Prospect Info: 2025 Draft discussion

[Le Magnifique 66]

I don't think this draft is a good one to prioritize offensive upside with their 1st. With the Rangers 1st, sure you can likely go with someone like O'Brien, Ryabkin or Bear based on the idea of going for all upside. But where the Penguins 1st is going to be sitting, there really isn't a "high offensive upside" player unless you want to get super risky with McQueen.

Frondell and Desnoyers both look like 2-way centers with uncertain offensive upside. Eklund is a high motor winger with skill, but doesn't project to be a "high offensive upside" type of player. Beyond the top-4 guys and those 4, anyone after is probably a reach in the top-10.

I personally like Desnoyers and Eklund, so I'd be satisfied with either, but I think both are kinda weak top-10 picks that are about on par with McGroarty as prospects.

Personally I hope a kid like Misa falls because of his "teddy bear incident". f*** we would be so lucky to have him fall to us, but then again, watch us pull a 2012 and pass on Forsberg....

Misa, Martone, Frondell I'd be very ecstatic to be honest and a solid start to our whatever you want to call it! Desnoyers with the Rags pick would be a solid project as well but I think minimum 4 years away at least

 

[PensFutures]

I mean I think every position is lacking when it comes to actual top ten talent.

100%. Im just more confident at the moment in our W/D scratch offs than I am Broz/Pono.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

I actually disagree completely.

The Pens need to hit on this pick.

Unless we get Hagens or Schaefer we likely aren’t getting a core piece in this draft. So get the Ryan Malone or Ryan Whitney that you know will be an NHLer.

We have to find a way to get into the top 5, and teams are well aware of that, so no one is trading or swapping picks with us this year. We have to stop getting points here, plain and simple lol

If we can land a Hagens, Schaefer, Misa, Martone or Frondell, IMO any of those 5 players are going to be core players. Not Bedard or Celebrini level, but right under.. Then I do agree with Bob McKenzie, it drops big time! I kind of hope the Rags pick is for next season...

 

[Empoleon8771]

Personally I hope a kid like Misa falls because of his "teddy bear incident". f*** we would be so lucky to have him fall to us, but then again, watch us pull a 2012 and pass on Forsberg....

Misa, Martone, Frondell I'd be very ecstatic to be honest and a solid start to our whatever you want to call it! Desnoyers with the Rags pick would be a solid project as well but I think minimum 4 years away at least

There's no way Desnoyers falls to the Rangers pick. I don't even think he lasts to the Penguins pick if they're picking at like 9.

Desnoyers or Eklund with the Penguins 1st and Ryabkin, Bear or O'Brien with the Rangers 1st is probably the best you're going to get out of this draft without winning the lottery or trading up.

 

[eXile3]

I don't think this draft is a good one to prioritize offensive upside with their 1st. With the Rangers 1st, sure you can likely go with someone like O'Brien, Ryabkin or Bear based on the idea of going for all upside. But where the Penguins 1st is going to be sitting, there really isn't a "high offensive upside" player unless you want to get super risky with McQueen.

Frondell and Desnoyers both look like 2-way centers with uncertain offensive upside. Eklund is a high motor winger with skill, but doesn't project to be a "high offensive upside" type of player. Beyond the top-4 guys and those 4, anyone after is probably a reach in the top-10.

I personally like Desnoyers and Eklund, so I'd be satisfied with either, but I think both are kinda weak top-10 picks that are about on par with McGroarty as prospects.

Offensive upside is the only thing we should be drafting. It’s the hardest asset to acquire. We should not be drafting defensive specialist with limited upside.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Offensive upside is the only thing we should be drafting. It’s the hardest asset to acquire. We should not be drafting defensive specialist with limited upside.

No one is suggesting they do that and is just a lazy representation of the discussion being had.

 

[HandshakeLine]

I don't think this draft is a good one to prioritize offensive upside with their 1st. With the Rangers 1st, sure you can likely go with someone like O'Brien, Ryabkin or Bear based on the idea of going for all upside. But where the Penguins 1st is going to be sitting, there really isn't a "high offensive upside" player unless you want to get super risky with McQueen.

Frondell and Desnoyers both look like 2-way centers with uncertain offensive upside. Eklund is a high motor winger with skill, but doesn't project to be a "high offensive upside" type of player. Beyond the top-4 guys and those 4, anyone after is probably a reach in the top-10.

I personally like Desnoyers and Eklund, so I'd be satisfied with either, but I think both are kinda weak top-10 picks that are about on par with McGroarty as prospects.

Then why not trade down? Or move the 1st + someone. If we’re picking weak 1st round picks, we’d be better off picking more often in the 2nd or 3rd than picking in the 1st any or finding another prospect ready to make a jump that just doesn’t fit into their teams plans imo.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

There's no way Desnoyers falls to the Rangers pick. I don't even think he lasts to the Penguins pick if they're picking at like 9.

Desnoyers or Eklund with the Penguins 1st and Ryabkin, Bear or O'Brien with the Rangers 1st is probably the best you're going to get out of this draft without winning the lottery or trading up.

Q players tend to fall a lot in the draft, especially in the last few years. But I agree, O'Brien, Bear Would be solid players to land with the Rags pick. Ryabkin I don't know much of, Mckenzie has him at 20. Who would you compare his play to?

 

[Empoleon8771]

Then why not trade down? Or move the 1st + someone. If we’re picking weak 1st round picks, we’d be better off picking more often in the 2nd or 3rd than picking in the 1st any or finding another prospect ready to make a jump that just doesn’t fit into their teams plans imo.

IMO the solution there is to trade up to get one of Misa or Hagens. Use both 1sts to get into the top-4 to get one of the real high offensive upside players.

Or just get lucky and win the lottery to get one of those two, that would also be fine.

 

[HandshakeLine]

IMO the solution there is to trade up to get one of Misa or Hagens. Use both 1sts to get into the top-4 to get one of the real high offensive upside players.

If the draft is that weak I don’t know if you’ll find someone who bites, though.

 

[The Old Master]

The only way that pick slides to 2026 is if the Rangers are picking in the top-13. If it's #20 overall, they have to take it this year.

If the pick falls this year, the ideal outcome is to either package the two picks to get Misa or Hagens or to end up drafting Desnoyers with the Penguins 1st and either O'Brien, Bear or Ryabkin with the Rangers 1st IMO.

true, but once we have it, we can trade it, no?

 

[Empoleon8771]

If the draft is that weak I don’t know if you’ll find someone who bites, though.

Yeah that's the risk with it, #3 for #8 and #20 in a normal draft is great value but I'm not sure someone would bite on it in this draft.

That's a part of the reason I'm debating whether I want the Rangers pick to be this year or next year. The pick next year will almost assuredly be lower than this year, but pick #25 next year may be a better prospect than pick #15 this year.

I think the "optimum" strategy for getting those high upside future core pieces is to win the lottery this year (either #1 or #2) and suck badly enough next year that you're still picking top-5 even without winning the lottery.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

If the draft is that weak I don’t know if you’ll find someone who bites, though.

That's one, and 2 to be honest I don't think we can afford it. We don't have enough prospects or picks in the next 2-3 years to allow us to do that IMO. We don't even have a 2nd to play with

 

[The Old Master]

Q players tend to fall a lot in the draft, especially in the last few years. But I agree, O'Brien, Bear Would be solid players to land with the Rags pick. Ryabkin I don't know much of, Mckenzie has him at 20. Who would you compare his play to?

depends on which Ryabkin we are talking about, on what day he's playing and what time it is in the game. and that is why his stock is falling.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

depends on which Ryabkin we are talking about, on what day he's playing and what time it is in the game. and that is why his stock is falling.

Ok so you pretty much just told me we want nothing to do with this guy lol

Thanks for the info, I've never seen him play

 

[The Old Master]

That's one, and 2 to be honest I don't think we can afford it. We don't have enough prospects or picks in the next 2-3 years to allow us to do that IMO. We don't even have a 2nd to play with

hopefully, our gm is not done.

 

[The Old Master]

Ok so you pretty much just told me we want nothing to do with this guy lol

Thanks for the info, I've never seen him play

at times he is one of the best and at other times.... we don't want any part of him its going to be a big gamble for whoever picks him. but it could end up be a steal of the draft.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

hopefully, our gm is not done.

I don't know why, and I know I won't be popular with my comment here, but A I don't think he is done and B I actually have confidence in him to sell. What scares me is that in his PC over the weekend after the trade with the Canucks, he said he was going to be aggressive with trades to improve us quicker. That scares the shit out of me, cause as a buyer, he hasn't done very well even dating back to his tenure in TO

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Everything I've heard about Ben Kindell makes it sound like he'd be worth targeting with the Rags pick if we get it this year.

 

[The Old Master]

I don't know why, and I know I won't be popular with my comment here, but A I don't think he is done and B I actually have confidence in him to sell. What scares me is that in his PC over the weekend after the trade with the Canucks, he said he was going to be aggressive with trades to improve us quicker. That scares the shit out of me, cause as a buyer, he hasn't done very well even dating back to his tenure in TO

that could mean that we are going to get more picks so we get better players and that would get us better quicker than stretching it out over a longer period of time. but then it wouldn't be the first time this team disappointed me

 

[HandshakeLine]

I think we should go for the comedy pick of drafting an enforcer.

 

[SEALBound]

Using Tankathon simulator, only took 3 clicks to get 1OV. So that's something.

I want Ryabkin to be better than he is. Only Russian in the first round but there are way too many question marks on him. This isn't Michkov or Demidov we're talking here where it's a question of where they go in the top 10 and how far they fall outside the top 2. This guy is Filatov or Zherdev. Skilled but highly inconsistent and you never know what you're getting on a nightly basis.

That seems to be the opposite of Mike Sullivan hockey. Which sucks. If we had three 1sts, I'd be okay taking the chance though I'd rather trade the latest one for two later picks and opt for a guy like Cole McKinney.

 

[Le Magnifique 66]

Using Tankathon simulator, only took 3 clicks to get 1OV. So that's something.

I want Ryabkin to be better than he is. Only Russian in the first round but there are way too many question marks on him. This isn't Michkov or Demidov we're talking here where it's a question of where they go in the top 10 and how far they fall outside the top 2. This guy is Filatov or Zherdev. Skilled but highly inconsistent and you never know what you're getting on a nightly basis.

That seems to be the opposite of Mike Sullivan hockey. Which sucks. If we had three 1sts, I'd be okay taking the chance though I'd rather trade the latest one for two later picks and opt for a guy like Cole McKinney.

Ouch, ya like I'm staying away big time even if we add another 2 1st round picks this year. No f***ing thank you

 

[Randy Butternubs]

I would like to watch McQueen play but he's been hurt.

He's destined to be a Penguin.