Wow… I am speechless. Ron Francis had the choice to make a competitive team or a budget friendly team and clearly he went for the later.
You can tell the team was screwed when they chose the Leafs assistant, Dave Hakstol, over guys like Gallant, Boudreau, Torts, and Tocchet. Francis was already setting the team up for failure.
Much like 2017, there was an elite goaltender available; however, instead of grabbing Price, Franny went after Driedger and Vanecek. Maybe he is planning on using one to flip in a trade for Lehner or Fluery from Vegas? Or maybe he just doesn’t want to spend money?
On top of that, look at their picks – which were leaked early today, way to go ESPN. First national spotlight and you have an insider sabotage you?
Yes, the Kraken will have a solid defensive core and I like Giordano, Fleury, Lauzon, Oleksiak, and Vince Dunn. But will it be enough to keep the puck out of the net when you have 2 very green goalies?
As mentioned in an earlier post, Driedger has 34 career starts and Vanecek sits at 37. Is that enough of a sample size to trust your franchise on them?
Let’s move on from an untested goalie tandem and a good defensive core and look at the forwards. Who is going to get their goals? Eberle? Gourde? Donskoi? They are probably their best players on offense. None of the players selected will be 30 goal guys or have breakout seasons like Vegas saw from William Karlsson.
Vegas was aggressive in making moves and going after the likes of players like Smith and Marchessault; however, it was like Ron Francis sat on his heels and didn’t want to shake things up in the league. Did you hear his comments about not being as nervous and not having sleepless nights coming in to this draft? I would have been working my balls off to make some deals and get relevant talent. For fucks sake, did you see who they got from Chicago? The kid was in the AHL all last season! And that was on a bad Chicago team.
I would be shocked if this team finishes above 0.500 and Ron Francis last more than 3-4 years.
Seattle, welcome to the NHL and a future of mediocrity. I expect to see you in Quebec in about 10 years when your team cannot make playoffs.
Ron Francis, you blew it!
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