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I WANT KYLE BEACH IN BUFFALO |
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The Buffalo Sabres are in need of a physical prescence in the faceoff dot. A guy who can score 20+ goals and play both sides of the puck. They have Derek Roy on the top unit. Tim Connolly has only played 113 games in the past three seasons and is very unreliable. Paul Gaustad plays the 3 pivot while Adam Mair plays the 4.
Buffalo are lacking a difference maker that can lead the second line.
My choice to fill that tall order is Kyle Beach of the Everett Silvertips.
Beach idolizes Jarome Iginla. He's an Iggy Mark. The kids loves the punch-you-in-the face-and-knock-your-teeth-down-your-throat style. Iggy's a five tool NHLer-- he can skate, score, pass, defend, and throws hands. Gotta love a kid who can rack up 418 PIMs the past two seasons (222 in 07/08).
Beach wants to be Iginla in the worst way. Any problems with that?!
"I definitely look up to Jarome Iginla. I know him personally – I've met him a couple of times in the summer – he has a house in Kelowna and he has been a great mentor to me in the last couple of years. I love watching him play, he's obviously the captain of the Calgary Flames and he goes out and works hard every night and it doesn't matter what the score is he's always going 110 percent".
Beach has a flair for the finesse game as well, and he'll snipe you at will.
His 27 goals and 33 assists in 60 games were impressive for Everett this season.
Everett head coach John Becanic says of Beach:
"Kyle is a really unique player, probably the most unique player in the draft this year in the fact that he plays a difficult game and is a difficult player to play against. He's physical, he's strong, he has skill, he has every dimension needed to be a power forward in the National Hockey League."
NHL Central Scouting's Blair MacDonald on Beach:
Strengths: "Kyle Beach is one of the top forwards in this year's draft and is probably the most competitive – from the blue line in there is no one that competes like him. He's feisty, he's got a reputation for being physical and agitating a little bit, but he definitely ranks in there as a power forward and is the power forward in this year's draft. He has good scoring skills and a very accurate shot, and from the blue line in, once he gets the puck, he almost owns it.
If I'm Buffalo, I'm trying like all Hell to get up into the top 7 and to grab Beach in the first round of the draft. Central Scouting has Beach listed in the 7 or 8 hole in the draft. Darcy Regier would likely have to package his #13 with a top forward to get there. If the ATL balk at the idea, call Garth Snow on Long Island and ask him for his #5 overall for 61 and the #13. If he says no, call CBUS and offer the same deal.
Don Waddell in Atlanta would love to grab a difference maker to ride shotgun with Ilya Kovalchuk. I'd offer ATL Max Afinogenov and the #13 overall pick in the draft to get Beach.
Question is, will Darcy find a dance partner to get into the top 10?
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If the Sabres cannot land Beach, I'd turn my attention to Cody Hodgson of the Brampton Battallion.
He's listed as a 9 or a 10 overall.
Darcy will have to find a dance partner or hope that he falls to 13.
At 6 feet and a buck 85, Hodgson is a powerful player in the middle. He scored 40 and added helpers for the Battallion in 07/08. He hands the hands of a surgeon and he can skate well.
NHL Director of Central Scouting, E.J. McGuire on Hodgson:
Strengths: "Cody is a treat to watch. He is a very skilled centerman who's hockey sense has him quarterbacking the power-play from down at the half boards. He knows when to shoot and when to pass – his point total reflects that. He's also a good face-off guy; he can take face-offs with the best of them and win them at the OHL level. Quite an all-around asset to any team that draft's him."
Areas to improve: "With a little bit of continued maturity he will add a bit of size and strength to his frame and he won't lose any of that hockey acumen or any of that ability to see the ice."
Outlook: "In the NHL he is going to be a skilled centerman and he's going to be on one of your top two lines. If you're a really good team you are fortunate to have him as your second centerman because he is capable of being your first centerman."
He hails from the Haliburton Highlands and he'll be a difference make for a decade or more to come.
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The 2008 NHL Draft heretofore will be remembered for posterity as the "Defenseman Draft".
By the time Round 1 is over, people will be comparing it tro the 1983 NFL Draft when QBs dominated the day. Kelly, Marino, Esiason, Elway, Eason, O'Brien, Blackledge. I remeber that drafty like it was yesterday.
we'll see a run on franchise Dmen in Round 1 in Ottawa Friday night.
Doughty, Bogosian, Schenn, Pietrangelo, Myers, will make early departures for their new NHL cities.
There was quite a buzz around Ottawa today regarding the top forwards to be drafted this weekend. We all know that Tampa will grab Stamkos with the #1 OVERALL PICK.
Question is, who will be the #2 forward selected in the draft?
Filatov? Beach? Hodgson? Boychuk? Wilson?
Depends who you ask.
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I absolutely love the prospect of Buffalo drafting Tyler Myers from Kelowna!
The kid may one day be considered in the same breath as Chris Pronger.
6'7", skates, hits, blocks shots, and can defend!
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