[Discussion] Top 31 Draft Prospects of 2019

[Rush17]

Came across this.  Figured the hardcore among us might want to start looking at next years projected top players! Cheers

[Jaku]

Lots of good centers. I'm also pretty high on Peyton Krebs, he is a very talented player that could be a game changer. The Kootenay Ice suck so he's basically carrying the offensive workload for them. If he played on a good team there's very little doubt he'd be a PPG player.

[gerry35]

Kaapo Kakko for the name alone to go with Jett Woo. Can't have enough big Finns either..........

[Alflives]

We will draft Rafael Lavoie from the Halifax Mooseheads.  He’s a big centre, who is still growing into his frame.  He has excellent skills, plays hard, and fights.  

[luckylager]

Watched a couple of Grizzlies games last year. Had no idea Newhook was ranked so high. He's pretty slick with the puck. 

 

Think I'll make an effort to watch a couple more Griz games this year (than last) and watch that kid a bit more closely. 

[Baer.]

Alex Newhook has been absolutely destroying the BCHL.

 

Looks like he's committed to Boston College after next season.

[Vinny in Vancouver]

19 minutes ago, Alflives said:

We will draft Rafael Lavoie from the Halifax Mooseheads.  He’s a big centre, who is still growing into his frame.  He has excellent skills, plays hard, and fights.  

Sacrilege! We will be drafting the Other Brother, Jack Hughes.

[Alflives]

Just now, vinny_in_vancouver said:

Sacrilege! We will be drafting the Other Brother, Jack Hughes.

We get more than one pick, don’t we?  

[Vinny in Vancouver]

Just now, Alflives said:

We get more than one pick, don’t we?  

Now that's more like it.  Tanev, perhaps?

[kenhodgejr]

If Case McCarthy has a solid year he could be the big body right shot defence man we need to pair with Quinn Hughes 

[J-Dizzle]

Look at all those smurfs in the top ten 

[kenhodgejr]

LW Samuel Poulin looks like he will be a good player also 

[PunjabiCanucks]

Kind of scary how much the Hughes brother weights, still hope we get the #1 pick ofc, but a top 5 won't hurt

[Qwags]

Wouldn't mind Bowen Byram. Could always use more offensive D-men. 

[Rob_Zepp]

2 hours ago, Rush17 said:

Came across this.  Figured the hardcore among us might want to start looking at next years projected top players! Cheers

"That Hughes guy looks too small."    "No matter who is drafted, it should have been ......".   "Why didn't Canucks have more picks?   A couple of Sedin jersey's and Keith Ballard's locker stall sign should gotten at least two 2nds".    "All seven players picked will be in the NHL by Christmas!".

 

 

 

There, am I doing it right?   I have a year to practice but want to be better prepared than I was for this year.     

[Bruce Boudreau]

Where is Todd Bertuzzis son Tag ranked? Feel like one of his former teams will take him. The Canucks like lineage.

 

They tried with Cole Cassels pick now John Madden's son.

 

Would Trevor Linden push for Bertuzzis back? Better question would Acquilini like to bring the big Italian back in the fold?

[Standing_Tall#37]

What really jumps out at me is the lack of Canadians on this list. But with the way hockey Canada is, this doesn’t surprise me. They out-priced most kids and they run children’s hockey like development all year  

 

  Also Canadians just don’t have the same heart they did 20-30-40 years ago. We used to be good at lots of stuff but those days are gone. 

[86Viking]

Nolan Foote from the Rockets no longer projected as a 1st round pick after this year? Thought he was considered a top 10 selection for his draft year at the beginning of this season?

[Noble 6]

4 hours ago, Standing_Tall#37 said:

What really jumps out at me is the lack of Canadians on this list. But with the way hockey Canada is, this doesn’t surprise me. They out-priced most kids and they run children’s hockey like development all year  

 

  Also Canadians just don’t have the same heart they did 20-30-40 years ago. We used to be good at lots of stuff but those days are gone. 

 

The USNDP has been improving a lot over the years to the point where they are now probably the best development program for players before getting drafted (excluding European men's leagues like the SHL and KHL). The CHL takes so much away from the kids in terms of free time and creativity that other programs are catching up in terms of pure talent, namely Finland. 

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

6 hours ago, Horvat is a Boss said:

 

The USNDP has been improving a lot over the years to the point where they are now probably the best development program for players before getting drafted (excluding European men's leagues like the SHL and KHL). The CHL takes so much away from the kids in terms of free time and creativity that other programs are catching up in terms of pure talent, namely Finland. 

No doubt the USNTDP has become a premiere development program. But 2019 is also just looks like a really deep draft for American players.

 

Beyond the guys listed in that posted 2019 top-31 coming from USDP (Hughes, Turcotte, Boldy, Caufield, York, Zegras, Beecher, Knight, Vlasic), you’ve got other notables from that program like Warren, McCarthy, Helleson, Thrun, Weight, Gildon, etc.

 

Then you have a bunch of guys who just missed out on making the USDP or maybe only played a handful of games for USNTDP Juniors, who in other years might very well have been mainstays for Team USA.

 

Guys like Dexter’s John Farianacci, whose D-1 production isn’t far off where Jay O’Brien (2018 19th overall) was a year ago. Or Silianoff from Shattuck’s St. Mary, who’s another intriguing guy out of the prep school system. Or Mastrosimone, who’s been killing it in the USHL for the Chicago Steel (45 points as a 17yo). And Mancinelli as well (35 points for Madison in the USHL).

 

Then, of course, you have the Minnesota boys. That top-31 has Donovan and Brinkman listed, but that MN high school system is really strong for 2019. Brady Meyer and Bobby Brink are a couple others that could definitely be in the mix. And plenty of others I’m not aware of (but the people I know out that way say it’s a strong year for Minnesota hockey).

 

And can’t forget the Americans who’ve chosen the CHL route, like Kaliyev, Nick Robertson, Stranges, and Rolston (actually I think those last two are 2020 eligibles—but they’re gonna be good too).

 

2019 is definitely shaping up to be a year when “buying American” might be a pretty decent draft strategy. 

 

Not that the Canadians aren’t fielding a good group next year, especially the ones coming from out West (Newhook, Byram, Dach, Krebs, Foote, Cousins, Mutala, etc). And plenty of great European options, with what looks to be an excellent Finnish class (Kakko, Honka, Kokkonen, Aaltonen, Nikkanen, etc), the usual strength of options from coming out of Sweden (Söderström, Holmström, Björnfot, Grewe, Höglander, etc, plus that Slovakian kid, Cajkovic), and also some interesting Russians (Abramov, Podkolzin, Zaitsev, Spiridonov, etc). And that Swiss kid, Nussbaumer, who’s already playing NLA (top men’s pro league). Plus a few Czechs getting early buzz like Strondala and Cajka.

 

Many not listed that could be mentioned. And countless more I just don’t know about yet. Some may blossom into top prospects by next year and many others (both listed and unlisted here) likely will fade into obscurity.

 

Really didn’t mean for this post to grow quite as big as it did. Just got started talking about the 2019 class and found it hard to stop. Suffice to say, next year really could be another dandy of a draft.