2023 NHL Draft June 28 and 29, Nashville, TN (Selections - 13, 39, 45, 86, 109, 141, 173, 205)

[Jim Bob]

 

[Chainshot]

Leonard's second-



His hat trick goal-

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Czechs vs US at the 4-Nations today -



Still very interested in Leonard as a guy who does things this team doesn't have anywhere in their prospect stable.

Zeev Buium? Rob Ray prays he never makes the league

 

[Chainshot]

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Not I think representative of how he would score at the next level, but he did have the opening goal in today's game:



At one point it was 4-1 USA and the shots were 5-2.

This is the second Smith goal where Leonard is filling the lane on the wing, misses on his chance:

Doesn’t he bring a lot of what Kulich does? His tenacity and ability to make brutal hits might set him apart a bit, but outside of that, they kind of seem like they’d fit in a similar box?’

That’s not to say we don’t need much more of what he brings - we sure don’t have much physicality at the NHL level, and need more than just a few token physical guys.

 

[Chainshot]

Doesn’t he bring a lot of what Kulich does? His tenacity and ability to make brutal hits might set him apart a bit, but outside of that, they kind of seem like they’d fit in a similar box?’

That’s not to say we don’t need much more of what he brings - we sure don’t have much physicality at the NHL level, and need more than just a few token physical guys.

Leonard reminds me of a more shot-first Callahan. (Note, I hate direct comparisons but in style and tenaciousness, younger Callahan is sort of who I see.) He initiates a lot of contact and is tenacious on and off the puck. I don't think they have enough of that and I don't think he would be redundant to Kulich. They have a lot of passive skill and need more tenacity.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Leonard reminds me of a more shot-first Callahan. (Note, I hate direct comparisons but in style and tenaciousness, younger Callahan is sort of who I see.) He initiates a lot of contact and is tenacious on and off the puck. I don't think they have enough of that and I don't think he would be redundant to Kulich. They have a lot of passive skill and need more tenacity.

Not saying they’d be redundant - it’s pretty big need throughout the system and will take years to fully address. But yeah, I guess Kulich isn’t defined by his tenacity quite like Callahan and Leonard are. That sounds like a solid comparison. They’re probably close to the same size too.

Last year, McRoarty kind of had that tenacious label , but even he isn’t as tenacious as Leonard. And he was bigger and more of a playmaker.

 

[Chainshot]

Not saying they’d be redundant - it’s pretty big need throughout the system and will take years to fully address. But yeah, I guess Kulich isn’t defined by his tenacity quite like Callahan and Leonard are. That sounds like a solid comparison. They’re probably close to the same size too.

Last year, McRoarty kind of had that tenacious label , but even he isn’t as tenacious as Leonard. And he was bigger and more of a playmaker.

No worries. McRoarty also can't hit what he can't catch and his skating is a bit ROR-esque. He gets there but Leonard had no issue with his quickness/speed, it's definitely a plus in my viewings.

 

[Chainshot]

Some video clips in the thread, quality work from Brock as usual.

I'm intrigued. This comp in particularly stands out -

 

[Old Navy Goat]

Now if you're bored, or have time on your hands you can watch all the NTDP games free of charge. They're archived here:

Watch Team USA

www.usahockeyntdp.com

 

[Fly Boy]

Now if you're bored, or have time on your hands you can watch all the NTDP games free of charge. They're archived here:

Watch Team USA

www.usahockeyntdp.com

Don't tell Chain that

 

[Chainshot]

Don't tell Chain that

Don't tell Chain that

No worries, I posted it earlier in the thread.

 

[Chainshot]

Simashev and But back on the ice for their junior team -

 

[Chainshot]

But to Maltsev in the slot for a PP goal, Simashev gets a plus, Loko up 2-1 in the third. I like Simashev a lot but that's my old defenseman bias showing. But still does some things that make me doubt but Simashev seems like someone steeped in how to defend. Now if only he was tearing up his development league statistically.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

But to Maltsev in the slot for a PP goal, Simashev gets a plus, Loko up 2-1 in the third. I like Simashev a lot but that's my old defenseman bias showing. But still does some things that make me doubt but Simashev seems like someone steeped in how to defend. Now if only he was tearing up his development league statistically.

Who's on first though?

Seriously, we need to make a new name for But if we draft him so that you don't have to read paragraphs twice. Maybe "Butty?"

I was on a construction site and missed this game sadly. When they get pulled up to the K, is that because of injuries, or how does that work in Russia? Weird how But and Simishev play on the same teams in both leagues, I'm curious how that works.

 

[Chainshot]

Who's on first though?

Seriously, we need to make a new name for But if we draft him so that you don't have to read paragraphs twice. Maybe "Butty?"

I was on a construction site and missed this game sadly. When they get pulled up to the K, is that because of injuries, or how does that work in Russia? Weird how But and Simishev play on the same teams in both leagues, I'm curious how that works.

Nicknames: Butters? DB50 might be what I go with just to try to ID the player.

I think they just swing their players back and forth. I'm still not sure how Yaroslavl can have a team in both MHL conferences and those teams share players. DB50 had almost no ice time in his last game up - edit yeah, 0:00 in TOI so I suppose advanced door operator - while Simashev picked up less than five minutes.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

DB50 might be what I go with just to try to ID the player.

Perfect. Has a nice ring to it too. If I were him I'd try to make that my nickname in the states .

 

[Jim Bob]

 

[Selanne00008]

Didn't realize we had Philly's 2nd rounder and how high it will be based on them sucking. That's a top 40 pick most likely.

Wouldn't mind packaging 1 or 2 (Vegas pick) of those up to move up higher in the 2nd or improve our 1st rounder a few spots.

 

[Chainshot]

Didn't realize we had Philly's 2nd rounder and how high it will be based on them sucking. That's a top 40 pick most likely.

Wouldn't mind packaging 1 or 2 (Vegas pick) of those up to move up higher in the 2nd or improve our 1st rounder a few spots.

That only makes sense when knowing who is there.

 

[truthbluth]

Didn't realize we had Philly's 2nd rounder and how high it will be based on them sucking. That's a top 40 pick most likely.

Wouldn't mind packaging 1 or 2 (Vegas pick) of those up to move up higher in the 2nd or improve our 1st rounder a few spots.

I’m not down with a trade up at all. This draft is stupid deep. We’ll get a player with Vegas’ pick that would have been close to 1st rounder last year. I hate getting excited about drafts because it’s a sign the Sabres’ playoff hopes are dashed, but with 4 top 60 picks, I’m hyper focused on that 3rd tier which I think goes from the teens to the 50s.

 

[Selanne00008]

I’m not down with a trade up at all. This draft is stupid deep. We’ll get a player with Vegas’ pick that would have been close to 1st rounder last year. I hate getting excited about drafts because it’s a sign the Sabres’ playoff hopes are dashed, but with 4 top 60 picks, I’m hyper focused on that 3rd tier which I think goes from the teens to the 50s.

I certainly don't have the draft year prospect knowledge. I just like the thought of high end talent in the hopper. I should rephrase and say if it makes complete sense and we use one to get a guy they think slid a little but be down with it. But yeah, drafting all 4 is fine, more ammo for future trade deadline deals and all that and we'd still have a top tier talent pool.

 

[EichHart]

I’m not down with a trade up at all. This draft is stupid deep. We’ll get a player with Vegas’ pick that would have been close to 1st rounder last year. I hate getting excited about drafts because it’s a sign the Sabres’ playoff hopes are dashed, but with 4 top 60 picks, I’m hyper focused on that 3rd tier which I think goes from the teens to the 50s.

I agree. This is a draft we should be using all our picks again. Set this team up for the long term. Next yr we need to start trading picks away for players though. We need to make the playoffs next season.

 

[Chainshot]

For anyone with the premium subscription -

 

[Chainshot]

I agree. This is a draft we should be using all our picks again. Set this team up for the long term. Next yr we need to start trading picks away for players though. We need to make the playoffs next season.

I'd rather they not have all three 2nds on draft day, even with this being a supposed good draft year. They are at the point that they don't have a finite amount of development spots for players and the bottleneck could mean that they don't develop the best for some of these guys. It's time to look at plugging the missing pieces at the NHL level as well as continuing to stock via the draft.