Prospect Info: [2024] 1st rd selection - #31 OA - RD, Ben Danford - Oshawa Generals, OHL (6′2″/191lb)

[therealkoho]

Welcome to Leafs Nation & madhouse!

Take a deep breath...and let the boy develop.

he already knows, he's a die hard Leafer

 

[therealkoho]

I like this part of the scouting report.

View attachment 889073

Just watching some highlights of the kid, he skates a lot like Thomas Chabot. He has such a sweet stride and great acceleration

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Danford could be Todd Gill 2.0 who was the last notable/decent defender the Leafs have selected with a late first or early second. That pick was 40 years ago!

Every other D picked since Gill with a late first or early second has been a bust. Some names include Percy, Ware, Finn, CC, Dermott, Berehowsky etc….

You can make arguments for Lily and Sandin but neither player has really developed into anything special.

Colaiacovo, Dermott and Berehowsky were not busts. They are/were all NHL regulars for several seasons.

 

[TimeZone]

Agreed just look at some of these rankings.

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Oh wait...... Those were Easton Cowans ranking from last year.

I don't get your point.

Yes, we reached for Cowan and it's looking good, we also traded down and missed out on Firkus to reach for Fraser Minten the year prior.

Some real short term memory with some of you folks.

The point is if you're significantly reaching for a player, you better be the smartest guy in the room.

That's not even mentioning the fact that I didn't criticize the pick, I merely stated the objective fact that we reached for a player ranked late 2nd-early 3rd.

This Idea that you can't question a Draft selection due to the teams previous first round pick while simultaneously ignoring ignoring the previous year is quite the narrative to push.

Will Ben be a solid NHL player? I don't know, he might be, I don't know enough about him as a prospect, I merely question if we could have potentially traded down, acquired another pick and made this selection down the line a tad.

It really isn't that complex, honest.

 

[Joe n]

the vast majority of the scouting services who had him as a 3rd rd selection but since they don't mean anything then we can believe he should have been a top 5 pick who fell to us in the 2nd round if it makes you happy


sorry i didn't break down every f***ing pick and just took an obvious one

didn't say it was terrible or Minten was terrible , i said it was a bad pick because Clark reached and passed on much higher upside players

so you are comparing him to 1 player. That's some stellar research.

 

[BlueBaron]

I like drafting an RHD. We should probably do it every year.

I won't pretend to know his NHL chances but we have good scouts.

 

[Killswitch]

No idea why anyone would bring up rankings after the first 10 players in a draft. If anyone was actually great at it they're scouting for NHL teams, and even NHL teams can't see the future. Clearly. How many here would have screamed at taking Holmberg instead of O'Brien at 19? Thousands of these examples btw. Danford is a 1st round pick all day every day

 

[Michoulicious]

He better end up better than Solberg, Greentree and Emery.

Solberg would have been awesome, but he's a LD.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Solberg would have been awesome, but he's a LD.

In 2-3 years who is left?

Rielly is almost certainly in decline
McCabe may or may not extend
Benoit might be gone by then

Cade Weber? Kokkonen? I am not knocking this pick at all but the draft...handedness pretty much doesn't matter.

 

[TimeZone]

Solberg would have been awesome, but he's a LD.

These guys are all likely nearly half a decade away from the roster, if they make it at all.

 

[RoadWarrior]

No idea why anyone would bring up rankings after the first 10 players in a draft. If anyone was actually great at it they're scouting for NHL teams, and even NHL teams can't see the future. Clearly. How many here would have screamed at taking Holmberg instead of O'Brien at 19? Thousands of these examples btw. Danford is a 1st round pick all day every day

The scouting report on Danford is excellent. He’s a very well rounded player with no obvious weaknesses to his game. His best attribute is his skating ability and compete level. Exactly what you need from an elite defensive D man. He’s basically a younger Tanev.

 

[AcerComputer]

My problem with the pick is that even if he hits his potential and becomes like a Jake McCabe or a Tanev, why even bother drafting the player? You can trade a first for the real thing, or sign them in FA.

 

[93LEAFS]

Oh yes, you know someone who is so tied in to the Leafs that he knows their draft strategy and he is just giving that info out to his buddies. Right.






Oh yes, can't possibly be a top four guy if you're a defensive defenceman eh?

Dude, been here like 15 years, and I've posted stuff here way before it was public knowledge (such as posting who new scouting directors are before the media release). If you want to think I don't know what I'm talking about cool.

 

[Kiwi]

Dude, been here like 15 years, and I've posted stuff here way before it was public knowledge (such as posting who new scouting directors are before the media release). If you want to think I don't know what I'm talking about cool.

There's a lot of cretins around here

Your pretty educated on the OHL
What do you think of Danforth and do you think there is untapped offensive upside?

He seems to have some decent tools but I doubt he's going to QB our PP anytime soon

 

[93LEAFS]

There's a lot of cretins around here

Your pretty educated on the OHL
What do you think of Danforth and do you think there is untapped offensive upside?

He seems to have some decent tools but I doubt he's going to QB our PP anytime soon

On actual players I've been out of the loop for awhile (I just trust who I talk to), so can't really give you an informed answer on a late round pick. Post 2020 or so I haven't been able to dig in the same way I previously did to form strong personal opinions. Hence why I've been way less active in recent years in this thread.

 

[93LEAFS]

There's a lot of cretins around here

Your pretty educated on the OHL
What do you think of Danforth and do you think there is untapped offensive upside?

He seems to have some decent tools but I doubt he's going to QB our PP anytime soon

oh sorry, I feel you meant Danford (Danforth is a big street around here). From what I've seen and been told, I'd be surprised if he has the puck skills to successfully move the puck up the ice at a level that is above a 5/6 d man. Hope I'm wrong. I would love to see him break the odds and become our next gen Tanev, but I'm not gonna be expecting it.

 

[djdev]

My problem with the pick is that even if he hits his potential and becomes like a Jake McCabe or a Tanev, why even bother drafting the player? You can trade a first for the real thing, or sign them in FA.

literally true for any pick/player in the league...wth is this post?

 

[Hollel]

What do you think of Beckett Sennecke?

Love the pick. While I was a big fan of a number of guys (Demidov, Buium and Lindstrom specifically) I fully trust the team when it comes to scouting top 10~ picks(jury still out on the later ones lol). I wonder what specifically swayed them to go with Sennecke over Lindstrom but I like that even though they stayed true to the vision of the team (bigger, physical guys that can skate) they still took a home run swing and didn’t pass on a Demidov for a Nick Ritchie type

He is also the perfect example of a prospect who is getting wrung out for having bad looking scoring equivalencies but is so clearly one of the highest upside bets of the class

 

[Americanadian]

Everything I read about him compares perfectly to Faber.

 

[ULF_55]

I don't get your point.

Yes, we reached for Cowan and it's looking good, we also traded down and missed out on Firkus to reach for Fraser Minten the year prior.

Some real short term memory with some of you folks.

The point is if you're significantly reaching for a player, you better be the smartest guy in the room.

That's not even mentioning the fact that I didn't criticize the pick, I merely stated the objective fact that we reached for a player ranked late 2nd-early 3rd.

This Idea that you can't question a Draft selection due to the teams previous first round pick while simultaneously ignoring ignoring the previous year is quite the narrative to push.

Will Ben be a solid NHL player? I don't know, he might be, I don't know enough about him as a prospect, I merely question if we could have potentially traded down, acquired another pick and made this selection down the line a tad.

It really isn't that complex, honest.

I suppose it is considered a reach because the public scouting reports can't possibly scout every player under the age of 20 in the world.

I am assuming most of us here do not have access to the Leafs' inhouse scouting reports?

 

[AcerComputer]

literally true for any pick/player in the league...wth is this post?

Some GMs draft for high upside swing for the fences type. Your goal should be to draft players that cannot be acquired through FA or even trade. Wyatt Johston, Pastrnak, etc.

 

[RoadWarrior]

My problem with the pick is that even if he hits his potential and becomes like a Jake McCabe or a Tanev, why even bother drafting the player? You can trade a first for the real thing, or sign them in FA.

It’s not that easy to acquire defensive help and make it work under the cap. Danford could be in the leafs top 4 in 3 years on an entry level contract.

 

[AcerComputer]

It’s not that easy to acquire defensive help and make it work under the cap. Danford could be in the leafs top 4 in 3 years on an entry level contract.

We got McCabe at $2m for a 1st, bird in hand. Danford will maybe be as good and maybe the Leafs will benefit if he makes the team and if he is on an ELC, and is not a bottom pair or 7th dman.

 

[djdev]

Some GMs draft for high upside swing for the fences type. Your goal should be to draft players that cannot be acquired through FA or even trade. Wyatt Johston, Pastrnak, etc.

ye and top RHD are the hardest thing to aquire in the league

 

[RoadWarrior]

Danford could be Todd Gill 2.0 who was the last notable/decent defender the Leafs have selected with a late first or early second. That pick was 40 years ago!

Every other D picked since Gill with a late first or early second has been a bust. Some names include Percy, Ware, Finn, CC, Dermott, Berehowsky etc….

You can make arguments for Lily and Sandin but neither player has really developed into anything special.

Lily is better than Sandin. Sandin can barely skate backwards. Great stick and a decent shooter but Sandin has no mobility.