Prospect Info: 2022 Draft Prospects, Part II

[Guttersniped]

@StevenToddIves If the Devils pick 6-8, what are the chances Gauthier is available? Based on everything I have read, he is the potential top 6 power forward the Devils desperately need. We are way too soft and easy to play against. Need some toughness and interior type of player to surround the lines of Hughes, Bratt, etc.

If the Devils pick top 5, I have now honed in on Jiricek. He is absolutely the player I want.

Probably? Elite Prospects has Gauthier at 17 on their Consolidated Rankings and Scouching has his average rank at 21.11.

The only reason I don’t say “yes” outright. He was 13th on Bob’s list in January and this was written:

“Multiple players outside TSN’s top 11 got some consideration as top 10 picks. That group includes: No. 12-ranked Swedish winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki; No. 13-ranked U.S. U18 centre Cutter Gauthier; No. 16-ranked Saginaw Spirit defenceman Pavel Mintyukov; No. 17-ranked Austrian forward Marco Kasper; and No. 35-ranked Swiss defenceman Lian Bichsel.”

 

[Hisch13r]

Probably? Elite Prospects has Gauthier at 17 on their Consolidated Rankings and Scouching has his average rank at 21.11.

The only reason I don’t say “yes” outright. He was 13th on Bob’s list in January and this was written:

“Multiple players outside TSN’s top 11 got some consideration as top 10 picks. That group includes: No. 12-ranked Swedish winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki; No. 13-ranked U.S. U18 centre Cutter Gauthier; No. 16-ranked Saginaw Spirit defenceman Pavel Mintyukov; No. 17-ranked Austrian forward Marco Kasper; and No. 35-ranked Swiss defenceman Lian Bichsel.”

I feel like two of Jiricek, Gauthier, or Geekie are going to the Flyers and Sens

 

[StevenToddIves]

@StevenToddIves If the Devils pick 6-8, what are the chances Gauthier is available? Based on everything I have read, he is the potential top 6 power forward the Devils desperately need. We are way too soft and easy to play against. Need some toughness and interior type of player to surround the lines of Hughes, Bratt, etc.

If the Devils pick top 5, I have now honed in on Jiricek. He is absolutely the player I want.

I hate "odds", because you're essentially asking me to make something up out of thin air. But I'll gladly give you my best answer anyway, while trying to shed some light on how I would come up with it.

When looking at the question of where any player would be drafted, the first things I looks for is the consensus ranking and the McKenzie ranking. The consensus ranking can be found on elite prospects.com where they consolidate 14 high-profile rankings (including of course their own) and essentially average them out. The McKenzie ranking is also "not just some guy's opinion" because it uses a poll of 10 actual NHL scouts. These two tools combined usually give a fair indication of where we can expect a player to be drafted.

With David Jiricek, the consolidated ranking is #8 and the McKenzie ranking is #7.
With Cutter Gauthier, the consolidated ranking is #17 and the McKenzie ranking is #13,

The higher rankings with McKenzie are no surprise here, as NHL scouts prefer big, physical players while many of the scouting bureaus don't enter physicality of defensive play (which I think is absurd) into their scouting algorithm. But NHL scouts certainly give weight to things the draft writers might ignore, like size, physicality, compete level and position. So, while a Will Scouching or Scott Wheeler might rank a small, perimeter high-scoring LW over a physical, old-school shut-down RD, many NHL teams are likely to covet the RD more. Essentially what I'm saying is that Jiricek and Gauthier are both likely to be drafted over many players with higher consensus rankings.

Some examples are:
2019: Moritz Seider vs. Anttoni Honka. I'm not sure if history will remember this (or want to), but Anttoni Honka had a consolidated ranking in the early 20s, while Seider was around the last few picks of the 1st round. Why? I have no idea. Seider was my #11 overall -- he was fast, smart, competitive and physical but wouldn't sacrifice team results for point-scoring. Honka barely made my top 100 -- he was even faster and very skilled, but his game essentially amounted to "a little guy scoring a lot and then blowing defensive assignments and avoiding physicality until the next time a teammate got him the puck". Many draft-writers acted with horror when Seider went #6 overall to Detroit and Honka fell to the late 3rd round to Carolina. For me, none of this was a surprise, and it's also not surprising that just a few years later Seider is a shoo-in for the Calder Trophy while Honka is still playing in Finland where he puts up a lot of points but still cannot defend.

2020: Noel Gunler Vs. Lukas Reichel. I'm using this as an example because I was one of the overwhelming draft writers who ranked Gunler ahead of Reichel, though I was high on both. If you want a guy who called this one right it was @Guadana -- who was higher on Reichel than anyone and very lukewarm on Gunler. Gunler has all the talent in the world, fast and big and with a cannon shot -- while Reichel is above-average skill-wise but everything plays up because of his high compete, high IQ and fearlessness. There is not a single skill Reichel has over Gunler, but when you watch them both it's one guy who frustrates shift in and shift out vs. another who impresses shift in and shift out. Reichel went 15 spots higher than his consensus ranking to Chicago at #17, while Gunler fell about 30 spots lower than expected, at #41 to Carolina, who clearly likes to swing for the fences.

2021: The Curious Case of Tyler Boucher Well Ahead of Fabian Lysell. Lysell was almost always ranked between #7 and #12 -- an incredible combination of speed and skill, despite questions about his personality and obvious concerns with consistency of effort. Tyler Boucher was usually ranked from the early 2nd round to the early 3rd, but boy could he hit and boy was he tough, while also having the requisite offensive ability and skating to pop in with a bit of offense. Well, we don't have to look to far back to see Boucher went to Ottawa at #10 while Lysell fell to Boston at #21. In retrospect both teams may have blew it by not taking Zachary L'Heureux, who is tougher than Boucher and has more scoring upside than Lysell (but is also considered by many to be a ticking time bomb). But Ottawa made a very bad pick, because quite frankly they could have traded down -- at least 10 spots -- and still gotten Boucher, while Boston made a pretty good pick, because they have a lot of gritty, middle six prospects but lack high end talent in the pipeline. This was a chance they couldn't afford to pass up.

So back to 2022. I don't think anyone doubts Jiricek will go top 7 except complete moron mock drafters -- he's uniquely big, fast, skilled and physical. The most coveted positions every draft -- and we see players at these positions routinely get drafted higher than the consensus -- are RD and C. If Jiricek went #2 to Seattle -- hoping to get their own Moritz Seider to build the blueline around -- I don't think it would be a shock to anyone except some Byron Bader-type imebecile who ranks defensemen solely on points. I'm sure we can go back and find his criticisms of Detroit taking Seider when guys like Honka and Broberg were still available. But Jiricek is certainly a guy who could go very, very early -- even top 3. If the Devils drafted at #3 overall and took Jiricek, I think it would be expected more than surprising.

As far as Gauthier goes, it's a different story. A lot of the modern stats-oriented guys are trying to pick him apart and rank him in the #20s because they spend so much time trying to rationalize their own arguments that character, grit and physicality are immaterial when assessing hockey players. But Gauthier is also leading an incredibly stacked US-NTDP in goal scoring -- he's got an eye-popping 48 goals in 60 games. Against his own age group? US-NTDP starts the season against the NCAA and tourney teams, then moves to a USHL schedule. Gauthier has 18 goals in 18 USHL games. Not only is he physical as hell and fast, versatile and good defensively, but this kid can flat out score. So, I'd say don't believe the consensus ranking, because Gauthier is better than Tyler Boucher in every single aspect of hockey. I think he goes in the #8-#12 overall range, but could go higher if a team which covets players specifically like him (Ottawa, Anaheim, Islanders) or a team which needs players specifically like him (NJ, Detroit, Philadelphia) grabs him in the #5-#8 range.

 

[StevenToddIves]

My top #3 for now is this...

Slafkovsky
Jiricek
Gauthier

*Jiricek is almost tied with Slafkovsky. The pairing we could have with Luke Hughes and David Jiricek would be absolutely leathal moving forward!

Yeah, we are talking "best D pairing in the NHL" type potential if those two near their enormous talent ceilings. But we also have to giggle a bit when imagining a potential top line of Hughes/Slafkovsky/Bratt.

 

[Hisch13r]

Yeah, we are talking "best D pairing in the NHL" type potential if those two near their enormous talent ceilings. But we also have to giggle a bit when imagining a potential top line of Hughes/Slafkovsky/Bratt.

I’d be shocked if Slafkovsky falls out of the top 4 and even that’s kind of pushing it. I’m fine with that because I’d rather one of the D anyway.

 

[StevenToddIves]

I feel like two of Jiricek, Gauthier, or Geekie are going to the Flyers and Sens

This is a very legit call. Geekie has three things in his description ("center", "6'4", "elite skill") which make many scouts -- even at the NHL level -- gladly overlook any potential caveats. He's certainly a good prospect, but not to the level of his own teammate Matthew Savoie -- who plays the same position with far better acumen and compete but might go later because he's 5'9 and lacks elite skating.

At the top of the 2022 draft we see many teams with "#1 center" atop their wish-lists -- certainly Arizona, Ottawa, Columbus. Two of those teams -- Ottawa and Columbus -- highly factor size into their player evaluations and general draft tendencies.

Again, I agree with you on Jiricek. I think he could go as high as #2 overall. Philly, whose blueline has fallen apart this year and has lost much of their long-gone "big bad Flyers" appeal of years past, would love him. Seattle seems to prefer a bigger blueline under Ron Francis, but I wonder if a GM who came through the ranks of Carolina (draft philosophy -- take forwards in the first, swing for fences on defensemen later) would take a D so high. From what I've heard out of Buffalo, they would really like a RD with the requisite talent to play a top pairing role with one of their ridiculously talented LD duo of Power/Dahlin. The interesting thought is that Nemec's abilities might compliment Power more, while Jiricek would likely be a better compliment for Dahlin. Then we have a team like Ottawa, whose prospect depth at essentially every position makes them a wild card, but we know they love big & physical, and that's Jiricek to a T. However, Ottawa is also a team which greatly prefers North American prospects, especially early.

Gauthier is a guy who will be drafted earlier than where poor draft analysts think, but about where the shrewder ones project. If the draft were today, he'd be a very strong bet to go to New Jersey -- but I agree with you again that if the Devils draft after Ottawa, it's going to get a bit scary.

 

[StevenToddIves]

I’d be shocked if Slafkovsky falls out of the top 4 and even that’s kind of pushing it. I’m fine with that because I’d rather one of the D anyway.

Again, I agree here. Right now, I'd be shocked if Slafkovsky fell out of the top 3.

 

[Hisch13r]

Again, I agree here. Right now, I'd be shocked if Slafkovsky fell out of the top 3.

I'm extremely confident in 3 of the top 4 being Wright, Cooley, and Slafkovsky. The other spot is up in the air. Savoie, Nemec, or Jiricek seem like good bets. I'm not certain on where Jiricek or Nemec go. Bob's last list had Nemec 9 but I could see a team high up jump at him if they want a D. Same goes for Jiricek. Bob's list had him 7 last time and then there's also him being out for so long which could hopefully leave him there for us in the 7-9 range

 

[StevenToddIves]

I'm extremely confident in 3 of the top 4 being Wright, Cooley, and Slafkovsky. The other spot is up in the air. Savoie, Nemec, or Jiricek seem like good bets. I'm not certain on where Jiricek or Nemec go. Bob's last list had Nemec 9 but I could see a team high up jump at him if they want a D. Same goes for Jiricek. Bob's list had him 7 last time and then there's also him being out for so long which could hopefully leave him there for us in the 7-9 range

When predicting the draft? Well my mock drafts over the years have been more accurate than most of the big names, and that's not a boast, it's just my introduction to telling you it's important to give great credence to things which always always always go higher than expected -- like "big RD" and "big C", especially. Rank the players how you feel of course, but if we're going to try to actually forecast how things might play out, we're probably better off giving bump-ups to guys like Geekie, Jiricek and Nemec and bump-downs to guys like Savoie, Howard and Ostlund.

 

[StevenToddIves]

I'm extremely confident in 3 of the top 4 being Wright, Cooley, and Slafkovsky. The other spot is up in the air. Savoie, Nemec, or Jiricek seem like good bets. I'm not certain on where Jiricek or Nemec go. Bob's last list had Nemec 9 but I could see a team high up jump at him if they want a D. Same goes for Jiricek. Bob's list had him 7 last time and then there's also him being out for so long which could hopefully leave him there for us in the 7-9 range

Here's my mini-mock if we were going today:

1 MTL C Wright -- of course
2 SEA LW Slafkovsky -- rare player for expansion team which needs everything
3 ARI C Cooley -- huuuuge need for #1 C
4 PHI RD Jiricek -- team seeks D and physicality, Jiricek answers both
5 OTT C Geekie -- OTT doesn't care what people think, and Geekie is player-type they love at position of need
6 BUF RD Nemec -- perfect pairing for Power in the future, loaded pool a bit thin at RD
7 NJ LW Gauthier -- some people will scream, but they'll be wrong; kid has 48 goals in 60 games and plays like a Tkachuk-cousin
8 CLB RW Kemell -- immediately becomes 2nd most talented pure scorer on Jackets after only Laine
9 DET C Savoie -- Yzerman takes advantage other teams' draft-day size concerns, gets most talented offensive player in draft at 9
10 NYI RW Nazar -- Lamoriello loves the character kids, and Nazar adds immense offensive potential alongside Barzal
11 SJ LW Mesar -- maybe most underrated pure offensive talent in draft, and SJ scouts very well in central Europe
12 ANH C Kasper -- Ducks get fast, physical two-way C setting up future thunder/lightning C duo with Zegras
13 CLB RW/C Lambert -- poor draft-eligible year drops him, but not past only Finnish GM in hockey
14 WPG C McGroarty -- rumors of possible Scheifele trade mean C is strong possibility, McGroarty is old school type WPG loves
15 VAN RD Chesley -- team needs RD and Chesley is most under-rated D in draft
16 BUF LW Yurov -- top-7 talent falls, which we could see with most Russians in 2022 draft

 

[StevenToddIves]

I'll add to this by saying that if the Devils miss out on Jiricek or Nemec, they'll very likely be looking hard at RDs in the early second round (as of today they would pick #39). Names to keep in mind include: Luneau, Lamoreux, Rinzel and Warren. A lot of people will bring up Salomonsson because "big, fast and Swedish" means awesome! to many people who don't actually watch the amateur players, but I'm just going to say that his play this year is verrrrrry concerning -- he's got top 10 talent but his IQ and compete are both well below average this year.

 

[My3Sons]

I'll add to this by saying that if the Devils miss out on Jiricek or Nemec, they'll very likely be looking hard at RDs in the early second round (as of today they would pick #39). Names to keep in mind include: Luneau, Lamoreux, Rinzel and Warren. A lot of people will bring up Salomonsson because "big, fast and Swedish" means awesome! to many people who don't actually watch the amateur players, but I'm just going to say that his play this year is verrrrrry concerning -- he's got top 10 talent but his IQ and compete are both well below average this year.

Which of the second round RD seems like the Fitz type of defender with length reach and compete?

 

[StevenToddIves]

I wanted to add a thought about physical draft prospects. Some of the criticisms levied on players like Gauthier this year or L'Heureux last year were simply a measure of people who don't like physicality existing in hockey whatsoever, and actually grade down prospects who play this particular style.

To me, it's the height of absurdity, but we still see people all over Twitter and the internet criticizing more physical players and plays. Just last week, there was a play where Lucic leveled Broberg and many were calling for a Lucic suspension. The problem is, every replay of the play from every angle shows the play actually was textbook interference on Broberg, but Lucic was just far stronger and steamrolled him. So, why would people immediately react with "suspend Lucic"? I think it's the same reason people were calling for Chase Stillman's head this week -- some of them "Devils fans" -- on what probably should've been a two-minute minor. People just don't like hockey as a physical game.

But hockey is a physical game, and always has been. Refs like to "game manage" even at the highest levels, which leads to a mostly-even number of penalties even when an elite team like Colorado is skating a poor team like Seattle into the ground. In the playoffs, this gets even worse. I watched Winnipeg sweep Edmonton last year in a series where Connor McDavid drew a total of zero penalties. I was rooting for Winnipeg and still counted -- and I'm not exaggerating -- over 20 uncalled penalties on McDavid alone in a four-game series. That's not even game management, it's patently absurd.

In today's NHL players who dive constantly like Brad Marchand are constantly rewarded with penalty calls against whichever opponent was nearest to them when they fell, while players who constantly fight through checks to try to score like McDavid and Matthews have difficulty getting calls their way. Small players who are easy to knock over like Conor Garland are routinely among the league-leaders in drawn penalties, while players who are impossible to knock down like Anze Kopitar have trouble getting calls. But ultimately, this is regular season stuff -- because in the post-season the refs tend to eat their whistles and players like Garland spend the entire series on their ass and can't buy a call or an even strength point. Which is to say, in the regular season Mitch Marner scores at double the PPG rate of Blake Coleman, but in the post-season their PPG rates are quite similar.

None of this consummate the argument for or against Cutter Gauthier, because not only is he the most physical forward in the 2022 draft, but he also has 48 goals in 60 games. He's going to score at any level, but we'll still see rankings of him in the #20-#30 range by the same people who ranked Anttoni Honka over Moritz Seider and Zion Nybeck over Dylan Holloway and Nils Lundqvist over K'Andre Miller and Oskar Olausson over Zachary L'Heureux. I'm saying there are actually people who grade down for physical players, and we need to take that into account when assessing Cutter Gauthier's consensus ranking.

 

[My3Sons]

I wanted to add a thought about physical draft prospects. Some of the criticisms levied on players like Gauthier this year or L'Heureux last year were simply a measure of people who don't like physicality existing in hockey whatsoever, and actually grade down prospects who play this particular style.

To me, it's the height of absurdity, but we still see people all over Twitter and the internet criticizing more physical players and plays. Just last week, there was a play where Lucic leveled Broberg and many were calling for a Lucic suspension. The problem is, every replay of the play from every angle shows the play actually was textbook interference on Broberg, but Lucic was just far stronger and steamrolled him. So, why would people immediately react with "suspend Lucic"? I think it's the same reason people were calling for Chase Stillman's head this week -- some of them "Devils fans" -- on what probably should've been a two-minute minor. People just don't like hockey as a physical game.

But hockey is a physical game, and always has been. Refs like to "game manage" even at the highest levels, which leads to a mostly-even number of penalties even when an elite team like Colorado is skating a poor team like Seattle into the ground. In the playoffs, this gets even worse. I watched Winnipeg sweep Edmonton last year in a series where Connor McDavid drew a total of zero penalties. I was rooting for Winnipeg and still counted -- and I'm not exaggerating -- over 20 uncalled penalties on McDavid alone in a four-game series. That's not even game management, it's patently absurd.

In today's NHL players who dive constantly like Brad Marchand are constantly rewarded with penalty calls against whichever opponent was nearest to them when they fell, while players who constantly fight through checks to try to score like McDavid and Matthews have difficulty getting calls their way. Small players who are easy to knock over like Conor Garland are routinely among the league-leaders in drawn penalties, while players who are impossible to knock down like Anze Kopitar have trouble getting calls. But ultimately, this is regular season stuff -- because in the post-season the refs tend to eat their whistles and players like Garland spend the entire series on their ass and can't buy a call or an even strength point. Which is to say, in the regular season Mitch Marner scores at double the PPG rate of Blake Coleman, but in the post-season their PPG rates are quite similar.

None of this consummate the argument for or against Cutter Gauthier, because not only is he the most physical forward in the 2022 draft, but he also has 48 goals in 60 games. He's going to score at any level, but we'll still see rankings of him in the #20-#30 range by the same people who ranked Anttoni Honka over Moritz Seider and Zion Nybeck over Dylan Holloway and Nils Lundqvist over K'Andre Miller and Oskar Olausson over Zachary L'Heureux. I'm saying there are actually people who grade down for physical players, and we need to take that into account when assessing Cutter Gauthier's consensus ranking.

Is that why so many folks missed the boat on Mercer?

 

[StevenToddIves]

Which of the second round RD seems like the Fitz type of defender with length reach and compete?

Rinzel would be your "upside guy", as he's 6'4 and can fly. Lamoureux is 6'7 and very mobile, but he's far from Kevin Bahl as he's extremely physical and relentless in his hitting game. Noah Warren is 6'5 and lacks the upside of the other two, but is a safer prospect for your bottom 4. They're all very likely 2nd round picks, but Lamoureux might have a shot at the late 1st.

 

[StevenToddIves]

Is that why so many folks missed the boat on Mercer?

When your finest attributes are intangibles -- compete level and hockey IQ -- certain people will overlook you. For me, they're the two most important qualities for an NHL player. I was raving about Mercer all year long because he also adds plus tools in shooting and passing along with the type of elite hands normally found in more perimeter-type dangly forwards.

The biggest knock on Mercer on draft day 2020 was his skating, which was above-average but not an eye-catching tool. What most people who just focus on highlight packages miss however, is that players with high IQ and high compete play faster, which is to say they are better at anticipating where the puck is going to be and work harder to get there. I repeated this at length about Mercer in his draft year and literally shouted "wooooo hoooooo!!!" when we drafted him at #18.

I think Mercer is going to be phenomenal. 70+ point seasons and Selke Trophy nominations are not out of the questions. But several people had him ranked in the low 20s for absurd reasoning.

 

[Eggtimer]

I am too lazy to look at standings and get a rough idea where we will “likely “ pick and see where other teams are and consider their needs. I know you can’t entirely use teams needs to determine who they might take but it might narrow it down a little . Also look at draft tendencies. For example , Ducks typically value size . That and I cannot remember the last time they drafted a Russian player. Little things like that. For us , its a pretty safe assumption to make that we will not draft a C with our first pick unless it was a player like Bedard next year lol. Dukcs having Drysdale and McTavish I’d guess they would be somewhat looking for a player compliments them , or plays a different position (handness). Of course unless at their pick there is a player that is miles better than all other options.
How many teams in what should be the top 5-6 picks would need Slavkovsky? Hopefully teams go C heavy and he somehow drops to us. If we happen to win the lotto , I’d love to try to trade down and gain another first rounder but I’d want to make 100% sure we still get our guy. Hopefully that guy is Slavkovsky.

 

[My3Sons]

When your finest attributes are intangibles -- compete level and hockey IQ -- certain people will overlook you. For me, they're the two most important qualities for an NHL player. I was raving about Mercer all year long because he also adds plus tools in shooting and passing along with the type of elite hands normally found in more perimeter-type dangly forwards.

The biggest knock on Mercer on draft day 2020 was his skating, which was above-average but not an eye-catching tool. What most people who just focus on highlight packages miss however, is that players with high IQ and high compete play faster, which is to say they are better at anticipating where the puck is going to be and work harder to get there. I repeated this at length about Mercer in his draft year and literally shouted "wooooo hoooooo!!!" when we drafted him at #18.

I think Mercer is going to be phenomenal. 70+ point seasons and Selke Trophy nominations are not out of the questions. But several people had him ranked in the low 20s for absurd reasoning.

I recall you convincing a number of folks here that Mercer was a much higher upside guy than the general consensus. Fitz obviously agreed with you.

 

[StevenToddIves]

I recall you convincing a number of folks here that Mercer was a much higher upside guy than the general consensus. Fitz obviously agreed with you.

Fitz and I are both looking pretty good right now. Credit of course goes to Mercer -- who is going to make a lot of people look very good for a very long time.

 

[StevenToddIves]

I am too lazy to look at standings and get a rough idea where we will “likely “ pick and see where other teams are and consider their needs. I know you can’t entirely use teams needs to determine who they might take but it might narrow it down a little . Also look at draft tendencies. For example , Ducks typically value size . That and I cannot remember the last time they drafted a Russian player. Little things like that. For us , its a pretty safe assumption to make that we will not draft a C with our first pick unless it was a player like Bedard next year lol. Dukcs having Drysdale and McTavish I’d guess they would be somewhat looking for a player compliments them , or plays a different position (handness). Of course unless at their pick there is a player that is miles better than all other options.
How many teams in what should be the top 5-6 picks would need Slavkovsky? Hopefully teams go C heavy and he somehow drops to us. If we happen to win the lotto , I’d love to try to trade down and gain another first rounder but I’d want to make 100% sure we still get our guy. Hopefully that guy is Slavkovsky.

Every team needs a Slafkovsky. He's a rare player with elite skill and a 6'4 frame which he's not shy about throwing around. How many guys like this exist in the NHL? Certainly under 10. I'd say he's a pretty fair lock for the top 3 right now.

When looking at "team needs", I take the core of a team and the top prospects. With Anaheim for instance, you're building around a pair of Cs in Zegras and McTavish, both of whom can (and have with success) also play LW. Also Drysdale, a top offensive RD who is good in his own end but would be complimented by a strong, shut-down LD. The top 3 drafted prospects behind these guys are a high-scoring LW in Pastujov, a high-scoring RW in Perreault, and a high-scoring RD in Zellweger -- three great offensive prospects, none of whom excel defensively. They also just acquired RD Drew Helleson, a top-notch two-way guy who you could pair with any type of player -- I'd actually rank Helleson over Zellweger as their top D prospect right now.

So, what are the Ducks needs? Definitely LD, and probably guys who can take care of their own end, but those are often found later in drafts. They would probably like more interior players for their future top 6, as McTavish is the only player fitting that description and this is something their scouts seem to covet. But the Ducks also have a new GM in Pat Verbeek who wants to change the culture in Anaheim, so that's a bit of a wild card, for certain.

 

[Lou Bloom]

I'll add to this by saying that if the Devils miss out on Jiricek or Nemec, they'll very likely be looking hard at RDs in the early second round (as of today they would pick #39). Names to keep in mind include: Luneau, Lamoreux, Rinzel and Warren. A lot of people will bring up Salomonsson because "big, fast and Swedish" means awesome! to many people who don't actually watch the amateur players, but I'm just going to say that his play this year is verrrrrry concerning -- he's got top 10 talent but his IQ and compete are both well below average this year.

Strongly agree on Salomonsson, he immediately stands out with his skating (probably one of the better skaters in the draft) and catches your intention but then you watch him make mistake after mistake, shy away from physicality and continually play poor hockey and you have to question anyone ranking him as a top 100 prospect let alone the people putting him as a 1st round prospect. Great toolbox with very few tools.

 

[StevenToddIves]

Strongly agree on Salomonsson, he immediately stands out with his skating (probably one of the better skaters in the draft) and catches your intention but then you watch him make mistake after mistake, shy away from physicality and continually play poor hockey and you have to question anyone ranking him as a top 100 prospect let alone the people putting him as a 1st round prospect. Great toolbox with very few tools.

I think the saying used to be: "great tools, but you question the toolbox", though I might like your way better.

 

[Buck Dancer]

If my #1 and #2 choices in Slafkovsky and Jiricek (because we can all see the Flyers screwing us with that pick) are off the board and we have a choice between Nemec and Gauthier, I'm still torn between the two.

On one side, I love everything about what Gauthier could bring to our top team, especially our top #6. On the flip side, Nemec is ranked as the best dman in this draft class and plays the right side to boot.

It'll be a tough call if both the guys I want are off the board.

 

[StevenToddIves]

If my #1 and #2 choices in Slafkovsky and Jiricek (because we can all see the Flyers screwing us with that pick) are off the board and we have a choice between Nemec and Gauthier, I'm still torn between the two.

On one side, I love everything about what Gauthier could bring to our top team, especially our top #6. On the flip side, Nemec is ranked as the best dman in this draft class and plays the right side to boot.

It'll be a tough call if both the guys I want are off the board.

I think I take Nemec over Gauthier right now. Nemec is a potential 50-point D who is also terrific in his own zone, and these players are rare. His outlet passing is just at an elite level right now in the Slovakian men's league and he's just turned 18. He's an all-situations, 20+ minute guy who is so smooth and savvy with the puck. He might not be the sexiest prospect because we won't see end-to-end rushes, bone-crushing checks or cannon-blast goals, but he's just terrific in almost every aspect of the game. Nemec's singular weakness is a meh shot from the point, but I'd say shooting is at the bottom of my scouting checklist for a defender. With the Devils organizational dearth at RD and Nemec being the closest-to-the-NHL defenseman in the class of 2022, we could see him crack the NJ line-up by the 2023-24 campaign. There's just so much to like.

That being said, the gulf is not too wide because Gauthier is perhaps the most under-appreciated forward in the 2022 class. He's not just a big, tough banger, he's also a high-level sniper with a very high hockey IQ and terrific two-way acumen. I don't think most people get how good this kid is at hockey.

 

[Buck Dancer]

I think I take Nemec over Gauthier right now. Nemec is a potential 50-point D who is also terrific in his own zone, and these players are rare. His outlet passing is just at an elite level right now in the Slovakian men's league and he's just turned 18. He's an all-situations, 20+ minute guy who is so smooth and savvy with the puck. He might not be the sexiest prospect because we won't see end-to-end rushes, bone-crushing checks or cannon-blast goals, but he's just terrific in almost every aspect of the game. Nemec's singular weakness is a meh shot from the point, but I'd say shooting is at the bottom of my scouting checklist for a defender. With the Devils organizational dearth at RD and Nemec being the closest-to-the-NHL defenseman in the class of 2022, we could see him crack the NJ line-up by the 2023-24 campaign. There's just so much to like.

That being said, the gulf is not too wide because Gauthier is perhaps the most under-appreciated forward in the 2022 class. He's not just a big, tough banger, he's also a high-level sniper with a very high hockey IQ and terrific two-way acumen. I don't think most people get how good this kid is at hockey.

If we decide to go with Jiricek or Nemec, one would think it makes it likely that Damon Severson becomes expandable this summer or at next years deadline, if we're not contending for a playoff spot, no?

Personnaly, I definitely think it does and with the assets we'd be getting back, we can fix certain issues up front. It's almost like a two for one pick if we decide to go with one of the Slovaks.