HF Habs: 2024 NHL Draft Thread

[waitin425]

Every year there are players that drop. Last year it was Benson. Many pegged him in the top 10, and even some had him top 7ish.

Who could it be this year? That Winnipeg pick could be around 18th if they go out in the first round.

We could get...

One of......Mack, Demi, Lindstrom, Catton

plus whoever drops.

Does Helenius? Iginla? I've seen Iginla ranked as low as 13th.

Could be an excellent draft for us.

 

[Mrb1p]

Helenius isnt a safe pick either, thats dumb. He very well could end up like Aho, is that not a home run? All the players at the top have high end potential. Id say the two lowest upside players are Silayev and Dickinson and even they project to be top pair/2nd pair. Of the forwards, Lindstrom, Iginla and Helenius have the "lowest" upside.

Benson’s proved nothing so far in the NHL.

What? Hes on pace for 30 points while being a full time 18 years old and playing amazing defensive hockey. This is ridiculous. Id say he looks better than anyone /Bedard. Even Leo and Adam.

This isnt news to anyone that actually put time in scouting this kid, he is incredible.

Catton is also great, but he is no Benson.

 

[BergevinBurner]

Every year there are players that drop. Last year it was Benson. Many pegged him in the top 10, and even some had him top 7ish.

Who could it be this year? That Winnipeg pick could be around 18th if they go out in the first round.

We could get...

One of......Mack, Demi, Lindstrom, Catton

plus whoever drops.

Does Helenius? Iginla? I've seen Iginla ranked as low as 13th.

Could be an excellent draft for us.

I've seen Iginla ranked in the late teens or even 20's.

Outside of this board it's somewhat rare to see him inside the top 10.

 

[waitin425]

I've seen Iginla ranked in the late teens or even 20's.

Outside of this board it's somewhat rare to see him inside the top 10.

If that's the case, I will resume my day dreaming about scoring Lindstrom and Iginla in this draft.

 

[Mrb1p]

If that's the case, I will resume my day dreaming about scoring Lindstrom and Iginla in this draft.

Lmao that would be completely bonkers.

There is no way Iginla doesnt go top 10. You can mark my words on this one. He has it all. Bloodlines, size, production, playstyle, CHL, its all there.

Whos the last player with his package to fall?

 

[waitin425]

Lmao that would be completely bonkers.

There is no way Iginla doesnt go top 10. You can mark my words on this one. He has it all. Bloodlines, size, production, playstyle, CHL, its all there.

Whos the last player with his package to fall?

Nobody. Not a ton of sample sizes, when you include..........bloodlines!

Players do fall all the time though, every year. So maybe Iginla doesn't fall, I'm not predicting that. But, I bet someone does, and we may have a shot at that someone with the Jets pick.

 

[WeThreeKings]

We basically just need to be at pick 6 or 7.. there you should be looking at one of Lindstrom/Demidov.

If you are at 8, chances become a lot slimmer either of those guys are there. 9 it becomes an absolute impossibility.

At that point we can all theorize as to who their preference is between Helenius, Catton, Eiserman, Iginla, etc. but we don't know right now. We should know more when we get to the combine.

 

[waitin425]

If anyone is looking for a new time killed this season. Last year's mock draft sim doesn't seem to work. This one does though!

FC Hockey

nhlentrydraft.com

Ran a 3 round mock and got this.

7
FC RANK 2

DEMIDOV IVAN
RW
SKA ST. PETERSBURG
KHL
5'11”
168 lbs

27
FC RANK 35

EMERY EJ
D
UNIV. OF NORTH DAKOTA
NCAA
6'3”
165 lbs

59
FC RANK 59

PARASCAK TERIK
RW
PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS
WHL
5'11”
179 lbs

72
FC RANK 78

POIRIER JUSTIN
RW
BAIE-COMEAU DRAKKAR
QMJHL
5'8”
181 lbs

80
FC RANK 94

KOIVU AATOS
C
TPS U18
U18-SM-SARJA
6'0”
165 lbs

 

[Goalfield13]

Goldenhands is high on Helenius, so I am too lol. He would look good on a line with Newhook and Dach. Lindstom/Demidov/Catton/Iginla/Helenius would all be good picks, and I would be happy with any of them.

 

[crosbyshow]

I’m not disagreeing with you (nor am I agreeing worth you either). I’m just telling you that Bobrov, and by extension, the Habs, will not use a top 9 pick on Catton. I’m trying to save you an evening of disappointment when the Habs pass on him on draft night.

...and I agree with you as I knew that the habs would not take Quinn Hughes 3rd overall in 2018 but I wanted him so bad.

It is the place to discuss about the best prospects and in my view Catton is the third best one this year and yes Bobrov and the habs will regret to pass on him..big time.

..like some teams last year with Zach Benson

 

[Mrb1p]

Nobody. Not a ton of sample sizes, when you include..........bloodlines!

Players do fall all the time though, every year. So maybe Iginla doesn't fall, I'm not predicting that. But, I bet someone does, and we may have a shot at that someone with the Jets pick.

Yeah, but Id think Eiserman, russian D, small offensive defenders and small C are more likely to fall than Iggy.

 

[morhilane]

Lmao that would be completely bonkers.

There is no way Iginla doesnt go top 10. You can mark my words on this one. He has it all. Bloodlines, size, production, playstyle, CHL, its all there.

Whos the last player with his package to fall?

Depends how many dmen are taken in the top 10, I doubt he's the next forward taken after Celebrini.

 

[waitin425]

Yeah, but Id think Eiserman, russian D, small offensive defenders and small C are more likely to fall than Iggy.

I agree. You just never know though, and stranger things have happened during the draft. If I was a betting man, and someone said...pick a more likely scenario.....Iggy top 10 or Iggy outside top 20. I'd go top 10. But that is the fun of it!

 

[crosbyshow]

I have made my mind that the Habs won't draft the players I want the most (Catton) in this year draft but I have no doubt in my mind that 4 or 5 years from now Catton will develop as one of the premium superstar player in the NHL. I have rarely seen as a 16 years and a 17 years old carry his whole team like Catton has, he is the whole offense and the whole PK by himself while playing so much and being so clutch for his team. Only player I remember doing that was Crosby with Rimouski (obviously at a higher level) but the way he has handled it all while still having growth potential, especially in term of strength and skating is phenomenal. I am not surprised though that the scouting community is overlooking him after all they did pass on Benson and Caufield for similar reason.

This!

It's exactly what I see when I watch Catton.

There is no doubt in my.mind that he will be better than Lindstrom cause he has the most important thing in hockey : a brain...

 

[Vachon23]

This offense is gonna be in the same mold as Vegas and Carolina when its all said and done(unless we win Celebrini) and you can definiltely win a cup with that.

I don’t think we have anyone of Jack Eichel and Mark Stone caliber

 

[waitin425]

Goldenhands is high on Helenius, so I am too lol. He would look good on a line with Newhook and Dach. Lindstom/Demidov/Catton/Iginla/Helenius would all be good picks, and I would be happy with any of them.

If Goldie is taking Helenius, you can take that to the bank. I swear he is a legit insider after the past two drafts.

Goldenhands =

 

[Sorinth]

As I said, I don't disagree your take. The current Habs scouting team shown no prior history with smaller sized player drafted high in the first round. They clearly have an emphasis for size that being said, how in hell did they rate Mesar that high in their ranking... and they also drafted Lane Hutson they sometime go away from that identity.

There's been 2 drafts with this scouting team, and with both top picks the argument that we went with size is a little dubious. Like we didn't draft Slafkovsky because he was bigger then Wright, we did it because of character. They were very impressed with Slaf's character and him living alone in a foreign country cooking his own meals at 15, and they were very unimpressed with Wright sitting at home learning to play guitar during covid. And on top of that Slaf is arguably more skilled then Wright too.

Then for Reinbacher, again was it size that we went with? Because even though we passed on the elite skills of Michkov, there's a pretty strong case that we passed not because of size but again because of character. And once you get passed Michkov, it's not at all obvious that we passed on skill for size as Reinbacher has plenty of soft skill and was also seen as a high character person.

There's also been plenty of interviews and quotes by management where character was put at the forefront. So if anything I'd argue that what they value most with those top picks isn't size but character. And in saying that it's worth mentioning that character is fairly subjective, so what one person might consider high character another might not.

 

[Goalfield13]

Another good thing about Helenius is that he is a natural RW with a 200 foot game. With all due respect to Caufield, we don't have anyone like that in our pool that is projected to be top6. If it came down to Catton/Iginla/Helenius, that might be the deciding factor.

 

[Goalfield13]

No. Update your beliefs. Suzuki is a top 15 C. A solid one at that.

Slaf is 19 and hes already at a similar level 23 YO stone was. Well be fine. Stop selling our players short.


Iginla was seen as a grinder/two-way player before this season.

Yes, but he is LW, which was my point.

 

[Mrb1p]

Yes, but he is LW, which was my point.

Fair, I thought you were talking about two-way. Iggy plays RW and even C too.

 

[Anardil]

Dont think Lindstrom is a game breaker. Hes a physical package. Hes a lot like Cozens.

I see a Jeff Carter type center. Shooter first type.

 

[le_sean]

There's been 2 drafts with this scouting team, and with both top picks the argument that we went with size is a little dubious. Like we didn't draft Slafkovsky because he was bigger then Wright, we did it because of character. They were very impressed with Slaf's character and him living alone in a foreign country cooking his own meals at 15, and they were very unimpressed with Wright sitting at home learning to play guitar during covid. And on top of that Slaf is arguably more skilled then Wright too.

Then for Reinbacher, again was it size that we went with? Because even though we passed on the elite skills of Michkov, there's a pretty strong case that we passed not because of size but again because of character. And once you get passed Michkov, it's not at all obvious that we passed on skill for size as Reinbacher has plenty of soft skill and was also seen as a high character person.

There's also been plenty of interviews and quotes by management where character was put at the forefront. So if anything I'd argue that what they value most with those top picks isn't size but character. And in saying that it's worth mentioning that character is fairly subjective, so what one person might consider high character another might not.

It’s not dubious when you look at their entire scouting careers. It’s not like Bobrov and Lapointe only started working in the NHL two years ago.

 

[Sorinth]

It’s not dubious when you look at their entire scouting careers. It’s not like Bobrov and Lapointe only started working in the NHL two years ago.

It's a group decision, so when you change the scouting groups you'll change the results so yes it's dubious to look at their entire scouting careers, especially given that you don't know how they actually ranked players year to year. There could be plenty of times smaller players were ranked highly by either Bobrov or Lapointe but we don't know because their team didn't have a high pick or the consensus went against them. Not to mention it's the GM who would set the importance of things like size, skating, character.

But ok I'll bite, show me the examples of Lapointe drafting for size with high picks prior to the last 2 drafts? Because before MTL he wasn't involved as an amateur scout, and with Montreal before Hughes took over Timmins was in charge of the draft. So I'm not sure how looking at his entire scouting career is supposed to show something when he's never even been in charge before.

 

[le_sean]

It's a group decision, so when you change the scouting groups you'll change the results so yes it's dubious to look at their entire scouting careers, especially given that you don't know how they actually ranked players year to year. There could be plenty of times smaller players were ranked highly by either Bobrov or Lapointe but we don't know because their team didn't have a high pick or the consensus went against them. Not to mention it's the GM who would set the importance of things like size, skating, character.

But ok I'll bite, show me the examples of Lapointe drafting for size with high picks prior to the last 2 drafts? Because before MTL he wasn't involved as an amateur scout, and with Montreal before Hughes took over Timmins was in charge of the draft. So I'm not sure how looking at his entire scouting career is supposed to show something when he's never even been in charge before.

You just said it’s a team decision. Clearly Lapointe was very involved with Trevor. It was always him #2 to Trevor. You can tell how involved he was just by draft videos. Unless you think the Director of Player Development and Director of Player Personnel isn’t at all involved in those types of decisions…

“We are going to put you in charge of developing our prospects but we don’t want any input on which ones to draft” is quite far-fetched.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Based on the current standings:

1. Sharks: Celebrini
2. Hawks: Demidov
3. Ducks: Levshunov
4. Jackets: Silayev
5. Senators: Parekh
6. Coyotes: Eiserman
7. Habs: Lindstrom
8. Kraken: Dickinson
9. Flames: Catton
10. Penguins: Buuim