2017 NHL Draft - Chicago, Illinois June 23-24 2017

[Canucks Curse]

Also majorly on the Stadt wagon if we pick at 4 or higher, which is looking very plausible (3,4,5 pick overall)

[KKnight]

I think we will finish 3 or 4 last. Remember last year that 4 and 5th last won the lottery, ending up with the 2nd and 3rd overall, so anything is possible. 

 

[Noble 6]

 

 

This guy is becoming my favourite player in the draft. His hands an awareness are elite. I'm not too concerned about his size, and I think he should be equally focused on his edgework/explosiveness. He plays kind of like a taller, not as fast/quick Ehlers.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Horvat is a Boss

[S N Y P E R S 7]

13 hours ago, Horvat is a Boss said:

 

 

This guy is becoming my favourite player in the draft. His hands an awareness are elite. I'm not too concerned about his size, and I think he should be equally focused on his edgework/explosiveness. He plays kind of like a taller, not as fast/quick Ehlers.

Pettersson plays a similar game to John Tavares. Some of the guys in Sweden like comparing him to Rodin, because Rodin is kind of a stud name over there. Pettersson is a complete hockey player with an abundant amount of offensive tools and a knack for the defensive game. He could have one of the highest ceilings in the draft if developed properly.

[S N Y P E R S 7]

1		Nolan Patrick (C/RW)	Brandon Wheat Kings	WHL	14	9	14	23	19
2		Nico Hischier (C)	Halifax Mooseheads	QMJHL	43	37	39	76	18
3		Casey Mittelstadt (C/LW)	Green Bay Gamblers	USHL	16	8	13	21	0
4		Elias Pettersson (C/LW)	Timrå IK	Allsvenskan	33	15	18	33	10
5		Gabriel Vilardi (C)	Windsor Spitfires	OHL	33	19	21	40	10
6		Martin Necas (C)	HC Kometa Brno	Czech	35	6	7	13	4
7		Timothy Liljegren (D)	Rögle BK	SHL	19	1	4	5	4
8		Cale Makar (D)	Brooks Bandits	AJHL	42	16	39	55	12
9		Miro Heiskanen (D)	HIFK	Liiga	30	5	5	10	4
10		Isaac Ratcliffe (LW)	Guelph Storm	OHL	48	23	19	42	53
11		Lias Andersson (C/LW)	HV71	SHL	32	6	5	11	16
12		Owen Tippett (RW)	Mississauga Steelheads	OHL	47	38	27	65	26
13		Callan Foote (D)	Kelowna Rockets	WHL	52	5	36	41	28
14		Eeli Tolvanen (LW)	Sioux City Musketeers	USHL	31	17	15	32	8
15		Michael Rasmussen (C)	Tri-City Americans	WHL	50	32	23	55	50
16		Shane Bowers (C)	Waterloo Black Hawks	USHL	40	15	17	32	16
17		Alexei Lipanov (C)	Dynamo Balashikha	VHL	17	3	4	7	6
18		Maxime Comtois (LW)	Victoriaville Tigres	QMJHL	47	16	21	37	54
19		Cody Glass (C)	Portland Winterhawks	WHL	51	24	47	71	28
20		Ryan Poehling (C)	St. Cloud State Univ.	NCAA	27	6	3	9	12
21		Nicolas Hague (D)	Mississauga Steelheads	OHL	47	14	21	35	76
22		Kailer Yamamoto (C/LW)	Spokane Chiefs	WHL	45	30	34	64	26
23		Nikita A. Popugayev (RW)	Moose Jaw Warriors	WHL	40	22	29	51	14
24		Klim Kostin (RW)	Dynamo Moskva	KHL	8	0	0	0	27
25		Urho Vaakanainen (D)	JYP	Liiga	31	2	1	3	12
26		Nicholas Suzuki (C)	Owen Sound Attack	OHL	47	25	34	59	8
27		Marcus Davidsson (C/W)	Djurgårdens IF	SHL	34	5	3	8	4
28		Matthew Strome (LW)	Hamilton Bulldogs	OHL	48	28	16	44	44
29		Nathan Schnarr (C)	Guelph Storm	OHL	35	12	13	25	11
30		Kristian Vesalainen (LW/RW)	Frölunda HC	SHL	22	1	5	6	2
31		Pierre-Olivier Joseph (D)	Charlottetown Islanders	QMJHL	46	6	28	34	32

[Noble 6]

32 minutes ago, S N Y P E R S 7 said:

Pettersson plays a similar game to John Tavares. Some of the guys in Sweden like comparing him to Rodin, because Rodin is kind of a stud name over there. Pettersson is a complete hockey player with an abundant amount of offensive tools and a knack for the defensive game. He could have one of the highest ceilings in the draft if developed properly.

 

He seems like he has a reasonable amount of risk for a very high reward. His awareness and playmaking ability would compliment our forward core very nicely with Horvat and Boeser. He would add some high end skill. 

 

I would be curious to hear if you think he's more of a center or a winger at the next level?

[Derp...]

Mittelstadt train since the summer, dood has high end skill, speed and IQ and isn't tiny either.

Like Vilardi as well. Good size skill combo, but has been injured a lot over the past couple years.

[Warhippy]

My wants in order.

 

Hischier (Immediate drop in to the AHL)

Liljegren (Immediate drop to the AHL)

Foote (Immediate ask to try a European league to work on skating fundamentals)

Pederson (Immediate entrance to the CHL if possible)

 

The main reason I am not enamoured with Middlestadt is his being in high school programs.  The quality of competition is so questionable and while his nifty moves are all fancy etc, how would they do against a quality CHL defender?

[TheHockeyNerds]

16 minutes ago, Horvat is a Boss said:

 

He seems like he has a reasonable amount of risk for a very high reward. His awareness and playmaking ability would compliment our forward core very nicely with Horvat and Boeser. He would add some high end skill. 

 

I would be curious to hear if you think he's more of a center or a winger at the next level?

Defs more of a W. I heard only played C becuase of injuries on his team.

[S N Y P E R S 7]

51 minutes ago, Horvat is a Boss said:

 

He seems like he has a reasonable amount of risk for a very high reward. His awareness and playmaking ability would compliment our forward core very nicely with Horvat and Boeser. He would add some high end skill. 

 

I would be curious to hear if you think he's more of a center or a winger at the next level?

Stuff like that depends on the line he's put with and whether there's a more viable center. It's all about roles, if they want him playing his dominant two-way game, he's a center. If they want him attacking, he's a winger. I haven't been too impressed with his strength in the circle and ability to win faceoffs, though. 

[Noble 6]

49 minutes ago, S N Y P E R S 7 said:

Stuff like that depends on the line he's put with and whether there's a more viable center. It's all about roles, if they want him playing his dominant two-way game, he's a center. If they want him attacking, he's a winger. I haven't been too impressed with his strength in the circle and ability to win faceoffs, though. 

 

I would expect that his faceoff ability would not be good being a smaller and younger player. 

 

With his lack of strength, I would be expecting a winger as he might not be able to effectively contain bigger players in the defensive zone. If we could land him as a skilled, creative, offensive winger

 that would be great for us. 

 

The only thing that would worry me is that we have Baertschi who already plays he soft, skilled player on the left side. That means unless Petterson becomes a 1st line guy, he and Baertschi will be competing for the same spot. Even if we trade on of them eventually, we haven't added to our forward core. 

 

1 hour ago, TheHockeyNerds said:

Defs more of a W. I heard only played C becuase of injuries on his team.

 

That seems reasonable. His defensive game is deemed good too, however. I just don't want people to see the high skill/weaker player and assume he doesn't play defense. 

[messier's_elbow]

I would love Middlestadt or Foote. Those are two guys I see coming out of the draft being decent NHL players. Besides the top 2 of course. 

[kenhodgejr]

54 minutes ago, messier's_elbow said:

I would love Middlestadt or Foote. Those are two guys I see coming out of the draft being decent NHL players. Besides the top 2 of course. 

I would through Maxim Comtois into that mix

 

[HomeBrew]

11 hours ago, Warhippy said:

My wants in order.

 

Hischier (Immediate drop in to the AHL)

Liljegren (Immediate drop to the AHL)

Foote (Immediate ask to try a European league to work on skating fundamentals)

Pederson (Immediate entrance to the CHL if possible)

 

The main reason I am not enamoured with Middlestadt is his being in high school programs.  The quality of competition is so questionable and while his nifty moves are all fancy etc, how would they do against a quality CHL defender?

I can see your point about Mittelstadt, but that route of development is proving not to be a bad choice - example Johnny Gaudreau, Blake Wheeler, Kyle Okposo, Nick Schmaltz and few other recent first rounders out of the US development system. In the highlights below he dangles Urho Vaakanainen, who is slated to go first round this year as well, out of his pants. That could be taken as a measure CHL high end comparable defenders. What sells me is his change of pace more than anything. He has the fastest few steps that I've seen out of any of these prospects and he can do it even in mid stride as well. On top of the he has some slick hands and nice presence physically. I would happy with quiet a few prospects from this draft including those you mentioned, even though this is supposed to have "lower end" talent, but I just hope we take the right player at the right position. If Patrick, Hischier, and Liljegren are off the board when we pick and Mittelstadt is still available, I will be pretty upset if we don't take him honestly. 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2017 by HomeBrew

[wellnon]

The difference between Mittelstadt and Johnny Gaudreau, Nick Schmaltz is they played their whole draft year in the USHL  whereas Mittelstadt decided to go back to his high school league for the middle portion of this season.  I still think hes a top 5 player in this draft but it does raise some red flags for me.  I'd wait and see how he does going back to finish his USHL season and if he can perform good at the u18's again before making any judgments on him.       

[HomeBrew]

33 minutes ago, wellnon said:

The difference between Mittelstadt and Johnny Gaudreau, Nick Schmaltz is they played their whole draft year in the USHL  whereas Mittelstadt decided to go back to his high school league for the middle portion of this season.  I still think hes a top 5 player in this draft but it does raise some red flags for me.  I'd wait and see how he does going back to finish his USHL season and if he can perform good at the u18's again before making any judgments on him.       

I can see your point. The kid just wants to be a high school hero so I can't blame him! haha But your right in saying that his return to the USHL and into the spring at the U18's well show where he is truly at and whether or not he is worth the high pick. He should be able to improve upon his role and totals from later years tournament at the U18's. I do think the college route in general is a good path for the Canucks high picks though as there is less pressure for them to perform or make the team in the initial years if they are committed to a university already.  

[Odd.]

Mittlestadt was leading the USHL in points with 21 points in 16 games played. Mittlestadt went back to High school because he had unfinished business with his Eden Prairie team. They lost in the finals and Mittlestadt was chocked about it. Mittlestadt also said he grew up with those players on his team since pond hockey so it was an easy decision to go back for 1 more year. 

 

Since he's committed to the University of Minnesota, it might take him a few years before he's in the NHL. Canucks love the college route (Stecher, Boeser, Gaudette, Lockwood, Demko, Garteig) too. This guy could be a steal for anyone that's drafting 4th-6th overall.

[TheHockeyNerds]

10 hours ago, HomeBrew said:

I can see your point. The kid just wants to be a high school hero so I can't blame him! haha But your right in saying that his return to the USHL and into the spring at the U18's well show where he is truly at and whether or not he is worth the high pick. He should be able to improve upon his role and totals from later years tournament at the U18's. I do think the college route in general is a good path for the Canucks high picks though as there is less pressure for them to perform or make the team in the initial years if they are committed to a university already.  

Im pretty sure Mittelstadt will be too old for the U18s if he's already 18 lol 

[HomeBrew]

46 minutes ago, TheHockeyNerds said:

Im pretty sure Mittelstadt will be too old for the U18s if he's already 18 lol 

Whoops! Yeah your right. I just quickly assumed because there were a lot of guys from last years draft playing in that tournament in 2016, but obviously it all depends on birth dates. Too bad though, it would of been good to seen him compete on the international level again. 

[Alflives]

Is our current slide likely to get us into the top five for the draft lottery?  What are our odds of moving up if we finish bottom five?