Prospect Info: 2023 Draft Thread (Yotes picking #6 & #12)

[rt]

I like Bensons motor, just not his size...and we've already got Keller, Schmaltz, Maccelli in the top 6. I don't want to add another midget into the top 6.

Pick this year has to be: Bedard (midget aside, he'll score 50/yr), Fantilli, Carlsson, Smith

I don’t think Scmaltz is a long term piece and I think Benson will be a lot better than Maccelli.

 

[Grimes]

I like Bensons motor, just not his size...and we've already got Keller, Schmaltz, Maccelli in the top 6. I don't want to add another midget into the top 6.

Pick this year has to be: Bedard (midget aside, he'll score 50/yr), Fantilli, Carlsson, Smith

I'd be thrilled to add Benson. I know Bedard is generational, but he's still small. Even after drafting Cooley I was a worried about having too many small forwards, but that can be corrected. There's no guarantee that any of Keller, Schmaltz and Maccelli (let alone two of the three) will be here by the time Benson would crack the roster. I think my largest issue with Benson is that he doesn't play center. But when it comes down to it we need a guy who can generate and create more offense than what two average top 6 players create (aka 85-130 points). Teams that have one or two of these players find success year in and year out.

Last season:
EDM 2x (McDrai)
CGY 2x (Johnny G and Tkachuk)
MIN 2x (Fiala and Kaprizov)
TOR 3x (Marner, Matthews, Tavares)
NYR 2x (Panarin, Zib)
FLA 2x (Hub and Barkov)
COL 4x (Makar, McKinnon, Rantanen, Kadri)
TB 2x (Hedman and Stammer. Would have been three if Kucherov was healthy)
NSH 2x (Duchene and Josi)

These are all guys in the top 25 in scoring last season. Keller is the closest we have to this and I'm not convinced he will be a PPG player this year. We need more of the players highlighted above.

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

just saying I like Bedard/Fantilli/Carlsson/Smith more than Benson. Benson is easily the 6th person taken (assuming Michkov goes within top 5)

 

[lanky]

I'm ok with adding a winger if that's BPA.

Cooley
Hayton
Geekie
McBain

is good enough if we have elite wingers. And we do seem to be on a path towards having elite wingers.

 

[Grimes]

just saying I like Bedard/Fantilli/Carlsson/Smith more than Benson. Benson is easily the 6th person taken (assuming Michkov goes within top 5)

Pick one:
Keller-Carlsson-Guenther
Crouse-Cooley-Maccelli

Or

Benson-Cooley-Guenther
Keller-Hayton-Maccelli

Just choosing from known assets that we have. Hayton could easily be replaced with Geekie if he pans out or maybe we get lucky and acquire a top 6 RFA center.I guess Crouse could be the same for an RFA winger. I'm not putting Fantilli or Bedard in there because those would be the easy selections.

 

[Jagged Ice]

Pick one:
Keller-Carlsson-Guenther
Crouse-Cooley-Maccelli

Or

Benson-Cooley-Guenther
Keller-Hayton-Maccelli

Just choosing from known assets that we have. Hayton could easily be replaced with Geekie if he pans out or maybe we get lucky and acquire a top 6 RFA center.I guess Crouse could be the same for an RFA winger. I'm not putting Fantilli or Bedard in there because those would be the easy selections.

Keller-Carlsson-Guenther
Crouse-Cooley-Maccelli

Only because I want Carlsson over Bensen and I'm not a fan of Hayton. Hoping Geekie pans out.
Having said that, Benson-Cooley-Guenther is .

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

easily for me
Keller/Carlsson/Guenther
Crouse/Cooley/Maccelli

 

[rt]

Benson with our pick and then Ritchie with Buffalo’s pick (acquired for Chychrun).

That’s the way!

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

how about Fantilli with our pick and Reinbacher with Buffalo's pick

 

[rt]

how about Fantilli with our pick and Reinbacher with Buffalo's pick

Works for me. I don’t know much about Reinbacher. I watched some of his WJC games and he was just a guy. On an overwhelmed team. For me, if I’m gonna force fit a D into the top fifteen just because there has to be a D there, I’m probably opting for Dragicevic. Go big or go home. I watched a fair bit of Korchinski last season. I think I like Dragicevic more. He’s not nearly as good a skater, but I think he’s a lot smarter and I really love how he moves the puck.

Im going to watch a lot of WHL and OHL games the rest of the way. So I’ll see how things shake out. But right now, I knight be tempted to take Dragicevic over Yager, even.

 

[Jagged Ice]

Im going to watch a lot of WHL and OHL games the rest of the way. So I’ll see how things shake out. But right now, I knight be tempted to take Dragicevic over Yager, even.

Dragicevic is your Cutter Gauthier of this draft I see. You were right about Gauthier. He wasn't projected to go anywhere near his final draft pick. Good eye rt.

 

[rt]

Dragicevic is your Cutter Gauthier of this draft I see. You were right about Gauthier. He wasn't projected to go anywhere near his final draft pick. Good eye rt.

I saw most of Cutters USHL games, though. I saw a handful for Dragicevic last season and only a few this season, so far. We’ll see. I’m going to watch a lot of WHL and OHL this season. No more USHL (I don’t want to pay Flo Hockey prices) or QMJHL (I just don’t care this year).

Mateychuk was the other guy I was obsessed with and sure would go way higher. Had him 10th and he went 11th (FWIW, I had Cutter 5th).

If I had to guess which prospect I’m going to annoy all of you with ceaseless hot takes, it’s probably Benson. Most of us already have him 5th or 6th but I could see myself causing a lot of eye rolls but claiming he should be even 2-3 spots higher than that.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

I don't want to let go of Hayton in favor of a rookie like Geekie. They're not interchangeable. Hayton's playing very well this year. I'm very surprised and quite pleased. I envision Hayton in a two way role on a stopper line. Not an energy line, but a defensive line thrown out to throttle top lines. Particularly in playoff games, Hayton's good D is quite an asset.

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

I was thinking Fantilli at #2 and Reinbacher at #22 (Buffalo Pick)

 

[Jagged Ice]

"Mateychuk was the other guy I was obsessed with and sure would go way higher. Had him 10th and he went 11th"


We both did. I wanted Miroshnichenko, Yurov or Mateychuk over Geekie. I'm fine with Geekie now. I just think he's the biggest project of the four. Hopefully he thrives once AT starts working with him.

 

[Schemp]

I don't want to let go of Hayton in favor of a rookie like Geekie. They're not interchangeable. Hayton's playing very well this year. I'm very surprised and quite pleased. I envision Hayton in a two way role on a stopper line. Not an energy line, but a defensive line thrown out to throttle top lines. Particularly in playoff games, Hayton's good D is quite an asset.

I wouldn't expect Geekie to start off at C. I was thinking, how would he respond to McBain and Fischer?

I also wonder if Bedard could make Hayton look good.

 

[lanky]

I wouldn't expect Geekie to start off at C. I was thinking, how would he respond to McBain and Fischer?

I also wonder how good Bedard could make Hayton look.

Geekie is currently 3C for the Ice. I don't think he'd object too hard to being 3C or even 4C on the Coyotes.

 

[Schemp]

Geekie is currently 3C for the Ice. I don't think he'd object too hard to being 3C or even 4C on the Coyotes.

...or a 4th LW

 

[Grimes]

"Mateychuk was the other guy I was obsessed with and sure would go way higher. Had him 10th and he went 11th"


We both did. I wanted Miroshnichenko, Yurov or Mateychuk over Geekie. I'm fine with Geekie now. I just think he's the biggest project of the four. Hopefully he thrives once AT starts working with him.

The excitement when we traded up at the bar was really fun. Once we picked Geekie you could tell all of us were a little deflated, but then it set in and felt pretty good. I still wish we went for Mateychuk there or Yurov. I was also hoping for Kemell so in retrospect it could have been worse.

I still love Geekie as a prospect and a project. We could get a Sean Couterier or Tage type homerun ceiling, maybe a Hanzel type medium and a complete bust as the floor.

 

[hbk]

The excitement when we traded up at the bar was really fun. Once we picked Geekie you could tell all of us were a little deflated, but then it set in and felt pretty good. I still wish we went for Mateychuk there or Yurov. I was also hoping for Kemell so in retrospect it could have been worse.

I still love Geekie as a prospect and a project. We could get a Sean Couterier or Tage type homerun ceiling, maybe a Hanzel type medium and a complete bust as the floor.

I had Geekie at 11 on my list. Give him time and i think we will be rewarded.

 

[rt]

The excitement when we traded up at the bar was really fun. Once we picked Geekie you could tell all of us were a little deflated, but then it set in and felt pretty good. I still wish we went for Mateychuk there or Yurov. I was also hoping for Kemell so in retrospect it could have been worse.

I still love Geekie as a prospect and a project. We could get a Sean Couterier or Tage type homerun ceiling, maybe a Hanzel type medium and a complete bust as the floor.

I had Mateychuk 10th and Geekie 11th on my list. So I was happy. I recommend watching the ICE v Warriors game from Saturday. You will feel heartened by what you see from Geekie. He comes through the neutral zone and straight at the net like Alex Tuch a number of times. Big men shouldn’t be able to blow by defenders like that. It’s only flashes at this point. But it’s there. He’s still a goofy string bean. We’ve got time.

 

[Jagged Ice]

The excitement when we traded up at the bar was really fun. Once we picked Geekie you could tell all of us were a little deflated.

We need to meet up again this draft and make it tradition. That was a good time. HBK can time his Gilbert house hunt for that week.

 

[rt]

We need to meet up again this draft and make it tradition. That was a good time. HBK can time his Gilbert house hunt for that week.

And this time I won’t leave 15 picks in. Haha.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

Was that Biz interviewing Crouse saying the game has a playoff intensity? Hah. He gets the flying asshole award for January.

 

[Jamieh]

Was that Biz interviewing Crouse saying the game has a playoff intensity? Hah. He gets the flying asshole award for January.

Biz looked a D sounded high and if he thinks that looked like playoff hockey he's also blind.