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

[ZUKI]

Except Kotkaniemi could very well end up on the wing... and then you selected an inferior prospect because of position... that's the point.

In Montreal , winger are playing centre so ...

 

[G0bias]

Except Kotkaniemi could very well end up on the wing... and then you selected an inferior prospect because of position... that's the point.

Every center prospect not named McDavid or Matthews could end up on the wing. If he was a lock, he'd be in the conversation for #2.

 

[BeliveauFan4ever]

Every center prospect not named McDavid or Matthews could end up on the wing. If he was a lock, he'd be in the conversation for #2.

Wonder if the current regime would have made Doug Jarvis play wing.

 

[G0bias]

Wonder if the current regime would have made Doug Jarvis play wing.

We have Drouin at center... expect the unexpected.

 

[yianik]

Really could be Hughes we are looking at. TT said small doesn't matter so much and looking for skill and speed, which Hughes has in abundance. We know TT has a thing for the NCAA. Coincidentally he is a left shot.

TT and MB must also be looking at Mete, 4th rounder who makes the team so quickly. MB wouldnt be off base thinking Hughes could be in the line up by 2019-20.

Do you guys think Hughes will be sound defensively? Is he a guy that can play any time ?

 

[Andrei79]

What indicates hes an inferior prospect?

He's an inferior prospect because Zadina is a better player.

And around and around we go

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Really could be Hughes we are looking at. TT said small doesn't matter so much and looking for skill and speed, which Hughes has in abundance. We know TT has a thing for the NCAA. Coincidentally he is a left shot.

TT and MB must also be looking at Mete, 4th rounder who makes the team so quickly. MB wouldnt be off base thinking Hughes could be in the line up by 2019-20.

Do you guys think Hughes will be sound defensively? Is he a guy that can play any time ?

After watching some of the playoff games I think he gets destroyed no matter how fast and skilled he is

 

[Runner77]

Pretty good highlight video showing Jesperi as a 15/16 year old in Jr A, as well as some plays that didn't make his Liiga goal/assist highlight reel.

Kill the volume, though. That music is super cheesy.

 

[yianik]

After watching some of the playoff games I think he gets destroyed no matter how fast and skilled he is

This is the fear I have. A no.1 D, even just a top pair D should be pretty self sufficient in any game situation and not need somebody with this or that attribute. So to me PK was an all around guy, Weber not nearly so because he is minus the transition and puck handling.

To me, at 5 '10" he could still not be a push over guy if he added weight. Guys like Odelein and Cubes were short but weighed in at 200lbs or so. Hughes is 175 lbs so if he needed up to 195- 200 lbs he might be okay

But what would that do to his skating?

 

[Runner77]

#9 in green for Cape Cod. Timestamped goals and assists in the description. Don't mind their scoreboard, they couldn't get it to work.

Liking what I'm seeing from O'Brien, a whole lot. He's not just feisty, but has good puck management, doesn't immediately commit to a play and will squeeze out that extra fraction of a second to create an opportunity. Plus, great vision.

I don't have the advantage of having viewed whoever else is projected to go in the 23-31 slot, so is he the best value within that tier -- I just don't know. What are his shortcomings, I can't really tell.

 

[Runner77]

Perhaps not translate was the wrong choice of words, in order to translate he will have to get much stronger and much quicker making him a bigger question mark than I am comfortable with a 3rd overall. I see him as more of a puck protection player and although he isn`t slow, he is not fast enough to make those same plays against 1st pairing d-men in the NHL. And although he does have decent vision, I really don`t see an elite playmaker at the next level in his game, and again, something I want from a lottery pick center.

I just think at this point we are all getting a bit of tunnel vision when it comes to drafting a number one center, I`m just as sick of the Desharnais and Danaults playing on the first line as everyone else, but take the potential 40 goal scorer at 3, tank and draft a couple centers next year.

I still think the Kid has NHL potential, but not as team`s top pivot and certainly not with the pressure of being the Habs best center in 20 years.

This post nails it for me. I want a lottery pick quality center and we can vye for one next year. I'm not convinced that Kotkaniemi is worth reaching for.

 

[sandviper]

Really could be Hughes we are looking at. TT said small doesn't matter so much and looking for skill and speed, which Hughes has in abundance. We know TT has a thing for the NCAA. Coincidentally he is a left shot.

TT and MB must also be looking at Mete, 4th rounder who makes the team so quickly. MB wouldnt be off base thinking Hughes could be in the line up by 2019-20.

Do you guys think Hughes will be sound defensively? Is he a guy that can play any time ?

Hughes is decent defensively. He’s such a great skater, he can pretty much get back as quickly as he moves up. That said, he has work to do positionally and in terms of decision making, but he’s not your typical offensive defenceman who is a tire fire in his own zone.

I’m fine drafting Hughes. It’ll make his brother more comfortable when we draft him next year.

 

[yianik]

Hughes is decent defensively. He’s such a great skater, he can pretty much get back as quickly as he moves up. That said, he has work to do positionally and in terms of decision making, but he’s not your typical offensive defenceman who is a tire fire in his own zone.

I’m fine drafting Hughes. It’ll make his brother more comfortable when we draft him next year.

Of course it will. Don't want the Hughes family divided , better for them to be on the same team.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

2 more weeks

 

[G0bias]

Liking what I'm seeing from O'Brien, a whole lot. He's not just feisty, but has good puck management, doesn't immediately commit to a play and will squeeze out that extra fraction of a second to create an opportunity. Plus, great vision.

I don't have the advantage of having viewed whoever else is projected to go in the 23-31 slot, so is he the best value within that tier -- I just don't know. What are his shortcomings, I can't really tell.

Well the first question that will always come up is the level of competition. Which despite all the obvious tools, is still something to keep in consideration when comparing him to others. He does have numbers you'd expect of a highly touted prospect playing an inferior league however - scoring at identical clips as another New England prep school grad, Ryan Donato.

The times he did face more experienced competition, he had some impressive shifts and managed to make an impression despite low ice time. But yeah, small sample size and all.

Otherwise, there's maybe a few kinks here and there in his defensive zone reads, mostly in zone coverage. And at 5'11" while not undersized by any means, will have to continue getting stronger and heavier to excel down low.

 

[Goldenhands]

If Dobson was a winger instead of a defenseman would we still consider taking him over Zadina?

I think DGS has a legitimate question that needs to be debated without turning it in a ridiculous way... Tons of junior centers end up on the wings at the Pro level. What if Kotkaniemi's skating and instincs are more suited for the wings than down the middle? We have the possibility to add a natural goal scoring machine in Zadina, something this team lacks so badly, do you take the chance to pass on him and hope kotkaniemi becomes a very good center or you take the goalscoring winger and draft a natural center in another draft? The question is legitimate...

 

[WeThreeKings]

I think DGS has a legitimate question that needs to be debated without turning it in a ridiculous way... Tons of junior centers end up on the wings at the Pro level. What if Kotkaniemi's skating and instincs are more suited for the wings than down the middle? We have the possibility to add a natural goal scoring machine in Zadina, something this team lacks so badly, do you take the chance to pass on him and hope kotkaniemi becomes a very good center or you take the goalscoring winger and draft a natural center in another draft? The question is legitimate...

What about passing on Wahlstrom and Boqvist? Both of which have higher upsides than Zadina, we could regret not picking them.

What ifs until the cows come home, if they take Kotkaniemi that's who they think is the best choice at 3, Zadina is not the cut and dry third best player in the draft and I wouldn't be surprised if, other than Tkachuk, he's considered the worst player picked in the top 10.

 

[G0bias]

And it's not like if he doesn't end up a center, everything he's accomplished and projected to be is suddenly shit. This team lacks dynamic playmakers just as badly as they do goal scorers, if not more so. Everyone's well aware by now of the impact a player like Radulov had even on the wings.

Maybe we should just avoid drafting centers entirely because "tons of junior centers end up on the wings at the pro level".

 

[Saxon]

And it's not like if he doesn't end up a center, everything he's accomplished and projected to be is suddenly ****. This team lacks dynamic playmakers just as badly as they do goal scorers, if not more so. Everyone's well aware by now of the impact a player like Radulov had even on the wings.

Maybe we should just avoid drafting centers entirely because "tons of junior centers end up on the wings at the pro level".

Who needs centres.... When you have wingers...

 

[Runner77]

He does need to get faster. In Liiga I've seen him have a clear gap to either get out of his zone, or gain the opponents zone, and have to peel back because he just wasn't going to win the race. I think he can do it though.

Red flag for me right there. Already there are questions about the fluidity of his skating and now he needs to get faster? Don't want that kind of contingency on a player selected 3OA. It's a skating league, you can't go into it with a guy who has to improve his speed -- you want a guy who possesses that skill from the get-go. You need that answer up front.

 

[Runner77]

From what I've seen, his agility, balance and explosiveness need even more work than his straight away speed.

What is this? More Kotkawarts? This, plus his speed plus fluidity -- what kind of project do we want to get into, with a 3OA? I don't know but with this early a pick, we can't have these kinds of question marks and I don't want to find out 3 years from now that they weren't completely correctable.

 

[Mrb1p]

And it's not like if he doesn't end up a center, everything he's accomplished and projected to be is suddenly ****. This team lacks dynamic playmakers just as badly as they do goal scorers, if not more so. Everyone's well aware by now of the impact a player like Radulov had even on the wings.

Maybe we should just avoid drafting centers entirely because "tons of junior centers end up on the wings at the pro level".

The Habs lack players than create offense and can carry it out themselves or make people around him better, Jesperi is exactly this and the only forward in the top 15 that has that ability/Svechnikov not included.

 

[Runner77]

I see a lot of puck protection while going wide or setting himself up for a shot that just won`t work in the NHL, quicker feet and a quicker release to go with the deadly accuracy would be a killer combo he already places himself well and I like the play anticipation, but the question is how confident are you that he can improve those skills and is it worth the gamble in the first 10 picks of the draft?

look at the NHL finals, those players had little to no time to setup their shots and very little space to work in, the most visible players where the ones able to make plays at high speeds and the players with ELITE hockey sense, many really good NHLers looked like the game was just too fast for them (Tuch, Karlsson, Berokovsky even found Orlov didn`t look as good in the last 3 games)..... the dominating players were OVI, Backstrom, Kuznetsov. And I just don`t see Kotka being one of those go to guys...

I think best case he becomes a 2nd line center, or maby even a second line winger.....

I don't like the downside risk at all. We have the opportunity to add an elite scoring winger who has a much higher floor than Kotkaniemi. But no, we're going to take on significant risk with a center that needs work in several critical areas. Opining that it's somehow correctable doesn't cut it for me. We need a more polished product at 3OA and speed under all its forms should be a given, not something we might think can be improved. What does skill improvement mean anyway, he's not going to turn into a much faster player in those areas where he's lacking, than he is now. There is only so much speed a player can improve upon -- if he doesn't have enough of it now, he's not a potential no. 1C. He's closer to being a winger with an upside of a no. 2C.

Give me Zadina please.

 

[Mrb1p]

What is this? More Kotkawarts? This, plus his speed plus fluidity -- what kind of project do we want to get into, with a 3OA? I don't know but with this early a pick, we can't have these kinds of question marks and I don't want to find out 3 years from now that they weren't completely correctable.

I dont know what youre expecting at 3 OA but youll be really disappointed. Every prospect needs work in multiple area, even Dahlin.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

I know Hughes is older, but he looks young and could still have a growth spurt ahead of him.