Armchair GM 1 - Draft Day

Armchair GM

This, this is not an armchair. How it

masquerades as one is beyond me.

Alright, it's draft day.

Guess what pick you've got? SECOND OVERALL!!!

I can hear the crickets. The pain is palpable - I mean, this team was once sitting at a 91% chance of making the playoffs - Khabi was playing lights out, Dubnyk was playing lights out, RNH was some sort of divine creation and Smyth had returned home. It was good. Life, life was good.

Then something struck - it was a combination of the CFR road trip that somehow killed the team morale and, as I giggle typing, losing Cam Barker. We're now sitting at the draft table, staring at Montreal - because, well, look at them. They're so sad because they need(ed) the offence. They've got a superstar goalie, they've got a fantastic D-corps, and a healthy Markov! They simply have nobody to pass to besides Pacioretty. And we're going to pick either Grigorenko or Yakupov. 

Let's assume Yakupov goes first overall. You've got the pick to pick Grigorenko - knowing he's probably not going to play this season. Besides, you have the Great 8 Gagner as your second line centre. What are you going to do? There's Ryan Murray. And he could very well be Scott Niedermeyer. But that would be giving MTL what they want. You couldn't do that, right?

Enter armchair GM.

I'm going to propose two trades - one of which I prefer, but both of which I do. Montreal is damn desperate for the number 1/2 centre. In fact, they might skip over Murray and take someone like Galenchuyk - who may well be Marc Pouliot 2.0. Enter Edmonton, with loving arms.

Trade 1

To MTL - 2nd overall pick, 2012, Linus Omark, Eric Belanger and a conditional pick
To EDM - P.K. Subban and a 6th round pick

Wait, I hear you crying - where's our draft pick? WHERE IS IT?

I'll be releasing my own top 15 of the draft later, but here's the bottom line - there's no guarantee that Dumba, Murray or Reinhart, any of those D-men, ever get to the level of Subban.

Why would MTL do it: Montreal is definitely facing the music for their poor showing this season. A Grigorenko and then a Dumba will go miles towards basically replacing Subban and getting a lot of offence. Besides, I wouldn't rule out Subban demanding a trade from Montreal (with the current state of the team, he's unhappy), in which case, Belanger is staying put.
And just imagining Omark feeding bombs to Pacioretty is pretty scary in itself. Omark-Desharnais-Patches would get dominated physically, but, you know, that doesn't look that far away from the Kid Line here.

Why would EDM do it: Holy kerfuffle, Edmonton gets a game-changer on D. He's had great successes with Eberle and Hall at the WJCs, and this team would become extremely difficult to play against with Subban's ability to make open-ice hits and otherwise intimidate.

Besides, he's ****ing PK Subban.

Why MTL wouldn't do it: PK Subban is a pillar on their D. They would be oh-dear-god a lot worse if not for his dynamic play (oh, and that Carey Price). There's no guaranteed marquis players heading that way, and that could be testing for a fan-base easy to get angered.

Why EDM wouldn't do it: Because Barker's just as good as Subban and has higher draft pedigree!
Besides that, I don't know whether giving up Belanger, who's been very good on the dot this year, Omark, who could be a dominant force, and a lot of potential is worth the big PK.

Trade 2

To MTL - 2nd overall pick, 2012 + Ryan Martindale

To EDM - 3rd overall pick, 2012 and Nathan Beaulieu

That's a blockbuster if I ever saw one.

Why MTL do it?: They get Grigorenko, the player they desperately wanted!

Why EDM would do it: Absofreakinglutely - yes, the lose Ryan Martindale, who could yet be a player, but they get Nathan Beaulieu, who could be sent to OKC next year and continue the impressive pipeline that includes Klefbom(b), Musil, Gernat, Marcinin and Fedun. One of these guys could easily crack our line-up next year.
This would also free up the third overall pick to select either one of the dynamic few defencemen or Filip Forsberg, who basically is MPS.

Why MTL wouldn't do it: Because they really really really like Beaulieu? French-Canadian player, leadership qualities - after the Cunneyworth fiasco, there might be a little bit of a hullaballo.

But really, that's it. They'd do this trade in a heartbeat.

Why EDM wouldn't do it: Because they don't want 3rd overall and a defenceman. They'd rather get a dynamic winger and a pick than a defenceman and a pick because this year is thin up front and loaded down back. With that many defencemen coming up the depth chart, why do we need another two?

Bottom line?

Love me or hate me, I'm taking deal one.

Oilers team into free agency?

Hall-Nuge-Eberle

Smyth-Gagner-Hemsky

MPS-Horcoff-Jones

Eager-Lander-Petrell (UFA)

Extras: Hartikainen, Pitlick

Petry-Subban

Whitney-Smid

Schultz-Sutton
Extras: Potter, Peckham, Barker, Fedun...

Khabi and Dubnyk.
Extras: Danis (UFA), Bunz (straight outta junior, right? ;) )

We're missing a decent goalie and we're missing some size up front, but that defence doesn't look half bad.