffalo shines. Despite being in playoff position, Buffalo has the most cap space of any NHL team. While some may argue it would be premature for general manager Kevyn Adams to ship out assets at this year’s March 3 trade deadline, a non-rental addition could help solidify Buffalo’s already impressive core for future seasons.

So, we ask you, PHR readers: can the Buffalo Sabres hang on and make their first playoff appearance in 12 seasons, ending the NHL’s longest active drought? Make your voice heard by voting in the poll below.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Poll: Who Will Finish With The Best Chance At First Overall?

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Success at the World Junior Championship doesn’t guarantee success in the NHL. It’s a junior tournament, after all, and there are countless examples of players who star there only to find it difficult to translate their game to the professional level. Esa Keskinen, for example, is one of the highest-scoring players of all time with 31 points in two tournaments. The fifth-round pick never came over to North America (likely due to his small stature during a different era of hockey), playing out his career in Finland and Sweden instead.

But even as scouts are starting to place less importance on performance there, the World Juniors plays an important role in something else for future stars: an introduction to a wider audience.

In the grand scheme of hockey fans, there aren’t many watching Regina Pats games. They might not get a chance to see future first-overall pick Connor Bedard on a very regular basis, if at all. So when he puts up seven points in one game or comes within one goal of the Canadian record from a ridiculous angle suddenly fans from across the league start dreaming about him pulling on their sweater next season.

Tanking for the first-overall pick doesn’t work all that well in hockey. The draft lottery gives hope to around half the league (depending on trades) and causes anxiety for those clubs at the bottom of the standings. Going into tonight’s games, the Chicago Blackhawks have the best odds of winning the right to select Bedard. Chicago has lost nine of their last ten and 25 of 33 on the year. Their .303 winning percentage would be the third worst in the salary cap era if it continued all year. The two teams ahead (or behind) them though – the 2016-17 Colorado Avalanche and 2019-20 Detroit Red Wings – both failed to win the lottery.

Colorado fell to fourth after three teams jumped them, and got the consolation prize of Cale Makar. The Red Wings fell three spots too and had to settle for Lucas Raymond.

There have been some changes since then, meaning Chicago (or whoever finishes last) won’t drop quite so far. But coming last still by no means guarantees the top pick. In fact, a team like the Montreal Canadiens could theoretically end up with an even greater chance, even without finishing last. The Canadiens have their own pick and Florida’s, who are also currently out of the playoff picture. Should the Panthers drop even further, Montreal would essentially have two cracks to move up.

There is also a lot of hockey left to play. One more win would tie the Blackhawks with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Two would bring them even with the Anaheim Ducks, who have played three more games. There’s a long race to be run by quite a few teams.

So as you watch Bedard (and Adam Fantilli) pile goals onto an overmatched Austrian squad, who do you think will enter the draft lottery with the best chance? Cast your vote below and explain how you see it playing out in the comments.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

2008 NHL Draft Take Two: Twentieth Overall Pick

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.”  Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science, and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now.  Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
2nd Overall: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2)
3rd Overall: Roman Josi, Atlanta Thrashers (38)
4th Overall: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues (4)
5th Overall: Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs (15)
6th Overall: John Carlson, Columbus Blue Jackets (27)
7th Overall: Jacob Markstrom, Nashville Predators (31)
8th Overall: Braden Holtby, Phoenix Coyotes (93)
9th Overall: Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders (22)
10th Overall: Jared Spurgeon, Vancouver Canucks (156)
11th Overall: Cam Atkinson, Chicago Blackhawks (157)
12th Overall: T.J. Brodie, Buffalo Sabres (114)
13th Overall: Josh Bailey, Los Angeles Kings (9)
14th Overall: Adam Henrique, Carolina Hurricanes (82)
15th Overall: Tyler Myers, Ottawa Senators (12)
16th Overall: Gustav Nyquist, Boston Bruins (121)
17th Overall: Derek Stepan, Anaheim Ducks (51)
18th Overall: Jake Allen, Nashville Predators (34)
19th Overall: Jake Gardiner, Philadelphia Flyers (17)

Sliding two spots from the real 2008 NHL draft is defenseman Jake Gardiner. Originally the 17th overall selection by the Anaheim Ducks, Gardiner now goes 19th overall, this time to the Philadelphia Flyers, who had selected defenseman Luca Sbisa with that choice back in 2008.

Interestingly, between Gardiner and Sbisa, only one of them even played games with the team that drafted him, Sbisa getting into 39 games for the Flyers the year after being drafted. Both players were used to help their respective teams make an immediate upgrade on the blueline. The Flyers used Sbisa to help them acquire Chris Pronger from the Ducks, and a few years later the Ducks would use Gardiner to help them acquire Francois Beauchemin from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Regardless of which player they chose, or whether they would have elected to keep him around, the Flyers would get good value out of the pick with Sbisa or Gardiner. Sbisa wound up having a lengthy career as a stable, physical shutdown defenseman while Gardiner has had a lengthy career as a tremendous puck-mover on the back-end. Gardiner’s career might seem a bit more enticing given his strong point totals in his prime, but he has dealt with multiple injuries that have forced him to miss most of 2020-21, all of 2021-22, and thus far, all of 2022-23. All of that considered, finding an everyday NHL defenseman at 19th overall is something many executives and scouts around the league would be rather happy with.

Now, we move on to the 20th overall pick, which belonged to the New York Rangers. In 2008, the Rangers used that pick to take Michael Del Zotto, a slick two-way defenseman from the Oshawa Generals. After taking Del Zotto, the Rangers sent him back for one more season in the OHL, which he split between Oshawa and the London Knights. Del Zotto would debut for New York in 2009-10, immediately jumping into a full-time role on their blueline, making a splash his rookie season with 37 points. However, he took a step back in his sophomore season, playing in just 47 games while spending some time in the AHL too.

The defenseman would rebound for 2011-12, scoring 10 goals to go with 31 assists in 77 games and it seemed as if the Rangers had a star on their hands. However, Del Zotto wasn’t able to replicate that production and was eventually dealt to the Nashville Predators part-way through 2013-14 for fellow defenseman Kevin Klein. That offseason, Del Zotto signed with the Philadelphia Flyers where again his production would jump up, putting up 32 points in 64 games, but once again, he couldn’t maintain.

Del Zotto then became something of a journeyman after his three-year stint with Philadelphia, spending time with Vancouver, Anaheim, St. Luis, Columbus, and most recently, Ottawa in 2021-22, where he had his first AHL time since that trip back in 2010-11. Prior to this season, the Florida Panthers signed Del Zotto to a one-year, two-way contract; to date, he’s played two games with the Charlotte Checkers, Florida’s AHL affiliate.

Much like Sbisa and Gardiner above, Del Zotto has had a lengthy career complete with several very strong seasons, but has never hit the elite level the Rangers might have envisioned when they selected him. Now with the benefit of hindsight, who should the Rangers select 20th overall in our redraft? There are plenty of solid defensemen available, including Del Zotto as well as the likes of Travis Hamonic, Marco Scandella, and Zach Bogosian, offense-first forwards like Mikkel Boedker and Tyler Ennis, or some good-old-fashioned grit with Matt Martin and Matt Calvert, and many more to choose from.

App users, click here to vote.

2008 NHL Draft Take Two: Nineteenth Overall

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.”  Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science, and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now.  Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
2nd Overall: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2)
3rd Overall: Roman Josi, Atlanta Thrashers (38)
4th Overall: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues (4)
5th Overall: Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs (15)
6th Overall: John Carlson, Columbus Blue Jackets (27)
7th Overall: Jacob Markstrom, Nashville Predators (31)
8th Overall: Braden Holtby, Phoenix Coyotes (93)
9th Overall: Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders (22)
10th Overall: Jared Spurgeon, Vancouver Canucks (156)
11th Overall: Cam Atkinson, Chicago Blackhawks (157)
12th Overall: T.J. Brodie, Buffalo Sabres (114)
13th Overall: Josh Bailey, Los Angeles Kings (9)
14th Overall: Adam Henrique, Carolina Hurricanes (82)
15th Overall: Tyler Myers, Ottawa Senators (12)
16th Overall: Gustav Nyquist, Boston Bruins (121)
17th Overall: Derek Stepan, Anaheim Ducks (51)
18th Overall: Jake Allen, Nashville Predators (34)

Right now, Pekka Rinne’s number hangs in the rafters of Bridgestone Arena, just above where another star netminder, Juuse Saros, plays his games. No doubt, Nashville is happy with its goaltending over the past 15 seasons or so. But, in our redraft, it’s hard not to think about what could have been if the Predators had selected both Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen seventh and eighteenth overall, respectively. Instead in 2008, Nashville selected forward Colin Wilson in the seven spot and goaltender Chet Pickard eighteenth.

Ultimately, Pickard never played in the NHL after a hot start in junior and the AHL. The goaltender would bounce between the AHL and ECHL before heading over to Europe, where he’s now a reliable netminder in Germany’s DEL. Even with Rinne and Saros, it’s likely the Predators would’ve preferred to take Allen over Pickard given Allen’s track record of NHL success.

Originally selected 34th overall by the St. Louis Blues, Allen slides nearly halfway up the draft board in our redraft. Allen was a standout goaltender in the QMJHL when he was selected by St. Louis, returning for the 2008-09 season. He would turn pro for 2009-10, playing goal for the Peoria Rivermen of the AHL and began to establish himself as one of the league’s best. He’d make his NHL debut during the shortened 2012-13 season, suiting up for 15 games with the Blues, returning to the AHL for 2013-14, where he put up a sensational 2.03 goals-against average and .928 save-percentage. That AHL performance would be his last, earning him the promotion to the NHL full-time.

Allen gradually took over the starer’s job in St. Louis, peaking from 2015 through 2018. Eventually, with the emergence of Jordan Binnington and Allen’s own performance slipping a bit, he lost the starting job. Prior to the 2020-21 season, St. Louis dealt Allen to the Montreal Canadiens, where he was expected to backup the legendary Carey Price. Now, with Price’s long-term injury, Allen has emerged as the starter for Montreal, recently signing a two-year extension that runs through 2024-25.

From the eighteenth-overall selection, we move on to the nineteenth, which belonged to the Philadelphia Flyers, who selected defenseman Luca Sbisa. The Italian-born Sbisa appears to have represented fair value for the nineteenth-overall pick. Far from flashy, the stay-at-home defenseman made a career as a steady, reliable, and at times physical presence. Sbisa made his NHL debut immediately after being drafted, getting into 39 NHL games for the Flyers before being sent back to the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes. That offseason, he was sent to the Anaheim Ducks in the trade that ultimately brought Chris Pronger to Philadelphia.

Sbisa spent parts of five seasons in Anaheim, taking on a regular role on the Ducks’ blueline. In the summer of 2014, Sbisa was again moved as part of the package to bring in a star, this time heading to the Vancouver Canucks, with Ryan Kesler headed the other way. There, he continued to play the role of a quiet, yet effective blueliner, signing a three-year, $10.8MM extension prior to 2015-16. However, he’d spend just two more seasons in Vancouver before the Vegas Golden Knights selected him in the 2017 expansion draft.

The veteran appeared in just 30 games in the inaugural Vegas season, hitting the open market in 2018. There, he signed with the New York Islanders, getting into just nine games. That offseason, once again a free agent, he returned to Anaheim only briefly, selected off waivers by the Winnipeg Jets before he could suit up for an official game with the Ducks. Sbisa played 41 games for the Jets in 2019-20 and appeared set to join them once again for 2020-21, but was claimed on waivers once again, just prior to the start of the season. He’d work his way into the lineup for just one game with Nashville, which appears to be the last of his career. Though no formal retirement announcement appears to hve been made, Sbisa spent the 2021-22 season working with the Ducks and was recently hired by the San Jose Sharks in a player development role.

With names like John Carlson, Jordan Eberle, Jared Spurgeon, and Markstrom, just to name a few, still on the board, the Flyers likely would’ve opted to change their pick with hindsight. Still, taking Sbisa at nineteenth, given his long career wasn’t a bad bet, especially considering he helped them acquire Pronger, a tremendous asset at the time. With hindsight, would the Flyers opt to take Sbisa again with the names still remaining in our redraft? Or could they go for another option, such as Jake Gardiner, Travis Hamonic, or Tyler Ennis?

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

2008 NHL Draft Take Two: Eighteenth Overall Pick

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.”  Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science, and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now.  Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
2nd Overall: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2)
3rd Overall: Roman Josi, Atlanta Thrashers (38)
4th Overall: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues (4)
5th Overall: Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs (15)
6th Overall: John Carlson, Columbus Blue Jackets (27)
7th Overall: Jacob Markstrom, Nashville Predators (31)
8th Overall: Braden Holtby, Phoenix Coyotes (93)
9th Overall: Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders (22)
10th Overall: Jared Spurgeon, Vancouver Canucks (156)
11th Overall: Cam Atkinson, Chicago Blackhawks (157)
12th Overall: T.J. Brodie, Buffalo Sabres (114)
13th Overall: Josh Bailey, Los Angeles Kings (9)
14th Overall: Adam Henrique, Carolina Hurricanes (82)
15th Overall: Tyler Myers, Ottawa Senators (12)
16th Overall: Gustav Nyquist, Boston Bruins (121)
17th Overall: Derek Stepan, Anaheim Ducks (51)

There aren’t too many players that represent the New York Rangers of the 2010’s better than Derek Stepan. A regular in their top-six, good for at least 50 points on a yearly basis, the center played a big role on teams that were regularly in the mix for the Stanley Cup. Of course, those dreams never came true for Stepan or the Rangers, at least not yet, but there’s no doubt the franchise was thrilled with what they received with their 51st overall selection in 2008.

In our redraft, Stepan now climbs all the way up to 17th overall, this time to the Anaheim Ducks. The team had originally used this slot to take defenseman Jake Gardiner, who ultimately never suited up for a game with them, traded to the Maple Leafs while he was still in college. Whether they would, in hindsight, prefer Gardiner or Stepan could be an interesting debate, however the results of the redraft show Stepan would be the choice.

Now, we turn our attention to the eighteenth overall pick, which belonged to the Nashville Predators. With that pick, the team looked to solidify their future in net by selecting goaltender Chet Pickard. Little did they know, another netminder in their system would burst onto the scene the following season and never look back, becoming one of the best players in the franchise’s history. Unfortunately for Pickard, not everyone can have the same career as Pekka Rinne.

Pickard was a standout for the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, spending three years in net there, his first season as the full-time starter coming in 2007-08. After becoming the first goaltender selected in the 2008 draft, Pickard returned to Tri-City for another stellar season before turning pro for the 2009-10 campaign. The goaltender struggled in his first season, playing 36 games in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals, but things wouldn’t get much better from there. He would spend parts of three more seasons bouncing between the ECHL and AHL, but never found much success or momentum.

Following the 2013-14 season, his last in North America, Pickard headed to Denmark for a year before moving onto the DEL in Germany for 2015-16. There, Pickard finally found success as a reliable goalie for Iserlohn, Manheim, and Wolfsburg. Pickard finally finding a consistent role as a reliable goaltender is surely good news, but having to do it over agin, its unlikely Nashville would take him in the 18th spot in the draft. Rinne aside, there are two goaltenders already taken in the re-draft with considerable success, and a few still on the board with solid NHL resumes. So, in this redraft, who would go 18th overall to the Predators?

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

2008 NHL Draft Take Two: Seventeenth Overall Pick

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.”  Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science, and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now.  Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
2nd Overall: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2)
3rd Overall: Roman Josi, Atlanta Thrashers (38)
4th Overall: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues (4)
5th Overall: Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs (15)
6th Overall: John Carlson, Columbus Blue Jackets (27)
7th Overall: Jacob Markstrom, Nashville Predators (31)
8th Overall: Braden Holtby, Phoenix Coyotes (93)
9th Overall: Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders (22)
10th Overall: Jared Spurgeon, Vancouver Canucks (156)
11th Overall: Cam Atkinson, Chicago Blackhawks (157)
12th Overall: T.J. Brodie, Buffalo Sabres (114)
13th Overall: Josh Bailey, Los Angeles Kings (9)
14th Overall: Adam Henrique, Carolina Hurricanes (82)
15th Overall: Tyler Myers, Ottawa Senators (12)
16th Overall: Gustav Nyquist, Boston Bruins (121)

Originally a fourth-round pick by the Detroit Red Wings in the real 2008 draft, Gustav Nyquist slides well up the board, over 100 spots, to 16th overall to the Boston Bruins in our redraft. Nyquist has had himself a strong career, spending the majority of his career with the Red Wings before a midseason trade to the San Jose Sharks in 2018-19. That offseason, Nyquist hit the free agent market and signed a four-year, $22MM contract with the Blue Jackets, which is set to expire after this season.

While Nyquist may never be remembered as a true superstar, the speedy winger has used his skill to be a regular scoring threat. He set a career-high with 28 goals in just 57 games back in 2013-14 with Detroit and his career-high 60 points came when he split the season in Detroit and San Jose. His 401 career points, which have come in 652 games, rank him 12th among all 2008 draftees. That would seem to justify being selected 16th in the re-draft, given the glut of defensemen and two star goalies chosen ahead of him here.

Leaving Nyquist and the 16th overall pick behind, we now turn to the 17th overall selection of the 2008 NHL Draft, which belonged to the Anaheim Ducks, who were one year removed from a Stanley Cup championship. The Ducks would use their pick to select defenseman Jake Gardiner, a Minnesota high school defenseman from Minnetonka High School. Gardiner would never have the star quality that players like Jordan Eberle or John Carlson, who were selected after him in that first round, however he was able to secure a lengthy career as a stable and reliable blueliner.

After being selected out of high school, Gardiner spent the following three seasons at the University of Wisconsin, becoming an intricate part of their program, including a runner-up finish in the 2010 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey championship. During his junior year, just prior to turning pro, the Ducks dealt Gardiner, along with Joffrey Lupul an a fourth-round pick, for veteran defenseman Francois Beauchemin. Shortly after the trade and after his college season came to a close, Gardiner made his pro debut with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies.

The following season, 2011-12, Gardiner came onto the scene with the Maple Leafs. As a rookie, he posted seven goals and 23 assists over 75 games, good enough to earn him votes for the Calder Trophy. While Toronto would miss the playoffs that year, a then-21-year-old Gardiner represented a big, exciting piece of the rebuilder’s future core. With the 2012-13 lockout in effect, Gardiner spent a majority of the season in the AHL, dominating the league as a now-established NHLer. After that season the defenseman became a staple in the Maple Leafs lineup, rarely missing a game while providing quality defense and superb puck movement.

The 2017-18 season was a career-year for the Minnesota native, as he recorded 52 points, 47 of them assists, both career-highs. Following the 2018-19 season, Gardiner hit the open market and despite taking over two months to find a destination, he signed a four-year, $16.2MM contract with an exciting young Hurricanes squad. Gardiner would struggle to an extent in his first season down south, but remained healthy. However, his injury woes set in the following season, where he played just 26 games in the shortened 56 game season, as well as one postseason game. In the time since, Gardiner has undergone hip and back surgeries.

Gardiner missed more than a year after he last played in that 2021 postseason game before being cleared to return to hockey back in June of this year. That return was promising for the Hurricanes, who still have one more year on the contract at a $4.45MM salary ($4.05MM cap hit), however just as training camp was coming into full swing, it was reported that Gardiner had suffered a setback and would not be in camp. It’s unclear if this will be the end of the road for the veteran, but his recent setback doesn’t bode well.

For his career, Gardiner, now 32, has 49 goals and 228 assists coming in 645 career games. Regardless of how his tenure in Carolina played out, it seems clear that taking him at 17th overall was a safe bet and provided enough value to satisfy the Ducks, who chose him, and the Maple Leafs, who acquired him. In our redraft, Gardiner is still available, and a legitimate option at that, but who should be the pick knowing what we know now?

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

2008 NHL Draft Take Two: Sixteenth Overall Pick

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.”  Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science, and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now.  Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
2nd Overall: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2)
3rd Overall: Roman Josi, Atlanta Thrashers (38)
4th Overall: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues (4)
5th Overall: Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs (15)
6th Overall: John Carlson, Columbus Blue Jackets (27)
7th Overall: Jacob Markstrom, Nashville Predators (31)
8th Overall: Braden Holtby, Phoenix Coyotes (93)
9th Overall: Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders (22)
10th Overall: Jared Spurgeon, Vancouver Canucks (156)
11th Overall: Cam Atkinson, Chicago Blackhawks (157)
12th Overall: T.J. Brodie, Buffalo Sabres (114)
13th Overall: Josh Bailey, Los Angeles Kings (9)
14th Overall: Adam Henrique, Carolina Hurricanes (82)
15th Overall: Tyler Myers, Ottawa Senators (12)

The drop wound up being a small one for Myers who only goes three spots later than his original draft position.  While he has been maligned at times due to some contracts that paid him above market value, he has turned in a solid career thus far.

Throughout his junior days, Myers wasn’t known for his point-producing abilities with his career-high in points checking in at 42 in his final season with Kelowna.  Not bad, but players who top out at that level don’t typically become highly-productive players in the pros.

Myers put that theory to the test in his rookie season as he had more goals (11), assists (37), and points (48) than in any of his major junior campaigns.  That made him the runaway winner of the Calder Trophy and all of a sudden, it looked like Buffalo had their two-way star defender of the future.

Unfortunately, that didn’t go as planned.  While Myers’ numbers in his sophomore year were still pretty good (the second-best of his career thus far), he eventually became more of a stay-at-home defender.  Eventually, the Sabres decided to shake things up, moving him to Winnipeg in 2015 as part of the Evander Kane trade.

With the Jets, Myers was a capable, albeit pricey blueliner for parts of five seasons.  Since then, he has spent three years in Vancouver as a capable, albeit pricey defenseman.

That said, it’s worth looking at some of Myers’ numbers in context.  In his 13-year NHL career, he has averaged over 20 minutes a night in every one of them.  He’s eighth in all-time games played from this draft class and with a couple of years left on his contract, he’ll have a good chance of staying in the top ten when all is said and done.  No, Myers didn’t quite live up to the promise of his rookie year but he has had a very solid career so far.

Now, we move on to the 16th selection which was held by Boston.  They opted to take a longer-term project, selecting Joe Colborne out of the AJHL.  However, after two very strong college seasons, the Bruins turned him pro in 2019 but he never played a game for them.  Instead, they moved him, a first-round pick, and a second-rounder to Toronto to rent Tomas Kaberle at the 2011 trade deadline.  (If you’re curious, that first-rounder turned into Rickard Rakell.)

Colborne spent parts of three seasons with Toronto but again, didn’t play much.  He was flipped to Calgary in 2013 for a fourth-round pick that eventually was used on Ville Husso.

Colborne saw regular action with Calgary for three years and spent most of another year in Colorado but hung up his skates in 2018 after a seven-year NHL career that spanned 295 games.  In the grand scheme of things, Boston could have done much worse with this pick but it’s safe to say in hindsight, there were better options available.

So, who should they have picked with that benefit of hindsight?  With the 16th pick in the 2008 redraft, who do they take?  Make your choice by voting in the poll below.

App users, click here to vote.

2008 NHL Draft Take Two: Fifteenth Overall Pick

at CDT | by 4 Comments

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.”  Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science, and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now.  Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
2nd Overall: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2)
3rd Overall: Roman Josi, Atlanta Thrashers (38)
4th Overall: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues (4)
5th Overall: Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs (15)
6th Overall: John Carlson, Columbus Blue Jackets (27)
7th Overall: Jacob Markstrom, Nashville Predators (31)
8th Overall: Braden Holtby, Phoenix Coyotes (93)
9th Overall: Jordan Eberle, New York Islanders (22)
10th Overall: Jared Spurgeon, Vancouver Canucks (156)
11th Overall: Cam Atkinson, Chicago Blackhawks (157)
12th Overall: T.J. Brodie, Buffalo Sabres (114)
13th Overall: Josh Bailey, Los Angeles Kings (9)
14th Overall: Adam Henrique, Carolina Hurricanes (82)

With the 14th overall selection of the 2008 redraft, readers voted to re-write history and have the Hurricanes choose Henrique instead of Zach Boychuk, who Carolina actually picked in this spot 14 years ago. Although Boychuk has been a solid pro at several levels still to this day, taking the fan-favorite Henrique at this spot would have represented far better value. Henrique doesn’t have the illustrious resume that some of his fellow 2008 selections do, but he’s put together a solid career worthy of a mid-first-round pick.

Originally drafted in the third-round, 82nd overall by the New Jersey Devils, Henrique took some time to develop, but burst onto the scene in 2011-12 with 51 points in 74 games. He’d add another 13 in 24 playoff games, including the goal he may be best remembered for: an iconic overtime winner that sent the Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals. Throughout his career, he’s hit the 50-point mark three separate times and the 20-goal mark six times, including a 30-goal performance in 2015-16.

Having established himself as a fan favorite in New Jersey, the forward was dealt early on in the 2017-18 season in a hockey trade that sent defenseman Sami Vatanen to New Jersey from the Anaheim Ducks. Out west, Henrique continued his solid play, albeit with a small step back in production. This season however, the 32-year-old appeared to find his scoring touch once again, registering 19 goals and 23 assists in just 58 games, nearly a 60-point pace. In the end, the Devils found great value by selecting Henrique in the third-round, but going even as high as 14th to the Hurricanes in a redraft appears to still lend great value.

Having addressed Henrique, we turn to the 15th overall pick. Now, first and foremost, there are some terrific hockey players with great resumes left to pick from, but none compare to the generational talent that is Erik Karlsson, who went 15th back in 2008. In the redraft, Karlsson bumped well up the draft board, going fifth overall. The defenseman’s case is an interesting one given the sensational seasons he had as a member of the Ottawa Senators, but also his recent injury history. Had we run this series five years ago, there’s a very good chance he would have been the first selection.

When Ottawa selected the slick, puck-moving defenseman out of the Frolunda organization, he had just come off a 37-point season in 38 games in the Swedish junior league which also included a seven-game stint with Frolunda in the then-Swedish Elite League. The Senators opted to have the defenseman spend another year in Europe, where he played a majority of the season with Frolunda, recording 10 points in 45 games. The following season, 2009-10, Karlsson came over and stepped right into the Ottawa lineup.

After establishing himself as an NHL regular, Karlsson broke out as a superstar during the 2011-12 campaign, where he scored 19 goals to go along with 59 assists. This breakout would start a run of seven years with Karlsson being among the best, if not the best defenseman in the NHL, regularly tallying at least 15 goals and 65 points per season, but hitting career-highs with 21 goals in 2014-15 and 82 points in 2015-16.

Entering the 2018-19 season, with the Senators in a full-scale rebuild and Karlsson’s contract set to expire after the season, the team was looking for suitors and found one in that of the San Jose Sharks. Though the deal, and the entire Senators rebuild for that matter, was met with criticism, the ultimate return would be arguably as franchise-altering as selecting Karlsson was in the first place. For Karlsson and forward Francis Perron, the Senators received forwards Joshua Norris, Chris Tierney and Rudolfs Balcers, defenseman Dylan DeMelo, as well as a conditional first-round draft pick and two conditional second-round draft picks. While one of the second round picks was dealt, the other picks would turn into Zack Ostapchuk and budding superstar Tim Stutzle, who they selected third overall in 2020.

San Jose was able to work out an extension with Karlsson just ahead of free agency, an eight-year, $92MM deal, one which was appropriate at the time, but has now seemingly gone sideways. Since the trade to San Jose, Karlsson has dealt with a bevy of injury issues that have cost him games played and appeared to hamper his game to a degree as he’s played through them. His production has dropped off to a degree, but has managed to maintain close to a 60-point pace per 82-games played, but whether or not that is worth an $11.5MM hit against the salary cap remains in question, and is arguably a driving force behind the Sharks current state as a presumed rebuilder.

Given recency bias, it would make sense that a defenseman once considered among the very best players in the league for several seasons in that of Karlsson would slide down to fifth overall in a 2008 redraft. However, there’s no doubt that his original selection – 15th overall – was a fantastic pick by Ottawa. But, running through the first round again, taking Karlsson here is no longer an option. Though not a possible Hall of Famer, Ottawa will still get a quality player this time around, but who will it be?

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.

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