Makes no sense to take Luke Hughes when we have Chabot, Sanderson, Brannstrom as the left side

I only want Luke Hughes because he could become something like his brother Quinn and because I like certainty.

You draft best player available, regardless of position.

If it's a tossup, you draft safest player available.

Also, that's not what this post is about :P

Cossa

i haven’t done much research on guys outside the top 15 yet, but why would we select hughes? between some combination of chabot/sanderson/brannstrom/jbd/zub/thomson our top 4 should be set for a while, and the 3rd pair is of less concern, but even then the 2 leftover guys, kleven, and guenette could fill those roles internally so our blueline is in pretty good shape looking forward. i think it’s far more important to add a top talent up front (we have holes at 1C and 1RW if stutzle stays on the LW, and if stutzle proves he’s a great 1C then we still have holes at 2LW and 1RW), and our 1st should be used on one of beniers/guenther/eklund/johnson imo. the only D i’d consider is clarke, making brannstrom expendable in a prospect swap for a top F prospect (like frost or tippett).

as for the 2nd round, i really think the sens should start this draft with 3 forwards or 2 forwards and a goalie, so i like that both the guys you mentioned are forwards. Dean seems like exactly the type of guy the sens love drafting in that spot (similar to greig/pinto in that there is top 6 upside but even in the worst case he should still be a reliable bottom 6 contributor). Korczak might be a little small though, the sens have made 5 picks in the 2nd over the last two drafts and all 5 guys were at least 6’2”, there has been a real emphasis on size by the organization. i wouldn’t mind them taking cossa, as i don’t think you can ever have too many promising young goalies in your pipeline, they’re so fickle. i also think only gustavsson/sogaard have starter upside rn, so cossa would add to that, and between those 3 i think there’s a good shot a high-end starter emerges, which is so critical for a team that wants to contend. the rest of our guys (hogberg/daccord/mandolese) i don’t see projecting as more than solid tandem level guys at best atm, although i’d love to be proved wrong. merilainen is still magic beans until he gets some experience in the liiga and the ahl but his U20 stats are obviously superb

My argument is that whichever team gets Luke Hughes is guaranteed to get Quinn Hughes 2.0.

Brian Burke once said position matters very little when it comes to drafting, even if you have 20 defensemen.

If the best player available is a defenseman, you pick him.

No ifs, ands or buts about it.


This is my criteria for drafting in order of importance:

1. Best Player Available (BPA)

2. Safest Player Available (SPA) or the player that you think is least likely to turn into a bust.

3. If there is still no clear cut favourite on the BPA or SPA, then you draft by position.


If you only draft based on positional needs, then you'll be missing out on some really good players.

Guaranteed

Who do you think hughes is better than? I would argue that at least 2 or 3 of the forwards are simply a better overall player than hughes, so to assume that hughes will both be available and be better than anyone else available and thus make him your target seems kinda odd at this point. i have him going around 4 or 5, but like even for a guy like johnson who is maybe ever so slightly lower rated right now, why draft a 4th top pair calibre LD (chabot/sanderson/brannstrom) when a high end forward that fills a need for your team and is pretty much just as good is right there for the taking?

also if the sens didn't draft for position/needs they wouldn't have taken sanderson lol there were better players still on the board for sure

I feel really confident making the case Hughes is better than everybody else in the 2021 draft class except for maybe Owen Power, Matt Beniers and Dylan Guenther.

That means I have Hughes ranked 4th overall or higher.

As things stand, Ottawa has a 44.5% chance of picking 4th overall in 2021.

So, we'll see what happens