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Mine is Tampa Bay, with Stamkos full time and then names like Bishop, Hedman, Carle, Callahan, Brewer, Palat, Johnson and Kucherov returning they are set. Then the additions Boyle and Strahlman (I'm excited to see Boyle play in a Forward Position, we saw a little glimpse of that in SC playoffs when he went coast to coast for a Shorty against LA). AND THEN don't forget about their endless list of young prospects, in this regard Tampa has been the best in the draft in the past 5 or so years, look for Jonathan Drouin and Adam Erne to have their come uppance this year.

Good point Genie.

What do you think of #1 Draft Pick Ekblad?

First I'm going to give you my thoughts on this years draft: it was packed tight with the same skill caliber players. Contrary to the past few drafts (nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov, Tavares, Mackinnon, hall), there was no clear cut #1 ranked prospect. I think everybody knew that Ekblad was going to go number one, but it wasn't because he was years above his peers skill wise, it was strictly situational, Florida has a ton of young offensive talent, they needed a big strong D that could play both ways. Ekblad fit that perfectly. If you dig into this draft you would find that if you stuck any of the top 10 in this draft into last years draft, they would not go higher than 5, BUT on the other hand I doubt any of them would go lower than 15. They are all about mid first rounders. Very solid and skilled through an through, but this draft will not produce a top ten player.

Onto Ekblad, like I said he fits the needs of Florida pwrfectly. Was he the best player in this draft? I wouldn't say so, but it doesn't always have to be like that. He is as NHL ready that a player can get. Hes got the size, speed and strength needed. I know I said he might not be peerless in skill but athleticism is a totally different story. Reinhardt is sorely lacking in that dept, Draisatl is not a physical specimen and neither is dal colle.

A perfect comparison for Ekblad is Shea Weber. Ekblad has the brute strength, good speed an wicked shot. Oh, and he is a mean son of a **** just like Weber. He has shown it many times. Whether or not he can become that class of a player is the only question remaining. But just like Ekblad this was the question raised for Weber.

Good post, I don't agree with everything you said, but you never always can. I like your comparison to Shea Weber, I think that Ekblad is a spitting image of him. Florida is going to be pretty good this year. I don't think they will completely turnaround but with talent like Ekblad, Huberdeau, Barkov, pirri, bergeinheim, Bjustad and now Jussi and Luongo I don't see how they can continue on their path.

Downie saying that nobody touches Geno and Sid. I can't wait for October!