Now that we're definitely not drafting top 5-10 anymore, the only names I remember liking are Schmidt and Lakovic
HF Habs: 2025 NHL Draft: Part II
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Estimated_Prophet
Registered User
- Mar 28, 2003
- 11,314
- 12,822
He is still a kid and there have been many kids that shook the lazy tag after being drafted. I don't know him so I can not competently discuss his odds of changing his ways. HuGo will need to do their homework as they have always done.
montreal
Go Habs Go
- Mar 21, 2002
- 59,428
- 46,096
SlafySZN
Registered User
- May 21, 2022
- 7,948
- 17,516
Better prospect than Beck you’d say, offensively? I haven’t really watched Cootes yet.
JadedRandom
Registered User
- Aug 14, 2008
- 1,975
- 2,564
Cootes is a better prospect than Beck, yes.
Cootes' not as fast as Beck in his draft year from my viewings, does not play as heavy of a game, nor is he as complete defensively.
But aside from their shot, which would be roughly equal in quality for both prospects, I think the rest of Cootes' offensive toolkit is overall slightly better than Beck's in his draft year. And I'd say that Cootes' best asset over Beck as a draft-eligible prospect would be his rush game, and how Cootes manages to connect with teammates on high-danger plays with his passes.
Another underrated skill that I think that Cootes is very good at is corraling passes with control and/or pace (emphasis on the last part).
I've seen Cootes manage to receive a pass that was behind him while rushing along the board. On that one occasion, I saw Cootes change his skating angle a bit, curl his stick back to kind of one-touch/deflect the puck forward, let it slide forward a bit, and then readjust his stick position to get control without even breaking stride. He managed to get a breakaway off of it, but it wasn't the cleanest and the goalie made the save.
All of which to say that receiving that pass while maintaining both control AND pace is a low-key extremely-skillful type of play to make, and I've seen Cootes make similar-level pass-reception plays multiple times this year so it would be amongst his strengths for me.
As far as explaining Cootes' "middling" production despite good tools as I've said, well, playing on an absolute trainwreck of a team offensively has neutered a lot of Cootes' offensive plays this year.
Aside from Sawyer Mynio, whom the Thunderbirds traded earlier this season after less than 20 games with the club, Cootes has had no one really to pass to/play off of for Seattle.
I'd say that it's been pretty much a constant for Cootes this year to manage to make a good/great play getting the puck to one of his teammates in the offensive zone only for them to fail to make anything out of it, and instead lose the puck. So much so in fact, that Cootes, who is a versatile offensive player but has the tendency to be a bit more of a playmaker than shooter, has had to take it upon himself to shoot more this year since he can't really rely on teammates to make high-level offensive plays, or not bubble the puck.
On an even halfway-competent team and not the trainwreck that Cootes has to carry on his back, his statline would look a lot better.
The litteral only concerns I have with Cootes stem from consistency issues (some games he's completely invisible) and sometimes some bad reads on the ice (vs. looking at a guy like Beck in his draft year and wondering if his offensive skillset would be good enough for more than a third/fourth-line role in the NHL).
Which leads me to believe that Cootes is both a safe prospect, in the sense that he could realistically project as a bottom-6 player if his offensive tools don't translate to the NHL, but also one with a somewhat high ceiling given that Cootes could easily become a solid 2nd-line center in the NHL with positive development.
All of which to say that Cootes will be drafted quite early in this year's draft and is a genuinely great prospect.
I've got him in my top-15, and I might even bump him up to just outside the top-10 as he continues to impress recently despite the fact that his team is worse now than it was at the beginning of the year.
Cootes, Lakovic, Spence, Carbonneau, Bear, Schmidt (might fall a lot lower than I think is right, could possibly get him in the 2nd); all of those guys, named in no order of preference, would make for some amazing pick-ups at the draft. Not to mention how incredible it would be to get some guys like Desnoyers, Frondell, Eklund, McQueen (don't like him as much as the others, his injury woes scare me), Smith, that should all be drafted top-9.
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SOLR
Registered User
That's my point, the lazy tag is not "being lazy" - it's often a lack of discipline. A very different attitude.
1000eeer
Registered User
Could you rank these players, starting from your favorite:
- Cameron Schmidt
- Lynden Lakovic
- Carter Bear
- Ivan Ryabkin
- Jake O'Brien
- Kashawn Aitcheson
- Braeden Cootes
Thanks
- Cameron Schmidt
- Lynden Lakovic
- Carter Bear
- Ivan Ryabkin
- Jake O'Brien
- Kashawn Aitcheson
- Braeden Cootes
Thanks
WeThreeKings
Demidov is a HAB
Could you rank these players, starting from your favorite:
- Cameron Schmidt
- Lynden Lakovic
- Carter Bear
- Ivan Ryabkin
- Jake O'Brien
- Kashawn Aitcheson
- Braeden Cootes
Thanks
Carter Bear
Lynden Lankovic
Ivan Ryabkin
Cameron Schmidt
Braeden Cootes
Jake O'Brien
Kashawn Aitcheson
Hins77
Registered User
- Apr 2, 2013
- 4,129
- 3,838
Could you rank these players, starting from your favorite:
- Cameron Schmidt
- Lynden Lakovic
- Carter Bear
- Ivan Ryabkin
- Jake O'Brien
- Kashawn Aitcheson
- Braeden Cootes
Thanks
1. Bear
2. Lakovic
3. Ryabkin
4. Aitcheson
5. O'Brien
6. Cootes
7. Schmidt
Team_Spirit
95% Elliotte
- Jul 3, 2002
- 40,733
- 24,236
Pompeius Magnus
Registered User
We're coming in on February and he still hasn't played a game since week 2 or 3 of the season. He's definitely a DND in the top 15 for me at this point. I'm willing to have an open mind outside of that, though.
WeThreeKings
Demidov is a HAB
With two first round picks, if he's sitting there and they want to take the shot, go for it. I don't love this draft outside of the top 4, really.
Pompeius Magnus
Registered User
As I said, outside of the top 15, I'm a lot more open to it, especially since we have 2 picks in the first round.
montreal
Go Habs Go
- Mar 21, 2002
- 59,428
- 46,096
it was my first time seeing him and I didn't know who he was, so I wasn't focused on him, I started the vid just focused on Thorpe and Mrtka but as the game went on I liked what I saw from Cootes so much I started to focus in on him. It reminded me of the first time I saw Jett Luchanko last year, I didn't know him either but in the 1st game I saw him I was very impressed. While I love Beck's game, I have never been sold on his offensive upside being that of a top 6 forward, this year in Laval has made me start to question that some but I would say that Cootes looks to have better passing but would need to see more then the 1 game.
JadedRandom
Registered User
- Aug 14, 2008
- 1,975
- 2,564
Could you rank these players, starting from your favorite:
- Cameron Schmidt
- Lynden Lakovic
- Carter Bear
- Ivan Ryabkin
- Jake O'Brien
- Kashawn Aitcheson
- Braeden Cootes
Thanks
Mine would be:
Schmidt
Lakovic
Bear
Cootes
O'Brien
Aitcheson
Ryabkin
Habs Halifax
Loyal Habs Fan
I bet you the Habs are going to break a record in terms of how many picks over a 7 year span. Insane draft power! Teams are going to copy this blueprint in the coming years.
ahmedou
DOU
- Oct 7, 2017
- 20,916
- 22,473
Habs Halifax
Loyal Habs Fan
Not all will but we have probability working in our favor and our development is very positive with several of them. The quantity picks did get us Dobes, Roy, Fowler. We will see where they land in their prime.
Top 100 picks is where the real value is. And the Habs have had plenty of those as well. More to come.
Riggins
Registered User
Matthew Schaefer a unanimous No. 1 in Bob McKenzie's Mid-season NHL Draft Ranking | TSN
"As far as I’m concerned,” one NHL head scout said, “[Matthew Schaefer] is No. 1 and he’s staying there - even if he never plays another game this season."
www.tsn.ca
New Bob Mckenzie mid-season rankings dropped. Schaefer the UNANIMOUS #1 now.
1. Schaefer
2. Hagens
3. Misa
4. Martone
5. Frondell
6. Desnoyers
7. McQueen
8. Eklund
9. O'Brien
10. Smith
