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2025-26 NHL Miscellaneous Thread

If everybody keeps their picks and does the obvious stuff, it would make sense for Vancouver to take Malhotra even if you toss aside the stuff with his Dad. He’s a riser as a prospect in a draft calls where a lot of the top guys are kind of sliders, he has good size and is a natural center. He’s also more of an Eichel, Barkov kind of guy who is good in all three zones. Exactly the kind of player that franchise desperately needs. There’s a chance they galaxy brain their way out of it, Vancouver being Vancouver and all, but it would be a logical pick.

Also, if Vancouver does go with Malhotra at 3 and both Toronto and San Jose go with the big wingers, it’s gonna set up an absolute frenzy of quality defense for the next 3 or 4 picks and that in itself could set off a bunch of trades. Also, several of those D are right siders, which will help juice up interest. I’m hoping for a bit of a wild first round in terms of swapping, shifting and trading. That said, I kind of expect San Jose to grab Reid at 2. Big right handed do-it-all D with 2 seasons of point per game production in the OHL that would slot right into their development curve
 
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jeffbear said:
If everybody keeps their picks and does the obvious stuff, it would make sense for Vancouver to take Malhotra even if you toss aside the stuff with his Dad. He’s a riser as a prospect in a draft calls where a lot of the top guys are kind of sliders, he has good size and is a natural center. He’s also more of an Eichel, Barkov kind of guy who is good in all three zones. Exactly the kind of player that franchise desperately needs. There’s a chance they galaxy brain their way out of it, Vancouver being Vancouver and all, but it would be a logical pick.

Also, if Vancouver does go with Malhotra at 3 and both Toronto and San Jose go with the big wingers, it’s gonna set up an absolute frenzy of quality defense for the next 3 or 4 picks and that in itself could set off a bunch of trades. Also, several of those D are right siders, which will help juice up interest. I’m hoping for a bit of a wild first round in terms of swapping, shifting and trading. That said, I kind of expect San Jose to grab Reid at 2. Big right handed do-it-all D with 2 seasons of point per game production in the OHL that would slot right into their development curve
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I agree with that assessment JB, if Reid goes at two suddenly you have Stenberg as the big fish, but if it goes McKenna, Stenberg and Malhotra the D bonanza starts and you know other teams are dropping into that mix via trade if possible. Sharks don’t need another winger and you would think they covet a top pairing D at 2!
 
CanadaCanes said:
I agree with that assessment JB, if Reid goes at two suddenly you have Stenberg as the big fish, but if it goes McKenna, Stenberg and Malhotra the D bonanza starts and you know other teams are dropping into that mix via trade if possible. Sharks don’t need another winger and you would think they covet a top pairing D at 2!
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Yeah, depends on how the Sharks rate Stenberg (or McKenna should he fall to 2) really. If they see him with a better upside that Reid or feel like his set of skills fills the gaps in what they’ve already got up front then they’ll go with the upside over the need. But, yeah … they need D. I could also see the Sharks trading down, especially if another Top 10 team wants to sweeten their pot for Stenberg. They can almost certainly still get a high quality D prospect so long as they stick in the Top 10. This draft has a lot of them.
 
I know I’m a sentimental old sap, but I have really enjoyed the home-based trophy presentations this year.

That said, Werenski should be grateful that both Q Hughes and Makar got hurt and missed 10 or more games this year. He’s very good, but he ain’t in their league in terms of game impact.
 
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