Any one watching the playoffs realizes how physical,intense and so much different than regukarxseason hockey...Hawks have so many undersized unphysical prospects in the forward pipeline that even if they produce eventually in NHL regular sesson play they will get pushed around...stymied...obliterated up front by the opos bigger dmen..
You know this.. so we have a chancevto getva Big 6'4 216 lb (probalay plays near 230 evebtualky) powerful while still sjatibg fast,powerful center with a 2 way projected game and a nasty edgevto his gameand a great shot guy wo xan score goals both from distance and in close..goid hands...defeflectionsxat net...yes still has improvements he can make but the projectile 2C isxa floor ...he coukd beca 1C lije Toews orcBarkov playong a 2C to a more purelyvskilked smaller C in Bedard.
So to me...for the balance of power and skill structure up front,there us no question Lindstrom should be the guitar brst fits team need up front..
Even if you think Demidov has superstar qualities (debatable as he has only proved himself at the MHL level ) you already have small forward wingers in Nazar,Moore,Lardis and Kantserov...it makes novsensecto add Demidovgiven our cirrebtvstocpukevof smalk skilk forwards.
We nedd more sizexand power to win puck battles along the boardsxand in front of the net ..
We need to be bigger down the middle and line #2aftercthe Bedard linevas line #1has to be sobethibgvdifferent ..
SHEDD a 2 way line with power and enough scoringvskilk to press and pressurecthevoppsxD in their zone..
Lindstrom has gotvto be tge #2pick because the Hawks are picking..therevis no guarantee he is the best "talent" but 4-5 yrarsvout he coukd have tremendous do.monanant push rhevotger guys around and also match up shu town thevotger guys because they cannot get pucks back kind of impact player in that sense
And when pkayoffs finally cone,the little showboat disapoear and the bigger gutsctakevover games..
Youvalk know this..
No question we need to draft Lindstrom ...Big powerful Centers who can score goals lije hom just do no t cone to later pucks after the first few guys go off the board early 1st roubd. YOU HAVE TO GRAB this type early...And we know that he will be there for us at #2.. I hope KD decides wisely and does not go smalk again up front just to put on a dangle show that may prove not so effective anyway at the NHL level.
At #18 maybe if Sennecke is still on the board at #15 #16 or#17 , KD can try moving up 2-3 spits by coupling #18 and #50 ...an equal dangler to Demidov..but much bigger at over 6'2 weight to his frame...There and projectile to get stronger as he adds more weight and muscle...andxa better 2way player.
If we cannot moveup from#18 to get Sennecke then hope we get 1 of 2 main targets for this pick in my books:
.Michael Hage is just over 6feet but 190 ...a tremendous skater and puck carrier with speed to blowcbyvdefenders and back then off.. Goodland creative in thebo-zone...Has thecability to also becax2 way 2C ..but 1 aspect of criticism from 1xscouting reoirt I read said he generates his speed fron cross-overs but isa bit slow accelerating from a stopped start position...which to that repirt suggest he may be better suited to wing because centers stop and start a lot given their responsibilities defensively and so if you are a bit behind accekartibgvfrom a stopped position this split second can lead to trailing on getting back to check.. So not sure if KDvand Hawks scouts woukd be looking to Hage as a 3C with superior attack speed and creative ozone scoring and playmaker ability OR more as another wing scoring threat with skating and goodenough size at 6'0 190 to add to the winger mix competition.
Maybevthey feel he can work on getting a better jump into acceleration from stopped startsand improve so tgat he can project as a Center?
Woukd be a competitor to Oliver Moore for c3C or for 3RW of which1vof them eventually is a winger.
.but Hage may have top 2 line winger (#1linevor #2line)ability whereas Moore likely would be a more defensive 3C or 3RW with 2 RW upside ...maybe...
In any case I think KD may have Hage in the target sights at #18..
The other target I like at#18 is Yegor Surin 6'1 .. 190...described by 1 scout asa heat seeking missile and one of the 2 best and most violent hitter in this draft ,he is notsome slow slug with no skill...rather is very athletic,good skater,great shot ,very physical,energetic with good motor...a lot of good abilities we would want as a RW.... ...BUT the biggest concern agaibst hom is discipline...gets too exuberant in rough physical play...getsvtoo many penalties...so thisvoutsvhim down into round 2 on sone scouts rankings astoo risky to hope he can tame his roughing and not go off thecderpbend as much....other scouts say they want such a physical feared intomidator and think they can work with him to use it more judiciously but also like thevathleticusm,skatingvandcscoring skills he brings and think that he will get even betterxwith those skills.
In any case sonecrankibgs have him going 29-23 range ...others later 20s ..
Others not till latex30scor earlyv40s...
But hevusxa very very intriguing prospect and a very young pkayer with an August birthdate...so lotsvofvtinevtobgrowvnirecand improve hischane more but hisxwhokecset of skikjsxandvohysical pkay is very very interesting ..and I think we need more physical presence in our forward group..
I wonder what our Rusdian Scout thinks of hisvpitential?
If he likes hom so kich that he gets KD to agree then maybe he would be who we take at #18?