2017 Draft discussion- Sabres pick 8th. Part 2

[La Cosa Nostra]

1.Hischier
2.Patrick
3.Vilardi
4.Heiskanen
5.Glass
6.Makar
7.Tippett
8.Petterssen
9.Liljegren
10.Mittelstadt

Would be my top 10. This is the BPA rankings, I wasn't going to skew it by putting the top D right up top just because we are weak at D. Honestly I'm hoping the D is totally addressed through free agency and trades so we can just draft the BPA at #8 if it isn't dealt. If that means taking a Glass or Tippett over Liljegren with Makar and Heiskanen gone then so be it. Not forcing a D at #8 just because we are weak there. In 3 years when our #8 pick this draft is nearing NHL readiness for all we know we can have an elite blue line and are struggling to find secondary scoring if Kanes gone and Okposo has fallen off. That's a very real possibility. In 3 years we can be looking at having 4 surefire top 6 forwards in Eichel, RoR, Reinhart and Nylander. Kane is probably gone by then and Okposo in 3 years could be a 32/33 year old making 6 mil per putting up 40 points a season. Would love to come away with Brodin without moving #8 and adding a future 30 goal scorer in Tippett or a stud center in Glass.

Not interested in Mittelstadt really but figured he'd have to at least crack the top 10. My dream is that we see guys like Mittelstadt and Rasmussen go in the top 7. If that happens along with Nolan and Nico, that means we are guaranteed one of Vilardi,Heiskanen,Makar or Glass. I also wouldn't mind moving back a few spots for a 2018 2nd and target a Liljegren or possibly Valimaki or Tippett around the 10-11 area.

 

[Man of Principles]

If there is a prospect they are high on, I don't have a problem with them using it. But in the back of my mind I hope they package it with another solid asset or two to make Buffalo better now. With a good coach they're not as far off as some think.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Wow, that's an awful lot of moving around.
A friend of mine who's a Bills fan told me 'Buffalo fans love their sports more than any other market'
I think he was right. I'm very glad some of you are enjoying it

FYI
I have a thread going in the NHL Draft forum. You might find some answers to questions there. I continue to post and reply in that thread for updates etc.

I run the simulator about 10 times a day for fun. Great job!

I'm losing a lot of productivity in other areas of my life....

 

[Der Jaeger]

Went D and Nordic:

1-12, Brannstrom, Erik LD HV-71 (12, 52, 73) from CAR for (8)
1-19, Valimaki, Juuso LD Tri-City (19) from SJS for (37, 52, 55)
3-68, Martin, Luke RD Michigan
3-73, Dipietro, Mike G Windsor (12, 52, 73) from CAR for (8)
3-89, Westerlund, Filip RD Frolunda
4-99, Chmelevski, Sasha C Ottawa
6-161, Sveningsson, Filip RW HV-71 J20
7-192, Virtanen, Santeri LW TPS U20

Puck moving D each side, Valimaki fill the all-around D need, and Martin develops into a defensive D, IMO.

DiPietro offsets possibly losing Petersen. The rest were late round fliers.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

Wow, that's an awful lot of moving around.
A friend of mine who's a Bills fan told me 'Buffalo fans love their sports more than any other market'
I think he was right. I'm very glad some of you are enjoying it

We do, no city as small as Buffalo would consistently sell out a 72,000 football stadium and a 19,000 arena for teams that haven't been in the playoffs for 17 years and 6 years respectively for Bills and Sabres.
Buffalonians are loyal and have a lot of pride in the city, more so because we are well aware of the negative opinion people have of it, so we fight back, the two major league teams gives us our only relevance nationally so we support them partially in fear that if we don't they'll leave.

Just today, some Toronto ahole from TSN, covering the NHL Draft Combine tweeted something 'Back in Buffalo, doesn't seem like it's been just a year, still grimy!'

 

[Rasmus CacOlainen]

Interesting bust rates. I still want a top goalie prospect in 2nd/early 3rd round. Bust rate there is not much different than F/D and we have no prospect depth at that position compared to most of the decent teams in the league.

If I have Oettinger/DiPietro available for some strange reason at late 2nd I do it.
If not - use the early 3rd on Luukkonen/Petruzzelli/Eriksson Ek, one of whom likely is still available there.

Some poster has also looking at the current good G draft positions so I repost his work. Second/third rounds is the best place to aim for if you want to reinforce your roster in that position in case of need (like we have) as obviously 1st round I think is a reach for almost any goalie:

ANA: Bernier (1st), Gibson (early 2nd)
ARI: Smith (5th)
BOS: Rask (1st)
BUF: Lehner (mid 2nd)
CAR: Ward (1st)
CBJ: Bobrovsky (undrafted)
CGY: Elliot (9th)
CHI: Crawford (2nd)
COL: Varlamov (1st)
DAL: Lehtonen (1st), Bishop (3rd), Niemi (undrafted)
DET: Howard (2nd), Mrazek (5th)
EDM: Talbot (undrafted)
FLA: Luongo (1st), Reimer (4th)
LAK: Quick (3rd)
MIN: Dubnyk (1st)
MTL: Price (1st), Montoya (1st)
NJD: Schneider (1st)
NSH: Rinne (8th)
NYI: Halak (9th), Greiss (3rd), Berube (4th)
NYR: Lundqvist (7th)
OTT: Anderson (3rd – twice!)
PHI: Mason (3rd), Neuvirth (2nd)
PIT: Fleury (1st), Murray (3rd)
SJS: Jones (undrafted)
STL: Allen (2nd)
TBL: Vasilevskiy (1st)
TOR: Andersen (7th/3rd)
VAN: Miller (5th), Markstrom (early 2nd)
VGK: TBD
WPG: Pavelec (2nd), Hutchinson (3rd), Hellebuyck (5th)
WSH: Holtby (4th)

1st – 12, 2nd – 7, 3rd – 8, 4th – 4, 5th – 4, 6th – 0, 7th – 2, 8th – 1, 9th – 1

 

[UnleashRasmus]

1.Hischier
2.Patrick
3.Vilardi
4.Heiskanen
5.Glass
6.Makar
7.Tippett
8.Petterssen
9.Liljegren
10.Mittelstadt

Would be my top 10. This is the BPA rankings, I wasn't going to skew it by putting the top D right up top just because we are weak at D. Honestly I'm hoping the D is totally addressed through free agency and trades so we can just draft the BPA at #8 if it isn't dealt. If that means taking a Glass or Tippett over Liljegren with Makar and Heiskanen gone then so be it. Not forcing a D at #8 just because we are weak there. In 3 years when our #8 pick this draft is nearing NHL readiness for all we know we can have an elite blue line and are struggling to find secondary scoring if Kanes gone and Okposo has fallen off. That's a very real possibility. In 3 years we can be looking at having 4 surefire top 6 forwards in Eichel, RoR, Reinhart and Nylander. Kane is probably gone by then and Okposo in 3 years could be a 32/33 year old making 6 mil per putting up 40 points a season. Would love to come away with Brodin without moving #8 and adding a future 30 goal scorer in Tippett or a stud center in Glass.

Not interested in Mittelstadt really but figured he'd have to at least crack the top 10. My dream is that we see guys like Mittelstadt and Rasmussen go in the top 7. If that happens along with Nolan and Nico, that means we are guaranteed one of Vilardi,Heiskanen,Makar or Glass. I also wouldn't mind moving back a few spots for a 2018 2nd and target a Liljegren or possibly Valimaki or Tippett around the 10-11 area.

I don't have a high opinion of Tippett. He could be Kessel or he could be a major bust. I prefer Middlestadt to him, as I prefer Liljegren to Tippett and Andersson.

 

[Der Jaeger]

I have noticed a trend in which in general (some centers) drop more than they should and Right Wings seem to be selected higher than rankings warant.

I've re-examined the logic, and I essentially know what I need to do, it has to do
with a little too much emphasis on the team need defaults. I will put
out Auto-Select routine version 3 on saturday.

Once again, I do want to re-iterate that even with the tweak, there still will always be a handful of guys that slide and a handful that go higher than expected. I think we all really want that element of surprise. I'm trying to find the right balance - i think it's getting close.

I'll post when the latest tweak is 'LIVE' on saturday and then i think it's safe to say that JOSH NORRIS will start going higher on a fairly consistant basis.

appreciate the feedback

Thanks for putting the site together. It's loads of fun.

 

[Ace]

I don't have a high opinion of Tippett. He could be Kessel or he could be a major bust. I prefer Middlestadt to him, as I prefer Liljegren to Tippett and Andersson.

Everyone could be great or could be a bust

 

[Der Jaeger]

Prospects board poster said Makar measured in at 5-11, 187lbs. Anyone have a link for the official heights and weights, or a media report on player performance/measurements?

 

[Woodhouse]

Prospects board poster said Makar measured in at 5-11, 187lbs. Anyone have a link for the official heights and weights, or a media report on player performance/measurements?

The usual link requires a login this year to preview, so no top tens as the groups complete and database updates. They also asked not to share the full results publicly in the past, but it'd be nice if they got with the times and published it all. Mike Morreale and Scott Wheeler have some twitter updates from the floor though.

Paraphrasing some of their updates:
- Bowers spoke with 30 teams, including Sabres
- Heiskanen 6'2" 172 .. spoke with 28 teams
- Heponiemi 6'0" 149
- Hischier 13 pull-ups
- Jokiharju 6'1" 188 .. 111" long jump .. spoke with 27 teams
- Lipanov was in BUF last two weeks training for combine and tested well .. spoke with 21 teams
- Makar 5'11" 187
- Rasanen 6'6" 214
- Tolvanen 5'11.25" 189.5 .. 100% going to be BC, not considering Oshawa
- Vaakanainen spoke with 29 teams, including Sabres
- Vesalainen spoke with 30 teams, including Sabres

 

[Der Jaeger]

The usual link requires a login this year to preview, so no top tens as the groups complete and database updates. They also asked not to share the full results publicly in the past, but it'd be nice if they got with the times and published it all. Mike Morreale and Scott Wheeler have some twitter updates from the floor though.

Paraphrasing some of their updates:
- Bowers spoke with 30 teams, including Sabres
- Heiskanen 6'2" 172 .. spoke with 28 teams
- Heponiemi 6'0" 149
- Hischier 13 pull-ups
- Jokiharju 6'1" 188 .. 111" long jump .. spoke with 27 teams
- Lipanov was in BUF last two weeks training for combine and tested well .. spoke with 21 teams
- Makar 5'11" 187
- Rasanen 6'6" 214
- Tolvanen 5'11.25" 189.5 .. 100% going to be BC, not considering Oshawa
- Vaakanainen spoke with 29 teams, including Sabres
- Vesalainen spoke with 30 teams, including Sabres

Thanks!

That's not bad at all for Makar.

I'm down for trying to trade up to get him. If he's there when Vegas picks, that's where I'd try to trade up.

 

[OkimLom]

Mike Dipietro was a blast to listen to on the NHL live stream of the combine, they now have Cody Glass

 

[Sabre Dance]

The usual link requires a login this year to preview, so no top tens as the groups complete and database updates. They also asked not to share the full results publicly in the past, but it'd be nice if they got with the times and published it all. Mike Morreale and Scott Wheeler have some twitter updates from the floor though.

Paraphrasing some of their updates:
- Bowers spoke with 30 teams, including Sabres
- Heiskanen 6'2" 172 .. spoke with 28 teams
- Heponiemi 6'0" 149
- Hischier 13 pull-ups
- Jokiharju 6'1" 188 .. 111" long jump .. spoke with 27 teams
- Lipanov was in BUF last two weeks training for combine and tested well .. spoke with 21 teams
- Makar 5'11" 187
- Rasanen 6'6" 214
- Tolvanen 5'11.25" 189.5 .. 100% going to be BC, not considering Oshawa
- Vaakanainen spoke with 29 teams, including Sabres
- Vesalainen spoke with 30 teams, including Sabres

I saw a revised sheet that had Heiskanen under 6'1.

 

[Sabre Dance]

 

[cybresabre]

Time to start kicking Heiskanen while he's down! While his height's down, at least. Take to the twitter, the prospects board, wgr, reddit, pub stools close to the arena, whatever. The kid's short! He lost an inch and a quarter in the last hour--at this rate he'll be looking up to Gerbe by bedtime.

With our powers combined, we can drive this narrative and push him to 8, gang.

 

[Team Cozens]

JUSSO Valimaki

Getting a man crush on Jusso. Would be thrilled with him at #8.
Personally, because of size.... starting to lean Jusso over Makar.

Is he a LHD ??

 

[Rasmus CacOlainen]

Getting a man crush on Jusso. Would be thrilled with him at #8.
Personally, because of size.... starting to lean Jusso over Makar.

Is he a LHD ??

Amen brother. Ideal scenario is through some nifty trading we end up with 2 teens firsts instead of baving 8OA and snap both Valimaki and Andersson. That would be amazing.

 

[Paxon]

Good to see Makar a solid 5'11.25" 187 pounds. Some were convinced he was smaller than listed. Not that we are likely to draft him, but he has good size for his game.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Getting a man crush on Jusso. Would be thrilled with him at #8.
Personally, because of size.... starting to lean Jusso over Makar.

Is he a LHD ??

Love to have Valimaki on the team. Faced with Makar or Valimaki at a pick, it's Makar.

Valimaki is a LHS.

 

[Chainshot]

Okay, who didn't interview this kid? 30 interviews....

 

[Aladyyn]

Okay, who didn't interview this kid? 30 interviews....

Islanders.

 

[Jame]

I have noticed a trend in which in general (some centers) drop more than they should and Right Wings seem to be selected higher than rankings warant.

I've re-examined the logic, and I essentially know what I need to do, it has to do
with a little too much emphasis on the team need defaults. I will put
out Auto-Select routine version 3 on saturday.

Once again, I do want to re-iterate that even with the tweak, there still will always be a handful of guys that slide and a handful that go higher than expected. I think we all really want that element of surprise. I'm trying to find the right balance - i think it's getting close.

I'll post when the latest tweak is 'LIVE' on saturday and then i think it's safe to say that JOSH NORRIS will start going higher on a fairly consistant basis.

appreciate the feedback

The tool is awesome, thanks for sharing

 

[Chainshot]

Buffalo's own Bill Wippert with the photo barrage for today, posted on the Flames website:

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/2017-nhl-combine-photo-gallery/c-289752832

 

[Chainshot]

Some numbers are now public - https://link.nhl.com/centralscouting/public/