GDT: 2024 NHL Entry Draft, at The Sphere in Vegas, Friday, June 28, 7 p.m. edt | SN, TVA Sports, ESPN, NHLN

[Jaynki]

So the Isles were talking about who to draft in 1977 so the story goes and somebody is pushing to draft Bossy and somebody else says he cant play defence to which either Bill Torrey or Al Arbour says something along the lines of dont care, we will teach him how to play defence. Voila , Bossy is passed on 14 times and taken at 15th. Dinosaur thinking, defensive play way overvalued.

From my experience watching drafts there are times when a Herd mentality jumps on a negative about a player and a player falls and turns into a steal ( see Cole Caufield). So this Cole Eiserman if he skates well, is a good puckhandler and has an arsenal of terrific shots, you have to look at him.

I would ask after all the due diligence, is he uncoachable or stupid ?
If the answer to both is no, then I bet he will improve his defensive play. And while I highly value 2 way play. I was thrilled with having Kovalev on the team. So unless a guy like Senneke is still around after the top 10, then I would be looking to move up from that Peg pick and picking up this guy. I mean talking in the 3rd person is annoying as hell but if the Habs scouts think he can score 30-40 goals in the NHL and not be a complete defensive liability, then I will take that bag of nuts and deal with it.

100% agree. Past the top 10, Eiserman is an obvious pick.

Guy holds the USNTDP record for goalscoring above many actual NHL stars including our own Caufield.


There is mega upside here.

 

[Playmaker09]

Another draft sim with Bob's rankings:

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Believe my friend, Michkov was not supposed to be available to Philly.

We never know, let us dream and it may become reality.

Beside being russians, Demidov and Michkov are two different players. Rumours said Michkov have bad character issue and he's also small. Demidov doesn't have character red flag and he's way bigger. Everybody doubt Demidov will be available at 5. Time will tell, prepare your favorite popcorn, lol.

 

[HabzSauce]

I'm stoked but it has everything to do with the ulterior moves every one of which Hugo's trades have been.
As far as the draft goes I'm good with the 4 or even 5 guys that have been actively proposed.
Sure we all have our favorites but we aren't well placed to know how they actively fit in with HuGo's vision of what our team building will look like.
We only have clues.

Couldn't agree more. There's definitely a plan regardless of who they pick. I know many here would be livid if we went with another Dman, but that just means more chips to trade. Assets are assets and takes a while to see how everything falls into place

 

[NORiculous]

Depends what you define as a Cinderella run. The Kings won multiple Cups but I’d argue they were both Cinderella runs.

Do the Panthers win the Cup this year without the experience of a Cinderella run last year? I doubt it. What about the Knights winning last year without many of their players having a long Cinderella run in their inaugural season?

There’s a lot of factors. Not everyone can build a team like Tampa.iThat’s fair even if I disagree. Since It would take to long for me to build the case with all the subtitles so I’ll just say

Depends what you define as a Cinderella run. The Kings won multiple Cups but I’d argue they were both Cinderella runs.

Do the Panthers win the Cup this year without the experience of a Cinderella run last year? I doubt it. What about the Knights winning last year without many of their players having a long Cinderella run in their inaugural season?

There’s a lot of factors. Not everyone can build a team like Tampa.

That’s fair. I do disagree with some but won’t argue with you on it since it would take me too much time to outline the way I see the subtleties.

I will say this:
Kings are closer to the Boston/Florida model with Hedman, Kopitar, etc. In the last 30 years to fit in that model you have Bergeron, Barkov, Kopitar and maybe ROR for the laps of the playoffs. Since ROR wasn’t constant, it is more luck then planning from a management perspective.

 

[Canadienna]

Michkovians, if the Habs get Demidov this year does it ease the decision to pass on Matvei for you at all? Knowing the team definitely wouldn't pick both of them.

A bit yeah.

I feel like we got lucky last year to have him fall to us, and we didn't take advantage of it.

I think we'll need to be lucky to have Demidov drop to us this year, so yeah if we pick Demidov it will make me feel better about picking Reinbacher.

 

[yianik]

The problem with Eiserman isn’t defence. The problem is everything but shooting.

At 5 it would be a really stupid pick. But trading up from 26? That’s fine.

Not even thinking about him at 5, but in the teens. I thought he was a good skater and puck handler besides the shot. Not the case ? If he is all shot he sounds like Michael Ryder, which wouldnt be a horrible downside.

 

[Doublechin]

Hopefully no one trades for Zegras and tempts the Ducks to move off the D.

I can definitely see the logic of getting Silayev

Pair him with Zellweger which allows Z to play his standard offensive game and take risks, he'd be the perfect pairing for such a player here.

I don't think trading Zegras is going to impact the Demidov trade, they could just draft Demidov and trade Zegras later

 

[GrandmaCookie]

I'm glad some of us are talking sense. Tampa and Avs were build through the draft and they hit with several stars. It's not always possible to build like this. Ask Yzerman with the Wings vs the Lightning.

I don't get it, some teams reach the finals or win the cup and fans try to downplay it. Imagine being happy you have the Leafs roster (Regular season champs) but then you hate that you have the Blues roster that ends up winning a cup. 1 cup > no cup.

There are not many teams like the Avs and Lightning. Basically some fans are saying 25 teams in the NHL need to rebuild because they have no business winning a cup and even if they earn it, it's a fluke.

Habs are tracking to have a roster similar to the Canes. Good top end players but no top end stars. Very good depth. Canes didn't win a cup with that core yet and might not win. Does that mean we need to start our rebuild all over again?

Florida and Oilers rebuilded and they were in the SCF this season tho!

 

[Saundies]

I'm glad some of us are talking sense. Tampa and Avs were build through the draft and they hit with several stars. It's not always possible to build like this. Ask Yzerman with the Wings vs the Lightning.

I don't get it, some teams reach the finals or win the cup and fans try to downplay it. Imagine being happy you have the Leafs roster (Regular season champs) but then you hate that you have the Blues roster that ends up winning a cup. 1 cup > no cup.

There are not many teams like the Avs and Lightning. Basically some fans are saying 25 teams in the NHL need to rebuild because they have no business winning a cup and even if they earn it, it's a fluke.

Habs are tracking to have a roster similar to the Canes. Good top end players but no top end stars. Very good depth. Canes didn't win a cup with that core yet and might not win. Does that mean we need to start our rebuild all over again?

My point is that you can't point to one way and say "that's how you win the cup.." in this case "Stars don't win you cups, depth does." That's completely disingenuous.

Look at the Panthers!! Okay, I am and I see Matthew Tkachuk, Reinhart, and Barkov. And Bobrovsky.

Look at the Penguins! Yeah I am and I see the best player of his generation and Evgenii Malkin.

It's hard for me to hang my hat on "balance and depth win you cups" when we haven't won a cup in over 30 years with that approach. We can repeat what we have ad nauseum that we've built from the net out ever since we've had Theodore and Price have been on the team, hell, since Roy's been on the team.

It's a different argument when you can point to something and say "let's build a balanced team, it's helped us win a cup in the year 20xx" or "we've been trying to win the cup by building a top heavy team and it hasn't worked. Let's try something different." We HAVE been building a team this way. It hasn't worked.

What is the definition of insanity again?

 

[PavelBrendl]

Definitely the most clownish mock draft out there. Is this a guide on how to piss off every fanbase in the league or…?

 

[Rapala]

Couldn't agree more. There's definitely a plan regardless of who they pick. I know many here would be livid if we went with another Damn but that just means more chips to trade. Assets are assets and takes a while to see how everything falls into place

I will hazard a guess.
If the Habs decide to select a Dman Betteman will be announcing everyone's favorite words.
"We have a trade to announce" before we step up to the Podium.
I can't see us not having a contingency in place we have plenty of assets of every kind.
Particularly if we pay attention to Kent's love of the word Balance to describe his ideal.
A Dman would definitely leave us more unbalanced than we currently are.

 

[Habsfan18]

Alright guys and gals, my final mock drat:

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Definitely the most clownish mock draft out there. Is this a guide on how to piss off every fanbase in the league or…?

Yeah I have Timmy Turner and Patrick Starr in my top 10, personally.

 

[Rapala]

Definitely the most clownish mock draft out there. Is this a guide on how to piss off every fanbase in the league or…?

There are 3 or even 4 players we aren't passing on to select Sennecke.
Not to mention the Flames GM will be in the unemployment line if he passes on the Son.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Florida and Oilers rebuilded and they were in the SCF this season tho!

Oilers were a complete rebuild. Then they took time to add Hyman, Ekholm, Kane.

Panthers got lucky with Tkachuk wanting out Calgary at the same time Huberdeau needed a new contract. That's not a plan, that is luck. Without Tkachuk, that roster would be limited and they would go back to middle of the pack. Tkachuk changed things by a wide margin for them. If not for this, they probably have Huberdeau still. Good player but clearly was overrated. Panthers also have a fair amount of guys on their roster they did not draft. Trades and UFA signings.

Rebuilds are about timing and approval from the owners.

* Leafs went through 10+ years of misery before they hired Shanahan and owners were OK with a rebuild.

* Habs actually started to rebuild a bit with Bergevin/Timmins but it was one of those focus on the draft but also still try to chase the playoffs. Flawed vision.

These parts were added with Bergevin/Timmins (while they were still trying to win)
* Suzuki
* Caufield
* Guhle
* Roy
* Romanov
* Mailloux
* Primeau
* Struble
* Kapanen

Gorton/Hughes came in at the right time IMO. Took the baton away from Bergevin and started to rebuild on top of what they already had. This is not a complete rip apart and start from scratch.

 

[Rapala]

Another draft sim with Bob's rankings:


View attachment 888035

Do you have any drafts sims based on HuGo and co.'s ratings.

Just checking.

 

[Habs Halifax]

My point is that you can't point to one way and say "that's how you win the cup.." in this case "Stars don't win you cups, depth does." That's completely disingenuous.

Look at the Panthers!! Okay, I am and I see Matthew Tkachuk, Reinhart, and Barkov. And Bobrovsky.

Look at the Penguins! Yeah I am and I see the best player of his generation and Evgenii Malkin.

It's hard for me to hang my hat on "balance and depth win you cups" when we haven't won a cup in over 30 years with that approach. We can repeat what we have ad nauseum that we've built from the net out ever since we've had Theodore and Price have been on the team, hell, since Roy's been on the team.

It's a different argument when you can point to something and say "let's build a balanced team, it's helped us win a cup in the year 20xx" or "we've been trying to win the cup by building a top heavy team and it hasn't worked. Let's try something different." We HAVE been building a team this way. It hasn't worked.

What is the definition of insanity again?

I understand and I agree. Leafs trying to copy cat the Pens model is prime example of that.

Remember when Yzerman was considered a genius with Tampa? Well, how long is it going to take with the Wings? A lot of luck is involved. Look how we landed Suzuki and Dach. Our two best centers and not drafted by the Habs.

There are a lot of layers to a winning blueprint and usually, it comes together with good long term vision but season/season moves and taking advantage of circumstances (Flames/Tkachuk for example).

Look at the Rangers. Half of their core was UFA signing or trades.

 

[PavelBrendl]

There are 3 or even 4 players we aren't passing on to select Sennecke.
Not to mention the Flames GM will be in the unemployment line if he passes on the Son.

Seeing the Flames in the saddle dome? Nay - The saddle dome will be in flames.

Yeah I have Timmy Turner and Patrick Starr in my top 10, personally.

Ol’ P Starr did put on a generational performance alongside his buddy SpongeBob. I’ll give him that.

 

[dinodebino]

The most important was.

We have one too. Coincidence.

 

[Gustave]

Another draft sim with Bob's rankings:


View attachment 888035

Danford would be a 10/10 pick there

 

[Habs10Habs]

If the idea though is to move up in the 10-15 to get Eiserman....seems to me we are aiming D at 5 'cause we know Lindstrom and Demidov will be gone.

How satisfied will you be with Buium-Eiserman?

Not my ideal situation. Though I wouldn't be disappointed.

 

[Playmaker09]

Danford would be a 10/10 pick there

54 on Bob's list for whatever reason. It's a possibility.

 

[sampollock]

Imagine coming out of this draft with Demidov and Catton. Buium Eiserman would be chopped liver.

getting Demi is the 1st thing..

 

[Habs Halifax]

Beside being russians, Demidov and Michkov are two different players. Rumours said Michkov have bad character issue and he's also small. Demidov doesn't have character red flag and he's way bigger. Everybody doubt Demidov will be available at 5. Time will tell, prepare your favorite popcorn, lol.

Screw the popcorn, I'm getting a 40 oz of Russian Vodka for tomorrow! Mix that with a little Rockstar and a few J's and I'm good to go.