2023 NHL Entry Draft

[GlassesJacketShirt]

I’d take Barlow and Benson over Dvorsky or Sale from my limited viewings.

Benson is more like a smol Suzuki than a larger Caufield.

I think Benson is in his own class among the four here. Absolutely agree he needs to improve his skating though.

 

[JT3]

Unless their skating is literal garbage tier I'm willing to bet on kids with elite talent/smarts all day. People had the same problem with Cole Perfetti and he doesn't seem to be having too many issues.

 

[SOLR]

I think people are underrating Caufield's speed. He's not McDavid but he can fly.

Benson, on the other hand, is a below average skater. There was a shift last night where he was rushing through the neutral zone with the puck and the backchecker easily caught up to him because he can't generate enough speed with his wide skating stride.

Once Benson's in the offensive zone, he's incredible. I agree with WTK, his processing speed is elite. He knows exactly where to position himself, who to pass to, etc. He makes his decisions incredibly fast and is able to repeatedly generate great scoring chances. The question is whether he'll have the necessary speed to get to the areas where he's the most effective. If he reads the play and can't get where he wants to quickly enough, it won't matter that he has the insane processing speed. Also, his lack of speed will limit the offence he can generate in transition.

I think his skating stride can be coached (I know we've said this before and regretted it). I'd be willing to bet on someone with an IQ that high.

I don't think anyone disagrees that Benson IQ is awesome.

 

[RandomTask26]

Missed the game yesterday but watched highlights and pics, Rehkopf looks much bigger than I thought!

In the picture below, he looks taller than Barlow. They're both listed at 6'1 though


If he's actually 6'3, with his skating and shot, I can see him going mid 1st round

 

[SOLR]

Unless their skating is literal garbage tier I'm willing to bet on kids with elite talent/smarts all day. People had the same problem with Cole Perfetti and he doesn't seem to be having too many issues.

Cole improved a lot speed-wise since his draft. But he was always a better skater than Benson is.

Benson has this bad habit, of an unequally pressured stride.

 

[CoSi]

Missed the game yesterday but watched highlights and pics, Rehkopf looks much bigger than I thought!

In the picture below, he looks taller than Barlow. They're both listed at 6'1 though


If he's actually 6'3, with his skating and shot, I can see him going mid 1st round

They measured them during the testing portion. Rehkopf 6'2, Barlow 6'0.25

 

[RandomTask26]

They measured them during the testing portion. Rehkopf 6'2, Barlow 6'0.25

Thanks! I didn't know that.

Found it on twitter, for anyone else curious:

 

[NekkiChiconey]

My "impact" comparable for Benson is Marner, and I do believe that he has that type of ceiling.

I've watched 4-5 Winnipeg games this season and he was a far more complete player than Savoie even though he's a year younger. He also generated more offense, despite his skating being average. Both Suzuki and Caufield have made huge strides in their skating ability since being drafted, I don't see why Benson couldn't. His style reminds me of Crosby (under-handling the puck, wide skating stance...) and I think a lot of his improvement will come from added strength in 1-2 years.

 

[Goldenhands]

My "impact" comparable for Benson is Marner, and I do believe that he has that type of ceiling.

I've watched 4-5 Winnipeg games this season and he was a far more complete player than Savoie even though he's a year younger. He also generated more offense, despite his skating being average. Both Suzuki and Caufield have made huge strides in their skating ability since being drafted, I don't see why Benson couldn't. His style reminds me of Crosby (under-handling the puck, wide skating stance...) and I think a lot of his improvement will come from added strength in 1-2 years.

As @MarkovsKnee pointed out, he is smarter than Marner, his puck management is absolutely fantastic while Marner will turn it over at times taking more risks, Benson's IQ is great there is no denying, he is also very combative, my only concern remains a serious lack of size combined with a lack of explosiveness, thats usually not a great mix going foward, but thats entirely possible he follows the Caufield path and becomes a very good NHLer, at the end, I still prefer the package Oliver Moore or Dvorsky brings to the table and think they would fit the mold better.

 

[FourQuarters]

A combination of speed and size, that's the argument.

Benson is not Gallagher in any way. Benson is tricky, he reads the play, and he's a great counter-attacker, probably an elite one. I did NOT argue for Barlow over Benson. I'm talking about Yager vs. Benson. Yager is a concrete addition of speed with a lot of the same abilities as Benson. At Hlinka, it was very evident who was the best player, and that was Yager. Not at everything, but the overall impact of Yager was greater.

No way it was evident Yager was the best player at Hlinka… Benson was the line driver, the game breaker. You could say they're close at Hlinka, but Yager's productivity was largely due to benson.

 

[HuGort]

Missed the game yesterday but watched highlights and pics, Rehkopf looks much bigger than I thought!

In the picture below, he looks taller than Barlow. They're both listed at 6'1 though


If he's actually 6'3, with his skating and shot, I can see him going mid 1st round

Does Rehkopf play on Mesar line?

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

No way it was evident Yager was the best player at Hlinka… Benson was the line driver, the game breaker. You could say they're close at Hlinka, but Yager's productivity was largely due to benson.

I'm 100% with you.

Take this from someone who started the year with Yager ahead of Benson: the latter guy is someone I'd now take a chance on in the top 10, while the former seems more like a second-half of the first round type. I've fallen out of love with Yager; there's one game where I thought he was good enough for a little bump earlier this month, but since then he's been sliding down slowly again.

 

[Mrb1p]

I think Benson is in his own class among the four here. Absolutely agree he needs to improve his skating though.

Agreed. not the same at all.

Benson is in a class with Heidt, Yager, Smith, Leonard and Cristall.

Unless their skating is literal garbage tier I'm willing to bet on kids with elite talent/smarts all day. People had the same problem with Cole Perfetti and he doesn't seem to be having too many issues.

And Benson is a better skater than Perfetti.

 

[FourQuarters]

I'm 100% with you.

Take this from someone who started the year with Yager ahead of Benson: the latter guy is someone I'd now take a chance on in the top 10, while the former seems more like a second-half of the first round type. I've fallen out of love with Yager; there's one game where I thought he was good enough for a little bump earlier this month, but since then he's been sliding down slowly again.

Yager didn't have a better D-1 year than other boys, tho he's rookie of the year, both Benson and Cristall, even Howe, had better stats and more flashes. People was high on Yager because he's projectable, he may have a higher ceiling in the future, but I'm not sold on those love for his current performance, that's not fair.

 

[NekkiChiconey]

As @MarkovsKnee pointed out, he is smarter than Marner, his puck management is absolutely fantastic while Marner will turn it over at times taking more risks, Benson's IQ is great there is no denying, he is also very combative, my only concern remains a serious lack of size combined with a lack of explosiveness, thats usually not a great mix going foward, but thats entirely possible he follows the Caufield path and becomes a very good NHLer, at the end, I still prefer the package Oliver Moore or Dvorsky brings to the table and think they would fit the mold better.

Very fair concern, I agree. I just don't see the same game-breaking ability in Moore and especially not in Dvorsky but who knows. I have Benson and Smith in their own tier after the first 4, and I don't think they're even that far from Carlsson.

 

[Goldenhands]

Very fair concern, I agree. I just don't see the same game-breaking ability in Moore and especially not in Dvorsky but who knows. I have Benson and Smith in their own tier after the first 4, and I don't think they're even that far from Carlsson.

What separates Carlsson from the 2 by a signifiant margin is the size/strength, skating and power, thats not even close, Carlsson is miles ahead. Carlsson could play with Laval right now and racking up the pts while the other 2 are at least 2 yrs away from pro level hockey.

 

[NotProkofievian]

What separates Carlsson from the 2 by a signifiant margin is the size/strength, skating and power, thats not even close, Carlsson is miles ahead. Carlsson could play with Laval right now and racking up the pts while the other 2 are at least 2 yrs away from pro level hockey.

True. Most people don't really understand how unusual it is that Carlsson is so comfortable at the SHL level already. Raymond didn't look like this in his D+1, let alone his D year.

 

[Goldenhands]

True. Most people don't really understand how unusual it is that Carlsson is so comfortable at the SHL level already. Raymond didn't look like this in his D+1, let alone his D year.

And Raymond had speed to burn, was a better skater than alot of prospects in this draft.

 

[RationalExpectations]

What separates Carlsson from the 2 by a signifiant margin is the size/strength, skating and power, thats not even close, Carlsson is miles ahead. Carlsson could play with Laval right now and racking up the pts while the other 2 are at least 2 yrs away from pro level hockey.

Carlsson reminds me a lot of KK in his draft year, but a stronger, better skater version. The only limitation I see with him is his shot, but if he can shoot more he ll be an even bigger threat.

 

[RationalExpectations]

And Raymond had speed to burn, was a better skater than alot of prospects in this draft.

I still think Raymond is a more explosive player than Carlsson if we compare D year with D year, not the same players at all.

 

[RationalExpectations]

I really like how Yzerman has approached the rebuild without even a top 3 OA : Seider Ervidsson Kasper is the kind of backbone you want to build a winning team, Raymond is also of course a great add and let us see how Cossa turns out. That s why in this draft I d go Reinbacher, and ASP ahead of a lot of the shiny forwards (after top 3 of course which apparently have elite to franchise center potential)

 

[SlafySZN]

Not really the same position since they can both play on either wing.

Not really the same height either, Benson is 3 inches taller.

One is a playmaker and great transition player, the other is a sniper that is great at finding pockets of ice.

I don’t see the comparison being apt at all. In fact, Benson would make a great linemate for Cole because he brings things that Cole does not.

Benson is definitely not 5’10. He was listed at 5’9 at the prospect game and it’s way more likely.

That said, i don’t have any problem drafting Benson if he is the best player avalaible where we pick.

But everything you described in your post describe perfectly a prospect we already have and is very close to sign with the habs: Farrell

 

[Goldenhands]

I still think Raymond is a more explosive player than Carlsson if we compare D year with D year, not the same players at all.

The point was that Raymond struggled in the SHL in his D+1 despite being a great skater, thats not an easy league and alot of CHL players would struggle there as well.

 

[RationalExpectations]

The point was that Raymond struggled in the SHL in his D+1 despite being a great skater, thats not an easy league and alot of CHL players would struggle there as well.

Completely true. Those leagues are very competitive for young players, especially since development of future NhLers is not the priority. I was a big disappointed in Raymond though in his D+1 but I think Covid slowed development of a lot of players.

 

[HuGort]

We don’t even have a size issue on the team moving forward. We just drafted a 6’4 power winger. We are currently witnessing a 6’3 centre breaking out. Our 5’11 captain hasn’t missed a game in his career and even raises his level of play in the physical playoffs.

Where exactly is the issue? Oh that’s right, it’s the lack of talent since I can only name 4 sure-fire top 6 forwards for the future.

That 6'4 forward looks like fish out of water. I wouldn't call him power forward. Way he plays going to get hit a lot