[Poll/ Discussion] Nylander vs. Ehlers; only 2 options for Canucks at #6

[messier's_elbow]

I thought Nylander played wing?

I think hes a center and winger which is another plus.

[canucks155]

Picking Sam Bennett. Train him to do more pull-ups

lol. But, he won't drop.

[canucks155]

I would be very happy with any player that does not dive, takes a hit to make a play, goes to the net with authority, makes the right play at the right time, can control the flow of the game, is clutch in the playoffs.

Does that sound like any player in this years draft, if there is one take that player, if the Canucks can't get him at number 6 then they need to move up to take them.

If they play their cards right the Canucks can walk away with the 1st, 6th, and 10th picks this year.

Those are the hard choices they must make, they only makes those choices once they know what Kesler wants.

They could come out of the draft with a #1 centre a power forward, and a skilled winger, imagine all the complaints from the fans regarding a core being dismantled, fingers would be pointing as angry fans look for a target when they realize the team well be weaker for a few years waiting for new players to develop.

The hunger the youth would infuse well be nice to see, might really see some veterans play hard again, might even solve some of the speed vs size vs skill arguments for the short term, unless they pick the wrong skill guy that is.

Sounds like Ehlers to me. Not sure if he dives, he drives the net, takes hits for the team, he makes the simple/right play, he controls the game w/ his puck handling and speed and he put up 28P in 18G in the playoffs.

If we get the 1st OVR pick, we will have to give up the 6th. The only reason the Panthers want to move down is to get Ehlers and additional assets. I think we walk out of the draft w/ the 6th and 10th. 1st is going to take too mcuh to get IMO. The only other possibility I see in being able to get 3 top 10 picks, is if we trade Horvat, Tanev and maybe something else for the pick. I'm not sure if it's worth it, but it's certainly a possiblity.

[canucks155]

Am sorry but that is your ideal world. In a real world, not everything goes according to plan. Maybe Burke will pick Virtanen due to his size or Edmonton goes off-board and picks Ehler. You don't really know what the top 5 in this draft will be like so please refrain from making threads that make it seem like a guarantee that the Canucks will pick certain players. If any one of the the consensus top 5 drop (I said consensus), everything could change.

My ideal world would see Ekblad fall, but that's not happening. Burke isn't GM, it's Brad Treliving. Edmonton needs size.

[Speed or Size]

Ritchie is fast for his size, but he's not "fast or skilled," which is what Benning wants the team to be like. Ehlers and Nylander fit the bill for who Benning wants the team to be composed of.

Nylander or ehlers dont fit the bill of big or tough to play agaisnt.

Which is what benning has drafted for decades and what he wants thia team to play like from the west.

Nylander makes no sense the way these playoffs went

[Nicklas Bo Hunter]

Nylander or ehlers dont fit the bill of big or tough to play agaisnt.

Which is what benning has drafted for decades and what he wants thia team to play like from the west.

Nylander makes no sense the way these playoffs went

The thing is none of the big guys are even close to being as good as nylander. It would be a huge fail to pick a worse player because they are bigger. Plus no way I want to see nick fat face ritchie. Have enough lazy with kass. So nylander it is!

[asian player]

The thing is none of the big guys are even close to being as good as nylander. It would be a huge fail to pick a worse player because they are bigger. Plus no way I want to see nick fat face ritchie. Have enough lazy with kass. So nylander it is!

"nick fat face ritchie"

Don't make it so obvious that you're 10

[Speed or Size]

The thing is none of the big guys are even close to being as good as nylander. It would be a huge fail to pick a worse player because they are bigger. Plus no way I want to see nick fat face ritchie. Have enough lazy with kass. So nylander it is!

Ritchie has alot more skill than nylander 40 goals in the ohl on a terrible team.

Whatd nylander do in 22 shl games 1 goal.

Ritchie against bylander in a 1v1 yea nylander would skate around ritchie then take a mason raymond perimeter shot.

Nylander isnt even as good as ehlers who at least realized hed need to play in a canadian league to get recognition

[Honeydew]

Ritchie has alot more skill than nylander 40 goals in the ohl on a terrible team.

Whatd nylander do in 22 shl games 1 goal.

Ritchie against bylander in a 1v1 yea nylander would skate around ritchie then take a mason raymond perimeter shot.

Nylander isnt even as good as ehlers who at least realized hed need to play in a canadian league to get recognition

This is such a fail reply,

Ritchie also has penalty problems, taken too many boneheaded penalties where other teams capitalized on his poor judgement. As well wouldn't you score 40+ goals if you were 6'3" 230+ pounds pushing away kids to score goals? Btw, have you ever seen Nylander play at all? To assume that he's a perimeter player clearly shows that you haven't watched him play, let's see how you try score a goal in SHL against men. Hell let's have reverse scenarios where Ritchie goes to SHL would he do better against men or worse?

Personally I'd take Nylander reason why? Sedins. I bet almost a lot of Swedish kids have them as their idols and to be working/training next to the best in the game that could speak his own language could be a dramatic big helper. Sedins have one of the best work ethic mentalities on our team if that could rub off to a kid like Nylander it'll come naturally for him.

[Speed or Size]

This is such a fail reply,

Ritchie also has penalty problems, taken too many boneheaded penalties where other teams capitalized on his poor judgement. As well wouldn't you score 40+ goals if you were 6'3" 230+ pounds pushing away kids to score goals? Btw, have you ever seen Nylander play at all? To assume that he's a perimeter player clearly shows that you haven't watched him play, let's see how you try score a goal in SHL against men. Hell let's have reverse scenarios where Ritchie goes to SHL would he do better against men or worse?

Ritchie barely relied on his size to score goals. Its evident in his high hockey iq to find open ice.

And his penalty and consistency issues are his only weakness and hes acknpwledged them personally.

Ritchie has room to shed 10lbs and be even faster than he is now while being that 220 lb force.

Nylander is a solid #5 pick along with ehlers and if ritchie wasnt avaliable this year id totally go with ehlers over dalcolle or nylandrr

[FireGillis]

It's so hard to decide b/w the two, but if I had to choose, I'd probably go nylander for now because he has the potential to be the best offensive player in this draft and this team desperately needs skill. I just hope we draft either over ritchie/virtanen because I don't want another taylor pyatt/raffi torres because people are so in love with size. This team needs skilled players the most over just size, but less skill.

[Speed or Size]

Well if you ask yourself why do some players with size become Lucic and others become Pyatt you really have no real answer.

When you see Ritchie's game and acknowledge he has an older Brother competing for the Calder Cup there is clearly something there.

The real question is why is Nylander immune to suggesstions he'll become a Jordan Schroeder but Ritchie is a Pyatt or Bernier automatically.

The number one thing I look for in ritchie's game is foot speed and he has that, and even admitted he will be working on it even more. The hands, shot, and IQ are there in the body of a 235lb player and we want to pick Nylander.

Doesn't make sense.

[FireGillis]

The real question is why is Nylander immune to suggesstions he'll become a Jordan Schroeder but Ritchie is a Pyatt or Bernier automatically.

It's cause schroeder is really undersized, while nylander and ehlers are giroux size. You're right in that we can't really predict what any of these players will become, but I just want to hit a home run over the safe pick. People say someone like ritchie is safe because if he busts he can be a 3rd liner, whereas nylander/ehlers would be out of the nhl.

Well who has the highest floor isn't appealing to me because you can acquire many third liners through trades and ufa. This team is full of 3rd liners and that's why we suck because we have 3rd liners playing with kesler on our 2nd line. Nylander/ehlers have the higher ceiling, but are higher risk, but if the risk pays off we can have a star on our hands, something I don't see with ritchie/virtanen. I'd rather roll the dice and get a star player over the safe player with size because this team really lacks offensive talent.

[Papayas]

Well if you ask yourself why do some players with size become Lucic and others become Pyatt you really have no real answer.

When you see Ritchie's game and acknowledge he has an older Brother competing for the Calder Cup there is clearly something there.

The real question is why is Nylander immune to suggesstions he'll become a Jordan Schroeder but Ritchie is a Pyatt or Bernier automatically.

The number one thing I look for in ritchie's game is foot speed and he has that, and even admitted he will be working on it even more. The hands, shot, and IQ are there in the body of a 235lb player and we want to pick Nylander.

Doesn't make sense.

People don't rank Ritchie as high as nylander because there is a good chance Ritchie rely on his body size to score against kids. This would disappear when he started to play against men.

Of course you can say he didn't rely on his size for those goals, but let's be realistic here, you really think he didn't have more advantage because of his size?

You could be right and he could turn out to be a really good player in the future, and you may see something others don't, but that's the beauty of drafting prospects

Regarding nylander, I an pretty sure a lot of ppl questioned his size too, and again he could be a bust. However on paper, just on paper, nylander is commonly regard as the better prospect cos of his higher skill level.

That doesn't mean he's better than Ritchie, that just means when you have the 6th pick and want to make a business decision, you would pick the higher rated prospect unless you see something others don't.

[Jiggs50]

A bigger Nylander ?....Ehlers towers over Nylander by an inch...The big difference is Nylander is 15lbs heavier....

Personally from what I've read and seen I'd take Ehlers, Virtanen, Fleury and even Kapanen before Nylander. Just my opinion...

[CynideSnipe]

I know this topic has been beat to death, brought back to life and beat to death again, but I thought I'd share who the Canucks should draft. The way I see it, the Canucks have 2 options at the #6 spot: Nylander or Ehlers. The other guys are all great players as well, but it's too high to take them at #6 (Virtanen, Fleury, Perlini, Fiala, Kapanen), or they don't fit the bill of a fast, skilled team (Ritchie), like Benning said. Since we will be using the 6th and 36th picks in the draft, I say we pick 1 of these guys. Here’s a breakdown of each:

William Nylander

Pros:

-incredibly skilled in puck handling

-great passer

-quick

-genes of former NHLer

-great vision

-high hockey IQ

-accurate shot w/ good release

-ripped it up at the U18’s

-plays in harder league w/ grown men

Cons:

-defensive game is bad

-inconsistent

-too small

-“greedy”, holds onto puck too long/ doesn’t use teammates enough

-tries to do too much at times

-needs to add velocity to shot

-unimpressive stats

Nikolaj Ehlers

Pros:

-speedy

-good hands

-hard, accurate, elite level shot

-great balance, hard to knock him off the puck

-good passer

-great vision

-not afraid to go to “dirty areas” an isn’t 1 dimensional in terms of where he goes on the ice

-high hockey IQ

-amazing stats (100+ points, +51, 1 goal away from 50 goals)

-can be a playmaker or a sniper

-unselfish

Cons:

-inflated stats due to playing in Q and playing w/ Drouin

-too small

-defense needs work

MY CHOICE: Ehlers. Less of a risky pick than Nylander, w/ the same upside. I think he can put up 60+ every season as long as he puts on some muscle since he’s 6’0. Thoughts?

I would gladly take Nylander over Ehlers. Nylander has a higher ceiling than Ehlers and has more tools. They're both lightning quick, but Nylander has better hands, better stickhandling, better puck control, and better vision. Both need work defenseively, but at this point in time, defense is the least of our problems. We need a super high skilled, high talented star. And I just think Nylander brings more to the table than Ehlers. Ehlers stats are pumped up tremendously due to him playing with Drouin, the most pure offensively talented player in last years draft. You have to think that brings his stats up QUITE a bit. Both of their Hockey IQ's are incredibly high. Nylander doesn't go to the dirty areas often, but when he does, he creats magic. And it doesn't matter if he doesn't to the dirty areas. He's just simply a perimeter player. Kessel and Ovechkin are perimeter players, look at them now. Ovechkin is the best goal scorer in the league and Kessel is a 35 goal guy and a top 5 goal scorer in the league. Also, Nylander is actually stronger than Ehlers, did u see him in the Draft Combine? Looking like Zdeno Chara out there with that kind of strength. Obviously that was just an exaggeration, but you know what I mean, he's much stronger than some people think. Nylander has been playing with MEN over in Sweden, while Ehlers has been playing in the juniors, that's why Nylander's stats weren't averaging like fugging 2 points per game like Ehlers, who was being helped by Drouin as well as being in the Juniors. Nylander on the other hand, was still a PPG player over in sweden and if i would choose who would adapt to the toughness of the NHL and who would make a bigger, better and faster impact, I would definetly choose Nylander since he has been playing with men over in Sweden as I said. Don't get me wrong, Ehlers is still a very good prospect. But if we want a legit superstar, Nylander is the way to go.

[Speed or Size]

People don't rank Ritchie as high as nylander because there is a good chance Ritchie rely on his body size to score against kids. This would disappear when he started to play against men.

[CynideSnipe]

I would gladly take Nylander over Ehlers. Nylander has a higher ceiling than Ehlers and has more tools. They're both lightning quick, but Nylander has better hands, better stickhandling, better puck control, and better vision. Both need work defenseively, but at this point in time, defense is the least of our problems. We need a super high skilled, high talented star. And I just think Nylander brings more to the table than Ehlers. Ehlers stats are pumped up tremendously due to him playing with Drouin, the most pure offensively talented player in last years draft. You have to think that brings his stats up QUITE a bit. Both of their Hockey IQ's are incredibly high. Nylander doesn't go to the dirty areas often, but when he does, he creats magic. And it doesn't matter if he doesn't to the dirty areas. He's just simply a perimeter player. Kessel and Ovechkin are perimeter players, look at them now. Ovechkin is the best goal scorer in the league and Kessel is a 35 goal guy and a top 5 goal scorer in the league. Also, Nylander is actually stronger than Ehlers, did u see him in the Draft Combine? Looking like Zdeno Chara out there with that kind of strength. Obviously that was just an exaggeration, but you know what I mean, he's much stronger than some people think. Nylander has been playing with MEN over in Sweden, while Ehlers has been playing in the juniors, that's why Nylander's stats weren't averaging like fugging 2 points per game like Ehlers, who was being helped by Drouin as well as being in the Juniors. Nylander on the other hand, was still a PPG player over in sweden and if i would choose who would adapt to the toughness of the NHL and who would make a bigger, better and faster impact, I would definetly choose Nylander since he has been playing with men over in Sweden as I said. Don't get me wrong, Ehlers is still a very good prospect. But if we want a legit superstar, Nylander is the way to go.

Also, for people who need anymore proof why Nylander is the better option, Take a look at how Nylander demolished the World U18's and made these kids, the same age as him, look like they had never played hockey before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiPD0fWSRU8

[Speed or Size]

Nylander won't be passed by NYI.

Dal Colle has terrible attitude problems.

and if it's Ehlers or Ritchie we definitely reluctantly pick Ritchie

[Papayas]

replying with an image without much facts to back up your claim makes me think you are just a 10 years old kid...

so far you had failed to bring up anything more than your biased opinion about picking a lower ranked prospect.