2023 NHL Draft - Who Would You Have Selected?

[WestCoastDave]

This should be interesting...

 

11. Matthew Wood

75. Koehn Ziemmer

89. Jayden Perron

105. Luca Cagnoni

107. Oskar Asplund

119. Hannes Hellberg

171. Austin Roest

 

 

What if...

 

17 Oliver Moore/Gabe Perreault

43 Etienne Morin

 

[vancan2233]

Like Willander and after watching all the clips of the three defenseman (Simashev, Willander and Reinbacher) I believe Willander has the best overall game. Benson would have been a nice pick, but being on the small size and not having elite speed is a red flag for the NHL. Benson could very well overcome the speed issue with his skill and IQ ,but there is a high chance he will not be able to keep up to the NHL pace. I agree with the notion that right handed defensemen who can play hockey at a high skill level are gold in the NHL. Willander  at his top potential , to me is the better gamble then Benson at his top potential. A top pairing two - way right handed D man getting 30 to 40 points has more value (to any team) then a small winger getting 60 to 80 points( even if they play good away from the puck). 

[hammertime]

On 7/6/2023 at 1:21 PM, HighOnHockey said:

Every team drafts BPA according to their own ranking. A lot of fans seem to get confused and think BPA means highest consensus ranking. Willander was not picked for positional need. He was BPA on the Canucks' list.

Does position factor into how they calculate BPA?

[HighOnHockey]

1 hour ago, hammertime said:

Does position factor into how they calculate BPA?

I don't see how it could not. It seems pretty well established that all things considered equal, Cs and Ds, and especially RDs, have somewhat more value than wings, and wings have more value that goalies. Many factors come into play in a team putting together their ranking, from position, offensive potential, grit, work ethic, versatility, defensive play, playoff performance, personality and professionalism; hell, even stylistic factors can come into play - look at teams like Minnesota and St. Louis lately putting a premium on heavy forwards, or when Colorado exploited a market inefficiency and hoarded all the super-skilled small defensemen. We're not even talking about an individual scout's list, but the team's, so the scouts have to take the GM's and the team's vision into consideration.

[Smashian Kassian]

Here's my top 15 - along with the tiers:

 

1. Bedard

---
2. Carlsson
3. Fantilli
4. Michkov

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5. Simashev
6. Benson
7. Smith
8. Willander

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9. Reinbacher
10. Leonard
11. Honzek
12. Dvorsky

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13. Barlow
14. Wood
15. Yager

 

Within these "tiers" I had flipped many of the names, could make any argument. I had Benson slightly ahead of Willander but at one point I had Willander ahead of Simashev as my top D, so your splitting hairs.

 

Truthfully I couldn't decide between Willander/Benson and was happy we had 1 of them. Benson has a higher "ceiling" but Willander is a potential top #2/3 RHD imo & you can't find these guys anywhere. Tkachuk would undoubtably be taken ahead of Sergachev in a redraft but I'm sure Tampa has been perfectly happy with Serg for example. McAvoy as well. Top end defenseman just don't come available. 

 

 

[Smashian Kassian]

On 7/6/2023 at 1:21 PM, HighOnHockey said:

Every team drafts BPA according to their own ranking. A lot of fans seem to get confused and think BPA means highest consensus ranking. Willander was not picked for positional need. He was BPA on the Canucks' list.

 

On 7/1/2023 at 11:56 AM, TGokou said:

I hate this whole thing about BPA. It's the stupidest thing in the world because everyone's BPA is completely subjective. Most people go by "consensus" rankings but if anyone has ever followed the draft most would know that after the first few picks no team ever follows consensus to a T. If that were the case there would be no intrigue with the draft at all.

 

Further, depending on how teams prioritize their ranking, their BPA will vary widely. "Team A" may value overall point production and impact, Team B may value size, Team C may value D men, Team E may value future trade value. 

 

In the above example Team A may value small wingers highly because they may have a higher impact on the game from a offensive production. However, based on the trend in past drafts they will rarely get a D man unless they are in the top 5 of the draft. This is because D men typically take longer to develop and aren't as projectable as a forward and hence usually aren't rated as highly on media draft boards (they don't want to stick their neck out). Most people thought Moritz Seider was a reach at 6th overall when he was ranked in the mid teens. In a redraft he would most likely go second overall. As we all know unless that smallish winger turns out to be the next coming of Brad Marchand, they aren't valued all that highly from a trade perspective. Most wingers can be acquired with a mid first round pick or even second round pick +/- (Think Boeser/Garland/Mikaeyv) etc)

 

Team E on the other hand may look at the overall value of the player once they develop and how easily they can trade them as a commodity. A second pairing defenseman or even a "mediocre" first pairing young d man are impossible to trade without minimum first round pick + + +. Hence even drafting a projectable defensive d man will command a pretty hefty return. Any offensive up side on top would significantly increase to 2 first round picks at minimum. They can then trade these valuable commodities for impact winger + additional value if needed. 

 

In summary it's important for people to realize that although Benson may have been rated higher because he was more projectable, Willander may command higher premium in the end even if both hit their top potential.

 

I agree with both of you completely. To me position is baked into the cake when it comes to deciding your list.

 

You might have an elite scoring winger & a #2 TWD. Lets say Filip Forsberg & Jaccob Slavin, no one would doubt Forsberg has the better profile/career, but you can't get players like Slavin in their prime. So who's the better pick here? Its not so obvious though it definitely seems so at the time. The whole draft is projecting after all.