2022 NHL Entry Draft

[theo5789]

15 hours ago, J.I.A.H.N said:

  Mintyukov                Russian factor #2.............pretty good player who could go higher, but drops in my ranking

Is the Russian factor as big of a deal when he's already playing in NA (CHL)?

[J.I.A.H.N]

5 minutes ago, theo5789 said:

Is the Russian factor as big of a deal when he's already playing in NA (CHL)?

That is a good question.....I did ask that to myself.....................simply put

 

I do not know, which is why I ranked him where I did..................

[Bure_Pavel]

14 hours ago, HighOnHockey said:

Cool to see some more lists. Hope to see more people posting theirs.

 

 

Love to see someone stick their neck out for McGroarty. As a Sens fan who took longer than I'd like to admit to come around on Mark Stone, I know as well as anyone how hockey IQ can make up fro skating deficiencies, which is why I was so bullish on Sillinger last year. I'm just still on the fence about McGroarty. Would be interested to hear your case for him?

 

For me it is how well rounded McGroarty is. He has great offensive instincts and can contribute with his shot and passing (though shot is better), he uses his Horvat like frame to be engaged physically, can play center if needed, and works hard in the defensive zone. The area he needs improving is definitely his skating, his top speed is not elite but he has a good first few steps. Probably wont be winning any Art Ross trophies but just seems like a guy that would be very valuable come playoff time. He also was selected to be captain of the U18 USA team, so he is probably a good leader. The two players that come to mind for me when looking at McGroarty (style) is Horvat and Landeskog. Meat and potato style with high offensive upside and leadership qualities. He will continue developing on a powerhouse Michigan team next year as well. 

 

His stats are quite impressive too, including the USDP, USHL, and U18 his stats are:

 

GP 85   G 58    A 53    P 111    PMs 118     +86

 

Last 10 games

 

GP 10   G 11    A 7    P 18    +14

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by Bure_Pavel

[Off_The_Schneid!]

 

I’m not as informed about the prospects as others but the buzz around Twitter is the ranking of Frank Nazar- 21st NA which is pretty much outside the 1st round 

Edited May 5, 2022 by Off_The_Schneid!

[Bure_Pavel]

1 hour ago, Off_The_Schneid! said:

 

I’m not as informed about the prospects as others but the buzz around Twitter is the ranking of Frank Nazar- 21st NA which is pretty much outside the 1st round 

Its almost like they forgot some guys, Nazar and McGroarty not in the top 20 in NA??

[Off_The_Schneid!]

3 minutes ago, Bure_Pavel said:

Its almost like they forgot some guys, Nazar and McGroarty not in the top 20 in NA??

Apparently Nazar is 21st so I guess they didn’t forget him just don’t rank him that highly. Some people on here have commented on his recent bad U18 tourney. Maybe that has something to do with it ?

[Bure_Pavel]

2 minutes ago, Off_The_Schneid! said:

Apparently Nazar is 21st so I guess they didn’t forget him just don’t rank him that highly. Some people on here have commented on his recent bad U18 tourney. Maybe that has something to do with it ?

They pretty much have him ranked in the second round, which seems wild. Everyone is entitled to their opinion though. 

[HighOnHockey]

1 hour ago, Bure_Pavel said:

They pretty much have him ranked in the second round, which seems wild. Everyone is entitled to their opinion though. 

NHL Central Scouting is one of the most respected rankings out there. Not saying we need to take them as gospel, and I often find myself strongly disagreeing with them, but they shouldn't be taken lightly. This one does seem very strange to me though. I'm happy to remind people again, I was one of the first aboard the Nazar hype train. I said in October of 2020 that I thought he might be better than Savoie or Lambert (many fans throughout that season still thought there would be a "big three" of Wright, Savoie, Lambert), and I've stuck with him in my top 10 throughout; it's been interesting to see some of the internet scouts like EP and Smaht have actually moved him up as high as 4th and 6th respectively, higher than I can recall ever having him myself. Crazy how all over the place this draft is.

 

It took some digging, but I was able to find the fall 2021 5-Nation U18s archived on Youtube. Gonna be going through them in the coming days.

 

Edited May 5, 2022 by HighOnHockey

[Bure_Pavel]

1 hour ago, HighOnHockey said:

NHL Central Scouting is one of the most respected rankings out there. Not saying we need to take them as gospel, and I often find myself strongly disagreeing with them, but they shouldn't be taken lightly. This one does seem very strange to me though. I'm happy to remind people again, I was one of the first aboard the Nazar hype train. I said in October of 2020 that I thought he might be better than Savoie or Lambert (many fans throughout that season still thought there would be a "big three" of Wright, Savoie, Lambert), and I've stuck with him in my top 10 throughout; it's been interesting to see some of the internet scouts like EP and Smaht have actually moved him up as high as 4th and 6th respectively, higher than I can recall ever having him myself. Crazy how all over the place this draft is.

 

It took some digging, but I was able to find the fall 2021 5-Nation U18s archived on Youtube. Gonna be going through them in the coming days.

 

Yeah Central Scouting is a very respected source and has much more resources than the average Joe Shmoe. I think picks 8-25 will likely be a bit of a cr*p shoot based on what players teams like. 

[HighOnHockey]

@Isam @hammertime @Sp3nny @Stech @Marv-the-wet-bandit

 

Any of you guys got lists after U18s?

[hammertime]

2 minutes ago, HighOnHockey said:

@Isam @hammertime @Sp3nny @Stech @Marv-the-wet-bandit

 

Any of you guys got lists after U18s?

Appreciate the nodd.

 

I'm in full on work mode training greeners up for the season of forestry appraisals. Trying my best to work life balance with family. Haven't had much time for prospect watching lately. One number that really stood out without watching the games yet was Kulich 39 shots in 6 games seems like a fake made up number lol. Curious on your impressions of him.

 

Looks like Mcgroarty did his job in tight 8G 1A sounds to me like a guy who planted himself infront of the net and buried greasy ones. looking forward to watching him and seeing how he got his point's.  

 

Is Lutz a sleeper in this draft?

[Bure_Pavel]

In the past there has been some great Defensemen taken around the 15th pick, If there are two players close in value im hoping we take a chance on a Dman this year. Our top 6 forward core actually seems pretty good at the moment. If there is a forward who drops and is clear BPA then obviously take him though. 

 

Simon Nemec (D)

David Jiricek (D)

Denton Mateychuk (D)

Tristan Luneau (D)

Pavel Mintyukov (D)

Kevin Korchinski (D)

Seamus Casey (D)   Too small

Ryan Chesley (D)

Lian Bichsel (D)

 

 

Some examples of this recently are:

 

Braden Schneider  19th

Ty Smith 17th

K'Andre Miller 22th

Brannstrom 15th

McAvoy 14th

Chychrun 16th

Chabot 18th

Pulock 15th

Zadorov 16th

Edited May 6, 2022 by Bure_Pavel

[Marv-the-wet-bandit]

16 hours ago, HighOnHockey said:

@Isam @hammertime @Sp3nny @Stech @Marv-the-wet-bandit

 

Any of you guys got lists after U18s?

I’m way too excited for this draft class, so many intriguing prospects, more then I will list here but I’ll do my top 15 with a 5 honourable mentions. Would love to see how your list is looking now too. 
 

1) Shane Wright

2) Juraj Slafkovsky 

3) Logan Cooley

4) David Jiricek

5) Simon Nemec

6) Frank Nazar

7) Matt Savoie

8) Jonathan Lekkerimaki 

9) Kevin Korchinski 

10) Gleb Trikozov

11) Pavel Mintyukov 

12) Rutger McGroarty

13) Denton Mateychuk

14) Marco Kasper

15) Liam Ohgren

 
Honourable mentions being Filip Mesar, Tristan Luneau, Joakim Kemmell, Cutter Gauthier and Owen Pickering. 
 

I have Jiricek over Nemec because I think his ceiling is higher but also believe Nemec has the higher floor. I couldn’t put Geekie on my list because of lack of effort and footspeed and when those are combined it’s really worrisome to me. 

 

[Nucker 67]

Wonder if the Canucks will somehow win a lottery spot, or possibly trading up, and where they'll draft. With the new rules and if VAN intends on being good every year (playoffs), they'll never get a 1st OA.  I don't like the new rules. Suggested this before and I still stand by it:

 

# of years without a 1st OA = 1 lottery ball

 

Canucks would have 52 fricken balls in there. BUF would have zero.  Seeing as they just got Power, that seems fair. 

 

No clue who they'd pick at any number. This is JR/PA, what kind of drafting will they do?  My guess is analytics will play a large part. 

 

a RD is priority, but unless they're in the Top 5, forget it, unless they really love Chesley or Luneau at #15

 

 

[Sp3nny]

18 hours ago, HighOnHockey said:

@Isam @hammertime @Sp3nny @Stech @Marv-the-wet-bandit

 

Any of you guys got lists after U18s?

Appreciate the bump.

 

I don't normally get too caught up in lists. I never have time to break every player down, and for whatever reason, haven't been able to dissect this draft as well as prior years. I normally find a few players I like, and do more of a deep dive on them. I will provide my potentially controversial takes on a couple of those players lol.

 

I'm taking Slafkovsky at first overall. Big, big fan of this kid. To have his skill with his frame is just so, so powerful at the NHL level. Serious Rantanen vibes from him, maybe a bit meaner, but I also think Rantanen has developed a bit of a nasty streak himself as he has matured. I just love everything about his game. I don't see many weaknesses to it, as his skating is great for a bigger fella, and his hands are as good as any in the draft. Shot is also elite.

 

Second controversial thought, but Brad Lambert is getting slept on. I don't think he has superstar upside, but every showing I've had on him going back to last year, I am impressed with his play. I wish he was a better technical skater, as I think his efficiency suffers from his shortened stride. But he is always moving his feet, and he is a sneaky good playmaker. His passes almost always seem to be flat and right on the tape of his target. I think his shot selection needs work, as he has a tendency to have them blocked and shoot from far out, but he also isn't afraid to make a move to the middle, I just wish he would do it more consistently. I just think he has a lot of the necessary pieces to his game, but his production turns people off. I think he plays a bit like Brayden Point (doesn't have his upside) but if he could achieve Point lite, it would be a boon for any team.

 

And lastly, tough break for Miroschnichenko. I hope he can carve out a career for himself as he was one of my favs coming into the year.

[Marv-the-wet-bandit]

15 minutes ago, NUCKER67 said:

Wonder if the Canucks will somehow win a lottery spot, or possibly trading up, and where they'll draft. With the new rules and if VAN intends on being good every year (playoffs), they'll never get a 1st OA.  I don't like the new rules. Suggested this before and I still stand by it:

 

# of years without a 1st OA = 1 lottery ball

 

Canucks would have 52 fricken balls in there. BUF would have zero.  Seeing as they just got Power, that seems fair. 

 

No clue who they'd pick at any number. This is JR/PA, what kind of drafting will they do?  My guess is analytics will play a large part. 

 

a RD is priority, but unless they're in the Top 5, forget it, unless they really love Chesley or Luneau at #15

 

 

If they did implement your idea for the lottery then every team would have to start with a clean slate at zero. Interesting take though 

[Kuzy]

21 hours ago, HighOnHockey said:

@Isam @hammertime @Sp3nny @Stech @Marv-the-wet-bandit

 

Any of you guys got lists after U18s?

Thanks for the shout out, I didn't get around to watching much of the U18s admittedly, although I will say every time I see Marco Kasper play he climbs my list. Right now he's in my top 10. I'll have another list ready to go closer to the draft.

[HighOnHockey]

2 hours ago, Stech said:

Thanks for the shout out, I didn't get around to watching much of the U18s admittedly, although I will say every time I see Marco Kasper play he climbs my list. Right now he's in my top 10. I'll have another list ready to go closer to the draft.

Yes. Kasper is something wild. All-time best Champions League by a U18. All-time best SHL playoffs by a U18. And to have made the jump from Austrian junior league to SHL so smoothly with less than two dozen Swedish junior games in between. He just plays the game the right way.

[HighOnHockey]

7 hours ago, Marv-the-wet-bandit said:

I’m way too excited for this draft class, so many intriguing prospects, more then I will list here but I’ll do my top 15 with a 5 honourable mentions. Would love to see how your list is looking now too. 
 

1) Shane Wright

2) Juraj Slafkovsky 

3) Logan Cooley

4) David Jiricek

5) Simon Nemec

6) Frank Nazar

7) Matt Savoie

8) Jonathan Lekkerimaki 

9) Kevin Korchinski 

10) Gleb Trikozov

11) Pavel Mintyukov 

12) Rutger McGroarty

13) Denton Mateychuk

14) Marco Kasper

15) Liam Ohgren

 
Honourable mentions being Filip Mesar, Tristan Luneau, Joakim Kemmell, Cutter Gauthier and Owen Pickering. 
 

I have Jiricek over Nemec because I think his ceiling is higher but also believe Nemec has the higher floor. I couldn’t put Geekie on my list because of lack of effort and footspeed and when those are combined it’s really worrisome to me. 

 

My latest list should be on the previous page. But since then been watching 5 Nations from last fall, and Frank Nazar was quite clearly the better player than Lekkerimaki at that time. At this most recent U18s, things looked quite reversed. I mean Nazar is Nazar. Two words sum up his game to me: tenacity and quickness. But he does try a lot of low percentage plays. Trikozov, Casey and Kemell are the kings of low-percentage plays in this draft, but Nazar is somewhere on that end of the spectrum. Although, I'll often see those other guys take excessive risks with not a ton of obvious reward. Nazar makes high risk, high danger plays at the net, and he seems to usually find at least one a shift

 

But Lekkerimaki is on the other end of the pro-style spectrum. High percentage, high danger plays. Reminds me in parts of Rossi and Holtz from the 2020 draft, as a guy who does his best work off the puck. Like Holtz, he skates brilliant routes, gives himself multiple options, has an elite shot, and high-end multi-directional skating to move suddenly into scoring areas. But he's a more dynamic skater than Holtz, and a better playmaker with the puck on his stick. Couple inches shorter than Holtz though. The thing that stood out to me with Rossi was, so accustomed to playing with players he was vastly better than, making brilliant plays to them, you might not get it back and they might not create anything with it, so he learned to be elite at giving it up and using his playmaking ability to put himself in positions for his linemates to make good plays with ease. I see a lot of that from Lekkerimaki. He lacks some of Rossi's sandpaper and defensive acumen, but he's a better skater than Rossi, a better shooter, and a couple inches taller.

 

I like that a few people here are so bullish on McGroarty. I'm coming around a little more every time I see him.

[Marv-the-wet-bandit]

21 minutes ago, HighOnHockey said:

My latest list should be on the previous page. But since then been watching 5 Nations from last fall, and Frank Nazar was quite clearly the better player than Lekkerimaki at that time. At this most recent U18s, things looked quite reversed. I mean Nazar is Nazar. Two words sum up his game to me: tenacity and quickness. But he does try a lot of low percentage plays. Trikozov, Casey and Kemell are the kings of low-percentage plays in this draft, but Nazar is somewhere on that end of the spectrum. Although, I'll often see those other guys take excessive risks with not a ton of obvious reward. Nazar makes high risk, high danger plays at the net, and he seems to usually find at least one a shift

 

But Lekkerimaki is on the other end of the pro-style spectrum. High percentage, high danger plays. Reminds me in parts of Rossi and Holtz from the 2020 draft, as a guy who does his best work off the puck. Like Holtz, he skates brilliant routes, gives himself multiple options, has an elite shot, and high-end multi-directional skating to move suddenly into scoring areas. But he's a more dynamic skater than Holtz, and a better playmaker with the puck on his stick. Couple inches shorter than Holtz though. The thing that stood out to me with Rossi was, so accustomed to playing with players he was vastly better than, making brilliant plays to them, you might not get it back and they might not create anything with it, so he learned to be elite at giving it up and using his playmaking ability to put himself in positions for his linemates to make good plays with ease. I see a lot of that from Lekkerimaki. He lacks some of Rossi's sandpaper and defensive acumen, but he's a better skater than Rossi, a better shooter, and a couple inches taller.

 

I like that a few people here are so bullish on McGroarty. I'm coming around a little more every time I see him.

Throughout most of the season Lekkerimaki is the guy I was really hoping would be a Canuck but he will be gone by 15, Nazar will be long gone too unless teams really drop the ball. McGroarty quite possibly played himself into a pick before 15 especially with organizations really narrowing down their lists over the next 2 months. There will still be some really intriguing prospects available, some safer then others and some with extremely high ceilings. I can’t wait to see what we do