Prospect Info: 2023 NHL Draft - Potential Selection Discussion

[Maplebeasts]

Those two likely go in the mid-to-late second/early third so moving down to pick up more picks, makes a ton of sense.

I don't think there's much of a gap between the players in the late 20s to those in the 40s this year. So it makes sense.

It depends. If someone like Gulyayev, Brindley or Musty is there at 28 there is absolutely a sizeable difference. I would not be okay trading back into the 40s if one of those 3 guys or someone else like Yager falls. With the rankings we’ve been seeing lately there’s a very good chance at 28 we can pick up our best prospect on draft day since Amirov.

The more I hear about Tom Willander, the more I like the idea of replacing one Swedish LHD with a Swedish RHD. Apparently his interviews have drawn comparisons to Gabe Landekog from a leadership and maturity POV, and has drawn some comparisons to OEL. Strong skating stride, mature play style. Seen names like Heiskanen and Doughty mixed in too.

D Tom Willander - Boston University, NCAA (2023, 11th, VAN)

Reminds me a bit of a young OEL, i said Stralman before....but i see more of OEL in him

forums.hfboards.com

He is almost 100% not going to be there at our pick.

 

[Stephen]

Depends on what you get. He is the combination of Dubas and Hunter. Hunter side of things, and going after size and grit, he has very little to show for it. Going after higher skill (and sometimes smaller) guys, he is doing quite well.

Almost his entire drafting success is getting pushed by high skill guys that are 6'0" and under. Especially when you do not include Tkachuk in that mix. Doesn't mean they are perimeter players either, just like most of Dubas' small picks are not exactly guys like that.

You definitely need diverse body types at different positions when it comes to a draft approach.

It makes sense that the smaller guys are the high skill ones because you overlook the size disadvantage because of the unique skills they bring to the table. Bigger players make sense to fill roles that support the skill. You don't want to send a smaller guy into the fight in support of Mitch Marner. You don't want your last line of defense to be smurfs just to prove a point.

 

[Stephen]

It depends. If someone like Gulyayev, Brindley or Musty is there at 28 there is absolutely a sizeable difference. I would not be okay trading back into the 40s if one of those 3 guys or someone else like Yager falls. With the rankings we’ve been seeing lately there’s a very good chance at 28 we can pick up our best prospect on draft day since Amirov.


He is almost 100% not going to be there at our pick.

Willander does seem to be climbing the charts.

 

[Maplebeasts]

Willander does seem to be climbing the charts.

Yup. I expect him to be gone by 20 at this point.

 

[Frostitute]

Imagine if a guy like Curtis Douglas owned a mirror and could see the fact that he's 6'8?? Just imagine...

View attachment 716999

Little known fact, that guy is not Native American but actually Italian.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

Interesting since I kept seeing Dubas was good at the draft and Treveling was terrible.

Who has said he's been terrible at drafting? All I've seen is people saying his signing history has been pretty bad (including myself)

 

[United35]

This used to be a really great thread in pasts years that used to be stickied at the top. Wonder if we can get that going again? Posters like @stickty111, @Morgs and @SeaOfBlue (among others) did a really great job of updating on players that may be in the Leafs range for the upcoming draft.

Of course, we may see some of these picks traded over the next few months (and we can see some added at the draft as we saw with this past draft) but definitely something fun and interesting to discuss and follow.

Leafs Current Picks
1st Rounder
3rd Rounder
3rd Rounder (from Ottawa - Murray trade)
5th Rounder
6th Rounder

The recent Mock Draft from mynhldraft.com (updated January 16th) has the Leafs selecting 26th overall and choosing Oliver Bonk (son of Radek Bonk).

View attachment 639053

The Mock Draft has a big centre and a big goalie sandwiching our pick.

Hopefully we can get some discussion going on who people would like to see selected with our picks.

Draft Canadians. Draft Canadians. Draft Canadians. It’s pretty evident what to do when you look at the history of the NHL.

 

[SprDaVE]

Draft Canadians. Draft Canadians. Draft Canadians. It’s pretty evident what to do when you look at the history of the NHL.

That's a terrible way of looking at it. The second you limit yourself to who you should draft, you're going to lose all the time.

Imagine if Florida picked Matthews Knies instead of Evan Nause in 2021? Who's Evan Nause? A Canadian.

Don't look at the passport, don't look at the scale. Look at the player. Look at what they do and how they can progress. It's not 1960 anymore.

 

[SprDaVE]

Not sure if this was posted but this is incredible:

2023 NHL Draft: Russian Prospects

It is time for the annual draft-eligible Russian prospects write-up (it is 10th annual write-up for me actually, so kind of a milestone), so let’s get right down to business. Some observations first though: Prospect pool depth is definitely there this year even though I went with more or less...

forums.hfboards.com

 

[horner]

This used to be a really great thread in pasts years that used to be stickied at the top. Wonder if we can get that going again? Posters like @stickty111, @Morgs and @SeaOfBlue (among others) did a really great job of updating on players that may be in the Leafs range for the upcoming draft.

Of course, we may see some of these picks traded over the next few months (and we can see some added at the draft as we saw with this past draft) but definitely something fun and interesting to discuss and follow.

Leafs Current Picks
1st Rounder
3rd Rounder
3rd Rounder (from Ottawa - Murray trade)
5th Rounder
6th Rounder

The recent Mock Draft from mynhldraft.com (updated January 16th) has the Leafs selecting 26th overall and choosing Oliver Bonk (son of Radek Bonk).

View attachment 639053

The Mock Draft has a big centre and a big goalie sandwiching our pick.

Hopefully we can get some discussion going on who people would like to see selected with our picks.

I thought we had a 1st , 5th and 6th rd pks this yr

 

[Namikaze Minato]

I thought we had a 1st , 5th and 6th rd pks this yr

That post was made January 21st, my dude.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

Draft Canadians. Draft Canadians. Draft Canadians. It’s pretty evident what to do when you look at the history of the NHL.

Looking back on history would you take Sam Bennett over Leon Draisaitl?

 

[Dion TheFluff]

Looking back on history would you take Sam Bennett over Leon Draisaitl?

Nick Ritchie and William Nylander is another good one

 

[ACC1224]

Nick Ritchie and William Nylander is another good one

Nylander was drafted before Ritchie.

 

[LaPlante94]

Who has said he's been terrible at drafting? All I've seen is people saying his signing history has been pretty bad (including myself)

I've seen many all over the internet.

 

[francis246]

Nylander was drafted before Ritchie.

Draisaitl was drafted before Bennett too!

Looking back on history would you take Sam Bennett over Leon Draisaitl?

At the time of that 2014 Draft Bennett was ranked higher than Draisaitl coming out of junior. Bennett is still a good player but he’s had to reinvent himself after *Hartley basically neutralized his offensive ability early in his career lol.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

Draisaitl was drafted before Bennett too!



At the time of that 2014 Draft Bennett was ranked higher than Draisaitl coming out of junior. Bennett is still a good player but he’s had to reinvent himself after *Hartley basically neutralized his offensive ability early in his career lol.

His logic, draft Canadians because of history. I'm pointing out that history doesn't show that those are the best results.

 

[horner]

That post was made January 21st, my dude.

Ok

 

[cupcrazyman2]

You

Looking back on history would you take Sam Bennett over Leon Draisaitl?

You know the former Leafs GM would have picked Bennett.

 

[tmlms13]

Nick Ritchie and William Nylander is another good one

Nik Ehlers was picked in between them too.

 

[Stephen]

That's a terrible way of looking at it. The second you limit yourself to who you should draft, you're going to lose all the time.

Imagine if Florida picked Matthews Knies instead of Evan Nause in 2021? Who's Evan Nause? A Canadian.

Don't look at the passport, don't look at the scale. Look at the player. Look at what they do and how they can progress. It's not 1960 anymore.

Our most successful prospect in the Dubas era is likely going to be 6'3" power forward Matthew Knies, so the "scale" should definitely be looked at more as part of the skillset.

Of course it's fine if you want to go hunting for the next Kaprizov, Point, Gourde, Marchessault once in a while. I have no problem with that if the BPA presents and he's checking off a lot of boxes.

But the value proposition in picking small scale in volume has never paid off for Toronto. If they're not exceptional, they're virtually playable. So I would put up a caution sign if the Leafs want to dipping into the USHL for those smart little guys the previous regime used to love.

 

[United35]

Looking back on history would you take Sam Bennett over Leon Draisaitl?

No. But I would be biased towards a Canadian player, who is a 17/18 year old prospect, when they are very close at that time.

So essentially if you have a 18 year old 20oz red Hammer (Canadian) or a 20 oz hammer yellow (other nationality of your choice) I would prefer to draft the Canadian. I’m not saying I’m right and your wrong.

Let’s be serious folks, most of the time it’s a complete fluke after the obvious selections. And even the obvious doesn’t work out sometimes. Things like, who’s on the team that drafted you? Is it a good culture? Who is the owner? Who is the coach? Who is the GM?

It is possible to draft a better 18 year old but by the time Mullet arena gets their hands in them the selection 25 spots afterwards is a better player at the age of 20. It’s a business with good ceos and bad ceos.

So imo the best predictor of future history is past history and the history speaks to doing well when you have many Canadians.

Are you mad?

 

[SprDaVE]

Our most successful prospect in the Dubas era is likely going to be 6'3" power forward Matthew Knies, so the "scale" should definitely be looked at more as part of the skillset.

Of course it's fine if you want to go hunting for the next Kaprizov, Point, Gourde, Marchessault once in a while. I have no problem with that if the BPA presents and he's checking off a lot of boxes.

But the value proposition in picking small scale in volume has never paid off for Toronto. If they're not exceptional, they're virtually playable. So I would put up a caution sign if the Leafs want to dipping into the USHL for those smart little guys the previous regime used to love.

That's not really true at all.

 

[Stephen]

That's not really true at all.

Yes it is, Dave. There's simply no reason why a draft strategy featuring small players needs to championed. If the player is small but has something exceptional from a competition, strength, skill perspective to him, go get him. If he's not, why bother drafting, waiting, developing?

There is no inherent benefit in a draft history that looks like this between 2015 and 2020. Nobody can deny these are completely fruitless picks:

Jeremy Bracco
Martins Dzierkals
Dmytro Timashov
Adam Brooks
Semyon Der-Arguchintsev
Mikhail Abramov
Kalle Loponen
Michael Koster
Wyatt Schingoethe
Joe Miller
Axel Rindell
John Fusco

 

[United35]

That's a terrible way of looking at it. The second you limit yourself to who you should draft, you're going to lose all the time.

Imagine if Florida picked Matthews Knies instead of Evan Nause in 2021? Who's Evan Nause? A Canadian.

Don't look at the passport, don't look at the scale. Look at the player. Look at what they do and how they can progress. It's not 1960 anymore.

Terrible? If I didn’t know any better I’d think you’re virtue signalling with the “terrible” comment. I forgive you. It’s okay if we see two sides of the box. I respect yours. Please respect mine.

I’m not literally saying always take a Canadian. I was quite happy when we landed Matthews. But when the players are projected to be close, I would draft the Canadian.

NHL player count by country 2024 | Statista

Canada was the country with the highest number of active NHL players as of March 2024.

www.statista.com

Must be something in our water?