6th Pick: 2014 NHL Entry Draft

[Tangerines]

I really hope one of the big five drop to us and if not we better be taking Ehlers. This kid has superstar written all over him. Just one question to all the doubters. Why couldn't he be put in the same sentence as Drouin in terms of all round ability and skill? Also Weren't many suggesting that Drouin was a product of Mackinnion's success last year? If he's available when the top five aren't and we skip him we will regret it. I like Ritche and Nylander also, but Ehlers has something more electric about the way he plays. Almost like a Bure/Kane/Datsyuk.

A lot of us are skeptical because of his size. This is why you keep him in the CHL, and AHL as long as possible to gain size and strength and develop him properly. We don't need to throw him to the dogs the way Edmonton does and ruin his max potential.

[Tangerines]

If we take Ehlers and manage to get another top 10 pick (Anaheim/Carolina trade) then we can take a big dude like Tuch, or even Mccann to balance it out. Ehlers will be a star with the right development. Also a great nickname for him could be "the electric eel" lol..

[canucklax]

Good point. I think any college player is looking at a nose dive in rankings as the college loophole becomes more and more frequent. Even if we had an extra pick in the early 20s I'd probably still pass on Tuch if he were available.

Hayes not signing has more to do with them trading his older brother, as well as not having an easy way into the NHL since they are stacked. Neither apply to Tuch, and its just as easy for a CHL drafted player to refuse to sign.

[Vancanwincup]

of players being drafted and a good quality of coaches that have been able to reach the NHL level, which has been great."

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

This was written By Kevin Forbes, not me.

[Tangerines]

Imagine having Ehlers and Shinkaruk on the LW for the next 10-15 years terrorizing the opposition with speed and skill shift after shift?? It's like both of them are on the ice for the whole game because if you try to stop one of them the other one is waiting right behind to make it a nightmare for the oppositions defence and goaltending. Also to boot we would have Kassian, and Jensen on the RW doing the same thing

[Tangerines]

This was written By Kevin Forbes, not me.

Ok lol, Thanks for posting it then.

[shiznak]

The 1 point in 7 playoff games kills me. And if you look at "stats by game" he really trails off from his torrid pace before January

Had some shoulder problems, that could of hampered his production.

I see a lot of similarities between Perlini and Mantha, both viewed as a skilled big body "perimeter" players with a deadly shot and we know how much CDC is in love with Mantha.

[Tangerines]

Dp

[Smashian Kassian]

Imagine having Ehlers and Shinkaruk on the LW for the next 10-15 years terrorizing the opposition with speed and skill shift after shift?? It's like both of them are on the ice for the whole game because if you try to stop one of them the other one is waiting right behind to make it a nightmare for the oppositions defence and goaltending. Also to boot we would have Kassian, and Jensen on the RW doing the same thing

Ya I'm with you, he would be a great addition to our lineup down the line, he's got high upside & a ton of skill.

Had some shoulder problems, that could of hampered his production.

I see a lot of similarities between Perlini and Mantha, both viewed as a skilled big body "perimeter" players with a deadly shot and we know how much CDC is in love with Mantha.

I don't think Perlini has nearly the skill Mantha does to be honest. And I don't really think they play the same either. Mantha is alot more crafty.

[FlyLow_]

add trade the pick to the poll

[MoneypuckOverlord]

In regards to Richie, we have to be VERY wary about signing somebody who is already his size. He is significantly bigger and stronger (read: more developed physically) than his competition in junior allowing him to just bully and muscle his way around. He can't do that in NHL. I'd be curious how much of him is muscle and how much is still teenager. Watch him closely at the combine, if he blows it away then that would actually be a detriment to his draft stock in my opinion. He gets his success because of his size and conditioning, not because of skill. His advantage, come the NHL, would be gone and we would be left with Taylor friggen Pyatt or the like.

You want to draft somebody tall with room to develop and fill out. Given identical stats, I would draft somebody 6'1 and 180 lbs with a projectable frame over somebody 6'1 and 220 lbs that is already developed.

We are dealing with kids here. They are still developing. There are things that are very hard to teach: mental toughness, drive, will. Who is going to play through the cracked ribs because the thought of losing is unbearable and who, on the flip side, is Jason Bonsignore who's heart was never really in it. We need to know who wants to be a hockey player to win and who wants to be a hockey player because the pay is good.

The top three are gone by time we get to our pick, so we don't have to worry about them. That leaves one of Draisatl, Dal Colle, Ritchie, Ehlers, Virtanen Kapanen and Nylander.

Dal Colle is interesting, tall but still skinny he could still add 30 or 40 pounds of muscle to his frame if he was dedicated, but I doubt he makes it out of the top 5.

Kapanen and Nylander are intriguing as well- they will never be big but they will be bigger than they are now and they are already succeeding against men.

Ehlers scares me- he doesn't appear to have that projectable of a frame and I am not a fan of drafting small forwards out of the Q.

I put Virtanen in the same boat as Ritchie- how much is skill and how much is size?

With imperfect knowledge, my current listing is as follows:

Dal Colle

Kapanen

Nylander

Ritchie

Virtanen

I am ignoring Draisatl, I think he goes fourth.

We won't know more until we have interviews with the players and get first hand reports from the scouts. This list is likely to change if it comes back that Ritchie is mostly baby fat (which would send him higher) or Nylander is a head case or Dal Colle has the knees of a 40 year old backcatcher.

Interesting times!

Your post is kinda pathetic, because what you just said we can easily apply it to any NHL prospect.

Let give you an example

Ehlers.

I can easily say.

"Ehlers is currently blowing by his competition at the QMJHL. He has elite speed however he is extremely unlikely pull the same stuff at the NHL level. Let alone even the AHL level. This is why he considered a high risk high reward player. He's not going to be able to blow by the Webers, or the Dought's not a chance. His end to end skating, yea... he might be able to do that once or twice a year in the NHL."

you see what I mean?

YOu get it right?

I am not expecting Ritchie to do what he is doing with the Petes to do the same with the Canucks right now, he needs to get a little more athletic.

He gets his success because of his size and conditioning, not because of skill. His advantage, come the NHL, would be gone and we would be left with Taylor friggen Pyatt or the like.

Ehlers gets his sucess because of his speed, not because of his skill. His advantage, come the NHL would be gone and we would be left with a Nikita Filatov.

Too easy to counter guys with Ehlers erections right now.

[JimLahey]

The idea of trading down was posted in another thread - I would be in favor of this if we could make a deal with Anaheim trading our first round pick (adding in additional picks/prospects in order to make it work for both sides) for Anaheim & Ottawa's. This would give us pick 10 and another somewhere in the mid-20's.. Having two first round picks gave us two good prospects last year in Horvat and Shinkaruk.

With the picks acquired from Anaheim we might be able to have another solid draft such as last year's.

10th - Kasperi Kapanen, Nikolaj Ehlers, Jared McCann, Haydn Fleury

Mid-20's: Nick Schmaltz, Robby Fabbri, Nikolay Goldobin, Roland McKeown

36th - Jakub Vrana, Kevin Fiala, Brendan Lemieux, Lucas Wallmark, Adam Ollas Mattson (sp?)

Although keeping the 6th overall pick and possibly having one of the top 5 drop to us or have a chance at Kapanen, Ehlers or Ritchie (my 3 favorites for our pick) is always a good option.

[Tystick]

The reason people are afraid to take him at 6th is because he lacks the hockey IQ to be taken so early in the draft. Most of his goals come off of rushes and bulldozing through smaller players which may not translate well at the NHL level.

I honestly see him being a Brett Connolly kind of player, fast power forward but might not make it into the NHL until after years in the minors or at all.

Uncannily, Brett Connolly was also taken 6th overall. Which is where Virtanen would be drafted at if we used our pick on him.

But if we were to pick a power forward I'd go with Nick Ritchie since he's already 6'3 236 lbs.

Hopefully a top five player drops, if not I'd go after Kasperi Kapanen. Fast, sweet hands, two way winger with decent size. Not your stereotypical small, soft, and skilled European.

Lacks hockey IQ?

- Look I haven't watched him play live or anything, but judging from the highlights I've seen, he definitely doesn't lack in that area. He'll set people up when you think he's going to shoot, he'll play the body to open up space, he'll accelerate up the ice if he feels he has a step on the defender, he'll fake like the Sedins one way and rush up the other way to fool the defender, etc.

He's not double clutching, he has hockey IQ. It might not be amazing like the level that playmakers have but he has it.

- Most of his goals don't come off the rush, most of them are snipes from the right areas and from areas you wouldn't expect. He's got a wicked accurate wrister.

That being said he does score off the rush too, but what's wrong with that?

- He's not "bulldozing through players" to score goals, he's a big power forward who can accelerate PAST them.

If you look at the highlights the defenders can't even get back in time to try to stop him.

- When you say "Bulldoze through smaller players", that couldn't be more wrong. Virtanen is 6'1 210lbs, while skating for the puck, he knocked over Lukas Sutter who is 6'0 214lbs (roughly the same size) and it's not like he wasn't expecting it, he was trying to battle with him. Here's another example, he was skating down the boards with the puck when 6'4 212lb Mason Geertsen tried to stand him up. Geertsen ended up on the ice and it hardly slowed Virtanen down, he kept his stride and all of his momentum after bulldozing someone his size.

I don't think you realize how impressive that actually is.

- Brett Connolly isn't that great of a comparison, maybe offensively in junior but they're not even close to the same size. Plus Virtanen is better in his own end and has a way better shot to just name a few things.

- Lastly, just because Connolly was picked at 6th doesn't mean anything regarding Virtanen picked at 6th.

So in summary I disagree with your post because most of your points regarding Virtanen are incorrect and misinformed.

[thad]

A lot has been made about best case scenario of this draft pick (upside of any given prospect). How does everyone think has the highest floor (if they bust in NHL how far do they fall)?

Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News said earlier this week on the Team 1040 that Virtanen has the "lowest floor" of anyone outside the top 5 (Ekblad, Bennett, Reinhart, Draisailt, Dal Colle). He said that the guy could be a solid 3rd or 4th liner if his offense doesn't pan out. Although I like Virtanen's upside I am not sure about this assessment.

Conversely a guy like Ritchie is said to have diverse skill-set that will help him even if his offense doesn't work out; notably his physical play. But I have also heard that although he hits very hard, he doesn't hit as often as some scouts think he should. Similarly, his toughness has been compared to Lucic. If fights are any measure of toughness (debatable) it is interesting to note that Ritchie had 4 fighting majors this yeas (as did Virtanen) whereas Lucic in his draft year had 23 fighting majors.

What does everyone think? I don't necessarily mean who do you think is the safest pick (which I would define as the least likely to bust) but rather I mean if one does "bust" does their "floor" still allow them to play in the NHL?

I think Ritchie could probably be encouraged not to fight as often as he's their offensive star. Kinda hard to win if he's jumping at every little opportunity to fight and going off for 5 mins all the time.

I have no actual idea but if I was coaching a 39 goal scorer that is what I would preach. Whoop ass if you gotta but don't drop em in 25% of the games.

[Smashian Kassian]

Your post is kinda pathetic, because what you just said we can easily apply it to any NHL prospect.

Let give you an example

Ehlers.

I can easily say.

"Ehlers is currently blowing by his competition at the QMJHL. He has elite speed however he is extremely unlikely pull the same stuff at the NHL level. Let alone even the AHL level. This is why he considered a high risk high reward player. He's not going to be able to blow by the Webers, or the Dought's not a chance. His end to end skating, yea... he might be able to do that once or twice a year in the NHL."

you see what I mean?

YOu get it right?

I am not expecting Ritchie to do what he is doing with the Petes to do the same with the Canucks right now, he needs to get a little more athletic.

Ehlers gets his sucess because of his speed, not because of his skill. His advantage, come the NHL would be gone and we would be left with a Nikita Filatov.

Too easy to counter guys with Ehlers erections right now.

Ehlers succeeds cause of his skill, skating ability & smarts, its a combination of all 3, he uses all 3 very effectively together. Its not just "his speed" like he's Mason Raymond or Matt Lombardi.

The idea of trading down was posted in another thread - I would be in favor of this if we could make a deal with Anaheim trading our first round pick (adding in additional picks/prospects in order to make it work for both sides) for Anaheim & Ottawa's. This would give us pick 10 and another somewhere in the mid-20's.. Having two first round picks gave us two good prospects last year in Horvat and Shinkaruk.

With the picks acquired from Anaheim we might be able to have another solid draft such as last year's.

10th - Kasperi Kapanen, Nikolaj Ehlers, Jared McCann, Haydn Fleury

Mid-20's: Nick Schmaltz, Robby Fabbri, Nikolay Goldobin, Roland McKeown

36th - Jakub Vrana, Kevin Fiala, Brendan Lemieux, Lucas Wallmark, Adam Ollas Mattson (sp?)

Although keeping the 6th overall pick and possibly having one of the top 5 drop to us or have a chance at Kapanen, Ehlers or Ritchie (my 3 favorites for our pick) is always a good option.

If there is a chance Kapanen would be available at 10 & none of the top 5 fell, I would do it for ANA's 2 firsts.

We could end up with Kapanen & Goldobin, two really high skill players, something we could really use.

[Smashian Kassian]

Lacks hockey IQ?

- Look I haven't watched him play live or anything, but judging from the highlights I've seen, he definitely doesn't lack in that area. He'll set people up when you think he's going to shoot, he'll play the body to open up space, he'll accelerate up the ice if he feels he has a step on the defender, he'll fake like the Sedins one way and rush up the other way to fool the defender, etc.

He's not double clutching, he has hockey IQ. It might not be amazing like the level that playmakers have but he has it.

- Most of his goals don't come off the rush, most of them are snipes from the right areas and from areas you wouldn't expect. He's got a wicked accurate wrister.

That being said he does score off the rush too, but what's wrong with that?

- He's not "bulldozing through players" to score goals, he's a big power forward who can accelerate PAST them.

If you look at the highlights the defenders can't even get back in time to try to stop him.

- When you say "Bulldoze through smaller players", that couldn't be more wrong. Virtanen is 6'1 210lbs, while skating for the puck, he knocked over Lukas Sutter who is 6'0 214lbs (roughly the same size) and it's not like he wasn't expecting it, he was trying to battle with him. Here's another example, he was skating down the boards with the puck when 6'4 212lb Mason Geertsen tried to stand him up. Geertsen ended up on the ice and it hardly slowed Virtanen down, he kept his stride and all of his momentum after bulldozing someone his size.

I don't think you realize how impressive that actually is.

- Brett Connolly isn't that great of a comparison, maybe offensively in junior but they're not even close to the same size. Plus Virtanen is better in his own end and has a way better shot to just name a few things.

- Lastly, just because Connolly was picked at 6th doesn't mean anything regarding Virtanen picked at 6th.

So in summary I disagree with your post because most of your points regarding Virtanen are incorrect and misinformed.

Not trying to discredit/attack/destroy your opinion or anything. I have no problem with you wanting Virtanen.

But if you haven't seen him play, how can you discredit what many people who have seen him play say are his weaknesses.

Highlights only show the positives not the negatives, they only paint half the picture. So I don't see how you could come to a conclusion that his weaknesses are false based on them.

Thats not just with Virtanen, with anyone. Like I said my problem isn't your opinion or that you want Virtanen, I just don't see how anyone could make a conclusion that weaknesses are false based on highlights that don't show weaknesses. Not trying to be a jerk.

[Merci]

Ritchie has as much skill and iq with just a tad less speed

[Tystick]

Not trying to discredit/attack/destroy your opinion or anything. I have no problem with you wanting Virtanen.

But if you haven't seen him play, how can you discredit what many people who have seen him play say are his weaknesses.

Highlights only show the positives not the negatives, they only paint half the picture. So I don't see how you could come to a conclusion that his weaknesses are false based on them.

Thats not just with Virtanen, with anyone. Like I said my problem isn't your opinion or that you want Virtanen, I just don't see how anyone could make a conclusion that weaknesses are false based on highlights that don't show weaknesses. Not trying to be a jerk.

Fair point, I admit I never considered whether he had watched his play or not.

That being said, some of the points he was making were not true at all.

[canuckledraggin]

If Draisaitl and Dal Colle aren't there at 6 I take Virtanen. He has the raw skills as a 17 year old to develop into a professional. I think we expect these kids to help our club immediately to too much of an extent. Draisaitl maybe makes the jump right away, Dal Colle is 2 years and Virtanen is the bigger project at 2 to 3 years but may be the best prospect. It's a shot in the dark, but I think picking 6th is going to make us better within the next couple years.

[funkyfresh]

The Q over the last 3 years is equal to the O and W my friend. Yes in the past the Q was not producing like the O and W in terms of ready NHL players but that has changed a lot:

Over the last ten years, 30 players from the QMJHL have been selected in the first round of the NHL Draft, with a high water mark of five players in a single year being reached twice.

That peak looks like it will be completely blown away in 2013, with as many as ten QMJHL players challenging to be selected among the first 30 players this June in New Jersey. When you couple that with the fact that a QMJHL team has won the past two Memorial Cups, the question then becomes: are we witnessing the emergence of the QMJHL as a force to be reckoned with in the CHL?

For many years, the QMJHL has been viewed as the weaker sister league to the WHL and theOHL. The league produced fewer NHL Draft picks, especially in the top rounds, while also facing tired stereotypes about how scoring was easier in the Q and playing defense was merely a suggestion.

It's a narrative that no longer fits the reality of the situation. The last two Memorial Cups were won by the Shawinigan Cataractes and the Saint John Sea Dogs, respectively. This year, the Halifax Mooseheads are tops in the CHL rankings and are the odds-on favorites to make it three straight for the QMJHL at the CHL's championship event.

Meanwhile, 13 QMJHL players participated in the recent NHL/CHL Top Prospects Game. Seven of those players are listed among the top 15 North American skaters ranked by the NHL's Central Scouting at the midterm mark, in addition to the league boasting the top ranked draft eligible goaltender in the same rankings.

As the commissioner of the QMJHL, Gilles Courteau has heard all the knocks on his league. But since taking the post in 1986, he's been at the helm as the league has transformed into a well-rounded development system for NHL talent.

"[All the credit goes to] the coaching staff for each and every team, because of the great job that they are doing to develop those players at the level they should be," explains Courteau. "The way that our coaching staffs from each and every team are working, I'm very impressed with it and I think you will see benefits from the great job that coaches are doing over the next couple of years."

The effect of these improvements in coaching can even be seen at the highest level, where NHL teams have been eager to snap up successful junior coaches. NHL head coaches like Tampa Bay's Guy Boucher and Vancouver's Alain Vigneault both came from behind the bench at the QMJHL level to make the jump to pro hockey. In addition, assistant coaches around the NHL like Gerard Gallant and Clement Jodoin in Montreal and Pascal Vincent in Winnipeg have all previously won the QMJHL's Ron Lapointe Trophy as the Coach of the Year.

QMJHL commissioner Courteau has also watched the league grow, with expansion into the Atlantic Provinces now bringing the league to a total of 18 teams. As Courteau is quick to point out, that still places the league as the smallest among their CHL brethren.

"You have to consider that across the CHL, we have the lowest number of teams," says Courteau. "The Western Hockey League has 22 teams, the O has 20 and here in the Q, we have just 18. So when you look at the ratio of players eligible for the draft, we have a good number of players being drafted."

Growth in the ability to find talented players from previously untapped areas and improvements in player development across the league has helped the QMJHL's draft numbers considerably.

The East Coast expansion, in particular, has paid dividends for the QMJHL. Over the past ten NHL drafts, almost a quarter of the first rounders selected out of the QMJHL have come from the Atlantic Provinces, including 2005's first overall pick, Sidney Crosby. In total, among the 76 QMJHL players drafted in the first two rounds over those ten years, 16 have come from the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland.

That Atlantic influence is also a factor for the class of 2013 with Halifax Mooseheads forwardNathan MacKinnon, a native of Cole Harbour, challenging for the honor of being drafted first overall.

In addition to the expansion into the Atlantic Provinces, the QMJHL has also had much success with identifying and luring European players to their league. Six of the 30 QMJHL first rounders drafted over the past ten years were Import players joining the league, including three from Russia, two from the Czech Republic and one from Slovakia. When you also consider the second rounds of those ten drafts, the number expands to 13 QMJHL Import players selected out of a total of 76 QMJHL selections.

That trend of producing first-round NHL talent from Import selections is one that should also be continued with the class of 2013. Russian forward Valentin Zykov joined the Baie-Comeau Drakkar with the specific goal in mind of being drafted as high as he could be. Currently ranked eighth among North American skaters, Zykov is a solid bet to be drafted in the first round this summer. Swedish forward Nick Sorensen is in his second year with the Quebec Remparts. After an injury-filled rookie season that saw him play only eight games, his draft stock may not be as guaranteed when it comes to being selected in the first round, but the young forward should still hear his name called among the top 60 players.

Finally, the QMJHL has evolved in how it has developed their top caliber talent. Once simply the bastion of high scoring forwards and butterfly goaltenders, the QMJHL has seen six first round defensemen over the last ten years and a total of 18 defenders picked in the top two rounds from the same period of time. In a change of fortune, only ten goaltenders were selected among the first 60 players over that period, with just two of them being picked in the first round.

Zach Fucale of the Halifax Mooseheads looks to buck that trend and be the first QMJHL goaltender selected in the first round since Jonathan Bernier was chosen 11th overall in 2006 by the Los Angeles Kings.

While 2013 looks to be an exceptionally strong year for the QMJHL when it comes to the NHL Draft, Courteau is optimistic that the league will continue to be at the forefront of developing NHL talent, both on the ice and behind the bench.

"This is a strong year, but it's something that we were expecting," says Courteau. "I think what we've seen over the last number of years is a good quality of players being drafted and a good quality of coaches that have been able to reach the NHL level, which has been great."

If you're just going to copy/paste the material, at least, cite the source or give credit to the writer.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/84515/qmjhl-emerging-from-the-shadow-of-ohl-whl/

edit: Nvm, posted this before I could read your other post. Sorry.