Prospect Info: 2025 NHL DRAFT

Soundgarden

Registered User
Jul 22, 2008
18,270
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Spring Hill, TN
With how badly we're sucking I thought I'd make a somewhat positive thread where we talk prospects we want to pick at next years draft.

Of course, this is the least hyped up draft I've seen in a minute, I have barely heard a peep about who's at the top of the draft, hopefully there will be some top end guys.

Right now we'd have the 2nd best pick ahead of Philly, as well as 19th and 31st overall from Tampa and Vegas respectively.
 

herzausstein

Registered User
Aug 31, 2014
7,915
5,838
West Virginia
With how badly we're sucking I thought I'd make a somewhat positive thread where we talk prospects we want to pick at next years draft.

Of course, this is the least hyped up draft I've seen in a minute, I have barely heard a peep about who's at the top of the draft, hopefully there will be some top end guys.

Right now we'd have the 2nd best pick ahead of Philly, as well as 19th and 31st overall from Tampa and Vegas respectively.
I would gladly take Hagens or Frondell
 
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Soundgarden

Registered User
Jul 22, 2008
18,270
7,214
Spring Hill, TN
Behm is another guy who looks interesting, don't know if he's considered a top 5 or 10 prospect though. We might be too bad to pick him with our pick and our other picks might be too low.

Will be interesting to see if we move up with our other picks.
 

Flgatorguy87

Registered User
Jul 7, 2011
6,049
4,016
East Nasty
You know we are going to turn this thing around just enough to finish with the 15th-20th pick
I don't like being bad, and don't advocate for tanking but if things continue this way through Thanksgiving then we need to be moving out any players optional and feeding the kids minutes. If things end up in the mushy middle based on that, then so be it.

I'll say the top end of the draft is not the pure prize it has been some of these last few years, but it's still the absolute best shot we get at a true top line center. It looks like there are 4-5 solid options who should stick at the C position. Although you can never be sure. Any of the top 5 in this draft year would still be our top-rated prospect and I don't think it's close.
 

herzausstein

Registered User
Aug 31, 2014
7,915
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West Virginia
On the defense side of things Matt Schaefer should be an option for a top 5 pick too.
Schaefer is a good option. If we end up top 5, i want a center. Big RHD with the other 1sts weve amassed.

I wonder if we can pick up another 1st for Nyquist. He isnt producing like last season but still on a 41P pace though and a good contract.
 

Porter Stoutheart

Seen Stamkos?
Jun 14, 2017
16,089
12,557
Schaefer is a good option. If we end up top 5, i want a center. Big RHD with the other 1sts weve amassed.

I wonder if we can pick up another 1st for Nyquist. He isnt producing like last season but still on a 41P pace though and a good contract.
I don't see Nyquist returning past El Nino value. A 2nd is going to be ok. We don't need to get greedy... :laugh:
 

Soundgarden

Registered User
Jul 22, 2008
18,270
7,214
Spring Hill, TN
Yeah I think Nyquist most likely gets a 2nd. Would be interesting to see how far we can trade up with potentially 3 2nds and 2 additional 1sts.
 

Porter Stoutheart

Seen Stamkos?
Jun 14, 2017
16,089
12,557
We still have the same crappy scouting staff so I don’t think we will end up with anyone elite.
I dunno, I'm not really seeing failures on the part of our scouting staff that much? They are picking pretty well IMO from where we're sitting in the draft order, hitting on NHL players, finding some late gems, etc.

And then our AHL system seems to be developing them pretty well.

Where we're failing is:
1) Integrating players into the NHL.
2) Corollary to 1) really: *Maybe* picking the types of players our GM/coaches see as being fits for our team "identity" (whatever that means)

I don't have any issue with our scouting. I don't think you can cherry-pick the occasional elite prospect picked later in the draft who we didn't pick as any indictment of our scouts - 30 other NHL teams also didn't pick that guy - but we're rolling along generally taking guys who do end up right on track for where they were picked. Just we are blowing things when it comes to actually putting them into the NHL lineup. :dunno:
 

Armourboy

Hey! You suck!
Jan 20, 2014
20,769
12,562
Shelbyville, TN
Frankly I think our coaches and development transition in the NHL is probably a bigger issue than the scouts. Now that's not to say they are knocking things out of the park, but considering where we have picked most years they haven't done bad. I mean they even managed to find both Jeannot and Parssinen, and while maybe not the greatest players in history when you consider where they were drafted, or not drafted at all, they haven't done bad.

I think the unwillingness of our coaches over the last several years to tolerate the mistakes of younger players has been a bigger problem. It's even more dumb when the other guys they have played instead have done the same thing.
 

Kat Predator

Registered User
Nov 28, 2019
4,394
4,646
The thing that drives me nuts is that guys like Carrier, McCarron, smith, lauzon can make mistakes and they get a really long leash. McCarron didnt get benched until an absolutely abysmal showing. Meannwhile, novak, Evangalista, fabbro, Tomasino, and parsnips get their chain yanked quick.
I think what the 0 for the 2010s 1st rounders record shows is that the organization can draft players. Watson, Jones, Fiala, and Tolvanen are still playing in the NHL. Fabbro, we'll find out in a hour or two. Tomasino will likely be waived soon and get his shot elsewhere as well. So, that's actually a really impressive record as far as scouting.

But the fact they are all gone (or soon to be—we can add Askarov now as well) is equally unimpressive. It means our organization can't draft and develop players it can integrate into its own lineup and build a competitive hockey team around. Our management finds reasons/excuses to bench their guys and roll the dice with big-name free agents, dumpster dive projects, trades, etc.
 

101st_fan

I taught Yoda
Oct 22, 2005
14,470
5,744
Near where sand and waves meet.
We've seen the team transition from keeping a coach through thick and thin to three coaches in the last ten seasons. Correlates to the inability to get players from draft to full time NHL players in the organization.
 

Kat Predator

Registered User
Nov 28, 2019
4,394
4,646
We've seen the team transition from keeping a coach through thick and thin to three coaches in the last ten seasons. Correlates to the inability to get players from draft to full time NHL players in the organization.
This post is comparing apples to tennis balls, but I was looking at the Oilers drafts earlier.

Their first round picks for the 2010s are all over the map. Total busts like Yakupov. Capable guys who went journeyman like Hall. The obvious superstars that the team is built around. Nurse and Nugent-Hopkins, who aren't superstars, but guys they count as key pieces. Pull-your-RV who's a tweener. Yamamoto, who I think is no longer in the NHL and a tweener at best. A couple of other guys getting a shot now...

So their record, while hitting a couple generational talents, is really up and down all over the place.

On the other hand, they've stuck with most of these guys in the nightly lineup for several seasons before pulling the plug. Guys that are NHL players, even if not elite/generational, have been integrated into the core of the team. And all of this while going through coaching and management changes.

None of which proves one ought to eat a tennis ball, but it was sort of interesting to see the differences. To me anyway.
 

Bye Bye Blueston

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Dec 4, 2016
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I think what the 0 for the 2010s 1st rounders record shows is that the organization can draft players. Watson, Jones, Fiala, and Tolvanen are still playing in the NHL. Fabbro, we'll find out in a hour or two. Tomasino will likely be waived soon and get his shot elsewhere as well. So, that's actually a really impressive record as far as scouting.

But the fact they are all gone (or soon to be—we can add Askarov now as well) is equally unimpressive. It means our organization can't draft and develop players it can integrate into its own lineup and build a competitive hockey team around. Our management finds reasons/excuses to bench their guys and roll the dice with big-name free agents, dumpster dive projects, trades, etc.
Seems like there is a structural problem here. Preds have been drafting guys in 1st round who profile as top 6ers (and top 4d), in that they don't fit how we want bottom 6 (bottom pair) to play. It can work if we commit to them, but we don't give them real opportunities to play through ups and downs to become quality top half of lineup players. We as an organization are too quick to sit them when they struggle and then run out of patience with them. This has been true of Tolvanen and Tommasino and Fabbro and Fiala, and I feal Kemmell and Molendyk could fall into this too if we don't reevaluate our approach to development.
 

herzausstein

Registered User
Aug 31, 2014
7,915
5,838
West Virginia
Seems like there is a structural problem here. Preds have been drafting guys in 1st round who profile as top 6ers (and top 4d), in that they don't fit how we want bottom 6 (bottom pair) to play. It can work if we commit to them, but we don't give them real opportunities to play through ups and downs to become quality top half of lineup players. We as an organization are too quick to sit them when they struggle and then run out of patience with them. This has been true of Tolvanen and Tommasino and Fabbro and Fiala, and I feal Kemmell and Molendyk could fall into this too if we don't reevaluate our approach to development.
Draft top 6 profile
Be disappointed when they dont play full tilt grind hockey
Waive
Repeat
 

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