HF Habs: 2024 NHL Draft Thread

[SOLR]

I think, in the eyes of many, Matheson's many gaffes on the PP preclude him from counting as a high IQ player. I don't have an opinion about it either way, just trying to help the discourse along.


Levshunov is by far the best dman prospect of this draft (and last draft). I can't see him falling to 5OA but if he's there you take it and run.

I said highest IQ on the habs, not overall high IQ. Matheson's gaffe on the PP are in the context of others players who are developing as well. Anyway, it's a weird argument to make "he's not the highest IQ guy we have because he makes gaffe I don't like while leading the PP." The rest of the organization agrees with my evaluation. The reason I'm pointing out that Matheson is our highest IQ player is not much of an argument for Matheson, it's an argument for getting IQ.

Hutson will be the highest IQ player we have very quickly. He'll make a lot of gaffes too, for years to come. But you have to take the bad with the good.

 

[ReHabs]

I agree completely with this, that's why I'd pull a Demidov trade, it's time to make a move. He's the playmaking forward. Wait another year to get a 1C (hopefully Dach is out of the infirrmary for 1 year).

You mean to trade up to acquire him? Bold move

 

[SOLR]

You mean to trade up to acquire him? Bold move

Yep and no, even bolder, trade for 2.. We know what we need at this point. Chicago is the only team I'm trading Guhle to in order to get Demidov (ie. I'm only giving up on Guhle if I get a piece that is harder to get than Guhle)

Guhle + Dvorak + B Prospect + Pick, for 2nd overall. Draft Demidov
Pick Dickinson/Buium at 5.

+other trade to help the top 6 immediately (Necas, I'm not sure what they want, but I pretty sure they want some futures that won't break us).

Caufield - Suzuki - Slaf
Roy - Necas - Dach
Armia - Newhook - Anderson
RHP - Evans - Gallagher

Next year

Demidov - Suzuki - Slaf
Necas - Future 1C (cost: Caufield, Newhook) - Dach
Roy - Beck - Mesar
Kapanen - Evans- Gallagher

Hutson - Reinbacher
Matheson - Mailloux
Buium - Struble

Trade Savard for 1st at deadline this year (or Necas trade)
Trade Matheson for 1st at the deadline next year (or Necas Trade)
There we have all this with 3 1st going in the 2025 draft to fix any holes (I'm simplifying because we don't know the cost of Necas)

 

[Vachon23]

So who is our highest IQ player? Critiques without replacement are just drunk-ass lame behaviour.

Suzuki by far

 

[SOLR]

Suzuki by far

Nah. Suzuki's biggest limitation is IQ. That's why he broke out at 24 instead of 22. I'm not saying he's low IQ, I'm just saying he's not our highest IQ, imo. That's why he's probably not a 1C. He's a very good 2C in a cup team. He's our Drai. He's our Stone. We need our Eichel/McDavid. Now impossible to get a McDavid, but reclamation projects like Eichel happens every few years. Or we can add a high IQ winger to his line.

 

[Saundies]

I said highest IQ on the habs, not overall high IQ. Matheson's gaffe on the PP are in the context of others players who are developing as well. Anyway, it's a weird argument to make "he's not the highest IQ guy we have because he makes gaffe I don't like while leading the PP." The rest of the organization agrees with my evaluation. The reason I'm pointing out that Matheson is our highest IQ player is not much of an argument for Matheson, it's an argument for getting IQ.

Hutson will be the highest IQ player we have very quickly. He'll make a lot of gaffes too, for years to come. But you have to take the bad with the good.

Woof, no.

IQ includes situational awareness, of which Matheson has next to none. He chooses the more complicated, dangerous play over the simple, safe play almost every time. I would argue that shows a lack of IQ.

"Should I make this simple cross ice pass or try to dangle three guys from the corner?... The second one sounds good. Oh, the pucks in our net. How'd that happen?"

As @Vachon23 mentioned above, our smartest player is Nick Suzuki AINEC. In all situations.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Nah. Suzuki's biggest limitation is IQ. That's why he broke out at 24 instead of 22. I'm not saying he's low IQ, I'm just saying he's not our highest IQ, imo. That's why he's probably not a 1C. He's a very good 2C in a cup team. He's our Drai. He's our Stone. We need our Eichel/McDavid. Now impossible to get a McDavid, but reclamation projects like Eichel happens every few years. Or we can add a high IQ winger to his line.

I don't agree. Suzuki has very high IQ and breaking out with points is not really a IQ thingy. That is more about skill/maturity. Suzuki's IQ is very high.

Suzuki is a 1C. Fringe back of the buss type yes but he is a 1C. Ideally, you want him playing 2C with someone better yes. But not always possible.

 

[BergevinBurner]

Nah. Suzuki's biggest limitation is IQ. That's why he broke out at 24 instead of 22.

I couldn't disagree more. I wouldn't even say he broke out this year, he's been steadily progressing his entire career. The only difference is this season he finally had 2 quality linemates for an extended period, something he didn't have at 22 years old.

 

[SOLR]

Woof, no.

IQ includes situational awareness, of which Matheson has next to none. He chooses the more complicated, dangerous play over the simple, safe play almost every time. I would argue that shows a lack of IQ.

"Should I make this simple cross ice pass or try to dangle three guys from the corner?... The second one sounds good. Oh, the pucks in our net. How'd that happen?"

As @Vachon23 mentioned above, our smartest player is Nick Suzuki AINEC. In all situations.

Wow the superlatives on Matheson are so out this world. Matheson role is far harder than Suzuki, Suzuki learned 10-12 patterns, and keeps repeating them because they work for him. Matheson is out there to improvise, he's the X factor. The coaching staff created this situation by analyzing the strengths of the players...

 

[SOLR]

I couldn't disagree more. I wouldn't even say he broke out this year, he's been steadily progressing his entire career. The only difference is this season he finally had 2 quality linemates for an extended period, something he didn't have at 22 years old.

This year he clearly was doing things at another level. He was good but at the same level the 2 years prior. Not blaming him, still great IQ, but not our highest. Hutson coming out of the boat will be it so this is a bit of a futile debate. The real debate is: can Suzuki lead us to a cup without adding a lot of IQ to his line, I think the answer is no.

 

[Saundies]

Wow the superlatives on Matheson are so out this world. Matheson role is far harder than Suzuki, Suzuki learned 10-12 patterns, and keeps repeating them because they work for him. Matheson is out there to improvise, he's the X factor. The coaching staff created this situation by analyzing the strengths of the players...

He certainly improvises new ways to give the puck away in high-danger areas every game I watch.

You said the PP runs through Matheson.. It doesn't. It runs through Suzuki.

The drop-pass they do every single time (which I hate by the way) always goes to Suzuki to enter the zone. The puck in the zone, when they can, always ends up on Suzuki's stick to circle high, walk in, and either shoot or look for passes. He's our PP QB and everything runs through him.

Matheson does well on the PP because he can solely focus on offense and not defense.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Nah. Suzuki's biggest limitation is IQ. That's why he broke out at 24 instead of 22. I'm not saying he's low IQ, I'm just saying he's not our highest IQ, imo. That's why he's probably not a 1C. He's a very good 2C in a cup team. He's our Drai. He's our Stone. We need our Eichel/McDavid. Now impossible to get a McDavid, but reclamation projects like Eichel happens every few years. Or we can add a high IQ winger to his line.

Gotta disagree. Suzuki is physically/athletically limited, his IQ is why he is where he is. The only Hab last year who was in his league IQ wise was Monahan, IMO.

 

[SOLR]

He certainly improvises new ways to give the puck away in high-danger areas every game I watch.

You said the PP runs through Matheson.. It doesn't. It runs through Suzuki.

The drop-pass they do every single time (which I hate by the way) always goes to Suzuki to enter the zone. The puck in the zone, when they can, always ends up on Suzuki's stick to circle high, walk in, and either shoot or look for passes. He's our PP QB and everything runs through him.

Matheson does well on the PP because he can solely focus on offense and not defense.

Like Brent Burns, like Hughes, like Bouchard, like Fox like all the top offensive D not named Makar or Josi. This is a non argument, it's not even true, it's your impression. And you are dismissing the other side of the coin completely. What does he create?

The PP always runs through 3 players, we have 2, that's why our PP is bottom 5. Currently its Matheson and Suzuki. By replacing Matheson with Hutson, we upgrade the IQ. And then we need a Demidov-like player to go in the top 10 PP.

 

[SOLR]

Gotta disagree. Suzuki is physically/athletically limited, his IQ is why he is where he is. The only Hab last year who was in his league IQ wise was Monahan, IMO.

I'm not saying his IQ is not his strength, I'm saying he's not our highest IQ and it's his greatest limitation to become a 100 point player. At this point his athleticism is not worse than Crosby in his prime. The difference between the two is a big amount of IQ. Sure if Suzuki was bigger with the current IQ he could be Barkov.

 

[phillytennis]

In my opinion, I don't see Lindstrom as a centreman in the NHL. As a centreman, you need to have great hands and tremendous vision, knowing how and when to feed a pass to a teammate.
This year, Lindstrom had a meagre 7 assist in 32 games. He scored 27 goals by powering through smaller.He won't be able to do that in the NHL. He is better suited to be a power forward. He can easily become similar to Anthony Duclair.

 

[SOLR]

In my opinion, I don't see Lindstrom as a centreman in the NHL. As a centreman, you need to have great hands and tremendous vision, knowing how and when to feed a pass to a teammate.
This year, Lindstrom had a meagre 7 assist in 32 games. He scored 27 goals by powering through smaller.He won't be able to do that in the NHL. He is better suited to be a power forward. He can easily become similar to Anthony Duclair.

Clearly a LW in the NHL, at least until he's 23-25.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Listened to the latest Pronman/Wheeler/Peters mock where they try to pick based on what they are hearing and think the teams would do.

• Belief is still Levshunov goes to 2 to Chicago.
• Anaheim may be interested in some of the forwards but the need is more on the back-end, think they'll go with Silayev.
• Lindstrom to CBJ
• Demidov to MTL - a bit of talk about how they would prefer Lindstrom but if he's gone, the easy decision and belief is that they'd go and take Demidov.
• Iginla didn't enter the conversation until Calgary and they went Parekh. Most teams don't really have top 7 reads on Iginla at this point.
• Sennecke went 6 to Utah. NHL scouts keep telling Pronman, Peters etc. that Sennecke isn't getting beyond Utah/Ottawa at 6 and 7. Always that he's going higher than they've mocked him previously. Teams outside the top 10 have basically given up hope they'll be able to pick this player.
• They then went on to say some believe that he could go as high as 5 to Montreal if Lindstrom/Demidov are gone.
• There was a little bit of discussion around Buium and Parekh for Montreal, but they all felt things being equal with Demidov or Sennecke there and the depth Montreal has on defense that it'd be hard to go in that direction if you really felt there was top line upside in those forwards.
• Pronman wanted to get us Boisvert but he went a pick ahead so took Surin.

 

[Hannibal]

The thought of Lindstrom to CLB piss me off so much. f*** them

 

[NotProkofievian]

I'm not saying his IQ is not his strength, I'm saying he's not our highest IQ and it's his greatest limitation to become a 100 point player. At this point his athleticism is not worse than Crosby in his prime. The difference between the two is a big amount of IQ. Sure if Suzuki was bigger with the current IQ he could be Barkov.

I think Crosby was just a lot better across the board. Crosby is a genius, but physically/athletically he was also a real handful.

 

[phillytennis]

Clearly a LW in the NHL, at least until he's 23-25.

Lindstrom...plays a heavy game which is better suited on the wing. He lacks the finesse and vision that we see in Catton, Iginla and Sennecke.

 

[Saundies]

I think Crosby was just a lot better across the board. Crosby is a genius, but physically/athletically he was also a real handful.

Crosby is literally a mack truck on skates. I love Nick Suzuki but he's not Crosby physically, either. Crosby's legs are NOTORIOUS for being ginormous in a sport full of guys with huge legs.

The thought of Lindstrom to CLB piss me off so much. f*** them

If Lindstrom has to waste away in hockey no-man's-land for us to get Demidov then so be it.

 

[Vachon23]

Nah. Suzuki's biggest limitation is IQ. That's why he broke out at 24 instead of 22. I'm not saying he's low IQ, I'm just saying he's not our highest IQ, imo. That's why he's probably not a 1C. He's a very good 2C in a cup team. He's our Drai. He's our Stone. We need our Eichel/McDavid. Now impossible to get a McDavid, but reclamation projects like Eichel happens every few years. Or we can add a high IQ winger to his line.

In all do respect, I don’t even know what to answers to that…

The reason why Suzuki is at his level is because of his IQ… And by the way Leon and Stone are both players with high IQ

 

[phillytennis]

The thought of Lindstrom to CLB piss me off so much. f*** them

I hope Columbus picks Lindstrom....hopefully Demidov or Iginla are available to us at 5.

 

[Vachon23]

Listened to the latest Pronman/Wheeler/Peters mock where they try to pick based on what they are hearing and think the teams would do.

• Belief is still Levshunov goes to 2 to Chicago.
• Anaheim may be interested in some of the forwards but the need is more on the back-end, think they'll go with Silayev.
• Lindstrom to CBJ
• Demidov to MTL - a bit of talk about how they would prefer Lindstrom but if he's gone, the easy decision and belief is that they'd go and take Demidov.
• Iginla didn't enter the conversation until Calgary and they went Parekh. Most teams don't really have top 7 reads on Iginla at this point.
• Sennecke went 6 to Utah. NHL scouts keep telling Pronman, Peters etc. that Sennecke isn't getting beyond Utah/Ottawa at 6 and 7. Always that he's going higher than they've mocked him previously. Teams outside the top 10 have basically given up hope they'll be able to pick this player.
• They then went on to say some believe that he could go as high as 5 to Montreal if Lindstrom/Demidov are gone.
• There was a little bit of discussion around Buium and Parekh for Montreal, but they all felt things being equal with Demidov or Sennecke there and the depth Montreal has on defense that it'd be hard to go in that direction if you really felt there was top line upside in those forwards.
• Pronman wanted to get us Boisvert but he went a pick ahead so took Surin.

If we can draft both Demidov and Boisvert, I don’t know how my night finish but I’m probably going at a bar and will pay a lot of shot

 

[Jaynki]

The thought of Lindstrom to CLB piss me off so much. f*** them

That most likely mean Demidov. No big deal imo.