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2023 NHL Entry Draft

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phillytennis said:
No way should we take Leonard over Smith....
Smith has higher elite talent and instincts.
My top 7:
1. Bédard
2. Fantilli
3. Carlsson
4. Smith
5. Dvorsky
6. Leonard
7. Reinbacher
Click to expand...
That's you're opinion, and that's fine. Also, I'm not absolutely certain of my rankings yet. Still, I believe there are a couple reasons to pick Leonard over Smith:

Skating: Leonard's has been even better than I thought, very impressive in terms of speed, agility and stability.

Compete/agressiveness: Leonard is relentless on the puck. If you're looking for that Benson intensity, he comes pretty close while being bigger (to be fair Smith was more intense at the u18s than during the season, from what I saw).

Defensive ability: all-around better positioning from Leonard, better on puck retrievals and contested exits too.

Leonard's game is definitely more translateable to me. I am projecting him to be a first line RW who might not be *the* star but can still drive play from the wing (Andrei Svechnikov, anyone?). I think he'll pair extremely well with other skilled forwards (see: Caufield, Cole and Suzuki, Nick) and be the glue to hold a 1st line together. On the other hand, Smith's skills are amazing, and he probably has the best vision/playmaking combo since Jack Hughes. However, I'm currently not set on a realistic projection for him. He can improve his skating and develop better habits for sure, and that might be the difference between becoming a 2C or a 1C. There is definitely a limit to how many of his skilled plays will actually work on a regular basis in the NHL. The higher that limit is, the more successful he will be.

All in all, two great prospects. I wouldn't mind Smith at 5, even if he'll probably be gone.
 
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GlassesJacketShirt said:
Add another vote for Leonard. I think Yager's release is nastier but outside of that, I think Leonard gives you pretty much everything Yager does with more oomph.
Click to expand...

Outside of this small thing called defence.

Looks like Yager is getting the Suzuki treatment. Suzuki in a re-draft would be top 5.

The most important players are always those who combine offensive instinct with defensive responsibilities (or a big delta). Increasing his delta was Yager's focus all year, while everybody else was padding points.

Bedard isn't the best defensively, but who cares his delta is gigantic because of how many pts he gets (Caufield is counting on the same thing).

Yager's delta is bigger than Leonard's by a significant margin.

Looking at Celebrini at the U18, I no longer think he will have less impact than Bedard, for the same reasons. He will get less points than Bedard, he doesn't have the hand-eye of Bedard, but his delta will be similar.
 
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NekkiChiconey said:
That's you're opinion, and that's fine. Also, I'm not absolutely certain of my rankings yet. Still, I believe there are a couple reasons to pick Leonard over Smith:

Skating: Leonard's has been even better than I thought, very impressive in terms of speed, agility and stability.

Compete/agressiveness: Leonard is relentless on the puck. If you're looking for that Benson intensity, he comes pretty close while being bigger (to be fair Smith was more intense at the u18s than during the season, from what I saw).

Defensive ability: all-around better positioning from Leonard, better on puck retrievals and contested exits too.

Leonard's game is definitely more translateable to me. I am projecting him to be a first line RW who might not be *the* star but can still drive play from the wing (Andrei Svechnikov, anyone?). I think he'll pair extremely well with other skilled forwards (see: Caufield, Cole and Suzuki, Nick) and be the glue to hold a 1st line together. On the other hand, Smith's skills are amazing, and he probably has the best vision/playmaking combo since Jack Hughes. However, I'm currently not set on a realistic projection for him. He can improve his skating and develop better habits for sure, and that might be the difference between becoming a 2C or a 1C. There is definitely a limit to how many of his skilled plays will actually work on a regular basis in the NHL. The higher that limit is, the more successful he will be.

All in all, two great prospects. I wouldn't mind Smith at 5, even if he'll probably be gone.
Click to expand...

1. We'd be very lucky to just be picking at 5.
2. I'd be ecstatic if Will Smith were gone by 5. Because that would mean one of Michkov or Carlsson would be on the board.
 
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What is your guys top 10 from last years draft and this years combined. For me, I have it....

1. Bedard
2. Michkov
3. Fantilli
4. Slaf
5. Carlsson
6. Nemec
7. Dvorsky
8. Cooley
9. Wright
10. Jiricek
 
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26Mats said:
1. We'd be very lucky to just be picking at 5.
2. I'd be ecstatic if Will Smith were gone by 5. Because that would mean one of Michkov or Carlsson would be on the board.
Click to expand...
1. Absolutely.
2. In the more plausible scenario were we pick 6th and the top 5 is Bedard/Fantilli/Carlsson/Michkov/Smith, I don't think you can go wrong with either one of Benson/Leonard/Reinbacher/Dvorsky. You could logically argue any order between these 4.
...
Now what if we managed to get two of them...
 
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waitin425 said:
What is your guys top 10 from last years draft and this years combined. For me, I have it....

1. Bedard
2. Michkov
3. Fantilli
4. Slaf
5. Carlsson
6. Nemec
7. Dvorsky
8. Cooley
9. Wright
10. Jiricek
Click to expand...

1. Bedard
2. Michkov
3. Fantilli
4. Jiricek
5. Carlsson
6. Nemec
7. Dvorsky
8. Cooley
9. Wright
10. Slaf
 
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waitin425 said:
What is your guys top 10 from last years draft and this years combined. For me, I have it....

1. Bedard
2. Michkov
3. Fantilli
4. Slaf
5. Carlsson
6. Nemec
7. Dvorsky
8. Cooley
9. Wright
10. Jiricek
Click to expand...
Can't really rank them in an unbiased way right now, but I know I'd have:
1. Bedard
2. Fantilli
3. Michkov
4. Carlsson

5. Nemec

Then a group of
Wright, Slaf, Smith, Leonard, Cooley, Nazar, Leonard, Benson, Reinbacher, Dvorsky, Jiricek

who, for me, were all in the same tier as prospects in their D year.
 
waitin425 said:
What is your guys top 10 from last years draft and this years combined. For me, I have it....

1. Bedard
2. Michkov
3. Fantilli
4. Slaf
5. Carlsson
6. Nemec
7. Dvorsky
8. Cooley
9. Wright
10. Jiricek
Click to expand...

1 - Bedard.
2 - Fantilli.
3 - Carlsson.
4 - Michkov.
5 - Slafkovsky.
6 - Smith.
7 - Cooley.
8 - Nemec.
9 - Wright.
10 - Jiricek.
 
waitin425 said:
What is your guys top 10 from last years draft and this years combined. For me, I have it....

1. Bedard
2. Michkov
3. Fantilli
4. Slaf
5. Carlsson
6. Nemec
7. Dvorsky
8. Cooley
9. Wright
10. Jiricek
Click to expand...
1.Bedard
2.Fantilli
3.Michkov (2 without the fn drama)
4.Carlsson
5.Smith
6.Cooley
7.Nemec
8.Jiricek
9.Leonard
10.Benson
 
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