Prospect Info: 2023 NHL Draft - Part 2 (Who Do You Want To Draft At #2)

[McDonald19]

If the Ducks don‘t select Michkov they are nuts. Before the Ukraine war unfolded many saw him equal to Bedard… talents like him don‘t come around often…

It would be a huge mistake not waiting for him. The Ducks are anyway not competitive in the next few years… better continue to tank and assemble more talent…

Probably not going to happen. CBJs need a franchise altering talent as well, but they are likely going Carlsson or even Smith.

 

[lwvs84]

If the Ducks don‘t select Michkov they are nuts. Before the Ukraine war unfolded many saw him equal to Bedard… talents like him don‘t come around often…

It would be a huge mistake not waiting for him. The Ducks are anyway not competitive in the next few years… better continue to tank and assemble more talent…

IF the Ducks were going to take him, it would make more sense to trade back to 4/5 and get added assets. There is very little chance anyone is taking him over Fantilli/Carlsson, so you could get a pretty good haul dropping to 4 (Columbus is going to want to be competitive sooner rather than later, so they won't take him).

At 2, Fantilli is probably the pick for Anaheim or Carlsson if there is a red flag.

 

[Kalv]

mod edit

If the Ducks don‘t select Michkov they are nuts. Before the Ukraine war unfolded many saw him equal to Bedard… talents like him don‘t come around often…

It would be a huge mistake not waiting for him. The Ducks are anyway not competitive in the next few years… better continue to tank and assemble more talent…

Allright mr Scout McScout

 

[Anaheim4ever]

If the Ducks don‘t select Michkov they are nuts. Before the Ukraine war unfolded many saw him equal to Bedard… talents like him don‘t come around often…

It would be a huge mistake not waiting for him. The Ducks are anyway not competitive in the next few years… better continue to tank and assemble more talent…

Okay Boris.
Ducks have bad luck with Russian forwards (see Chistov and Smirnov) so their luck he probably never arrives and signs a lifetime KHL contract after being pressured into it.

 

[tomd]

If the Ducks don‘t select Michkov they are nuts. Before the Ukraine war unfolded many saw him equal to Bedard… talents like him don‘t come around often…

It would be a huge mistake not waiting for him. The Ducks are anyway not competitive in the next few years… better continue to tank and assemble more talent…

Guys like Fantilli and Carlsson don't come around too often either. How many 5'10" and under guys are excelling in the playoffs this year?

 

[70sSanO]

Guys like Fantilli and Carlsson don't come around too often either. How many 5'10" and under guys are excelling in the playoffs this year?

Marchessault. Only because you asked.

But I don’t want Michkov either.

John

 

[Kalv]

Guys like Fantilli and Carlsson don't come around too often either. How many 5'10" and under guys are excelling in the playoffs this year?

And guys that also doesn't play defense very well, e.g., discounting Point, Marchand, etc.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Here is EP's newest Carlsson scouting video:

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Fantilli and Carlsson interview at the combine. Also in the interview is dir of Central Scouting Dan Marr taking questions about Russian prospects. Marr taking D Morin as the first defenseman was in reference to NA defensemen, between Morin and Bonk; for Euro defensemen it's Reinbacher and Sandin Pellikka.

 

[GermanRocket7]

I'm curious to see who this draft's Yakupov will be. I remember reading in an interview with Brian Burke that he thought Yakupov was the worst interview he ever had. Pretty much completely obnoxious as to what he is worth, not interested in speaking to anyone but the Oilers, who had the 1st overall that year, and gave lots of red-flag answers to multiple questions. Information like that seems to always find it's way to the media sooner or later, and it made understanding why Yakupov was such a huge bust much easier.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

I'm curious to see who this draft's Yakupov will be. I remember reading in an interview with Brian Burke that he thought Yakupov was the worst interview he ever had. Pretty much completely obnoxious as to what he is worth, not interested in speaking to anyone but the Oilers, who had the 1st overall that year, and gave lots of red-flag answers to multiple questions. Information like that seems to always find it's way to the media sooner or later, and it made understanding why Yakupov was such a huge bust much easier.

Daigle was cocky, obnoxious and full of himself too. Several HOFs drafted right after him.

 

[All Mighty]

Very cool article here from Pronman. It's also no wonder how Pronman's final mock draft is usually the most accurate one out there. He seems to have access to a lot of "in the know" people.

 

[Leonardo87]

Very cool article here from Pronman. It's also no wonder how Pronman's final mock draft is usually the most accurate one out there. He seems to have access to a lot of "in the know" people.

Here's the part with the 2nd OA pick. Kinda split it seems.

All right, No. 1 is settled. Who should Anaheim take at No. 2?

Scout 1: “I would take Carlsson. He has elite skill, he’s smarter than Fantilli although not as good a skater. I think he’s someone who could have a Mikko Rantanen type of career.”

Executive 1: “Michkov would seriously be in the conversation for us if we had the No. 2 pick. I get all the risks but he could honestly push Bedard in terms of pure ability.”

Scout 2: “It’s Fantilli, don’t overthink it. He’s a big, fast, physical, Canadian center who led college hockey in scoring. He could be a legit No. 1 C in the NHL. It’s a no brainer.”

Executive 2: “If I was picking (the) best pure player, I would struggle between Fantilli and Michkov to the very end, but given the world we live in, Fantilli all day is the guy.”

Scout 3: “I think people are presuming it’s going to be Fantilli but I wouldn’t be so confident. There are a lot of Leo Carlsson fans in the league, people who believe he’s the better player than Fantilli.”

Scout 4: “I would think about Will Smith [if I were Anaheim], his brain plus skill package is pretty special, but I would still lean Fantilli, he just does too much well.

Executive 3: “I would take Carlsson. I think he could be the next Barkov.”

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Here's the part with the 2nd OA pick. Kinda split it seems.

Ah, sheds zero light.

 

[GermanRocket7]

Here's the part with the 2nd OA pick. Kinda split it seems.

I think the quotes have relatively little meaning, as I assume most, if not all, of these scouts and executives go by their own view, i.e. their own situation within their respective franchises, and extrapolate their solutions to these problems accordingly. This can especially be seen by the bloke purporting the Ducks ought to pick Michkov. Why in the name of God would we want to pick a player who is -at best- a 50:50 gamble to ever come over and play for the Ducks and who will, in all likelihood, not be available to come here until 2026? We are in the later stages of our rebuild and ought to get our pieces for the future together and have them gain experience.

For the Ducks, Fantilli pretty much is (or at least should be) the unanimous logical choice, as he is right up there potential-wise with everyone else in the class (remember one scout was quoted by EP as Fantilli being closer to Bedard than Carlsson and Michkov to Fantilli) and checks literally every box the Ducks need.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Scout 5: “I just don’t see [Michkov] going at the very top parts of the draft. You guys in the media have overhyped him. An NHL team is not taking him top 5 given the myriad of risks in his profile.”

I would hope this dork is not a scout for my team, if I was an executive. Like, there are literally like a dozen scouts and executives in the same article contradicting him--not the media.

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

I would hope this dork is not a scout for my team, if I was an executive. Like, there are literally like a dozen scouts and executives in the same article contradicting him--not the media.

Actually all the scouts, not executives, in that section aren’t really high on him. The greatest praise from one of the five scouts is that he’s a better prospect than Tarasenko, one doesn’t give an opinion on the player at all, and the two others don’t seem to rate him that highly.

I think he makes a major point about some of his flaws being ignored. Basically all of the discourse is about the Russia situation but no one really talks about the red flags with his profile.

 

[nbducksfan19]

When we lost the Bedard sweepstakes I was hoping this draft process would produce a clear and obvious number 2 pick. I was hoping it would feel like the guy at number two was in his own tier. Instead, to me it is:

Bedard


Fantilli, Carlsson, Michov
Smith

There are still great players below Bedard, but I have more conviction than ever that there is a healthy gap between him and everyone else.

 

[TopShelfWaterBottle]

Can’t believe we got screwed out of ANOTHER generational player

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

When we lost the Bedard sweepstakes I was hoping this draft process would produce a clear and obvious number 2 pick. I was hoping it would feel like the guy at number two was in his own tier. Instead, to me it is:

Bedard


Fantilli, Carlsson, Michov
Smith

There are still great players below Bedard, but I have more conviction than ever that there is a healthy gap between him and everyone else.

I still think it goes

Bedard
Fantilli michkov
Carlsson smith

 

[mightyquack]

Hopefully Scout 4 is employed by one of our rivals. There is no way you think about Smith with Fantilli or Carlsson on the board.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Hopefully Scout 4 is employed by one of our rivals. There is no way you think about Smith with Fantilli or Carlsson on the board.

Smith is highly underrated imo…. I think there’s def teams that would put him above carlsson. If just don’t think smith makes sense for us because we already have played that play like him stylistically

Would be sick if our bad draft lottery luck ends next year….


Get a guy like fantilli this year, and then improve the team but still get a top 2 pick next year

 

[Hockey Duckie]

When we lost the Bedard sweepstakes I was hoping this draft process would produce a clear and obvious number 2 pick. I was hoping it would feel like the guy at number two was in his own tier. Instead, to me it is:

Bedard


Fantilli, Carlsson, Michov
Smith

There are still great players below Bedard, but I have more conviction than ever that there is a healthy gap between him and everyone else.

I'm not seeing Smith in the same tier as Fantilli, Carlsson, and Michkov.

When we were set at picking #4/5, I was all on the Smith wagon as he's like Zegras, but Smith's goal scoring is advanced. Smith is an offensive dynamo, no question about it, but how much of his production is helped out by his linemates?

USNTDP
Player	GP	G	A	TP		Plus/Minus
Perreault	63​	53​	79​	132​		79​
Smith	60​	51​	76​	127​		71​
Leonard	57​	51​	43​	94​		77​

WJC-18
Player	GP	G	A	TP		Plus/Minus
Smith	7​	9​	11​	20​		15​
Perreault	7​	5​	13​	18​		15​
Leonard	7​	8​	9​	17​		16​

On each team, that trio were always together and in the top-3 for scoring. I believe all three are also committed to the same college program, Boston College. Safe to assume they'll be playing on the same line with BC - it'd be crazy not to put them together.

With Zegras, he played with several different players and rose up to the occasion. We have no idea how Smith will perform away from his linemates. Smith is allowed to live on the blueline because he trusts Perreault and Leonard on doing the heavy lifting down low.

Carlsson has played with many different players from his own SHL team (played wing), the WJC-20 (played center, iir) team, and the WC team (played center). He's able to perform well on all three different rosters.

The late rage on Smith was due to his WJC-18 performance. Carlsson missed being qualified for the WJC-18 by six days with a Dec 26th birth date. Oddly enough, many of those same pundits who had their rage on for Smith have been silent on Carlsson's WC performance. Shouldn't an 18-year old playing against men has more value than a WJC-18 performance, especially when proving he can play 1C for his WC team?

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Smith is highly underrated imo…. I think there’s def teams that would put him above carlsson. If just don’t think smith makes sense for us because we already have played that play like him stylistically

Would be sick if our bad draft lottery luck ends next year….


Get a guy like fantilli this year, and then improve the team but still get a top 2 pick next year

Let's hope that we finish in the 8-11 range and win one of the top-2 slots, otherwise it's proven that Verbeek has given two different head coaches shit rosters.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Actually all the scouts, not executives, in that section aren’t really high on him. The greatest praise from one of the five scouts is that he’s a better prospect than Tarasenko, one doesn’t give an opinion on the player at all, and the two others don’t seem to rate him that highly.

I think he makes a major point about some of his flaws being ignored. Basically all of the discourse is about the Russia situation but no one really talks about the red flags with his profile.

I had a different response written out but I reread the article and I see what you're saying, there's a dichotomy between the scouts and the execs, at least on paper here. I didn't really distinguish on first read.

Still, it would irk me that this guy is like "meh, it's media hype" when honestly it looks like the execs (who aren't media) are the ones who are high on him. I agree that the public discussion of Michkov's flaws (whatever they are) is swamped by geopolitics, and I guess it's possible the execs are getting more hyped by media reports than what their own scouts are telling them, but I doubt it.