HF Habs: 2025 NHL Draft: Part II

[WinterLion]

All I can say is that I like his tools and potential. I do believe that when he fills out, he will be hard to play against, he already protects his puck well and breaks alot of play away from puck, thx to his skating/reach combo.

Lakovic is a great possession player. He certainly lacks some grinding ability and will definitely need to work on his D.

People seems very divided on him... personally I'm ok with him not being a punishing physical guy, but I want to make sure he cuts out on some of the short cuts and learns to win board battles and take his guy out along the boards. I think those are teachable and essential things that many offensive guys figure out in order to make it to the next level.

I'm very curious about where he ends up going. I find him and Kindle to be the most polarizing of the top guys.

 

[Kennerback]

1-Schafer
2-Frondell
3-Misa
4-Desnoyers
5-Hagens

6-O’Brien
7-Martone
8-Prokhorov
9-Mrtka
10-Martin

11-Eklund
12-Smith
13-Bear
14-McQueen
15-Carbonneau

16-Reid
17-Lakovic
18-Aitcheson
19-Hensler
20-Cootes

 

[koivalev]

I don't think it'll be us to take him, but whoever gets Cameron Schmidt is going to be so happy they did.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Haven’t watched Lakovic play but reading the reports on here I can’t help but think of an Armia/Pouliot mix, maybe that’s out to lunch or maybe that’s decent value for a mid 1st in a weak draft but doesn’t excite me to go for size over skill when they don’t use their size enough to be a threat physically or to drive the net.

 

[Andrei79]

He moves and shoots like Draisaitl, he also has a similar built frame. I would say he is an even better skater than Draisaitl was in his draft year.

Well, that doesn't really matter though. Almost everyone was a better skater than Draisaitl in his draft year and now almost no one is. He's become a 95th+ percentile skater. The likelihood that anyone in this draft has that kind of improvement is basically nonexistent.

 

[JadedRandom]

Haven’t watched Lakovic play but reading the reports on here I can’t help but think of an Armia/Pouliot mix, maybe that’s out to lunch or maybe that’s decent value for a mid 1st in a weak draft but doesn’t excite me to go for size over skill when they don’t use their size enough to be a threat physically or to drive the net.

The reason why both Armia/Pouliot failed to deliver on their promises as toolsy, talented prospects in the NHL is because they both had "middling" hockey sense in my estimation.

Which doesn't apply to Lakovic as I would rate his overall hockey sense as "high-end", and personally think his play selection is miles ahead at the same age compared to Armia/Pouliot as prospects.

Lakovic is also a much better, more fluid skater to boot.

So yeah, I really don't see the Pouliot/Armia comparisons but maybe it's just me.

If Lakovic hits his full potential, he'd basically be Jason Robertson but slightly less smart and much, much, much faster and more agile.

And yes, that would be an insane grab for Montreal if we got Lakovic AND he reached that sky-high ceiling of his (not that it would be a likely outcome for both those things to happen).

As far as his on-ice performance, well, Lakovic isn't an intense player, nor is he very physical.

But he was also 5'9/5'10 less than two years ago compared to the 6'4 (190 pounds, so a LOT of room for further growth) that he currently stands at right now, and that has definitely messed with how Lakovic plays the game.

Earlier in the season Lakovic was more tentative when it came to board battles (played like a smaller player), but as the year went on he realized he could win outright battles more often than not using his reach/size/strength and started engaging more.

And that development in grit/physicality/intensity throughout the season sold me on Lakovic, 100%. Earlier on I had Lakovic in the mid-to-late teens. Now he's #11 on my list, just after Eklund, O'Brien, and Mrtka, in that order.

I don't think we'll keep both picks, but if we do and a guy like Lakovic is available, he'll be an AMAZING pick for us as this would be a case of us drafting for size, smarts, AND skill, the whole trifecta.

 

[Sorinth]

Simon St Laurent just released his top 32 rankings.

NHL Draft Ranking 2025, by Simon St-L.

NHL Draft Ranking 2025, by Simon St-L. - TSLH -

www.toutsurlehockey.com

Some rankings are far from mainstream, but unlike some Simon makes honest assessments and isn't making those controversial takes because he's trying to drive clicks or to fall back on in an I told you so moment.

 

[Quatre Vingt Treize]

Haven’t watched Lakovic play but reading the reports on here I can’t help but think of an Armia/Pouliot mix, maybe that’s out to lunch or maybe that’s decent value for a mid 1st in a weak draft but doesn’t excite me to go for size over skill when they don’t use their size enough to be a threat physically or to drive the net.

Lakovic reminds me more of an Anthony Mantha.

 

[Seb]

Obviously I expect the order to change a lot.. but as the order currently stands, my best guess on the first round.


16. Montreal Canadiens - Carter Bear - Seeming like this is the Demidov drop, stars aligning with the injury and other teams looking for something a little different, the achilles injury scares enough teams away from him and Montreal can grab the exact profile they have been searching for.
17. Montreal Canadiens - Lynden Lakovic - This isn't the pick I want them to make, but they clearly like the guy, and after getting a high motor, high compete winger, and not feeling like the hockey sense is good enough on the RD available, they go with Lakovic and hope they can fix the compete and have a highly skilled winger in a big frame.

Dream scenario right here if we were to keep both picks.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Adding to my mock draft; here's a prediction of the entirety of the Habs draft (we will not make all these picks)

16. Carter Bear
17. Lynden Lakovic
41. Henry Brzustewicz
49. Shane Vansaghi
79. Cooper Simpson
81. Elijah Neuenschwander
82. Owen Griffin
108. Jan Chovan
113. Owen Conrad
145. Max Psenicka
177. David Bedkowski
209. Vit Zajesky

 

[Huntingpucks]

1-Schafer
2-Frondell
3-Misa
4-Desnoyers
5-Hagens

6-O’Brien
7-Martone
8-Prokhorov
9-Mrtka
10-Martin

11-Eklund
12-Smith
13-Bear
14-McQueen
15-Carbonneau

16-Reid
17-Lakovic
18-Aitcheson
19-Hensler
20-Cootes

Getting Aitcheson and Lakovic would be unreal . Two specimens

 

[Vachon23]

Adding to my mock draft; here's a prediction of the entirety of the Habs draft (we will not make all these picks)

16. Carter Bear
17. Lynden Lakovic
41. Henry Brzustewicz
49. Shane Vansaghi
79. Cooper Simpson
81. Elijah Neuenschwander
82. Owen Griffin
108. Jan Chovan
113. Owen Conrad
145. Max Psenicka
177. David Bedkowski
209. Vit Zajesky

I would be happy with that !

Brzustewicz, Vansaghi, Simpson and Bedkoswki are players I highly consider

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Well, that doesn't really matter though. Almost everyone was a better skater than Draisaitl in his draft year and now almost no one is. He's become a 95th+ percentile skater. The likelihood that anyone in this draft has that kind of improvement is basically nonexistent.

Draisaitl was always a good skater but people did not know it which is incredibly common among fans. It is only once the Edge data was put out there that people realized how wrong they were. I still here people calling him slow to this day.

He has certainly gotten faster since he was drafted much in the same way that Suzuki has.

 

[SOLR]

Draisaitl was always a good skater but people did not know it which is incredibly common among fans. It is only once the Edge data was put out there that people realized how wrong they were. I still here people calling him slow to this day.

He has certainly gotten faster since he was drafted much in the same way that Suzuki has.

It's a shocker that a 25+-year-old improved over their 18-year-old performance.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

It's a shocker that a 25+-year-old improved over their 18-year-old performance.

He is an exceptional case as are Suzuki and Point. No need to trivialize their accomplishments with false equivalencies.

Hutson has also improved his straight ahead speed immensely from when we drafted him. To a slightly lesser degree Caufield has made significant improvements as well.

Mark Stone, Tyler Toffoli, Ryan O'Reilly etc were always poor skaters and did not get any faster throughout their careers despite being dedicated professionals who do all the right things to get better.

Some players never really improve, while some players show moderate improvements in their skating but we are talking about players who have become high end skaters who were regarded as average to below average skaters. Why should we not acknowledge rare accomplishments?

 

[Scotianhab]

Adding to my mock draft; here's a prediction of the entirety of the Habs draft (we will not make all these picks)

16. Carter Bear
17. Lynden Lakovic
41. Henry Brzustewicz
49. Shane Vansaghi
79. Cooper Simpson
81. Elijah Neuenschwander
82. Owen Griffin
108. Jan Chovan
113. Owen Conrad
145. Max Psenicka
177. David Bedkowski
209. Vit Zajesky

I don’t think Brzustewicz falls to 41 but if he did that would be an amazing haul for our first 3 picks.

 

[TheBuriedHab]

Andreyanov is officially my goalie crush this year. I'd seriously consider him at 41 if he's still there.

 

[SOLR]

He is an exceptional case as are Suzuki and Point. No need to trivialize their accomplishments with false equivalencies.

Hutson has also improved his straight ahead speed immensely from when we drafted him. To a slightly lesser degree Caufield has made significant improvements as well.

Mark Stone, Tyler Toffoli, Ryan O'Reilly etc were always poor skaters and did not get any faster throughout their careers despite being dedicated professionals who do all the right things to get better.

Some players never really improve, while some players show moderate improvements in their skating but we are talking about players who have become high end skaters who were regarded as average to below average skaters. Why should we not acknowledge rare accomplishments?

Stone got a lot of faster, you are just talking about the declining Stone of the past 2 years.
Toffoli, also got faster, but he was starting from so far.
Ryan O Reilly is also past prime
Suzuki will slow down past prime, that's not a shocker either.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Andreyanov is officially my goalie crush this year. I'd seriously consider him at 41 if he's still there.

Can't go wrong with a top eligible Russian but id take Frolov and Neuenschwander first. I've had some questionable Andreyanov viewings and some banger viewings.

 

[Vachon23]

It’s maybe not the most talented draft, but sometime I like about this draft, it’s that you can draft a lot of physical high compete players

 

[TheBuriedHab]

Can't go wrong with a top eligible Russian but id take Frolov and Neuenschwander first. I've had some questionable Andreyanov viewings and some banger viewings.

I like him quite a bit more than Frolov personally. Neuenschwander I haven't seen anything outside of the U-20s but I thought he was quite poor. I guess I'll have to give him a 2nd look though.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

I'm liking Gustav Hillstrom more and more as a second round option. His game is already very polished, to the point where he spent a decent chunk of his draft year in the SHL, but there's still quite a bit of room left in him to grow IMO. He has great hockey IQ and I could see him be sort of a budget Nic Backstrom when all is said and done. He's already bigger and a better skater.

 

[le_sean]

It’s maybe not the most talented draft, but sometime I like about this draft, it’s that you can draft a lot of physical high compete players

After the Top 10 it’s quite wide open. There’s going to be a good number of players considered steals in a couple of years. It seems to be full of players that are just on the cusp of having breakouts.

 

[le_sean]

I like him quite a bit more than Frolov personally. Neuenschwander I haven't seen anything outside of the U-20s but I thought he was quite poor. I guess I'll have to give him a 2nd look though.

At the very least he’ll be the guy who puts up 50 saves against Canada for a 2-0 Swiss win, as is tradition.

 

[jaffy27]

Andreyanov is officially my goalie crush this year. I'd seriously consider him at 41 if he's still there.

Volokhin, Dobes, Fowler….3 pretty good goalies under 24….don’t think they’ll use an early second for another goalie, I’m sure plenty of good players will fall in this range and Habs should be ready to pounce and snatch one of them!