You keep saying this but he is not the consensus 2nd best dman. Hell there is no consensus 2nd best dman which is concerning. Could be York - Soderstrom - Broberg - Seider or Harley. Not good - CanuckDon
I think you would be better to wait for a D in the 2nd round or Beckman because as Don Cherry says "you need Sask players"
In an interview with Detroit Red Wings new general manager Steve Yzerman, The Athletic’s Craig Custance (subscription required) asked multiple questions about the team’s sixth-overall pick in the upcoming 2019 NHL draft. When asked about Russian winger Vasili Podkolzin, whose draft stock seems to be dropping due to signability issues, Yzerman made it clear that he wasn’t worried about that and wouldn’t be scared to draft him. “It hasn’t in the past,” said Yzerman. “The really good Russian players all come over. Maybe they wait a year, two years, but eventually you get them. (Evgeny) Kuznetsov, (Vladimir) Tarasenko, (Andrei) Vasilevskiy. (Nikita) Kucherov waited a year. The really good ones are coming over. You have to be prepared, potentially, to wait. I don’t really know what his contract status is.”
There ya go. The god among GM's has spoken, not afraid to draft Podkolzin.
I'm just saying, I don't think guys like Panerin/Karlsson are going to sign here as UFAs, and I don't think the fan base (me especially) has the appetite for what it would actually cost to trade for *cringe* P.K. Subban or Fabbro. So now you're in the secondary market, and it's still going to be expensive, and you say to yourself "Pearson has been a good fit, maybe we can find another guy like that, or maybe Beartschi comes back and finally delivers a whole season"... - 1970vintage
Ideally be nice if a full season of Pearson & Sven would happen & see how we do. The 2nd tier UFA i’m uncertain of who they like to get. Remake the D is a bigger priority & if we get no UFA that is fine by me. If a legit UFA is signed then only for 2-3yrs if anyone out there suits that type of deal.
Yup...biggest area of weakness. Rather have the second best d man then the 9th best forward. - Bullfrog77
I’d only agree if it’s a legit top 4 RHD we got but that’s a reach probably. A F deep draft this is & a so-called 9th best could pan out higher & the better pick in the end. So much depends on how they fall etc.
