HF Habs: 2023 NHL Draft part 2

[NotProkofievian]

I'm not on the Willander war wagon.

 

[Toene]

Yep, already labelling this kid a bust?


Kemell is outproducing Wright in the AHL, Yurov is stuck on bottom lines in the KHL.

Watched Kemell live with the Admirals against le Rocket in March. He looked pretty good for such a young player adapting to NA ice. The player who impressed me the most though was Askarov... he's gonna be a stud.

I also saw the Americans vs Laval and Kulich was very noticeable. Looked better than Kemell imo but I only watched both one game.

 

[Skip Bayless]

 

[WinterLion]

I'm not on the Willander war wagon.

Don't worry he'll be gone by our 2nd pick...

 

[Hacketts]

From most listing it seems like Smith is 3 inches and 20+ pounds bigger than Benson. He's significantly bigger.

But the main issue for Benson is his play style, there aren't many guys in the league his size that can get away playing the way he does.

Benson is coming out of the corner with the puck 9/10 over Smith, easy money.

 

[WentWughes]

My Mock Draft with no settings went:
5:Leo Carlsson
31: Tanner Molendyk
37: Quintin Musty
69: Luca Pinelli
101: Easton Cowan
110:Connor Levis
128:Scott Ratzlaff
133:Yegor Sidorov
144: Matthew Mania
165: Ryan Fine
197: Charles Alexis Legault

Most of these guys aren’t going to slip to where I drafted them but I put a heavy weight on potential upside rather then positional need besides a few RHD who I will not lie I have not seen too much of. Mania I have seen very little of and I have not seen a second of Legault.

 

[WentWughes]

2nd kick at it

5: Smith
31:Bonk
37:Musty
69:Barkey
101:Cowan
110:Levis
128:Lipinski
133:Sidorov
144:Fine
166: Ty Higgins
197aniel Bourosh

 

[Doublechin]

Here's my draft sim, I took the scenario where 1 to 4 went as expect and Molson tells me no Michkov.

I also manually picked some players often available at 31 that shouldn't be like Willander and a couple others

(5) Ryan Leonard, RW
(31) Maxim Strbak, RD
(37) Danny Nelson, C
(69) Jacob Fowler, G
(101) Gavin McCarthy, RD
(110) Rasmus Kumpulainen, C
(128) Connor Levis, RW
(133) Dominik Petr, C
(144) Jan Sprynar, RW
(165) Jaden Lipinski, C
(197) Benjamin Brunelle, RW

Took the realistic approach of realizing no French Canadians from the Q and grabbed one with that last pick, I'd love for Fowler to be available at 69 but I have my doubts.

 

[Twisted Sinister]

Here's my first list of the year. Doubt we'll get a lot of these guys where they landed for me, but whatever.


(5) Will Smith, C
(31) Lukas Dragicevic, RD
(37) Quentin Musty, LW
(69) Michael Hrabal, G
(101) Quinton Burns, LD
(110) Jakub Stancl, LW
(128) Juraj Pekarcik, RW
(133) Samuel Barcik, RD
(144) Konnor Smith, LD
(165) Noa Vali, G
(197) Frantisek Dej, C

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Draft simulator:

5-Leo Carlsson (C)
31-Tom Willander (D)
37-Daniil But (LW)
69-Adam Gajan (G)
101-Felix Unger Sorum (RW)
110-Jacob Fowler (G)
128-Juraj Pekarcik (RW)
135-Yegor Zavragin (G)
144-Florian Xhejak (LW)
165-Alexander Hellnemo (G)
197-Ewan Huet (G)

Thoughts? Too many Gs? Can't have too many G's you know?!

Too many Gs.

On draft sim there always seems to be some good prospects left once I pick #69, would love if Hughes can manage to get more pick between 37 and 70.

Moving up into the 20s is not worthy IMO. Unless a guy like Reinbacher/Yager falls that low, which I doubt.

Would be nice to trade with Detroit and get 2 of their 3 2nds.

For what ? No idea, but it would be nice.

 

[Paddy17]

Draft simulator:

5-Leo Carlsson (C)
31-Tom Willander (D)
37-Daniil But (LW)
69-Adam Gajan (G)
101-Felix Unger Sorum (RW)
110-Jacob Fowler (G)
128-Juraj Pekarcik (RW)
135-Yegor Zavragin (G)
144-Florian Xhejak (LW)
165-Alexander Hellnemo (G)
197-Ewan Huet (G)

Thoughts? Too many Gs? Can't have too many G's you know?!

I approve 144.
J-eye-jack. From Bizarro-World.

Jackeye and Hijack!

 

[Mrb1p]

Here's my draft sim, I took the scenario where 1 to 4 went as expect and Molson tells me no Michkov.

I also manually picked some players often available at 31 that shouldn't be like Willander and a couple others

(5) Ryan Leonard, RW
(31) Maxim Strbak, RD
(37) Danny Nelson, C
(69) Jacob Fowler, G
(101) Gavin McCarthy, RD
(110) Rasmus Kumpulainen, C
(128) Connor Levis, RW
(133) Dominik Petr, C
(144) Jan Sprynar, RW
(165) Jaden Lipinski, C
(197) Benjamin Brunelle, RW

Took the realistic approach of realizing no French Canadians from the Q and grabbed one with that last pick, I'd love for Fowler to be available at 69 but I have my doubts.

Very little upside, do we even get a single 2nd line/2nd pair with this draft?

 

[Vachon23]

Even Bobrov couldn’t go in Russia to scout Michkov

 

[Mrb1p]

Even Bobrov couldn’t go in Russia to scout Michkov

What a load of shit from Basu. Jesus christ. Will he do the same thing for Smith if they pick him? Wheres that video of Bedard? Ive seen Cristall neutralize Bedard in the offensive zone, does that mean hes a great defensive player?

Grabbing random highlights like this is just dishonest and all hes trying to do is probably sway the public away from Michkov.

Im pretty sure thats HuGos PR work. So lame if they pass on him and if Im honest, I hope he goes to Detroit or Philly or the Caps and absolutely lights us up in the PO and shows HuGo how much of a failure they are. Hopefully thats their career.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

What a load of shit from Basu. Jesus christ. Will he do the same thing for Smith if they pick him? Wheres that video of Bedard? Ive seen Cristall neutralize Bedard in the offensive zone, does that mean hes a great defensive player?

Grabbing random highlights like this is just dishonest and all hes trying to do is probably sway the public away from Michkov.

Im pretty sure thats HuGos PR work. So lame if they pass on him and if Im honest, I hope he goes to Detroit or Philly or the Caps and absolutely lights us up in the PO and shows HuGo how much of a failure they are. Hopefully thats their career.

Yes hopefully HuGo are terrible and fail...

 

[Mrb1p]

Yes hopefully HuGo are terrible and fail...

Hopefully they get a clue but so far Im not sure.

 

[Naslund]

Prepare yourself for Leonard being the pick, with Michkov available. I think that's the right decision. Michkov will be in the NHL in 3 years and will put up a lot of points shortly after. The fans will be on HuGo's backs forever for not picking him. However, point totals and pretty plays do not necessarily equal being effective or impactful on the ice. Leonard fits like a glove of what HuGo are trying to build: fast, strong, character and skills. Yes, the skills are there with Leonard, even though they are not at the level of Michkov. However, he also brings aspects to the game that are not very strong in Michkov. Leonard will play as a 6ft 205lbs wrecking ball, scoring some of the most important goals needed to win a hockey game.

Sometimes, a Gallagher type player does better than a Drouin, Galchenyuk, and Kostitsyn-type. I'm not saying that Leonard is Gallagher or that Michkov is like the other three. I'm just saying that there is more than skills to the game.

Hopefully they get a clue but so far Im not sure.

HuGo have been really, really good so far. If they pick Michkov, I will support them. If they don't pick him, I will support them as well.

 

[Mrb1p]

Prepare yourself for Leonard being the pick, with Michkov available. I think that's the right decision. Michkov will be in the NHL in 3 years and will put up a lot of points shortly after. The fans will be on HuGo's backs forever for not picking him. However, point totals and pretty plays do not necessarily equal being effective or impactful on the ice. Leonard fits like a glove of what HuGo are trying to build: fast, strong, character and skills. Yes, the skills are there with Leonard, even though they are not at the level of Michkov. However, he also brings aspects to the game that are not very strong in Michkov. Leonard will play as a 6ft 205lbs wrecking ball, scoring some of the most important goals needed to win a hockey game.


HuGo have been really, really good so far. If they pick Michkov, I will support them. If they don't pick him, I will support them as well.

Theyre trying to build a perennial bubble team alright.

Kane, Kucherov, Mackinnon, Malkin, Eichel and here we f***ing are trying to.build a team with the next dustin brown lmao

 

[WeThreeKings]

Can forget about Michkov

Will Smith is our best case scenario and we need help from SJS.

Otherwise, it's Leonard, Reinbacher or Dvorsky.

Unlikely we will see a 100 point player in the next decade now.

 

[MON4NHLTOR4MLB]

Pathetic if they pass on Michkov for those guys at 5.

 

[AHShadow]

Even Bobrov couldn’t go in Russia to scout Michkov

I usually enjoy reading Basu's article, but man the lack of actual arguments in this article is baffling.

Legit the only valid criticism I can see is that Habs wouldn't be able to control Michkov's development. But he didn't think of maybe name-dropping Panarin or Kaprizov as an example? Did they turn out bad because Chicago or MIN couldn't control their development?

When he says that Michkov is uninterested in playing defense, he didn't want to say that most junior offensive players are also not interested in playing defense, but learn it in the NHL? He's never going to be a good defensive player, but as long as he's way more +EV, then that shouldn't matter as much, especially if you can insulate him with better defensive players.

Last thing is his "we shouldn't draft Michkov cause we already have Caufield." Does that mean we shouldn't have drafted Bedard if we had the 1st pick as well? We've been starving for offensive players forever, but now because they're small we won't draft them?? Don't you think that we can insulate them with our bigger players like Dach and Slaf? Didn't we just draft Slaf cause that would mean we didn't need to draft for size in future drafts?

 

[Mrb1p]

I usually enjoy reading Basu's article, but man the lack of actual arguments in this article is baffling.

Legit the only valid criticism I can see is that Habs wouldn't be able to control Michkov's development. But he didn't think of maybe name-dropping Panarin or Kaprizov as an example? Did they turn out bad because Chicago or MIN couldn't control their development?

When he says that Michkov is uninterested in playing defense, he didn't want to say that most junior offensive players are also not interested in playing defense, but learn it in the NHL? He's never going to be a good defensive player, but as long as he's way more +EV, then that shouldn't matter as much, especially if you can insulate him with better defensive players.

Last thing is his "we shouldn't draft Michkov cause we already have Caufield." Does that mean we shouldn't have drafted Bedard if we had the 1st pick as well? We've been starving for offensive players forever, but now because they're small we won't draft them?? Don't you think that we can insulate them with our bigger players like Dach and Slaf? Didn't we just draft Slaf cause that would mean we didn't need to draft for size in future drafts?

It sounds like a anti-fluff piece to prepare Habs fans for the inevitable.

I wonder if he ever said Caufield was uninterest defensively? Were his words today "good offensive player but hefty contract for someone that *does not care* about defensive play" ?

Of course not, Basu is just a moutpiece, the worst kind of journalism.

 

[tooji]

Arpon, if you’re not a scout, then what the f*** is the point of reading your article?

 

[Kennerback]

I usually enjoy reading Basu's article, but man the lack of actual arguments in this article is baffling.

Legit the only valid criticism I can see is that Habs wouldn't be able to control Michkov's development. But he didn't think of maybe name-dropping Panarin or Kaprizov as an example? Did they turn out bad because Chicago or MIN couldn't control their development?

When he says that Michkov is uninterested in playing defense, he didn't want to say that most junior offensive players are also not interested in playing defense, but learn it in the NHL? He's never going to be a good defensive player, but as long as he's way more +EV, then that shouldn't matter as much, especially if you can insulate him with better defensive players.

Last thing is his "we shouldn't draft Michkov cause we already have Caufield." Does that mean we shouldn't have drafted Bedard if we had the 1st pick as well? We've been starving for offensive players forever, but now because they're small we won't draft them?? Don't you think that we can insulate them with our bigger players like Dach and Slaf? Didn't we just draft Slaf cause that would mean we didn't need to draft for size in future drafts?

First of all, Michkov does backcheck, he’s layed on body checks. Does he linger a half second deep into the D zone or high the O zone when there’s a 50/50 battle for a puck to benefit from a quick break. Yes, so did Gretzky. He’s an offensive machine.

Furthermore he’s 3 inches more than Caufield and built like a tank. He’s bigger than Bedard and Benson. And he’s just as much of a playmaker as a shooter unlike Caufield.

All I see here is an attempt to shift the blame on the development staff if a braindead pick becomes a fiasco. Sure, pick someone else than the unanimous (not just consensus) BPA, if you’re damn sure it will work out, but own up to it if it doesn’t.

 

[An0n]

HuGo have been really, really good so far. If they pick Michkov, I will support them. If they don't pick him, I will support them as well.

Their first round picks so far are not encouraging me to give them the benefit of the doubt