2020 Draft & Undrafted Free Agent Thread: Part IV
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You always need to tweak your model, but I’m more than comfortable in what it’s telling me. 3 decades of watching prospects and stat tracking/inference(which inform the model) make me comfortable.
Joey Bones
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To segue a bit here, but in a normal year the draft would have happened by now and we'd be talking about the Free Agents who came in and left and also sparking up some pre-hype for players in the upcoming class. So this is a unique time where NHL fans and organizations get to speculate on two drafts simultaneously and I figured I could shed some light on some names for the 2021 draft class. Again, seeing that everyone will be watching prospects in both classes before they receive NHL rights.
Right out of the gate, the NHL might have history made as Aatu Raty is slated to go No. 1 and would be the first Finnish player to do so. He's a flexible, all-around center who has amazing stick handling abilities and a knack for scoring goals from powerful, accurate shots. It's not so much of a landslide like it is for Lafreniere, though. There are a ton of great defensive prospects out of this class and it leads with Owen Power. Kid, early on, looks like a young Pronger set up for this age of NHL hockey. Really fun to watch and could push Raty from being No. 1. Brandt Clarke and Luke Hughes (Quinn and Jack's brother) are other defenders that are solid potential top 5-10 players, ATM. Other forwards to keep an eye on include, Matt Beniers, Chaz Lucius, Dylan Duke and Sasha Pastujov all of whom are coming out of the USNTDP. It will be another big year from them. Also, Kent Johnson is an early on stud who is wrecking the BCHL.
This is also the first year that Jesper Wallstedt, the young goalie phenom out of Sweden, will be eligible for the draft and will also be slated to go early and could push to be No. 1. Another goalie to mention early is Sebastian Cossa out of Edmonton. Was very good in 33 games for them in 2020.
And I should note that there could, also, be history made as there could be the first ever Japanese player to go in the 2nd round and, quite possibly, the 1st round in Yusaku Ando. He'll be a true freshman to Minnesota State U.-Mankato in fall 2021.
Right out of the gate, the NHL might have history made as Aatu Raty is slated to go No. 1 and would be the first Finnish player to do so. He's a flexible, all-around center who has amazing stick handling abilities and a knack for scoring goals from powerful, accurate shots. It's not so much of a landslide like it is for Lafreniere, though. There are a ton of great defensive prospects out of this class and it leads with Owen Power. Kid, early on, looks like a young Pronger set up for this age of NHL hockey. Really fun to watch and could push Raty from being No. 1. Brandt Clarke and Luke Hughes (Quinn and Jack's brother) are other defenders that are solid potential top 5-10 players, ATM. Other forwards to keep an eye on include, Matt Beniers, Chaz Lucius, Dylan Duke and Sasha Pastujov all of whom are coming out of the USNTDP. It will be another big year from them. Also, Kent Johnson is an early on stud who is wrecking the BCHL.
This is also the first year that Jesper Wallstedt, the young goalie phenom out of Sweden, will be eligible for the draft and will also be slated to go early and could push to be No. 1. Another goalie to mention early is Sebastian Cossa out of Edmonton. Was very good in 33 games for them in 2020.
And I should note that there could, also, be history made as there could be the first ever Japanese player to go in the 2nd round and, quite possibly, the 1st round in Yusaku Ando. He'll be a true freshman to Minnesota State U.-Mankato in fall 2021.
redwhiteandblue
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Wow this draft is loaded with great hockey names. A kid in the mold of a modern day Pronger with the last name Power? A Chaz and a Sasha, Dylan Duke sounds like a Marvel hero's name. And I mean, c'mon... Aatu Raty, what another name.
Sounds like an interesting class beyond that too... some D up top it sounds like with a couple forwards but so much will change before then.
Sounds like an interesting class beyond that too... some D up top it sounds like with a couple forwards but so much will change before then.
Amazing Kreiderman
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Sasha Pastujov's brothers played with Patrick Khodorenko for a bulk of their teenage years on different teams (Honeybaked, NTDP, Spartans).
Personally, I like the name Zach Biggar
In terms of talent in Europe, Frölunda keeps providing with Edvinsson Dower Nilsson, and Lysell, while Luleå goalie Jesper Wallstedt has a serious shot at winning the starting spot in the SHL in his draft year. He's pretty good too.
Aatu Räty is a potential 1st overall pick but the one that catches my eye from Finland aside from the obvious superstar, is Niko Huuhtanen who plays for Kiekko-Espoo. The city of Espoo seems to be cursed in recent years hockey-wise with both Espoo Blues and Espoo United going bankrupt and now a 3rd entity trying it out, but the talent they provide this year with Verner Miettinen as well, is reason enough for me to drive down when I am in Helsinki again
Joey Bones
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Most definitely, but as of now that's who you could look at for an early top 10-15 census. Things will absolutely change.
This is definitely a defenders draft class. It's heavy on depth and top end talent. Then the forwards are pretty good. Not the best class in recent memory, but certainly not the worst or even close to that. This might be the weakest goalie class I've seen, though, but again anything could happen. It's early enough still to not garner intense evaluations.
nsvoyageurs
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I think I saw Zach Biggar play a couple of times in the Junior A league here in the Atlantic Maritimes (Summerside, PEI for the Summerside Western Capitals of the Maritime Hockey League). Averaged almost a point per game (42 pts in 47 games). Really good player. Potential NHL draft picks rarely play in that league as the elite players play in the better ranked leagues in ONT/ALTA/BC and Major Junior. Who knows if he gets to the level where he gets drafted in the NHL, but he's an intriguing prospect.
Amazing Kreiderman
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Yeah, I just laugh at his name
To be fair, the 2021 draft isn't nearly as elite as 2020 when it comes to funny names
UnSandvich
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AK, thoughts on Daniel Torgersson? Any chance we can get him in the 3rd, or will he be gone by then?
Amazing Kreiderman
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Thorgersson is an interesting prospect to keep an eye on. Of course he's a bit overshadowed by Lucas Raymond and Theodor Niederbach in Göteborg. I think he will be gone in the 2nd round. This year Sweden is producing an insane amount of talent in the top-100 potentially.
Holtz, Raymond, Gunler, Nybeck, Grans, Andrae, Niederbach, Wallinder, Johannesson, Lööf. I wouldn't be shocked if they have 10 of the first 100 players picked this year.
Torgersson definitely falls in that group as well, and with his size, I could see a team reaching for him in the 2nd round.
Harbour Dog
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Ten out of 100 wouldn't really be a great landfall for them; they had 14 in the top 100 last year and 13 in the top 71!
Barring an utter explosion next year in the Q, sorta doubt he’s a draft candidate.
I am not sure if this is the right forum for this, and if this was mentioned in a previous post or not. What happens if they have the shut down the playoffs permanently because of Covid -19? How does this affect the draft and draft positions? Do they do a new redraft based on pts or % or where you finished? What would happen?
Amazing Kreiderman
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If the play offs are canceled, the 8 teams with the lowest point percentage enter the 2nd lottery with 12.5% odds each. Rangers would be one of the 8
Amazing Kreiderman
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Correct. The 1st overall pick will go to a team currently in the play-in, but the 8 teams who will be in the lottery are yet to be decided. The 1st lottery is final. They aren't changing that
Joey Bones
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Second what @Amazing Kreiderman said, but so far as it seems, the playoffs will commence and the second lottery will be August 10th after the round-robins. The draft will be October 9th and 10th.
If NCAA season is cancelled how will that affect the rankings of players that are in NCAA or were expected to go there next season? Where will they go? CHL? or skip a season of development?
I'm curious as to what people's thoughts are on a getting two 2nd round picks. A team like LA could use Geo, and they have 3 2nds. If you get two, I think this is a year where you can get some gems. Some guys who don't get a lot of recognition are Emil Andrae, Helge Grans, Anton Johannesson (potential gem), William Wallinder, and Joni Jurmo. The latter two skate like the type of defensemen the Rangers like as bigger guys, and the smaller ones can all wheel it and move the puck. These guys may be 4-5 years out, but I would think the defensive pipeline ends up being set if you get two of these guys later in the draft.
With the signing of Panarin, moving back to build depth not a good idea.
UnSandvich
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I think he's saying to get the picks by trading Georgiev, not by trading down with one of our 1sts
Amazing Kreiderman
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Trading your backup goalie for two 2nd round picks is not a bad move
UnSandvich
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If anything, having those picks could facilitate us moving up in the draft if we wanted to grab someone
Amazing Kreiderman
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Having two picks in rounds 1 and 3 is great, adding another pair in round 2 gives us 6 picks in the first 100 selections. That's great for the current situation of the Rangers
What is the current situation? I rather try to trade Lundqvist first and hold on to Georgiev until either Wall or Huska prove themselves. Lundqvist with some salary retained for 1 2nd round pick would satisfy me.
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