2023 NHL Entry Draft

[spook007]

5 hours ago, canuck73_3 said:

Then he'll get in one little fight and his mom'll will get scared, he'll request a trade to LA to move to a town called Bel-Air 

And 30 years later he'll slap soneone for taking the piss out of his cheating wife.... 

[HighOnHockey]

13 minutes ago, Odd. said:

Yep imo
 

Willander, Simashev, Gulyayev, Reinbacher

Also, I agree Simashev is clearly a phenomenal skater for his size, but regarding David Reinbacher, I recall @Isam - who usually has some idea what he's talking about - was not a fan of Reinbacher's skating.

[spook007]

4 hours ago, HKSR said:

Ummm... Benson, Hoglander, Garland, Kuzmenko, Beauvillier, Lekkerimaki ... are we trying to build a sub 6'0" forward group or something??

[Isam]

8 minutes ago, HighOnHockey said:

Also, I agree Simashev is clearly a phenomenal skater for his size, but regarding David Reinbacher, I recall @Isam - who usually has some idea what he's talking about - was not a fan of Reinbacher's skating.

Skating isn't bad per se but you can see the hitch. Atleast it isn't as bad. His bro Tobias had a bit of that hitch too. I can deal with that and is fixable. What I do t like about reinbacher is too many battles lost in puck retrieval and he doesn't walk the line well on the pp causing alot of blocked shots. 

[HighOnHockey]

17 minutes ago, Bure_Pavel said:

My 1st Round Mock Draft

 

ROUND 1	TEAM	ORIGINAL	PLAYER	DETAILS

1		-	Connor Bedard
2		-	Adam Fantilli
3		-	Leo Carlsson
4		-	Will Smith
5		-	David Reinbacher
6		-	Matvei Michkov
7		-	Ryan Leonard
8		-	Dalibor Dvorsky
9		-	Matthew Wood
10		-	Oliver Moore
11		-	Axel Sandin Pellikka
12			Zach Benson
13		-	Eduard Sale
14		-	Colby Barlow
15		-	Nate Danielson
16		-	Brayden Yager
17			Tom Willander
18		-	Gabe Perreault
19			Samuel Honzek
20		-	Calum Ritchie
21		-	Dmitri Simashev
22			Andrew Cristall
23		-	Mikhail Gulyayev
24			Otto Stenberg
25			Lukas Dragicevic
26			Riley Heidt
27		-	Quentin Musty
28			Charlie Stramel
29			Daniil But
30		-	Kasper Halttunen
31			David Edstrom
32		-	Oliver Bonk

Oh shit I almost missed this. Assumed from the look of it that it was just some media outlet mock and I skipped over it initially. Personally I'm much more interested to hear @Bure_Pavel's mock than I would someone like Wheeler or Pronman.

 

Looks very solid. Some similarities to my top 22 I posted so far. I agree Willander is probably going to go a little earlier than expected. At some point after McKenzie's final rankings come out I'm going to re-touch my top 22 and try to do a complete first round. So far my record is still 8 correct picks from the 2020 draft. 2nd best was 7 in the 2015 draft. Past couple I haven't fared so well, only hitting on 4 or 5.

[Kuzy]

3 hours ago, NUCKER67 said:

The thing with Willander that concerns me is that he's ranked pretty low (2nd round) by everyone, except Button. Looking at MyNHLDraft, which I believe combines all of the boards for their rankings, and Willander still doesn't make the 1st round on that list.

 

In fact, Gulyeyev, Simashev, Bonk and Molendyk are all ranked higher.

 

 Canucks have one shot at #11 to select an elite player. If they go with Willander, I will be disappointed. Allvin trying to assemble Team Sweden over here.

I'm not sure where you're sourcing that information from, but almost everywhere I've looked has Willander in the 1st round, and has been recently trending upwards on a lot of platforms into the top 15

[hammertime]

11 minutes ago, HighOnHockey said:

Interesting, I don't exactly disagree. I'm a shitty skater myself and it's always the thing I find most difficult in evaluating prospects. I can see the straight line speed as well as the edges and evasiveness are all top notch with Willander. Reminds me a little bit of Jake Sanderson in his draft year come to think of it. But I'm just not sure Willander has the separation gear that Gulyayev has.

What gives me the willies pun intended. Is there is no body of work. He had a good U18 playing 2nd pair behind the ASP show. But beyond that. Really really meh. Up until this season he'd done pretty much nothing. Nil points in 12 J20 Nat games rocking a -10 and a further nil in 5 J18 Nat games prior to this season. This season sure a bit better 29pts in 45 with a +11 but J20 Nat is still a solid step down from say the OHL. I guess what I'm saying is man oh man I reaaaaaaly hope they've done their homework on him if they pick him because prior to this year I don't think anyone anywhere had him in their top 250 for this draft class. 

[Isam]

16 minutes ago, HighOnHockey said:

Also, I agree Simashev is clearly a phenomenal skater for his size, but regarding David Reinbacher, I recall @Isam - who usually has some idea what he's talking about - was not a fan of Reinbacher's skating.

Simashev is the guy I love. I just wish he would build his confidence a little more on the offensive side more, cuz he can seriously walk the line and control the the offensive when given the chance but his team just does not want to use him there

[Alflives]

2 minutes ago, hammertime said:

What gives me the willies pun intended. Is there is no body of work. He had a good U18 playing 2nd pair behind the ASP show. But beyond that. Really really meh. Up until this season he'd done pretty much nothing. Nil points in 12 J20 Nat games rocking a -10 and a further nil in 5 J18 Nat games prior to this season. This season sure a bit better 29pts in 45 with a +11 but J20 Nat is still a solid step down from say the OHL. I guess what I'm saying is man oh man I reaaaaaaly hope they've done their homework on him if they pick him because prior to this year I don't think anyone anywhere had him in their top 250 for this draft class. 

Maybe Willander is a guy who matured later than a lot of his peers. He could be just growing into his frame this season and there’s a bump in his play because of that. He might have a lot of runway of development still ahead of him. 

[Nucker 67]

35 minutes ago, Bure_Pavel said:

My 1st Round Mock Draft

 

ROUND 1	TEAM	ORIGINAL	PLAYER	DETAILS

1		-	Connor Bedard
2		-	Adam Fantilli
3		-	Leo Carlsson
4		-	Will Smith
5		-	David Reinbacher
6		-	Matvei Michkov
7		-	Ryan Leonard
8		-	Dalibor Dvorsky
9		-	Matthew Wood
10		-	Oliver Moore
11		-	Axel Sandin Pellikka
12			Zach Benson
13		-	Eduard Sale
14		-	Colby Barlow
15		-	Nate Danielson
16		-	Brayden Yager
17			Tom Willander
18		-	Gabe Perreault
19			Samuel Honzek
20		-	Calum Ritchie
21		-	Dmitri Simashev
22			Andrew Cristall
23		-	Mikhail Gulyayev
24			Otto Stenberg
25			Lukas Dragicevic
26			Riley Heidt
27		-	Quentin Musty
28			Charlie Stramel
29			Daniil But
30		-	Kasper Halttunen
31			David Edstrom
32		-	Oliver Bonk

So, if VAN kept their pick from NYI, they would've ended up with ASP and Willander. Nice.

[Alflives]

Just now, NUCKER67 said:

So, if VAN kept their pick from NYI, they would've ended up with ASP and Willander. Nice.

And lost Petey, Demko and Hughes as free agents before those two D are developed enough to help our club. Hronek is only 25. He’s already a mature elite right shot D. We aren’t rebuilding. And nor should we. 

[Isam]

3 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Maybe Willander is a guy who matured later than a lot of his peers. He could be just growing into his frame this season and there’s a bump in his play because of that. He might have a lot of runway of development still ahead of him. 

It could be Alf, but I take one under 18 with a grain of salt. If we do draft him though, there is no better place to let him marinate then bc in the ncaa. Plus playing with hutson might help bring out his offensive game 

[hammertime]

3 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Maybe Willander is a guy who matured later than a lot of his peers. He could be just growing into his frame this season and there’s a bump in his play because of that. He might have a lot of runway of development still ahead of him. 

Sure but it's still really un remarkable. To me I have him in that great potential category with say Dragicevic. There  just isn't enough to go on for me compared to guys who have been progressing consistently. 

[R3aL]

39 minutes ago, HighOnHockey said:

Yeah I certainly wouldn't be disappointed with Benson at 11 - would prefer him to ASP and probably even Perreault, as far as smaller guys go. But there are other guys I'm hoping will be there. My current top 15: 1. Bedard 2. Carlsson 3. Fantilli 4. Michkov 5. Smith 6. Sale 7. Dvorsky 8. Leonard 9. Gulyayev 10. Reinbacher 11. But 12. Danielson 13. Simashev 14. Benson 15. Barlow

 

Can't exactly remember my last list I posted, but my only real changes lately are Michkov falls to 4 - I've always said I will do my list strictly based on hockey and upside, not geopolitics, but with listed weights ranging from 148-161, Michkov missing the combine now has significant hockey implications. And the other main change is Sale has jumped past Dvorsky, for basically the reasons @hammertime has levied against Dvorsky - while his shooting/goal-scoring and his passing/playmaking are upper echelon, his skating and puck skills are well below elite. Still love him for the combination of the super high floor and at least some chance at elite upside, but the more I watch of Sale the more I get strong Lucas Raymond vibes - a winger playing underweight for pro, with elite offensive skill and a highly mature, responsible two-way game. Sale is certainly a step down from Raymond in terms of both offensive skill and defensive acumen, but the difference between 5'10 and 6'2 frames goes a long way towards balancing them out.

 

But anyway, back to the point of this post, I've been putting a lot of time into my top 75 as I'm going to miss the CDCML draft and so will need to submit a list prior to the draft. And it occurred to me, if I remove But and Simashev from my list, Benson lands nicely at 11th overall, so while I can say I would prefer Sale or Danielson, I couldn't possibly be dissapointed with Benson going in the range I have him listed.

Ya its hard to be upset with Benson at 11. But like yourself I have seeds of doubt that he could be the BPA or best fit for us too.

 

I am impressed on your openness and that @hammertime influenced your view on Dvorsky. 

 

My Top 20 Tiers right now are:

 

Bedard

-

Fantilli / Carlsson / Smith / Michkov

-

Leonard / Dvorsky / Willander / Danielson

-

Reinbacher / Wood / Simashev / Benson 

-

Moore / ASP / Sale / Barlow

-

Stenberg / But / Yager

 

I've honestly drank the KOOLAID for Willander's play, interviews, path I just think he and Simashev are going to be the best dmen out the draft. Followed by Reinbacher and Bonk.

 

I cant wait to see what Willander does in the NCAA and hes going to get the opportunity to really develop his offensive game. I also love the green line rivalry he will get against the BIG US Program Line: Perreault-Smith-Leonard

 

And I am pretty happy comfortable taking any player from my tiers in our draft range:

 

Leonard / Dvorsky / Willander / Danielson

-

Reinbacher / Wood / Simashev / Benson 

 

We are getting a great player.

 

I might tweak my tiers as I really like all of these 8 players and I have had a hard time ranking them. I want all of them..

 

[HighOnHockey]

2 minutes ago, hammertime said:

What gives me the willies pun intended. Is there is no body of work. He had a good U18 playing 2nd pair behind the ASP show. But beyond that. Really really meh. Up until this season he'd done pretty much nothing. Nil points in 12 J20 Nat games rocking a -10 and a further nil in 5 J18 Nat games prior to this season. This season sure a bit better 29pts in 45 with a +11 but J20 Nat is still a solid step down from say the OHL. I guess what I'm saying is man oh man I reaaaaaaly hope they've done their homework on him if they pick him because prior to this year I don't think anyone anywhere had him in their top 250 for this draft class. 

Right but as I discussed with another poster earlier, he's played 25 games this season in international tournaments. According to the equivalnecy chart (https://towardsdatascience.com/nhl-equivalency-and-prospect-projection-models-building-the-nhl-equivalency-model-part-2-6f275a45e22) the quality of the U18 tournament is about on par with the CHL leagues. Granted it was a little lower than usual this year because of no Russia, but he also fared quite well at 4N, 5N and WJAC. 4N and 5N are on average pretty significantly higher QualComp than the IIHF U18s because you don't have the Latvias and Norways to rack up numbers against, and the WJAC is a U19 tournament. That was maybe the most interesting performance from him for me, with no ASP there as he was at World Juniors, Willander really carried the load for Sweden against a little bit older players.

 

I don't want to sound like I'm taking too much of a side in this debate. I don't have Willander ranked quite that high. I could see him going around 15. 11 would surprise me, but I wouldn't be particularly disappointed so much as intrigued. I remember an interview with Robert Kron where he mentioned he had 40(!)+ viewings on Sebastian Aho his draft year. Between International competition and league games I'd bet Gradin has at least 30+ viewings a piece on Willander, ASP and Lindstein. And you can bet Allvin, Harvey and Delorme were at an awful lot of those international tournaments with Gradin nudging them saying check out [insert whichever one Gradin likes best].

[chon derry]

34 minutes ago, spook007 said:

one good pick that’s all we need. 

[Nucker 67]

10 minutes ago, Alflives said:

And lost Petey, Demko and Hughes as free agents before those two D are developed enough to help our club. Hronek is only 25. He’s already a mature elite right shot D. We aren’t rebuilding. And nor should we. 

Good point about Hronek, they needed to make a trade to bring in a Top 4D. Petey, Hughes, Demko want to start winning now.

 

I wonder which player (that would be available at #11) would be ready for the team (NHL) in 1-2 years? 

 

Barlow

Wood

Danielson

Sale 

Honzek 

?

 

Could the Canucks be targeting a player that will make an impact sooner rather than later? 

Edited June 13, 2023 by NUCKER67

[R3aL]

16 minutes ago, Isam said:

Simashev is the guy I love. I just wish he would build his confidence a little more on the offensive side more, cuz he can seriously walk the line and control the the offensive when given the chance but his team just does not want to use him there

Im curious if he will be  a Russian willing to play in the AHL and get PP time.

[NuckLuck19]

Interesting take on Halford and Brough this morning, not sure how knowledgable Chris Faber is but he was saying that Barlow is so pro ready he could push for a spot next year. Interesting....

 

And on the same show, Linden was on. They mentioned he doesn't like talking about the reason for his exit from the Canucks in depth, that he has preferred to be diplomatic. They also said, they wouldn't be doing their job if they didn't probe. Linden basically ended up saying the reason he left was due to a difference is what the team needed to do, and that he had a more long term view and 'others within the organization didn't share the same view, that they wanted to retool on the fly.

So there you have it, finally out, Linden wanted to tear it down, and Acqua man didn't and benning listened to his boss. Sad.

[NuckLuck19]

Just now, NUCKER67 said:

Good point about Hronek, they needed to make a trade to bring in a Top 4D. Petey, Hughes, Demko want to start winning now.

 

I wonder which player (that would be available at #11) would be ready for the team (NHL) in 1 year? 2024/25 season

 

Barlow

Wood

Danielson

Sale 

Honzek 

?

 

Could the Canucks be targeting a player that will make an impact sooner rather than later? 

Farber was on Halford and Brough this am and said Barlow is a player who could push for a spot in the NHL next year. Not sure how knowledgeable Farber is so take it for what its worth.