The Official 2026 Off-Season Thread: Revenge of the Nerds

[Pwner]

Damn, those Vancouverites must have really been blasphemous. Maybe those Calgarians too...

 

[MindzEye]

Nah. That all started at the world juniors. Laine won it

It was always just hipster fuckwit prospect nerds who needed a contrarian take in an obvious draft.

and Zeke.

 

[worm]

It was always just hipster fuckwit prospect nerds who needed a contrarian take in an obvious draft.

and Zeke.

No money / clicks in just repeating the same thing for years.

 

[CH1]

It was always just hipster fuckwit prospect nerds who needed a contrarian take in an obvious draft.

and Zeke.

Both Matthews and Laine have been riddled with serious injuries so we might never know which side was right

 

[Pwner]

Chayka is going to be on Overdrive at 4:30, should be interesting.

 

[MindzEye]

Both Matthews and Laine have been riddled with serious injuries so we might never know which side was right

Fuck your trolling game has gotten better this year.

 

[CH1]

Fuck your trolling game has gotten better this year.

Just trying to be nice to the all the
hipster fuckwit prospect nerds

and Zeke.

 

[hockeylover]

Chayka gonna win over the media imo good answers already

 

[MindzEye]

Chayka gonna win over the media imo good answers already

He even dropped a "dig in" reference for all of the meatheads.

 

[Kritter]

 

[Preston]

Chayka gonna win over the media imo good answers already

Very very impressive

 

[MindzEye]

Reading between the lines, he hasn't spoken with Auston yet but the reports of him not wanting to come back were bullshit.

 

[thehabhater]

Reading between the lines, he hasn't spoken with Auston yet but the reports of him not wanting to come back were bullshit.

Check with Justin Beiber.

 

[leafman101]

They asked him about truculence and his answer was good. Effectively “you look at the playoffs and obviously you see how the games are played. But I also see the speed, and skill and ability to make plays under pressure.”

 

[Preston]

He says correct things, his vision is correct. Let's see how he executes.

 

[worm]

Eh, I don't think that's a good way to look at it because there's generally more than 1 tier of #1's to consider. The actual generational guys (Sid, Connor, Mario, Gretzky, Orr) are kind of their own thing. But there's a whole category of consensus #1/franchise cornerstone types that almost always do end up the best player in their draft. There are other drafts entirely where there really is no consensus #1 franchise type prospect though, and yeah, agreed that those are a crap shoot. When there is a standout franchise level prospect in the draft though, but who isn't considered "generational" (Matthews, Stamkos, Kane, Mackinnon, etc) they almost always end up delivering more career value than anyone else in their draft class and usually by a pretty solid margin.

McKenna is probably in that tier of franchise #1 prospects (and yes, I was saying this before we won the lottery, feel free to check my receipts)

I would not put him at that level but I'd also but Mackinnon and Matthews up with McDavid

Lafy no
Hughes yes
Dahlin no (but it's close)
Nico no
Ekblad no

The covid ones. Slaf and powers.. Meh

Bedard yes ( I still have him as best)
Celebrini yes

I thought wright and bedard were gonna be amazing based on their 16 year old season so I'm not fully in on McKenna but that could just be my bias about being wrong before. Still think he is a number 1 pick though.

 

[worm]

He says correct things, his vision is correct. Let's see how he executes.

Yep. Give berube some more skill and let him work

 

[hockeylover]

Aw Ieft it on too long and had to follow up Chayka with Craig Button.

 

[hockeylover]

One thing Chayka did say is that he’s got pretty much unlimited resources here.

So that thing about not wanting to pay Berube not to coach was bullshit like it sounded

 

[Pwner]

Aw Ieft it on too long and had to follow up Chayka with Craig Button.

Yeah, i was just about to post that Button is a dummy.