6th Pick: 2014 NHL Entry Draft

[TOMapleLaughs]

If you want people to take you seriously, you'll have to work on sounding less like someone's 10 year old that got on the computer. Next to no capitalization, the last paragraph was all one big run on sentence, hashtags in a forum post (not that you evven did those correctly), etc.

Ekblad is very good, but I'd hesitate to say he'll be better than Jones last year, or anyone else that'll be available at the top of this "couple of years" range. Even "mad potential" is a stretch for me.

But then there's Naslund, Morrison and other players we've had that have had success. Gretzky comes to mind as an undersized player as well. Clearly they're all different, but to discount a player purely based on his size is a little shortsighted.

I know that's not the only argument you've made on the subject, but you and absent are going to go round and round on this one if you can't acknowledge he does have a high level of skill. Whether that's enough for him to succeed in the NHL or if it makes him worthy of a top 5/6 pick is another story, same with Nylander, and same with the opposite effect to bigger players like Ritchie and Virtanen.

Sorry, but I can't help but notice recent Canucks small skilled players go onto being quite unremarkable. I've seen enough thanks. Maybe revisit it when the league changes into a post-2005 lockout game again.

No, that doesn't mean future Naslund's aren't out there, but Ehlers and Nylander aren't skilled enough to get me excited, regardless of them being smallish or unable to engage in puck battles.

Dal Colle, Bennett, Reinhart are better. Draisaitl is a bit slow, but better. And honestly, Virtanen's speed and shot is impressive enough to put him up there as well. He's a safer pick in my view and CSS concurs.

[RealCanuckBoss]

If you want people to take you seriously, you'll have to work on sounding less like someone's 10 year old that got on the computer. Next to no capitalization, the last paragraph was all one big run on sentence, hashtags in a forum post (not that you evven did those correctly), etc.

EDIT: and just read granpappy's posts as well, he's in the same boat but sitting far, far away at the other end if his name has any truth.

Ekblad is very good, but I'd hesitate to say he'll be better than Jones last year, or anyone else that'll be available at the top of this "couple of years" range. Even "mad potential" is a stretch for me.

But then there's Naslund, Morrison and other players we've had that have had success. Gretzky comes to mind as an undersized player as well. Clearly they're all different, but to discount a player purely based on his size is a little shortsighted.

I know that's not the only argument you've made on the subject, but you and absent are going to go round and round on this one if you can't acknowledge he does have a high level of skill. Whether that's enough for him to succeed in the NHL or if it makes him worthy of a top 5/6 pick is another story, same with Nylander, and same with the opposite effect to bigger players like Ritchie and Virtanen.

I didn't know there would be a English teacher or perquisites for the forum when I leave a post. In another words thanks for the advice I was just trying to get my point across. Obviously you don't think he has mad potential but I definitely do the kids only 18 and from his play on the d line he seems to be pretty promising, he's got a good shot from the point and a strong skater being only 18 and having the stats he has I'd say he's got pretty good potential. He won't be the next Seth Jones but he will be on the team canada roster for the future along with Jones being on the future USA roster. #you must be a pro at this (did I use it correctly)

[asian player]

I didn't know there would be a English teacher or perquisites for the forum when I leave a post. In another words thanks for the advice I was just trying to get my point across. Obviously you don't think he has mad potential but I definitely do the kids only 18 and from his play on the d line he seems to be pretty promising, he's got a good shot from the point and a strong skater being only 18 and having the stats he has I'd say he's got pretty good potential. He won't be the next Seth Jones but he will be on the team canada roster for the future along with Jones. #you must be a pro at this (did I use it correctly)

You're using hashtags wrong just stop

[RealCanuckBoss]

Lol I know, I did it purposely

[elvis15]

Sorry, but I can't help but notice recent Canucks small skilled players go onto being quite unremarkable. I've seen enough thanks. Maybe revisit it when the league changes into a post-2005 lockout game again.

No, that doesn't mean future Naslund's aren't out there, but Ehlers and Nylander aren't skilled enough to get me excited, regardless of them being smallish or unable to engage in puck battles.

Dal Colle, Bennett, Reinhart are better. Draisaitl is a bit slow, but better. And honestly, Virtanen's speed and shot is impressive enough to put him up there as well. He's a safer pick in my view and CSS concurs.

People can agree to disagree is all I'm saying. I'm a fan of Nylander's skill but I recognize the risk as well. I'd love one of the consensus top 5 but I won't hold my breath waiting for one to drop either. Other picks, such as Virtanen, also aren't bad but might not be my preference.

I didn't know there would be a English teacher or perquisites for the forum when I leave a post. In another words thanks for the advice I was just trying to get my point across. Obviously you don't think he has mad potential but I definitely do the kids only 18 and from his play on the d line he seems to be pretty promising, he's got a good shot from the point and a strong skater being only 18 and having the stats he has I'd say he's got pretty good potential. He won't be the next Seth Jones but he will be on the team canada roster for the future along with Jones. #you must be a pro at this (did I use it correctly)

Well, there aren't, but when your post is so filled with errors to make it nearly unreadable and annoying you aren't going to have much luck earning any respect for your opinion.

By the way, Jones won't be on the Team Canada roster, since he plays for Team USA. Ekblad will have a long way to go to make Team Canada outside of the World Juniors as well. Maybe the World Championships where not everyone is available, but still.

Lol I know, I did it purposely

Go on and keep using those hashtags 'sarcastically' though.

[Absent Canuck]

Ehlers isn't 162 either.

Dale Tallon wants him enough to consider trading down to get him, that says a lot (Ehlers)

According to Wikipedia..he's 176lbs..

Crosby was 180lbs when he was drafted..so really..?

They are lying about Ehlers to make their prospects seem better. Golden rule; if you cant make your prospect look good enough compared to the other prospects, then rip apart the others to drag them down so your guy looks better.

Ill acknowledge it and come back with we have almost the same player in Shinkaruk at the same position. So unless they are planning to trade Hunter it makes no sense in reality. Ritchie or Virtanen make way more sense.

This is one of the rare posts where someone has the gall to put forth an objective point without using hyperbole or subjective bias. Good for you. +1

It is true we have Shinkaruk. They are very similar players. Agreed. Ehlers is taller and is faster, but it could be argued that Shinkaruk has has a better shot and is a pure goal scorer.

I dont believe you pass a prospect up just because you already have another scoring winger as a prospect. If you honestly have apples to apples a better the same level prospect at center or a defenseman, it would be a compelling argument to take the center first, then the defender and then winger.

In this case our choice is to take .............another winger. According to the same logic we already have Ritchie in the form of Kassian.

Virtanen would be a kind of hybrid between Ehlers and Ritchie. So using that line of logic we already have Shinkaruk and Kassian but we have no Virtanen.

So if Virtanen is the same quality of prospect as Ehlers, then take Virtanen. But he isnt. He has the speed, and shot that Ehlers does. He even has more size than Ehlers does and is 6 months younger. However, to be fair he does not have the skills or hockey IQ that Ehlers has. Ehlers scored more goals in fewer games and got a whopping 33 more points in fewer games.

So instead we could choose neither. We could pick William Nylander. This kid is a center / winger. If he is as good as everyone says he is, He will be a bigger version of Claude Girouix. Unfortunately Nylander has never played the North American game and it becomes a risk as his game revolves around maneuvering in open ice..

These are all thing that I am sure the Canucks are pondering. I appreciate the OP making an unbiased point and laying off the hyperbole and other useless insults.

[Absent Canuck]

ok we get it you like ehler, please stop bring up the same point every time we mention him it's getting old and your justing repeating your self .

Ok we get it you are frustrated and you have no reply so you try to insult the poster. If you guys would stop IGNORING or dismissing that 'same point' , then we wouldnt have to keep bringing it up.

[Ihatetomatoes]

Ok we get it you are frustrated and you have no reply so you try to insult the poster. If you guys would stop IGNORING or dismissing that 'same point' , then we wouldnt have to keep bringing it up.

Bernier had over 100pts in the qmjhl in his draft year. Pierre-Marc bouchard had 140pts in the Q in his draft year and never really amounted to that much (couple 60pt seasons). So what Ehlers also put up 100pts.

Judging a player solely in the quantity of points he put up in Junior to prove he will be a guaranteed success in the NHL is flawed.

Looking at everything that player does and relating it to whether it will translate to the NHL is better than posting statistics. Not saying Ehlers is a bad pick at 6 but stating that he put up 100pts isn't a worthy argument for justifying the pick.

[ForsbergTheGreat]

They are lying about Ehlers to make their prospects seem better. Golden rule; if you cant make your prospect look good enough compared to the other prospects, then rip apart the others to drag them down so your guy looks better.

This is one of the rare posts where someone has the gall to put forth an objective point without using hyperbole or subjective bias. Good for you. +1

It is true we have Shinkaruk. They are very similar players. Agreed. Ehlers is taller and is faster, but it could be argued that Shinkaruk has has a better shot and is a pure goal scorer.

I dont believe you pass a prospect up just because you already have another scoring winger as a prospect. If you honestly have apples to apples a better the same level prospect at center or a defenseman, it would be a compelling argument to take the center first, then the defender and then winger.

In this case our choice is to take .............another winger. According to the same logic we already have Ritchie in the form of Kassian.

Virtanen would be a kind of hybrid between Ehlers and Ritchie. So using that line of logic we already have Shinkaruk and Kassian but we have no Virtanen.

So if Virtanen is the same quality of prospect as Ehlers, then take Virtanen. But he isnt. He has the speed, and shot that Ehlers does. He even has more size than Ehlers does and is 6 months younger. However, to be fair he does not have the skills or hockey IQ that Ehlers has. Ehlers scored more goals in fewer games and got a whopping 33 more points in fewer games.

So instead we could choose neither. We could pick William Nylander. This kid is a center / winger. If he is as good as everyone says he is, He will be a bigger version of Claude Girouix. Unfortunately Nylander has never played the North American game and it becomes a risk as his game revolves around maneuvering in open ice..

These are all thing that I am sure the Canucks are pondering. I appreciate the OP making an unbiased point and laying off the hyperbole and other useless insults.

Ehlers is not a clear cut better prospect than the other players (Ritchie, Viratnen, Nylander) If he was, people wouldn't be talking about picking a player outside the top 5 it would be picking a player outside the top 6. In fact very few mock drafts have Ehlers at number 6. Therefore it's safe to say no prospect is a cut above everyone else. And in this case if we already have someone similar in our system who is arguably better why draft that same skillset and there is no difinate BPA, then pick one on the possible 4 that fits team future needs. EDM has disregarded their team needs when it came to drafting and it’s resulting in building a one dimensional team.. not a winning team.

Nylander hasn't player in NA, which is true, but he is playing against men. This should give him a head start to producing in the NHL compared to Ehlers. It's a less risk because his smaller frame (game style) has already shown it can handle playing against a bigger stronger competition where Ehlers will still need to prove that.

[ForsbergTheGreat]

Bernier had over 100pts in the qmjhl in his draft year. Pierre-Marc bouchard had 140pts in the Q in his draft year and never really amounted to that much (couple 60pt seasons). So what Ehlers also put up 100pts.

Judging a player solely in the quantity of points he put up in Junior to prove he will be a guaranteed success in the NHL is flawed.

Looking at everything that player does and relating it to whether it will translate to the NHL is better than posting statistics. Not saying Ehlers is a bad pick at 6 but stating that he put up 100pts isn't a worthy argument for justifying the pick.

Amen, If it was so crutial than Drouin should have been drafted ahead of Mackinnon last year

[Piggy Bank]

I would love to draft Ehlers;

- 5 ft 11.75 inches

- 176 pounds

- QMJHL Rookie of the Year

- QMJHL Top Professional Prospect

- 49 Goals, 104 Points in 1st year of North American Hockey.

- 11 Goals, 17 Assists, in 16 Games for QMJHL Playoffs.

- Only 30% of points involved Jonathon Drouin.

---- This means that he is not a product of Drouin.

---- Having 30% of your points involve a player, does not mean they were created, or caused soley by that man.

- Fast AF

- Skilled AF

- Smart AF

- Sneaky AF

- Oozes potential

[Salmonberries]

I'm definitely residing at granpappy's end of the Elvis spectrum.

[TOMapleLaughs]

Ehlers is not a clear cut better prospect than the other players (Ritchie, Viratnen, Nylander) If he was, people wouldn't be talking about picking a player outside the top 5 it would be picking a player outside the top 6. In fact very few mock drafts have Ehlers at number 6. Therefore it's safe to say no prospect is a cut above everyone else. And in this case if we already have someone similar in our system who is arguably better why draft that same skillset and there is no difinate BPA, then pick one on the possible 4 that fits team future needs. EDM has disregarded their team needs when it came to drafting and its resulting in building a one dimensional team.. not a winning team.

Nylander hasn't player in NA, which is true, but he is playing against men. This should give him a head start to producing in the NHL compared to Ehlers. It's a less risk because his smaller frame (game style) has already shown it can handle playing against a bigger stronger competition where Ehlers will still need to prove that.

Agreed that 'playing against men' overseas is a factor, but Nylander's U18 tourney shown that he can also vanish against his bigger, stronger 17yr old peers. Not sure if he's all that better a prospect than Ehlers, who I have outside the top-10. There's a reason why Nylander is not part of the top-5 either. Both undersized guys are defensive non-factors who shy away from physical play, and their skill is good, but not quite up there with the best. Both will require years of getting them to figure out how to play without the puck.

Good point about addressing team needs. We have Shinkaruk and Schroeder for the time being and that's probably enough small skilled guys without elite upside.

[Plum]

The weakness of Draisaitl is that his skating is very poor and he can't seem to get a good first few steps or really turn corners at a fast level so that is his biggest weakness and if we can teach that then easily that is the pick if he drops no doubt. His vision (which is not teachable) is easily the best in the draft and on a NHL level, his IQ or instincts is also one of the best, really he is easily top 3 in the draft if his skating was atleast average because of his size, offensive skillset, awareness, defense, two-way game. The skating at the NHL will decrease his defensive skills because of getting back in time.

Otherwise, I think I would go with Ehlers because he is a slippery, skilled LW who knows how to pass the puck around and have the hands to take it dance with it and make something out of nothing. He doesn't play with Drouin on 5 on 5 either so his points aren't fed to him. Shinkaruk and Ehlers can be on different lines and even if they are on the same line with a big physical two-way center in between them is the dream scenario. That is a pure, skill line is it not? Two guys who can make electrifying plays, that have speed and know how to dangle?

[Smashian Kassian]

ehlers will be a BUST not because he small vegetarian and made living off drouin not because he play the perimiter and hide behind the big man, not because he fraidy cat and don't have a bark, not because he not grow no-more and skate through opposing player legs, not because he don't fight and let his momma do that for him, not because he play again boys not men, not because he don't stand behind team mate except when they not looking, not because he only play 1 yr n. america instead of 15yr, not because don cherry don't like him more than boobyorr, not because he play no defence better than lars lindgren, not because no championship with him on team. the reason because he not CANADIAN

this has to be a troll post.

Giroux walked into a sweet situation in Philly, who play his kinda style and who even traded Richards and Carter away to make room.

I like Giroux, but i think i'd rather have Richards and Carter.

Anyway, Ehlers not cracking the top-5 in this draft is a concern if he's an all-skill guy.

Giroux was younger & had outplayed Richards & Carter.

Agreed that 'playing against men' overseas is a factor, but Nylander's U18 tourney shown that he can also vanish against his bigger, stronger 17yr old peers. Not sure if he's all that better a prospect than Ehlers, who I have outside the top-10. There's a reason why Nylander is not part of the top-5 either. Both undersized guys are defensive non-factors who shy away from physical play, and their skill is good, but not quite up there with the best. Both will require years of getting them to figure out how to play without the puck.

Good point about addressing team needs. We have Shinkaruk and Schroeder for the time being and that's probably enough small skilled guys without elite upside.

Nylander is the most skilled player in the draft with Ehlers just behind.

Its been discussed time & time again, I get wanting a bigger player as a preference, but comparing Ehlers & Nylander to Schroeder to devalue them is just wrong.

They are both young kids & will grow, they are both 5''11 - 6'0 & 175 -180, in there primes both could be 6'0 or 6'1 & 190, with that skill (and I disagree on you saying its less than it is, not elite) that's a damn good player.

[Smashian Kassian]

The weakness of Draisaitl is that his skating is very poor and he can't seem to get a good first few steps or really turn corners at a fast level so that is his biggest weakness and if we can teach that then easily that is the pick if he drops no doubt. His vision (which is not teachable) is easily the best in the draft and on a NHL level, his IQ or instincts is also one of the best, really he is easily top 3 in the draft if his skating was atleast average because of his size, offensive skillset, awareness, defense, two-way game. The skating at the NHL will decrease his defensive skills because of getting back in time.

Otherwise, I think I would go with Ehlers because he is a slippery, skilled LW who knows how to pass the puck around and have the hands to take it dance with it and make something out of nothing. He doesn't play with Drouin on 5 on 5 either so his points aren't fed to him. Shinkaruk and Ehlers can be on different lines and even if they are on the same line with a big physical two-way center in between them is the dream scenario. That is a pure, skill line is it not? Two guys who can make electrifying plays, that have speed and know how to dangle?

Yeah Draisaitl's first few steps really need improvement, he can skate when he's at full speed, but needs work elsewhere.

The NHL game actually favors his style, but also skating is something that can be worked on. And fixed he could be a very special player.

[ForsbergTheGreat]

Agreed that 'playing against men' overseas is a factor, but Nylander's U18 tourney shown that he can also vanish against his bigger, stronger 17yr old peers. Not sure if he's all that better a prospect than Ehlers, who I have outside the top-10. There's a reason why Nylander is not part of the top-5 either. Both undersized guys are defensive non-factors who shy away from physical play, and their skill is good, but not quite up there with the best. Both will require years of getting them to figure out how to play without the puck.

Good point about addressing team needs. We have Shinkaruk and Schroeder for the time being and that's probably enough small skilled guys without elite upside.

I'm not going to deny that Nylander's defensive game needs some work and that he does shy's away from the physical game. He has flaws, I can admit this unlike some Ehler supporters. I just see an unreal amount of skill in him and that's what excites me. He has great vision and is extremely smooth when he controls the puck. I see a lot of Backstrom in his game. But it really depends on what this team feels we need.

I also like virtanen a lot. He brings a lot more overall game. He hit's, he's fast, he's got a good shot.

I think we can all agree that outside the top 5 it's down to Ritchie, Virtanen, Nylander, Ehlers, and some could even put in Kapanen. We should be happy with who ever this team picks as all kids have great potential.

[funkyfresh]

So instead we could choose neither. We could pick William Nylander. This kid is a center / winger. If he is as good as everyone says he is, He will be a bigger version of Claude Girouix. Unfortunately Nylander has never played the North American game and it becomes a risk as his game revolves around maneuvering in open ice..

He played in North America until 2011.

[Smashian Kassian]

He played in North America until 2011.

His game does seem to suit the larger ice better though IMO.

[funkyfresh]

His game does seem to suit the larger ice better though IMO.

Yea, I agree.