Day Two of the NHL draft kicks off today at 10:00 AM, where the Leafs will make the first pick of the second round, unless Lou has been feeling transactional. The first round was fun, albeit long.
Yesterday
After a long period of waiting we drafted Auston Matthews!
We officially unveiled our new jersey, which will be worn by Auston Matthews!
Oh, and then some other teams did some stuff. The complete listing can be found here. The biggest surprise was Columbus passing on spellcheck-breaking Finn Jesse Puljujarvi to draft Pierre-Luc Dubois, against the conventional wisdom. Puljujarvi fell to the Oilers at fourth overall, because there is no justice in the world.
There were a number of up-and-down trades throughout the first round. Probably the biggest was Arizona giving Detroit a second-rounder and eating the Pavel Datsyuk cap hit to move up four spots to 16th OA, allowing them to draft this year's big first-round drop, Jakob Chychrun.
The Habs went bold, dealing Lars Eller to Washington for a pair of second-round picks (in 2017 and 2018), then flipping two seconds in this year's draft for the rights to pending RFA Andrew Shaw. Here's hoping they overpay on Shaw's extension, Dave Bolland-style. HEOTP looks at Montreal's big early draft moves here: Analyzing the Lars Eller and Andrew Shaw Trades.
Calgary finally found their goalie, trading a second round pick for Brian Elliot. Matchsticks and Gasoline gave their spin on what the Flames are getting with Elliott: Brian Elliott or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Draft.
James Reimer looks like he may be the odd-man out on this off-seasons' game of musical starting goalie creases.
Finally, our Glorious Leader annoyed a bunch of Jets fans.
Winnipeg Jets fans are mad at me.
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) June 25, 2016
We couldn't be prouder of him.
Today
The Leafs are slated to draft ten times throughout rounds two to seven: 31st, 57th, 62nd, 72nd, 92nd, 101st, 122nd, 152nd, 179th, and 182nd. We might, of course, trade a bunch of them.
Scott has surveyed some options for our later picks; to add on, Alex DeBrincat, Samuel Girard and Vitalii Abramov are all happily still available to open the second round, so the Leafs have the potential to add a pretty great prospect. Whatever happens, we here at PPP Amalgamated Kitten-Ranching Industries will be here to yammer about it.
May the picks be ever in our favour.
Also today, the Free Agency Interview period has started for pending Unrestricted Free Agents, like Steven Stamkos. The players and their agents may now openly talk to other teams to discuss interest. Stamkos can indicate what term and money he is looking for, but teams still cannot make him an offer, even verbally, until July 1.
Which is kind of weird.
How exactly does this work? Does Stammer sit down with them and say "I'm looking for something in range of ALL THE MONEYS." while the executives from the teams have to sit there silently?
Can they blink it out? 1 blink per million in the offer?
Does Lou take a phone call from Larry Tanenbaum during the meting and make exaggerated references to certain numbers?
"Yes, Larry. We'll meet for lunch at TEN o'clock. It feels like we haven't seen each other for SEVEN YEARS now."
I want to believe that is how it works and Jim Benning screws it all up.
"Yes, Mr Aquilini. I'm in a meeting with Mr. Stamkos right now. What? What do you mean do the secret money thing? What's happening at 8 o'clock? OH the number 8, right! Wait. Why are we giving Christopher Tanev a new contract? $8 million now? That's more than what I was going to offer Stamkos. What do you mean I've been demoted? Hey where did Stamkos go?"
Who was the best player drafted yesterday?
| Auston Matthews | 392 |
