NHL Entry Draft 2022 NHL Draft Thread - Part 2

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The reactions to the notion of drafting McGroarty seem pretty ridiculous to me. In Mckenzie's initial draft list in September he had McGroarty ranked 12th overall. In his mid term rankings he had him at 26th overall. He had fractured his hand during that time so it makes sense there would be a decline in his play and that he would drop in the rankings. Over his last 10 games he has put up 17 points which is the same production as Cutter Gauthier and only 1 point shy of Logan Cooley. Gauthier was ranked 13th overall in the mid term rankings and Cooley was ranked 2nd.

There is a very strong possibility that McGroarty is a riser in the rankings. If he maintains similar production he could end up close to his initial ranking if not higher. At the same time a lot of prospects that have been ranked fairly high are starting to slow their production and a few of them will likely fall in the final rankings.

Depending on how the Sens finish the season and what happens in the draft lottery it is quite possible that they pick in the 8-12 range. Depending on how McGroarty finishes the season and where he ends up on the final rankings for Mckenzie he could be a viable pick in that range.
 
The reactions to the notion of drafting McGroarty seem pretty ridiculous to me. In Mckenzie's initial draft list in September he had McGroarty ranked 12th overall. In his mid term rankings he had him at 26th overall. He had fractured his hand during that time so it makes sense there would be a decline in his play and that he would drop in the rankings. Over his last 10 games he has put up 17 points which is the same production as Cutter Gauthier and only 1 point shy of Logan Cooley. Gauthier was ranked 13th overall in the mid term rankings and Cooley was ranked 2nd.

There is a very strong possibility that McGroarty is a riser in the rankings. If he maintains similar production he could end up close to his initial ranking if not higher. At the same time a lot of prospects that have been ranked fairly high are starting to slow their production and a few of them will likely fall in the final rankings.

Depending on how the Sens finish the season and what happens in the draft lottery it is quite possible that they pick in the 8-12 range. Depending on how McGroarty finishes the season and where he ends up on the final rankings for Mckenzie he could be a viable pick in that range.
I'd prefer Nazar over McGroarty.
 
The reactions to the notion of drafting McGroarty seem pretty ridiculous to me. In Mckenzie's initial draft list in September he had McGroarty ranked 12th overall. In his mid term rankings he had him at 26th overall. He had fractured his hand during that time so it makes sense there would be a decline in his play and that he would drop in the rankings. Over his last 10 games he has put up 17 points which is the same production as Cutter Gauthier and only 1 point shy of Logan Cooley. Gauthier was ranked 13th overall in the mid term rankings and Cooley was ranked 2nd.

There is a very strong possibility that McGroarty is a riser in the rankings. If he maintains similar production he could end up close to his initial ranking if not higher. At the same time a lot of prospects that have been ranked fairly high are starting to slow their production and a few of them will likely fall in the final rankings.

Depending on how the Sens finish the season and what happens in the draft lottery it is quite possible that they pick in the 8-12 range. Depending on how McGroarty finishes the season and where he ends up on the final rankings for Mckenzie he could be a viable pick in that range.
I definitely don’t think Ottawa should be targeting him with their 1st. No chance he goes that high. Doesn’t have the upside of other guys who bring more to the table who are poised to go in that range.
I know I said Shane Bowers but McGroatry is actually more comparable to Colin White. Both were guys who were high profile guys before the draft year that were praised for their playmaking, leadership and two way play.

In my opinion his stats are more a tesitmate to how good his teammates are more than his individual skill set. That paired with him not being a great skater makes me believe he’s poised to be a late first round pick.
 
There are probably 15+ guys I’d look at before considering McGroaty

Wright
Slaf
Cooley
Jiricek
Nemec

Then guys like

Geekie
Savoie
Lekk
Yurov
Kemmel
Nazar
Ohgrun
Luneau
Mintukyov
Kasper
Mesar
Howard

Among others. There is a LONG list of guys I’d consider before ever looking McGroaty’s way in the range of the Sens pick.

We know the Sens will draft who they want to based on their personal lists, and more power to them. Look no further than last year with Boucher, a gigantic, gigantic reach. Hopefully they will not do something similar this year as it’s been beyond absolutely terrible this far. Stay on script at the top of the draft.
 
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There are probably 15+ guys I’d look at before considering McGroaty

Wright
Slaf
Cooley
Jiricek
Nemec

Then guys like

Geekie
Savoie
Lekk
Yurov
Kemmel
Nazar
Ohgrun
Luneau
Mintukyov
Kasper
Mesar
Howard

Among others. There is a LONG list of guys I’d consider before ever looking McGroaty’s way in the range of the Sens pick.

We know the Sens will draft who they want to based on their personal lists, and more power to them. Look no further than last year with Boucher, a gigantic, gigantic reach. Hopefully they will not do something similar this year as it’s been beyond absolutely terrible this far. Stay on script at the top of the draft.
Please no Geekie.
 
The reactions to the notion of drafting McGroarty seem pretty ridiculous to me. In Mckenzie's initial draft list in September he had McGroarty ranked 12th overall. In his mid term rankings he had him at 26th overall. He had fractured his hand during that time so it makes sense there would be a decline in his play and that he would drop in the rankings. Over his last 10 games he has put up 17 points which is the same production as Cutter Gauthier and only 1 point shy of Logan Cooley. Gauthier was ranked 13th overall in the mid term rankings and Cooley was ranked 2nd.

There is a very strong possibility that McGroarty is a riser in the rankings. If he maintains similar production he could end up close to his initial ranking if not higher. At the same time a lot of prospects that have been ranked fairly high are starting to slow their production and a few of them will likely fall in the final rankings.

Depending on how the Sens finish the season and what happens in the draft lottery it is quite possible that they pick in the 8-12 range. Depending on how McGroarty finishes the season and where he ends up on the final rankings for Mckenzie he could be a viable pick in that range.

I love that you like the player and are willing to face the onslaught of the angry mob, but for myself, I wouldn't take McGroarty in the range of the Sens' first pick either. You're right though, some of the responses you're getting are pretty idiotic: "because the rankings say so" - ugh. "he's only putting up the numbers he is because of his teammates" - what the f***? What about his ridiculous bantam stats? Or what about the fact that he hasn't even been playing with most of the big guns aside from the powerplay. USA has been balancing out the lines, and McGroarty has been playing mostly with Stramel and Kaplan over this recent tear.

That said, I've watched a fair amount of McGroarty, going back to YOGs, last year's U18s, and a handful of NTDP games over the past couple years. Before I started watching him, I was stat-watching on EP and had him as part of what I considered a big 5 with Wright, Savoie, Lambert, Miro. When I first saw him at YOGs, I was a little disappointed. He showed flashes of high-impact play, but not nearly as fequently as I would have liked. The one real highlight came in the dying minutes of the gold medal game down against the powerhouse Russians, USA loaded up with McGroarty and Nazar on one line (all tournament he'd been with Stramel and Snuggerud) and they created some of the only stretches of extended zone time that Russian team faced all tournament.

But as I watched him more I continued to have the same concerns with him just not consistently making much impact on the play. I soon realized that it was because of his skating, he just wasn't able to consistently get to the puck in time to make an impact. Now I remember arguing til I was blue in the face about Sillinger last year (I ranked him 5th overall), and a lot of the criticisms were along similar lines, that he couldn't keep up and wasn't involved in the play enough, but with him I had seen enough to know that his hockey IQ and positioning were so impeccable that he was able to find ways to make the play come to him without having to chase it down. McGroarty is good, and he's smart, and he's probably a little more skilled than Sillinger in many regards, but I don't believe he is anywhere on Sillinger's level of 200 foot hockey IQ.

I wouldn't look at McGroarty seriously until at least around 15. Aside from Gauthier and the obvious top guys, I would take Ohgren, Korchinski, Luneau, Trikozov, and possibly Kasper before I'd consider McGroarty.
 
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The 2021 and 2022 drafts have been a challenge to find players in range that I can really get behind as 1st round targets. Not to say there isn't talent there, the players available are just not as intriguing as the 2018 and 2020 drafts, where I though the players potentially taken would be franchise defining.

If we are picking 6 to 8, I hope there is a late riser to get excited about.
 
There are probably 15+ guys I’d look at before considering McGroaty

Wright
Slaf
Cooley
Jiricek
Nemec

Then guys like

Geekie
Savoie
Lekk
Yurov
Kemmel
Nazar
Ohgrun
Luneau
Mintukyov
Kasper
Mesar
Howard

Among others. There is a LONG list of guys I’d consider before ever looking McGroaty’s way in the range of the Sens pick.

We know the Sens will draft who they want to based on their personal lists, and more power to them. Look no further than last year with Boucher, a gigantic, gigantic reach. Hopefully they will not do something similar this year as it’s been beyond absolutely terrible this far. Stay on script at the top of the draft.
100% agree with this.
Sens need to take a forward with high offensive potential with their selection.
If Ottawa had a late first McGroatry would be an excellent target, but alas they don’t.
 
Kemell or Lekkerimäki would certainly make things more interesting for us. Give them 2 years in Finland and Sweden respectively and Jimmy will love having either of them on his wing.
 
I love that you like the player and are willing to face the onslaught of the angry mob, but for myself, I wouldn't take McGroarty in the range of the Sens' first pick either. You're right though, some of the responses you're getting are pretty idiotic: "because the rankings say so" - ugh. "he's only putting up the numbers he is because of his teammates" - what the f***? What about his ridiculous bantam stats? Or what about the fact that he hasn't even been playing with most of the big guns aside from the powerplay. USA has been balancing out the lines, and McGroarty has been playing mostly with Stramel and Kaplan over this recent tear.

That said, I've watched a fair amount of McGroarty, going back to YOGs, last year's U18s, and a handful of NTDP games over the past couple years. Before I started watching him, I was stat-watching on EP and had him as part of what I considered a big 5 with Wright, Savoie, Lambert, Miro. When I first saw him at YOGs, I was a little disappointed. He showed flashes of high-impact play, but not nearly as fequently as I would have liked. The one real highlight came in the dying minutes of the gold medal game down against the powerhouse Russians, USA loaded up with McGroarty and Nazar on one line (all tournament he'd been with Stramel and Snuggerud) and they created some of the only stretches of extended zone time that Russian team faced all tournament.

But as I watched him more I continued to have the same concerns with him just not consistently making much impact on the play. I soon realized that it was because of his skating, he just wasn't able to consistently get to the puck in time to make an impact. Now I remember arguing til I was blue in the face about Sillinger last year (I ranked him 5th overall), and a lot of the criticisms were along similar lines, that he couldn't keep up and wasn't involved in the play enough, but with him I had seen enough to know that his hockey IQ and positioning were so impeccable that he was able to find ways to make the play come to him without having to chase it down. McGroarty is good, and he's smart, and he's probably a little more skilled than Sillinger in many regards, but I don't believe he is anywhere on Sillinger's level of 200 foot hockey IQ.

I wouldn't look at McGroarty seriously until at least around 15. Aside from Gauthier and the obvious top guys, I would take Ohgren, Korchinski, Luneau, Trikozov, and possibly Kasper before I'd consider McGroarty.
Well I was just making a suggestion more than anything. I had the impression from watching some of his play and reading up on him that he was underrated so I thought he might be a darkhorse for our pick. If he isn't the best option for us then we should look to other players but if the scouts truly feel he has the highest upside and have ample rationale for believing that and that he will achieve it then they should definitely consider him for the pick.

Fundamentally I am most concerned with drafting the player that will give the Sens the best chance to win the Stanley Cup and potentially multiple of them. I want the clutch players that are playoff beasts and score clutch goals, generate offense in the most important games and ideally are just offensive and defensive juggernauts in the playoffs. I am not as concerned about regular season performance. I don't want the players that dominate the regular season and are invisible in the playoffs. I am willing to trade off a player who isn't as dominant in the regular season for one that absolutely dominates in the playoffs.

On top of that I want to avoid the busts. There are plenty of prospects that get ranked high, have hype surrounding them going into the draft, get a fairly high selection and then never live up to the draft status. The two notable ones that come to mind recently are Filip Zadina and Logan Brown. A lot of Sens fans wanted Zadina over Tkachuk and if we went that route it would have been a terrible decision. Brown seemed to have a lot of potential but it never materialized and we gave him away for next to nothing. It is highly likely that there are a few players ranked fairly high in this draft that will fizzle out so I want to avoid them.

So up front that leaves Joakim Kemell, Matt Savoie, Conor Geekie, Jonathan Lakkerimaki, Frank Nazar, Isaac Howard, Marco Kasper and a few others to compete with Gauthier and McGroarty. If they finish the season strong they likely get considered within the top 5 to 7, otherwise they are likely fallers in the draft. A number of them are on the smaller side and some may not be as well suited for the Sens style of hockey or well suited to thrive in playoff hockey. Therefore there are some scenarios where McGroarty and Gauthier are viable options.

Finally, the McGroarty and Gauthier suggestions were based on the scenario where we end up picking in the 8-12 range. If we have a top 5 pick my target is Juraj Slafkovsky and I don't see him falling outside the top 5. There are others that likely go top 5 to top 7 so if we are picking 8-12 a number of those players aren't even considered as viable options so McGroarty and Gauthier aren't legitimately competing against them. The three d men I would consider in that range are David Jiricek, Simon Nemec and Pavel Mintyukov so part of the question is whether we will go d or forward. At forward I like the three Russians of Ivan Miroschnichenko,, Danila Yurov and Gleb Trikozov. Miroschnichenko was my primary target for the Sens outside the top 5 but I don't know if the Sens will consider him given his health issues and the fact that he is Russian. Also if for some reason they still aren't willing to draft Russians outside of those playing in North America then all three aren't viable options. So if you eliminate those three then the list of potential forwards to draft gets smaller.
 
Who do y'all like between Lekkerimaki and Ohgren? Who has the most upside. And who would be a better fit in the Sens top 6 and why? How many viewings?

Elite Prospects has Lekkerimaki listed at 5'8 must be wrong . Others MyNHLDraft , HockeyDB, HockeyProspect all say 5'11
McKenzie has Lekkerimaki at 12 and Button has him at 10; HockeyProspect has him at 11
McKenzie has Ohgren at 23 and Button has him at 20; HockeyProspect has him at 21
 
Considering the Sens like physical power forwards, big hitters, agitators and super pests, here are a few names from the later rounds that the Sens might be interested in: Brady Stonehouse, Joshua Davis, Liam Arnsby, Nathan Poole, Gleb Veremyev.

I will update this list as I come across other players that fit this description.
Add forwards: Rilen Kovacevic
Add d men: Joe Arntsen
We should draft Josh Davies & then have him fight Ridley Greig for the #17 sweater. :laugh:

I know that it's a common narative on here that the Sens like to draft big tough players, but I'm not sure how true that is & you know I like those kind of players. They have drafted all kinds of players & skill sets so I'm not sure it's one or the other especially when every team continues to tell us every draft that they take the BPA.

Clearly who the best player available is probably comes down to the philopsohy of the team they are trying to build & the kinds of skillsets they want, but it could also mean to take the best player available & even though they might not need him in future maybe someone else might. The other point I like to make is that filling out the bottom six is every bit as important when building a future team as it is to build the top six. Just as cutting down on goals against is every bit as important as scoring goals. A good team needs to do both at the same time so that a future team has all the components needed to be a SC contender.
 
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I am sure McGroarty will be scouted by the Sens and I don't doubt they like the type.
I expect Sens will have a good handle on Gauthier, Snuggerud, McGroarty, Nazar, Howard and Cooley.
Its hard to know what to expect after last year. I just hope its not a repeat performance. I would like the McGroarty pick over the Boucher pick.. McGroarty may be getting ranked lower for a reason so far.

McKenzie has him 26, Button has him 25, HockeyProspect has him outside the 1st round
HockeyProspect has Nazar 12, Snuggerud 15, Gauthier 19, Howard 20.... I know for sure they scout this team.
They had Boucher 26 in 2021; McKenzie 29; Button 49 So being ranked from mid 20's and below among even the most respected scouting sources does not mean the Sens won't reach for the guy they like.

@RAFI BOMB nailed this last year .... ffs lol .
 
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Who do y'all like between Lekkerimaki and Ohgren? Who has the most upside. And who would be a better fit in the Sens top 6 and why? How many viewings?

Elite Prospects has Lekkerimaki listed at 5'8 must be wrong . Others MyNHLDraft , HockeyDB, HockeyProspect all say 5'11
McKenzie has Lekkerimaki at 12 and Button has him at 10; HockeyProspect has him at 11
McKenzie has Ohgren at 23 and Button has him at 20; HockeyProspect has him at 21

Lekkerimaki for me. I do have a few more viewings on him. Pretty much only saw Ohgren at Hlinkas, so I think 4 games. I have Eklund in my fantasy league so tuned into a handful of Djurgardens games this year and Lekkerimaki was often even playing on a line with Eklund. So maybe 8 or 9 viewings.

With Ohgren the raw tools are obvious. Thick kid, good shot, good skater. Seems to get to scoring areas, but I'm just not as sure about his hockey sense. Not a criticism I'm just literally not sure. Seemed fine from what I saw but nothing that stood out in any major way, good or bad.

Lekkerimaki is one of my favorite players in the draft. So quick and shifty, he uses the 10-2 very effectively, both with the puck to cut corners, but also without the puck to dart laterally into scoring areas. Has some of the best hockey IQ in the draft in my opinion. Unlike some of the other smaller highly skilled forwards (particularly Savoie and Kemell, also Nazar somewhat), Lekkerimaki looks like an incredibly pro-style player. Tracks and supports the puck extremely well, uses his teammates, makes plays in tight spaces down low, likes to create off the cycle. Actually wouldn't mind seeing him take the puck to the net through the middle a little more; he seems to do his best work just off to the corners. But without the puck he does seem to have that knack for slipping into scoring areas at just the right times, and his skating abilities make him tremendously evasive at finding those holes.
 
Who do y'all like between Lekkerimaki and Ohgren? Who has the most upside. And who would be a better fit in the Sens top 6 and why? How many viewings?

Elite Prospects has Lekkerimaki listed at 5'8 must be wrong . Others MyNHLDraft , HockeyDB, HockeyProspect all say 5'11
McKenzie has Lekkerimaki at 12 and Button has him at 10; HockeyProspect has him at 11
McKenzie has Ohgren at 23 and Button has him at 20; HockeyProspect has him at 21
Lekkerimaki
5+ viewings for each, all J20 games.
 
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Who do y'all like between Lekkerimaki and Ohgren? Who has the most upside. And who would be a better fit in the Sens top 6 and why? How many viewings?

Elite Prospects has Lekkerimaki listed at 5'8 must be wrong . Others MyNHLDraft , HockeyDB, HockeyProspect all say 5'11
McKenzie has Lekkerimaki at 12 and Button has him at 10; HockeyProspect has him at 11
McKenzie has Ohgren at 23 and Button has him at 20; HockeyProspect has him at 21
First of all, Lekkerimaki and Ohgren are undoubtedly the top Swedish prospects this year.

Lekkermaki’s ceiling is potentially similar to a guy like David Pastrnak because of how elite his shot is. He has no problem’s finding holes in goalies and the puck comes flying off his stick when he shoots.
Lekkermaki is also closer to 6’0” now I believe.

Ohgren’s play-style reminds me of a guy like Mika Zibenejad. He’s creative with the puck and is more of a facilitator of offence. He too has a good shot but if you’re comparing it directly to Lekkermaki’s, there really is no contest. He rarely panics with the puck and is always engaged on the forecheck.

Historically, Ohgren is your more “Sens” pick although with Ottawa in need of goal scoring I wouldn’t be shocked to see Lekkermaki as a guy the Sens target. Both project similarly as top-6 wingers at the next level and it honestly comes down to which one you prefer. They’re both pretty close to each other.

I’d have to check my notes but I have definitely seen Ohgren more than Lekkermaki; 6+ times? And i’ve been able to view Lekkermaki only twice.
 
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I'm going to wait until the U18 tournament to make any definitive assessment of McGroarty. Last season Mason McTavish didn't get any respect until that tournament and then he showcased he was deserving of a high pick. If McGroarty is deserving of a high pick he will have a similar kind of performance to McTavish and I will get the same sense from watching him play. If the opinions I have been getting on here are accurate representations of McGroarty's abilities then he won't have a big impact at the U18's and will be no where close to McTavish's performance from last season.
 
I'm going to wait until the U18 tournament to make any definitive assessment of McGroarty. Last season Mason McTavish didn't get any respect until that tournament and then he showcased he was deserving of a high pick. If McGroarty is deserving of a high pick he will have a similar kind of performance to McTavish and I will get the same sense from watching him play. If the opinions I have been getting on here are accurate representations of McGroarty's abilities then he won't have a big impact at the U18's and will be no where close to McTavish's performance from last season.

Well, I'm not sure this is quite fair. I guess as long as you mean in terms of your own assessment, not by the numbers. Players often have big performances at the U18s and aren't drafted particularly early. Look at Koivunen and Tuomaala last year. Chibrikov, Pinelli. Size and skating are consistently the biggest factors that prevent star junior players from being star pros.

I also don't think you should lump all of the assessments of McGroarty here into one thing. The one guy compared him to Shane Bowers and said he doesn't have much upside. Please don't associate me with that guy.

The most interesting point of comparison here is the developmental curve. I watched McTavish at U17s and then didn't see him again until U18s, and the improvement was astronomical. I went back and rewatched a game from U17s to be sure I didn't just overlook him first time around and no, he had developed leaps and bounds over that year and a half. I do think I see some of that with McGroarty. I talked about how I don't think his hockey IQ is on the same level as Sillinger's was, but if you read my posts on Sillinger last year, that's not saying too much. Very few prospects are.

But when you're not a great skater, your hockey IQ has to be through the roof to be an impact player in the NHL. McGroarty's seems good, but I'm not sure it's good enough. The thing I like is every time he moves up to a new level, he seems to struggle at first, but after a little while he figures it out and excels. I said this at the start of the season about him and we're seeing it again in this recent stretch. To me this is a sign that he's able to use his hockey IQ to figure out how to compensate for his skating. I do think he's a fairly safe pick to be a bottom sixer, and I also think there is some room for top six upside. But I also think this is a pretty darn strong draft and that there's some guys like Luneau, Korchinski, Trikozov who are badly under-rated.

But anyway, we can have this conversation again after U18s. Only a week and a half away.
 
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