So, have we been thinking about the draft at all? No, eh? Well I have. Not only have I been doing a lot of thinking I have also been studying all of the IMPORTANT information from the Senate Reform video(s). Jeepers creepers, 3 sort of episodes before the draft, totaling at what I’d imagine is less than half an hour of (internet) television? Oh how you spoil us!

Senate Reform Sidebar:

Did you know that Scotia bank Place in the summer is Scotia bank Place? It’s a fact.
Also, something something scouting teams talk to each other a bit.

Great job, Senate reform videos. Listen, I need to get outta here. I gotta get some kind of job with the Sens. It looks beyond fucking easy. I cant handle it. LOOK AT THIS!!!!!!!!!

Literally rebuilding...

 Can we get a moment of silence for all the drapes that have gone extinct…………..Lord hear our prayer. R.I.P. Drapes. If only the human race could have seen the error of its way and stopped the systematic destruction of drapes there would have been drapes to drape over those FUCKING MILK CRATES WITH MICROPHONES ON THEM THAT ARE IN FULL VIEW.

Since it’s St.Draftmas’ Day Eve Id better make this quick.

So, I will preface this by saying last year’s draft was a real punch in the not knowing how stuff works behind the scenes. The Ottawa Senators trade their pick for SOME DUDE playing in Sweden who’s in the St. Louis Blues system….mmmmm JUST like I’d predicted, right guys? Then we alllllllllllllllll get to enjoy when this so and so wins the Salming award and gets ranked no.1 prospect.
I will also disclose that AT THE TIME of their respective drafts I was bummed out on both the Cowan pick (Great! A guy who just had his knee re-built as a teenager! AND …yes, ill say it, Erik Karlsson (Great! Justin Beiber* on skates!)  In since time I’ve learned that the human body can heal AND sometimes a wee defenseman CAN persevere and learn the true meaning of becoming an All Star in two NHL seasons. OOPS! K, now sit through this:

1. What I’d like to see happen on Draft Day:

As Ive said many times before…what’s that? What I say is completely unmemorable? Okay, well, anyway, as I’ve said many times before I am big believer in hidden gems that no one thinks of til the player just appears out of the awesomework as the awesome player no one really talked about on draft day. Right, Sideshow Jeff Skinner? Are there slam dunk picks that live up to their hype? Nearly every year, yes. A lot of awesome players, albeit fewer, go in the late first/second round too believe it or not. Recently, a little big man named P.K. Subban was taken a whole round after HOTTT up and comer Brian Lee. The NHL’s as of last night MVP Corey Perry was taken 28^th overall. So what I’m saying is…given the organization’s recent scouting streak, maybe the best course of action would be to keep all 78 picks that they gave up a lot of beloved established NHLers and Alex Kovalev for and see what emerges from the ether. Take alllllllllllll high risk, high ceiling forwards. See what happens. As for the big numero 6 (thanks AGAIN Jersey!) if they take who they take there it’s likely a damn solid choice . I don’t think that rebuilding as all hell Edmonton Is. Giving. Up. shiiiiiiiiiiiit. I’d like to see  Couturier, Strome, Zibanejad (?), Huberdeau (not likely) or whichever forward is left at 6 get picked. People overdo it/underdo it with the praise and criticism ‘round this time. I think Couturier might be a little bit of Jared Cowan. Mononucleosis serving as a culprit in dropping a good pick’s value. This guy was once viewed as no.1. What I’d like to see is ‘Just take the best guy”…if he’s a forward. Only defensemen I’d like to see taken is Larsson for sure if he were to drop. So what if we have an incredibly banged out young defense? Anyway, in all, we are picking 6^th overall…that is pretty awesome.

2. What I’ll likely see on Draft Day:

Sure Murray has indicated he’d like to move up in the draft. That’s nice. I’d like a job farting out 3 short Senate Reform webarfsodes (btw, did they pay Peter Raaymakers for that name?…because he definitely made it up). Im pretty sure every GM has indicated everything, all the time at this point. It’s part of why the job looks incredibly fun/sooo stressful it takes 15 years off of your life. One need not look further than the proposed moves on message boards to show how unwilling even in a rebuild we fans are to make a realistic move to do something like that: “We give Edmonton get this, Kuuuuuba, Leeeeee, and Reeeeeegin and the conditional pick we got for Kovalev AND MacElhinney’s negotiating rights for No. 1 overall! BOOM!” Yeah teams are clamoring for that aging defensemen and promising badly injured Danish forwards who had like 3 goals last season. Oh brother.
This isn’t to say that Murray aint no wheeler-dealer. He deals all the live-long day for better or for worse. I’m just not entirely sure its that kind of draft. Realistically, I could seeMurray standing pat on no.6 and wheeling some other crud (hopefully a package of picks) into another top 15 pick. I just don’t feel it in my bones that something huge will happen. Jersey and Philadelphia are of course the wild ones who have gotten themselves into cap hell. I still think that Kovalchuk contract was such an un-NewJersey move it was completely overcompensating in its un-New Jerseyness.

3. Dream weaving scenario.

Here’s where I get to completely back pedal from everything I said earlier. Alright. I miss Chris Kelly. He was a great player and a good dude. Congrats Christobal Kelly! As much as we all loved Kells I also wont tip toe around how easily he was replaced. The character of Chris Kelly doesn’t grow on trees but he’s nooooooot the rarest player on earth either. What Im saying is that all those trades showed that our guys had pretty good value for what they are but were also replaceable. The sample size is bfjdaskgljr but I think with the cornucopia of Z. Smith, Greening, Condra, infinity, type guys that the team has in the pipe…have the bottom 15 of forwards covered for now. If Murray and co. wanted to go for broke and try to make a big ass jump to the top three or better yet finagle 2 top 10 picks, I say, why the hell not. Its a rebuild try to get a crazy ass player if you think you can without selling the farm. Right, farm? I am pretty high on the Binghamton team right now and I believe those guys will make things interesting in the bottom six for the foreseeable future. It would be my dream scenario if the Sens got 2 top 10 picks. Just don’t give up Karlsson in the process.

*Who hadn’t yet been born at the time

Varada chimes in!

 1) What I’d like to see

My baseline expectation for this year’s draft is that we get one good-to-great top six forward, preferably a center. That’s what the 6th overall pick is for, and I’m hoping Couturier or Strome fall to us at there. Every other pick is in play, as far as I’m concerned.

There are two teams who are in heaps of cap trouble -Philadelphia and New Jersey- and like Chicago before them, there’s an opportunity to pick them clean. A player like Versteeg might be available from Philly (Carter probably is, but that contract is insane), and – dare to dream – I wonder if the RFA rights to Zach Parise can be had from New Jersey. I can’t see how they’ll pay him what he’s worth already having Kovalchuk on the left wing.

Ottawa has lots of 2nd round picks and a farm system full of 3rd liners, so we don’t need the kinds of players 2nd rounders get you. Can some of these picks be packaged for a star player?

2) What I’ll likely see

Drafting is Murray’s strength, and he’s known for savvy if totally unspectacular moves. We might see some picks traded for prospects who are closer to being developed; we might see some moved up and, failing that, moved down for additional picks. I don’t see the 6th pick being moved up because Murray isn’t one to get into bidding wars and other teams have more money, more cap space, and more desperation than the Senators, so they’ll be willing to take back bad salary for a higher pick or good prospect. But the 21st probably gets moved.

All this to say that I won’t be shocked if Murray simply uses his picks to take the best player available at the time, and I won’t be shocked to see him make an enormous but not very risky move.

3) Fantasy scenario

Couturier, once projected as a 1st overall candidate, falls to Ottawa at 6th.

No more than Ottawa’s 21st, two of its 2nd round picks, and a roster player (Foligno; Regin; Wiercioch?) are packaged to get Zach Parise out ofNew Jersey.

Filip Kuba is traded to Florida for a pick to help them reach the cap floor. Any pick will do