2023 NHL Entry Draft

[HighOnHockey]

9 hours ago, R3aL said:

You’ve got me on the Minnetian KOOLAID

Lol perfect timing, as he's having the worst game I've seen from him today against the Czechs. USA is up 7-1 after two. The big line is firing on all cylinders - they're up to 14 points between them. Smith and Leonard each with hat tricks and Perreault 5 assists. Meanwhile Minnetian was directly (and embarrassingly) responsible for the lone goal against. He picked up the puck at the offensive blueline and carried it down the right boards but lost an edge and fell going behind the Czech net, taking out a USA forward in the process and creating a 3 on 1 going back the other way. On another play he slid defending a 2 on 2 and the Czech forward went around him for a 2 on 1 but the goalie bailed him out. His skating is increasingly becoming an area of concern for me, as he looks great carrying the puck up ice, but on sharp cuts and quick changes of direction he so often loses balance. He's definitely going to be a project for whoever drafts him.

[R3aL]

1 hour ago, HighOnHockey said:

Lol perfect timing, as he's having the worst game I've seen from him today against the Czechs. USA is up 7-1 after two. The big line is firing on all cylinders - they're up to 14 points between them. Smith and Leonard each with hat tricks and Perreault 5 assists. Meanwhile Minnetian was directly (and embarrassingly) responsible for the lone goal against. He picked up the puck at the offensive blueline and carried it down the right boards but lost an edge and fell going behind the Czech net, taking out a USA forward in the process and creating a 3 on 1 going back the other way. On another play he slid defending a 2 on 2 and the Czech forward went around him for a 2 on 1 but the goalie bailed him out. His skating is increasingly becoming an area of concern for me, as he looks great carrying the puck up ice, but on sharp cuts and quick changes of direction he so often loses balance. He's definitely going to be a project for whoever drafts him.

Perhaps it would be better if return to the camp of uncertainty for him. I wouldn’t want to jynx him haha 

 

sounds like it was a fun game to watch USA feast.

was Moore invisible or did he play well and what did Sale look like?

 

9-1 was quite the spanking 

 

[stawns]

12 hours ago, YearoftheNuck said:

Based on where we currently sit in the standings, this is my wish list for our first three picks in the draft:

 

6th - Will Smith

13th - either Reinbacher or Sandin Pellikka 

38th - Aram Minnetian

It’s kind of cheating to have two names at the 13th spot there lol, but I’m truly torn between the two. 

Smith won't be there at 6, imo.  He might not even be there at 5

[stawns]

5 hours ago, Boudrias said:

I am happy with #5 and hope the lottery goes well for us for a change. Canucks are at 46 points = #6; ARZ 43, SJ 42 and ANA 40. It will make a big dif on how many deals get done by the TDL. ARZ and ANA have young rosters that likely have some success towards the season end. All that aside Vancouver has the strongest roster of the 4 as they sit now. EP40 could pull the Canucks up just by himself. Hopefully PA moves Boeser, Garland, and hopefully Meyers by the end of the month. Meyers likely doesn't make much sense but one can hope. Outside the box  maybe Miller or even Hughes. 

I'd say 7 times out of 10 on the lottery sim, Van falls at least one spot.

Edited February 12, 2023 by stawns

[HighOnHockey]

1 hour ago, R3aL said:

Perhaps it would be better if return to the camp of uncertainty for him. I wouldn’t want to jynx him haha 

 

sounds like it was a fun game to watch USA feast.

was Moore invisible or did he play well and what did Sale look like?

 

9-1 was quite the spanking 

 

Was a beauty of a game for USA. I actually think Zeev Buium is the better overall defense prospect than Minnetian. Usually Buium plays right side as a left shot on one pair and Minnetian plays right side on another pair, but once in a while they'll put those two together on their proper hands and it's a pretty stellar pairing. Buium I could see going top 10-15 next year.

 

Moore was not invisible. Played with Danny Nelson and various wingers including Burnevik, Fine and Hendrickson. PKed with Leonard. He made a lot of NHL-callibre plays, but I'm not sure I saw game-breaking NHL playmaking.

 

But man oh man the way Smith picks up a puck around the net and does that hard back-pivot toe-drag to completely change the angle, that dude has star-power written all over him. And he doesn't always shoot from there either! Finds Perreault or Leonard back door a lot of the time.

[Boudrias]

1 hour ago, stawns said:

I'd say 7 times out of 10 on the lottery sim, Van falls at least one spot.

Montreal beat the Oilers today.  

[higgyfan]

Couple of current draft lists.  The top 3 appear to be settling in, but the others are still tough to place.

 

McKenzie's rankings January 23...

 

https://www.tsn.ca/connor-bedard-stays-no-1-in-tsn-s-bob-mckenzie-s-2023-nhl-mid-season-draft-ranking-1.1909900

 

Button's rankings January 10...

 

https://www.eliteprospects.com/draft-center/2023/tsn-craig-button

**Tom Willander at 15

 

"Stock Up: Tom Willander, RHD, Rogle BK J20 (J20 Nationell)

Quietly moving up boards over the last couple of months, Willander has been one of the most intriguing blueline prospects in Europe. He boasts good size as he stands 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds. He also possesses mobility and tools that could give him an impressive upside despite already ranking as Sweden’s second-highest scoring defender at the J20 level.

Willander plays a calm, cool, and collected game. He spins off opposing forecheckers and escapes pressure, diffusing danger before finding a teammate in the neutral zone. While playing for the Swedish under-18 squad, he routinely showed more confidence with the puck. Willander tends to lean towards a conservative style of play despite having the skill to play a bit more aggressively. He is committed to Boston University, which could be an excellent place to develop more of a killer instinct with the puck." https://thehockeynews.com/news/nhl-draft-stock-watch-moore-brindley-and-willander-impress

 

[stawns]

33 minutes ago, Boudrias said:

Montreal beat the Oilers today.  

Good news.......still don't like how often they fall spots in the sim.  Imo, the lottery should be the bottom 5 teams

[DownUndaCanuck]

23 minutes ago, higgyfan said:

Couple of current draft lists.  The top 3 appear to be settling in, but the others are still tough to place.

 

McKenzie's rankings January 23...

 

https://www.tsn.ca/connor-bedard-stays-no-1-in-tsn-s-bob-mckenzie-s-2023-nhl-mid-season-draft-ranking-1.1909900

 

Button's rankings January 10...

 

https://www.eliteprospects.com/draft-center/2023/tsn-craig-button

**Tom Willander at 15

 

"Stock Up: Tom Willander, RHD, Rogle BK J20 (J20 Nationell)

Quietly moving up boards over the last couple of months, Willander has been one of the most intriguing blueline prospects in Europe. He boasts good size as he stands 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds. He also possesses mobility and tools that could give him an impressive upside despite already ranking as Sweden’s second-highest scoring defender at the J20 level.

Willander plays a calm, cool, and collected game. He spins off opposing forecheckers and escapes pressure, diffusing danger before finding a teammate in the neutral zone. While playing for the Swedish under-18 squad, he routinely showed more confidence with the puck. Willander tends to lean towards a conservative style of play despite having the skill to play a bit more aggressively. He is committed to Boston University, which could be an excellent place to develop more of a killer instinct with the puck." https://thehockeynews.com/news/nhl-draft-stock-watch-moore-brindley-and-willander-impress

 

There's lots of moving and shaking going on. Willander has come out of nowhere, I hope we don't go off the board and take him at 15 because there'll surely be a top-10 pick who falls out for some reason who we can snag. The 4-15th overall picks are all over the shop, even amongst these "experts". Will Smith seems to be pretty unanimous at 6th overall no matter who you ask though, I can't imagine him being taken earlier with the top-3 sorted and then everyone loving Michkov (although his Russian contract will surely put teams off...). Button has Benson at 9th overall but he could easily go 4th or 5th. 

 

The defencemen seem even harder to pick. Button doesn't even have Reinbacher in his first round, mostly he goes around 20th overall, CDC seems to rate him even higher. Button's got Sandin-Pellika at 10th overall which seems stupid but he was gushing over him so much at the WJC and I can certainly see a desperate team want to snag a slick puck mover. Gulyayev and Dragicevic have pretty high-end skill so I think they'll go in the 15-25th overall range.

 

We'd do well to snag another late 1st or early 2nd at the TDL and grab a diamond in the rough who falls in the draft.

 

The more I look at these ratings, the more I'd like to take Will Smith with our pick (top-3 excluded obviously), then use the NYI pick to steal someone who has fallen out of favour and then the late pick for a defenceman. Reinbacher seems to be losing favour so might be a bit risky with a 15OA pick, but deserves a 20-40th overall pick up. According to Button we could even take Dvorsky at 15th overall which would be insane - snag two top centers in one draft.

[Canuck Surfer]

On 2/5/2023 at 1:46 PM, Off_The_Schneid! said:

Well if you don’t pick a RHD your waiting 5 years instead of 4. 
 

With your reasoning you could potentially pick a winger with Both Canucks 1st rounders. 
 

Organizational need should play a factor 

 

Only to a degree, see below.

 

On 2/5/2023 at 3:54 PM, Isam said:

That is why i try to to eliminate as much biases as possible. Position is a big bias for people. We tend to overvalued rhd and top 6 centers cuz of scarcity. Much like the nfl does with qbs and edge rushers. I also try to incorporate a pick valuation similar to the nfl. It is helping,but I still need to tweak it.

There is a big IF, a catch. Its important. You have to keep your draft picks! If we had a 2knd round pick this year, we could have picked Tristan Luneau?

 

Drafting often enough you (can) always have potential in every position.  Critically, you still have to consider picking scarcity guys as the priority when the BPA factor is close. Needs become overriding, when you only draft a key position in the top 3 rounds once every 3 or 4 years. Always rely only finding a bargain in the 6th round to fill out your pool. Getting 42 points from a middle 6 winger instead of 36, a better fore-check has value. A 2knd pair 6'3''D that can skate & close angles against top line players is worth its weight in Gold.  Especially if they have the composure not to turn the puck over. Valuations cannot ignore skills perceived lower, that are absolutely critical to have in your pool & on your team. 

 

Scarcity says Top 6 C is critical, because you can only fill that position with certain skills. So they do go top 10 when its obvious.

 

Its not just RHD, it's high quality defensive D that are ''overvalued?'' Cough, we don't have any!  We did pick defenseman Elias Pettersson with a 3rd.  Teams like Dallas pick a D in the 1st round almost every 2knd year; recently Harley & Bichsel.  NYI's core is full of D drafted in rounds 1 to 3; including Bolduc who was rumoured NOT to be available in the Horvat deal. How many D does Jersey, LA & Anaheim always have in their system?    

 

 

 

 

[Isam]

1 hour ago, Canuck Surfer said:

 

Only to a degree, see below.

 

There is a big IF, a catch. Its important. You have to keep your draft picks! If we had a 2knd round pick this year, we could have picked Tristan Luneau?

 

Drafting often enough you (can) always have potential in every position.  Critically, you still have to consider picking scarcity guys as the priority when the BPA factor is close. Needs become overriding, when you only draft a key position in the top 3 rounds once every 3 or 4 years. Always rely only finding a bargain in the 6th round to fill out your pool. Getting 42 points from a middle 6 winger instead of 36, a better fore-check has value. A 2knd pair 6'3''D that can skate & close angles against top line players is worth its weight in Gold.  Especially if they have the composure not to turn the puck over. Valuations cannot ignore skills perceived lower, that are absolutely critical to have in your pool & on your team. 

 

Scarcity says Top 6 C is critical, because you can only fill that position with certain skills. So they do go top 10 when its obvious.

 

Its not just RHD, it's high quality defensive D that are ''overvalued?'' Cough, we don't have any!  We did pick defenseman Elias Pettersson with a 3rd.  Teams like Dallas pick a D in the 1st round almost every 2knd year; recently Harley & Bichsel.  NYI's core is full of D drafted in rounds 1 to 3; including Bolduc who was rumoured NOT to be available in the Horvat deal. How many D does Jersey, LA & Anaheim always have in their system?    

 

 

 

 

True enough except that defensive d  aren't as scarce as as mobile two way defensemen and historically can had later. I have no problem with taking a d but I would try to trade and aquire another asset cuz this class of defensemen are nowhere near as good as next years.

[Isam]

6 hours ago, higgyfan said:

Couple of current draft lists.  The top 3 appear to be settling in, but the others are still tough to place.

 

McKenzie's rankings January 23...

 

https://www.tsn.ca/connor-bedard-stays-no-1-in-tsn-s-bob-mckenzie-s-2023-nhl-mid-season-draft-ranking-1.1909900

 

Button's rankings January 10...

 

https://www.eliteprospects.com/draft-center/2023/tsn-craig-button

**Tom Willander at 15

 

"Stock Up: Tom Willander, RHD, Rogle BK J20 (J20 Nationell)

Quietly moving up boards over the last couple of months, Willander has been one of the most intriguing blueline prospects in Europe. He boasts good size as he stands 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds. He also possesses mobility and tools that could give him an impressive upside despite already ranking as Sweden’s second-highest scoring defender at the J20 level.

Willander plays a calm, cool, and collected game. He spins off opposing forecheckers and escapes pressure, diffusing danger before finding a teammate in the neutral zone. While playing for the Swedish under-18 squad, he routinely showed more confidence with the puck. Willander tends to lean towards a conservative style of play despite having the skill to play a bit more aggressively. He is committed to Boston University, which could be an excellent place to develop more of a killer instinct with the puck." https://thehockeynews.com/news/nhl-draft-stock-watch-moore-brindley-and-willander-impress

 

I like Wallander, but he is maybe a 3rd round grade this year. To me, he reminds me a bit of Alec Martinez.

[stawns]

So if the Isles pick is #15 and both are available......do you pick the smaller mobile offensive dman or the bigger, mobile two way dman?

 

Or go with one of the many fwfs who will also be there?  

[DeNiro]

6 minutes ago, stawns said:

So if the Isles pick is #15 and both are available......do you pick the smaller mobile offensive dman or the bigger, mobile two way dman?

 

Or go with one of the many fwfs who will also be there?  

Bigger mobile D man. We’ve been looking for one of those forever.

 

We need different types of D men now. The minutes a smaller skilled offensive guy would need belongs to Hughes. He would be redundant here.

 

Its kinda like how Makar made Girard redundant in Colorado.

[Screw]

This is my top 15:

1. Bedard
2. Fantilli
3. Carlsson
4. Michkov
5. Smith
6. Benson
7. Barlow
8. Cristall 
9. Yeager
10. Dvorsky
11. Reinbacher 
12. Sandin-Pellikka
13. Moore
14. Sale
15. Lenord

[R3aL]

11 hours ago, HighOnHockey said:

Was a beauty of a game for USA. I actually think Zeev Buium is the better overall defense prospect than Minnetian. Usually Buium plays right side as a left shot on one pair and Minnetian plays right side on another pair, but once in a while they'll put those two together on their proper hands and it's a pretty stellar pairing. Buium I could see going top 10-15 next year.

 

Moore was not invisible. Played with Danny Nelson and various wingers including Burnevik, Fine and Hendrickson. PKed with Leonard. He made a lot of NHL-callibre plays, but I'm not sure I saw game-breaking NHL playmaking.

 

But man oh man the way Smith picks up a puck around the net and does that hard back-pivot toe-drag to completely change the angle, that dude has star-power written all over him. And he doesn't always shoot from there either! Finds Perreault or Leonard back door a lot of the time.

Will Smith is ELECTRIC.

 

We really need to give our best the best shot at locking in a top 6 pick this draft I feel so strongly about that.

 

Looked like a very strong game for Leonard all over the ice too.

 

Zeev is growing and playing so well from what I’ve seen. I don’t know the class too well but it doesn’t sound that deep and with how he’s playing now with another year of physical growth and development and Next year he will have a bigger role he could be close to the top for guys to watch for D prospects for sure. 
 

thanks for sharing that mate!

[spook007]

4 hours ago, stawns said:

So if the Isles pick is #15 and both are available......do you pick the smaller mobile offensive dman or the bigger, mobile two way dman?

 

Or go with one of the many fwfs who will also be there?  

Big mobile d....

[Alflives]

3 minutes ago, spook007 said:

Big mobile d....

Yup. If all other parts of prospects games are equal, then take the bigger body. But if the smaller guy is ahead in character, work ethic, compete then pick him. 

[spook007]

1 hour ago, Alflives said:

Yup. If all other parts of prospects games are equal, then take the bigger body. But if the smaller guy is ahead in character, work ethic, compete then pick him. 

Its only few that can survive on skill only... Rathbone is a prime example.

Time will tell, but I'm starting to lose hope for him within this organisation... Its called a D-man for a reason.

[Boudrias]

2 hours ago, spook007 said:

Its only few that can survive on skill only... Rathbone is a prime example.

Time will tell, but I'm starting to lose hope for him within this organisation... Its called a D-man for a reason.

Rathbone played on Saturday and apparently had a strong game. I don't think his last injury was a concussion. Lower body? That said he has lost so much development time to injury that I agree with you that it is not looking good. That said I suspect Rathbone talks to Juulson and all that he has gone thru. IMHO Juulson should get another look at RD in Vancouver.