2023 NHL Entry Draft

[nergish]

1 hour ago, Alflives said:

Benso can’t skate like JG. In a straight line Benson struggles with pace. Sabres are craperolla now and will be craperolla tomorrow. 

Did you watch the clip? Obviously it’s just a drill at development camp, but the kid’s puck-protection skills are insane. He might not be blistering fast, but his doggedness is the key to his game.

 

I’m not saying we made the wrong choice. But a team built around skilled hulks like Power, Thompson, Dahlin, Tuch, Greenway, Cozens, etc. can afford to fit in a little fella with that kind of skill. Then you have Peterka, Krebs, Quinn, and guys coming up like Kulich, Rosen, Ostlund, Savoie, and Levi in net.
 

They’re must-watch TV for me. Remaining in the basement would be a massive failure for that group.

 

 

 

[Wolfgang Durst]

 

 

[Wolfgang Durst]

18 hours ago, nergish said:

Did you watch the clip? Obviously it’s just a drill at development camp, but the kid’s puck-protection skills are insane. He might not be blistering fast, but his doggedness is the key to his game.

 

I’m not saying we made the wrong choice. But a team built around skilled hulks like Power, Thompson, Dahlin, Tuch, Greenway, Cozens, etc. can afford to fit in a little fella with that kind of skill. Then you have Peterka, Krebs, Quinn, and guys coming up like Kulich, Rosen, Ostlund, Savoie, and Levi in net.
 

They’re must-watch TV for me. Remaining in the basement would be a massive failure for that group.

 

 

 

when you look at the prospect Benson from a pure skill level and the advanced stats you can make the case that he's a better prospect than Smith who was drafted 4 OA by San Jose. As mentioned several times it doesn't matter what prospect you are in the draft years. When you evaluate a prospect it becomes a projection. The key question what type of player Benson will become on the big stage 3 or 4 years from now. There are valid reason why 12 NHL teams didn't take Benson but opted to go with other prospects like Dvorsky, Danielson, Willander and so on. Benson is a high risk & high reward prospect. Buffalo is the right fit because they have a stacked prospect pool and have already lots of young players on their NHL roster. They can afford if Benson doesn't pan out. Canucks clearly can't afford to not hit on their 11 OA after all these picks that were traded away. I still remain skeptical on Benson.

[Wolfgang Durst]

19 hours ago, DeNiro said:

People have been hyping Buffalo forever lol.

 

Funny how fans keep acting like these teams that suck and draft good players year after year are destined for greatness. It doesn’t equal anything when you never get out of the basement and players leave.

It's pretty simple: It requires a ton of patience to get out of the basement if you stick to the strategy "build through the draft". Don't be surprised to see Buffalo + Ottawa + Detroit in the playoffs next season. All teams have added enough talent and rounded out there roster with veteran players. In the East it's obvious that teams like Pittsburgh & Washington are on a downward trajectory whereas teams like Buffalo, Detroit and Ottawa are on the upward trajectory. Buffalo and Detroit are in the process of building contenders for many years to come. I agree with the user @nergish that watching a Buffalo game is more entertaining than watching a Canucks game. Buffalo have speed & skill upfront and defensive prowess on the backend. Buffalo is a surefire playoff team for next season.

[spook007]

Did anyone tend the prospect camp, and do they think Willander will be a good player. 

I seem to remember, when OJ was drafted a lot of folks had doubts already during these camps. 
 

[Alflives]

13 minutes ago, spook007 said:

Did anyone tend the prospect camp, and do they think Willander will be a good player. 

I seem to remember, when OJ was drafted a lot of folks had doubts already during these camps. 
 

OJ lacked character, drive, compete, and elite skating. These are traits where Willander excels. OJ had better puck skills. 

[R3aL]

On 7/10/2023 at 6:15 AM, Wolfgang Durst said:

 

 

Briere: he can’t be worse than my son? 

[Nucker 67]

4 hours ago, spook007 said:

Did anyone tend the prospect camp, and do they think Willander will be a good player. 

I seem to remember, when OJ was drafted a lot of folks had doubts already during these camps. 
 

I was at the scrimmage and I thought Willander and Pettersson were both very good. The Canucks D future is looking pretty bright, and D wins championships.

 

Benson would've been a fun pick, being so skilled and a local kid, but if the Canucks took Benson...dang, their D prospects would still be pretty bad. As difficult as it probably was to pass on certain players, they picked the right guy.

 

 

[spook007]

6 hours ago, NUCKER67 said:

I was at the scrimmage and I thought Willander and Pettersson were both very good. The Canucks D future is looking pretty bright, and D wins championships.

 

Benson would've been a fun pick, being so skilled and a local kid, but if the Canucks took Benson...dang, their D prospects would still be pretty bad. As difficult as it probably was to pass on certain players, they picked the right guy.

 

 

Cheers amigo, much appreciated 

[-Vintage Canuck-]

 

[Warhippy]

On 7/8/2023 at 6:56 AM, DownUndaCanuck said:

Yikes, he's going to prove so many haters wrong. We had to take a defenceman, if we took a small skilled forward Allvin would be overthrown, but there were a lot of teams who passed on Benson for bigger, stronger centers. Steal of the first round for Buffalo who could use a small, highly skilled guy to complement Tage in a couple of years time. If Bedard wasn't in this draft Benson would have almost lead the league in scoring. Benson and Michkov are really going to end up playing with big chips on their shoulders and luckily for Benson he goes into a pretty decent team.

Put an NHL defenceman with snarl who will lean on him and he's not getting the time that he was given in those videos.

[AV's Coin]

10 hours ago, -Vintage Canuck- said:

 

so that confirms there was a deal in hand to move down two spots but Canucks didnt want to lose their guy in Willander.

 

I would have taken that risk but it depends on how they rated the remaining players left in case willander was gone. Not many centers in that area (only Yager) and only one other right hand D (Pellika).

 

Buffalo would have moved up - can we assume they were after Benson? They dont really need a d-man after Dahlin and Powers.

 

After Arizona took a defenseman early would they have taken Willander at 12? Dont think so in my opinion.

 

I think Willander would have been available at 13.

Edited July 14, 2023 by AV's Coin

[DeNiro]

28 minutes ago, AV's Coin said:

so that confirms there was a deal in hand to move down two spots but Canucks didnt want to lose their guy in Willander.

 

I would have taken that risk but it depends on how they rated the remaining players left in case willander was gone. Not many centers in that area (only Yager) and only one other right hand D (Pellika).

 

Buffalo would have moved up - can we assume they were after Benson? They dont really need a d-man after Dahlin and Powers.

 

After Arizona took a defenseman early would they have taken Willander at 12? Dont think so in my opinion.

 

I think Willander would have been available at 13.

Yea I think they could have safely moved back and still gotten their guy.

 

Could have snagged another high end D man like Strbak or Dragicevic.

 

Oh well I like how high they were on Willander. They didn’t even wanna risk two spots. Shows how much they valued him over any player left on their list.

[Elias Pettersson]

Cammi Granato: “He’s a beauty”.

 

They already knew Willander was their guy. 

[ilduce39]

I remember in the moment when Dvorsky went I thought the trade down was obvious… but I quickly back tracked since that only left Willander of the Danielson/Dvorsky/Reinbacher/Simashev group we were targeting. 
 

Would have been a fun gamble if the 2nd was in play but I understand why they just took their guy.

[hammertime]

Tell us how you really feel about those late picks Cammi.

 

 

[Alflives]

5 minutes ago, hammertime said:

Tell us how you really feel about those late picks Cammi.

 

 

Cammi played at the highest level. She knows exactly how important elite D are to winning. If she thinks Willander is a future elite D who is going to be key to our winning then we win this draft. 

[hammertime]

9 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Cammi played at the highest level. She knows exactly how important elite D are to winning. If she thinks Willander is a future elite D who is going to be key to our winning then we win this draft. 

I don't think she was talking about Willander when she was telling Todd Harvey he better know what the #uck he's doing. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, hammertime said:

I don't think she was talking about Willander when she was telling Todd Harvey he better know what the #uck he's doing. 

I think she was probably referring to the safer picks who have a lower ceiling, Mynio or Mueller. 

 

I really like our team of Granato, Clancey, Harvey, and Allvin.  

 

Hindsight is 20/20, but I feel like we had a good chance to still get Willander at 13 if Buffalo gave us assurance that they wouldn't pick him.  

Arizona could've also snagged Willander at 12, and it really would've sucked to wake up with another smaller winger as our top pick.  

 

I'm very happy with our 2023 draft.  Two long shot swings with Celebrini and Mynio.  Two great swings for dmen in Willander and Hunter.  4 d-men picked to add onto a burgeoning d-man collection.  

 

I see us moving out of the basement and into the top 20 prospect list. 

[Herberts Vasiljevs]

1 hour ago, VancouverHabitant said:

I think she was probably referring to the safer picks who have a lower ceiling, Mynio or Mueller. 

 

I really like our team of Granato, Clancey, Harvey, and Allvin.  

 

Hindsight is 20/20, but I feel like we had a good chance to still get Willander at 13 if Buffalo gave us assurance that they wouldn't pick him.  

Arizona could've also snagged Willander at 12, and it really would've sucked to wake up with another smaller winger as our top pick.  

 

I'm very happy with our 2023 draft.  Two long shot swings with Celebrini and Mynio.  Two great swings for dmen in Willander and Hunter.  4 d-men picked to add onto a burgeoning d-man collection.  

 

I see us moving out of the basement and into the top 20 prospect list. 

I don't think Clancey gets enough credit in the public eye.