Prospect Info: 2017 NHL Draft Discussion

[Canovin]

Trade down and take Boqvist. He's going to be our Wennberg

 

[Zaddy]

Bowers. His floor is a 3rd line centre. We need someone with his skill set in our prospect pool anyways and we don't need to rush him. He's the next Antoine Vermette type guy. Oilers haven't had one of those guys come along in years.

He's actually the guy I like the least off all the names on that list.

I don't know if I'd agree that his floor is a 3rd line centre. I think that is more likely his ceiling, or close to it.

I've never liked these "safe" late 1st round picks. Very often they seem to bust or just become fringe NHLers.

Oilers need more skilled forwards and puck-moving / offensive defensemen. Bowers is neither of those things. He's also a left shot, which doesn't really make him any more attractive of an option either.

If he was the Oilers pick I'd be pretty disappointed. I'd go with just about anyone ranked in the top40 over him.

 

[ImmuneEH]

Trade down and take Boqvist. He's going to be our Wennberg

Boqvist is really underrated. If we trade down for an early 2nd (high 30's/early 40's), one of Lodnia, Lind, Yamamoto, Boqvist is bound to be available. There is also Morgan Frost, Geekie, etc.

Giving up the 1st and somehow acquiring two 2nd's would be ideal imo.

 

[dustrock]

He's actually the guy I like the least off all the names on that list.

I don't know if I'd agree that his floor is a 3rd line centre. I think that is more likely his ceiling, or close to it.

I've never liked these "safe" late 1st round picks. Very often they seem to bust or just become fringe NHLers.

Oilers need more skilled forwards and puck-moving / offensive defensemen. Bowers is neither of those things. He's also a left shot, which doesn't really make him any more attractive of an option either.

If he was the Oilers pick I'd be pretty disappointed. I'd go with just about anyone ranked in the top40 over him.

Agreed 100%.

Zads what do you think of Poehling as a home run pick?

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

He's actually the guy I like the least off all the names on that list.

I don't know if I'd agree that his floor is a 3rd line centre. I think that is more likely his ceiling, or close to it.

I've never liked these "safe" late 1st round picks. Very often they seem to bust or just become fringe NHLers.

Oilers need more skilled forwards and puck-moving / offensive defensemen. Bowers is neither of those things. He's also a left shot, which doesn't really make him any more attractive of an option either.

If he was the Oilers pick I'd be pretty disappointed. I'd go with just about anyone ranked in the top40 over him.

I think he'll go down the path of a Konecny/Pasternak. Very good player who isn't elite in one particular area but has all the tools to play pro hockey and be successful. I don't agree that the Oilers need more skilled forwards. They need forwards that can play up and down the lineup. That's why i like Bowers. He has the tools to play anywhere in the top 9. If you take a skilled forward who doesn't play much defense or can't handle any of the physical play of the western conference then it's not going to help the Oilers long term. This is an important point because McDavid and Draisaitl will have a huge cap hits and you won't be able to plug as many holes through free agency.

I think having players that perform well in any role on ELC or less expensive contracts are very valuable as it eliminates the need to sign and overpay free agents like Pouliot or guys like Fayne on defense.

 

[Canovin]

I think he'll go down the path of a Konecny/Pasternak. Very good player who isn't elite in one particular area but has all the tools to play pro hockey and be successful. I don't agree that the Oilers need more skilled forwards. They need forwards that can play up and down the lineup. That's why i like Bowers. He has the tools to play anywhere in the top 9. If you take a skilled forward who doesn't play much defense or can't handle any of the physical play of the western conference then it's not going to help the Oilers long term. This is an important point because McDavid and Draisaitl will have a huge cap hits and you won't be able to plug as many holes through free agency.

I think having players that perform well in any role on ELC or less expensive contracts are very valuable as it eliminates the need to sign and overpay free agents like Pouliot or guys like Fayne on defense.

To be fair, we have a lot of those players who can move up and down the lineups. Slepy, Kassian, Caggiula, Maroon, Pou, Lucic etc. What we need are line drivers. Guys who can carry their own line. McDavid and Drai are really the only ones we have. Look at Pitts. They have Crosby, Malkin and Kessel, each are carrying their own line.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

To be fair, we have a lot of those players who can move up and down the lineups. Slepy, Kassian, Caggiula, Maroon, Pou, Lucic etc. What we need are line drivers. Guys who can carry their own line. McDavid and Drai are really the only ones we have. Look at Pitts. They have Crosby, Malkin and Kessel, each are carrying their own line.

That's fair and a good point but we can't say at this point that Bowers isn't a line driver either. He was tied for first in point on his USHL team at 17. He's going to play at Boston University one of the top NCAA programs. I think that 12 months from now people won't be so down on him.

 

[Zaddy]

I think he'll go down the path of a Konecny/Pasternak. Very good player who isn't elite in one particular area but has all the tools to play pro hockey and be successful.

Konecny and Pastrnak are odd comparisons. Pastrnak is a hell of a player and looks to be an elite offensive player, something Bowers does not project as, and he doesn't have anywhere near the skills that Pastrnak does in the offensive zone. Konecny is also a lot more dynamic and offensively skilled than Bowers.

I don't agree that the Oilers need more skilled forwards. They need forwards that can play up and down the lineup. That's why i like Bowers. He has the tools to play anywhere in the top 9. If you take a skilled forward who doesn't play much defense or can't handle any of the physical play of the western conference then it's not going to help the Oilers long term. This is an important point because McDavid and Draisaitl will have a huge cap hits and you won't be able to plug as many holes through free agency.

I think having players that perform well in any role on ELC or less expensive contracts are very valuable as it eliminates the need to sign and overpay free agents like Pouliot or guys like Fayne on defense.

You don't draft future role players in the 1st round, at least that shouldn't be the goal. I agree with the premise that we need complementary forwards who can come in on ELC's and be successful, but I don't agree that Bowers is the guy to do it and the #22 pick isn't the right place to do it either. There's too many guys with higher upside that'll be available there, and honestly I feel like there's plenty of players in the first 3 rounds that could fit that future top9 mold.

If we're focused on adding these complementary players, then trade down from the 1st and select guys like Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Matthew Strome, Jason Robertson, Filip Chytil, Stelio Mattheos. Further down the list you have players like Jonah Gadjovich, Scott Reedy, Alex Formenton, Maxime Comtois, Marcus Davidsson, Ivan Lodnia etc. There's many players of this ilk in the draft and I like most of them better than Bowers. Taking him at #22 would be a mistake IMO.

 

[Zaddy]

Agreed 100%.

Zads what do you think of Poehling as a home run pick?

Unfortunately I haven't seen Poehling play outside of the odd highlight so I can't really say.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

Konecny and Pastrnak are odd comparisons. Pastrnak is a hell of a player and looks to be an elite offensive player, something Bowers does not project as, and he doesn't have anywhere near the skills that Pastrnak does in the offensive zone. Konecny is also a lot more dynamic and offensively skilled than Bowers.

My reference to these players was the lack of hype surrounding their talents. In their draft years there wasn't much talk about Pasternak or Konecny.

Anyways, i think you are too negative on Bowers. He's at worst a role player. He could easily be a productive top 6 player. We'll revisit this in a couple years.

 

[Zaddy]

My reference to these players was the lack of hype surrounding their talents. In their draft years there wasn't much talk about Pasternak or Konecny.

Anyways, i think you are too negative on Bowers. He's at worst a role player. He could easily be a productive top 6 player. We'll revisit this in a couple years.

Disagree. Konecny had plenty of hype for a long time. Made the U18's as an underager and produced well. Dipped a little in his draft year but he was still a consensus top15 pick that slipped on draft day, probably because of his size more than anything.

Pastrnak may not have been that hyped, but europeans rarely are. Fact is he had 24 points in 36 games playing against men in Allsvenskan (SWE tier 2) and he also made the World Juniors team (as well as playing the U18's as an underager the year before).

In my mind, Bowers doesn't have more hype simply because he just isn't THAT great of a prospect. He's the typical 2nd round player IMO and I guess I'd be okay with taking him there (I have him ranked #38 currently), but at #22 it's just too much of a reach for me.

 

[Macblender]

My reference to these players was the lack of hype surrounding their talents. In their draft years there wasn't much talk about Pasternak or Konecny.

Anyways, i think you are too negative on Bowers. He's at worst a role player. He could easily be a productive top 6 player. We'll revisit this in a couple years.

At least a role player?
Yakupov was at least a top line forward, Reinhart was at least a top 4 D, Brule was at least a top 6 player, etc. on and on and on. There are no guarantee's for what a player will turn into.

I think I lean onto Zads side of this debate. If we are looking at moving Eberle's, RNH, etc when salary room is need we need top line fill ins who have the skill to contribute to a high level. I have always been of the belief you pick the guy with the maximum upside to becoming one of your most valuable players. It gives you more options in the future to move out high value players for players that fit what you need as you have replacements in the pipeline.

Support players become available every year at the deadline and at free agency although the free agents tend to be overpaid.

For me I think the top guys I am interested in are:
Thomas, Brannstrom, Suziki (if he is there), and then I guess we will see if a bigger name drops.

 

[40oz]

Trade down and take Boqvist. He's going to be our Wennberg

Hmmm, I think i better do some reading on this kid haha. This is interesting comparison to other draft eligible Swedes I saw on Oilersnation.

https://oilersnation.com/2017/05/31/nation-network-2017-prospect-profile-42-marcus-davidsson/

 

[Zaddy]

 

[SDig14]

Sounds perfect to me.

 

[McAsuno]

Yamamoto?

 

[Zaddy]

Yamamoto?

That was my first thought as well.

 

[suddeninterest]

That was my first thought as well.

Yeah, looking at video of him he really seems to have the skating and elusiveness that guys his size need to succeed. I think I read somewhere that he trains with Tyler Johnson in the offseason?

 

[McAsuno]

That was my first thought as well.

I mean, I don't know much about the players in the upcoming draft aside from Patrick, Hischier, and Lilejgren. But when I think of skilled and fast, it makes me think of Yamamoto. He does lack the size, but like Bob said, the Oilers have plenty of size now.

I do think Yamamoto might get picked up before we pick, but I won't have any issues if we drafted him.

 

[Zaddy]

Yeah, looking at video of him he really seems to have the skating and elusiveness that guys his size need to succeed. I think I read somewhere that he trains with Tyler Johnson in the offseason?

Wouldn't surprise me as they're both from Spokane (as far as I know).

 

[Aceboogie]

Purely from highlight watching, Yamamoto reminds me a ton of Eberle. Similar size, neither are great skaters. Righties with soft hands. Both scored 42 in draft year, both could be drafted 22nd

I am very down for another Eberle. Say what you want about him, but dude is still 2nd in goals and 3rd in points from that draft. Wed just have to make sure to not sign him to a 6m deal after a lucky season...

 

[40oz]

Purely from highlight watching, Yamamoto reminds me a ton of Eberle. Similar size, neither are great skaters. Righties with soft hands. Both scored 42 in draft year, both could be drafted 22nd

I am very down for another Eberle. Say what you want about him, but dude is still 2nd in goals and 3rd in points from that draft. Wed just have to make sure to not sign him to a 6m deal after a lucky season...

Oooh i dont know, i think Yamamoto is a fantastic skater. Not incredibly fast, but smooth and quick.

 

[Zaddy]

Oilers interviewed 86 prospects.

 

[40oz]

 

[Zaddy]

Yeah Rasmussen is one of those guys I hope we stay away from. Don't really like any of the big guys in this draft (in the 10-30 range) except for maybe Kostin.