70seven Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I like Virtanen also. He self models his game after Rick Nash... Good release, deceptive back hand, good speed, drives to the net, not afraid to mix it up. 6'1" - 210, and plays both C/RW. A bit more offensive ceiling than Horvat with more goal scoring prowess, and definitely brings some of that Finnish tenacity to his game. Not to mention that hes born and raised in New Westminster and will also be one of the younger players in the draft as he doesnt turn 18 untill August 17. Speed, size, tenacity, goal scorer. Though Im hoping that we some how some way land Reinhart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustABandwagoner Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Pretty sure Buffalo will take Reinhart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 it makes me want to cry that we chose this year to suck the big one because next year is going to be godlike We didn't choose to suck this year, it just happened. And anyone who thinks this team is gonna finish with a top 10 pick has too little faith in them. If we fall short this year, I see us selling off major pieces in the summer and trying to acquire a potential high pick in the 2015 draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DollarAndADream Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 First of all, Ehlers is not undersized. You make me chuckle. He's 6 feet tall, which is the average size for an NHL player. He has had a very good development transition from Biel to Halifax, and he plays a north american, NHL style game - which is more than I can say for the raw talented Perlini. Pavel Bure had the same kind of transition, and his game was Taylor Made for the NHL. This guy is electric, and he is much more dynamic than any of the other Europeans in this years draft. He would be listed first, passing Nylander and Kapanen by a wide margin, if he had continued with Biel. He also plays a fairly physical game. Walk up to him and call him undersized. See what happens, I'd like to know! He's played Left and Right wing this year alternating with Jonathan Drouin. IMO, he has an NHL level cut to center from right wing down from the hash marks and has an elite level wrist shot. Watch some Bure and watch some Ehlers - see the similarities and then call me up to say he's a pip squeak because until then, I'll sit back and watch some SOCHAAAY. Nothing will happen. The kid is probably professional enough to not give a crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJDDawg Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Why would the Canucks draft the 15th ranked prospect ahead of Virtanen or Perlini? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R3aL Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Way to many threads for the 2014 draft, If mods were needed this would be a time,, There should be one central thread for 2014 Draft Talk, Its all scattered throughout the boards, I understand peoples opinions change as players change and draft rankings change, but its kinda silly having all these threads now and going here and there, quality of discussion would improve if it was together and their would be less repetition. Perhaps there should also be separate area for mocks with mock draft tags, where fellows like Snypers 7 here and the rest of us who are draft geeeks, or just excited because the Canucks will have a pick better than 20+ can post their own individual mocks, others can comment etc. Why would the Canucks draft the 15th ranked prospect ahead of Virtanen or Perlini? And just because I cannnnnnot help myself, I agree there is no way we pass on Perlini if he is available and Virtanen is taken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derp... Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Ehlers had 2 G 2 second A's today. SYNPERS7 is probs jonesin' If we do pick in the 8-12 range I would be happy with Perlini, Ehlers, Virtanen, or Nylander. Anything else other than a top pick that falls I would be sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theminister Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Watch him play. I mean if you are able to donate over 200 hours of your time to watching CHL games like I do, over the course of a season, then maybe you can argue. But, as I can tell, all of you have lives outside of scouting. Which leaves me alone in the fact that I am the only one who sees his potential because I'm the only one here who gives enough time to watch every single Halifax Mooseheads game over the course of a season, as well as highlights of every CHL game at the end of every single day. I doubt many of you watch a ton of prospects outside of your little window, but I am attentive to the stats and gameplay of prospects from Kangasniemi to Ekblad. Your list of "players to avoid" really does mean nothing more than a youngster's squabble. Where do you get your information? HFBoards? No, wait, eliteprospects. There you go. Not to offend you or anything, but exactly how many CHL games do you watch annually? Scouting is all I do. Getting published is fun. Arguing with Vancouver Canucks fans is the best. BanTSN. I agree, but add another ban before that. Who do you write for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat James Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 don't we have the 30th selection? So were finishing last in the NHL? If we pick 30th we also pick first since New Jersey is giving up their first pick this year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat James Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 I've compiled a list of players to AVOID in the NHL 2014 draft. This is from the central scouting list. Chase De Leo. Too small, not overly aggressive, sheltered on a deep team, and not skilled enough to get over the lack of NHL size to become a decent scorer. Bust with highly-sheltered depth scoring potential, tops. Josh Ho-Sang. Too skinny, not overly aggressive, sheltered on a deep team, and not skilled enough to get over the lack of NHL weight to become a decent scorer. Will spend years to put on weight, will likely slow down in that process, will likely be hurt often, and will likely bust. Nikolaj Ehlers. Too skinny, not overly aggressive, from Denmark, sheltered on a deep team, and not skilled enough to get over the lack of NHL weight to become a decent scorer. Think Anton Rodin, who's also not an NHLer. Robby Fabbri. Again too skinny, not overly aggressive, sheltered on a deep team, and not skilled enough. Another low qualcomp-type player, tops. Spencer Watson. Is a 157lb boy. He never takes penalties. He'll never pan out in the NHL unless there is some miracle taking place. Think Kyle Wellwood, except not as fat. Brayden Point. Another 150lb boy. Pass. Daniel Audette. Son of Donald. Destined to be picked by midget Hab squad. The midget will never win anything, just like dear ol' dad. Kyle Jenkins. Too skinny and not skilled enough to have significant NHL defenseman upside. Tanner Macmaster. 146lbs of pure bust. Will likely not be drafted. Francis Perron. Too skinny to become anything but a scorer against weak AHLers. Olivier Leblanc. Too small for NHL defenseman upside. QMJHL defenseman are generally soft. Seamus Malone. His name is Seamus, for starters, but this guy plays a bit chippier brand of hockey than the other midgets. Might be worth a late rounder. If he puts on some weight you can cross your fingers for a Brad Marchand-type. Alexy Sleptsov. Too skinny and not skilled enough for significant NHL defenseman upside. Future constant minus. Daniel Walcott. Again too skinny and not skilled enough for significant NHL defenseman upside. QMJHL guy. Michael Lee. Ditto. Nickolas Broulliard. Another too small Q defenseman. Ivan Nicholishin. Impish Russian center. Think poor-man's Shirokov. So basically you've just looked up people's weights? Great research, bro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 First of all, Ehlers is not undersized. You make me chuckle. He's 6 feet tall.Hmmm. So was Anton Rodin. Looks like this years' draft is pretty weak. We better tank further. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theilluminati Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 So basically you've just looked up people's heights? Great research, bro. Do you not know the difference between height and weight..?...Oh wait, you used the word "bro", so you confusing the two is actually not a surprise... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat James Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Do you not know the difference between height and weight..?...Oh wait, you used the word "bro", so you confusing the two is actually not a surprise... Ok, so you can tell who's gonna be a bust by checking their weight when they're 17 years old. Okey. Imagine if the Canucks knew that, they'd be able so save so much money on scouting! All they need is to look up the player's stats on some website... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Gonna give the thumbs-down on William Nylander, on account he looks like a girl: And Ehlers looks like a paperweight Virtanen and Perlini at least look like they could grow up to be men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 If a guy is built like Christian Bale's character in The Mechanic, even at 18, then i'd probably PASS. Yeah, you can put on some muscle in the next few years, but if the frame is simply not there, it is impossible to get up to anything but Mason Raymond weight. If you're skinny, you're skinny. Think a scout/writer etc. should know this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theilluminati Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Ok, so you can tell who's gonna be a bust by checking their weight when they're 17 years old. Okey. Imagine if the Canucks knew that, they'd be able so save so much money on scouting! All they need is to look up the player's stats on some website... The origianl post mentioned a bunch of players weights and didn't mention height once yet you responded with "So basically you've just looked up people's heights? Great research, bro." IF you're going to chirp somebody you should at least read the post first otherwise you look incredibly stupid. Kind of how you look now...again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat James Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 The origianl post mentioned a bunch of players weights and didn't mention height once yet you responded with "So basically you've just looked up people's heights? Great research, bro." IF you're going to chirp somebody you should at least read the post first otherwise you look incredibly stupid. Kind of how you look now...again... Ok, sorry about that. I'll edit the post so it says weights. The fact still remains: your "research" was awful. All you've done is look at how much the top prospects weigh and you've judged them sorely on that. Your post didn't hold any interesting information at all. It was just as bad as if someone had linked the top ten scorers in every junior league and said that the top ten scorers were the top prospects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 You know a lot of NHL teams pass on lightweight players solely because they're lightweight players, right? You can't coach size and strength. Meanwhile, Ehlers is currently out-scoring Jonathan Drouin, but isn't ranked nearly as high as Jonathan Drouin was when he was drafted. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. (games played aside ) Saw him live earlier this year when I was in Halifax (this game: http://www.theqmjhl.ca/schedule/show/game/65011). Halifax were without Drouin, and got completely dominated for the first 2 periods, but then turned it on in the 3rd and came back to win. I thought Ehlers was definitely the most talented player on the ice, for either team, and he was a big part of the comeback. He clearly has very nice hands, very good vision, a great shot, and just a high skill level in general. The coach even had him out in a number of key defensive situations (such as a PK + empty net situation when they were defending a lead), and he did well defensively too. On the down side, he was obviously very skinny/undersized, a total perimeter player at this point who gets dominated physically. He's obviously quite young, but his future will really depend on how much size/strength he can add. If he can get strong enough to win puck battles and play down low he's going to be a good NHLer, if not then he'll be a poor man's Filatov. The problem with picking Ehlers high is simple. First, while he's skilled, he's not can't miss top-5 pick skilled. So to get over that lack of elite skilled he'll need to put on 40lbs to be an effective 1st line player in the NHL. That's too much to ask. So he'll be a Mason Raymond type at best. A low qualcomp, perimeter guy who falls down a lot. Not a 1st rounder unless you somehow have a dire, dire need for a Mason Raymond type. We're going to have a similar problem with Hunter Shinkaruk, imho. Esp. with that significant injury. BTW. Ehlers and Shinkaruk play the exact same position, style and role. So WHY IN THE HELL would we draft Ehlers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ossi Vaananen Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 You know a lot of NHL teams pass on lightweight players solely because they're lightweight players, right? You can't coach size and strength. Meanwhile, Ehlers is currently out-scoring Jonathan Drouin, but isn't ranked nearly as high as Jonathan Drouin was when he was drafted. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. (games played aside ) The problem with picking Ehlers high is simple. First, while he's skilled, he's not can't miss top-5 pick skilled. So to get over that lack of elite skilled he'll need to put on 40lbs to be an effective 1st line player in the NHL. That's too much to ask. So he'll be a Mason Raymond type at best. A low qualcomp, perimeter guy who falls down a lot. Not a 1st rounder unless you somehow have a dire, dire need for a Mason Raymond type. We're going to have a similar problem with Hunter Shinkaruk, imho. Esp. with that significant injury. BTW. Ehlers and Shinkaruk play the exact same position, style and role. So WHY IN THE HELL would we draft Ehlers? While I agree that we should try to avoid drafting Ehlers (namely because having Drouin as a linemate skews his statline), I'd have to argue that more recently it's the smaller players that are having more success down low and in front of the net. Look at Skinner and Gallagher, a majority of their goals come from just a few feet outside the crease. Marchand as well, it's about cutting the distance between loose pucks and the opposition, that bigger players with slower first strides just can't match. It is because of this, I believe Shinkaruk should never be considered a perimeter players. Ehlers on the other hand is as soft as soft gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 Agreed Shinkaruk has way more edge and NHL upside, but ghaaa, that injury. I sincerely hope he recovers from that asap and starts developing again. More importantly, I hope his injuries are put behind him. Knock on wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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