Yeah, I posted these in a different thread. As always, I disagree with Mr. Pronman on several things and am not a fan of his weird "tool break-downs" and prospect definitions, but his write-ups are outstanding and his research is exquisite.
Prospect Info: 2022 Draft Prospects, Part II
- Thread starter StevenToddIves
- Start date
Yeah, we've been saying it since the Olympics, unfortunately. Slafkovsky is very likely at #2, and the latest he can conceivably go right now is #3.
- Dec 20, 2018
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The U18 tournament can potentially juice guys like Conor Geekie. (And specifically Geekie, really, to help us out.)
I get the feeling that tournament will have outsized effect on the public narrative of 2022 prospects in general. For example, certain players out of the top Swedish defenseman as well as the whole Djurgardens line might pop. The US team will get the whole crew a lot of attention.
Juricek and Lambert are too old for the U18 with 2003 birthdays, as are a lot of the more higher ranked Canadians out of an admittedly not too strong looking, as of now at least, crop (Nathan Gaucher, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Adam Ingram, Danny Zhilkin, Reid Schaefer, Christian Kyrou).
Then pretty much of the rest of the kids are 2004 and can go.
Hopefully Pierre Squared are salivating over Geekie
Geekie is precisely what Ottawa loves at the draft. They're the easiest team to mock draft for at the NHL. That is, except when they take a player with a consensus ranking around #40 at #10 overall without even trying to trade down.
Brovalchuk
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- Dec 8, 2011
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Does anyone see Miroshnichenko falling into the second round due to his health concerns and the Russian factor? I think he'd be an absolute steal for us if he were to fall far enough for us to grab him with our 2nd.
Buck Dancer
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Let's hope they go "off the map" yet again and pick a big strong NA kid with size. That would give us a shot at drafting one of the guys I have on my top #5 list lol
This might be the $1,000,000 dollar question for the 2022 draft.
Miroshnichenko's ceiling is as a superstar top-line high-scoring wing. Before being diagnosed with Hodgkins, he was all over the draft map due to consistency issues. But what if those issues were a result of the Hodgkins? This is another question which must be asked.
It is almost unethical -- and I'm using the word on purpose -- to rank Miro for the 2022 draft. He is facing a potentially fatal disease. He is in a battle for his very life. The best we can do is keep our minds and hearts with him as he faces this monumental struggle.
That being said, your question is legitimate and deserves to be answered. There are so many variables heading into the 2022 draft with all Russian prospects, and primarily the ones who are still in Europe. The highest ranked Russians for the draft are likely to be (in the consensus) Danila Yurov and Pavel Mintyukov. Yurov plays in Russia, and Mintyukov in the CHL. As such, I can still see Mintyukov going in his general range of #12-#20, but what of Yurov? He could conceivable fall to the bottom of the top 20, and perhaps even further. Top MHL prospects Perevalov and Trikozov could conceivably fall into the 2nd round.
Ultimately, I must answer the question subjectively, as all of us must. Personally, if I'm Tom Fitzgerald drafting at #37 overall and Ivan Miroshnichenko is still available, I'm taking him, period. I'm not passing on a player who has the potential to be one of the most dominant wingers in the NHL with a 2nd round pick, no matter what the risk. For this reasoning, the other player on my radar with the 2nd round pick is Alexander Perevalov. You get one of these two kids, and it's like a free top 10 pick -- or maybe more like trading your 2nd round pick straight up for a top 10 pick. As much as I like potential 2nd rounders like Jani Nyman and Maveric Lamoureux, they're just on a different plane of talent than Miro and Perevalov.
2022 Draft Profile:
LD Spencer Sova, Erie OHL
Players develop at different rates, so when a player lacks production it's important to take special care in assessing their skill sets. With Sova, we have a two-way defenseman who has failed to impress with his offensive numbers, with just 25 points in 60 games and playing at a -20 clip which is worst on his team. However, we also have a player who stands 6'1-185, skates well, and shows NHL-caliber abilities on both sides of the puck. As such, this is also a player who has been ranked just outside the 2nd round (#66 -- FC Hockey) and probably has a consensus ranking in the late 3rd/early 4th round.
Sova is one of those players who checks every box in the skill-set list without possessing a singular elite tool. Good size, good skates, good passing, good puckhandling, good shot, generally good defensive zone play. He's calm with the puck and knows what to do with it. He's reliable in pretty much all situations without being dominant. He's just a player who goes out every shift and does his job quietly, and the Erie coaching relies on him for big minutes as a result.
Sova can get into trouble against quicker opposing forwards who can beat him in space, and with stronger opposing forwards who can beat him down low. His decision making is mostly pretty good, and he's shown some intriguing ability to carry the puck up ice and make some slick passes in the offensive zone. I feel this is a player who has a good degree of NHL upside, but he's kind of like drafting a good kicker in football because your fans are not exactly going to jump to their feet and start applauding the pick. He's just a steady, two-way player with perhaps some upside to approach 30 points at the professional level in a bottom 4 role. As such, Spencer Sova is certainly worth a pick from the 4th round on.
LD Spencer Sova, Erie OHL
Players develop at different rates, so when a player lacks production it's important to take special care in assessing their skill sets. With Sova, we have a two-way defenseman who has failed to impress with his offensive numbers, with just 25 points in 60 games and playing at a -20 clip which is worst on his team. However, we also have a player who stands 6'1-185, skates well, and shows NHL-caliber abilities on both sides of the puck. As such, this is also a player who has been ranked just outside the 2nd round (#66 -- FC Hockey) and probably has a consensus ranking in the late 3rd/early 4th round.
Sova is one of those players who checks every box in the skill-set list without possessing a singular elite tool. Good size, good skates, good passing, good puckhandling, good shot, generally good defensive zone play. He's calm with the puck and knows what to do with it. He's reliable in pretty much all situations without being dominant. He's just a player who goes out every shift and does his job quietly, and the Erie coaching relies on him for big minutes as a result.
Sova can get into trouble against quicker opposing forwards who can beat him in space, and with stronger opposing forwards who can beat him down low. His decision making is mostly pretty good, and he's shown some intriguing ability to carry the puck up ice and make some slick passes in the offensive zone. I feel this is a player who has a good degree of NHL upside, but he's kind of like drafting a good kicker in football because your fans are not exactly going to jump to their feet and start applauding the pick. He's just a steady, two-way player with perhaps some upside to approach 30 points at the professional level in a bottom 4 role. As such, Spencer Sova is certainly worth a pick from the 4th round on.
2022 Draft Profile:
RD Christian Kyrou, Erie OHL
Christian Kyrou is the younger brother of St. Louis Blues emerging star forward Jordan Kyrou, but he's the oldest player in the entire 2022 draft. He's an offensive defenseman who has put up eye-popping numbers in the OHL, with 16 goals and 39 assists for 55 points in just 59 games from the blueline. He's already being discussed as a mid-round gem by the more stat-based draft evaluators, and has already garnered several rankings in the first few picks of the 2nd round. But he's also an undersized (5'11-185) defenseman with some problems in his own end which will only exacerbate as he levels up in competition against players who can skate with him and outmuscle him in his own zone.
Christian Kyrou is an excellent skater, though not the elite skater his brother Jordan is. He has explosive acceleration and great agility, he just can't blow away the entire rink in open ice like Jordan used to in his days with the Sarnia Sting. This is certainly an asset for Christian, who uses a combination of his great skating and flashy puck skills to drive transition with possession and often behave as a 4th forward in the offensive zone. Christian is very quick to activate off the point, and once he does his quickness and elusiveness make him extremely dangerous. He's a good passer and decent shooter, but neither jump off the page as extremely high-end. And herein lies the problem -- Kyrou lacks elite skills offensively, and as a heavily offense-first defenseman, his NHL upside might be in the 40-point range, which would make him a second-pairing level player.
The question we must ask is: is Christian Kyrou a player with enough offensive upside to mitigate the fact his risk-taking and defensive questions which could lead to multiple high-danger chances against? Don't take this wrong -- I would not call Kyrou a defensive liability. He's pretty solid in his gaps and positioning, and he plays solid defense against the rush. But he is often beaten down low, and -- as to be expected -- some of his high-danger risk-taking backfires. What you're hoping for after a few years of development is a 40-point, 2PP rearguard who is in the above-average range in his own zone.
I would certainly draft Kyrou, just not in the top half of the 2nd round where he has been ranked. There are too many questions for a player who, if he does not approach his talent ceiling, will be a major match-up question for his own professional team. The upside is good, and I'm not doubting that, but this is a player I start to look at later on in the draft -- probably in the 4th round range, and maybe the 5th. By that point, Kyrou's name and gaudy OHL numbers will see him already long gone.
RD Christian Kyrou, Erie OHL
Christian Kyrou is the younger brother of St. Louis Blues emerging star forward Jordan Kyrou, but he's the oldest player in the entire 2022 draft. He's an offensive defenseman who has put up eye-popping numbers in the OHL, with 16 goals and 39 assists for 55 points in just 59 games from the blueline. He's already being discussed as a mid-round gem by the more stat-based draft evaluators, and has already garnered several rankings in the first few picks of the 2nd round. But he's also an undersized (5'11-185) defenseman with some problems in his own end which will only exacerbate as he levels up in competition against players who can skate with him and outmuscle him in his own zone.
Christian Kyrou is an excellent skater, though not the elite skater his brother Jordan is. He has explosive acceleration and great agility, he just can't blow away the entire rink in open ice like Jordan used to in his days with the Sarnia Sting. This is certainly an asset for Christian, who uses a combination of his great skating and flashy puck skills to drive transition with possession and often behave as a 4th forward in the offensive zone. Christian is very quick to activate off the point, and once he does his quickness and elusiveness make him extremely dangerous. He's a good passer and decent shooter, but neither jump off the page as extremely high-end. And herein lies the problem -- Kyrou lacks elite skills offensively, and as a heavily offense-first defenseman, his NHL upside might be in the 40-point range, which would make him a second-pairing level player.
The question we must ask is: is Christian Kyrou a player with enough offensive upside to mitigate the fact his risk-taking and defensive questions which could lead to multiple high-danger chances against? Don't take this wrong -- I would not call Kyrou a defensive liability. He's pretty solid in his gaps and positioning, and he plays solid defense against the rush. But he is often beaten down low, and -- as to be expected -- some of his high-danger risk-taking backfires. What you're hoping for after a few years of development is a 40-point, 2PP rearguard who is in the above-average range in his own zone.
I would certainly draft Kyrou, just not in the top half of the 2nd round where he has been ranked. There are too many questions for a player who, if he does not approach his talent ceiling, will be a major match-up question for his own professional team. The upside is good, and I'm not doubting that, but this is a player I start to look at later on in the draft -- probably in the 4th round range, and maybe the 5th. By that point, Kyrou's name and gaudy OHL numbers will see him already long gone.
Buck Dancer
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If we can't land Slafkovsky and end up getting one of Jiricek or Nemec... I want Fitz to do everything in his power to get Miroschichenko and/or Perevalov, who will be dropping in the range where we can trade up using our 2nd round pick and a prospect.
That's my ideal, for now.
evnted
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- Apr 14, 2016
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very nice writeup. id probably disagree a little on skating, i think it can be considered a standout trait. even without exceptional top end speed, the smoothness of his stride is impressive, he can move laterally at the point quite well, and i think he can hit his top speed rather quickly. he also seems to have a little bit of a bite to his game, throwing some extra jabs at forecheckers, which i appreciate
Thanks for adding to my observations, greatly appreciated. I tried to express that Sova is a good skater and probably should've added that he's not afraid to engage physically.
Before we forget...
A happy 18th birthday to possible future-Devil Juraj Slafkovsky!
A happy 18th birthday to possible future-Devil Juraj Slafkovsky!
glenwo2
JESPER BRATWURST
nugg
NJ Hammerhead Bats!
True, but there are two lottery winners, we could win the 2nd pick if not the 1st.
glenwo2
JESPER BRATWURST
Is that how it works nowadays?
The Draft Rules change as frequently as the weather it seems.
Buck Dancer
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Hoping Nemec having a monster year while Jiricek's been out has propelled him ahead for teams. While I'd still be happy with Nemec I prefer Jiricek
- Oct 22, 2002
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Who is the better defensive player?
Offensive instincts is nice. But we should priotize those who can clear the crease, supress shots.
Lou Bloom
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- Oct 14, 2020
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Jiricek projects to be the better defensive player and I'd even argue he's the more talented offensive playmaker as well. Nemec is a very good prospect but the only areas I think he's currently better than Jiricek is in his skating and transition play.
Buck Dancer
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If we have a shot at either Jiricek or Nemec, I'm taking Jiricek 10/10 times.
The prospect himself is an excellent reason why and the fact that we can have a pairing of L. Hughes-Jiricek for the next decade would be nothing short of amazing. They would compliment one another perfectly and would install immediate fear, in their prime, against any team in the league.
Trying to defend the offensive wizardry of Luke Hughes and avoiding not to get steamrolled by a hulking David Jiricek, for about 25 minutes a game, would be a nightmare for whatever line that would have to go up against them.
OmNomNom
Taco is Love, Taco is Life
Buck Dancer
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I think we're a lock to pick in the top #6. I don't see how we can leap over the Hawks or Sabres with the 5 and 6 point lead they have, with 13 remaining games to play before the end of the season.
