BG making the pick is pretty funny

Is Nesbitt good?

Love they got two big kids

3 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said:

BG making the pick is pretty funny

Is Nesbitt good?

Love they got two big kids

Sounds like he would have been there. Passed a few better options IMO

Just now, Diehardfan said:

Sounds like he would have been there. Passed a few better options IMO

Like who?

7 minutes ago, ToastJenkins said:

Like who?

Smith but I guess they wanted a C over D.

Edit:

Jackson Smith, D, Tri-City (WHL)

Holding two picks back to back, the Penguins might very well try to move up to nab an elite prospect -- their pick value combined is nearly identical to the No. 3 pick, so moving up is probably not entirely out of the question. Failing that, the Penguins have an opportunity to add two significant players to their pipeline.

If McQueen is available, I think they take a long look. But adding Smith to their blue-line depth would be tidy business for the Penguins, who currently have Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunicke there. Smith is big, physical and has legitimate offensive upside. He should be capable of playing in a matchup role and driving offense from the back end. He's poised with the puck and will be close to Penguins brass while he attends Penn State.

There's a lot to like about the package Smith brings and the Penguins could use a player with his blend of size, skating, poise and offensive upside.

Vs who they got

The Blues have used a lot of their best draft capital on defense, and the pressing need for centers in the pipeline can't be ignored.

Nesbitt has received a lot of love from executives since the scouting combine, and could slide into the top 20. The big center is likely to top out as a third-line, two-way checker but could see elevated offensive potential if he adds speed. At 6-4, he brings size, strength, physicality and the ability to shut down opponents. That is attractive to many teams, including the Blues.

Found some info on them quickly for you

ESPN.com

Final 2025 NHL mock draft: Predictions for the top 32 picks

While the top two picks appear to be locked in, what happens after that? Here's the final projection before Friday's first round.

1 hour ago, ToastJenkins said:

Ok fill me in on Martone

Love the pick. Some comps I’ve seen recently have been Matt Tkachuk but have also heard Rantanen/Corey Perry. They’re going for size this draft. Surprised they passed on Hagens since they desperately need a C. Martone was BPA though.

Draft profile on him

The Win Column

Jack Nesbitt 2025 NHL Draft Profile

Draft profile for Jack Nesbitt, a Windsor Spitfires centre expected to be selected in the late first round of the 2025 NHL Draft.

12 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

Draft profile on him

The Win Column

Jack Nesbitt 2025 NHL Draft Profile

Draft profile for Jack Nesbitt, a Windsor Spitfires centre expected to be selected in the late first round of the 2025 NHL Draft.

Not as big of a fan of this pick because of how high they traded up to get him. Wish they would’ve traded more to get higher for O’Brien or even Hagens. But probably not realistic.

2 hours ago, Diehardfan said:

Sounds like he would have been there. Passed a few better options IMO

Awful pick, especially giving up what they did. Will have to battle to be a bottom 6 center.

3 hours ago, NOTW said:

Let's pump the brakes on that til we see it long-term. But the current/new direction is promising and refreshing for sure.

I agree we have to see it on the field, but dare I say LB is our single deepest position this season? All-pro in Baun, a plus starter in Dean (assuming he gets healthy), a super dynamic first round pick in Campbell, a very athletic prospect in Mondon and a solid prospect in Trotter… I think this is going to be a real strength for the Eagles.

2 hours ago, ToastJenkins said:

Like who?

Eklund, Smith, Cootes, Reschny. Nesbitt was a borderline 1st rounder because he can't skate, can't create any separation. They could have easily stayed put at 22 and maybe even 31 and gotten him. I thought Eklund was the pick for sure, and I was happy. only to see Nesbitt. Danny and Jonesy are dopes. Passed on Biuim last year for Luchanko and now this. They are awful.

4 hours ago, just relax said:

Way too early to tell.

True. We are keeping our bromance a secret.

4 hours ago, just relax said:

Waiting a year was worth it. We have a loaded - and young - defense.

I agree wholeheartedly. What I was responding to was the blame being given to the players. They certainly weren’t faultless, but I firmly believe the coaches set them up to fail.

11 minutes ago, TEW said:

I agree we have to see it on the field, but dare I say LB is our single deepest position this season? All-pro in Baun, a plus starter in Dean (assuming he gets healthy), a super dynamic first round pick in Campbell, a very athletic prospect in Mondon and a solid prospect in Trotter… I think this is going to be a real strength for the Eagles.

I don't know, maybe. I just have PTSD about the LB position and need more time to adjust 😅

I think O line may have the best depth, and DT depending on Robinson development, and Ojomo increased role.

1 hour ago, Freshmilk said:

Awful pick, especially giving up what they did. Will have to battle to be a bottom 6 center.

With two good defenders sitting there

34 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

With two good defenders sitting there

And Lord knows we need them.

9 hours ago, TEW said:

I agree we have to see it on the field, but dare I say LB is our single deepest position this season? All-pro in Baun, a plus starter in Dean (assuming he gets healthy), a super dynamic first round pick in Campbell, a very athletic prospect in Mondon and a solid prospect in Trotter… I think this is going to be a real strength for the Eagles.

I don’t think this is an unreasonable take…probably super optimistic, but it could round out to be. I think it’s the biggest unknown group of the bunch personally.

Baun, while unrealistic to think he can recreate his DPOTY worthy performance, he was consistently great last year and i don’t expect that to change.

Dean, we are at the point IMO where we need to consider any time he puts on the field in the future a bonus. He was really turning into a solid piece before the injury. Started the year lost & unable to cover…however executed green dot duties well enough. Turned into a gap plug machine and plus off ball rusher. That injury leaves too much TBD.

Campbell, promising rookie.

Mondon, a bit of a look like Tarzan play like Jane prospect. Can he live up to his potential?

Trot, in year 2…we shall see if he’s more than a career ST’r. I’m not going to speculate much, he was a ‘late round’ pick and will more than likely see the field a bit early in the season.

16 hours ago, BigEFly said:

Saw an article where ChatGPT asked for a chess challenge and got whooped by a 48 year old Atari program. Bet Grok would lose even worse.

That's because ChatGPT is just a chat bot and LLMs like that were not programmed to perform multi-level heuristic analysis. But yeah I agree with the second line.

22 hours ago, we_gotta_believe said:

lolwut? Kelce made first team all-pro in '23. If you didn't notice a drop off from him to Jurgens, you haven't been watching Eagles games. No disrespect to Cam, but Kelce was still the best center in the league when he retired.

It was super noticeable that his line protection calling was gone early in the season. Hurts took about half the season to really grasp making his own protection calls. He was struggling, especially in hurry up situations getting lined up and set. Play aside, Kelce providing that at the level he did made him exponentially better.

Cam was Kelce’s own hand selected replacement, but he’s got some ways to go before reaching future HOF level for sure. Barkley had a season for the ages, so it’s easy to say the OL as a whole was better, but Cam had some issues with combo blocks & at times blitz pick ups.

14 hours ago, TEW said:

My guess:

Johnson, Dickerson, Mailata, Barkley, Brown, Carter, Baun.

I think Hurts is getting a lot of public pushback based on stats and how good the team was, though I think he should make it. Smith is a really good player, but his stats aren’t that great and he’s in a run first offense as the 2nd receiving option.

Wait, you think Hurts, who made the top 100 the past two years, and was #15 last year, is in any danger of not making the top 100 again in a year after his team won the super bowl and he won super bowl MVP?

21 hours ago, pallidrone said:

This is a take, I guess.

The situations were so completely different. The only correlation here is that they both left the Eagles, and other players took over their spots.

Dawkins did not retire. He was not resigned because the Broncos backed up the truck for him, and that was too rich a contract for the Eagles to match, especially for a player in decline. They did not necessarily have a backup plan for him, but thought they could fill the void with Quintin Demps or Macho Harris. They brought in Sean Jones to be a bridge player, hoping that one of them would take over. They all unfortantely sucked.

Kelce helped handpick his successor in Jurgens, as he sat in film study of centers with the scouting team. Jurgens sat on the bench for the first year, played guard his second year, and then took over at center last year when Kelce finally retired. He had the opportunity to train behind a great center, who helped him take over.

That is why there was less of a drop off from Kelce to Jurgens versus Dawkins and the trio of misfits.

Dawk is a weird case study…the totality of things (Brinks truck contract, his decline, etc) made it kind of understandable in the moment. JJ passing furthered that IMO. In retrospect, the replacement plan was an epic failure. As great of a player as he was (one of the best to ever line up at S), 2008 was a weird season for him. JJ was a master of using him despite his decline, to assume he would have continued to elevate the play of the D when McD took the reins is speculation IMO. His fire was surely missed, that’s 100%. I’d also hesitate to say he had a ‘good year’ after leaving. He got abused pretty badly in his return to Philly. Letting him go was more of a pain point from seeing him in another uniform perspective vs play on the field IMO though at that point of his career. The inability to find a serviceable safety for quite a few years (7 years I think) is it’s own separate issue.

As we sit here in 2025…he’s got his much deserved gold jacket, his place on the Mount Rushmore of S’s, and I’d say considered a top 3 Eagles player of all time…there’s 2 Lombardi’s in the trophy case (should have been 3 if the O had showed up in the 1st half against the Cards in that NFCCG).

Use fanatics link on the boards here. Midnight green super bowl jerseys are on sale for $78.99.

40 minutes ago, we_gotta_believe said:

That's because ChatGPT is just a chat bot and LLMs like that were not programmed to perform multi-level heuristic analysis. But yeah I agree with the second line.

AI can be a good aggregator of data but also is victimized by the quality of data. Garbage in, garbage out. There is also a huge uncompensated use of intellectual property in some of these public models.

49 minutes ago, Wentz_Era said:

It was super noticeable that his line protection calling was gone early in the season. Hurts took about half the season to really grasp making his own protection calls. He was struggling, especially in hurry up situations getting lined up and set. Play aside, Kelce providing that at the level he did made him exponentially better.

Cam was Kelce’s own hand selected replacement, but he’s got some ways to go before reaching future HOF level for sure. Barkley had a season for the ages, so it’s easy to say the OL as a whole was better, but Cam had some issues with combo blocks & at times blitz pick ups.

Then we should be encouraged by the fact Kelce was at OTAs and in all appearances looking like he was coaching next to Stout.

Yabu just bought a house in Philly. If he stays, Sixers are gonna so much fun!

10 hours ago, Freshmilk said:

Eklund, Smith, Cootes, Reschny. Nesbitt was a borderline 1st rounder because he can't skate, can't create any separation. They could have easily stayed put at 22 and maybe even 31 and gotten him. I thought Eklund was the pick for sure, and I was happy. only to see Nesbitt. Danny and Jonesy are dopes. Passed on Biuim last year for Luchanko and now this. They are awful.

Let's be real, you, like everyone else, knows nothing about these players. People look up mock drafts, sees the guys projected to be in range, and centers the opinion around that. Not saying Nesbitt will end up being great. But I'm saying the NHL community clearly disagreed with the mocks or else they wouldn't have traded up. Time will tell. Flyers got flak in the past on some picks where it worked out.