Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray not sure if Aaron Ekblad is a "franchise" player
Article content
Any chance Ekblad will fall to the Oilers still?
On Hockey Night in Canada, analyst Glenn Healey speculated that Oilers hockey bosses Kevin Lowe and Craig MacTavish would be unhappy with Edmonton beating the Vancouver Canucks, as it meant Edmonton would drop one place in the entry draft, behind both Buffalo AND Florida.
Healey had a good point.
The hope of many in Edmonton is that the Oilers will get a chance to draft top d-man prospect Aaron Ekblad, but that will only happen now if Edmonton wins the lottery (it has a 14.2 per cent chance of doing so), or if Buffalo, Florida or some other team wins the lottery, but the two or three teams drafting ahead of the Oilers don’t take Ekblad.
Florida has some major holes on the blueline and is relatively deep at centre, so my bet is the Panthers would grab Ekblad.
Buffalo?
In a recent interview with WGR550 radio, Buffalo GM Tim Murray said that Ekblad, Leon Draisaitl, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett are “all at the top of the draft.”
“One is a defenceman who at the end of the day could be become a franchise defenceman. He may be a solid, very solid, two-way defenceman that plays a ton of minutes. I’m not sure if he has the dynamic kind of pace to him to be a franchise kind of player, but he’s going to be a helluva player. He’s going to be a really, really good defenceman for a long time in the league so he’s a consideration for the top pick.
“Draisaitl, I saw him out there, he probably played the best game for me out of the five I’ve seen him in the last game. A big, strong centre iceman, a tremendous offensive zone player, great hockey sense, great vision, protect the puck really well, sticks his ass out, guys roll off him, he knows where they are without looking at them; he just know that.
“Reinhart, tremendous vision. He’s the smartest player on the ice every game I see. I don’t know if that says a lot based on him playing guys his own age or a little older than him. But he’s extremely smart, does everything for the most part right, tremendous vision, passes the puck unbelievably well, so you have two guys there who could be number one centre, you have (winger Michael) Dal Colle, who probably has the best release we’ve seeb in a long time, can really shoot the puck. He needs a centreman to get him the puck, but he’s going to score goals at the NHL league level.
“Bennett has a lot of what the the other two centremen have, and he’s tenacious. He’s a bulldog. He’s on you. He will hit you and he will spear you and he will score on you, he will do what it takes to win. “It’s going to go down to the wire on a little team’s list, who is 1, who is 2, who is 3, and who is 4?”
Murray was asked if Buffalo’s depth on defence would inform which player is drafted. “Today it does but that could change tomorrow,” he said. “That could change at the draft. We all know that. If we go in and have our meeting and Ekblad is hands down the number one player as group, then he’ll be the number one player. I’m a firm believer in best player available, but you all decide who the best player available is.”
My bet (just a hunch): the Sabres are starved for offence and will draft Draisaitl, because he has both size and skill. If Florida then takes Ekblad, as I expect, the Oilers will get to pick from Bennett, Reinhart and Dal Colle.
Links to NHL Rinks:
Willis: Player grades in Ryan Smyth’s final NHL contest
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.