GDT: 2022 NHL Entry Draft - Round 1 - July 7th - 7 P.M / Round 2-7 - July 8th - 11 A.M

[Devils090]

I don't give a s--t.

It should've been Shane Wright.

D-men don't provide much offense like Shane would've.

bah.

Roman Josi had 96 points this year

Makar had 86

Hedman had 85

Lmfao

 

[Guttersniped]

If someone offered EDM a 2nd he'd be moved by now. It's gonna be a middle rd pick and like a C level prospect

Reportedly they don’t want futures, they want a a cheaper player they can use now.

 

[Buggsy]

Reportedly they don’t want futures, they want a a cheaper player they can use now.

Let's give them Boqvist

 

[Devils090]

Man, I’m still blown away by how stupid Fitzgerald is and how bad the pick we made is. Once again drafting for f***ing need. Fitz needs to be fired.

Lmao you hating the pick is all I need to know that Nemec will be a stud

 

[StevenToddIves]

Draft Day One, Pacific Division Recap:

Anaheim: continued to draft very well, taking an extremely skilled, offensively-dynamic LD at #10 in Pavel Mintyukov and one of the best available power forwards in the fast, hard-shooting C/RW Nathan Gaucher. The Ducks now have a top 5 prospect pool in the NHL, and that's not even including Zegras and Drysdale who have graduated. I see a bright future in Anaheim.

Calgary: no 1st round pick, traded for Tyler Toffoli. Rumors continued to swirl around whether they can keep Tkachuk or Gaudreau, or both. Tough day for Flames fans.

Edmonton: traded down to rid themselves of the Zack Kassian contract, before taking Reid Schaefer at #32. The ultra-physical Schaefer was an outstanding pick for the Oilers, as he's the Tom Wilson of the 2022 class -- a guy with 30-goal upside who is great at hockey and just a mountain of mean. No one will be taking liberties on the Oilers star centers when Schaefer breaks in three years or so down the road.I'd say Schaefer enters the Edmonton prospect pool at battling for #3 alongside Matvey Petrov and behind Holloway and Bourgeault.

Los Angeles: no pick after the Fiala trade. The trade made sense for LA, who sees a weak division and has a stacked prospect pool, though I still feel Minnesota came out on the better end of the trade. Fiala should score a lot alongside Anze Kopitar on the Kings top line.

San Jose: the Sharks traded the #11 pick for a trio of picks, the first at #27 and then a pair of 2nd rounders. I felt the Sharks really whiffed on the pick, as Filip Bystedt is the ultimate "big/fast" pick -- he's got a low floor and a limited ceiling despite his 6'4 frame and smooth skating. Jiri Kulich being an absolute steal with the very next pick made this worse.

Seattle: maybe the big winners of Day One, with Shane Wright falling into their laps at #4. Time will tell, but all indications are they build the franchise with an unbelievably talented center duo of Wright and Matt Beniers.

Vancouver: at #15 Jonathan Lekkerimaki is a sniper who can score. However, I disliked the pick because Joakim Kemell -- who to me is a virtual better-across-the-board version of Lekkerimaki was still available. They both play a similar style to Brock Boeser, and I'd say Kemell has more upside than Boeser while Lekkerimaki has less. Did nationality play a part in the pick of a Swedish-heavy franchise opting for a Swede over a Finn? Either way, the Canucks really need to address gaping organizational holes on defense in Day Two.

Vegas: probably the big loser in the division, after they traded the pick to Buffalo in a big package for Jack Eichel, then tanked and missed the post-season completely.

Conclusion: the Kings got better now, while Calgary and Vegas suddenly have a ton of concerns now. Anaheim is a burgeoning powerhouse in the division, and already-very-good Edmonton had a very good day, freeing up cap room while getting a great pick at #32. Vancouver made a good pick which could have been better, while San Jose's scouting team really swung and missed. The big winners may have been Seattle, who got the most talented player in the draft at #4 overall.

 

[NJDevs26]

Huh?
How in the world does that say it’s a need pick?
It’s a description of what he is and what they like about him.

He mentioned the right shot D part twice in like twenty seconds as if that was his main selling point. Not he was one of the top two players on our board, we liked the young man, he was good playing against pros and has a lot of potential but instead he emphasized the right shot D part. And it’s not the first time Fitz has veered need with first rounders. Like Ozzie Newsome (the football GM) says today’s luxury is tomorrow’s need.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

We have reporting that multiple teams had Nemec at 1 or 2. Surely we were one of them and Fitz didn’t go off board for need, despite what you’re gathering from some offhand comment.

 

[StevenToddIves]

Draft Day One, Central Division Recap:

Arizona: armed with a zillion picks and all the cap room, they traded all over the place. Wound up with picks at #3, #11 and #29. Cooley at #3 is a great pick... unless Wright is still on the board. While the Habs can say they passed on Wright for an extremely high upside, huge skill winger and the Devils can say they opted for D, there's now a ton of pressure on Cooley to outperform Wright. At #11 they took another C -- 6'4 Conor Geekie, who has all the talent in the world but has had his compete and consistency called into great question. I felt they really rolled the dice at #29 with 6'7 but almost ridiculously fundamentally raw RD Maveric Lamoureux. A lot of upside here for sure, but also a lot of questions and again I feel the Coyotes could have done better.

Chicago: big day for them -- traded away virtually all the top talent except for Kane and Jones, basically signaling a full rebuild just in time for the stellar Bedard/Michkov/Fantilli class of 2023. Wound up with a trio of picks in the 1st round: at #7 LD Korchinski, at #13 RW/C Nazar and at #25 RD Rinzel. To me, Nazar is the best player out of the 3 by far -- a dynamic, offensive player with off-the-charts intangibles and huge upside. Korchinski was a reach at #7 -- he still needs to learn to play defense -- while Rinzel offers a similar skill set to Korchinski but he's bigger, faster and even more raw. We can say they went full "upside" with all three picks.

Colorado: traded virtually all their remaining picks to acquire Georgiev as the new franchise goalie, enabling them to let Kuemper go and free up the cap space to sign Nichushkin and Kadri. The sacrifices they're making resulted in a Stanley Cup Champion this year and a certain contender next year, so it's all certainly worth it.

Dallas: one of the NHL's best drafting team over the past few drafts, the Stars made a nice pick at #18 with 6'5 fast, skilled and smart Swiss LD Lian Bichsel. He's a few years off, but it was a nice pick.

Minnesota: days after turning a player they couldn't keep anyway in Kevin Fiala into the #19 pick and a top 3 NHL RD prospect in Brock Faber, Minnesota knocked it out of the park again with big, skilled character LW Ohgren at #19 before absolutely stealing Danila Yurov at #24. Yurov is a top 10 talent who likely fell due to the unrest in Russia, but he has clear potential as a stud, first-liner at either wing on the NHL level, while Ohgren should be a beast for the middle six. Great job by the Wild, whose prospect pool is now clearly top 5 in the NHL.

Nashville: grabbed an absolute steal with an unlikely faller, as maybe the best pure sniper in the draft in Joakim Kemell fell into their laps at #17. This team needs goal-scoring up front, and all indications are they just got it in spades.

St. Louis: this franchise has an identity, loving big, physical two-way players. They added to it with US-NTDP RW Jimmy Snuggerud, who also adds elite defensive play and a bomb of a shot.

Winnipeg: after getting an absolute stud in physical/skilled C Rutger McGroarty -- probably the MVP on this year's stellar US-NTDP -- at #14, the Jets used the Rangers pick (acquired in the Copp deal) to swing for the moon at #30 with C/RW Brad Lambert, the best skater and puck handler in the entire draft. Lambert comes with a ton of risk, as his compete and toughness have been scrutinized at length, but his upside is right there with the highest of this draft class -- alongside Slafkovsky, Wright and Miroshnichenko. Lambert would have been a big risk in the top 10 where many still ranked him, but at #30 he's just a terrific chance to take.

Conclusion: Arizona and Chicago added multiple young pieces as they full-on entered "suck hard for Bedard" mode. St. Louis and Nashville drafted well and consistent with their team identities. Nashville got a huge potential steal. Both Minnesota and Winnipeg swung for the moon with one first-rounder while making an excellent foundational pick with the other. Colorado's the champs, so they're winners no matter what.

 

[Guttersniped]

Draft Day One, Central Division Recap:

Arizona: armed with a zillion picks and all the cap room, they traded all over the place. Wound up with picks at #3, #11 and #29. Cooley at #3 is a great pick... unless Wright is still on the board. While the Habs can say they passed on Wright for an extremely high upside, huge skill winger and the Devils can say they opted for D, there's now a ton of pressure on Cooley to outperform Wright. At #11 they took another C -- 6'4 Conor Geekie, who has all the talent in the world but has had his compete and consistency called into great question. I felt they really rolled the dice at #29 with 6'7 but almost ridiculously fundamentally raw RD Maveric Lamoureux. A lot of upside here for sure, but also a lot of questions and again I feel the Coyotes could have done better.

Chicago: big day for them -- traded away virtually all the top talent except for Kane and Jones, basically signaling a full rebuild just in time for the stellar Bedard/Michkov/Fantilli class of 2023. Wound up with a trio of picks in the 1st round: at #7 LD Korchinski, at #13 RW/C Nazar and at #25 RD Rinzel. To me, Nazar is the best player out of the 3 by far -- a dynamic, offensive player with off-the-charts intangibles and huge upside. Korchinski was a reach at #7 -- he still needs to learn to play defense -- while Rinzel offers a similar skill set to Korchinski but he's bigger, faster and even more raw. We can say they went full "upside" with all three picks.

Colorado: traded virtually all their remaining picks to acquire Georgiev as the new franchise goalie, enabling them to let Kuemper go and free up the cap space to sign Nichushkin and Kadri. The sacrifices they're making resulted in a Stanley Cup Champion this year and a certain contender next year, so it's all certainly worth it.

Dallas: one of the NHL's best drafting team over the past few drafts, the Stars made a nice pick at #18 with 6'5 fast, skilled and smart Swiss LD Lian Bichsel. He's a few years off, but it was a nice pick.

Minnesota: days after turning a player they couldn't keep anyway in Kevin Fiala into the #19 pick and a top 3 NHL RD prospect in Brock Faber, Minnesota knocked it out of the park again with big, skilled character LW Ohgren at #19 before absolutely stealing Danila Yurov at #24. Yurov is a top 10 talent who likely fell due to the unrest in Russia, but he has clear potential as a stud, first-liner at either wing on the NHL level, while Ohgren should be a beast for the middle six. Great job by the Wild, whose prospect pool is now clearly top 5 in the NHL.

Nashville: grabbed an absolute steal with an unlikely faller, as maybe the best pure sniper in the draft in Joakim Kemell fell into their laps at #17. This team needs goal-scoring up front, and all indications are they just got it in spades.

St. Louis: this franchise has an identity, loving big, physical two-way players. They added to it with US-NTDP RW Jimmy Snuggerud, who also adds elite defensive play and a bomb of a shot.

Winnipeg: after getting an absolute stud in physical/skilled C Rutger McGroarty -- probably the MVP on this year's stellar US-NTDP -- at #14, the Jets used the Rangers pick (acquired in the Copp deal) to swing for the moon at #30 with C/RW Brad Lambert, the best skater and puck handler in the entire draft. Lambert comes with a ton of risk, as his compete and toughness have been scrutinized at length, but his upside is right there with the highest of this draft class -- alongside Slafkovsky, Wright and Miroshnichenko. Lambert would have been a big risk in the top 10 where many still ranked him, but at #30 he's just a terrific chance to take.

Conclusion: Arizona and Chicago added multiple young pieces as they full-on entered "suck hard for Bedard" mode. St. Louis and Nashville drafted well and consistent with their team identities. Nashville got a huge potential steal. Both Minnesota and Winnipeg swung for the moon with one first-rounder while making an excellent foundational pick with the other. Colorado's the champs, so they're winners no matter what.

The Wild ran, uh, wild and Tampa did great with Disco Howard.

It isn’t a draft unless an Edmonton GM is making Oilers fans feel sad.

 

[None Shall Pass]

Arizona's 1st round reminds me a lot of our 2020 first round. Elite upside forward top pick and a gigantic raw D-man at the end, sandwiching a likely top-6 forward.

 

[Better Call Sal]

So, how is everyone feeling?

The party was a nice little getaway, felt like old times. There was a lot of confusion on where they were going to actually show the draft, I thought they would have had the Summer Stage set up for it but they had some TVs scattered outside as well as the inside stage where the band was.

A ton of the air got sucked out of the room when Slaf went #1. Seemed like a lot of people preferred Wright after that, but I was always fine with whatever fell into place. Slaf was my preference, but what can you do if he's not there? From how it all played out, I don't think a trade down was an option if Nemec was #2 on our board. I'm perfectly happy with it, interested to see what shakes out today.

 

[StevenToddIves]

Draft Day One, Atlantic Division Recap:

Boston: traded the 1st rounder for Hampus Lindholm, and already one of the weakest prospect pools in the NHL.

Buffalo: the Devils closest competition for top prospect pool in the NHL, the Sabres were armed with picks at #9, #16 and #28. They went for two small but extremely skilled offensive centers with the top 2 picks in Matthew Savoie and Noah Ostlund. I felt it was strong drafting, but perhaps a bit redundant. I felt they knocked it out of the park with their best value pick at #28 with Jiri Kulich, a high-motor and highly-skilled forward who dominated the U-18 with an MVP performance.

Detroit: Steve Yzerman hit yet another home run with C Marco Kasper -- the Wings' 4th straight 1st round skater who combines high-speed, high-IQ and high-compete, joining Seider, Raymond and Edvinsson. This is going to be an extremely difficult team to play against, very soon.

Florida: traded their 1st rounder for Sam Reinhart, but still possessing a solid prospect pool.

Montreal: a huge day for the home team. Hit a grand slam with #1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky, then made a litany of trades to turn picks and Alex Romanov into Kirby Dach to fill their gaping #2 center hole. Hit another home run at #26 overall by taking Slafkovsky's buddy, RW Filip Mesar -- an incredibly fast and skilled winger who would have gone top 15 if he were over 6'0 tall. I feel they overpaid for Dach, but what are the Canadiens if not overpaying for centers? The rest of their day was awesome.

Ottawa: dealt #7 overall to Chicago for Alex DeBrincat. A reasonable trade for a 40-goal scorer, but are they trying to turn the corner on the rebuild before they're truly ready? This team will still have difficulty making the playoffs next year, after which DeBrincat could conceivably try to force his way out as a RFA.

Tampa: a great scouting team nails it again, taking the US-NTDP leading scorer in Isaac Howard (no, not Cooley or Gauthier) at #31 overall. The Lightning continue to be a paragon of management and scouting excellence.

Toronto: forced to trade the first rounder to get out from under the awful Mrazek contract. GM Dubas needs to manage his cup space better, and it cost them here.

Conclusion: The Canadiens stole the show, with Slafkovsky headlining the latest rebuild. They'll likely have a shot at Bedard next year, as well. Ottawa tried to force their way out of a re-build too soon, but if -- and it's a big if -- they lock up DeBrincat long-term it will wind up being worth it. Florida is a team on the rise which spun its wheels, while Boston is clearly on the decline and spun their wheels. Toronto is in the middle of their window and, well, also spun their wheels. Detroit and Buffalo are the future powerhouses of the division, and are clearly on the rise. But first they'll have to get past Tampa, who made another stellar pick to add to a top-notch organization.

 

[StevenToddIves]

Arizona's 1st round reminds me a lot of our 2020 first round. Elite upside forward top pick and a gigantic raw D-man at the end, sandwiching a likely top-6 forward.

Cooley is a superior prospect than Holtz, but Mukhamadullin is a superior prospect to Lamoureux and Mercer is a far, far superior prospect to Geekie.

I look at Arizona's draft not as they came away with Cooley, Geekie and Lamoureux, but rather than they could have come away with Wright, Nazar and Chesley. I really think they screwed it up a bit, but again, time will tell.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

He mentioned the right shot D part twice in like twenty seconds as if that was his main selling point. Not he was one of the top two players on our board, we liked the young man, he was good playing against pros and has a lot of potential but instead he emphasized the right shot D part. And it’s not the first time Fitz has veered need with first rounders. Like Ozzie Newsome (the football GM) says today’s luxury is tomorrow’s need.

He’s right shot D so he’s gonna mention that.

If you actually want to go off of what Fitz said rather than make up your own reach interpretations.

He said there was 4 guys at the top they viewed similarily with similar upside. Nemec was obviously one of those guys and he’s the one they went with in the end.

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

So, how is everyone feeling?

The party was a nice little getaway, felt like old times. There was a lot of confusion on where they were going to actually show the draft, I thought they would have had the Summer Stage set up for it but they had some TVs scattered outside as well as the inside stage where the band was.

A ton of the air got sucked out of the room when Slaf went #1. Seemed like a lot of people preferred Wright after that, but I was always fine with whatever fell into place. Slaf was my preference, but what can you do if he's not there? From how it all played out, I don't think a trade down was an option if Nemec was #2 on our board. I'm perfectly happy with it, interested to see what shakes out today.

Which T did you get?

 

[StevenToddIves]

2022 Draft Day One: Metropolitan Division Recap:

Carolina: traded their top pick, but this is a team on the rise with a great prospect pool.

Columbus: may have taken the best defensive defenseman in the draft with RD David Jiricek at #6 and then the best offensive defenseman in the draft with LD Denton Mateychuk at #12. Those guys could be a ridiculous and perfect pairing for the next decade-plus, a great day for Columbus who will clearly wind up among the draft winners for the second straight year.

NY Islanders: Lamoriello took another swing at returning to the playoffs with a trade of the #13 pick for D Alex Romanov. While Romanov is a terrific young physical and stalwart young D, the Islanders prospect pool is near the bottom of the league and just got worse.

NY Rangers: spun their wheels as they watched Winnipeg take Brad Lambert with the first-round pick they traded for Andrew Copp. Still possessing a very good prospect pool, however.

Philadelphia: my worst moment of the day was watching the arch-rival Flyers grab the potential next Tkachuk in Cutter Gauthier at #5. This one really hurt, but a great pick for Philly.

Pittsburgh: took a long term gamble in the immense upside of 6'5 LD Owen Pickering. Might have to wait 5 or 6 years, but the payoff could be a fast, two-way top pairing LD at the NHL level.

Washington: might have made the steal of the draft with W Ivan Miroshnichenko at #20 -- he could have the most upside in the entire 2022 class. Just a beast. Some risk with his recovery from Hodgkin's disease and getting out of Russia, but just an outstanding home run swing for the Caps.

NJ DEVILS: I think we all know about this pick. Simon Nemec immediately beats back the organizational RD problem while improving the speed and offensive capabilities of a future blueline which is already just stacked in that regard with Luke Hughes, Dougie Hamilton and Shakir Mukhamadullin. I'm not going to editorialize about the pick here, because the Devils have a top two prospect pool in the NHL right now and a very bright future.

CONCLUSION: Washington, Philly, and NJ won the day by adding elite talent, but Columbus won the day the most by adding two players with elite talent. Pittsburgh made a nice gamble, while the Islanders made a gamblier gamble. While Carolina and the Rangers both spun their wheels, they are already terrific teams and both have strong prospect pipelines. The best division in hockey just got better.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Which T did you get?

The black T with NJ Devil/Tillie

 

[SKNJD9]

 

[NjDevsRR]

2022 Draft Day One: Metropolitan Division Recap:

Carolina: traded their top pick, but this is a team on the rise with a great prospect pool.

Columbus: may have taken the best defensive defenseman in the draft with RD David Jiricek at #6 and then the best offensive defenseman in the draft with LD Denton Mateychuk at #12. Those guys could be a ridiculous and perfect pairing for the next decade-plus, a great day for Columbus who will clearly wind up among the draft winners for the second straight year.

NY Islanders: Lamoriello took another swing at returning to the playoffs with a trade of the #13 pick for D Alex Romanov. While Romanov is a terrific young physical and stalwart young D, the Islanders prospect pool is near the bottom of the league and just got worse.

NY Rangers: spun their wheels as they watched Winnipeg take Brad Lambert with the first-round pick they traded for Andrew Copp. Still possessing a very good prospect pool, however.

Philadelphia: my worst moment of the day was watching the arch-rival Flyers grab the potential next Tkachuk in Cutter Gauthier at #5. This one really hurt, but a great pick for Philly.

Pittsburgh: took a long term gamble in the immense upside of 6'5 LD Owen Pickering. Might have to wait 5 or 6 years, but the payoff could be a fast, two-way top pairing LD at the NHL level.

Washington: might have made the steal of the draft with W Ivan Miroshnichenko at #20 -- he could have the most upside in the entire 2022 class. Just a beast. Some risk with his recovery from Hodgkin's disease and getting out of Russia, but just an outstanding home run swing for the Caps.

NJ DEVILS: I think we all know about this pick. Simon Nemec immediately beats back the organizational RD problem while improving the speed and offensive capabilities of a future blueline which is already just stacked in that regard with Luke Hughes, Dougie Hamilton and Shakir Mukhamadullin. I'm not going to editorialize about the pick here, because the Devils have a top two prospect pool in the NHL right now and a very bright future.

CONCLUSION: Washington, Philly, and NJ won the day by adding elite talent, but Columbus won the day the most by adding two players with elite talent. Pittsburgh made a nice gamble, while the Islanders made a gamblier gamble. While Carolina and the Rangers both spun their wheels, they are already terrific teams and both have strong prospect pipelines. The best division in hockey just got better.

You sir, are doing the Lawd’s work.

 

[Devs3cups]

Sho, who are 4-5 guys who would be great picks at 37OA? Chesley? Sykora? Warren?

 

[StevenToddIves]

Hey, everyone -- giving you a name to keep an eye on!

My Slovakian draft guy messaged me that LW/RW Adam Sykora is good friends with Simon Nemec, and he's also possibly the best defensive forward and forechecker in the entire 2022 class, so we're talking a very fast kid with a high-energy, high-compete game who likes to get his mitts dirty in the interior. I've watched him a lot and Sykora has more offensive upside than most people realize, he scored 10 goals in the Slovakian men's league and is one of the youngest players for the entire 2022 class.

Adam Sykora would be an absolutely outstanding pick for the Devils at #37 overall.

 

[SKNJD9]

 

[Unknown Caller]

Hey, everyone -- giving you a name to keep an eye on!

My Slovakian draft guy messaged me that LW/RW Adam Sykora is good friends with Simon Nemec, and he's also possibly the best defensive forward and forechecker in the entire 2022 class, so we're talking a very fast kid with a high-energy, high-compete game who likes to get his mitts dirty in the interior. I've watched him a lot and Sykora has more offensive upside than most people realize, he scored 10 goals in the Slovakian men's league and is one of the youngest players for the entire 2022 class.

Adam Sykora would be an absolutely outstanding pick for the Devils at #37 overall.

Sykora is who I want with this pick. Would be thrilled with that.

 

[AfroThunder396]

With Husso likely off the board, it feels like we're going to back up the Brinks truck to Campbell or Keumper. I think Keumper is the better goalie but given his age I don't want to go over 3-4 years.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Sooo Campbell or Kuemper or bust huh