NHL draft thread

[AntiMoon]

And it's been crazy so far
Caps trade Eakin and 56th pick to Dal for C Mike Ribiero
Pitt sends J Staal to Car for 8th pick, Brandon Sutter and a minor leaguer
Ana sends L Visnovsky to NYI for 2nd rd pick

[AntiMoon]

Great night for Caps so far
#3 prospect Filip Forsberg falls to Caps at 11

[dandrews]

As a Pens fan, I really like the Staal trade. Sutter will definitely adequately replace Staal at 3rd center (and much cheaper) and Dumoulin is supposedly the real deal as a defensive prospect (not like the Penguins needs any more of them, though).

Combined with the Staal trade and them dumping Michalek for cap space (which in a vacuum, the trade leaves a lot to be desired), that leaves them at about 15M in cap space. It makes sense that they are going to take a huge run at Parise and/or Ryan Suter

[AntiMoon]

Sorry but Sutter is a big downgrade in the short term. But it allows Pit to make a major run at some players but I caution that a lot of teams want these guys and I still think Parise ends up back in NJ and Suter in Det leaving Pitt to trade for either Nash,Ryan or Yandle. Caps still have 20 mil in cap space to replace Semin and Knuble so July 1st should be fascinating

[AntiMoon]

Forgot to mention: McPhee was very upset. Said he asked Pitt repeatedly about Staal and was told to basically F off.

[dandrews]

BTW I like the Ribeiro pick up for you guys. Solid top 6 forward.

Sutter is definitely a downgrade, no doubt, but at 3C he fits in cheaper than Staal and allows us the flexibility to find a top line winger who will undoubtedly log more minutes than Staal

[AntiMoon]

It's a good move for Pit. But it clearly wasn't their first choice, they wanted Staal back. Now they get a chance to upgrade at Wing. I'm guessing Sullivan doesn't return. Word is Pit is still trying to get Suter's FA rights which usually doesn't mean anything. Seems Phi does that every year and the guy signs elsewhere a week later

[dandrews]

Word is Pit is still trying to get Suter's FA rights which usually doesn't mean anything. Seems Phi does that every year and the guy signs elsewhere a week later

Heard that as well. I don't buy it though. They'll probably end up taking their chances in free agency.

Seems like every good team in the eastern conference has tons of cap room. I have no idea how that works out. I know the cap went up, but outside of Semin nobody is really losing big contracts to free agency.

[AntiMoon]

Amazing how Pit,Phi and NY has money under the cap to spend every year. The Mihaleck trade shows yet again that every contract is moveable. Cap floor is so high teams need to take bad contracts just to reach it. Something people need to remember when wanting a Cap in baseball. Pit will trade Martin too. Their young D depth is stellar: Morrow,Despres,Harrington,Dumoulin,Pouliout,Maata, Samuelsson and McNeil. Meanwhile Caps have Forsberg and Kuznetsov coming but shockingly ignored D in this draft.