I almost took OEL with my pick before I remembered Subban - also hoped that OEL would fall to the 2nd round. Dude's legit.

i like him... but not this much


high upside though

up for co-owning/executive advisor role if any of the neophytes would like help.

Ya you could have indeed traded down and still had him.

Meh, I don't think there's anyone as good and with as little risk over a 10 year span left on the board

yeah no risk with a guy who has played 178 games

guess i'll just pen him in for 1500gp, 1000pts, 5 Norris, 3 RANGZ right now

sigh, was praying he would get overlooked and fall to me in a few picks. He's already a top 10 D at 21 and will only get better

He's clearly the best Dman who was available, and I would have taken him over Weber probably

Generating discussion 1 late first round pick at a time.

lol. yeah he's just gonna suddenly become awful, dude played at Norris level this year and he's 21. the injury risks are shared by everyone else, so what's the other risk? that he doesn't get better and just stays awesome instead of becoming Nik Lidstrom?

Nope

Nik Lidstrom? hmm ok

and [undrafted] is a LOCK for 100 goals, i know i know

My list of available D-men left before my pick was Pietrangelo>Weber>Ekman-larsson, so they obviously went in the correct order.

Good picks guys

haha okay don't back up your point, just say that 148 games, the most recent of which demonstrate a high level of play is somehow not an indicator that a guy isn't really good and isn't going to be really good for the next decade barring injuries which are a risk for anyone in this draft, then reinforce by trolling about a dumb comment I made once.

The fact that OEL is as good as he is after only 140 games is a point in his favour right?

So Goose on the clock, or I run bad?

where did i say that he isn't good or won't be going forward?

i assume you guys are saying that his advanced stats / possession numbers are great, and those aren't especially variable, and this is an indication that he's a near lock to be a very good player his whole career (no clue if that's true or not, given how new all of this stuff is), or something like that. am i warm? but of course i have no ****ing idea what the story is, because no one bothered to say any of this, i'm just supposed to take your word for it or else you guys will dial up the condescension from 5 to 11.

like i mean it's hard to get into this too much bc of undrafteds, but it's not like it's unheard of for a player to have a few really good years at the start of his career, then not amount to much. an example i can use bc he's retired is Karel Rachunek, who as a rookie at 21yo put up 33pts and was +17 in 71gp. of course the advanced stuff didn't exist back then, so it's impossible to know if he was obviously a mirage or not. mabye he's a high pick if we do this draft in 2001? there are lots of examples of guys like this, we all know this. looking at the basic stat comparables there are plenty of guys who had great starts and mostly flamed out, none of them became Nik Lidstrom. (tbd on a few tho)

but of course if you're wrong, and he doesn't turn into a top-5 D in the league for the next 15 years who cares, because it's not like anyone is gonna look at this thing ever again after we're done.

unless you're basing this on eye-test stuff too, but i'm kinda really calling shenanigans on a lot of ppl watching Phoenix play

1997 Entry Draft 229th Overall Selection Karel Rachunek itt.

Seeing where Weber went is kind of making me wonder about where Doughty went. I guess 4 years age difference is fairly significant, but when I think of the level that some undrafted's are playing at in their 30's at D, I dunno. Seems a bit spew.

and yeah i think the Weber point is decent. like we all know for a fact he's a dominant D, almost certainly top 3-5 in the league, and probably will be for at least 6-8 years, and perhaps 10. again, unless serious injury or whatever. but he's big, he's tough, he moves really well for a guy that size, he can play in all situations, he gets 40-50pts every years on Nashville. that's a super solid piece right there, and no one can deny it.

OEL might be that guy, we'll see. he's done it for like 40 games now maybe?

there are plenty of examples of guys drafted in the top-10 like OEL too

Is 2 days for a 1st round in one of these fairly typical? Or is this sort of unusual?

Jimmy Carson yo

I missed the Weber pick. Writeups are top notch ITT.

Rafiki, I'm not following your connection between Doughty and Weber.

I guess I'm saying I was gonna take Doughty at #3, or trade down to 17, get Weber ++, I'm doing the latter.

And obviously that's in a vacuum with hindsight. I know the trades are extremely hard to get.

karel rachunek isn't retired, he's dead. just fwiw.

but yeah that's all fair. point is:

OEL's counting stats are solid. fair number of shots on goal, plus/minus is good, goals and assists - good stuff. ice time - gets tons of ice time. he was 6th overall in the league in total ice time and is playing in all situations.

then you go to the microstats - he faced the hardest competition of anyone last year, with difficult zone starts, not great teammates, and beat it to being even. is that 'predictive'? no, but guys who get this kind of ice time early in their career are usually really, really good players (or play on really lousy teams, which OEL doesn't - he led the team in playoff ice time in 2011-12). basically the only question for me about OEL would be is he capable of being an elite offensive D, and the comparables for him largely became that.