I’m not too concerned about Bear’s injury. Achilles injuries generally heal quite well, especially for young guys. If it was his back or knee(s), I’d be more concerned.
I wouldn’t call Mrtka overrated at all. He’s rated high because he’s a huge, mobile RHD that is good everywhere, and is starting to show high-end offensive upside on top of all that. That is always going to be appealing to teams. I think he’s a rare high floor, high ceiling type of prospect, and he’s a RHD to boot, with no skating concerns. You have to take the swing if you get the chance. I doubt we do, tbh. I think he goes top 10.
I like Reschny, like I said, but I would really hate to take anymore smallish forwards. We have more than enough of them to the point that it’s already a problem, as we are seeing this series against WSH. Also, I don’t think his upside is crazy high, most likely a 2nd liner, or a low-end 1st liner, if all goes well. He’s a player who is kind of lacking in the way of tools - he mostly gets by on smarts. Again, we have more than enough of those types, and you can’t have too many of those type of guys on the roster. There needs to be a balance, and you need the toolsy type of players to complement them.
I really like Hensler. Another big, mobile RHD with smarts and I think a lot of runway to develop more offense. He’s got the best of both worlds - tools, and smarts. I think he’s got the potential to be a Ryan McDonagh type of do-it-all top-pairing D, a solid #2D like McDonagh. Floor-wise, he’s a safe pick too, imo. Good chance he’s at least a solid top-4 D, even if his offense never really pans out. He had a solid year in NCAA.
I’m not too high on Spence - underwhelming numbers for an older player in this draft class. And he seems like a guy getting by more so on work ethic, intensity, and size, rather than so much skill and talent. That’s all well and good, and should serve him well in terms of his NHL chances, but to me that screams future bottom-sixer. One of those type of players that’s fine to end up with, but you don’t want to be looking for that in the first round, especially higher. Late first round would be fine though, but underwhelming.
I honestly wouldn’t mind Aitcheson either, but he just seems kind of underwhelming to me. I don’t see much in the way of high-end upside, although he’s probably a safer pick. I’m also kind of wary of guys who focus more on the defensive side of things in juniors - seems like it doesn’t translate very often. Upside is likely a #3 or #4 type of guy with limited offense at the NHL level, something like a Romanov. Would be fine to get that from a mid first rounder, but again, not sure I’d be specifically looking for that in the 16-20 range.
Lastly, Lakovic is very enticing, imo. A big winger with high-end skill, fantastic skating, and can play both a finesse game or a rough and physical style. Great puck protection skills and reach, great hands, great shot. Great in transition. Seems like he could have even more offensive potential than he’s shown if he keeps improving. I see a lot of parallels between him and Beckett Sennecke from last year, except Lakovic is a lot stronger, and is much more willing to mix it up and get physical, and isn’t a perimeter player like Sennecke. He’s also a lot more engaged defensively and off the puck. On the other hand though, he’s probably not quite as skilled as Sennecke in terms of puck skills and offensive creativity.
Pretty excited about this draft, especially since we’re going to have two picks in the middle of the 1st round. There’s going to be some great prospects available. It’s going to be very interesting to see which way Hughes and co ends up going with these picks, and exactly who will be available by the time we pick.
