2017 NHL Draft - Chicago, Illinois June 23-24 2017

[ReggieBush 3,488]

Best case scenario for me is that we pick up a center in the early 1st (Patrick, MittlelstMittelstadt, Necas, Vilardi in that order), then with our early 2nd, I pray that Lias Andersson falls. IMO he is the second coming of Henrik Zetterberg and could very well become the best player in this draft.

[Brobidus 247]

I remember that last year we had this same talk about Chychrun and his injury woes. He ended up falling heavily but he's played out this season pretty nicely missing only a couple of games. Are there any other drafts where there was a player in the top 5 with big injury problems? It would be interesting to see how they turned out.

[TheHockeyNerds 273]

As many of scouts are saying, after pick 2 there is no consensus. So fans should prepare themselves  for a few "surprises" (like PLD going before JP) 

[aGENT 22,183]

7 minutes ago, TheHockeyNerds said:

As many of scouts are saying, after pick 2 there is no consensus. So fans should prepare themselves  for a few "surprises" (like PLD going before JP) 

Yup.

 

Anybody 'convinced' that Vilardi or Mittel etc are top 4 without any doubt could be setting themselves up for disappointment/surprise. The next 8-10'ish guys after Patrick/Hischier could go in ANY order.

 

Even the top 25 aren't terribly clear. For instance, a lot of mocks have Suzuki in the 20's and I'd not be surprisded to see him picked anywhere beyond 8'ish either.

 

This year's draft is all over the map.

[ForsbergTheGreat 9,113]

13 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Yup.

 

Anybody 'convinced' that Vilardi or Mittel etc are top 4 without any doubt could be setting themselves up for disappointment/surprise. The next 8-10'ish guys after Patrick/Hischier could go in ANY order.

 

Even the top 25 aren't terribly clear. For instance, a lot of mocks have Suzuki in the 20's and I'd not be surprisded to see him picked anywhere beyond 8'ish either.

 

This year's draft is all over the map.

Find me a mock (within the last month) that doesn't have Vilardi top 4....

[aGENT 22,183]

Just now, ForsbergTheGreat said:

Find me a mock (within the last month) that doesn't have Vilardi top 4....

That's precisely not the point. Congrats on missing it so completely. 

[ForsbergTheGreat 9,113]

1 minute ago, J.R. said:

That's precisely not the point. Congrats on missing it so completely. 

Your point?

Anybody 'convinced' that Vilardi or Mittel etc are top 4 without any doubt could be setting themselves up for disappointment/surprise. The next 8-10'ish guys after Patrick/Hischier could go in ANY order.

 

Maybe try rewording, You think there's not guarantee that Vilardi or Mittel are locks for top 4.  I'm stating that Vilardi is.... Good job on missing the point i made....

[aGENT 22,183]

6 minutes ago, ForsbergTheGreat said:

Your point?

Anybody 'convinced' that Vilardi or Mittel etc are top 4 without any doubt could be setting themselves up for disappointment/surprise. The next 8-10'ish guys after Patrick/Hischier could go in ANY order.

 

Maybe try rewording, You think there's not guarantee that Vilardi or Mittel are locks for top 4.  I'm stating that Vilardi is.... Good job on missing the point i made....

Well, you:

 

'could be setting themselves up for disappointment/surprise'.

[hammertime 1,727]

On April 2, 2017 at 10:01 PM, guntrix said:

Is the Czech league good? I feel like that's something we have to take into account.

Yes the Czech Extraliga their 2nd tier mens league is good what he has shown is impressive.  

[ForsbergTheGreat 9,113]

1 minute ago, J.R. said:

Well, you:

 

'could be setting themselves up for disappointment/surprise'.

..... Pretty generic statement...just like "the sky is blue."

 

There's always a chance someone drops,  Laine could have went before mathews, Jones dropped to 4th, Forsberg dropped to 12th, Dubois going ahead of Puljijarvi.  But the general consensus by ALL major scouting reports is that  Vilardi is a top 4 pick.  If Patrick/Hischier are locks for top 2, than Vilardi is a lock for the top 4

[Derp... 2,675]

6 minutes ago, hammertime said:

Yes the Czech Extraliga their 2nd tier mens league is good what he has shown is impressive.  

Pretty sure the Extraliga is the top league in the Czech Rep. It's similar to the Finnish league in my opinion.

[TheHockeyNerds 273]

52 minutes ago, ForsbergTheGreat said:

Find me a mock (within the last month) that doesn't have Vilardi top 4....

Exactly... vilardi and mittlestadt may be listed  as top 5 picks, but a high chance  Glass or Necas or Tippet go in those top 5 picks instead.  From your statement you would be very surprised if Vilardi doesn't go top 4, which in this draft is very possible even tho he's listed in a lot of mocks. 

[ForsbergTheGreat 9,113]

13 minutes ago, TheHockeyNerds said:

Exactly... vilardi and mittlestadt may be listed  as top 5 picks, but a high chance  Glass or Necas or Tippet go in those top 5 picks instead.  From your statement you would be very surprised if Vilardi doesn't go top 4, which in this draft is very possible even tho he's listed in a lot of mocks. 

I would be very surprised. And I think a lot of other hockey scouts would be as well. It could happen that he drops as some teams could go off the board/pick team needs. But overall I would say he's is a top four lock and if he fails outside of the top four I will be in just as much shock as I was to see Dubois go before puljujarvi. 

[Blömqvist 1,453]

4 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

I've seen very little of Necas but from what I have seen/read, I'd not be surprised if the Canucks have him top 5. His size and the relative  lack of info on him is concerning but the kids sounds like a gamer and clearly team scouts will have far more info available than we do.

 

I have Mittel higher but I've posted numerous times that the 3-10 spots are IMO all largely interchangeable and that I personally prefer Mittel, Necas, Petterson and Glass ahead of Vilardi, (never mind Lilj/Makar) so something like that ^^^ wouldn't terribly surprise me.

Yea, same. Between Mittelstadt, Glass, Necas, and Vilardi I have Mittelstadt as the best of the bunch. Even if he isn't the most responsible centre defensively his offensive game more than makes up for it. We have Gaudette as a puck-hounding two-way centreman with a good offensive game so if anything Mittelstadt can play on his wing. 

 

Create an American Express line of Mittelstadt, Gaudette, and Boeser.

 

That said, from the limited things I've seen and read I do like Necas' game though and he must have tremendous upside if Craig Button thinks he's the best prospect after Patrick and Hischier. 

[Sugar baby watermelon 1,269]

So let's say we have best case scenario and have the worst option of drafting number 5, who are in your opinions, the top 5 off the board

[kenhodgejr 952]

As the new NHL moves more towards speed and skill, so does the need for defence man with elite skating. Because of the depth in our system there is a good chance we do not sign 5th round prospect Carl Neill despite putting up good numbers. Elite D skaters who are also good offensively are hard to get. There is no doubt that Timothy Liljegren has the skating ability to have an impact at the next level. I would not be surprised if Benning goes for him if we pick in the 5-8 range. He said he wants to build this team from the net out. 

 

Juolevi Liljegren 

Tyramkin Stetcher

Hutton Subban 

 

 

[funkyfresh 527]

29 minutes ago, Sugar baby watermelon said:

So let's say we have best case scenario and have the worst option of drafting number 5, who are in your opinions, the top 5 off the board

For me, it looks like this:

Tier 1 - Patrick/Hischier

Tier 2 - Necas/Glass/Vilardi/Mittelstadt

So we're bound to get a great center as long as we have top 6 pick.

[SvenBae 581]

 

[Scruffy05 201]

30 minutes ago, SvenBae said:

 

The name Suzuki sure would look good in Canucks green. His size does not concern me and he seems to have all the offensive tools. He also has good tournament stats.

 

I know he isn't often included in that second grouping on here but I personally would not be insulted if we called his name.

[Sugar baby watermelon 1,269]

2 hours ago, funkyfresh said:

For me, it looks like this:

Tier 1 - Patrick/Hischier

Tier 2 - Necas/Glass/Vilardi/Mittelstadt

So we're bound to get a great center as long as we have top 6 pick.

And maybe 1 or 2 players not being a Centre will be picked leaving us more to choose from too