HF Habs: 2024 NHL Draft Thread

[JeffreyLFC]

I will make a bold prediction. After Celebrini goes #1, the next 3 selections will be defender.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Chicago realize how Seabrook and Keith were integral, so if they don't get Celebrini I think they'll draft their cornerstone defenseman.

Doesn't make sense to pair a small Demidov with Bedard. I don't think you can make a case for Lindstrom at 2.

 

[G0bias]

What if San Jose gets Celibrini, do the Hawks pick a Dman or a Demidov?

Common sense would point towards D but Sharks and Hawks are missing pretty much everything, they'll be picking high for a while too, so they could go either way imo

I also don't see any of the Ds, despite having great upside, being slamdunk #1's the same way Fantili and Carlsson were leading up.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

I think Levshunov will be the 2nd player drafted because he has top pairing potential and he is RD.

Demidov is amazing but at 2nd overall you want a cornerstone and I think teams will be too shy to draft him that high. I also have a feeling Lindstrom will be the first forward drafted.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Huh?!? The consensus majority of all prospects near the Habs draft spot in 2023 were forwards, there were very few defencemen. Reinbacher was ranked on average 12th for all scouting reports, the highest of which was 8th by McKenzie.

Our need was much greater for forwards rather than D, and it was common knowledge the 2024 draft would be stacked in D at the top.

He might have been BPA in their mind but its not an easy sell to say he would have been BPA to the general public.

Doesn't mean I won't root for his success, but I don't fully understand their draft strategy.

Their strategy going back to the Rangers days is rearing its head with that pick

 

[The Last Red]

This is misleading, the full quote was "if there is a player available that is better and more skilled than the rest, we will draft that player. But all things equal, we would draft for need".

So if there is a clear BPA they will pick him regardless of position. If they view two players of different position as close/equal, they will pick the "need".

They’re going to draft a forward, it’s pretty clear.

Not on the second line of a stanley cup contender. Im happy with Roy/Newhook on a 3rd

Yup. Need two top more top six forwards. Newhook and Roy with Beck on the third line.

 

[SlafySZN]

 

[KevSkillz4]

One thing for sure, Habs will add a very good played with their selection. Everyone should be happy to have a another high pick this year. The building of this team look very good so far. 2022 and 2023 draft have potential to become very very good for Habs.

Kent Hughes have asset's to make moves for improve each position, Habs have great young players for the future.

Suzuki, Caufield, Dach, Slaf, Newhook, Roy, Beck... you can draft a solid forward this year, trade for a really good forward too.

Guhle, Reinbacher, Hutson, Mailloux, Engstrom, Konyushkov, Xhekaj, Struble, Harris, the future of D's is looking very promising.

At G's

Montembeault, Primeau, Dobes, Fowler, Miller and Volokhin. That's promising.

 

[An0n]

Huh?!? The consensus majority of all prospects near the Habs draft spot in 2023 were forwards, there were very few defencemen. Reinbacher was ranked on average 12th for all scouting reports, the highest of which was 8th by McKenzie.

Our need was much greater for forwards rather than D, and it was common knowledge the 2024 draft would be stacked in D at the top.

He might have been BPA in their mind but its not an easy sell to say he would have been BPA to the general public.

Doesn't mean I won't root for his success, but I don't fully understand their draft strategy.

You’ve just made my point.

 

[le_sean]

Demidov's puck skills being only high end makes me wonder if he's "watching" the same player.

I've defended Pronman somewhat in the past, but I can't deny his rankings, while interesting because of the connections context, are underminded by his subpar write-ups that make me question how much he's actually studied the players. He also still suffers from Drouin PTSD, he's gotta get therapy and work on that shit.

Give me Scouching types any day over these Athletic guys.

I don’t know. I give Pronman kudos for genuinely liking Slafkovsky over Wright. He said he had top line and true star potential. He’s pretty much the only one that said it. Scouching type of stats guys were saying Slaf didn’t have much upside just based on the data. I think he had him like 5th on his list.

 

[Doublechin]

Chicago realize how Seabrook and Keith were integral, so if they don't get Celebrini I think they'll draft their cornerstone defenseman.

Doesn't make sense to pair a small Demidov with Bedard. I don't think you can make a case for Lindstrom at 2.

Depending when he comes back and how he finishes the season he might be the wild card to crack the 2nd overall pick.

 

[le_sean]

2 years ago it cost ARI pick 27-34-45 to move up to 11 and grab Geekie

Pick 27 is a likely finish from WPG but we don't have the draft capital this year to do the same. We would need to give '24 COL and surely ours in '25, likely adding a 3rd this year to offset it.
Lots of assets, but would be worth it in our situation.

Either way the challenge is to find a partner to trade. Who would be in a similar spot as SJ was, meaning a team in lack of draft capital that might want to have more quantity than quality?

Don’t think it’s worth it. We will add a high end prospect with our Top 10 pick, but the team is ready to start trying for the playoffs next season - that should be the goal. The Winnipeg pick should be used for immediate help (a player that is in his early 20s). We can’t continuously play the waiting game.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

I think Levshunov will be the 2nd player drafted because he has top pairing potential and he is RD.

Demidov is amazing but at 2nd overall you want a cornerstone and I think teams will be too shy to draft him that high. I also have a feeling Lindstrom will be the first forward drafted.

I assume you mean post-Celebrini? Or just outright?

 

[WeThreeKings]

Depending when he comes back and how he finishes the season he might be the wild card to crack the 2nd overall pick.

Not much time left, it's already been a few weeks longer than expected in recovery.. could give teams a lot of pause there. Especially with so many defenseman on the board.

 

[le_sean]

Better for the Habs if teams are hesitant to take Lindstrom. Adding another big body like that would really set the team up nicely. Then you can play with the lines and see who works best with who without worrying about being too small.

Or you could really f*** with teams and put him with Slafkovsky and Dach

 

[RationalExpectations]

Common sense would point towards D but Sharks and Hawks are missing pretty much everything, they'll be picking high for a while too, so they could go either way imo

I also don't see any of the Ds, despite having great upside, being slamdunk #1's the same way Fantili and Carlsson were leading up.

If Hawks and Sharks don t have Celibrini they ll go for D in my opinion : Sharks have good F options with Bystedt Edstrom Eklund Smith already but not much at D. I think Hawks would go Levshunov to pair him with Korchinski.

Better for the Habs if teams are hesitant to take Lindstrom. Adding another big body like that would really set the team up nicely. Then you can play with the lines and see who works best with who without worrying about being too small.

Or you could really f*** with teams and put him with Slafkovsky and Dach

Great with Dach and Lidstrom they could play a total of 40 games per season on average between them

 

[waitin425]

If we get Lindstrom, I'd pair him with Dach and Caufield. Having two monster bodies creating space and controlling the puck will give Caufield every opportunity to finish.

Slaf and Suzuki seems like a solid pair that I would not break up. Rotate Roy and Newhook through that line and see if one of them can take the next step. This assuming, we don't go out and land Zegras.

Maybe go out and land Anthony Mantha as a UFA for our third line. He can still put up 20-25+ goals per. Another huge man.

Slaf - Suzuki - Roy
Lindstrom - Dach - Caufield
Mantha - Newhook - Anderson

 

[The Last Red]

If we get Lindstrom, I'd pair him with Dach and Caufield. Having two monster bodies creating space and controlling the puck will give Caufield every opportunity to finish.

Slaf and Suzuki seems like a solid pair that I would not break up. Rotate Roy and Newhook through that line and see if one of them can take the next step. This assuming, we don't go out and land Zegras.

Maybe go out and land Anthony Mantha as a UFA for our third line. He can still put up 20-25+ goals per. Another huge man.

Slaf - Suzuki - Roy
Lindstrom - Dach - Caufield
Mantha - Newhook - Anderson

I can't see Lindstrom playing in the NHL next year.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

I'm actually a lot less worried about this pick than last year when there was a clear top-5

Celebrini would be awesome but picks 2-12 are all legit prospects that I could get behind.

Nobody is a slam dunk 1C, but the forwards and defenders all have good size or great skill, 2 things we need badly

 

[Goalfield13]

For those saying Reinbacher was a reach at 5, we have to look at the alternatives at that spot. Michkov was not an option for this management team. It was between Reinbacher and Leonard. I would take Catton/Demidov/Lindstrom over Leonard any day of the week, so I think the Reinbacher pick was a good one.

 

[The Last Red]

For those saying Reinbacher was a reach at 5, we have to look at the alternatives at that spot. Michkov was not an option for this management team. It was between Reinbacher and Leonard. I would take Catton/Demidov/Lindstrom over Leonard any day of the week, so I think the Reinbacher pick was a good one.

Which I think is the problem/issue that most of us have. Why was he not an option? We all know he's coming over at some point, they all do. But I agree that the top 10 this year looks deeper than last year's. I didn't even like Will Smith that much even though he's super-skilled. Tij Iginla even seems like a better option than some of the forwards taken after Michkov.

 

[Goalfield13]

Which I think is the problem/issue that most of us have. Why was he not an option? We all know he's coming over at some point, they all do.

I don't know why he dropped, but he did. It wasn't just us, which means teams knew something. At this point, it is what it is. I trust that our management team did their homework and assessed the risk as too high. We ended up with a big stud RD, which is never bad.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Which I think is the problem/issue that most of us have. Why was he not an option? We all know he's coming over at some point, they all do. But I agree that the top 10 this year looks deeper than last year's. I didn't even like Will Smith that much even though he's super-skilled. Tij Iginla even seems like a better option than some of the forwards taken after Michkov.

3 years in the KHL with no control over his development.
Culture was the buzz word around Reinbacher, don't think that was simply about Reinbacher, there's a lot of smoke about Michkov not being coachable, not being a great teammate, etc. It's clear the team values the person as much as the player.
They didn't think his offensive upside is as high as the fans do, they could simply think he's more Caufield than Kaprizov.
His size/skating combo with a top 6 already containing Caufield, it wasn't the only reason but another factor.
Then there's the non existent defensive game where he isn't even in the frame defensively.
Finally Michkov offensive game is a very particular style and they may not have felt their system and ideal way to play would jive with his style of play.

It was a whole lot of factors together that made him not considered at the pick.

 

[Hansman]

I like Catton and Iginla. Just imagine if the latter has dog in him like his father.

Caufield - Suzuki - Slafkovsky
Iginla/Catton - Da

Leaving after the first day with those 2 would be a win.

Leaving after the first day with those 2 would be a win.

 

[Goalfield13]

Looking at the draft odds right now, we have a small chance to drop to 9th. If that is the case and all three of Catton/Demidov/Lindstrom are gone, our consolation prize is going to be Iginla. That's pretty much our Leonard pick a year later. Iginla has been rising, and I would love to draft him too. We are in a very good spot.