6th Pick: 2014 NHL Entry Draft

[baumerman77]

One scouts assessment of Ritchie near the start of the year:

“Conditioning is a question. He’s too heavy. His skating would be better if he wasn’t dragging around that amount of weight. And if he was in better shape, he might not be taking shifts off, which he does. Health is a question, too. He missed a lot of games last year with a bum shoulder. That’s a concern, especially with the game he plays.”

There is no doubt he will have to lose weight to play in the NHL. One's condition needs to be a lot better than in the OHL. Also there is a risk of drafting a player who has already had two injures (head/shoulder). Although he has the frame to play in the NHL there is little doubt that he would be back in the OHL next year to improve on his conditioning among other things. I am really looking forward to the draft combine I think it will affect Ritchie's draft position; if he doesn't do well on the strength tests and has a poor body-fat percentage, I think his large frame (weight) goes from being a positive to a negative.

[FlyLow_]

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.

This is almost exactly what I want. In the grand scheme of things it's unlikely there's going to be much difference in skill level from the 6th pick to 12th. Far more prudent IMO to take advantage of a team that covets a certain player and acquire another decent asset. I would also add Tuch to the list for mid round picks.

[FlyLow_]

One scouts assessment of Ritchie near the start of the year:

“Conditioning is a question. He’s too heavy. His skating would be better if he wasn’t dragging around that amount of weight. And if he was in better shape, he might not be taking shifts off, which he does. Health is a question, too. He missed a lot of games last year with a bum shoulder. That’s a concern, especially with the game he plays.”

There is no doubt he will have to lose weight to play in the NHL. One's condition needs to be a lot better than in the OHL. Also there is a risk of drafting a player who has already had two injures (head/shoulder). Although he has the frame to play in the NHL there is little doubt that he would be back in the OHL next year to improve on his conditioning among other things. I am really looking forward to the draft combine I think it will affect Ritchie's draft position; if he doesn't do well on the strength tests and has a poor body-fat percentage, I think his large frame (weight) goes from being a positive to a negative.

I think we've drafted too many of these big lumbering guys that don't skate very well, speed and skill has to be the theme in this draft.

[theminister]

One scouts assessment of Ritchie near the start of the year:

“Conditioning is a question. He’s too heavy. His skating would be better if he wasn’t dragging around that amount of weight. And if he was in better shape, he might not be taking shifts off, which he does. Health is a question, too. He missed a lot of games last year with a bum shoulder. That’s a concern, especially with the game he plays.”

There is no doubt he will have to lose weight to play in the NHL. One's condition needs to be a lot better than in the OHL. Also there is a risk of drafting a player who has already had two injures (head/shoulder). Although he has the frame to play in the NHL there is little doubt that he would be back in the OHL next year to improve on his conditioning among other things. I am really looking forward to the draft combine I think it will affect Ritchie's draft position; if he doesn't do well on the strength tests and has a poor body-fat percentage, I think his large frame (weight) goes from being a positive to a negative.

It's definitely a baby fat issue. I see that as a positive.

That was obviously an early season analysis because he didn't get injured this year. That should mitigate that concern.

I think we've drafted too many of these big lumbering guys that don't skate very well, speed and skill has to be the theme in this draft.

He's not a 'big lumbering guy.'

I think you are misunderstanding the assessment. He skates very well, has good speed, and has great skill.

He has too much extra size that he needs to shed. If he shed the extra weight he would be an even better skater. He will need to focus on his conditioning…. that's not unusual for an 18 year old.

[theminister]

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.

It was SID….

I haven't read through all the draft threads but one thing I haven't seen getting much discussion is the idea of trading down with the #6 overall.

If none of the top-five fall to us at #6, what would people think about trading down and taking the Leafs' #8 and #38 or the Jets' #9 and #39 (or maybe even getting Anaheim's two 1st round picks).

Could even try to go further down and maybe pick-up another team's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks (in exchange for our #6 overall).

I just feel like there's a good chance one of Ritchie/Virtanen/Perlini might drop anyway. Same goes for one of Ehlers/Nylander/Kapanen. And there are plenty of guys worth rolling the dice on in the 15-40 range. Having another late 1st or early 2nd (in addition to our #36) could give us a shot at stealing a potential impact player from this draft.

I've also considered trying to trade #36 and #66 to acquire another late 1st rounder. There's a good chance one of the riskier skilled players drops into the 25-30 range.

It just seems like, outside of the very top end, this draft has a glut of potential boom/bust players. It might be worthwhile to draft for volume instead of position.

Of course, I'd wait until the first five picks are made before pulling the trigger on any deal. If any one of the consensus top-5 falls to #6, it's a no-brainer to draft them. I just think that the guys ranked 6-15 have pretty much equal chances of being steals or busts, and it's an even bigger crapshoot in the 16-40 range (but with some potential gems in there).

I just wonder if picking at #8, #36, and #38 (or something similar) is actually a better option than picking #6 and #36?

I definitely think it is worth considering.

If I were the Canucks, I would wait until the 5th pick has been taken but have another couple of deals on the table if the player they wanted is not there. If there is little consensus between pick #6 and pick #10 then it would probably be worth it.

Trade the pick down a couple of spots if there is a sufficient package to make it worth the risk.

[CANUCKS FTW!]

Both Nylander and Kapanen have very nice stories so far this year. They both got to play in the same pro game with their dads.

[CANUCKS FTW!]

After watching the Blues today, I think our team is missing that Taresenko or Schwartz type of player. We need a guy like Ehlers to compliment our bigger and two way forwards

[Merci]

After today's games Virtanen is my top choice.

Ritchie doesn't have blistering speed and I cannot believe how tough a call Linden will be making.

[Scruffy05]

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.

I, in fact, do have concerns about Ehlers.... I fear he is the next Rico Fata. We cannot draft people based on success caused by a single advantage that will be removed ones he goes up to higher levels. Speed is good, and depending solely on speed translates to higher levels better than relying on size, but remember Raymond? Great speed... And that's it. Mediocre hands at best, too small to fight through checks and not strong enough mentally or physically to be much more than a perimeter player.

We need to draft for IQ, ability and talent.

You missed the whole point of my post. You have two prospects with identical stats. One is fully developed and therefor, that is as good as he will probably get. The other is as tall, but currently thinner. He will still grow and gain and progress. He couldn't use his superior strength to muscle weaker kids because he didn't have it. He has talent, ethic and drive. He got those points despite of his lower development.

Now, why does that not apply to smaller framed individuals: because the guy I am suggesting will grow, will gain and will get the strength he needs to compete at higher levels. AND he will have the IQ, ability and talent that the bigger kid didn't need.

That doesn't mean we draft 5'9, smallish frames like Ehlers (granted, I don't have all the info I need on his body type, just the eyeball test)... We draft somebody more like MDC who still will grow into his body and take his other skills and innate abilities with him, PLUS eventual size.

I'm mostly saying, don't draft one trick ponies or people who only rely on a single physical gift that is a dime a dozen by time they get to the NHL. Lots of people have size, lots have speed... We need far more complete players.

[CANUCKS FTW!]

You know when Linden said size and skill with two way play, could he be actually referring to Kapanen?

[Millerdraft]

You know when Linden said size and skill with two way play, could he be actually referring to Kapanen?

His exact words were, "we'll probably have the opportunity to take a forward, which I think is a good fit for us... You know, there are some real big, powerful forwards that are available..."

Does that describe Kapanen to you?

[saucypass]

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.

No, you're right, being picked at 6th really has nothing to do with how Jake Virtanen turns out (assuming that we do pick him)I wasn't trying to use it as a point to discredit you, just thought it was something funny to bring up.

You make fair points,

However, Brett Connolly is 6'2 210lb. and Jake Virtanen is 6'1 209 so yes they're about the same size.

Don't get me wrong you like Jake Virtanen and that's fine. I actually like Jake Virtanen too but I'm just worried that he's not going to be as good as everybody thinks and it'll be a waste of a sixth if/when other player selected after him pans out.

I could probably stand here and tell you that I watch Jake play all the time, but I have no proof. So take it from the scouts, it's their job to watch CHL players play all the time and while his athletic ability is incredibly enticing, most of them agree that he could probably dish the puck to some of his teammates a little more. Which shows that his on-ice vision is something that needs to be improved.

But if we select him and proves me wrong, then I'd be as happy as the rest of you.

Which is perfect because

As I have said a dozen times before

Whoever we take in this draft has the ability to be developed voer a few years and wouldn't need to be rushed in to the NHL at all because of the logjam of our core players.

Great, then why not take a chance on a player like Kapanen, Nylandr, or even Ehlers? If we're going to bake Virtanen in the minors for many years before he develops, why not pick Kapanen or Nylander who are at most only a couple inches shorter than him? Let them gain more weight and they'll be "NHL size." I honestly think that our prospect pool could use a little more elite level skill.

[BanTSN]

You know when Linden said size and skill with two way play, could he be actually referring to Kapanen?

If Linden were stricken with a mental disease of some sort now that we're not aware of, sure.

[Kooner91]

Which one of these prospects are NHL ready? I think Draisaitl and Ekblad both will make their respective teams, with Reinhart, Bennett, and maybe Ritche as a bit of long shots.

[Gstank29]

ekbald is no doubt ready.

otherwise non of then are really ready but i think buffalos pick will be rushed.

[davinci]

For the love of everyone spouting out knowledge of hockey players they know little about except for highlights and a couple scattered reports....

Tune into the U18 IIHF tourny in Finland: Mcann, Virtanen, Perlini, Fleury, Nylander, Kempe, Draisaitl, Kapenen........

http://stats.hockeycanada.ca/schedule/league_instance/18408?subseason=151351

http://www.tsn.ca/canadian_hockey/feature/?id=11970

[Plum]

Virtanen has 4 points, everybody lower than him on Team Canada has 1 point.

[PowerAids]

Dp

[PowerAids]

I, in fact, do have concerns about Ehlers.... I fear he is the next Rico Fata. We cannot draft people based on success caused by a single advantage that will be removed ones he goes up to higher levels. Speed is good, and depending solely on speed translates to higher levels better than relying on size, but remember Raymond? Great speed... And that's it. Mediocre hands at best, too small to fight through checks and not strong enough mentally or physically to be much more than a perimeter player.

We need to draft for IQ, ability and talent.

You missed the whole point of my post. You have two prospects with identical stats. One is fully developed and therefor, that is as good as he will probably get. The other is as tall, but currently thinner. He will still grow and gain and progress. He couldn't use his superior strength to muscle weaker kids because he didn't have it. He has talent, ethic and drive. He got those points despite of his lower development.

Now, why does that not apply to smaller framed individuals: because the guy I am suggesting will grow, will gain and will get the strength he needs to compete at higher levels. AND he will have the IQ, ability and talent that the bigger kid didn't need.

That doesn't mean we draft 5'9, smallish frames like Ehlers (granted, I don't have all the info I need on his body type, just the eyeball test)... We draft somebody more like MDC who still will grow into his body and take his other skills and innate abilities with him, PLUS eventual size.

I'm mostly saying, don't draft one trick ponies or people who only rely on a single physical gift that is a dime a dozen by time they get to the NHL. Lots of people have size, lots have speed... We need far more complete players.

Well luckily for Ehlers he has far more than just speed in his game. Agility, way above average hands, decent shot, great hockey IQ, very good playmaker, plays the PK. oh and he's 5'11" maybe 6', not 5'9".

[Niloc009]

Kind of hilarious that right now there are 23 votes each for Virtanen, Ritchie, and Ehlers. CDC is so evenly split it's crazy.

No matter who we draft, 2/3 of the site will be unhappy. Should be an eventful post-draft here