2023 NHL Entry Draft

[Pure961089]

49 minutes ago, Isam said:

Recency bias. It fooled you with McTavish at his u17s. But I tend value the overall season when scouting before rushing into judgement. Take for example zach benson. Alot of people on this board are saying he doesn't skate well after his last series visibly ignoring his overall body off work in that dept. Look at his edgework, crossovers, and pivots, and I can see the comparisons to marner and would be more then happy to take him. The problem with him alone is that he needs to mature physically in order to get his top end speed going. But people will generally go on what have you shown me recently and that kid might fall to us cuz of that one series.

I think Button fell into that after the U18's. ASP at 5?  Willander at 8?

[Gawdzukes]

13 hours ago, Ilunga said:

Read one report where the guys were debating Smith over Moore and how close they think those 2 players are.

 

The question is, is the success of Smith, Leonard, Perreault due to any one player or a combination/ chemistry !

Moore did all his work on the second line without the same " class" of linemates.

 

Then as Hippy stated if you are gonna draft Bradley Nadeau you want to draft his brother as they both look a bit lost without each other.

 

So many factors to consider when projecting a players future.

Yeah, I'm getting more and more hyped with Moore. Sometimes players are the benefactor of playing with others but you also have to be very good to play the part. In this case I think they are all studs. I think Perrault may be getting undersold. I've heard a lot about how Moore is incredibly dedicated to his craft and he just eats and breathes the game. He's a beast defensively while allowing the big 3 to shine,

 

“Moore is the second most involved player in offensive transitions in North America behind Connor Bedard. He’s sending almost a quarter of his passes to dangerous areas of the ice, and is among the higher-end shot generators in the class. Put this with his superb skating and edgework, dogged mentality of being hard on pucks defensively, and his puck skill: Moore has risen to the top 10 of our rankings and still could climb higher. I’d like to see him carry the puck into the dangerous areas of the ice in the offensive zone and not just on the rush, but he’s been showcasing his offensive acumen the last few months.” – Austin Garret, Smaht Scouting

 

Imagine another set of brothers. That would be a trip.

[Odd.]

2 hours ago, stawns said:

I like Woods hands, but how does that skating not scare you off?  He makes Boes look like Denis Savard

His skating is fine. He lacks some explosiveness but he will get to where he needs to go just fine. He’s got strength and power. Wood grew 3 inches the last 2 years and will certainly take time to fill into that frame. At 17-18, skating is an area that is easiest to work on. You can’t teach IQ, size nor the skill Wood has.

 

Wood’s coach at UConn also said in an interview that Wood’s skating is not an issue at all. He suggests it may seem like that because he’s a bit clumsy due to his large frame but he expects that to fix itself out. He does sort of have this clumsiness to him, especially in the defensive end, but defo not a cause for concern.

 

Boeser on the other hand wasn’t a terrible skater before. He had sufficient speed when he was playing at around 190lbs. He’s nearly 210lbs now, and there were/are a lot of factors that come into play as to why he’s sluggish out there. I do think his top end speed is there, it’s just he’s unable to generate power. He seems to get gassed easily which could be a fitness issue. Not everyone can play at 210lbs and be fast. 
 

Wood being a W/C and his size is exactly the thing we need up front. That said, I’d probably still take Barlow as he’s the safer pick, but Wood isn’t a bad choice either.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Odd.

[Odd.]

Players that are absolute DO NOT DRAFT for me is Oliver Moore and Andrew Cristall, especially the former. I question Moore’s IQ and his inability to make his linemates better. Very one dimensional, one and done player. Just because he can skate fast as hell doesn’t mean he can think the game as fast.

[hammertime]

42 minutes ago, Isam said:

We ride these contracts out man and set ourselves up for 2026. Two year window and hit the 2025 draft class hard.hopefully with some luck, we get lucky with misa or one of the dmen from 2024 and we burn a year or two extra off one of these contracts to make it more palatable for a team.

I am quite curious how things have gone with JP Barry and Alvin. I am not quite sure what "cycle" we are in? If negotiations have gone poorly with Pete or something like that I could completely understand taking Benson and Lekkerimaki back to back. It would indicate to me that we are in a stealth rebuild. 

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, hammertime said:

I am quite curious how things have gone with JP Barry and Alvin. I am not quite sure what "cycle" we are in? If negotiations have gone poorly with Pete or something like that I could completely understand taking Benson and Lekkerimaki back to back. It would indicate to me that we are in a stealth rebuild. 

Are you suggesting Bendon will replace Petey? Rebuild means changing our core. So if Benson is replacing Petey, who are replacing Hughes, Demko, Miller, and Hronek? 

[Pure961089]

11 hours ago, Odd. said:

Of those players you mentioned, Matthew Wood for me.

My BPA list:
Dvorsky

Leonard 

Benson

Reinbacher

Barlow

Wood

Danielson

ASP

Willander

Moore

Honzek

Perrault

Sale
Simashev

Cristall

Stenberg

 

For me, that’s my BPA list. Whoever is available in that order. Bolded are the ones we’re likely to draft based on projection.

The only one I wonder about is Dvorsky.  Is 11 too high to pick for a guy who caps out as a 2nd line centre if everything goes perfectly.  Wood has power forward top line written all over him (a poor man's Tkachuk?) and Barlow has that as well. (Envision Jamie Benn), or Moore (Dylan Larkin) When I look at Dvorsky's production in the Allsvenskin all I can think of is he's no Elias Pettersson, that's for sure.  But he's big and strong and the Canucks would love him as their 3rd line centre with 2nd centre aspirations.  Just not at 11, when you could get a 1st line bonafide star.   I think recency bias has come into play with Dvorsky.  Is U18's were pretty great.  

Edited May 27, 2023 by Pure961089

[Angry Goose]

4 hours ago, Isam said:

Doubt it. His run for the most part in the second half should put in the conversation as a top ten pick. Worst case is he is in the 11 to 14 range.

yeah Ill be curious when Danielson does get picked.  mock drafts have him all over the place.

 

very curious when Barlow/Wallinder get selected as well.  

 

 

[I.Am.Ironman]

It would be interesting to see how mock drafts/pre-draft rankings of various media outlets stack up against actualy results. Who is the most accurate over time and is there anyone that actually performs better than NHL teams (eg. ranking chycrun, sergachev, hronek, tkachuk, nylander over Puljujarvi and Juolevi)?

[Diamonds]

26 minutes ago, Pure961089 said:

The only one I wonder about is Dvorsky.  Is 11 too high to pick for a guy who caps out as a 2nd line centre if everything goes perfectly.  Wood has power forward top line written all over him (a poor man's Tkachuk?) and Barlow has that as well. (Envision Jamie Benn), or Moore (Dylan Larkin) When I look at Dvorsky's production in the Allsvenskin all I can think of is he's no Elias Pettersson, that's for sure.  But he's big and strong and the Canucks would love him as their 3rd line centre with 2nd centre aspirations.  Just not at 11, when you could get a 1st line bonafide star.   I think recency bias has come into play with Dvorsky.  Is U18's were pretty great.  

One of the selling points for Dvorsky is definitely that he's a safe pick, however if his ceiling is elite two-way 2C who raises his game when it matters then that's a great get at 11. That basically describes Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron only had 2 seasons at or above 1PPG and otherwise was mostly in the 55-65 point range but a defensive beast. That play has earned Bergeron 12 straight Selke finalist nods. Will Dvorsky be as good as Bergeron, maybe, maybe not, but that's what I see his ceiling as which is definitely worth an 11th overall pick.

[Pure961089]

4 hours ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Brock and Garland?

Neither,  theres no need to be desperate for cap space like some think. We haven't even considered how much we'd get back from LITR, Allvin isn't sweating it and that's the reason.  We do what good teams do, we be patient and when the time is right we trade.  We don't do what Benning did by buying high and selling low.  We wait and after Boeser has scored 30 and gets back to being the player we all know he can be then we think of trading him.  I don't get the desperation to free up cap space right this instant.  LITR will literally fix this for his year and then next year Pearson, Beauvillier and Myers come off the books. And all it took was vision beyond knee jerk 

[Warhippy]

8 hours ago, VancouverHabitant said:

That's my prediction for Anaheim's pick as a first surprise. 

I could honestly see it actually.  Smith is pure offensive.  the Ducks have a few players who complete that 2 way game but seem to be missing someone who can ignite Zegras.  Fantilli is an absolute beast don't get me wrong but with having a number of quality 2 way players having Smith would allow the team to play with McTavish a little more and see where he best projects.  As a winger or centre.

[Alflives]

21 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

I could honestly see it actually.  Smith is pure offensive.  the Ducks have a few players who complete that 2 way game but seem to be missing someone who can ignite Zegras.  Fantilli is an absolute beast don't get me wrong but with having a number of quality 2 way players having Smith would allow the team to play with McTavish a little more and see where he best projects.  As a winger or centre.

The Ducks need to move Zegras to wing. Or, even better, off their roster. But if they are keeping him then having another big centre - Fantilli or Carlsson - makes good sense. 

[Warhippy]

18 hours ago, Ilunga said:

Then as Hippy stated if you are gonna draft Bradley Nadeau you want to draft his brother as they both look a bit lost without each other.

If we had a pick where we could draft Nadeau I'd do it knowing we could get his undersized brother in a later round like the 4th.

 

But we don't and it's not worth the risk trading back.

 

Some players are money with specific people and the Nadeau brothers are that type of player.  Whether it would translate in to a pro game or not is debatable but if you HAD that kind of draft capital like an early second and supplementary later round picks knowing you could pick up the older brother; it's a risk a team could take

[stawns]

7 hours ago, Odd. said:

His skating is fine. He lacks some explosiveness but he will get to where he needs to go just fine. He’s got strength and power. Wood grew 3 inches the last 2 years and will certainly take time to fill into that frame. At 17-18, skating is an area that is easiest to work on. You can’t teach IQ, size nor the skill Wood has.

 

Wood’s coach at UConn also said in an interview that Wood’s skating is not an issue at all. He suggests it may seem like that because he’s a bit clumsy due to his large frame but he expects that to fix itself out. He does sort of have this clumsiness to him, especially in the defensive end, but defo not a cause for concern.

 

Boeser on the other hand wasn’t a terrible skater before. He had sufficient speed when he was playing at around 190lbs. He’s nearly 210lbs now, and there were/are a lot of factors that come into play as to why he’s sluggish out there. I do think his top end speed is there, it’s just he’s unable to generate power. He seems to get gassed easily which could be a fitness issue. Not everyone can play at 210lbs and be fast. 
 

Wood being a W/C and his size is exactly the thing we need up front. That said, I’d probably still take Barlow as he’s the safer pick, but Wood isn’t a bad choice either.

His skating is not fine, not for the NHL

[Pure961089]

7 hours ago, Odd. said:

His skating is fine. He lacks some explosiveness but he will get to where he needs to go just fine. He’s got strength and power. Wood grew 3 inches the last 2 years and will certainly take time to fill into that frame. At 17-18, skating is an area that is easiest to work on. You can’t teach IQ, size nor the skill Wood has.

 

Wood’s coach at UConn also said in an interview that Wood’s skating is not an issue at all. He suggests it may seem like that because he’s a bit clumsy due to his large frame but he expects that to fix itself out. He does sort of have this clumsiness to him, especially in the defensive end, but defo not a cause for concern.

 

Boeser on the other hand wasn’t a terrible skater before. He had sufficient speed when he was playing at around 190lbs. He’s nearly 210lbs now, and there were/are a lot of factors that come into play as to why he’s sluggish out there. I do think his top end speed is there, it’s just he’s unable to generate power. He seems to get gassed easily which could be a fitness issue. Not everyone can play at 210lbs and be fast. 
 

Wood being a W/C and his size is exactly the thing we need up front. That said, I’d probably still take Barlow as he’s the safer pick, but Wood isn’t a bad choice either.

Horvat needed a skating coach but it was worth it. That's all Wood needs. 

[Camel Toe Drag]

8 hours ago, VancouverHabitant said:

Anaheim loves their USNDT players and he's the best of the bunch. 

It would be pretty insane if they did. Fantilli and Carlsson are in a class do their own imo. 

[Alflives]

3 minutes ago, Camel Toe Drag said:

It would be pretty insane if they did. Fantilli and Carlsson are in a class do their own imo. 

Yup. Ducks would be insane not to pick one of those two. CBJ will get the one the ducks don’t pick. Two centres who will definitely be top six guys. 
Ducks with Fantilli and McTavish as their 1-2 Centers will be very good. 
I’m hoping Benson falls to us. Then IMHAO we will get a great centre too. I see Benson as a guy who will play centre and be good enough to push Miller to wing. We just might get the steal of this draft if we get that kid. 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Alflives

[Pure961089]

I'm going to make the case for Cristall. And if he drops to us why it wouldn't be a bad choice.  At 11 Cristall is a swing for the fences pick. It's bold but if Benson is off the board the player with the most Raw talent is Cristall.  He skates like Hughes out there and Hughes isn't a straight forward speedster either it's his edges and agility that make Hughes so dangerous, similarly Cristall's skating is excellent.  No he's not a speedster but his edges are sublime. He can stop on a dime and his hands are so silky smooth.  As far as offensive hockey instincts I'd have him ranked higher than Will Smith but below Benson at #6 as far as raw talent.  Cristall has the rare ability of being able to slow the game down.  When the play is at its most frantic he can put the game into slow motion.  That's special rare. He will drop though and he might even slip out of the top 20 All because of a poor u18s but at the same time he didn't play with anyone that could process the game at his level.  I saw this with Quinn Hughes as well.  In a lot of international play it seemed he too was one or two steps ahead of his teammates.  He could be the one that slides down and years from now people say what a steal he was.

 

Worst case scenario he becomes Kyle Wellwood

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Pure961089

[Odd.]

45 minutes ago, stawns said:

His skating is not fine, not for the NHL

It absolutely isn’t a cause for concern. We have worse skating prospects like Raty and Karlsson.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Odd.