nashville, ottawa at 5 (if no raymond), minnesota, and probably the canes would all draft askarov before 14

dp

ottawa will absolutely not draft him at 5

See I hope he’s not on the board at 14 so Holland has to take a winger. I wouldn’t call this “trolling” especially since Edmonton has picked a goalie in the draft each year for the last 6 years (I think I read that somewhere)

i mean, who else would they take at 5? They have enough young defensmen, but goalies in the system aren't super up there and there isnt much of a reason to take 2 centers in the top 5.

theyre getting 1 of byfield and stutzle, and then 1 of drysdale, rossi, raymond, would be a huge reach to take askarov at 5

TOTALLY BURNT THE OILERS!!!

I think Holtz is kinda the backup plan for if Raymond is Red Wing bound. Ottawa's two biggest needs up front are a #1C and a premier right wing scoring threat: their RHD situation is stable enough to justify passing on Drysdale (they want a Carlo-esque RHD anyways) and they already have 3 bluechip goaltending prospects. They already have two really good, top-six calibre center prospects in Brown and Norris, which shifts that focus onto a scoring RW.

Holtz has the better NHLe as of today, and I'd argue he has the higher floor, but Raymond's ceiling is much higher. I think it's one of the super Swedes at #5, the only real difference depending on who Detroit takes (my money is on Rossi anyways).

And for what it's worth, Askarov is the kind of player Edmonton should have tried to draft 5 or 6 years ago. Right now, it's a matter of filling needs up front: everything else takes too long to develop and if there's any intention of Edmonton winning within the next 5 years, a forward is a must.

I think Askarov spends at least two more years in the KHL before coming to North America. Perhaps trading for Kuemper along with doing this would work because that would allow the leafs to buy time in case Askarov needs a couple years to develop.

Carolina tells you to keep Andersen and drafts Askarov themselves