Colorado Avalanche Roundtable on 2017 NHL Draft: #4 Pick
Who do you think the Avs WILL pick 4th-overall?
For the second question, I asked the writers to surmise who they thought the Colorado Avalanche actually would pick, not just who they wanted the team to pick.
Ross thought they would go defense:
Unfortunately, I don’t believe the Avs will see the same value in Nick Suzuki that I see, and that’s fine. I believe that they will pick Miro Heiskanen, but only if the Dallas Stars don’t poach him. I don’t think the Stars will be able to look beyond Gabe Vilardi or Casey Mittelstadt; so, Heiskanen should still be there, and he’d be a great defensive pick for the Avs.
If they do this, they can still make that trade with the ‘Canes for their No. 12 pick, and draft Nick Suzuki, who might still be there by then. You guys catching my theme yet? Suzuki should be who the Avs target.
Joey has a different idea:
Based on Sakic’s past draft history, I believe the Avs will take Mittelstadt.
Mark brought up another player:
I feel like they’ll end up drafting Owen Tippett. One thing that’s remained consistent about Sakic’s drafting is his penchant for taking forwards in the first round, despite the team’s obvious need for defensive upgrades. This has worked out for the most part (Jost, MacKinnon,Rantanen), but I think the team’s need for a top-6 winger can be filled in other ways.
However, if Heiskanen isn’t available, Tippett is a solid shooter with good speed, which could make him the perfect right wing for Duchene, assuming Dutchy is still around. His defensive game, however, is questionable, so I seriously hope Heiskanen is available.
Daniel agrees with Mark:
I think the Avs will draft Tippett because there’s a good chance that Dallas takes Heiskanen before they have a chance to draft him. However, I think there’s also a good possibility that Dallas takes Vilardi, in which case I think the Avs will take Heiskanen, but for simplicity’s sake, lets assume that Heiskanen is off the board.
I’ve been on the Tippett train all year so I’m not disappointed with this outcome at all. I’ve done quite a bit of research and watched a decent amount of video of him, and every time I see him play he reminds me of Phil Kessel. That’s encouraging because Pittsburgh is exactly the style of play Colorado would like to emulate in the future.
Tippett was born to play that style of game, his greatest assets are his elite speed and his lethal wrist shot. He’s a shoot-first, goal scoring machine which Colorado is in desperate need of. He has the added bonus of being a winger, which happens to be one of Colorado’s weakest positions.
Tippett scored 75 points, 62 of which were primary and had a reasonable shooting percentage of 15.49%. He produces on the power play, but isn’t exclusively reliant upon it. If the Avs draft Tippett at #4, it’s a fantastic start to their draft.
I agree with Daniel and Mark. Owen Tippet is exactly in the Colorado Avalanche mold — speedy and skilled with a sniper’s shot. Colorado is committed to choosing best available, so I think they might go Vilardi regardless, but I think they select Tippett if Vilardi is gone. And that’s just fine for the team.