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HF Habs: 2025 NHL Draft: Part II

These 2 are on top of my forwards list should they fall at 16 and 17 (I hate them higher than that).

Gotta love Bear's all around versatility. And while he's got no elite trait, he's good at damn near everything in my opinion. I also believe that his game has plenty of room left to grow and he could benefit from working with a skills coach, mainly improving his deception and learning how to use his shot more efficiently as I find that he tends to try to shoot through defenders sometimes rather than find shooting lanes.

And while I share some of people's concerns in regards to Lakovic's lack of constant physicality and engagement, I think it's due to still trying to figure out his overall game rather than laziness. And if he had that in his game already on top of his mix of fluid skating, handling skills, offensive instinct and playmaking reads, then he'd easily go anywhere in the top 10.

If he figures out how to use his body on a constant basis and clean up a bit of the forced offensive plays, then I really like what could be the finished product.
I like Bear too, he is so strong on pucks, constantly forcing his opponents to mistakes, turnovers ect. Getting that at 16 or 17 would be great.

Personally I would trade up for Lakovic, I like him better than guys like Martin, O'Brien ect.

Im curious, what would be your top17 list at that point?
 
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I like Bear too, he is so strong on pucks, constantly forcing his opponents to mistakes, turnovers ect. Getting that at 16 or 17 would be great.

Personally I would trade up for Lakovic, I like him better than guys like Martin, O'Brien ect.

Im curious, what would be your top17 list at that point?
I'll have to get back to you with my list since as of right now, I'm still unsure of the order due to having some remaining viewings.

But I think we share a similar opinion on Lakovic. He may land somewhere in-between 8 and 12 on my list. I do like Martin a lot for different reasons. O'Brien is one I have yet to wrap my head around and have to watch some more.
 
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Thoughts on Jack Nesbitt?
from this morning on the previous page:

What you guys think of Nesbitt??

Definitely a project... but it's a very nice package of skills and grit...

He would check so many boxes if Bobby thinks he is "magical unicorn" enough...

You would want to trade down a bit but he probably goes pretty close to where we are picking.

I'm not sold... a lot of things to develop... lacking a bit of urgency

don't like his skating, don't like his hand-eye/processing time. in a year where he's a 2nd rounder maybe but i don't see first round value there.

I've seen a fair amount of him in the past 2 years, he might be the OHL’s most improved player in 24-25, it's really night and day from his rookie season. The potential for a well rounded power game with a decent amount of skill behind it is definitely intriguing. If he can maintain that upward development curve for a while, he could really become something. The skating still needs some work, though, but it's already nowhere near as bad as it was last year. I wouldn't go mid-first with him, but late first/very early second he's good value. He's still fairly raw.

I think you'd have to be okay with a Bjugstad outcome there. I don't see skills at the level of say a Cootes
 
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I agree with you there.

I'll preface this by admitting to also liking Aitcheson and thinking he definitely belongs in the 15-25ish range, but I feel like some fans need to pump the brakes a little. I also didn't see the unicorn a lot of people claim him to be. Like any prospect in that range, he's got some warts.

There's a lot to like (great shot, plays with an edge, always shows up) but then also a good deal of counter balance of frustrating aspects in his game. On top of his average skating, he can be caught flatfooted or daydreaming on defense which puts him in bad situations. There are moments when he seems to want to be too much of a hero and can also get overly excited which leads to puck chasing and hit attempts that put him way off-position. He's chaotic for good, but also bad reasons.

Hensler isn't as fun at first glance and has a more conservative game, but he's got poise and has a sound game. I like him better than Aitcheson. But there's one thing with Hensler that bothers me a bit though.

With the skills and brain he's got, I feel like more than often he could do much more on the ice. I don't know if he's straight up scared to make mistakes but he nearly always makes the safest choice and refrains himself from fully using his skillset which could unlock a greater offensive dimension to his game. I can understand doing so to contain fires on that awful Wisconsin team, but I've had that impression at every level I've seen him on now. But that could just be some wishful thinking on my part for him.
Great post!

I think Hensler just plays in an extremely conservative system on a team with very little offensive talent. He has always been a defence first player but definitely flashed more offensive leanings prior to Wisconsin and finished the year on a strong note by carrying the puck more and driving play towards and inside the offensive zone. It resulted in an uptick in production but not a huge one primarily because of the lack of talent/skill on the roster.

I see his muted production as a potential anomaly and an opportunity to draft a player he may very well be the second best dman in the draft due to this. Much like Faber or Lacombe who did not initially put up numbers in their draft years or their D+1 and fell to the 2nd round, Hensler, who is consensus better than either of them at the same age is very similar in that regard.

D prospects are notoriously famous for this and the eye test is much more important than the stat sheet when it comes to them. Hernsler fits the profile perfectly of a dman who goes much later than he should and everyone is kicking themselves later for it.

My concern with toolsy dmen is often IQ based but in Hensler's case that does not appear to be the issue. He looks very much like a player who can absolutely blossom in 3 years into a player with NHL all star trajectory. His downside is a 3rd pairing elite skating dman with size.....high floor and a high ceiling imo. I think a right handed version of Guhle is a very reasonable projection with perhaps a little more size and mobility(Guhle is very mobile but Hensler is another level) but less of a mean streak.

I have Hensler in the top ten after his strong finish and I will not be surprised at all if he is picked there or shortly after.
 
So any chance Desnoyers drops based on the Memorial Cup results?

Like enough to make it to down to 11 for us to have a chance to move up grab him?

I think he was going to drop based on how high some people had him anyways. He clearly is not healthy right now and team's will respect his resolve to play through a significant injury but I always saw him as a player more likely to go between 6-10 based on his questionable offensive ceiling.

I am not sure why #11 is your arbitrary line in the sand for Montreal to move up but I think it is very unlikely but not impossible that he falls past 8 OA
 
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Maybe its just me but the more it goes, the more we start to hit some tiers on may rankings



1 Top 2
Matthew Schaefer
Michael Misa

2 (3- 6)
James Hagens
Porter Martone
Anton Frondell
Caleb Desnoyers

3 (7-12)
Victor Eklund
Jake O'Brien
Roger McQueen
Radim Mrtka
Jackson Smith
Brady Martin


4 (13-18)
Carter Bear
Justin Carbonneau
Lynden Lakovic
Kashawn Aitcheson
Braeden Cootes
Logan Hensler


5 (19-24)
Benjamin Kindel
Cullen Potter
Malcolm Spence
Cameron Reid
Cole Reschny
Blake Fiddler

6 (25-31)
Cameron Schmidt
Bill Zonnon
Sascha Boumediene
Ivan Ryabkin
Jack Murtagh
Milton Gastrin
Joshua Ravensbergen


7 (32-38)
William Moore
Jack Nesbitt
Jakob Lhs-Wozniak
Cole McKinney
Eric Nilsson
Shane Vansaghi
Ryker Lee
 
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Maybe its just me but the more it goes, the more we start to hit some tiers on may rankings



1 Top 2
Matthew Schaefer
Michael Misa

2 (3- 6)
James Hagens
Porter Martone
Anton Frondell
Caleb Desnoyers

3 (7-12)
Victor Eklund
Jake O'Brien
Roger McQueen
Radim Mrtka
Jackson Smith
Brady Martin


4 (13-18)
Carter Bear
Justin Carbonneau
Lynden Lakovic
Kashawn Aitcheson
Braeden Cootes
Logan Hensler


5 (19-24)
Benjamin Kindel
Cullen Potter
Malcolm Spence
Cameron Reid
Cole Reschny
Blake Fiddler

6 (25-31)
Cameron Schmidt
Bill Zonnon
Sascha Boumediene
Ivan Ryabkin
Jack Murtagh
Milton Gastrin
Joshua Ravensbergen


7 (32-38)
William Moore
Jack Nesbitt
Jakob Lhs-Wozniak
Cole McKinney
Eric Nilsson
Shane Vansaghi
Ryker Lee

If we stay at #16 and 17 I think we're picking two of this group and maybe throw in Blake Fiddler as an option too for a big RD:


4 (13-18)
Carter Bear
Justin Carbonneau
Lynden Lakovic
Kashawn Aitcheson
Braeden Cootes
Logan Hensler
 
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If think if Habs can grab Logan Hensler or Blake Fiddler both RD with top 4 potential, already good defensive defenseman, Logan Mailloux can be easily tradeable after that.
 
Would #17 be that bad a reach for West? I'm not sure he's making it past the 20s anymore.

6'6 talented great skater that hasn't even fully commited to hockey yet and is already pretty good. Pretty unique profile, I doubt he makes it to our 2nd round picks.
 
Would #17 be that bad a reach for West? I'm not sure he's making it past the 20s anymore.

6'6 talented great skater that hasn't even fully commited to hockey yet and is already pretty good. Pretty unique profile, I doubt he makes it to our 2nd round picks.

I assume he's going to go in the 1st round, this draft seems like after the top 4 or 5 it's going to be wide open so there will likely be a few surprises for sure. If you really like someone then take him, although as crazy as it sounds, I wonder if they could trade down and also use the 5 2nd/3rds to trade up
 
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If think if Habs can grab Logan Hensler or Blake Fiddler both RD with top 4 potential, already good defensive defenseman, Logan Mailloux can be easily tradeable after that.

If Mailloux is in pretty much all their trade talks and they keep both 1sts, they're definitely takeing a RD. Probably Hensler or if he drops, Mrtka
 

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