Monsieur Verdoux
Registered User
Thanks for the thorough answer. It's always a pleasure to read your (and others) analysis about prospects from this forum.Beckett Sennecke is a player I'd be talking a lot about if the Devils were picking in the 15-20 range.
There is no doubt Sennecke is an extremely intriguing prospect, but he's definitely a project and a long, long way from his ceiling. I love picks like this later in the 1st round and in later rounds, because I feel he has a very high ceiling which makes him worth the risk more and more as the draft progresses.
Sennecke shot up from (I think) 5'10 to 6'3 or something in the past year and a half and it shows. Though he shows natural athleticism, he's still a bit gangly and plays much more of a finesse game; he doesn't really know how to use his size and he's not very strong for this size.
If any player in the 2024 class needs 3 years of physical and weight training, it's Sennecke. He's pretty easily knocked off pucks and beaten in physical battles by smaller young men, but again, due to the ludicrous growth spurt it's tough to fault him.
Let's talk about what he brings to the table -- at 6'3, he's an excellent skater with a very good shot, the capability for high-end vision and a high offensive IQ. This is an extremely intriguing combination. If everything comes together, he mixes the skill and physical attributes to become a highly productive top 6 wing at the NHL level. Sennecke becomes even more intriguing when we consider that physical training with NHL teams could potentially bump his skating up two or three levels. This is a kid who skates well despite the fact he is still getting used to his own body. The potential is there.
The converse is that Sennecke still plays a perimeter game, and tends to disappear against physical opposition while not offering any sort of 200-foot consistency which can justify his existence when he's not hitting the scoresheets.
Ultimately, we have a high-upside RW with a looooong way to go, which again -- makes him a very good pick late in the first round. But when the Devils pick at #10? I think it would be an absurd stretch to consider him ahead of Brantseggp-Nygard, Chernyshov or Helenius.
So the answer is Sennecke is a player with whom there's a lot to like and root for, but he's probably 3-4 years away and there are some concerns to keep in mind. He'd make a lot of sense for a team which can afford to be patient with him in the 20s like Colorado or Toronto.
I have to watch few games of Chernyshov, but I have liked what I have seen from Helenius and Brandsegg-Nygard.
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