HF Habs: 2024 NHL Draft Thread

[Saundies]

So if Demidov and Lindstrom are gone by 5, do we take a flyer on Sennecke, or go Buium? "Sounds like" Tij is out of the mix, if you believe the "Insiders."

If they're out of the mix, it's hard. Let's say I'm 'happier' going with a Buium or Dickinson than I am if they are there and we inexplicably pass on them for some reason to do it.

Basically, if either one of them is there and we don't take them, I really don't understand. If they're not, I understand further. I'm a 'please get a forward/we need forwards/why won't you just pick a foward' type of poster for this draft but I would at least hear them out if they felt Buium/Dickinson was truly the best players available based on their games over an Iginla/Sennecke.

 

[Team_Spirit]

Kinda weird Lindstrom made it all the way up off 25 games after this ranking.

it's Catton Saturday

https://x.com/i/web/status/1715063868274421884

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Now, after Demidov and Lindstrom, the forward are not equivalent to the top D.

Again, there’s no consensus on that. From what I’ve seen iginla’s ranked higher than Buium is. So’s Senecke.

There’s zero consensus out there at all. I’m is not a clear BPA. And again, most have Dickinson ranked higher than Buium.

 

[The Last Red]

If it goes Celebrini, Demidov, Levshunov, Lindstrom……ummmm….between Dickinson (who can play the right side) and Sennecke and his magic hands.

Would be happy with Iginla too

I like Buium way more than Dicksinson.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

If it goes Celebrini, Demidov, Levshunov, Lindstrom……ummmm….between Dickinson (who can play the right side) and Sennecke and his magic hands.

Would be happy with Iginla too

Guhle can play right side. Do we want to keep him there? No. I don’t know why we’d take Dickinson to play him on the right side too.

 

[Schooner Guy]

It is when you have an overload at a position. How many times are you going to draft for the same spot? At this point it would be crazy to do it. Which is why it’s not going to happen.

I beg to differ. What's crazy would be passing up on a player your scouts have ranked far ahead of any other available player because of your organizational depth chart at different positions. That's losing sight of the big picture.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I beg to differ. What's crazy would be passing up on a player your scouts have ranked far ahead of any other available player because of your organizational depth chart at different positions. That's losing sight of the big picture.

Who says he’s far ranked ahead of anyone?

 

[Balthazar]

So Michkov is playing for the Flyers next season. This should give even more confidence to the top 4 teams to draft Demidov.

 

[Jaynki]

Again, there’s no consensus on that. From what I’ve seen iginla’s ranked higher than Buium is. So’s Senecke.

There’s zero consensus out there at all. I’m is not a clear BPA. And again, most have Dickinson ranked higher than Buium.

Indeed.

Draft cant come soon enough

Interesting week ahead

 

[Riggins]

This poster shits on every single amateur scout. It’s a bit of a vendetta it seems, maybe because it comes from a place of jealousy.

I wouldn't put much stock into Wheeler. Last year he had Fantilli to Anaheim, Smith to Columbus and Carlsson to SJ.

Pronman clearly has developed some connections over the years. His final mock will be interesting as he's nailed it the last couple years.

In 2022, in the top 6 all he messed up was Nemec and Jiricek in the wrong spots. It was bold at the time having Wright at #4. In 2023 he nailed the top 5.

 

[Team_Spirit]

Kinda weird Lindstrom made it all the way up off 25 games after this ranking.

it's Catton Saturday

Catton produced at Crosby, Bedard level and he lost 5 ranks, really makes you think

Catton Saturday

https://x.com/i/web/status/1802463462196383949

 

[salbutera]

Again, your point are valid and i also agree with every single one of them.

But i think they are a distraction in the process of selecting the best player in the 2024 draft.

I believe Buium has the potential to be a top 10D in the league. You are free to disagree. There is no valid reason for me to disregard this type of upside.

Imagine we are in the exact same spot and we hold the 1st OV pick in 2018 draft. Should we disregard Dahlin because we have Hutson and Guhle?

In 2018 Dahlin was clear cut 1OA (like Cenebrini) and Svechnikov was unanimous 2OA - both were a tier above test of draft cuvée at the time of the draft. Such is not the case after Celebrini as 1OA this draft

 

[Jaynki]

In 2018 Dahlin was clear cut 1OA (like Cenebrini) and Svechnikov was unanimous 2OA - both were a tier above test of draft cuvée at the time of the draft. Such is not the case after Celebrini as 1OA this draft

Yes i agree.

But it was to highlights the facts that its all about aiming for upside.

The need, what we have, etc is a distraction.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Again, your point are valid and i also agree with every single one of them.

But i think they are a distraction in the process of selecting the best player in the 2024 draft.

I believe Buium has the potential to be a top 10D in the league. You are free to disagree. There is no valid reason for me to disregard this type of upside.

Imagine we are in the exact same spot and we hold the 1st OV pick in 2018 draft. Should we disregard Dahlin because we have Hutson and Guhle?

If Buium has top 10 potential, then so do 4 or 5 others in this draft if you believe countless rankings and mock drafts.

not sure why Dahlin is being used to draw some sort of equivalency. Undisputed #1 overall pick compared to (maybe) the 3rd D picked.

 

[Mrb1p]

I think we should stop trying to galaxy brain it and just pick Catton or Iginla but thats just me.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I'm gonna take a hiatus, the Michkov news is already gonna make this place toxic as f***. When they take Buium over Demidov, I can't be here for it

Don't worry. We're taking Eiserman.

And we're not taking Buium. I just can't see it.

 

[HuGo Burner Acc]

I think we should stop trying to galaxy brain it and just pick Catton or Iginla but thats just me.

Iginla is probably a better choice as Catton probably won't be able to dominate from the middle of the ice like he has up until now. They'll both probably have to become wingers and Iginla game won't be as hurt from doing so. Nothing against Catton but he's more of a perimeter player. Habs need to learn how to play on the inside more

 

[Jaynki]

If Buium has top 10 potential, then so do 4 or 5 others in this draft if you believe countless rankings and mock drafts.

not sure why Dahlin is being used to draw some sort of equivalency. Undisputed #1 overall pick compared to (maybe) the 3rd D picked.

I dont draw any parralel between Dahlin and Buium

I just used this as an example to aim for highest upside instead of needs, fits or whatever distraction.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

That’s why God created trades.

How do you get the best players? You draft them. Once you draft them, you tend to hang onto them. That's why you rarely see big trades anymore.

It makes no sense to draft a blueliner now so we can try to trade a blueliner for a forward tomorrow. Just draft the forward.

 

[The Great Weal]

If you think the forwards left are 2nd liners and a top pair D is available, who do you take? That’s the real decision.

Top pair D all day. Imagine if Dallas passed up on Harley because they had Heiskanen and Lindell. Not to mention that Suter was also in the top 4 a good bit of times meaning they had 4 LHD in the top 4. Obviously you'd like to have at least one RHD there which is why adding Tanev helped them out tremendously, but if a team like Dallas can do that despite having a top 5 dman in the NHL, I don't see why the Habs can't do the same.

I still think we're getting one of Demidov/Lindstrom, I doubt the Hawks are passing up on Levshunov because Demidov is one inch taller than expected.

 

[SOLR]

My two cents on this whole thing. I've always seen Suzuki as a high IQ player, Matheson not so much. Matheson's skating is sublime. He can make a mistake and outskate an opposing player back to his own end. We've seen him do that before.

As for being more IQ tested, I'd say Suzuki's been far more successful on that front. He may not be a 100 point player but he's got strong two way play. Matheson shouldn't be a number one pairing blueliner. He's got great skills and can put pucks in the net but his defense leaves a lot to be desired.

Anyways, this probably isn't the thread for this conversation. But it's an interesting foil to look at this vs the upcoming draft from the perspective of physical ability vs IQ. To me, Matheson's success is borne out of his skating. He's one of the best in the NHL and it's served him (and us) really well. He's taken far too much abuse here but I wouldn't call him a high IQ player. I would with Suzuki.

Now try to explain how skating can be magically detached from IQ since it's mainly a coordination challenge. And how a fast player need to process the game often 30-40% faster than a slower player (Suzuki who is average). Matheson is higher IQ than Suzuki, his issue: he would have to be even higher IQ to just look like Suzuki who plays the same 10-15 plays over and over. Being a forward is a lot simpler than being a D.

The reverse case: Ribeiro was smart but was also slow, ie. a lot of his processing was going to recognizing patterns vs. moving.

The absolute case: McDavid is 2-3 standard of deviation faster, with the pattern recognition of Ribeiro (no tradeoff).

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Isn’t he a journalist for The Athletic? Surely through out his career he must have develop some connections.

The Athletic is a relatively new publication that brought in hacks like Wheeler and Pronman who have never worked in hockey. Just because he now has the opportunity to meet/interview some of these people does not give him an ounce of credibility as they don't share anything of value with an outsider like him. I know NHL players, who are mostly retired but I have had many opportunities to speak to players, executives, scouts and agents and they don't share certain things especially with media types like Wheeler who is not part of the club that people like myself were much closer to. I am not even remotely obtuse enough to ask certain questions because I know what the answer would be and the reason that they were cool with me was largely due to that level of respect. When a guy like Wheeler walks in the room there is collective hush that comes over these people and he is at best a necessary evil that they would sooner see go away than have to entertain on a phony level for any period of time.

It is important to understand that there are only a couple of media personalities that have earned enough respect to even allow the door to open a tiny crack like Mackenzie and Friedman and even they only get things that the team is ok with divulging and that does not include who they are going to draft. The only exception is Mackenzie getting the the scoop straight from the draft table moments before teams walk up to the podium and the pick has already been decided upon.

 

[dcyhabs]

I like Buium way more than Dicksinson.

It really depends on how their games translate. I haven't seen much of either, but both put up pretty impressive stats. Buium may have inflated stats due to a good team or he may be an NHL star, at least in the regular season.

Dickinson may top out as a second pairing player but he could be an NHL playoff star.

It's really tough to judge ahead of time. In 5-10 years I'll look at hockeydb, do a couple of sorts, and say "obviously we should have taken whatever player wasn't really in consideration." It's really a matter of trying to end up with the guys who progress, and we have to hope the dinners and meetings gave some insight.

 

[PavelBrendl]

Kinda weird Lindstrom made it all the way up off 25 games after this ranking.

it's Catton Saturday

https://x.com/i/web/status/1715063868274421884

It's always been Catton Saturday. Pushing him down lists has always been pure big brain/size queen shit.

 

[HabzSauce]

Catton produced at Crosby, Bedard level and he lost 5 ranks, really makes you think

Catton Saturday

https://x.com/i/web/status/1802463462196383949

This kid is so intriguing man. I'm not super high on him and would rather draft Buium, Demidov with our pick. He's in the next tier for me with Iginla & sennecke.

But man you cannot deny this dudes skill. Unreal player. Whoever gets him is going to look really good in a couple years