GDT: 2023 NHL ENTRY DRAFT June 28 and 29. First round and then rounds 2-7. (ESPN, NHL network, SN, TVA sports 4pm and 8am Pacific Time)

[timorous me]

The biggest, grindiest, New England-iest college guy you can find. If there's a guy in the draft named Sully "Shamrocks" O'Houlihan from New Newportburyport that's committed to BU, that's the guy.

6'3" center "Andy" Wahlberg, of course. Book it.

 

[timorous me]

Absolutely love this draft for the Sharks. Of course, that means that Smith and Musty will both bust, because I’m bad, but I couldn’t be happier right now.

To be fair, anyone on or near Broadway in Nashville seems to be either drunk or drunk by osmosis, so that could be contributing to your feeling tonight.

 

[Shark Finn]

3.
Celebrini, Eiserman, and Kiviharju

So they'll pick at 4th.

 

[The Nemesis]

Dat guys a real gamaaaah

Sweah to gawd he's got some wicked smahts out there.

 

[danglesnipe]

No specific sharks mentioned

He does mention that Trotz tried to get #4 or #5 and had included Askarov as a chip in addition to the rest of the package.

 

[Shark Finn]

Great first round! Clock is almost 6am here in Finland and I'm going to sleep!

Same here, terveisiä!

Glad you guys stayed up, I had to wake up at 5:40 so no draft coverage for me.

 

[timorous me]

No specific sharks mentioned

Very interesting that the Nashville rumor seems true:

Barry Trotz tried all he could to get into the top five but just couldn’t pull it off.

He especially targeted the Sharks at No. 4 with a final offer that made even Trotz wonder if he was offering too much.

“When you talk about uncomfortable, it’s what you think is over-giving,” Trotz said after the first round.

“The center-ice position, especially with the first four guys, I thought the value was there,” Trotz said of his offers. “And (the offers) fill holes that they were looking for as well.”

It’s believed Trotz offered up 21-year-old goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov to San Jose and Montreal, which had the No. 5 pick, as part of bigger packages. But no go.

“Again, I will say, I was getting uncomfortable,” Trotz said.

That sounds enticing, but I think Grier probably made the right move. What's the point of having a good goalie prospect if you don't have enough quality around that goalie to be meaningfully competitive? And to me, Smith has the kind of high-end upside that's extremely hard to acquire any way other than at the top of a draft.

It would be interesting to know what else Trotz was offering up in addition to Askarov and the Preds' #1 pick, though.

 

[SactoShark]

I don't think this draft day could have gone better unless #2 and/or 3 were still the board. In super HF fashion, I'm more excited about Musty than Smith, but that's because Smith is probably going to be pretty awesome and I'm already bored with that and looking at the wild card in Musty.

And yeah, the Musty pick looks like a good one: How Quentin Musty became Buffalo's best NHL Draft prospect since Patrick Kane

 

[Anaheim4ever]

The biggest, grindiest, New England-iest college guy you can find. If there's a guy in the draft named Sully "Shamrocks" O'Houlihan from New Newportburyport that's committed to BU, that's the guy.

Well there is Boston native Mark Wahlbergs long lost son Anton Wahlberg available.

6'3" center "Andy" Wahlberg, of course. Book it.

Sounds Bostonian enough.
Will Smith and Mark Wahlberg, were they ever in a movie together I wonder.

 

[ThorNton Apologist]

Interesting about Nashville trying so hard to move up to 4 for a center means they were targeting Smith. I do think Grier made the right choice. If you have a chance at a 1C scoring center, you have to take it

 

[tiburon12]

Very interesting that the Nashville rumor seems true:


That sounds enticing, but I think Grier probably made the right move. What's the point of having a good goalie prospect if you don't have enough quality around that goalie to be meaningfully competitive? And to me, Smith has the kind of high-end upside that's extremely hard to acquire any way other than at the top of a draft.

It would be interesting to know what else Trotz was offering up in addition to Askarov and the Preds' #1 pick, though.

and when you have terrible goalie coaches / development.

 

[TheBeard]

He does mention that Trotz tried to get #4 or #5 and had included Askarov as a chip in addition to the rest of the package.

I ain’t gonna lie. If there was a package for 15 and askarov, I woulda taken 15 and 36 to move up for Benson.

Benson, Musty and Askarov seems like a good get.

 

[Jargon]

I ain’t gonna lie. If there was a package for 15 and askarov, I woulda taken 15 and 36 to move up for Benson.

Benson, Musty and Askarov seems like a good get.

Yeaaaah… but I’d honestly rather have Smith. We have time to find our future goalie and the potential of a flashy 1C is too good to pass up.

Musty - Smith - We’ll See
Eklund - We’ll See - Guschin
Lund - Bystedt - we’ll see

…is a good start for the future!

So far, really happy with Grier.

 

[timorous me]

Interesting about Nashville trying so hard to move up to 4 for a center means they were targeting Smith. I do think Grier made the right choice. If you have a chance at a 1C scoring center, you have to take it

For all the worrying here about Smith being a lesser talent than Michkov, it does seem like a lot of people in the industry see Smith as a legitimately possible 1C.

I think the concerns are valid, but you can't say Smith isn't A) supremely skilled and B) seen as capable of the kind of development that will make him a well-enough-rounded player.

That combination makes for a very exciting prospect and puts him at the top of a system that (gasp!) is looking like something that could bear very delicious fruit over the next five years.

 

[DeepBlueSea408]

Do you guys think Tampa would do the 36th pick for Barabanov? Would give us back to back selections. Guaranteeing us 2 of Andrew Cristall, Riley Heidt, Lukas Dragicevic, Gavin Brindley or Michael Hrabal.

 

[Pavelski2112]

For all the worrying here about Smith being a lesser talent than Michkov, it does seem like a lot of people in the industry see Smith as a legitimately possible 1C.

I think the concerns are valid, but you can't say Smith isn't A) supremely skilled and B) seen as capable of the kind of development that will make him a well-enough-rounded player.

That combination makes for a very exciting prospect and puts him at the top of a system that (gasp!) is looking like something that could bear very delicious fruit over the next five years.

Grier has done a really fantastic job of changing the outlook of the Sharks moving forward

 

[coupe89]

So does this mean we are going from drafting Boston and Ottawa player to now only Boston?

 

[TheBeard]

Do you guys think Tampa would do the 36th pick for Barabanov? Would give us back to back selections. Guaranteeing us 2 of Andrew Cristall, Riley Heidt, Lukas Dragicevic, Gavin Brindley or Michael Hrabal.

I like it. Then we’d have the 36th pick and the 36th pick.

 

[TheBeard]

Yeaaaah… but I’d honestly rather have Smith. We have time to find our future goalie and the potential of a flashy 1C is too good to pass up.

Musty - Smith - We’ll See
Eklund - We’ll See - Guschin
Lund - Bystedt - we’ll see

…is a good start for the future!

So far, really happy with Grier.

I still have hope for Robins and Bordeleau and I’m convinced Raska is a 4th line gem.

 

[Bizz]

Yeaaaah… but I’d honestly rather have Smith. We have time to find our future goalie and the potential of a flashy 1C is too good to pass up.

Musty - Smith - We’ll See
Eklund - We’ll See - Guschin
Lund - Bystedt - we’ll see

…is a good start for the future!

So far, really happy with Grier.

2024-25 lookin' like

Eklund - Smith - Celebrini
Musty - Hertl - Bordeleau
Gushchin - Bystedt - Wiesblatt/Lund/Coe
Zetterlund? - Sturm - Lorentz? (Zet & Lorentz would have to be resigned)

Thrun-EK65
Mukhamadullin-Havelid?
Knyzhov-Pulli?/Unknown*

Goalies unknown, hopefully Kahkonen improves to be a serviceable #1

* hopefully Vlasic, Ferraro, Simek, and Benning are all gone by then

Trade Lebanc(50% retained), & Kunin to a contender next TDL
Trade Couture next offseason/draft (~2-3M retention)
Simek walks next offseason
Ferraro & Benning are cheap enough to dump for some mid round picks
Don't know what to do about Vlasic, hopefully winds up in LTIRetirement somehow

 

[Le Rosbeef]

Lukas Dragicevic would be the dream now at 36. Skilled, RH offensive Dman.

I could see Columbus and Anaheim both passing on him given the respective depths in that position, (barring trade), so if he moves past Chicago, we could post a draft for the ages.

Heidt is another who would bring super value at 36, imo.

Lots to look forward to today!

 

[Desert Eagle]

I like Day 1.

Smith was the best choice for #4 if MG was concerned about Michkov. I`m not sure Smith will be 1C, but at least he has very high upside (90+ points). I like this pick.
Musty is a steal, I`m happy. Just what the doctor ordered.

Now just should draft Dragicevic (because of our lack of RD) or Heidt (because he is BPA, IMO). Not goalie, because we can`t develop them. And make some trades.

Good job, MG.

 

[mogambomoroo]

It's so crazy to see everybody so happy after a draft (it feels like it has never happened, if you don't count Eklund 2021) MG and scouting staff is not reaching and I could see MG getting another 2nd round pick, we'll see.

 

[NiWa]

Goalies:
Giants (6'6+): Hrabal (expected to go 2nd round), Clara (early 4th)
Tall (6'3+): Gajan (3rd, great athleticism, pot starter, older re-draft), Bjarnason (late 2nd)
'Small' (6'1): Augustine (mid 2nd), Fowler (early 3rd), Ratzlaff (3rd)

Teams rumored to be looking at a goalie prospect in the 2nd round:
ANA (33,59,60), CBJ (34), SJ (36), DAL (61), MTL (no pick), OTT (no pick)

So let's say you are the Sharks, and you like Hrabal, but you rate a couple of the other goalies too.

Scenarios are:
* ANA or CBJ don't pick a goalie - That's great. If you want Hrabal, you could get him as long as late as pick 58 (watch for other teams trading up though).
* ANA or CBJ pick a goalie (e.g. Hrabal) before you - That's okay, you know they'll be out of picking more goalies. Trade up to as late as you can while there's goalies in the similar tier for you on the board.

Summary:
While I wouldn't hate getting Hrabal at #36, as others mentioned with our lack of track record on developing goalies, I'd much rather trade up from our late 3rd (#94) to late 2nd or early 3rd if there's one we really like. Or even just pick best goalie left available at #94.

 

[Grinner]

I thought I heard that Dragecvic has only played D for 4 years