2021 NHL Entry Draft

[Bertuzzipunch]

21 minutes ago, Beary Sweet said:

A thing I’m curious to know is what direction Seattle will go. They will go either D or FWD. Beniers and Clarke would be solid options for them at 2 assuming Power goes #1 to Buf. I doubt this will happen but imagine if they pick say Wallstedt. That would be something. It’d change the complexion of the draft. In regards with our team, D is obviously a need but I have a feeling we’ll be going BPA. Unless a player like Clarke, Guenther, etc, drops into our lap, it seemingly looks likely that we will pick a forward. McTavish, Eklund, Johnson are all going to be available and I think that we are going to pick one of them. I’d be excited to end up with anyone of those 3.

If i was them(Seattle) id go goalie(wallstead)

[R3aL]

5 hours ago, S N Y P E R S 7 said:

I don't usually do these, but I was bored. Also my partner at work left for the rest of the day, so I had some time to kill.

 

:hydration: all around

 

Here's my June mock draft lol. Honestly, Ottawa could use a bonafide #1 goalie, but would they go for Wallstedt?
 

I'd say this is a realistic Mock, not how I would do it but could very well be the way it goes!

 

Appreciate how you formatted it more than anything ahah was so clean to read.

[R3aL]

4 hours ago, S N Y P E R S 7 said:

I feel like Guenther would be a great pick, especially if Lind does indeed get swept up in the Expansion Draft. I have this feeling that the Kraken will take up one of Lind, Gadjovich, or MacEwen. Guenther's an easy replacement, and if the cookie crumbles in that way, would be the best player available.

 

 

 

 

I still want Stankoven though. Package up our second rounder with a prospect and move up late first to pick Stankoven lol.

Last time you buzzed about a small forward it was Ehlers I guess I will give you this one and drink the koolaid! 

 

I want him to purely off your passion aha.

 

He is 5 ft 8 realistically he will probably be available for our second round pick or close to it no? 

 

I hope you are wrong and the Kraken take Holtby though.

[JeremyCuddles]

2 hours ago, DeNiro said:

Let Hughes play right side. He roves all over the place does it really matter?
 

Problem solved.

Love Hughes, but he's not very good defensively. It's why Schmidt was the LD used on the right side in the top 4. Instead of Hughes. Edler is too old and slow to play his offside.

[R3aL]

3 hours ago, NUCKER67 said:

This is true. Other than Focht and maybe Zlodeyev, there's really nothing.  We're almost back to - Zhukenov is our C hope lol

 

Rating the Cs?

 

1. Eklund

2. Beniers

3. Johnson

4. McTavish

5. Lucius

6. Sillinger

7. Svechkov

 

 

 

 

I don't think Eklund is a C and all the scouting reports are projecting Johnson to be a winger. Maybe I am confused though?

[R3aL]

3 hours ago, DeNiro said:

Detroit is a team that I could see trading back maybe multiple times, picking up a few 2nds and still nabbing Wallstedt.

 

Pretty sure Stevie Y is notorious for that.

 

If Benning wants to be aggressive and move up to 6 because there’s a stud like Clarke there I have no problem giving up our 2nd. The need for a player like Clarke is that high.

Maybe if he was 100% certain Wallstedt will make it to 9 knowing maybe only Ottawa was the only other top 10 team considering taking him would they move down for a 2nd or 3rd rounder.

 

That would be insane for us if it guaranteed Clarke...

 

If it was for Hughes that would be interesting because Detroit could have had both Quinn and Luke then if they wanted LOL.

 

But I like this idea DeNiro. I would be over the moon if we got Clarke even if it meant giving Detroit the remainder of our picks from the draft. I bet LA or SJS would also want Clarke though and maybe Detroit would look to trade with them first.

[R3aL]

3 hours ago, Herberts Vasiljevs said:

Red Savage comes to mind.

 

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/512173/red-savage

RED SAVAGE....

 

Draft him for the name alone LOL 

[komodo0921]

Top 3 picks 2021

 

Mason McTavish

Logan Mailloux

Roman Scmidt

[appleboy]

What if the best player available is a goal tender?

Are we all watching Price right now.

[granpappy]

considering that

 

power

hughes

guenther 

wallstedt

 

could likely go before our pick, i reckon we will have a crack at one of 

 

beniers

clarke

eklund

lambos

svechkov

 

while beniers, clarke, eklund will likely go 2-3-4, i would be very happy to get lambos: awesome shot, uses body, positioning well, physical and should fill out to be a big body. only down side i can see is not a right shot but what eh. svechkov could provide some of the tenacious checking we have lacked while also contributing some high end offense. not sure about when he can exit russia tho

 

 

[granpappy]

7 hours ago, R3aL said:

Maybe if he was 100% certain Wallstedt will make it to 9 knowing maybe only Ottawa was the only other top 10 team considering taking him would they move down for a 2nd or 3rd rounder.

 

That would be insane for us if it guaranteed Clarke...

 

If it was for Hughes that would be interesting because Detroit could have had both Quinn and Luke then if they wanted LOL.

 

But I like this idea DeNiro. I would be over the moon if we got Clarke even if it meant giving Detroit the remainder of our picks from the draft. I bet LA or SJS would also want Clarke though and maybe Detroit would look to trade with them first.

im hopeful jb will take a flier on some large d in the 2nd and 3rd rounds and we hit the jackpot. i dont want to give those picks up

[flickyoursedin]

2 hours ago, appleboy said:

What if the best player available is a goal tender?

Are we all watching Price right now.

Hopefully the teams in front of us are watching and we don’t have to make that decision. There’s a real chance that Wallstedt would be BPA if there at 9 but us being so deep I can see Benning picking for more of a position of need.

[BPA]

9 hours ago, Bertuzzipunch said:

If i was them(Seattle) id go goalie(wallstead)

Not done 2nd overall.  But I can see SEA trying to get a 1st in the 10-15th spot to get the goalie.  Maybe take on a couple of bad contract to from a cap strapped team to get it.

 

Yo SEA, 9th for LE + Roussel + Ferland + Beagle + kitchen sink.  Lol. 

[HighOnHockey]

10 hours ago, Beary Sweet said:

A thing I’m curious to know is what direction Seattle will go. They will go either D or FWD. Beniers and Clarke would be solid options for them at 2 assuming Power goes #1 to Buf. I doubt this will happen but imagine if they pick say Wallstedt. That would be something. It’d change the complexion of the draft. In regards with our team, D is obviously a need but I have a feeling we’ll be going BPA. Unless a player like Clarke, Guenther, etc, drops into our lap, it seemingly looks likely that we will pick a forward. McTavish, Eklund, Johnson are all going to be available and I think that we are going to pick one of them. I’d be excited to end up with anyone of those 3.

Well we do have some things to consider: for starters, Ron Francis said in an interview that he would like to build from the middle out (centers, defense and goal).

 

Ron Francis brought over his top two guys from Carolina. The Hurricane's director of amateur scouting from 2008 to 2019, Tony MacDonald, is coming out of retirement, and their director of European scouting since 2017 (who Francis promoted to that role) will move up to DAS. Since Ron Francis was promoted to GM in 2014, they made 7 first round picks. 5 were out of the CHL, one from Europe (Necas) and one from NCAA (Hanifin). Since MacDonald became DAS in 2008, same story, almost every first rounder was from CHL - only additional exception was Elias Lindholm.

 

But where it gets complicated is when you consider that their more successful picks have overwhelmingly been out of Europe. MacDonald retired from his role as DAS with Carolina and Francis brought him in at a lower position, while Kron gets the prize position as DAS. When I make predictions based on tendencies, that means two things: a. where have they tended to draft from in the past, and also b. where have they tended to have the most success drafting in the past. And over time b will influence a. Besides the first rounders I mentioned, they also found Aho in the second round, plus Kuokonen and Wallmark under Kron's direction. Despite MacDonald being DAS, by Francis' last year there, they were leaning heavily towards Europe and especially Finland after the first round.

 

My feeling is that for Kron's first year in charge, they'll want to go Europe with the top pick. I did say at one point that I thought if a team with a heavy European scouting presence won the lottery, William Eklund could go first overall. I guess that goes for second overall too. But then the question is, do they believe Eklund projects as a center at the NHL level?

 

One other consideration - after retiring, Tony MacDonald took a senior advisor role with the Sudbury Wolves, who play in the same division as the Barrie Colts in the OHL, so MacDonald will have become quite familiar with Brandt Clarke.

Edited June 5, 2021 by HighOnHockey

[theo5789]

53 minutes ago, flickyoursedin said:

Hopefully the teams in front of us are watching and we don’t have to make that decision. There’s a real chance that Wallstedt would be BPA if there at 9 but us being so deep I can see Benning picking for more of a position of need.

“I’m just happy we didn’t lose any spots. There are nine guys we really like and I’m happy about that. And we’ll take the best player regardless of position.”

 

Direct quote from Benning. If Wallstedt is available and is on our BPA list, he will take him.

[Vinny in Vancouver]

10 hours ago, Beary Sweet said:

A thing I’m curious to know is what direction Seattle will go. They will go either D or FWD. 

If I were Seattle, I'd trade down a bit for the right-to-swap draft picks in the next 2 drafts.

[BPA]

2 minutes ago, vinny_in_vancouver said:

If I were Seattle, I'd trade down a bit for the right-to-swap draft picks in the next 2 drafts.

That would suck if SEA gets Bedard in 2023 (the next generational talent).

[J.I.A.H.N]

I have been thinking about our defensemen this morning, and what we really have here, is 2 really good young defensemen in Hughes and Rathbone. While they are great, they will not be their best until they have complimentary players with them. So, until the defense is complete , we will continue to have discussions of what we should do.

 

So, it is with that in mind, that we should look at our short term and long term requirements.

 

So, my immediate question is who do we get to play with Hughes? People say Hamonic, and I really think he is a step down from what we are needed, and we really do not have the assets to be trading for one, because when you pull from one area to shore up that area, you enviably weaken the area, you were pulling from. If you want quality, you have to pay for quality, or you end up taking someone else's problems.

 

Reclamation projects seldom work, and although it is easy to point out the successful ones, people seldom list the unsuccessful ones, and there is 10 X as many of them. Is it worth a try, sure, but not in an area, that is important.

 

So, it is with that that I feel, we look trade or UFA, for our short term fix, and trade or draft, for our long term solution. IMO, we can answer all these problems, with draft picks.

 

This is the year for defensemen in the draft, and is also really pushing it time wise to have these guys ready for our up turn.........................My solution is to go heavy on RHD in this years draft. Yes, Clarke would be great, and would certainly add to the offense, but we more need a defensive Dman to compliment Hughes long term. So, I would love to see Benning go after Bradon Schneider from the Rangers, to pair up with Hughes. This will cost us our 2021-1st and IMO, another decent asset. Why? Because Schneider is a known commodity, and has already shown improvement.

 

Pairing for Hughes:.................. Short term : Hamonic............Long term : Schneider

 

Now Rathbone is a special piece, as IMO, he will be the solution to 1/2 our 1st pairing. That is right, Rathbone ahead of Hughes, this is where our 2022 -1st (Unprotected) comes into play, and where there is risk. The unprotected 2022-1st offers up a chance for a trading team to have a dog in the Shane Wright sweep stakes. But that buys you a good solid #2 defenseman.

 

Alternatively, we go into UFA,but that is not a long term fix, unless you are ready to spend big money on a Dougie Hamilton.

 

So, why is this in the NHL draft page, because, IMO, we have to solve the defensive problems, now, in this draft, and we have to make choices, now, that will affect us long term.

 

If we go draft to fix our problems, we should be going hard at Clarke, who has the talent to be here in several years......IMO, he is Rathbone's partner, which then becomes the first pairing.

 

With our second Pairing, we should go after another RHD, and go big and go defensive. Jack Bar is such a beast. So to back track a bit, I would suggest we  use our 2021 - 2nd and draft one of Mailloux, Morrow, or Schmidt, and then go after Jack Bar with our 3rd.

 

But in any case, we need to be very aggressive in getting Clarke, who may be able to play with Hughes as he matures. 

 

The key whether we pick or use our pick as a trading chip is, RHD, RHD, RHD.

 

IMO, the Rangers have an abundance of young RHD, and would really like our #9............so what is it? I know BPA when picking, but when you target, you by-pass that.

 

Pick or trade

 

Develop or UFA market?

[Vinny in Vancouver]

26 minutes ago, BPA said:

That would suck if SEA gets Bedard in 2023 (the next generational talent).

Or Wright next year. All these other teams directly below them will be thinking: stupid Seattle, they'll have a worse record than us in the next 2 seasons so chances are they won't even use that first-round swap. But Seattle is thinking: I don't think there's any consensus top 7 in this draft; I like 7 players; I'm going to accumulate ping pong balls for the next 2 lotteries. So imagine if they manage to drop down all the way to number 7 but manage to get the ping pong balls for at least 2 of: Anaheim or New Jersey, Columbus, Detroit, San Jose. To extend it further, I would contact Buffalo and tell them, "I'll take Skinner off of your hands if you agree to a right-to-swap-first-rounders for the next 2 drafts." I'll also contact Vancouver with the same offer for Loui Eriksson.

Edited June 5, 2021 by vinny_in_vancouver

[HighOnHockey]

53 minutes ago, janisahockeynut said:

I have been thinking about our defensemen this morning, and what we really have here, is 2 really good young defensemen in Hughes and Rathbone. While they are great, they will not be their best until they have complimentary players with them. So, until the defense is complete , we will continue to have discussions of what we should do.

 

So, it is with that in mind, that we should look at our short term and long term requirements.

 

So, my immediate question is who do we get to play with Hughes? People say Hamonic, and I really think he is a step down from what we are needed, and we really do not have the assets to be trading for one, because when you pull from one area to shore up that area, you enviably weaken the area, you were pulling from. If you want quality, you have to pay for quality, or you end up taking someone else's problems.

 

Reclamation projects seldom work, and although it is easy to point out the successful ones, people seldom list the unsuccessful ones, and there is 10 X as many of them. Is it worth a try, sure, but not in an area, that is important.

 

So, it is with that that I feel, we look trade or UFA, for our short term fix, and trade or draft, for our long term solution. IMO, we can answer all these problems, with draft picks.

 

This is the year for defensemen in the draft, and is also really pushing it time wise to have these guys ready for our up turn.........................My solution is to go heavy on RHD in this years draft. Yes, Clarke would be great, and would certainly add to the offense, but we more need a defensive Dman to compliment Hughes long term. So, I would love to see Benning go after Bradon Schneider from the Rangers, to pair up with Hughes. This will cost us our 2021-1st and IMO, another decent asset. Why? Because Schneider is a known commodity, and has already shown improvement.

 

Pairing for Hughes:.................. Short term : Hamonic............Long term : Schneider

 

Now Rathbone is a special piece, as IMO, he will be the solution to 1/2 our 1st pairing. That is right, Rathbone ahead of Hughes, this is where our 2022 -1st (Unprotected) comes into play, and where there is risk. The unprotected 2022-1st offers up a chance for a trading team to have a dog in the Shane Wright sweep stakes. But that buys you a good solid #2 defenseman.

 

Alternatively, we go into UFA,but that is not a long term fix, unless you are ready to spend big money on a Dougie Hamilton.

 

So, why is this in the NHL draft page, because, IMO, we have to solve the defensive problems, now, in this draft, and we have to make choices, now, that will affect us long term.

 

If we go draft to fix our problems, we should be going hard at Clarke, who has the talent to be here in several years......IMO, he is Rathbone's partner, which then becomes the first pairing.

 

With our second Pairing, we should go after another RHD, and go big and go defensive. Jack Bar is such a beast. So to back track a bit, I would suggest we  use our 2021 - 2nd and draft one of Mailloux, Morrow, or Schmidt, and then go after Jack Bar with our 3rd.

 

But in any case, we need to be very aggressive in getting Clarke, who may be able to play with Hughes as he matures. 

 

The key whether we pick or use our pick as a trading chip is, RHD, RHD, RHD.

 

IMO, the Rangers have an abundance of young RHD, and would really like our #9............so what is it? I know BPA when picking, but when you target, you by-pass that.

 

Pick or trade

 

Develop or UFA market?

Please no Schneider. There's got to be better options. I know some people really like the player, but personally I have zero doubt you get a better player at 9 this year. Yes, he had a big year offensively at 19 in junior, but so did Jared Cowen. If a first round D doesn't put up numbers at 19, that is a red flag, not so much a green light if they do. Incredible defending in his own zone, no doubt, and has some solid skills, but kid just coughs up pucks like a cat does furballs when he's under pressure. I'm sure he probably will make the NHL, but I'm betting he's one of those players that the coach keeps playing because he's reliable defensively, but fans are going to hate because he constantly turns pucks over and gets stuck in his own zone. Look at Cody Ceci with Ottawa or Rasmus Ristolainen with Buffalo for examples, but without Ristolainen's offensive abilities. Coaches keep playing them against top players because they can defend in their own zone (and their teams didn't have better options), but they are always in their own zone.

 

If they were gonna trade the pick, I'd rather package it for an established young defenseman, maybe along with J.T. Miller.

Edited June 5, 2021 by HighOnHockey