HF Habs: 2024 NHL Draft Thread

[vokiel]

Can’t win in the playoffs with small Russian star wingers

Take note Chi, Ana, CBJ and avoid Demidov

I'd say you don't win with Marner types, but that applies to all teams right?

 

[Deebs]

I think his game works better there than Lindstrom's

So you think Iggy could be a better Center in the NHL, even though he's never played the position, than Lindstrom who's always played there. I guess it's possible

 

[vokiel]

How many centers didn't play center in their draft year in junior?

Florian Xhekaj?

 

[Gally11]

So you think Iggy could be a better Center in the NHL, even though he's never played the position, than Lindstrom who's always played there. I guess it's possible

Markov was drafted as a center and ended up being one of the better D to ever wear a Habs jersey. I think hockey people are too rigid on positions, smart players are adaptable

 

[Beer and Chips]

Are we looking for at least a 2W or a 3C? Swing batter!

 

[McGees]

Tried to get an idea of who CBJ like by visiting their thread…but left quickly since every post is a half page novel.
Did notice a lot of Yakemchuk and some Lindstrom talk.

 

[BergevinBurner]

Should we be getting updated heights and weights today?

 

[MTL Dirty Birdy]

I have not seen him, does he play with his size? I don't mean a power forward but does he shy away from the corners or the

Not to me since I could care less about stats, just go with what I see.

I've seen 6 games of his, impressed with the skill, poor balance and major lack of strength, he has that KK lean too forward when skating that doesn't seem to help his balance as he reminds me a bit of Benoit Pouliot.

The only thing I care about is getting Demidov, but I'm expecting him to go 2nd, after that I don't really care and just hope they make the right pick cause clearly this organization has struggled greatly at the draft table for decades, and if we want to be a contender again it's going to mean our drafting and development must vastly improve from what we have seen in the past.



doesn't shy away and i've seen him defend his teammates but it looks like he has a major lack of physical strength at this point so to me he would be someone you can not rush to the NHL. Let him mature physically like they should have done with KK.

As a teen, growing 5 inches in a little
Over a year, physical strength won’t happen. Once he slows down he’ll fill out and his game will take another jump

 

[WeThreeKings]

Florian Xhekaj?

He has not established himself as a NHL center. I doubt he does either.

Markov was drafted as a center and ended up being one of the better D to ever wear a Habs jersey. I think hockey people are too rigid on positions, smart players are adaptable

You're talking about an extreme outlier and even he was playing D in his draft year.

The question is what qualities does the player have if they aren't currently in that position which make us think they could be the outlier? In my view there's nothing about Iginlas game that is what a center would do.

 

[ReHabs]

No. But that's certainly an interesting interpretation of my post.

I think it was the only reasonable interpretation of your comment. I don't want to draft the next Phil Danault but it was worth asking if you think that's the height of what we should get to dream about.

I'm still sticking with the pure-talent. I'm 0/2 since the HuGo era started but this year, I'm going to hold out for Catton.

 

[YukonCornelius 5thOA]

Actually, Doug McLean laughed at the Habs when we picked Carey Price at #5 and left Gilbert Brule on the board for CBJ to take at #6. He basically moonwalked to the podium and never stopped shooting his mouth off about it.

Shooting his mouth off was his biggest skill, otherwise an absolutely horrible talent evaluator and team builder. Just a f***ing idiot really.

 

[Gally11]

He has not established himself as a NHL center. I doubt he does either.



You're talking about an extreme outlier and even he was playing D in his draft year.

The question is what qualities does the player have if they aren't currently in that position which make us think they could be the outlier? In my view there's nothing about Iginlas game that is what a center would do.

My thing with Iginla is he’s so young and progressing so fast we don’t know what his game is necessarily, like if he were born just a month and a half later he’d be in next years draft and who knows how high he’d go there.

It’s going to be interesting to watch his development next year and where he slots in positionally.

My thing is hockey minds are too simple sometimes and need to get more modernized like the NFL for instance

 

[MTL Dirty Birdy]

Or a great big center for Dach if he doesn't sort out his faceoffs.

Either way it'd be nice to have a solid duo of Dach/Lindstrom to follow up Suzuki/Caufield with.

It’s starting to look more like Slaf and Suzuki. I have a feeling CC could eventually be on the second line with Dach for better matchups

 

[SlafySZN]

Should we be getting updated heights and weights today?

I think it’s later in the week

 

[L4br3cqu3]

There's a lot of talent at the top of the draft and I think a lot of guys have the potential to be stars if everything works out, but I think Lindstrom might be the only one who could likely be a problem for other teams in the playoffs even if he ends up being a relatively disappointing pick.

Let's say he ends up being a 25 goal, 25 assist centre who's roughly 50% on faceoffs and decently responsible defensively. That's no where near his upside, but he'd be a 6'3 220+ pound mean power centre with some offense and enough defense not to necessarily get dominated if he finds himself matched up against a top line. That'd be a nice bloody player to have in the playoffs. Matchups matter in the playoffs and some teams might not have an answer for him. Or they'd have to line match their best d pairing to stop him, drawing them away from our top line.

If he reaches more of his potential, he'd be an even bigger problem.

Sounds like Keith Primeau.

And I'd be all for that.

 

[McGees]

Is this official measurements or ones provided before combine?

https://x.com/i/web/status/1797258298883821652

 

[Kent Nilsson]

NHL teams always try to copy whatever is working at the moment and rn if you want to fight a team like Florida you go Lindstrom.

I’m 100% he’s not making it to us now.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Is this official measurements or ones provided before combine?

https://x.com/i/web/status/1797258298883821652

They haven't done any of the measurements yet, they do it at the same time as the public tests, later this week.

 

[overlords]

Is this official measurements or ones provided before combine?

https://x.com/i/web/status/1797258298883821652

aatos koivu is officially 6'1.

 

[Runner77]

My thing is hockey minds are too simple sometimes and need to get more modernized like the NFL for instance

I don’t know how advanced NFL drafting methodology is vs the NHL, but on average, the NFL is drafting 22 year olds where a significant number has the ability to step into an NFL roster immediately.

The NHL on the other hand, is drafting 18-20 year olds and the vast majority require development.

It’s just so much more difficult to project an 18 year old vs a 22 year old draftee, which probably explains in large part why NHL drafts are less efficient than the NFL.

Plus, watching the NFL draft this year, I’ve heard time and again how a team can win a draft via its picks in the 3-7th rounds, which explains how several NFL teams chose to trade down in exchange for extra later picks. That strategy would likely backfire in the NHL, where the chances of landing a viable player decrease significantly the further away you get from the 1st-2nd round.

Best way to succeed in an NHL draft is to have advanced scouting tools (competent analytics) and the best talent evaluators you can get. Some scouts and scouting directors have a better track record than others and prying those away is huge but difficult to do.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Is this official measurements or ones provided before combine?

https://x.com/i/web/status/1797258298883821652

No Mac Swanson and no Justin Poirier is an absolute joke

 

[Genghis Keon]

I think it was the only reasonable interpretation of your comment. I don't want to draft the next Phil Danault but it was worth asking if you think that's the height of what we should get to dream about.

I'm still sticking with the pure-talent. I'm 0/2 since the HuGo era started but this year, I'm going to hold out for Catton.

Here's an alternative interpretation:

"There's a lot of talent at the top of the draft and I think a lot of guys have the potential to be stars if everything works out"

I think a lot of players at the top of the draft have the upside to be stars if everything goes right in their development (Lindstrom included).

"but I think Lindstrom might be the only one who could likely be a problem for other teams in the playoffs even if he ends up being a relatively disappointing pick."

Not all players max out their upside. Even if Lindstrom doesn't max out his potential--in fact, even if he ends up being a disappointment--I think he could be a major asset in the playoffs, a problem for other teams. And I think he's the only player at the top of the draft you can say that about.
 
"Let's say he ends up being a 25 goal, 25 assist centre who's roughly 50% on faceoffs and decently responsible defensively."

For example, here's a situation where Lindstrom is just a 50 point centre.

"That's no where near his upside"

Lindstrom's potential is a hell of a lot higher than just being a 50 point centre. It would be a disappointment if he ends up just being a 50 point centre.

"but he'd be a 6'3 220+ pound mean power centre with some offense and enough defense not to necessarily get dominated if he finds himself matched up against a top line. That'd be a nice bloody player to have in the playoffs. Matchups matter in the playoffs and some teams might not have an answer for him. Or they'd have to line match their best d pairing to stop him, drawing them away from our top line."

Even if Lindstrom doesnt come close to reaching his max potential and ends up just being a 50 point centre, he'd still likely be a problem for opponents in the playoffs because he'd be a super sized mean centre with some offense and enough defense not to be played off the ice if he gets a bad matchup.
 
"If he reaches more of his potential, he'd be an even bigger problem."

If Lindstrom would likely be a problem for other teams in the playoffs if he ends up being a disappointment (just a 50 point centre), he would obviously be even more of a problem if he's not a disappointment (if he's more than just a 50 point centre).

 

[ReHabs]

Not all players max out their upside. Even if Lindstrom doesn't max out his potential--in fact, even if he ends up being a disappointment--I think he could be a major asset in the playoffs, a problem for other teams. And I think he's the only player at the top of the draft you can say that about.

Even if Lindstrom doesnt come close to reaching his max potential and ends up just being a 50 point centre, he'd still likely be a problem for opponents in the playoffs because he'd be a super sized mean centre with some offense and enough defense not to be played off the ice if he gets a bad matchup.

If Lindstrom would likely be a problem for other teams in the playoffs if he ends up being a disappointment (just a 50 point centre), he would obviously be even more of a problem if he's not a disappointment (if he's more than just a 50 point centre).

You think he has a high floor. That's perfectly fair. I don't believe we should consider floor when looking at a top5 pick but we could disagree on that. I think a team like ours should swing for the highest upside as often as possible and I don't think we need to depict scenarios where our top5 draft pick turns out to be the next Philip Danault as an argument in favour of that player.

 

[ReHabs]

NHL teams always try to copy whatever is working at the moment and rn if you want to fight a team like Florida you go Lindstrom.

I’m 100% he’s not making it to us now.

Interesting thought. I'm not sure if it is to our benefit to steer clear of Lindstrom or it'll be a loss. As a rule of thumb, I don't like prospects with more Gs and As, it's a proxy knock against their playmaking upside.

How do prospect junkies compare eg. Leo Carlsson and Cayden Lindstrom?

 

[Zilo44]

Interesting thought. I'm not sure if it is to our benefit to steer clear of Lindstrom or it'll be a loss. As a rule of thumb, I don't like prospects with more Gs and As, it's a proxy knock against their playmaking upside.

How do prospect junkies compare eg. Leo Carlsson and Cayden Lindstrom?

Not a prospect junkie, but Carlsson was a much better prospect from what I hear