2023 NHL Entry Draft

[DownUndaCanuck]

Sandin-Pellikka playing out of his skin, having another massive international tournament. I think some team is going to take him top-10 in the draft, he's making a last minute push to get up there. Might mean that Reinbacher could fall to us. I know there's too many good forwards in the top-10 but ASP is surely going to tempt a lot of GMs with what he's doing right now.

 

If we have a decision between ASP and Reinbacher it'll be very interesting to see who Allvin picks...

[Off_The_Schneid!]

Leonard, Smith, Perrault putting on a clinic against Norway after 1, Moore to a lesser extent. 

[HighOnHockey]

17 hours ago, stawns said:

In what way am I hater?  Because I disagree with you?  I think it's just a difference in sources.  I trust hockey guys like Mackenzie and Button because they have history, experience and legit ties to many hockey people.  You seem  to lean more toward bloggers.  

I'd say you're lumping together two very different types of scouts there under "hockey people". McKenzie is a journalist, his brilliance is just that he talks to real NHL scouts and compiles his average rankings. Button is a former NHL scout and GM, and constantly reiterates that his lists are meant to be his lists, not supposed to based on opinions from other scouts (although he certainly is having conversations). If we say Will Scouch is on one extreme of the spectrum of "bloggers and data analysts", then NHL Central Scouting would be on the other extreme in that it's the closest you'll get to people evaluating for the same type of attributes NHL scouts look for, without being a journalist compilation. Most NHLCSB scouts are former NHL scouts, so they're on the peripheries of actual NHL scouts. Meaning you're getting lower total quality than McKenzie, but you also know for sure that they're giving you their best possible effort, whereas McKenzie's scouts work for NHL teams so strategy comes into play (e.g. you don't want to contribute to one of your gems being ranked too early [you can bet NHL teams do make reference to McKenzie and Central to get a pulse on public opinion]).

 

McKenzie, The Hockey News, and SportsNet I put on an entirely different spectrum than the opinions of individual scouts/bloggers; they're the three most reliable sources out there, because they are all very well-known and respected hockey media publications who base their rankings on conversations with real NHL scouts. After those big three plus Central, I think my next favorite rankings right now would be Recrutes. Their head scout Grant McCagg is a journalist but spent a year as a scout for the Canadiens, and spent time with both TSN and THN covering prospects. I don't know what level he played to and I dunno if you'd call him a "hockey person", but it's obvious that his and Recrutes' assessments are meant to be closer to NHL teams' in terms of looking for translatable skills and attributes. McKeens is pretty good too; they have their own (blogger/journalist scouts) but they're also a long-standing and well-known hockey publication who have greater access to interviews and conversations with real scouts than the average blogger.

[HighOnHockey]

28 minutes ago, Off_The_Schneid! said:

Leonard, Smith, Perrault putting on a clinic against Norway after 1, Moore to a lesser extent. 

Lol, hard to know what to make of a game like this. No way Norway should even be at this tournament if Russia and Belarus were there.

[Guest]

9 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Sandin-Pellikka playing out of his skin, having another massive international tournament. I think some team is going to take him top-10 in the draft, he's making a last minute push to get up there. Might mean that Reinbacher could fall to us. I know there's too many good forwards in the top-10 but ASP is surely going to tempt a lot of GMs with what he's doing right now.

 

If we have a decision between ASP and Reinbacher it'll be very interesting to see who Allvin picks...

I really hope that a team reaches for ASP in the top 10.  

 

This U18 tournament is very skewed, you have teams like Sweden and US that have been working towards it for a long time and then a bunch of other disjointed teams.  

 

I also have no idea why Norway is even in here. With the Russia/Belorussia ban, it should be an 8 team tournament. 

[smithers joe]

On 4/20/2023 at 12:10 PM, AlwaysACanuckFan said:

I'm hoping we pick a faaaaast skater 

they said that moore had mcdavid type speed.

[Herberts Vasiljevs]

@HighOnHockey what's your opinion on Gabe Perreault. He's obviously smaller in size, but I can't help but find him to be one of the most intriguing offensive wingers in this draft. Not that I think he's a Nucks candidate or anything, but I just wanted to know what your thoughts were.

 

Thanks!

[HighOnHockey]

1 hour ago, Herberts Vasiljevs said:

@HighOnHockey what's your opinion on Gabe Perreault. He's obviously smaller in size, but I can't help but find him to be one of the most intriguing offensive wingers in this draft. Not that I think he's a Nucks candidate or anything, but I just wanted to know what your thoughts were.

 

Thanks!

Yeah pretty interesting prospect. I put him in that category of extremely skilled forwards who may have difficulty translating to higher levels. I mean he was already a 2 p/g player in about 20 games against NCAA DI teams this year, so at least he's more tested than a junior player. I said similar things about their pro translatability in Cole Perfetti's and Kent Johnson's draft years and I'm happy to admit they're both looking great. Just saying there is greater risk, so you have to balance the potential reward. The thing with Johnson and Perfetti and the same could be said of Perreault is, what they're doing works for them up to the point they've needed it to; they would skate into traffic or try to force a pretty pass a little more often than an NHL coach would like to see, but it has worked very well for them so far (again, 2 p/g for Perreault at the NCAA DI level), so who's to say how well they will adapt to different circumstances when they need to. I'd probably rank Perreault somewhere in the mid to late teens.

[Herberts Vasiljevs]

13 minutes ago, HighOnHockey said:

Yeah pretty interesting prospect. I put him in that category of extremely skilled forwards who may have difficulty translating to higher levels. I mean he was already a 2 p/g player in about 20 games against NCAA DI teams this year, so at least he's more tested than a junior player. I said similar things about their pro translatability in Cole Perfetti's and Kent Johnson's draft years and I'm happy to admit they're both looking great. Just saying there is greater risk, so you have to balance the potential reward. The thing with Johnson and Perfetti and the same could be said of Perreault is, what they're doing works for them up to the point they've needed it to; they would skate into traffic or try to force a pretty pass a little more often than an NHL coach would like to see, but it has worked very well for them so far (again, 2 p/g for Perreault at the NCAA DI level), so who's to say how well they will adapt to different circumstances when they need to. I'd probably rank Perreault somewhere in the mid to late teens.

Who do you like in that 20-40 range in terms of guys who have skillets that should translate well? Very open-ended question, but I appreciate your opinion to any extent...

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Herberts Vasiljevs

[Warhippy]

Would rather

 

Have the Canucks win the lottery

 

Or

 

Actually win the lottery?

[HighOnHockey]

3 hours ago, Herberts Vasiljevs said:

Who do you like in that 20-40 range in terms of guys who have skillets that should translate well? Very open-ended question, but I appreciate your opinion to any extent...

 

20-40? Interesting question. Starting to sound like maybe Calum Ritchie could fall. Charlie Stramel or Kasper Halttunen should be available in the 20s I think.  Big bodies who play the right way but have limited upside. Then there's Oscar Fisker-Molgaard, Tom Willander, Theo Lindstein.

[YearoftheNuck]

4 hours ago, HighOnHockey said:

Yeah pretty interesting prospect. I put him in that category of extremely skilled forwards who may have difficulty translating to higher levels. I mean he was already a 2 p/g player in about 20 games against NCAA DI teams this year, so at least he's more tested than a junior player. I said similar things about their pro translatability in Cole Perfetti's and Kent Johnson's draft years and I'm happy to admit they're both looking great. Just saying there is greater risk, so you have to balance the potential reward. The thing with Johnson and Perfetti and the same could be said of Perreault is, what they're doing works for them up to the point they've needed it to; they would skate into traffic or try to force a pretty pass a little more often than an NHL coach would like to see, but it has worked very well for them so far (again, 2 p/g for Perreault at the NCAA DI level), so who's to say how well they will adapt to different circumstances when they need to. I'd probably rank Perreault somewhere in the mid to late teens.

 

6 hours ago, Herberts Vasiljevs said:

@HighOnHockey what's your opinion on Gabe Perreault. He's obviously smaller in size, but I can't help but find him to be one of the most intriguing offensive wingers in this draft. Not that I think he's a Nucks candidate or anything, but I just wanted to know what your thoughts were.

 

Thanks!

It would be interesting if Detroit takes either Smith or Leonard with their earlier first rounder and then Perrreault with their later first rounder. Those three players have amazing chemistry and I could see it being tempting to keep two of the three of them together. They likely won’t, but it would be neat. 

[hammertime]

On 4/21/2023 at 6:13 PM, thad said:

Yeah I saw every game. His arm was down but the thunderbird was kinda bent down reaching for the puck. Looked to me like he tried to line up a big hit and the guy put himself in a bad spot. 

 

im honestly higher on him now after watching the playoffs. Thought he was just all skill boom or bust but the kids got a bit of a chippy side to him. When the opportunity is there he’ll give it to his opponent. He battles pretty hard out there.

 

Could be a solid sleeper pick for whoever drafts him

Agreed! 

[JustABandwagoner]

5 hours ago, Warhippy said:

Would rather

 

Have the Canucks win the lottery

 

Or

 

Actually win the lottery?

I would rather win the jackpot for Lotto max myself

[hammertime]

I think we can probably write off any chance of the top 4 and probably Smith. After that my wish list is starting to come into focus for the Canucks.

 

6 Reinbacher he's established himself as a force and big minute D in one of the top men's leagues.

7 Danielson sure fire 3C with 2C upside and game anchored in strong 2 way play right shot. We need to hit on a getting player with every 1st rnd pick.

8 Moore speed kills there's a lot to like he's a bit of a project. Love his dedication at both ends seems quite teachable.

9 ASP Getting pretty hard to deny just how good he is if he wrecks the u18. He maybe possibly could drive our 2nd pair as a 2/3RHD. Lotsa question marks but lotsa upside. 

10 Barlow Excellent on both special teams play driving winger with a nose around the net and a quick wrister. Pete/Miller could turn him into a star which brings me to the next guy.

11 Leonard has a great motor and foundation to his game can earn his chops on the 3rd and the sky's the limit with his ability to complement skilled players.

12 Simashev A proper shut down D is really what we need. It's a bit of a deep draft of fwds to take him here but he's got some real upside too. I'd probably have him higher still if he had a different nationality. 

 

HM's

 

If we decide to go after another home run swing skilled winger Sale, Benson Cristall and Heidt do look very good and a BPA argument could be made for each of them to be in that 5-8 range. Which is probably to our benefit even if they turn into wonderful players it gives us a better player above. There's probably a franchise player among them though. If we were in a rebuild I might be laser focusing on these 4 and Perrault to figure out which one is Pettersson and which Mittlestadt.

 

Gulyayev is very interesting. I'm just not sure he would fit into the big picture with Hughes already established. Could be Rath'boned'. He's also geographically challenged. Really fun player to watch though.

 

Honzek is very interesting size and skill package just so raw right now I find it hard to project him with any confidence. Admittedly I haven't seen enough of him and will have to do more digging. We will see how he fills out his frame. 

 

Ritchie Watching him this u18 I'd like to see him consistently transitioning defense into offence. 

 

I'd love for us to start putting building blocks in place for the future health of the franchise so that when if we do start to compete we will have some longevity and not just a flash in the pan. We need guys who can come in and play their way up the ranks but also contribute as role players in the relatively near future without hurting us. To me those are the guys listed 6-12 above.

Edited April 23, 2023 by hammertime

[86Viking]

13 hours ago, Warhippy said:

Would rather

 

Have the Canucks win the lottery

 

Or

 

Actually win the lottery?

win the lotto. Bedard can pull a Lindros or walk his way to UFA at 26/27 yr old and come to Vancouver if he wants to be a Canuck. Similar to what Dubois seems to be doing as its long reported he will only sign long term with Montreal?

[Off_The_Schneid!]

After watching that US game it’s hard to place any of the Canadians at the tourney above Smith Leonard Perrault Moore. Obviously different levels of competition but the skills were just at a different level . Barlow and Wood were the notables I guess their size could play a factor to some teams 

[hammertime]

 

Condensed game for anyone who wasn't up to watch it. Or the full game below.

 

 

[R3aL]

2 hours ago, hammertime said:

 

Condensed game for anyone who wasn't up to watch it. Or the full game below.

 

 

What did you think of dvorsky today

[R3aL]

4 hours ago, Off_The_Schneid! said:

After watching that US game it’s hard to place any of the Canadians at the tourney above Smith Leonard Perrault Moore. Obviously different levels of competition but the skills were just at a different level . Barlow and Wood were the notables I guess their size could play a factor to some teams 

It should also be considered that these Americans a lot of them have been playing together all year so they have a level of chemistry and familiarity built up that Canada does not.