Draft Day Begins in 10 Minutes

Our wonderful IT crew has our Internet up and running, I found a TV with a cable connection and I'm good to go!

Rumor is Duchene is going #1. I don't believe it. I still think the Islanders are crazy to not take Tavares. He's ready to play. Duchene might not be.

Nonetheless, the intrigue has spiced things up!

Buckle down, folks. Garth Snow should be up at the podium in about 10 minutes.

Draft Day is Upon Us

Draft day is upon us and it would appear I've been in hibernation for the past two weeks. Well, I have reasons and they're work related - not in a bad way, in a very, very good way - but I won't bore you with that. What I will bore you with is some thoughts on the upcoming draft.

There has been a lot of controversy, so to speak, around what order the top three - John Tavares, Victor Hedman and Matt Duchene - will be selected in. But the smart money should still be on Tavares going first, followed by Hedman and then Duchene. The Islanders would be crazy not to take Tavares, the lightning need defence so bad it's tearing the owners apart and the Avalanche need to replace Joe Sakic, who has been silent as a monk since the season ended.

If the Avalanche are forced to take Tavares or Hedman, there will certainly be no tears shed, but I've got my hopes riding high on Duchene. Possibly unreasonably high, but can you blame me based on the last couple seasons? I'd grasp at anything right now to feel good about this franchise.

Heck, I started falling in love with the guy during the OHL playoffs and when Greg Wyshynski noted that Duchene was wearing a short-sleeve dress shirt + tie combo, the man crush was in full effect. Then Chris Pope fired me an email with a link to an interview he had with Duchene and damned if I wasn't ready to propose right then and there.

When the draft goes down tomorrow, I may not be able to be part of the breaking news. At noon tomorrow, we will be shutting down our office and shifting about ten blocks southwest to some swanky new digs. I will also be working on rolling out some internal system changes to coincide with the shrink wrap completely coming off on Monday morning.

I'm disappointed I won't be able to sit on my duff with my new netbook on my lap, but this move was a long time coming. It will just add to me elation tomorrow when the Avs snag Duchene. So if you don't hear from me, don't worry. I'm around and I'm happy. And I promise, I've got some thoughts I need to get out so you'll be hearing them soon.

Ah, the rallying cry of bloggers everywhere.

Tavares Drops to #3

The thought of drafting Matt Duchene has had Avalanche fans mildly giddy. Sure, after the season we endured you could argue that we'd be giddy over a kick in the crotch.

But no so fast, Avs fans. John Tavares has been tankin' it up in the playoffs while Matt Duchene has been tearing it up. And now one independent scouting service, Redline Report, has Tavares dropping to #3, behind Victor Hedman and Matt Duchene.

I'd take Duchene over Tavares but I'm hoping Islander and Lightning scouts have already made up their minds.

Thanks to Sean Leahy for the tip via Twitter.