Originally Posted by Kudelskis Krushers

I fully agree with Mancuso's approach. Granted, I'm not sure that I fully understand your pool, but with only 8 GM's I would assume that the talent pool is fairly shallow in terms of picking your starters. The first thing that jumped out at me is that you have guys like Oshie, Voracek, McDonald, Elias, Liles and Kronwall on your farm. This implies to me that a prospect will have to be VERY special for him to ever contribute to your team. Is that correct?

If so, then the question that I would be asking is which player would have the higher trade value in the near-term? In my mind, the odds that either of these two ever succeed to the degree that they crack your starting roster are fairly low (as with most prospects). I would be looking to package whomever you pick to someone who overvalues prospects. You obviously know your league better than I, but I would at least attempt to upgrade or acquire a starter in a deal involving the 9th pick or the player that you choose with it.

And this is where I go against the grain in this thread... I would take Couturier here actually, and it's the depth in Philly that attracts me. Knowing that he won't be on the team this year could be a blessing in disguise: it pretty much guarantees that he'll be playing for Canada at the WJC. I like Couturier's odds of being a point-producer for Canada more than I like Boedker's odds of being a point producer for Phoenix. You might be able to capitalize on the hype of the WJC, which, combined with his impressive junior numbers, should give you significant bargaining leverage (people have short memories and this summer's talk of "limited upside" will be forgotten with a strong showing at the juniors). By contrast, Boedker's statistical output is harder to defend, even if it is against more proven talent.

Just some food for thought...