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2023 NHL Entry Draft

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KevSkillz4 said:
I'm 100% confident they will select a forward with 5, 6 or 7. Benson, Smith and Leonard are all prospects that scouts like to watch. Hughes know Smith and Hughes maybe want his "Cooley" this year. Slafkovsky is a great pick, but Cooley prove that he is going to be a really really good player aswell. Smith have same type of talent. Benson is a hard worker who fit perfectly on Habs new mentality, who cares about size... everyone will be happy with Bedard and he is small. Habs can always trade Mesar//Farrell to make place for a player like Zach Benson, who he is much better prospect than Mesar and Farrell. Benson and Smith are star forward potential and you tell me that scouts will go in other direction and select Reinbacher? That would be very bad. No because isn't good, just because, Reinbacher he is more in 8-12 range. 5-7, it's Benson, Smith and Leonard/Yager 100%.

It's a forward draft, not a defense draft...
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Smith and Cooley have similar production but are nothing alike, I prefer Cooley as he has a higher motor and is a better skater but both are very good. Cooley is all out, hair on fire attack whereas Smith plays an off puck role/delay game/distributor game. At one point I really liked Smith as our first pick but have cooled on him a little. The more I watch Smith the more I notice Perreault creating every bit as much as Smith and wonder if Smith should drop a little and Perreault move up a little.

I am not a huge Benson fan at the #5 spot as his size/speed/mediocre shooting doesn't excite me at this point in his development, he is a good prospect but I could also see him being a middle six energy guy which gives him a nice floor but I do worry about his production at the NHL level. If he can improve his skating and shot he could be a star but there is reason at this point to question taking him this high.

I like Leonard as well but I am not sold on his offence and think he has a far greater chance of being a middle 6 winger than anything resembling a top line winger.

Dvorsky is someone that I like more than most posters and have even warmed up to Reinbacher as he was much better later in the season but am still not sure about taking him at 5......maybe at 7 though.

- I am also a huge fan of Barlow's game and I take him over Yager all day but it would take some big old balls to take him at 5.

- If there is no movement in the lottery and there is someone that Arizona is dead set on at #5, I would offer them 5,17,37 for 6,12,38

- I have really warmed to Wood as well with the FLA pick. The skating is ugly but the hands/shot/IQ are sublime, his skill set reminds me so much of a young Corey Perry minus the dirty stuff. There is definitely some risk there but the upside is a borderline franchise player.

There are so many intriguing prospects with their own specific warts that I, more than any other season am content to sit back and just accept our selection.

Paddy17 said:
I go with hockey IQ over physical skills, therefore I go Carlsson over Fantilli. I wouldn’t be mad if we had #2 and picked Fantilli, as he could turn into a Mike Modano-like player. Lots of development left for both, but if I had to choose, I'm picking Carlsson.
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I also value IQ over everything else but the issue is that we don't know much about these to player's respective IQ's relative to each other.
 
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Estimated_Prophet said:
Smith and Cooley have similar production but are nothing alike, I prefer Cooley as he has a higher motor and is a better skater but both are very good. Cooley is all out, hair on fire attack whereas Smith plays an off puck role/delay game/distributor game. At one point I really liked Smith as our first pick but have cooled on him a little. The more I watch Smith the more I notice Perreault creating every bit as much as Smith and wonder if Smith should drop a little and Perreault move up a little.

I am not a huge Benson fan at the #5 spot as his size/speed/mediocre shooting doesn't excite me at this point in his development, he is a good prospect but I could also see him being a middle six energy guy which gives him a nice floor but I do worry about his production at the NHL level. If he can improve his skating and shot he could be a star but there is reason at this point to question taking him this high.

I like Leonard as well but I am not sold on his offence and think he has a far greater chance of being a middle 6 winger than anything resembling a top line winger.

Dvorsky is someone that I like more than most posters and have even warmed up to Reinbacher as he was much better later in the season but am still not sure about taking him at 5......maybe at 7 though.

- I am also a huge fan of Barlow's game and I take him over Yager all day but it would take some big old balls to take him at 5.

- If there is no movement in the lottery and there is someone that Arizona is dead set on at #5, I would offer them 5,17,37 for 6,12,38

- I have really warmed to Wood as well with the FLA pick. The skating is ugly but the hands/shot/IQ are sublime, his skill set reminds me so much of a young Corey Perry minus the dirty stuff. There is definitely some risk there but the upside is a borderline franchise player.

There are so many intriguing prospects with their own specific warts that I, more than any other season am content to sit back and just accept our selection.



I also value IQ over everything else but the issue is that we don't know much about these to player's respective IQ's relative to each other.
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I feel the same way about Benson and Leonard.

I don't like Dvorski though, at least not before the teens.

The rest will all depend on where we pick (thinking FLA pick) and who is still available.

My hunch is we will have a hard decision to take, because there's a reasonable chance Michkov will be available to us. I know that whatever we do then, there will be a huge, heated summer-long debate on HFboards about it!
 
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Funny the people saying that it’s not a big deal to draft a Russian, it’s going to blow over, etc. You have multi-millionaires fully established in North America that are too afraid to put on Pride jerseys in warmup because of a regime half a world away. Imagine being afraid of the wellbeing of family members over there because of a simple gesture. Of course it’s an issue drafting a Russian.
 
le_sean said:
Funny the people saying that it’s not a big deal to draft a Russian, it’s going to blow over, etc. You have multi-millionaires fully established in North America that are too afraid to put on Pride jerseys in warmup because of a regime half a world away. Imagine being afraid of the wellbeing of family members over there because of a simple gesture. Of course it’s an issue drafting a Russian.
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All things being equal, then sure.

But if Michkov is there at 5 (or 6/7), maybe the gap between him and the next guy is big enough to take the risk.

I'm no scout but I have followed him as a prospect and if he wasn't locked in on a KHL deal I'd be willing to take him at #2.
 
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WeThreeKings said:
I'm just not gonna buy it's "western world Russian hysteria" when the leader of that nation, for two years, has senseless slaughtered neighboring Ukraine for completely fabricated reasons.

If they're capable of doing what they've been doing to Ukraine, they are more than capable of killing Michkovs dad, of punishing families of those who denounce the war, of keeping prized athletes from performing anywhere else but Russia.

I'm not blaming any organization from staying away from that uncertainty.
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I can't believe you just equated invading another country which has actual important geopolitical considerations at the realpolitik level with common small gang violence such as murdering a hockey player's dad....

Is this just hockey fans thinking hockey is more important than it is because we follow hockey so much? I promise you Mitchkov's name doesn't come up in Putin's war room meetings lol. The only real risk is a draft that conscripts all russians under a certain age to go to war which if you look at the numbers is such a ridiculous notion that it makes me wonder if any of you even bothered looking into it before jumping in to conspiracy theories.

The current russian army has 1.15M soldiers and the most recent declaration from their ministry back in Jan 2023 was hoping to increase it by 350K soldiers (which is considered unlikely by most experts).

Russian population of men between ages 20 - 24? 3M+
Russian population of men between ages 15 -19? 3.8M

There is literally a 0.0001% chance the russians will ever need or be able to equip 6M+ more russian men into their army so this whole forced conscription of Russian hockey players is fantasy land. We should draft michkov. If we don't I'll be so annoyed with Hughes.
 
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WeThreeKings said:
Those McKeens scouts probably only seen him at the WJCs, let's be real.
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Most of these entities are primarily run by people with little to no actual hockey experience, I always find it funny when you actually see some of them and quickly realize that not only are they from a world devoid of athletics, they are just kids who know absolutely nothing about hockey. Kids clearly working from a basement or from their parents house.....not that surprising given their horrendous takes on things like skating and breaking down video.

If people find it entertaining and these guys can earn a living doing it then all the power to them, I just don't want to hear people calling them scouts or quoting them as a source of empirical data. It is the equivalent of calling every person who ever tried and failed to learn how to play the piano, guitar etc a musician.
 
WeThreeKings said:
Reinbacher is, and should be, in the discussion for the Habs.

If they have concerns about the longevity of Benson and his style in the NHL and/or concerns about Smith's defensive game and compete.. there's nothing wrong with getting a toolsy, RHD with size who can skate.

I'm with you, I'm prioritizing those forwards but Reinbacher is in the convo for the Habs and very well may end up our selection.
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Not opposed to Reinbacher but I am not going to lie… given what we went through this season, I’m going to feel a little underwhelmed picking him at 5.

I’ve always been an advocate of picking the guy you want when it’s your turn, but somehow I feel if Reinbacher is our guy, we may want to consider maybe moving down.
 
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Just finished to listen at Recrutes podcast and it basically confirms what Ive been saying about the situation, young Russians will now likely have to defect to come over, at the risk of putting their familily members in danger. 0 chance Michkov gets drafted early at this point, it has nothing to do with Russiaphobia, you just dont want to put the kid in an impossible situation. Grant has now Reinbacher as the most logical option for the Habs, then Dvorsky, exactly my 2 picks, will see how the lottery turns out.
 
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Paddy17 said:
I go with hockey IQ over physical skills, therefore I go Carlsson over Fantilli. I wouldn’t be mad if we had #2 and picked Fantilli, as he could turn into a Mike Modano-like player. Lots of development left for both, but if I had to choose, I'm picking Carlsson.
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At number 2, I would pick Fantilli.

Goldenhands said:
Just finished to listen at Recrutes podcast and it basically confirms what Ive been saying about the situation, young Russians will now likely have to defect to come over, at the risk of putting their familily members in danger. 0 chance Michkov gets drafted early at this point, it has nothing to do with Russiaphobia, you just dont want to put the kid in an impossible situation. Grant has now Reinbacher as the most logical option for the Habs, then Dvorsky, exactly my 2 picks, will see how the lottery turns out.
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Maybe with the death of his father, Michkov might want to defect.
 
Goldenhands said:
Just finished to listen at Recrutes podcast and it basically confirms what Ive been saying about the situation, young Russians will now likely have to defect to come over, at the risk of putting their familily members in danger. 0 chance Michkov gets drafted early at this point, it has nothing to do with Russiaphobia, you just dont want to put the kid in an impossible situation. Grant has now Reinbacher as the most logical option for the Habs, then Dvorsky, exactly my 2 picks, will see how the lottery turns out.
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I like Dvorsky, but if Habs pick him before Benson or Smith... that would be disappoint choice right there.
 
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Canadienna said:
All things being equal, then sure.

But if Michkov is there at 5 (or 6/7), maybe the gap between him and the next guy is big enough to take the risk.

I'm no scout but I have followed him as a prospect and if he wasn't locked in on a KHL deal I'd be willing to take him at #2.
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It really becomes a dilemma if he is still available starting at 6, which would mean that even Benson and Smith have gone before him. The next gap in talent becomes much wider and the risk vs. reward becomes increasingly hard for whoever has to decide. It's easy for us to make an armchair decision, but for an actual GM, it will be quite a controversial decision to take him or not, until the day he comes into the NHL... or not.

Edit: I want to add that if it was just a matter of finishing his 3-year KHL contract and then coming over to NA for sure, teams would not hesitate to pick him at all, and he certainly goes in the top 4. The risk is really about him coming over after that contract, if ever. No matter where you stand on that risk, it has to be taken into consideration and teams will have to do their due diligence. Like someone has said, him being at the Combine and at the draft will go a long way into diminishing those risks.
 
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Kaladin said:
I can't believe you just equated invading another country which has actual important geopolitical considerations at the realpolitik level with common small gang violence such as murdering a hockey player's dad....

Is this just hockey fans thinking hockey is more important than it is because we follow hockey so much? I promise you Mitchkov's name doesn't come up in Putin's war room meetings lol. The only real risk is a draft that conscripts all russians under a certain age to go to war which if you look at the numbers is such a ridiculous notion that it makes me wonder if any of you even bothered looking into it before jumping in to conspiracy theories.

The current russian army has 1.15M soldiers and the most recent declaration from their ministry back in Jan 2023 was hoping to increase it by 350K soldiers (which is considered unlikely by most experts).

Russian population of men between ages 20 - 24? 3M+
Russian population of men between ages 15 -19? 3.8M

There is literally a 0.0001% chance the russians will ever need or be able to equip 6M+ more russian men into their army so this whole forced conscription of Russian hockey players is fantasy land. We should draft michkov. If we don't I'll be so annoyed with Hughes.
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We should avoid drafting Michkov....the risk is too great that he won't be able to come over. We should draft either Smith, Benson or Leonard.
 
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Goldenhands said:
Just finished to listen at Recrutes podcast and it basically confirms what Ive been saying about the situation, young Russians will now likely have to defect to come over, at the risk of putting their familily members in danger. 0 chance Michkov gets drafted early at this point, it has nothing to do with Russiaphobia, you just dont want to put the kid in an impossible situation. Grant has now Reinbacher as the most logical option for the Habs, then Dvorsky, exactly my 2 picks, will see how the lottery turns out.
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I don't expect Michkov to be in Buffalo for the pre-draft workouts or even the draft in Nashville.
If he does show up to both, we will able to better understand what his personal intentions are at.
 
You will all look silly at the draft when HuGo pull a Svoboda with Michkov……. Once again with the 5th overall pick……….
 
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