Los Angeles Scount Eric Weisman gets deep in the weeds on being a scout, scouting, Draft Day and what’s happening at the table.
Draft 2022 NHL Draft and Undrafted Free Agents Thread
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Mac n Gs
Drury plz
- Jan 17, 2014
- 22,835
- 13,558
Outside of the top-3, my favorite for this draft is Nate Danielson. He just missed being draft eligible for 2022, but he was fantastic last season in the WHL. Great skater with really underrated skill and a strong defensive game down the middle. I wouldn't be shocked if he's trending towards a top-5 pick next June.
I’m going to eventually watch all six games. I want to pay attention to the goalies (something I usually don’t do) to see how many of these kids are trying to emulate Igor style.
So many centers for 2023. I hope we keep the pick and deal from our prospect pool at the deadline.
These centers are all locks as first round picks:
Connor Bedard
Adam Fantilli
Dalibor Dvorsky
Nate Danielson
Calum Ritchie
Charlie Stramel
Eduard Sale
I’d currently have these 3 in my first round as well:
Coulson Pitre
Kalle Carlsson
Oliver Moore
These are all lock first round picks who could stick at center but may end up at wing:
Brayden Yager
Leo Carlsson
Riley Heidt
Will Smith
It’s possible half the first round ends up being centers. Others to watch are:
Kimo Gruber
William Whitelaw
Connor Levis
Martin Misiak
These centers are all locks as first round picks:
Connor Bedard
Adam Fantilli
Dalibor Dvorsky
Nate Danielson
Calum Ritchie
Charlie Stramel
Eduard Sale
I’d currently have these 3 in my first round as well:
Coulson Pitre
Kalle Carlsson
Oliver Moore
These are all lock first round picks who could stick at center but may end up at wing:
Brayden Yager
Leo Carlsson
Riley Heidt
Will Smith
It’s possible half the first round ends up being centers. Others to watch are:
Kimo Gruber
William Whitelaw
Connor Levis
Martin Misiak
- Jul 16, 2005
- 14,838
- 12,976
Yup.
We need the pick and we need to come away with a center who outperforms his draft slot. Get busy, scouts.
Also, can I reiterate how much I despise the fact that our original pick this past draft that we sent to Winnipeg for Copp turned into Brad Lambert?
Yeah, if I could go back in time I'd throw that game 7 to Carolina.
KirkAlbuquerque
#WeNeverGetAGoodCoach
Hell the worst part about that is (and yes I know other people are annoyed by this convo) we wouldn't have had to deal that pick if they just signed Buch for 1 year (or more and not add Goodrow & Nemeth) and let him walk. Instead NYR needed to replace Buch with our 1st and the 2nd we got from him. At least we have Blais instead of Lambert?
McRanger92
Registered User
- Jun 7, 2017
- 14,261
- 26,581
I’m generally willing to trade picks or prospects, but the Rangers first next year should be untouchable. Learn your lesson from the Henrik era and keep the high draft picks.
Savant
Registered User
- Oct 3, 2013
- 39,251
- 11,910
If anything the lesson from the Henrik era was to trade the picks, but make sure you are signing the best NCAA and Euro free agents. Worked out great for the team. How many times did they really get burned on a pick that they traded? yeah there are guys that they COULD have taken, but those are all guys most of the other teams passed on to. You can certainly make the argument that in the last decade or so, the Rangers worst first round picks they have made in their own. And yeah I’d rather have signed Zuccarello and Hayes than drafted Kerby Rychel, Josh-Ho Sang and Dennis Cholowski
Savant
Registered User
- Oct 3, 2013
- 39,251
- 11,910
- Jul 16, 2005
- 14,838
- 12,976
McRanger92
Registered User
- Jun 7, 2017
- 14,261
- 26,581
I look at it more from the angle that every 1sf rounder the Rangers had before starting to trade them worked out. The Rangers drafted well during the Torts and Renney years
Savant
Registered User
- Oct 3, 2013
- 39,251
- 11,910
That’s the absolute wrong way to look at it; especially if you have to go that far back. Recently drafting has been much more of a mixed bag to say the least.
It’s a final four run. It’s not binary between it’s a fail because they lost to a better team and 29 other teams passed on Lambert, who very well could be Angelo Esposito. You take the cup run every time over the 30th pick in the draft. It’s absurd to suggest otherwise.
Everyone who reads ^this^ post should hit the like button.
The 2023 pick, has a chance to be one of the most important picks for this team in many years.
- Jul 16, 2005
- 14,838
- 12,976
I don’t. It’s an extra 6 games. At the time I wasn’t rooting to lose but in retrospect we absolutely would be better served having a prospect like Lambert and 6 less games of playoff experience.
- Jul 16, 2005
- 14,838
- 12,976
It’s not wrong on any level.
What if Brad Lambert turns into Sidney Crosby? The six games still worth it? Nonsense. You take the elite player.
So the only “level” on which this could possibly be wrong is if you are saying that the prospect isn’t good enough. I don’t agree.
There’s a better chance that Lambert doesn’t play a single game at the NHL level than there is that he becomes an elite player.
Playing high stakes games was insanely
Important for this team. We now have a better idea of who can step up when it matters and who can’t. The good news? Most of the young guys stepped up.
I’ll take that over a draft pick who you’re going to need to wait in for 3-5 years who most likely won’t be all that, if anything at all.
Also our guys wouldn’t have taken Lambert.
- Jul 16, 2005
- 14,838
- 12,976
I’m not saying Lambert is going to become Crosby, I’m just saying the concept that there are times when, if you don’t win the Cup, it would have been better for you to lose earlier and retain your pick, shouldn’t be a taboo subject. Trading your first round pick for an extra 6 playoff games isn’t a win every single time, in fact it is a losing exchange most of the time.
This happens to be one of those times as Lambert has clear top 6 potential.
If the board was picked clean I wouldn’t feel as strongly about it but a top-ish talent in this draft was left available at our pick.
- Jul 16, 2005
- 14,838
- 12,976
Especially after just trading your first this past year and missing out on Lambert. Sure, he’s no surefire can’t miss prospect, but he is better than your average mid-20s forward who is available.
They will need to come away with a guy who can play on their lineup someday; hopefully, they can get a steal and find a top 6 forward or center type a la Chytil or dare I say even Brayden Point. Or maybe closer to home, JT Miller or Chris Kreider level prospects.
bbny
Unregistered User
- Apr 12, 2019
- 2,217
- 3,616
The issue I have with this take is that you can use “in retrospect” to validate anything that doesn’t result in a championship.
In retrospect, maybe the Rangers should have traded Henrik Lundqvist at the peak of his career. Maybe the Red Sox should have traded Ted Williams. Maybe the Dolphins should have traded Dan Marino. Maybe the Jazz should have traded Karl Malone.
GENESISPuck94
Registered User
Agree. I would go out of my way to keep every 1st round pick to make sure we keep adding NHL talent to the system.
