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2023 NHL Entry Draft

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Ozymandias said:
Ridiculous idea.

Draft a RD with the Florida pick or dangle that pick for a RD.
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a) There would be a clash of play styles. In any situation we’d want to put Caufield in as a RHS, I’d rather Bedard. (PP, OZ faceoffs, icings, weak competition). Hanging on to players when you can no longer put them in a position to succeed is how you tank their value. Caufield will make the most of those opportunities this year and may never repeat them if we get Bedard.

b) We will not solve our D issues through the draft nor will the FLA 1st return the type of 1D we’re looking for. That time has past. We need someone who can lead this D corps and anyone you draft this year or next won’t be able to meet those expectations before 2029-2030, if they do at all. And we need to not be afraid of paying the necessary price, something Toronto never did and Edmonton attempted too late. What I’m proposing would be similar to moving Eberle at his peak value.
 
Playmaker09 said:
a) There would be a clash of play styles. In any situation we’d want to put Caufield in as a RHS, I’d rather Bedard. (PP, OZ faceoffs, icings, weak competition). Hanging on to players when you can no longer put them in a position to succeed is how you tank their value. Caufield will make the most of those opportunities this year and may never repeat them if we get Bedard.

b) We will not solve our D issues through the draft nor will the FLA 1st return the type of 1D we’re looking for. That time has past. We need someone who can lead this D corps and anyone you draft this year or next won’t be able to meet those expectations before 2029-2030, if they do at all. And we need to not be afraid of paying the necessary price, something Toronto never did and Edmonton attempted too late. What I’m proposing would be similar to moving Eberle at his peak value.
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The stories we tell ourselves.
 
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WeThreeKings said:
It also doesn't make sense.. you want Caufield on his one-timer side, where Bedard is far more lethal in his natural spot. They'd work together really well on a PP or a 6 on 5 because of the amount of respect you'd have to give to two gifted shooters.
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Is there a player that would not work well with Bedard?
 
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Bedard's unreal shooting skills can make people forget his excellent playmaking ability. He's not Crosby, but he has the vision to execute high-end passes, whether they be cross ice or phone booth situations.

I'm all for getting great Cs when possible, but if Bedard only ends up a winger for whatever reason, you don't need f***ing Beliveau 2.0 all over again to work in the playoffs.
 
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NotProkofievian said:
Agreed. Under no circumstances can we trade that first. Try to get another one, but at this rate good luck.
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Id rather move up, we need that dere quality.
MarkovsKnee said:
Even if Bedard tops out as Patrick Kane, who the hell wouldn't want Kane? Guy is scary as f*** offensively, and is a playoff beast with 3 Stanley Cups.
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Who would ONLY want the best american player ever? LOL!
 
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WeThreeKings said:
It also doesn't make sense.. you want Caufield on his one-timer side, where Bedard is far more lethal in his natural spot. They'd work together really well on a PP or a 6 on 5 because of the amount of respect you'd have to give to two gifted shooters.
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No goal scorers play on their strong side in the NHL on the PP. It's strictly a junior hockey gimmick, which is why its not something I put any stock in when I see young players tearing it up with it by relying on it like a crutch. It doesn't translate.

Matthews is really the only guy who stuck with it in the NHL for a couple of seasons, and yet still reverted back to the tried and true off-wing positioning. Having your forehand stick position in the middle of the ice just gives you too many advantages to pass up as a dual-threat scorer and playmaker, which is exactly what Bedard is.

The only players who play their strong side on the PP are pure playmakers. McDavid, Huberdeau, Wheeler, Panarin. And It absolutely comes at a cost of their goal scoring. McDavid only scored 10 PPG this year and 2 in 16 playoff games. His career high is 11, which for a guy capable of consistently putting up 40+ per season isn't much.

No one's respecting their shots on the PP or 6v5 because it's just not a valid way of scoring goals at the NHL level vs NHL goalies.

Bedard in the NHL would play his off wing in any prime scoring situation. We would not cap his goal scoring potential just to coddle Caufield. Is he a good enough playmaker to make it work? Maybe. But you don't ask a generational player to completely change his game to suit the players around him. You develop him into the most dominant player he can be by playing to his strengths and find players who fit to put around him, and that's not Caufield.
 
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Playmaker09 said:
No goal scorers play on their strong side in the NHL on the PP. It's strictly a junior hockey gimmick, which is why its not something I put any stock in when I see young players tearing it up with it by relying on it like a crutch. It doesn't translate.

Matthews is really the only guy who stuck with it in the NHL for a couple of seasons, and yet still reverted back to the tried and true off-wing positioning. Having your forehand stick position in the middle of the ice just gives you too many advantages to pass up as a dual-threat scorer and playmaker, which is exactly what Bedard is.

The only players who play their strong side on the PP are pure playmakers. McDavid, Huberdeau, Wheeler, Panarin. And It absolutely comes at a cost of their goal scoring. McDavid only scored 10 PPG this year and 2 in 16 playoff games. His career high is 11, which for a guy capable of consistently putting up 40+ per season isn't much.

No one's respecting their shots on the PP or 6v5 because it's just not a valid way of scoring goals at the NHL level vs NHL goalies.

Bedard in the NHL would play his off wing in any prime scoring situation. We would not cap his goal scoring potential just to coddle Caufield. Is he a good enough playmaker to make it work? Maybe. But you don't ask a generational player to completely change his game to suit the players around him. You develop him into the most dominant player he can be by playing to his strengths and find players who fit to put around him, and that's not Caufield.
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Or you play Caufield on the 2nd PP, novel idea.
Bedard plays anywhere, including the points. He's lethal when he can storm the slot. So I fail to see where this intrudes on Caufield.

But you went further than this, you proposed to sell Caufield. Cole would be much more useful to us as a 30 goals scorer that is less exposed than as a guy who play too much and expose the D (while scoring 40) - he will never be a great defender. Bedard would make Caufield less likely to have to overplay, these two are not competing they are complementary.
 
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SOLR said:
Or you play Caufield on the 2nd PP, novel idea.
Bedard plays anywhere, including the points. He's lethal when he can storm the slot. So I fail to see where this intrudes on Caufield.

But you went further than this, you proposed to sell Caufield. Cole would be much more useful to us as a 30 goals scorer that is less exposed than as a guy who play too much and expose the D (while scoring 40) - he will never be a great defender. Bedard would make Caufield less likely to have to overplay, these two are not competing they are complementary.
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Both Caufield and Berard are great on both sides.

It's kinda crazy when someone uses PP positioning as a reason to get rid of a player. For one, Caufield scores 75% of his goals at ES, yet he acts as if the PP is where he gets most of his production. Cole's ES gpg with MSL was almost 0.50. You don't get rid of an ES scorer like that just because it causes more of a puzzle for the PP, if any there would be in reality.

I didn't reply to his post because the second half of his reply to me made it even more obvious he's just building a weak narrative to trade Cole. As if the only way we'll acquire a top shelf RD is by trading Cole.
 
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Ozymandias said:
Both Caufield and Berard are great on both sides.

It's kinda crazy when someone uses PP positioning as a reason to get rid of a player. For one, Caufield scores 75% of his goals at ES, yet he acts as if the PP is where he gets most of his production. Cole's ES gpg with MSL was almost 0.50. You don't get rid of an ES scorer like that just because it causes more of a puzzle for the PP, if any there would be in reality.

I didn't reply to his post because the second half of his reply to me made it even more obvious he's just building a weak narrative to trade Cole. As if the only way we'll acquire a top shelf RD is by trading Cole.
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Those people are quite frankly dumb. I challenge those people to go watch his college clips from his final year when he won the Hobey baker. He didn't set up in his usually place on the PP. Caufield can score from anywhere and can easily switch. I love how as soon as Habs start getting talent, people are already contemplating moving them. It supports my old theory that many Habs fans are actually closeted masochists
 
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In 3-5 years every other team will try to copy our first line of Farrell - Bedard - Caufield, can't stop what you can't see 😉

Follow that up with Slaf - Suzuki - Anderson and oh baby are we cookin'!

But seriously, I don't think there's a situation where if we somehow end up with 1OA again this year we're taking anyone other than Bedard at this point, position or size don't matter for a player like him.
 
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Seriously I don't care if Habs don't win the 1st overall in 2023 draft. That's a lot of talents in that top 10, even Brayden Yager intrigue me, he looks very very good. Michkov, Fantilli, Dvorsky, Carlsson, Benson, Ritchie, Stramel... that's a lot of option right there for Habs.

If Habs don't surprise and finish at bottom 3-4... that would be a big W for the future, we are going to add a very very good young player to fit perfectly with Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky, Dach, Farrell and more.
 
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SOLR said:
Or you play Caufield on the 2nd PP, novel idea.
Bedard plays anywhere, including the points. He's lethal when he can storm the slot. So I fail to see where this intrudes on Caufield.

But you went further than this, you proposed to sell Caufield. Cole would be much more useful to us as a 30 goals scorer that is less exposed than as a guy who play too much and expose the D (while scoring 40) - he will never be a great defender. Bedard would make Caufield less likely to have to overplay, these two are not competing they are complementary.
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Ozymandias said:
Both Caufield and Berard are great on both sides.

It's kinda crazy when someone uses PP positioning as a reason to get rid of a player. For one, Caufield scores 75% of his goals at ES, yet he acts as if the PP is where he gets most of his production. Cole's ES gpg with MSL was almost 0.50. You don't get rid of an ES scorer like that just because it causes more of a puzzle for the PP, if any there would be in reality.

I didn't reply to his post because the second half of his reply to me made it even more obvious he's just building a weak narrative to trade Cole. As if the only way we'll acquire a top shelf RD is by trading Cole.
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Playing Caufield on the 2nd PP or in the slot, where he sucked at the WJC, again would diminish the value he brings to the team which is strictly offensive. He needs to be put in prime positions to actually generate value to a team, and it's not just on the PP. He requires sheltering in every way possible and provides zero flexibility, which is OK provided he's the only one we're doing this for. (Reiterating that this is ONLY an issue in a scenario where we would draft Bedard, maybe Yager)

He'd receive every opportunity possible this year, score a ton in a bunch of meaningless games, sign a massive contract, and we'd be stuck with Jeff Skinner 2.0 when he doesn't get those same opportunities again post-Bedard.

Team composition matters and in a cap world, efficiency is king. Getting the most of the players you have and punching above your weight is how you win cups barring a Colorado level stacked roster (and even they had MacKinnon, Toews, Kadri on incredible value contracts). And some of the best value comes via dominant two-way players.

You can't ice a top 6 with 2+ sub 5'10 forwards and/or 3+ incompetent defensive players. You don't have enough shelter to hide them all, and there aren't enough scarce offensive opportunities available to justify having them all in the lineup over other players that will facilitate them in other areas of the game.

Just because you can sign John Tavares, doesn't mean you should. Especially when it costs $11 million which could go towards solving actual problems (D,G), adds a another player to your top 6 who sucks defensively in addition to Nylander, forces your only competent two-way C (at the time) in Kadri down the lineup/out the door, and forces Matthews into being the primary shutdown C which caps his offensive output in the playoffs. Caufield would handcuff Bedard in a similar way and create another inefficient situation that results in a team being weaker than the sum of it's parts.

I get the impression that most here would rather see a team that scores 300 goals in the regular season than a team that's a legit contender. And while those certainly aren't mutually exclusive, we're not currently headed in a direction that's focused on the latter, especially when it comes to defenders, defensive play from forwards (ability/felxibility to matchup) and goaltending.
 
Goldenhands said:
@WeThreeKings did and said he was pretty quiet at even strength, apparently had some flashes on the PP.
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The December tournament will be a better litmus test for him. Most draft eligible don't play until the December wjc.

He got good ice time just struggled to do anything 5 on 5. Was mostly a trigger man on the PP.
 
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