The NHL entry draft is in Columbus and, as seems to be the past practice, the host team tries to make some sort of splash in the first round. Columbus has a high pick (7th) but not high enough to get one of the top ranked players. Any thought that they might deal to move up? If so, what is the market for Zherdev now that McLean is gone and doesn\'t have to hold on to him to save face? (BTW, I started last season with Zherdev\'s rights in my pool and really love his potential - its his head I worry about, that and the fact that he seemed very comfortable in Hitch\'s doghouse.)

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L - St.Louis#, Hall, Clowe / Ryan
C - Crosby#, H.Sedin, M.Koivu / B.Richards
R - Eberle*, Callahan, Burrows / Selanne
D - Yandle, Markov, Green / Souray*
D - Doughty, Weber, Visnovsky / M.Staal*
G - Schneider^ / Rinne
TGs - Burrows, Clowe
IR - G - Smith
(# FPs, * RFAs, ^Prospect)

P3 - R Mueller, D Larsson
P2 - D Rundblad, G Schneider
P1 - C Barkov

Highlanders, FunHL Predator Cup Champions 1992, 1993, 2007, 2013
There Can Be Only One!

That\'s really the best bet- that Zherdev goes somewhere in order to move up and make a splash.

A trade I could see is McPhee flipping the 4th pick for the 7th for Zherdev. Then he could pick up one of the centremen available.

I\'m going off on a tangent here, but imagine facing a forward group of:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Zherdev
Semin-Couture-Fehr
Fleischmann-Novotny-F. Bouchard
Sutherby-Laich-Gordon

And that\'s not even counting project picks like Chris Bourque, Andrew Gordon and Mathieu Perreault, and tweeners Kris Beech, Jakub Klepis and Alexandre Giroux.

On defense, Shaone Morrisonn (6\'3), Jeff Schultz (6\'6), Joe Finley (6\'7) and Sasha Pokulok (6\'5) are all big, rapidly developing guys. Sami LePisto, Patrick McNeill (two PPG+ seasons in the OHL) and Milan Jurcina could be PP QBs. Then you\'ve got Oscar Hedman and Keith Seabrook, two long-off defenders who can chip in both ways.

If the Caps use their abundance of assets right- a lot of them coming from the later rounds- they\'ll be the next Buffalo Sabres.

Fun fact: Johhny Oduya and Nathan Paetsch were late-round finds by the Caps.

Holy Camolie!:woohoo:
I own Zherdev, Semin, Backstrom and Fehr in my keeper..
If that were to happen, Zherdev\'s value would skyrocket.

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11 Teams Keeper League
Start 12 FWDs, 6 Ds & 2 Gs

F: Getzlaf, Perry, Backstrom, Parise, Iginla, D. Roy, Hudler, Antropov, Tanguay, Weiss, A. Kostitsyn, Huselius, Steen, Gerbe, Radulov
D: Markov, R. Whitney, Letang, Carlson, OEL, Del Zotto, Rundblad, White, Kindl
G: Kiprusoff, Halak, Bernier

I hope that you right about Zherdev. Hanlon has been very good with Ovechkin and Semin. I could see Zherdev flourishing with a change of scenery, systems and coaching styles. I just don\'t think that Mr. Hitchcock\'s style and systems work with Zherdev. A change for Zherdev would be a good thing.

There has been some very small talk about Zherdev in Edmonton. Not sure that\'s the best place for him and Edmonton\'s pick is only #6 so I don\'t think it would be much of an upgrade obviously.

Could you imagine. If playing with fellow country-man Ovech doesn\'t light a spark under your trousers then Zheredev is a lost cause. Man COLUMBUS has issues...

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mrbugg wrote:
sorry to hi-jack this thread, but Nathan Paetsch was not a late round find by the Capitals. He was originally drafted by the Caps in the 2nd rnd (Hardly late rnd). Then he wasn\'t signed by them, so Buffalo took him in the late rnd when he re-entered the draft. Oduya was a late rnd pick by Washington, However failed to sign with them, so New Jersey signed him after he couldn\'t reach terms with the Caps.

1. Perhaps \"late\" was a bit strong- I just wanted another way to say \"outside of the first round\".

2. I understand both were re-entries after not coming to terms, but you still have to give the original teams credit for finding them- they had every intent to hold on to them, but the price got to steep.