NHL Inside Out

After a surprising Round 1, here are my winners and losers of draft day:

Winners:

-Florida Panthers:

They are by far the biggest winner on draft day. Dale Tallon is starting his magic in Florida. The panthers were able to draft 3 players in the first round (3rd,19th,25th). They also made a trade with the Vancouver Canucks acquiring Steve Bernier, Micheal Grabner and that 25th overall pick and had to give up Keith Ballard and Oreskkovich. They acquired offensive strength but were forced to give up defensive strength. In response to this, they drafted a defenseman 3rd overall and also acquired Dennis Wideman earlier this week. They drafted 2 forwards to balance out their losses.

-Anaheim Ducks

The Anaheim Ducks are winners for one reason: Two players thought to be in the top 5 and 15 respectively were not drafted as early as expected and became available. Without making any trades, the Ducks were able to draft Cam Fowler and Emerson Etem. With the loss of Scott Niedermayer, the fact that Anaheim were able to get D Cam Fowler was huge, since he was projected to go 5th overall.

Losers:

-New York Rangers

The New York Rangers looked a gift horse in the mouth and chose otherwise. They had the opportunity to draft Cam Fowler, Brandon Gormley or Derek Forbort. These are 3 good defenseman that could really bolster the Rangers defense. They also had the chance to draft high scoring forwards such as Vladimir Tarasenko or Jaden Schwartz, two goal scoring forwards who could make great 2nd-3rd line forwards. Instead, they chose Dylan McIlrath, a rugged 3rd-4th liner. This draft will come back to haunt them, because they passed up too god an opportunity.

- Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars are part of the very few losers this draft day. They drafted a goalie insetad of the qualtiy defensemen and forwards available. They already have Kari Lehtonen in the system, and were in need of a skater who could either bolster their defense, or compliment to their goal scoring. They have not made the playoffs in 2 years, and needed and upfront player who could help their situation, not a goalie.

This was a good draft year for the majority of teams and didn't have many losers. The majority of teams came out of the draft happy.

Anyways, thanks for reading

NHL InsideOut