2018 NHL Entry Draft Thread (Less then 24 Hours Edition)

[Runner77]

That's actually really nice of you to say because no, it's not appreciated by all posters. Every single year, the draft thread regulars are attacked by people whom are never seen in the draft threads all year. It's like clockwork.

I so appreciate your input and hard work and everything all of you regulars are gracious enough to share with us.

In case what I have written in here was overlooked, I can't say it enough: props and a big thank-you. We're getting more than we deserve and it's all thanks to your efforts.

 

[boss10]

Okay. Draft day can’t come quickly enough!

With that being said, I really want everybody to be honest and ask themselves, how many time said you guys correctly predicted the top 5-10 of a draft.

Did people see Barkov being Florida’s pick? Did anybody thought Scheifele being taken before Couturier? Dubois over Puljujaarvi? What else..did anybody thought Thomas Hickey would go 4th overall?

My point is the draft is unpredictable. Central scouting, ISS, THN, etc might create a consensus but it’s not our team’s consensus.

With that being said, I think my pick for our team would be Brady Tkachuk. We have no player of his skillset and I think he would be an impact and franchise player for us. You win Cups with players like him and who knows, he might translate to center. All I see, is a freaking Ryan Getzlaf clone. This is not a Logan Brown or a Lawson Crouse. He’s a skilled player with insane IQ.

Think of it, Galchenyuk and Pacioretty are already established goal scorers that Zadina is projected to be. Brady’s potential is much higher than most of us here give him credit for.

Call me crazy but we’ll find out on Draft day Hahahaha

If not, give me Zadina lol

 

[boss10]

I agree 100%...a prospect or player like this is not in the Habs system...Galchenyuk, Drouin, Gallagher, Pacioretty, Danault, Byron, Scherbak, Hudon, Lekhonen all have the same skillset. They lose puck battles constantly...we are way too easy to play against. Tkachuk would be a start and a great piece to build around. Will create space for our forwards while offer some toughness and he can skate and chip in on offence as well.

 

[Mrb1p]

Ive been working on finalizing my list with some commentary, its pretty much done up until 50 or so but soon ill struggle to rank approprietly.

 

[Janne Niinimaa]

I agree 100%...a prospect or player like this is not in the Habs system...Galchenyuk, Drouin, Gallagher, Pacioretty, Danault, Byron, Scherbak, Hudon, Lekhonen all have the same skillset. They lose puck battles constantly...we are way too easy to play against. Tkachuk would be a start and a great piece to build around. Will create space for our forwards while offer some toughness and he can skate and chip in on offence as well.

With the 3rd overall pick, we should be aiming a lot higher than "will create space for our forwards while offer some toughness and he can skate and chip in on offence as well".

Guys like Gallagher, Danault, Byron, Scherbak, Hudon and Lekhonen should not be used to justify passing on players with more skill. All of those guys are replaceable.

Zadina and Wahlstrom can be top goal scorers. Boqvist and Hughes can be power play quarterbacks and among the top point leading defensemen. Dobson and Smith can be all around top pairing guys. IMO, Kotkaniemi has all the tools to potentially be a #1 centre. Do we have any of those type of prospects in our pool? Or any players like that in our current roster?

Once again, I am not hating on Tkachuk. A team like the Oilers, Islanders or even the Sabres that have a true #1 C and can use a Tkachuk to play with McDavid, Drai, Eichel, Tavares or Barzal would happily take him. But our 3rd pick should be used as a real difference maker rather than a good, even potential very good, complimentary piece.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Wanna know who's really good at winning puck battles?

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

My strategy about evaluating prospects is to look at Size/Skating/Skill. If they have all 3, I'm intrigued. As far as O'brien, I mentioned his name months ago and got the back-lash comment that he was a "meh" prospect. The other thing I want to see in a center is goal scoring ability. Doesn't matter what league they play in... are they scoring goals? O'Brien has 43 goals in 30 games so he is obviously a goal scoring center. I like this. Maybe it's because I'm tired of the Habs passing in shooting opportunities time and time again cause they have no confidence in their shot. This has been a problem for team several years now. Look at the contenders... they all have players with size/skating/skill and they have several centers who can shoot the puck! It's important if you want to win games when you face off against the elite teams or you won't be scoring goals.

I'm cautious with smaller type centers who are pass happy. Applies to guys on D too. I like Mete a lot but he needs to work on his shot. He will get in scoring opportunities but we need him to be a threat to score. Shooting the puck in the chest of the goalie don't work for me.

Look at a guy like McCarron. He has size and limited skating and skill. Then go look at his goal scoring power before being drafted. He was a terrible 1st round pick cause we got fooled with his size and we were hoping he could develop more skill and skating. That's not a smart 1st round throw of a dart. You make those attempts with 3rd or 4th round picks typically cause the options become less.

Not in a weighted order, but generally the 6 things I look for in prospects:

Length/Strength:
Speed/Skating:
PuckSkills/Shooting:
Effort/Intensity:
OffensiveVision:
DefensiveIQ:

And then use the 20/80 scale to grade (though 1-5 works too)

 

[jaffy27]

That's actually really nice of you to say because no, it's not appreciated by all posters. Every single year, the draft thread regulars are attacked by people whom are never seen in the draft threads all year. It's like clockwork.

Allow me to retort, it’s liked by “most posters”

I don’t always agree with him, but I’ll give him the respect in what he offers to this forum when it comes to prospects.

Except Tkachuk, I actually believe he’ll be a force in this league and won’t be pissed if we draft him......I won’t be doing backflips, but he’s the 4th fwd on my list for this draft

 

[sandviper]

Allow me to retort, it’s liked by “most posters”

I don’t always agree with him, but I’ll give him the respect in what he offers to this forum when it comes to prospects.

Except Tkachuk, I actually believe he’ll be a force in this league and won’t be pissed if we draft him......I won’t be doing backflips, but he’s the 4th fwd on my list for this draft

Honestly, I think the beef with Tkachuk by many fans, not just Habs’ fans, is when your team finishes in the bottom five, most of the time it’s because of atrocious defence or inability to create offense.

It just so happens that this year, there’s a potential franchise defenceman and franchise winger. Add to this, a group of exciting forwards and defencemen who may potentially be elite offensive machines.

So, all the teams stuck in the bottom of the league, I mean, for all this suffering they (and we) went through, I think the pure (young at heart) hockey fan just wants an exciting superstar to light the lamp or tilt the ice. I mentioned this earlier somewhere, but picking a player like Tkachuk is fine but it’s I guess anti-climatic.

As I say that though, I pray we don’t take him... not with #3 at least.

 

[jaffy27]

Honestly, I think the beef with Tkachuk by many fans, not just Habs’ fans, is when your team finishes in the bottom five, most of the time it’s because of atrocious defence or inability to create offense.

It just so happens that this year, there’s a potential franchise defenceman and franchise winger. Add to this, a group of exciting forwards and defencemen who may potentially be elite offensive machines.

So, all the teams stuck in the bottom of the league, I mean, for all this suffering they (and we) went through, I think the pure (young at heart) hockey fan just wants an exciting superstar to light the lamp or tilt the ice. I mentioned this earlier somewhere, but picking a player like Tkachuk is fine but it’s I guess anti-climatic.

As I say that though, I pray we don’t take him... not with #3 at least.

Agree.....it’s Svechnikov, Zadina and Wahlstrom which I’ll be really happy with, and in that order.

Tkachuk and Kotkaniemi I’ll be good with but with the they’d better get this right approach.

 

[WinterLion]

Hell, I'm provided with this beautiful information and I STILL look like an idiot LOL

You'd look a lot better if you stopped wearing purple pants jaffy.

 

[Habs76]

Agree.....it’s Svechnikov, Zadina and Wahlstrom which I’ll be really happy with, and in that order.

Tkachuk and Kotkaniemi I’ll be good with but with the they’d better get this right approach.

What about Dobson tho

 

[Yoshidas Island]

Agree.....it’s Svechnikov, Zadina and Wahlstrom which I’ll be really happy with, and in that order.

Tkachuk and Kotkaniemi I’ll be good with but with the they’d better get this right approach.

Add Boqvist and Smith to the first list, and Hughes to the second list and I agree.

I know full well the Habs would never select Smith at 3, but if in some world they did, I'd support it

 

[montreal]

With that being said, I really want everybody to be honest and ask themselves, how many time said you guys correctly predicted the top 5-10 of a draft.

Go back and look at Bob Mckenzie's final draft rankings. Yes there are always surprises but his lists are usually pretty accurate.

 

[WinterLion]

When does the hockey news draft guide come out... it's normally pretty bad, but it's cheap and fun!

 

[WinterLion]

Question for all you Draft Hounds:

Who would you trade #35 & #58 for?

Obviously for anybody in the consensus top 10.... but who else?

I'll think about it and make a list of probably about 10 guys...

 

[WeThreeKings]

Tkachuk is for good teams who did bad this year not for garbage teams with garbage players and garbage prospects.

LOOK AT ALL THAT SPACE HE MADE FOR BYRON AND LOGAN SHAW WOW!!!!

 

[jaffy27]

What about Dobson tho

I was talking about forwards. No, Dobson at 3 is too high.....having said that I really like that defenceman.

 

[Habs76]

I was talking about forwards. No, Dobson at 3 is too high.....having said that I really like that defenceman.

Dobson @ 3 ain't too high

 

[jaffy27]

Dobson @ 3 ain't too high

It’s just my opinion.....my money is on him not being selected till at least 6th

 

[Habs76]

It’s just my opinion.....my money is on him not being selected till at least 6th

Yeah I doubt he goes that early too. I also think teams will regret not picking him that high

 

[jaffy27]

Yeah I doubt he goes that early too. I also think teams will regret not picking him that high

I just don’t see or envision a bust in the top 10.....they all seem good, wish we had 4 first round picks in the top 10 this year, lots of problems solved right there lol

 

[L4br3cqu3]

Tkachuk is for good teams who did bad this year not for garbage teams with garbage players and garbage prospects.

LOOK AT ALL THAT SPACE HE MADE FOR BYRON AND LOGAN SHAW WOW!!!!

Exactly, a possible great contextual pick.

I firmly believe he has the potential of a quality complementary top-6 player.

A team who has skilled centers in their system, will drool at the possibility of adding this guy.

In an earlier post, I said I wouldn't be that mad if he was chosen at 3, in that we've needed a big, physical top-6 guy with skills for a while now.

But damn we need game-breaking talent more than that type of player.

Damn I hope Carolina want to recreate the Necas-Zadina chemistry of the last U20, Svechnikov would be a dream come true here...

 

[Runner77]

Tkachuk is for good teams who did bad this year not for garbage teams with garbage players and garbage prospects.

LOOK AT ALL THAT SPACE HE MADE FOR BYRON AND LOGAN SHAW WOW!!!!

Been waiting two weeks for W3K to use his infamous "garbage" qualifier. And now I get three of them in one shot. Post delivers.

 

[Runner77]

I just don’t see or envision a bust in the top 10.....they all seem good, wish we had 4 first round picks in the top 10 this year, lots of problems solved right there lol

We could get one more in the 10-15 OA range -- depending on what MB wants to do with Pacioretty. It wouldn't be just the pick however, he must have a baseline deal or very good inkling since he's already sounded the market at the TDL -- it's likely going to be the same group of suitors.