Prospect Info: 2020 NHL Draft Part 2

[Hockey Duckie]

Ive thought about a full rebuild for sure and we need to do it or we will be bottom feeders for the next decade. We can only do a hybrid rebuild if we had at least a handful of potential young talent and incoming top prospects learning from established veterans in a competitive environment. We just don’t have that legitimate young talent...

BM’s has been significantly underperforming in asset management the past 5 years and gave away too many big contracts that failed with career ending injuries, signed too many low risk low talent grinders. We also actually haven’t signed any quality free agents / prospects, and drafted any true stars even though many picks have made it to the NHL . None of our prospects appear to be locks as stars (hopefully Zegras) and we really haven’t done well in the 1st round since the Theodore selection. Add to it the fact that we have an unproven coach who might just be a temporary cheerleader for just another year before getting the axe.

Things could have been much different... imagine if we had Theo, Karlsson, signed a legitimate star player like Panarin... drafted higher risk/reward types like an Aho, or signed any college free agents even a Kerfoot?

Sadly, the full rebuild won’t happen... I actually hope we even tank worse next year to force the Samueli’s to make the GM change. We need new blood and I’m good with giving Madden a shot... hopefully he will be more open minded and willing to sign talent no matter where they come from.

What is this alternate history?

Bob retained the twins, Getz and Pears. Pears' wheels and game fell off due to injury. Bob went all in for Kesler, but he too fell to injury. Bob went all in again with Eaves, but he had some odd medical situation that none of us know what's wrong with him today. Eaves-Getz-Pears was a top line. Kelser is your 2nd line center who is also a shutdown defender. It's just bad luck with injuries. We got hit hard with injuries in 2018-19 down the middle of the ice. Grant was our 1C. We got hit hard with injuries on our blue line in 2019-20. We lost our top-4 (which included Gudz) later in the season.

Due to injuries, we're forced to rush a lot of youths. Lundestrom was rushed as an 18-year old center. Steel, Terry, Jones, and Comtois all need more seasoning, but with three forward positions open due to Perry, Kesler, and Eaves not being available, the Ducks were desperate. Just before the 2019-20 season started, Bob tried to trade for D Justin Faulk, this implicating he needed more veteran help on the blue line.

Bob's asset management has been more positive. Since 2016 to the present day draft, the Ducks have had two draft picks in the first round three times: 2016, 2019, and 2020. The rebuild on the fly has already started.

Theodore had time to develop and wasn't rushed to the NHL. And when we was up with the NHL club, he was on the bottom pairing being sheltered. Although, I find it hilarious that you shrunk the scope down for finding talent to the first round only. The 2014 draft was a good haul for the Ducks. We had only five selections in that draft and four of them made it to the NHL in F Ritchie, D Pettersson, D Montour, and F Kase (a seventh round selection). There's a superstar in the making in G Dostal, a third round pick from 2018. Then there's Zegras attempting to make the NHL after only a year in the NCAA, and he's a first round pick.

We just had a major overhaul between the beginning of last season till today.
New to the team and org since the beginning of last season:

NHL level

Early season

D Guds​

Trade Deadline

F Heinen
F Milano
D Djoos
F Agozzino
F Backes​

After the season

D Curran (Potentially, FA signing)
F Zegras (Potentially, rookie signing from NCAA)​

Prospect or draft pick

RHD Andersson (Kase trade)
27th overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft (Kase trade)
104th overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft (Grant trade)​

Those trade deadline guys helped the Ducks go 5-3-1, including where our top-4 were out, D Djoos playing top pairing, and we won (the Avs game).

D Curran was the second highest scorer in the SHL last year. A defenseman finished 2nd overall in the SHL last year in points. That doesn't get any love from you?

I dunno if we require a full rebuild consider the haul to the roster I listed above. Plus, we do have young forward talent still developing in C Zegras, C Steel, F Terry, LW Comtois, LW Jones, C Lundestrom, and LW Tracey. Tack on D LaCombe, Thrun, and Andersson for blue line, then it appears the Ducks have revamped their defense pipeline in a hurry. Also, we have three selections in the top-36 draft picks in this coming NHL draft.

I maybe too optimistic about the Ducks next year because I do notice all these little things that Bob has done and what he's trying to address as a priority - defense, which includes forward play. We have an abundance of centers and defensemen going into next season, hopefully enough to withstand the bad luck of mass injuries to one positional grouping we've had for the past two seasons.

 

[Dion TheFluff]

assuming Lafreniere, Byfield, Stutzle, Perfetti and Raymond are the 1st 5 off the table, what direction do you think your team goes?

Drysdale seems like a good fit for you guys?

 

[The Duck Knight]

assuming Lafreniere, Byfield, Stutzle, Perfetti and Raymond are the 1st 5 off the table, what direction do you think your team goes?

Drysdale seems like a good fit for you guys?

If that's the top 5 I'd be fairly upset if our pick was anyone other than Rossi. I'm not sold on Drysdale bringing enough offense to be a top pair D.

 

[Dion TheFluff]

If that's the top 5 I'd be fairly upset if our pick was anyone other than Rossi. I'm not sold on Drysdale bringing enough offense to be a top pair D.

aren't you guys already loaded with young centers though?

 

[The Duck Knight]

aren't you guys already loaded with young centers though?

Well to start with I would never draft based on need. Secondly it's not necessarily a guarantee that Rossi/Zegras stick at center in the NHL. I actually kind of expect Zegras to ultimately end up on the wing. Then there's Steel/Groulx/Lundestrom. I'd be shocked if the latter 2 were more than bottom 6 guys.

 

[AngelDuck]

The ducks are in no way, shape, or form loaded with young centers

 

[KaseMeOutside]

assuming Lafreniere, Byfield, Stutzle, Perfetti and Raymond are the 1st 5 off the table, what direction do you think your team goes?

Drysdale seems like a good fit for you guys?

I would wager Holtz, Drysdale, Rossi, and Sanderson are all in the discussion. I would honestly be fine trading down a couple spots

 

[Dion TheFluff]

Well to start with I would never draft based on need. Secondly it's not necessarily a guarantee that Rossi/Zegras stick at center in the NHL. I actually kind of expect Zegras to ultimately end up on the wing. Then there's Steel/Groulx/Lundestrom. I'd be shocked if the latter 2 were more than bottom 6 guys.

fair enough

 

[John Mandalorian]

Hello, everyone. I hope you're having a nice weekend. I'm here from the Avs forum. We're doing a mock draft and the Ducks are one of the teams I'm picking for. I'm interested in knowing if there are particular players that I should be focused on with the 27th and 36th picks?

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

assuming Lafreniere, Byfield, Stutzle, Perfetti and Raymond are the 1st 5 off the table, what direction do you think your team goes?

Drysdale seems like a good fit for you guys?

I guess Raymond. My best choice would be Askarov.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

aren't you guys already loaded with young centers though?

A lot of hockey fans not in Anaheim see this about the Ducks. Although, grabbing a center isn't a waste of a pick either, but the Ducks do have a lot of young centers

2019 1st rd, 9th overall: Zegras - 19 yrs old
2018 1st rd, 23rd overall: Lundestrom - 20 yrs old
2018 2nd rd, 54th overall: Groulx - 20 yrs old
2016 1st rd, 30th overall: Steel - 22 yrs old

The Ducks also signed 2017 3rd rd Badini this past off-season from the NCAA, iirc.

At the NHL level, C Henrique is signed through the 2023-24 season. Possible that C Getzlaf does a one-year contract to revisit every year too.

Us Duck fans are spoiled as we've had players like C Getzlaf, RW Perry, D Fowler, D Lindholm, and G Gibson all perform at top levels at a very young age in the NHL. Then we've had gems like D Vatanen, D Manson, D Theodore, D Montour, D Petersson, F Kase, and RW Rakell (was a center) become more than their projections. Getzlaf was an amazing find at 19th overall way back in the 2003 NHL draft and that's the standard that some Duck fans believe each first rounder should reach. Getzlaf was a hulk in his draft at 6'4 and 225 lbs. None of our centers are like that ilk and it's difficult to appreciate the luck we had with Getzlaf falling to 19th in the draft.

We're truly young at the center position and these talents may need more seasoning. In 2018, we forced Steel (age 20 then) and Lundestrom (age 18) into the starting lineup at the start of the season because we were hit with mass injuries to our center position. I don't like definitive expectations with prospects as some may need time to develop, but also how they need to develop. For example, we had Wild Bill (William Karlsson) in our system. We knew he had talent, but mentally, he couldn't turn the corner. It took a couple of franchises for Wild Bill to finally wake up to reach his potential.

A thing about Getzlaf that many neglect is that he had Perry be his perfect complement as he's the finisher of the two. Getzlaf also had big Dustin Penner when the Twins broke into the NHL. Eventually, Penner was replaced with Maroon, another big guy who likes to finish. Later on, Patrick Eaves was that big guy who likes to finish.

Right now, the Ducks don't have a lot of finishers in their roster or system. Rakell is suffering because he needs a top end center, but the Ducks need to separate Rakell from Getz to avoid being a one-line offense. 2019 1st round, 29th overall LW Tracey is still years away. And that's it for finishers.

PPG rank, Anaheim

2019-20: 31st
2018-19: 26th
2017-18: 29th (tied)
2016-17: 13th​

Anaheim has playmakers in the organization. What it doesn't possess is a true finisher. Adding another playmaker and all around player like Rossi is a great addition to any team, but to the Ducks, Rossi might be a bit redundant. Another poster cited getting Rossi and having a 1-2 punch of Zegras and Rossi down the middle, but it still needs to find a finisher.

There is a high possibility that Rossi may be selected by the Ducks. Last year, the Ducks tried to trade up for C Peyton Krebs, using the 29th and 39th selections overall to jump to 18th. Unfortunately, Krebs went 17ths to the Golden Knights. But if Rossi's future isn't at center, then maybe the Ducks need to look elsewhere.

 

[bsu]

Byfield at 6

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Byfield at 6

I actually think that is possible.
LA takes Stutzle, Ottawa takes Rossi or Raymond, Detroit takes Perfetti, Ottawa takes Raymond or Rossi. Ducks select Byfield. There is enough flaws in picking Byfield that i could see it happening. I can't see Murray passing on big boy Byfield for Sanderson or Drysdale.

 

[bsu]

Byfield will not leave the top 3

 

[Paul4587]

Byfield at 6

Definitely some interesting rankings. I get his reasoning but don’t agree with everything. That said I do love his videos and scouting reports.

 

[Rasp]

Raymond is 12 in his rankings

 

[AngelDuck]

The Kings passing on Stuzle and Byfield would be a dream scenario. Don’t see it coming to fruition though

 

[Kalv]

I share his opinion about Byfield. But also I acknowledge he will not leave the top 3 because of the potential upside and so on. My ideal scenario is LAK pick Byfield

 

[Beckett]

I totally agree on his assessment of Byfield, havent seen the patience/IQ in the offensive zone I'd expect from a top 2 pick. The tools are there to be a legit #1C, but its far from a given he'll put it all together, of course the Ducks would be stoked to get him at 6... I'm fairly certain Ottawa grabs him at 3 or 5.

Redwings are really the wildcard here, I honestly think you could make a list of 5+ guys they could go after at pick 4.

 

[Trojans86]

I really hope we can get rossi.

 

[AngelDuck]

I totally agree on his assessment of Byfield, havent seen the patience/IQ in the offensive zone I'd expect from a top 2 pick. The tools are there to be a legit #1C, but its far from a given he'll put it all together, of course the Ducks would be stoked to get him at 6... I'm fairly certain Ottawa grabs him at 3 or 5.

Redwings are really the wildcard here, I honestly think you could make a list of 5+ guys they could go after at pick 4.

I think Perfetti going to Detroit is something that will happen. In that case we’d be left with either Raymond or Rossi or Drysdale for sure, which is what everyone wants realistically

 

[bumperkisser]

No chance LA doesn't take Byfield or stuz

 

[Static]

 

[Kalv]

He's just begging them to lure Getzy to Detroit

 

[Gliff]

I'm really sold on Rossi outside of the top 3 guys. Future captain right there.