NHL Draft 2011: 6 Teams Who Could Move Up for Gabriel Landeskog
Draft season is a trying time for fans and teams alike. There’s so much hope that a club is about to land that next hot prospect, or perhaps completely restock the minor league cupboard, or maybe find that diamond in the rough.
But it’s a double-edged sword.
There are also first-round busts, later-round guys who never put on your jersey and years where you outright miss on every pick you make.
It’s what makes the NHL draft one of the better ones in sports, the fact that the right prospect might jump in and immediately make an impact, but there’s also the long-term viability of each pick to consider.
Needless to say, Swedish sensation Gabriel Landeskog is a unique commodity. He’s the most well-rounded forward in the draft, and while he’s almost a guarantee to go in the top three, there are definitely a bunch of teams who should be considering trading up to get their mitts on the slick centre.
Such as...
6. New Jersey Devils
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The Devils sit with the fourth pick in the draft after a solid run at season’s end that got them nowhere near the playoffs and just outside of the top three picks.
Landeskog would be an excellent fit in the swamp, what with the team’s propensity to focus heavily on two-way hockey. Given that the Kitchener Rangers star has drawn praise for his play at both ends, it seems like a natural fit. There’s also fellow Swedish star-in-the-making Mattias Tedenby, who would accent Landeskog’s hard-nosed style with his shiftiness and puck skills, as well as offering a ready-made pal to share the experience of life in the NHL with.
The issue is that Landeskog may not be there at No. 4, and he’s a guy that the team may not wish to pass up on. Regardless of who Edmonton takes first (nothing says it won’t be Landeskog, really), Colorado and Florida are in positions to take the best available player instead of drafting for need, which means the Devils are in tough.
I don’t know what they’d need to give up to flip with Florida or Colorado, but it would likely cost them their pick and a prospect or underpaid roster player. Time for Lou Lamoreillo to get on the phone.
5. Calgary Flames
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At lucky 13, the hapless Flames will make their choice.
Another team that looked good in the second half, their roster is Jarome Iginla and a mish-mash of questionable decisions. Most of those came when, in jettisoning Dion Phaneuf last year, they took on half the Leafs roster when that club was the worst team in a weaker conference, and now they’re working to dig themselves out of that hole.
Landeskog would be a nice piece with which to do that.
For years, even when they were good, Calgary has been weak down the middle. A guy like Daymond Langkow is decent, but not a top-line guy, plus he’s getting on in years and has recently struggled with injury. That leaves a UFA Brendan Morrison, who’s due a raise after a good year, Matt Stajan, who is awful, ditto Olli Jokinen and a young Mikael Backlund to carry the weight.
The fact that Iggy is a lock for 35 every year with those guys to choose from as his linemates is nothing short of astounding.
Moving up 10 spots in the draft is tough, and it would probably cost the Flames some combination involving two of TJ Brodie, Leland Irving, Greg Nemisz and Tim Erixon, plus their first-rounder. That may be too steep a price, but sometimes it’s the bold moves that pay off the biggest in the end.
4. The Winnipeg Franchise
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The nameless and newly-relocated franchise in Winnipeg (by the way, just call them the Jets you idiots. Don’t say it’s not that simple. It actually is that simple) will pick seventh thanks to another mediocre year by the now-defunct Thrashers. That’s a nice pick to have, but having a player like Gabriel Landeskog, an NHL-ready kid with upside and leadership potential, is a great building block to have in place as you chart a new course with a franchise.
Looking at the team they’ve acquired, it’s as weak as any in the NHL down the middle, and that’s going to hurt that much more once they move to the Western Conference full-time.
It’s hard to say what they’d have to give up to move up the required four or five spots. There’s been a lot of talk that Zach Bogosian is available and has been for a while, and while I personally can’t see why you’d trade him, the back end is definitely their strong point.
Bogosian and their first-rounder to move up? If they’re willing to swap a good young defender and eat the pick to get their hands on Landeskog, it’s a move that makes sense.
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3. Boston Bruins
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It may seem like an odd choice to suggest that the team that won the Stanley Cup only days ago should consider such an extreme move—especially considering how the Tyler Seguin acquisition worked out for them—but it could make sense.
Aside from Patrice Bergeron, there’s a lot of uncertainty down the middle in Beantown. Now, with the target of being a champion on their back, they’ll have to come up with new ways to stay on top.
The uncertainty I speak of is the fact that Marc Savard may never play hockey again, Chris Kelly just plain isn’t that good, Seguin is still young and Greg Campbell is a third-liner on the best day of his life. The forwards, particularly the centres, that are waiting in the wings are all guys with upside that could go either way, and some stability might be nice.
Landeskog, with his blue-collar approach to the game, would definitely fit in Boston, and his being heralded as an NHL-ready, can’t-miss prospect would go a long way toward stocking the cupboard with another star to play for years with Bergeron and Seguin.
Dealing the ninth pick overall, originally belonging to the Leafs, won’t be enough. Willingness to part with a roster player or a Zach Hamill alongside that pick could be though.
2. Toronto Maple Leafs
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If there was ever a guy who fits the mould of what GM Brian Burke likes in a player, Gabriel Landeskog is it. All that determination and truculence that Burke aggressively seeks sits in the young Swede, and he’s also got the deft skill that looks so good in the top six of a Burke-branded team.
While Leafs fans will attempt to invite you into their delusion that Nazem Kadri is the next big thing in the NHL and Tyler Bozak just needs the right wingers to flourish, the reality is that this is a very bad team down the middle. If they can’t get their hooks into Brad Richards or swing a deal for a high-end centre (bet Kaberle for Jeff Carter looks pretty good now that you got Joe Colbourne for him, hey boys?), they’ll miss the playoffs for another year.
With two late first-rounders, Burke will actively attempt to deal his way into a position of interest on draft day. Be it by offering them for a roster guy that someone is trying to shed for cap reasons, or by trying to package the picks with a player to jump into the top five or 10 , you know the bristly Burke will be working the phones.
In Landeskog, he wouldn’t have the immediate impact centre that he’s likely seeking, but he’d already be their best centre. Couple that with his high ceiling and aforementioned Burke-friendly traits, and moving into a position to draft him makes sense.
It wouldn’t be easy to pull off, but Burke has done similar things in the past and he’s not afraid to pull strings in an effort to land a big fish or shake things up. Those two first-rounders would just be the starting point to jump so far in the draft, but being open to dealing a roster player, Jussi Rynnas, or future picks with the two he’s got in play at the moment could get his foot in the door.
Look for him to talk to New Jersey, who’ve said the fourth pick is available. If the Leafs can get that pick in their hands, it really puts them in the hunt.
1. Ottawa Senators
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The Senators are brutal; they’ve got absolutely nothing coming in the pipelines, and they’re probably a few years away from even sniffing the playoffs.
That said, GM Bryan Murray basically saved his job with a phenomenal piece of housecleaning in the second half of the year, resulting in a veritable landslide of draft picks in support of the sixth pick overall.
As long as the Sens have been relevant, there have been three complaints about them: They don’t have goaltending (who knows if they do now with Craig Anderson), they’re soft, they’re weak down the middle. Slipping up a few spots in the draft and getting into the conversation for Landeskog could rectify two of those problems with one fell swoop.
While he can’t play in goal, he’d be the legitimate second-line centre the team has never truly had. Mike Fisher did the best he could, but on a serious contender he’d be the best third-line centre in the league instead of one of the lesser second-line pivots out there. Landeskog, while not immediately, would likely develop into the perfect accent behind Jason Spezza—a gritty, two-way leader who does 65 points a year pretty regularly—just in time for the team to get good again.
Add in veteran Swedish captain Daniel Alfredsson to show the kid the ropes, as well as a young Swedish star defenseman with whom to relate in Erik Karlsson, and the fit is that much more intriguing.
A combination of picks could get it done for Ottawa, given the bounty that they have. Perhaps their first this year, a later pick this year and something from next year’s draft, though it might not even take that much.
Out of the teams that should make a play to move up for him, Ottawa seems to make the most sense to actually do it in my books.
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