That, or they’re just dumb. We’re talking about the team that traded picks for Austin Watson & Erik Gudbranson. I don’t know who they’d fool by trading him, because even old senile Jim Rutherford knows not to trade for Galchenyuk now.

jim benning would 100% trade for galchenyuk

Those two acquisitions were mostly about the cap floor, though. Guds makes way less in real cash than his cap hit.

Ottawa is $10 million over the floor, and that’s after they traded Gaborik & Nilsson. They traded those people because their management is in love with toughness and violence.

Ottawa thinks that they're "hard to play against" when they're really just a dumpster fire that can't defend to save their lives. Also explains their questionable drafting outside the first two rounds, as well.

Now, if you really want to see "hard-to-play-against", look at Carolina, Columbus, Boston, and post-Goodrow/Coleman Tampa. Boston is one of the few that actually pull off a true "hard-to-play-against" roster every year because they find guys that actually have skill, with the grit coming last. Grit with no skill is called "bottom of the league".

zboril and frederic i think are wrong but for different reasons. frederic is in due to injury and lack of organizational depth. no pastrnak, no kase, etc. Ide say he was a 4th line checker on this team if it wasnt for injuries right now... however he looked fantastic with coyle and craig smith the other night and im not sure what happens after pasta and kase come back. Zboril has been solid this year. I think you could say zboril was only playing because he was a first rounder before the season but his play this year has been fantastic.

I feel like the Boston group is more of the late-bloomer variety of 1st rounder that is seen in a lot of playoff contenders, where guys really have to earn their way to the top and are never going to be just given roles. Haydn Fleury and, IMO, soon-to-be Jake Bean, are other examples of this.

zboril was also a little blocked by chara and krug. lauzon has surprised the hell out of me. i think alot of people wrote off zboril because he didnt immediately make the nhl.

I just have a rule to never call draft picks on cup contenders busts until at least 5 years after the draft. In the case of defensemen like Zboril where there's only 6-7 slots available per team, maybe even more than that. Good teams are good for a reason, and it often takes guys drafted in such organizations an extremely long time to get the opportunity.

What I find really funny is that Hockey Twitter loved to rag on the Bruins for their 2015 draft for years on end, and yet...Zboril, DeBrusk, and Lauzon are NHL players now, and Vladar is on the verge of becoming one, as well. 4 NHLers in 1 draft class isn't exactly shabby work, even though that draft was so ridiculously deep that guys like Barzal/Connor/Aho came after them.

i think vladar is more likely to be malcolm subban but that wouldnt be a missed pick in the slightest.

A Malcolm Subban outcome, relative to where Vladar was picked...is absolutely a draft hit.