Silver Nuggets: Draft Reasoning

Last week in the SB Nation NHL mock draft, we here at Silver Seven drafted Oliver Kylington. Kylington is a smooth-skating, offensive defeceman from Sweden. His strengths and weaknesses are exactly as you'd expect from that description: he has excellent puck-moving ability and hockey IQ, but he is rarely physical and sometimes tries to do too much by himself. There seemed to be two major opinions floating around in the comments:

1. Drafting an undersized, skilled Swedish defenceman has worked out for the team in the past, or

2. This seems to be the role already held by prospects like Chris Wideman

These are both meritorious points. On the one hand, Erik Karlsson was a bit of a risk when he was drafted, and he's worked out extremely well. On the other hand, Wideman has played well in Binghmaton, even being voted the top defenceman in the AHL last year, and yet has not seen a single game in the NHL. It's not worth drafting Kylington types if the team won't make room for them at the NHL level. It took a lot of work for Patrick Wiercioch to get trusted in the lineup as a puck mover. Wiercioch and Wideman both suggest that if a puck-moving defenceman isn't a generational talent like Karlsson, the organization won't give them much chance to succeed. Some also argued that Wideman serves the same role that Kylington would as a prospect. The thing is, Wideman is seven years older. The likelihood that either play even one game together for the Sens is minimal. Still, if the organization values skilled forwards more than skilled defencemen, maybe it makes more sense for them to draft a skilled forward in the first round.

Of course, everyone will tell you that you draft the best player available, not for organizational need. However, even by the second half of the first round, the differences between players are minimal. The best player available is very subjective, and organizational need starts to creep into the decision-making process. I'm very interested to see who the Sens take on Friday. Their most recent first-rounder, Curtis Lazar, was an extremely safe pick. Someone like Kylington is more of a gamble, but could have a much higher payoff. Provided, of course, that the Sens actually give him a shot at playing in the NHL.

Sens Links

• Related to the draft, here are the Silver Seven and SenShot compilations of who the mock drafts think Ottawa should take in the first round [Silver Seven, SenShot]
  
• Ary argues that Alex Chiasson isn't good enough to be a top-six forward, but still played well enough to get another chance on the third line [Silver Seven]
• Jeff looks at Vincent Dunn, and why he should be given a chance by Binghamton fans [Silver Seven]
• The Sens have two players up for awards tomorrow night. We look at why they are indisputably deserving of each [Karlsson for Norris, Stone for Calder]
• Jack Leiper gives 61 reasons why Mark Stone should win the Calder [SenShot]
• Leiper also looks at what it would mean for Karlsson's career to win a second Norris [SenShot]
  
• Your Say continues, with the final forwards Mika Zibanejad and Alex Chiasson. Then management grades start with Paul MacLean [Zibanejad, Chiasson, MacLean]
• Luke (of the Chet and Luke Podcast) has your unofficial (and hilarious) draft primer over at Welcome To Your Karlsson Years [WTYKY]
• SensChirp asks if the Sens should go after Ryan O'Reilly in a trade [SensChirp]
• Nichols looks at the (lack of) recent news concerning a Sens goalie trade [6th Sens]
  
• Trevor Shackles that whichever goalie Ottawa trades, people will be upset [SenShot]
• SenShot also finished up their ranking of Ottawa's top 20 prospects with the top five [SenShot]
• I can't see Paul MacLean wanting to give up his head coach salary to take a role as an assistant, but apparently in addition to the Ducks, the Oilers have received permission to talk to him about an assistant coaching role [Friedman]
  
• A fan shot from nevalent looks at how to get rid of some of Ottawa's unnecessary players [Silver Seven FanShot]

Other Links

• Elliotte Friedman's newest 30 Thoughts column came out on the weekend [Sportsnet]
• The Oilers have continued to clean house, firing five members of their scouting department [NHL]
• Ex-Senator Antoine Vermette is winning the adorable Stanley Cup photos competition for this year so far thanks to his newborn daughter [NHL]

Finally, I'd like to congratulate user No Angle? for winning the Silver Seven Playoff Bracket 2015, as his Cup pick, the Chicago Blackhawks, won it all. Special mention to WalterGundersen and Scott Mac who tied for second place. Thanks to everyone who participated!

What position would you rather see the Sens draft?