GDT: 2024 Draft Discussion

[JediOrderPizza]

Canadian NHL teams in the spotlight in Craig Button's latest mock draft | TSN

With his latest mock draft complete, TSN’s Director of Scouting wants to hear from you. Who do you want your favourite Canadian NHL team to select with their 2024 first-round picks?

www.tsn.ca

Button's mock for the first 30 picks if you all have not seen it yet...

Catton at 15 would be nice, seems very unrealistic tho...

 

[LongTimeDRWF]

Catton at 15 would be nice, seems very unrealistic tho...

Surprised me too, I can't recall seeing Catton falling out of the top 10 on any other mock, but I agree, I think SY might be tripping over his own feet to get to the podium...

 

[lilidk]

Surprised me too, I can't recall seeing Catton falling out of the top 10 on any other mock, but I agree, I think SY might be tripping over his own feet to get to the podium...

I have never paid attention on him because he is out of our reach, never seen him playing

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Catton at 15 would be nice, seems very unrealistic tho...

No way Catton falls out of the top 10 in a weak draft. There is a shortage of good center prospects and Catton just blew up the WHL in his draft year.

 

[lidstromiscool]

Catton at 15 would be nice, seems very unrealistic tho...

He won't be there, but he's way too skilled for Draper to pick him in the 1st round anyways

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

No way Catton falls out of the top 10 in a weak draft. There is a shortage of good center prospects and Catton just blew up the WHL in his draft year.

Great player, not a center at the NHL level.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Great player, not a center at the NHL level.

Agree with that as well. There will be someone who drafts him hoping he'll be a center though. There always is.

 

[Holden Caufield]

I went through combine results from 2019-2023 and pretty much all our first round picks show up in at least two top ten results for the combine. Greentree isn't on any.

I saw an interview of Greentree at the combine and he looked soft. I can’t find the interview anymore. But did find this picture.

 

[Holden Caufield]

Surprised me too, I can't recall seeing Catton falling out of the top 10 on any other mock, but I agree, I think SY might be tripping over his own feet to get to the podium...

 

[WingsToPick4th]

I really want Cole Eiserman, I think he will be the steal of the draft if he drops past 12-13 and end up being Pastranak lite.

You cant teach elite goal scoring. Its something the wings do not have anywhere in the pipeline.

 

[Frk It]

Surprised me too, I can't recall seeing Catton falling out of the top 10 on any other mock, but I agree, I think SY might be tripping over his own feet to get to the podium...

Why do we think the guy who didn’t want Perreault (twice) would want Catton?

I really want Cole Eiserman, I think he will be the steal of the draft if he drops past 12-13 and end up being Pastranak lite.

You cant teach elite goal scoring. Its something the wings do not have anywhere in the pipeline.

I’m pretty lukewarm on him at this point.

I’m not sure any part of his game other than his shot is above average?

That said, I would be fine with picking him, I would just hope he is able to develop a considerable amount at the college level.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Greentree does not at all play a power forward-esque game. He has significant stickhandling and playmaking abilities along with a great shot. If you are only comparing them size wise, sure they are similar height.

I totally agree he doesn't play like a power forward (or at least doesn't use his size to his advantage as much as he should). I still don't see why he wouldn't be included in a conversation with the other two, unless a team is for some reason limiting their picks to "power forwards." They are different but the overall quality is largely the same in my eyes.

 

[DoMakc]

Why do we think the guy who didn’t want Perreault (twice) would want Catton?


I’m pretty lukewarm on him at this point.

I’m not sure any part of his game other than his shot is above average?

That said, I would be fine with picking him, I would just hope he is able to develop a considerable amount at the college level.

Because Perreault cannot skate and Catton is the best skater in the draft? Seems like significant difference to me

 

[Frk It]

Because Perreault cannot skate and Catton is the best skater in the draft? Seems like significant difference to me

Where did you get that from? If he was that he would be a consensus top 3-5 pick with the kind of season he just had.

I think his skating is better than Perreault’s, but not by that much.

I think he’s going to run into the same issues with NHL scouts where they are going to question how he projects despite the fact that he just had a very productive season. (I also think NHL teams will view him as a winger)

But I’m going to guess he ultimately goes off the board before we pick.

 

[Tatar Shots]

I totally agree he doesn't play like a power forward (or at least doesn't use his size to his advantage as much as he should). I still don't see why he wouldn't be included in a conversation with the other two, unless a team is for some reason limiting their picks to "power forwards." They are different but the overall quality is largely the same in my eyes.

That’s fair, I misunderstood the grouping.

 

[DoMakc]

Where did you get that from? If he was that he would be a consensus top 3-5 pick with the kind of season he just had.

I think his skating is better than Perreault’s, but not by that much.

I think he’s going to run into the same issues with NHL scouts where they are going to question how he projects despite the fact that he just had a very productive season. (I also think NHL teams will view him as a winger)

But I’m going to guess he ultimately goes off the board before we pick.

Wheeler ranked Catton 4th best skater in the draft (behind Mustard, Spellacy and Emery), referencing his edges as the best in the draft. Pronman ranked Catton as the best skater in the draft. Perreault's skating was his main issue (along with size) - I'm pretty sure Pronman projected him as at least below average skater.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

I really want Cole Eiserman, I think he will be the steal of the draft if he drops past 12-13 and end up being Pastranak lite.

You cant teach elite goal scoring. Its something the wings do not have anywhere in the pipeline.

Cole Eiserman is a one-touch player that doesn't create anything on his own. If he doesn't score then the puck is either frozen or on its way out of the zone right after his chance. A ton of his production was on the powerplay. 25 of 58 goals on the powerplay. Wasn't there a chart from the 2017 draft when we drafted Rasmussen that showed when such a big ratio of your production comes on the powerplay in junior it's a negative indicator.

Plenty of scouting reports have also mentioned that while he has talked to his coach about improving his defensive play and play off puck, there hasn't been a really notable improvement. He's also about Zadina's size so don't expect a power game to develop. And his finesse game isn't all that terrific.

A lot of people have pointed out that one dimensional goalscoring specialist prospects look great in juniors, but suffer greatly at the pro level when you need a backup game. Arthur Kaliyev Cole, Jake Virtanen, Kieffer Bellows, Oliver Wahlstrom and Filip Zadina are 5 examples of outright busts that were drafted as goalscoring specialists. Laine is about as useless as a pecker on the pope when he's not putting pucks in nets. And how often do we bitch about DeBrincat when he's not putting the puck in the net? There's plenty of other examples of this type of prospect busting or playing and being a net negative to make me leery of picking them.

I think it's more likely Cole Eiserman becomes the next Mike Hoffman than the next Brett Hull or even the next DeBrincat. Still a hard pass for me.

 

[Frk It]

Wheeler ranked Catton 4th best skater in the draft (behind Mustard, Spellacy and Emery), referencing his edges as the best in the draft. Pronman ranked Catton as the best skater in the draft. Perreault's skating was his main issue (along with size) - I'm pretty sure Pronman projected him as at least below average skater.

Thanks for sharing, was genuinely wondering where that was from.

You are probably right, the difference in skating is what will probably lead to Catton going top 10.

Still not sure Detroit would be interested if he was to slide though. I’ve read that he has some consistency issues and that scouts think a lot of the plays he makes might not work at the next level. I would love to be wrong on that though.

 

[Holden Caufield]

Wheeler ranked Catton 4th best skater in the draft (behind Mustard, Spellacy and Emery), referencing his edges as the best in the draft. Pronman ranked Catton as the best skater in the draft. Perreault's skating was his main issue (along with size) - I'm pretty sure Pronman projected him as at least below average skater.

Yes, his skating is excellent. He is also much better defensively and has more compete then Perrault. A much more complete player. (And I like Perrault)

Aside from looking at a measuring tape, there isn’t much to dislike about Catton’s on ice abilities.

Still a pipe dream. Button’s lists and mocks are entertainment only. If Bob has Catton in the teens on Monday…. Then I’ll start to get excited.

 

[Gibby]

Marek Vanacker? Anyone?

 

[norrisnick]

Marek Vanacker? Anyone?

Gesundheit

 

[13to40]

Abby with Datsyuk and Zetterberg was dominant line . He helped more skilled guys to do their job. Most importantly Datsyuk liked to play with Aby.

You could have played with Datsyuk and Zetterberg and put up the same points as Aby… and I’m not even sure if you even know how to skate.

 

[GoBoltz56]

Marek Vanacker? Anyone?

He's an Yzerman type pick, but I can't see it at 15.

 

[OldnotDeadWings]

It's not crazy to think Catton might drop. Teams that see him as a center in the top 12-14 might at the same time prefer a D. Teams that see him as a Teravainen type who needs to move to wing might see him as more appropriately a mid-teens pick, and less attractive than Iginla or the bigger Sennecke and MBN.

Drafts rarely if ever go completely according to projection. There is always a surprise or two. One or two players from a consensus top 14 or anyone's individual list is going to be available at 15, My unexpected surprise dropper is Helenius, my surprise non-consensus pick Chernyshov, my expected pick MBN. Any of them would be good.

 

[Tatar Shots]

Actual team draft lists would look so different this year if we got to see them. I'd be more surprised if one of the forwards that the consensus has going before we pick is not available.