2016 Nhl Winner
Posted By admin On 14/04/22The dust has barely settled on the 2016 NHL Draft, so what better time to assign winners and losers?
What’s that, you say? It would be better to wait anywhere between three and 10 years to hand out assessments?
The 2016 NHL Draft weekend in Buffalo has come to a close. There were some surprises, some strange decisions, some glorious moments and, of course, plenty of boos for Gary Bettman. NHL Draft 2016: Winners and losers BUFFALO, NY – The 2016 NHL Draft weekend in Buffalo has come to a close. There were some surprises, some strange decisions, some glorious moments and, of. Toronto won the 2016 NHL Draft lottery, and now owns the No. MORE: Best draft class for every NHL team Auston Matthews, who grew up in Arizona, is the odds-on favorite to be the No.
(Awkward pause.)
OK, maybe that’s true, but let’s allow hindsight to make us look silly by throwing out some hasty picks anyway. Let’s start off with a post about the winners, shall we?
Note: These “grades’ are heavily influenced by trades and other factors beyond mere picks.
Winners
AMERICA
Feel free to cue Team America’s wildly NSFW theme song while noting that the United States churned out a record 12 first-rounders in 2016. That list included Auston Matthews, the top overall pick (and the first American to go first overall since Patrick Kane).
Read more about the ‘ol red-white-and-blue’s presence here.
Finland
With 14 overall selections, maybe Finland didn’t knock it out of the park in the “quantity” category. Still, with three of the top five picks hailing from Finland, that’s a heck of a haul.
Question: when will it stop being weird that Jarmo Kekalainen, the first Finnish GM in NHL history, opted against drafting one of those guys?
Maple Leafs/Jets
Filling out the “winners by default” categories are teams like the Leafs and Winnipeg Jets, who succeed merely by following the script in grabbing Matthews and Patrik Laine respectively.
Bonus points to Toronto if Kerby Rychel pans out, too.
Calgary Flames
Brian Elliott doesn’t cost much in cap space ($2.5 million) and he didn’t cost a whole lot to acquire. The Flames scored a massive upgrade in net for the short-term and might even be wise to lock him up for a few more years.
If that wasn’t enough, Calgary adds another useful young piece in Matthew Tkachuk. Extra super bonus points for inspiring the latest great Brian Burke quote:
Burke on Tkachuk: 'He’s a pain in the ass. We don’t have enough guys who are pains in the ass…I like guys who are pains in the ass.'
— Aaron Vickers (@AAVickers) June 25, 2016
Arizona Coyotes
Bold moves from a remarkably young new general manager. We could look back at nabbing Jakob Chychrun as a shrewd move, yet he wasn’t the only example of the ‘Yotes loading up on defense. Anthony Deangelo is an intriguing gamble. With Alex Goligoskiin tow, the Coyotes have quite the war chest at the coveted defensive position … and in general, really.
Chayka: 'Now we have a real strong pipeline of defensemen & we come away feeling pretty good about where our depth is in our organization.'
— Dave Vest (@davest4yotes) June 25, 2016
Absorbing Pavel Datsyuk‘s contract is all about the franchise’s economic realities.
Red Wings
Unloading Datsyuk’s $7.5 million cap hit opens up plenty of possibilities for Detroit, even if dreams of Steven Stamkos end up being unfounded.
Besides, this franchise still unearths draft gems with impressive regularity.
2016 Nhl Winner Game
Chicago Blackhawks
Hey, giving up Andrew Shaw hurts, but the Blackhawks landed quite a deal for his mere negotiating rights. GM Stan Bowman continues to be a salary cap Houdini. If they really do end up reuniting with Brian Campbell, look out.
Edmonton Oilers
It’s not easy to spell Jesse Puljujarvi, so let’s tweak it to “steal.”
Consider this a weaker “win” if the Oilers fail in their quest to land a defenseman.
Peter Chiarelli says he had positive talks today about acquiring a defenseman. Market softening.
— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) June 25, 2016
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2016 Nhl Winner Nba
Time will tell if winners end up looking like losers and vice versa. Things could even change between the moment this post is published and when free agency kicks off on July 1.
2016 Nhl Draft Winners
For whatever it’s worth, above teams look like they’re sitting fairly pretty at the moment.