Prospect Info: 2024-25 Devils Draft Thread

[evnted]

Last night I watched a few periods of Farjestad to check up on LD Stian Solberg, who was a favorite of pretty much everyone (@Guadana @evnted @Guttersniped and myself) who posts about the draft-eligible players.

I think he looks outstanding. He's probably already in the handful of most effectively physical defensemen in Sweden, he defends terrifically and his skating looks great. He's been a bit reluctant to open up the offensive side of his game, but he certainly is willing to join a rush. I feel the offense will come in time.

Ultimately, I feel due credit needs to be given to the aforementioned people who write about the draft on the Devils HFBoards. This was pretty much the first place where not one but multiple people were ranking Solberg as a top 20 (or even top 15) pick. While the lion's share of the draft consensus was talking about him as a 2nd round pick, we were highlighting him as a prospect to watch in the mid-1st. The kid is going to be very, very good when he hits the NHL in a couple years.

thats awesome to hear. havent had a chance to circle back to pre draft favorites yet, so appreciate the update. wouldnt have done it given how the board shook out, but man i wouldve loved him here lol

still cant for the life of me believe the leafs had him available and dealt out of the pick. what more could that team ask for on the back end?

 

[My3Sons]

Last night I watched a few periods of Farjestad to check up on LD Stian Solberg, who was a favorite of pretty much everyone (@Guadana @evnted @Guttersniped and myself) who posts about the draft-eligible players.

I think he looks outstanding. He's probably already in the handful of most effectively physical defensemen in Sweden, he defends terrifically and his skating looks great. He's been a bit reluctant to open up the offensive side of his game, but he certainly is willing to join a rush. I feel the offense will come in time.

Ultimately, I feel due credit needs to be given to the aforementioned people who write about the draft on the Devils HFBoards. This was pretty much the first place where not one but multiple people were ranking Solberg as a top 20 (or even top 15) pick. While the lion's share of the draft consensus was talking about him as a 2nd round pick, we were highlighting him as a prospect to watch in the mid-1st. The kid is going to be very, very good when he hits the NHL in a couple years.

You have consistently found the offense for guys who chose to play defense first like Sanderson and Faber and I don’t doubt this guy fits into that category on some level. I think part of the issue with young defenders in men’s leagues is that it is hard to push for offense as a teenager. Coaches will always stress fundamentals and smart play and of course the youngest players are restricted thr most.

 

[Guadana]

I assume you mean the 1st PP unit defender and not QB? The pp qb role has been taken over by forwards nowadays. Jack Hughes plays that role for us.

Its another role that has a large surplus of competent players so its less of a premium position. Shayne Ghostisbehere has been floating around a bunch of teams last few years. Tyson Barrie was a cheap, desperation pickup off a PTO. The Devils have Hamilton, Hughes, and Casey with enough skill to play the top unit and Nemec is good enough to play a 2nd unit.


This kinda proves my point. There are enough excellent LHD around the league that teams can get 3 first-pair talents on the same team.

It doesn't. Tampa won 2 CS and played 3 finals. Thats how important this players are. As generational players like Kucherov. RDs could be okay if you have good LDs, same works in other way. We have Hamilton, Nemec, Pesce, Casey. In one team. It doesn't mean that was easy to find them.

Damn. That was fun arguments.

When I'm talking about Buium I'm talking about player with higher potential than Gostisbehere. He can drive offense and still be solid to play defense. Its not about 1 pp unit, its about 1st QB, like Hamilton was in his 2nd year here or Q Hughes, or Fox etc. Some of them are LHD. No one care.


Of course its a ceiling but it is still there. Luchanko doesn't have this upside.

 

[Guadana]

o im not saying i agree w it by any means, but those were definitely reasons gm's had. wasnt by coincidence the 3 big RD all went before the 3 big LD (and i take those LD's all day every day). hell, briere came out and cited emil andrae (!!!) as a reason for not picking buium. if thats what these people are saying publicly, i can only imagine whats going on behind the scenes lol

Mtl Hughes and his minions said a lot of things.

Like we said - some gms can be wrong, some are not smart. In case of Andrae he could try to find "a reason" just to try to find a reason.

 

[Brodeur]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1844144530892984770

Motivation to attend dropped with the teams staying home, but LA would be a relatively short train ride for me. If tickets aren't expensive, I could make a weekend of it. The first draft I attended was LA in 2010 when the Devils didn't have a first round pick. I still had fun despite that.

Definitely a bummer that it's being decentralized but can understand why teams prefer to save the money instead of sending out 20+ people. It will be interesting if more of the Day 2 prospects choose to stay home.

Plus hosting the draft tends to be money losing proposition. I remember in 2018 that there was a delay in announcing the location because nobody was volunteering. I'd imagine most NHL arenas would make more money off a concert (or some other event) on a summer Friday/Saturday.

I think we had a small taste of what the draft might look like; Teams will send a notable alumnus, current player, or celebrity fan to announce the pick. Off the top of my head, various people that popped up this past draft to make the pick announcement included Joe Thornton, Connor Bedard, Celine Dion, Michael Buffer, and Anders Lee. Handful of other guys like Scott Niedermayer, Marty Brodeur, and Rick Nash also announced the pick but actually work on the hockey ops side.

 

[StevenToddIves]

Speaking of Devils HFBoards favorites, I'm really excited for the Skelleftea season to get going so I can watch Michael Brandsegg-Nygard. The kid is so smart and polished, I only expect to see him in the SHL for one season before he challenges for a role with Detroit.

 

[evnted]

pretty big development today: top prospect out of russia ivan ryabkin will be joining muskegon of the ushl in a few weeks. a surprising move, for sure. had mentioned earlier in the month that he was off to a slow start and its really only gotten worse since (now getting healthy scratched)

though not at the level of michkov or demidov, ryabkin is a tremendous talent and remarkable playmaker who, unlike those two, comes with a more pro ready physical/forechecking game (as a center, no less). ive had some complaints about his engagement and body language in games, and im a little concerned that, coupled with the scratches/jump to NA, it might seem to indicate hes not the easiest player to work with. could also just be built up frustration over a lack of khl opportunity, too. we'll have to see

in any case, hopefully his stint with muskegon goes well. without a doubt the most interesting/talented player in the league now

Lumberjacks Announce Roster Moves: Add Ivan Ryabkin and Trade Jake Merens - Muskegon Lumberjacks

MUSKEGON, MI – Wednesday morning the Muskegon Lumberjacks announced a pair of roster moves including the addition of Ivan Ryabkin, a 2007 birth year forward from

muskegonlumberjacks.com

 

[StevenToddIves]

pretty big development today: top prospect out of russia ivan ryabkin will be joining muskegon of the ushl in a few weeks. a surprising move, for sure. had mentioned earlier in the month that he was off to a slow start and its really only gotten worse since (now getting healthy scratched)

though not at the level of michkov or demidov, ryabkin is a tremendous talent and remarkable playmaker who, unlike those two, comes with a more pro ready physical/forechecking game (as a center, no less). ive had some complaints about his engagement and body language in games, and im a little concerned that, coupled with the scratches/jump to NA, it might seem to indicate hes not the easiest player to work with. could also just be built up frustration over a lack of khl opportunity, too. we'll have to see

in any case, hopefully his stint with muskegon goes well. without a doubt the most interesting/talented player in the league now

Lumberjacks Announce Roster Moves: Add Ivan Ryabkin and Trade Jake Merens - Muskegon Lumberjacks

MUSKEGON, MI – Wednesday morning the Muskegon Lumberjacks announced a pair of roster moves including the addition of Ivan Ryabkin, a 2007 birth year forward from

muskegonlumberjacks.com

Ryabkin strikes me as a player who could slip into an area of the later 1st round where he would represent a tremendous draft-day bargain. Despite the obviously elite abilities in both playmaking and puck handling, he possesses many of the negative tropes often applied unfairly to Russian players.

Conversely, if he can improve his consistency of engagement and statistically tear up the USHL (which he is certainly capable of), he can possibly move up into the top-3-overall conversation.

Thanks as always to @evnted for his excellent take on this intriguing development.

 

[Guadana]

pretty big development today: top prospect out of russia ivan ryabkin will be joining muskegon of the ushl in a few weeks. a surprising move, for sure. had mentioned earlier in the month that he was off to a slow start and its really only gotten worse since (now getting healthy scratched)

though not at the level of michkov or demidov, ryabkin is a tremendous talent and remarkable playmaker who, unlike those two, comes with a more pro ready physical/forechecking game (as a center, no less). ive had some complaints about his engagement and body language in games, and im a little concerned that, coupled with the scratches/jump to NA, it might seem to indicate hes not the easiest player to work with. could also just be built up frustration over a lack of khl opportunity, too. we'll have to see

in any case, hopefully his stint with muskegon goes well. without a doubt the most interesting/talented player in the league now

Lumberjacks Announce Roster Moves: Add Ivan Ryabkin and Trade Jake Merens - Muskegon Lumberjacks

MUSKEGON, MI – Wednesday morning the Muskegon Lumberjacks announced a pair of roster moves including the addition of Ivan Ryabkin, a 2007 birth year forward from

muskegonlumberjacks.com

He was not the first or even second young Dynamo player who as some beef with organisation. Chernyshov was the closest example. I know one man 1who is close to this organisation and he isn't very kind person I would prefer to not even know. And he translates negative position about both players and I think he is repeating some voices from this organisation.
So I think organisation has problem with building normal relationships with young and talented players(there are many rumors about Rotenberg and SKA, but in real life where we judge not by "public opinion " but by steps in circumstances, Rotenberg made trades for his young players who couldn't crack the roster or wasn't good enough, or loan them, overall he is always giving some chances, creating camp, hire coaches, mental specialists etc. He is very awkward person but he is making a lot, and the bets are high, its not like he can wait all the time in the world before some young player will finally develop and will travel to NA after that, KHL is about winning now, especially for club like SKA. But he really awkward).
Not a big fan of USHL as an environment for this kind of talent, would be better for him to play in VHL. But if Dynamo wanted to send him to mhl, at least he will learn language, will go through earlier adaptation. And he definitely will play center role, unlike in VHL or in KHL. So its better to develop him as a center. He is nice two way playmaking center, if he will become available after 10-15 pick, some team will win the draft. But I guess USHL experience will help to minimize all the nationality factors

 

[evnted]

He was not the first or even second young Dynamo player who as some beef with organisation. Chernyshov was the closest example. I know one man 1who is close to this organisation and he isn't very kind person I would prefer to not even know. And he translates negative position about both players and I think he is repeating some voices from this organisation.
So I think organisation has problem with building normal relationships with young and talented players(there are many rumors about Rotenberg and SKA, but in real life where we judge not by "public opinion " but by steps in circumstances, Rotenberg made trades for his young players who couldn't crack the roster or wasn't good enough, or loan them, overall he is always giving some chances, creating camp, hire coaches, mental specialists etc. He is very awkward person but he is making a lot, and the bets are high, its not like he can wait all the time in the world before some young player will finally develop and will travel to NA after that, KHL is about winning now, especially for club like SKA. But he really awkward).
Not a big fan of USHL as an environment for this kind of talent, would be better for him to play in VHL. But if Dynamo wanted to send him to mhl, at least he will learn language, will go through earlier adaptation. And he definitely will play center role, unlike in VHL or in KHL. So its better to develop him as a center. He is nice two way playmaking center, if he will become available after 10-15 pick, some team will win the draft. But I guess USHL experience will help to minimize all the nationality factors

very much appreciate the context!

also, i just saw mention of some russian sources denying the muskegon report. looks like we may have a bit of a controversy on our hands lol translated:

“Ivan Ryabkin is now in a hotel in St. Petersburg and is preparing to go on a trip with the VHL team. He just flew to St. Petersburg, where he met with the coaching staff of Dynamo (St. Petersburg). So far I can’t say anything regarding the legality of concluding a contract in America.


We are currently holding consultations with the KHL and have already discussed all possible options for the development of events. We also contacted Ryabkin’s agent, who said that Ivan has no plans to go overseas,” Sopin said in a conversation with Championship correspondent Sergei Emelyanov.

did muskegon jump the gun on announcing it? did the agent have ryabkin commit as leverage for a bigger role? is this damage control to avoid the club retaliating before he heads over? who knows

Сопин: Рябкин находится в отеле Санкт-Петербурга. У него нет планов по отъезду за океан

Сопин: Рябкин находится в отеле Санкт-Петербурга. У него нет планов по отъезду за океан

www.championat.com

 

[Guadana]

very much appreciate the context!

also, i just saw mention of some russian sources denying the muskegon report. looks like we may have a bit of a controversy on our hands lol translated:

did muskegon jump the gun on announcing it? did the agent have ryabkin commit as leverage for a bigger role? is this damage control to avoid the club retaliating before he heads over? who knows

Сопин: Рябкин находится в отеле Санкт-Петербурга. У него нет планов по отъезду за океан

Сопин: Рябкин находится в отеле Санкт-Петербурга. У него нет планов по отъезду за океан

www.championat.com

May be little bit if this, little bit of that, some overreaction from some side, may be someone was too excited about hearing something, yeah who knows. It would be great for him to play in VHL. We saw guys like Michkov or Silayev who played draft year in KHL but it is still very rare. Very very rare. And having experience in vhl in draft year is a thing for only good. Especially if he will play center role.