HF Habs: 2023 NHL Draft part 2

[Mrb1p]

I should clarify - his zone defense his fine, but he has a bad tendency to give up the zone easily on the rush which will have to be coached - if he's coachable it'll be an easy fix though.

Maybe its your sample size that was too small but hes like very, very good at defending the zone.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Maybe its your sample size that was too small but hes like very, very good at defending the zone.

Could be, probably only saw about 3 games of his but it was the biggest thing that stood out to me while watching. Intriguing for sure though, have him ranked 24 just after Willander.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

Why does this keep being said? It has literally never happened with a top prospect. There is zero incentive for him to stay in Russia or even for Russia to want him to stay. They want him to come over and attempt to outdo Bedard like Ovechkin with Crosby. You may have to wait an extra season than you would with a Leonard or Reinbacher and you won’t have hands on control of their development, so that may be big for some GMs. Michkov will absolutely be here or we will have far bigger problems than hockey.

You might want to lengthen your memory a bit.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

It's always so hard to evaluate guys getting buried on stacked teams, but really liking what I've seen from Sawchyn and Myatovic.

Sawchyn especially gives me major Matchbox 20 front man vibes

 

[Jack Skellington]

You might want to lengthen your memory a bit.

To the Cold War? Like I said if it gets to the level where he would actually not come we will have far bigger fish to fry than hockey. Why don’t you name me the last Russian superstar who didn’t come to the NHL.

 

[Lockin17]

These are the betting quote for the draft ,, Leonard was not even in the picture 3 weeks ago , now he's #1

 

[Kennerback]

You might want to lengthen your memory a bit.

Do you want him to add the caveat: in the past 32 years?

 

[Andrei79]

To the Cold War? Like I said if it gets to the level where he would actually not come we will have far bigger fish to fry than hockey. Why don’t you name me the last Russian superstar who didn’t come to the NHL.

Radulov. Almost all of his prime years were played in Russia.

 

[Kennerback]

Radulov. Almost all of his prime years were played in Russia.

He played 8+ seasons in the NHL, 2 seasons in the AHL, 1 season in the CHL, and did whatever else he did for personal reasons, not because they put a GPS monitoring ankle bracelet so he can't leave the country.

 

[Jack Skellington]

Radulov. Almost all of his prime years were played in Russia.

Did Radulov play in the NHL? How many years post draft did it take him to come here?

Do you want him to add the caveat: in the past 32 years?

Hey, maybe we can go back a little further and draft a rover as well.

 

[rabbit4949]

Just my opinion but i think the geo-political aspect re michkov is overblown. I see that post where he is mostly at 5 is due to the fact that he has not been seen live for some time. The other 4 top rated players come with more certainty. It could be difficult to justify picking him ahead of the other 4.However once you get to 5 i believe the talent gap is too great. Michkov ,if he drops that far, will be drafted at 5 .It may be the habs or not. If hugo passes on him there is little chance that the pick will not be moved.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

To the Cold War? Like I said if it gets to the level where he would actually not come we will have far bigger fish to fry than hockey. Why don’t you name me the last Russian superstar who didn’t come to the NHL.

There's always bigger things than hockey.

Look, you asked the question - I'm just giving you the answer. If I told you 4 years ago that Europe would be at war, you probably would have thought it highly unlikely. Well, here we are. Now looking 4 years into the future what will the situation be? Nobody really knows. There's your answer.

 

[Twisted Sinister]

We will if he never comes over

This type of thing has never happened, and continues to not happen with Miroshnichenko and Duda. It's overblown fearmongering with no precedent or basis in fact.

 

[WinterLion]

To the Cold War? Like I said if it gets to the level where he would actually not come we will have far bigger fish to fry than hockey. Why don’t you name me the last Russian superstar who didn’t come to the NHL.

Russian players were not even invited to the combine and are not partaking in the IIHF events... is it really that far fetched? Hughes will do his homework and decide if it is worth the risk. But there is no point pretending the risks are not real.

 

[Garbageyuk]

I don't see it, personally. There are a lot of red flags for me.

-He plays a power game at a size that isn't overwhelming. I don't know how that will translate against NHL defensemen.

-He plays on the Globetrotters line. He is the least productive guy on that line. Now, you can say that he had to be the defensive/2-way guy on that line, but hearing that doesn't fill me with excitement.

-Many of his skills are good, but nothing is elite. In my opinion, guys with elite skills translate better to the NHL offensively than Jacks of All Trades. Like some other posters, I'm definitely getting the Oshie shudders.



This is true.

It’s funny how you can objectively see the concerns about every prospect except for Michkov. That’s called bias. Think rationally about him like you do the others.

 

[Garbageyuk]

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This year’s book is 344 pages and over 215,000 words. Our 2023 NHL Draft Black Book includes detailed profiles on hundreds of prospects eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft as well as 32 prospects for the 2024 NHL Draft and 32 more for 2025 NHL Draft. We also include our 2023 NHL Draft list of 112...

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The Michkov part is very interesting. They're not buying the Russian Bedard hype or the historical season. Not that they don't believe he has high potential, but they refer to 8 of his 20 points coming during 2 Kunlun games, the relative strenght of the KHL this year (likely its weakest iteration) and the opportunities coming from playing on a very weak team, rather than SKA for example. They don't believe he has the playmaking/vision of Kucherov or Kaprizov. They don't believe he improved his skating to the same degree as Bedard. They feel the rest of his toolkit is stagnating and see him as a complimentary finisher, rather than a potential line driver. Edwards' NHL scout sources though are all over the place, but seem to see him as 2nd or 3rd best player. He doesn't have many quotes from the end of the season though. As far as HP goes, I'm wondering if they're not going a bit Lucas Raymonds with him.

Not a lot of good words from NHL scouts towards Reinbacher lol.

@ReHabs

 

[Kaladin]

Russian players were not even invited to the combine and are not partaking in the IIHF events... is it really that far fetched? Hughes will do his homework and decide if it is worth the risk. But there is no point pretending the risks are not real.

They actually were invited they just didn’t bother showing up. Which makes sense with the draft around the corner, why make two trips in such a short period.

The risks are completely overblown. The day the nhl tells ovi he can’t come play anymore is the day I believe drafting michkov is risky. The former will never happen. You may as well worry about smith doing his four years in college and going to go play for another team? Unlikely? Why even mention it? I dunno you seem to like bringing up far fetched ideas.

 

[NobleSix]

I can stomach a Leonard pick, actually wouldn't mind it considering I've resigned myself to the fact the Habs are likely not picking Michkov.

Reinbacher on the other hand... I would be lying if I said I wouldn't be disappointed as f***. But just like Slaf last year, I'll be in his corner if we pick him.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

They actually were invited they just didn’t bother showing up. Which makes sense with the draft around the corner, why make two trips in such a short period.

The risks are completely overblown. The day the nhl tells ovi he can’t come play anymore is the day I believe drafting michkov is risky. The former will never happen. You may as well worry about smith doing his four years in college and going to go play for another team? Unlikely? Why even mention it? I dunno you seem to like bringing up far fetched ideas.

It's just not everyone is as intelligent as you. You are able to logically dissect the situation down to certainty so impressively. Unfortunately, I am not able to match your intellectual skill, and so I stupidly see risks where obviously there are none.

 

[Jee]

 

[WinterLion]

Personally I feel like Leonard has quite a bit of upside. He really progressed and played his best hockey at the end of the year. I'm not sure who I would draft between him and Smith... particularly if you think he could play C which many people do.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

I don't see it, personally. There are a lot of red flags for me.

-He plays a power game at a size that isn't overwhelming. I don't know how that will translate against NHL defensemen.

-He plays on the Globetrotters line. He is the least productive guy on that line. Now, you can say that he had to be the defensive/2-way guy on that line, but hearing that doesn't fill me with excitement.

-Many of his skills are good, but nothing is elite. In my opinion, guys with elite skills translate better to the NHL offensively than Jacks of All Trades. Like some other posters, I'm definitely getting the Oshie shudders.



This is true.

He plays on the Globetrotters line this year, but he played in the 2022 u18s with US, and they did not.

He got 5 goals in 6 games, which was 3rd in scoring on the team behind McGroarty & Howard. He was a underager. They were not.

He didn't play with Cooley or Nazar either. He did it playing with Devin Kaplan & Cole Spicer.

He scored a goal in the Finals in 2022, and scored the Golden Goal in 2023.

It doesn't matter who he plays with. The kid scores. He has a Pacioretty type heavy shot, and a quick release. He works on his shot every day, so he's getting better at it. He can make plays when he needs to.

He doesn't rely on other people to help him score. He can probably do it with f***ing Dvorak & Gallagher on his line. Those 2 are where offense goes to die too.

 

[montreal]

I haven't read through this thread in a while so disregard if already posted but I was reading a rumor that says the Hawks are looking to take But at 19th OA.

 

[Twisted Sinister]

It’s funny how you can objectively see the concerns about every prospect except for Michkov. That’s called bias. Think rationally about him like you do the others.

I listed Michkov's shortcomings in a response to one of your previous posts.

 

[Jack Skellington]

There's always bigger things than hockey.

Look, you asked the question - I'm just giving you the answer. If I told you 4 years ago that Europe would be at war, you probably would have thought it highly unlikely. Well, here we are. Now looking 4 years into the future what will the situation be? Nobody really knows. There's your answer.

If you asked me 4 years ago I would’ve replied, “Russia is trying to annex a country? You mean like they just did 4 years ago?”