2023 NHL Entry Draft

[Cubebrick]

Some people only valuate by highlights or offensive tools when there is so much more to the game. Smith struggles on the fundamentals of the game and while it will improve at some extend as he gets to play at higher levels and gain more strength, the red flags are totally legit and the bust potential higher than some other prospects. Motor wont likely ever be very high and his 200 ft flawed. Right now he is soft as butter.

The upside with Smith is that you can't teach raw skill but can still drill some hard work into his mindset. His skillset is great, but the red flags are scary.

The question is whether he wants to give a f*** or not.

 

[morhilane]

The upside with Smith is that you can't teach raw skill but can still drill some hard work into his mindset. His skillset is great, but the red flags are scary.

The question is whether he wants to give a f*** or not.

Habs have a psychologist with them at the Combine during the interviews. He'll get filtered if they don't like his "mental".

 

[le_sean]

*2 weeks from now*

Will Smith is a literal ghost on the ice, his motor is so low he's clinically dead and players pass through his body defensively because he lacks a corporeal form.

Also

Grant: Habs should take Daniil But at 5

 

[Cubebrick]

Habs have a psychologist with them at the Combine during the interviews. He'll get filtered if they don't like his "mental".

I could be 100% wrong but my feeling is that Hughes may not even consider drafting him since he's apparently been a good family friend for a long time.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Not the skating. About his style of play saying his toe drags and plays wouldn’t work.

Geezus toe drags work ALL the time at the NHL level. Suzuki loves them & Marner lives off that shit. They work particularly well if you have the foot work to lateral while doing it which Marner does.

 

[SlafySZN]

Geezus toe drags work ALL the time at the NHL level. Suzuki loves them & Marner lives off that shit. They work particularly well if you have the foot work to lateral while doing it which Marner does.

I agree but some didn’t want cooley last year because of that and were saying he didn’t play a ‘’pro’’ enough game.

 

[Jabba11]

Benson over Smith any day fo the week, especially on June 28th. Benson has doesn't lack corporeal form.

 

[SlafySZN]

Also

Grant: Habs should take Daniil But at 5

I’d take But with the panthers pick, though

 

[Jack Skellington]

So who can explain Smiths ridiculous point totals? I don’t really like what I’ve seen either but numbers don’t lie. What we need more than anything is a big production star. If they seem to think this is the guy then I’m on board with their decision. Did the USNDTP have a different schedule than they usually do? Less college games? They don’t seem to be any more stacked than they usually are, certainly less than the Caufield year. They also don’t have Lane Hutson feeding them passes.

 

[WeThreeKings]

So who can explain Smiths ridiculous point totals? I don’t really like what I’ve seen either but numbers don’t lie. What we need more than anything is a big production star. If they seem to think this is the guy then I’m on board with their decision. Did the USNDTP have a different schedule than they usually do? Less college games? They don’t seem to be any more stacked than they usually are, certainly less than the Caufield year. They also don’t have Lane Hutson feeding them passes.

I can explain it.

He's a really, really f***ing good hockey player.

The school of Martin/Therrien/Julien is a hard one to break out of for some.

 

[Goldenhands]

So who can explain Smiths ridiculous point totals? I don’t really like what I’ve seen either but numbers don’t lie. What we need more than anything is a big production star. If they seem to think this is the guy then I’m on board with their decision. Did the USNDTP have a different schedule than they usually do? Less college games? They don’t seem to be any more stacked than they usually are, certainly less than the Caufield year. They also don’t have Lane Hutson feeding them passes.

How do you explain Perreault's similar pts total? The Perreault Smith Leonard line had insane chimestry all year long. Oh and they had Moore as their all situations guy to handle the tougher matchups.

 

[morhilane]

So who can explain Smiths ridiculous point totals? I don’t really like what I’ve seen either but numbers don’t lie. What we need more than anything is a big production star. If they seem to think this is the guy then I’m on board with their decision. Did the USNDTP have a different schedule than they usually do? Less college games? They don’t seem to be any more stacked than they usually are, certainly less than the Caufield year. They also don’t have Lane Hutson feeding them passes.

This year USNDTP top 5 have a similar point distribution to Caufield's year and while there aren't as many projected to go the top 10, there are still a lot of them projected to go in the 1st round.

They seems to have more flaws than Caufield's group did.

 

[SlafySZN]

So who can explain Smiths ridiculous point totals? I don’t really like what I’ve seen either but numbers don’t lie. What we need more than anything is a big production star. If they seem to think this is the guy then I’m on board with their decision. Did the USNDTP have a different schedule than they usually do? Less college games? They don’t seem to be any more stacked than they usually are, certainly less than the Caufield year. They also don’t have Lane Hutson feeding them passes.

They have fetus Hutson (Lane’s brother) feeding them passes lol

But no, you’re right, it is not a stacked team like the hughes/caufield/zegras year.

Same schedule as always.

I personally think people are exaggerating their criticizing of him. He has elite vision/playmaking, obviously not the highest motor but he’s more cerebral like Suzuki. For the defensive side of things, he’s a kid. I prefer them showing their offensive talent and creativity with the puck.

 

[Cubebrick]

So who can explain Smiths ridiculous point totals? I don’t really like what I’ve seen either but numbers don’t lie. What we need more than anything is a big production star. If they seem to think this is the guy then I’m on board with their decision. Did the USNDTP have a different schedule than they usually do? Less college games? They don’t seem to be any more stacked than they usually are, certainly less than the Caufield year. They also don’t have Lane Hutson feeding them passes.

Great line with Leonard and Perreault.

Smith's offensive skillset is nuts and is why I brought him up as a potential top pick back in early October. The issues come when the other team gain puck possession where Perreault and (especially) Leonard do most of the hustle.

I'm not counting him out though. I'm a fan of what he brings on the offense and like I said, the issues are fixable with more effort but he really needs to care more.

 

[Goldenhands]

I can explain it.

He's a really, really f***ing good hockey player.

The school of Martin/Therrien/Julien is a hard one to break out of for some.

Hockey 101, not really old school, you still need to be competent on 200 ft. these days.

 

[jaffy27]

I can explain it.

He's a really, really f***ing good hockey player.

The school of Martin/Therrien/Julien is a hard one to break out of for some.

Yup….gimme offensive skill and a creative hockey mind. I don’t really give a shit about two way games at this juncture…..i want smart, fast offensive hockey players, we can deal with the rest later.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Hockey 101, not really old school, you still need to be competent on 200 ft. these days.

You also need to put the puck in the net, and there's very few players that come around that can do what Will Smith can do.

I'm not worried at all about developing him into being a passable defensive player. Especially considering the amount of players we have as part of the youth core that will be plus defenders.

The last thing the Habs organization should do is leave a bunch of offense on the table because of defensive acumen at 18 years old.

 

[Jack Skellington]

How do you explain Perreault's similar pts total? The Perreault Smith Leonard line had insane chimestry all year long. Oh and they had Moore as their all situations guy to handle the tougher matchups.

Yeah I was wondering that about Perrault myself. He seems to be ranked towards the end of the first round.

 

[Jack Skellington]

You also need to put the puck in the net, and there's very few players that come around that can do what Will Smith can do.

I'm not worried at all about developing him into being a passable defensive player. Especially considering the amount of players we have as part of the youth core that will be plus defenders.

The last thing the Habs organization should do is leave a bunch of offense on the table because of defensive acumen at 18 years old.

Agreed. The pool of hockey players that can break down an NHL defense is very very small. I think we need to go big this year. We already have enough 200 ft players. Kucherov may be the laziest defensive player I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Even on offense his motor is very, very, low. But he’s f***ing brilliant and he’s led his team to 2 cups and counting.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Agreed. The pool of hockey players that can break down an NHL defense is very very small. I think we need to go big this year. We already have enough 200 ft players. Kucherov may be the laziest defensive player I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Even on offense his motor is very, very, low. But he’s f***ing brilliant and he’s led his team to 2 cups and counting.

Like obviously if from coaching him, Kent Hughes thinks the kid doesn't care or won't learn.. then yeah pass on him.

But if we're comparing someone like Smith to Dvorsky, and we're gonna talk about defensive acumen and face-offs (like who cares, honestly, at 18, we aren't trying to draft our next shut down center in the top 7).. Dvorsky is playing in a pro league and has certain accountabilities and things just to earn ice-time to play, so naturally he's gonna be more polished in those areas.

Smith is thinking ahead of everyone on the ice with easy skill and incredible vision/IQ.. and there's flashes of competitiveness defensively, commitment defensively and they come more when he's representing his country.

Marner wasn't playing defense in London either and he's not a bad defensive forward in the NHL.

Outside of the top 4, there's him and Benson as far as offensive IQ and upside.. develop him, coach him up, with his offensive potential he just needs to be passable defensively and like his centers are most likely going to be either Suzuki, Dach, Beck or PLD.. he's not gonna be centered by Drouin.

And yes, I'm projecting him on the wing. I think he'll be those play-driving winger types in the NHL (Gaudreau, Marner, Huberdeau, Kucherov).

 

[Cubebrick]

You also need to put the puck in the net, and there's very few players that come around that can do what Will Smith can do.

I'm not worried at all about developing him into being a passable defensive player. Especially considering the amount of players we have as part of the youth core that will be plus defenders.

The last thing the Habs organization should do is leave a bunch of offense on the table because of defensive acumen at 18 years old.

The thing though is that there are other candidates at 5 or 6 who can bring it offensively so ultimately you have to weigh what the team considers as the goods and bads (BPA is rather suggestive at this rank now).

I'm not counting Smith out at all, but I can't help but be wary of him because even though I like what he does offensively, I still dislike a few things in his game.

Habs need top end talent, but they also can't miss (I mean this for any player in that range, not just for Smith here).

I do trust Hughes to make the right call though. If it's Smith then so be it. He's just not my top pick at 5.

 

[WeThreeKings]

The thing though is that there are other candidates at 5 or 6 who can bring it offensively so ultimately you have to weigh what the team considers as the goods and bads (BPA is rather suggestive at this rank now).

I'm not counting Smith out at all, but I can't help but be wary of him because even though I like what he does offensively, I still dislike a few things in his game.

Habs need top end talent, but they also can't miss (I mean this for any player in that range, not just for Smith here).

I do trust Hughes to make the right call though. If it's Smith then so be it. He's just not my top pick at 5.

There's Benson and that's pretty much it. I'm a fan of Leonard, Yager, Moore, Sale, and Dvorsky at varying degrees in the top 10 but outside of Sale and Yager, I don't think I can make an offensive package case.. and in Yager's case his processor is just not as fast as Smith's even if his motor is higher.

 

[JoelWarlord]

I don't think we should be placing much of a premium on defence at all with our 1st (unless we're taking a dman in which case it'd probably be Reinbacher anyway so a non issue).

We already have Suzuki and Dach if we need our Cs to be good two way guys, Beck in the system, etc. Don't think it makes sense to worry much about two way play for a forward when we can easily just stick a guy on the wing if his defence at C ever becomes an issue.

 

[Goldenhands]

You also need to put the puck in the net, and there's very few players that come around that can do what Will Smith can do.

I'm not worried at all about developing him into being a passable defensive player. Especially considering the amount of players we have as part of the youth core that will be plus defenders.

The last thing the Habs organization should do is leave a bunch of offense on the table because of defensive acumen at 18 years old.

Dvorsky can put the puck in the net better than Will Smith and brings a much better all around game. He is bigger, stronger and has a good deal of talent as well. Put Dvorsky between Leonard and Perreault and you get the same offensive results, kid produced at a 2PP pace in junior as well with lesser talented linemates and much weaker team. On another side, put Smith in Dvorsky's shoes in a pro men league and he cant play more than an handful of games. way too weak, too flawed and the skating isnt pro level yet.

 

[Playmaker09]

Dvorsky can put the puck in the net better than Will Smith and brings a much better all around game. He is bigger, stronger and has a good deal of talent as well. Put Dvorsky between Leonard and Perreault and you get the same offensive results, kid produced at a 2PP pace in junior as well with lesser talented linemates and much weaker team. On another side, put Smith in Dvorsky's shoes in a pro men league and he cant play more than an handful of games. way too weak, too flawed and the skating isnt pro level yet.

Dvorsky got healthy scratched himself in the playoffs. Relax.