HF Habs: 2023 NHL Draft part 2

[DramaticGloveSave]

Ryan Leonard for pick 5.

“You could do worse”

This message paid for by the Ryan Leonard at pick 5 foundation.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Matthew Wood at 5, let's do it. Blake Wheeler type surprise baby.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Matthew Wood at 5, let's do it. Blake Wheeler type surprise baby.

Meh, I could get behind that I guess. I'll wince every time I see him skate with the puck, but he's not getting points based on aesthetics so who cares in the end. A top 6 behemoth with excellent puck skills isn't bad to have at all.

 

[Fatbiggie]

Matthew Wood at 5, let's do it. Blake Wheeler type surprise baby.

I would get behind, full swing type pick

 

[WinterLion]

Matthew Wood at 5, let's do it. Blake Wheeler type surprise baby.

Wheeler is also a great comparison for him. He's definitely a wild card... It's definitely the type of pick you do if you believe in your development department.

 

[Lebowski]

I'll start by saying I don't watch prospects so my opinion on specific players is worth absolutely nothing.

In my opinion, strategically speaking, the most important aspect of this draft for the Habs is to add a key player to its core; ergo someone that can be a play driver on its top F/D line. There's a lot of good players available, but from what I've read, there's three likely candidates at 5 that set themselves apart:

1. Carlsson
2. Michkov
3. Reinbacher

This ranking is purely based on HF hype, but that's my wishlist for the draft. Reinbacher may seem like a boring pick to some, but if he's truly a RH improved version of Guhle, I don't hesitate to pick him at 5 to hopefully set our foundation on D for years to come.

How many forwards that went before Guhle in his draft would you be willing to trade him for as of today?

 

[HabsForHire]

Matthew Wood at 5, let's do it. Blake Wheeler type surprise baby.

Kill me now

 

[NotProkofievian]

Kill me now

Yeah who would want the best U17 BCHL scorer in the last 30 years, the best U18 NCAA PPG in the last 30 years, a 6'4 forward who led his team in scoring as a freshman, and one of Canada's best players at the recent U18. What a goddamn bum that guy is.

 

[ginomini]

The thing about Leonard is that there's nothing wrong with him. You could say he could be more this, or more that, he's not Tkachuk blah blah blah, but there are no red flags. Everything is at least above average, and some things are well above average. We could definitely do worse.

For that reason, in the scenario where they do not want to pick Michkov and Smith is gone, Leonard is like the peace pick for this board.

If they pick Dvorsky, Benson, or Reinbacher there will be intense reactions on here.

With Leonard its going to be much more mild lol.

 

[JoelWarlord]

Wood is a really interesting pick. I'm not quite sure I can get there at 5 and I'd have Reinbacher/Smith/Benson/Leonard all ahead of him but I certainly won't be upset about it if he's the guy. Needs to fix this haircut though

 

[Jack Skellington]

Yeah who would want the best U17 BCHL scorer in the last 30 years, the best U18 NCAA PPG in the last 30 years, a 6'4 forward who led his team in scoring as a freshman, and one of Canada's best players at the recent U18. What a goddamn bum that guy is.

Weren’t Eichel and Fantilli NCAA? Or are you saying they were already 18 years old for most of their seasons? I like Wood a lot but f***, all these players being talked about at 5 that could realistically go outside of the top ten.. possible top six wingers, second line defensive centers… what the f*** did we lose all those games for? I almost would rather they trade down. Don’t trust Bobrov to make the call whatsoever. The only pick outside of Michkov that could be there a 5 I would not have a bad feeling about personally is Benson.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Weren’t Eichel and Fantilli NCAA? Or are you saying they were already 18 years old for most of their seasons? I like Wood a lot but f***, all these players being talked about at 5 that could realistically go outside of the top ten.. possible top six wingers, second line defensive centers… what the f*** did we lose all those games for? I almost would rather they trade down. Don’t trust Bobrov to make the call whatsoever. The only pick outside of Michkov that could be there a 5 I would not have a bad feeling about personally is Benson.

Eichel and Fantilli were both U19, yes.

 

[KevSkillz4]

I think some people in this thread underrated the skill of Ryan Leonard. He is a very flashy player and have great offensive talent.

 

[HabsForHire]

Yeah who would want the best U17 BCHL scorer in the last 30 years, the best U18 NCAA PPG in the last 30 years, a 6'4 forward who led his team in scoring as a freshman, and one of Canada's best players at the recent U18. What a goddamn bum that guy is.

With skating like his haha top 5 ??

 

[NotProkofievian]

With skating like his haha top 5 ??

Skating is for the fearful. Where you going, what are you afraid of?

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

At 5 it'll be hard to mess up. But the Habs have shown a particularly strong ability in this regard...

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

I think there’s a world where Wood develops and rounds out his game and ends up a similar calibre player to Leo Carlsson.

 

[HabsForHire]

Skating is for the fearful. Where you going, what are you afraid of?

It's alright, we won't ve taking him at 5 so I'm not afraid of anything. I'd be suprised if he even goes top 10

 

[Hins77]

I'll start by saying I don't watch prospects so my opinion on specific players is worth absolutely nothing.

In my opinion, strategically speaking, the most important aspect of this draft for the Habs is to add a key player to its core; ergo someone that can be a play driver on its top F/D line. There's a lot of good players available, but from what I've read, there's three likely candidates at 5 that set themselves apart:

1. Carlsson
2. Michkov
3. Reinbacher

This ranking is purely based on HF hype, but that's my wishlist for the draft. Reinbacher may seem like a boring pick to some, but if he's truly a RH improved version of Guhle, I don't hesitate to pick him at 5 to hopefully set our foundation on D for years to come.

How many forwards that went before Guhle in his draft would you be willing to trade him for as of today?

Thats why Reinbacher is an interessting pick. I pick Guhle over Holtz, Quinn, Rossi, jarvis and cie. Back in the days,. Those forward were highly regarded.
For the management, the hard work is to find an elite forward or Top 2 Dman. Those top 6/middle pack forward aren’t. Imagine if we pick Renbacher and 2 years later, you decide to put him on the trade block market, based on Romanov Value.
There will probably have an elite on in the pack of wood/benson/leonard/dvorsky. Probably there will have a guy could turn out better than Reinbacher, but you need to pick the one.

 

[KevSkillz4]

If Habs pick Matthew Wood ahead of Matvei Michkov, Ryan Leonard or Zach Benson. I would be really disappointed by Habs management.

 

[NotProkofievian]

I think some people in this thread underrated the skill of Ryan Leonard. He is a very flashy player and have great offensive talent.

There is no way Ryan Leonard is getting underrated in this thread. What, you wanna rank him 4th or something?

 

[Redux91]

Matthew Wood at 5, let's do it. Blake Wheeler type surprise baby

Lol, you just had to bring him up, peeeerfect timing too
Just to rile everybody up!

 

[NeptunesTrident]

Matthew Wood at 5, let's do it. Blake Wheeler type surprise baby.

If Dach is the #2C he would definitely fill a need. With his hands and Dach’s playmaking that could be a real problem for teams. Almost a Scheifele/Wheeler v2.0.

 

[badfish]

If Habs pick Matthew Wood ahead of Matvei Michkov, Ryan Leonard or Zach Benson. I would be really disappointed by Habs management.

I feel like this is the most negative thing I've ever saw you post

 

[SlafySZN]

He's probably like 5'11 and 3/8 and they call him 6' to help him draft wise, that's what they did with me at 5'11 and 3/4 when I played football. He's small but he does have broad shoulders.

Here he is with "tiny" Perrault.

On Mckenzie’s list it says 5’11 1/2 for Leonard, 5’11 3/4 for Smith and 5’10 3/4 Perreault.

We’ll see at the combine