Prospect Info: 2025 NHL DRAFT

[Armourboy]

Unless we are getting a high-end prospect or a high-level pick, I would prefer to keep ROR. He'd be nice to have around if we are bringing along a young C.

Unless we change coaches and GM he probably won't be around him anyways.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

If the organization hasn't learned not to draft a goalie in the 1st after the Askarov case, it surely never will.

So, yeah, I'm 100% on the camp of "no goalies in the 1st OR 2nd round".

I think teams have learned something since the days of Pickards and Finleys? At least in the last several drafts, it has been very uncommon to draft goalies in the 1st round... Askarov, Cossa, and Wallstedt... all 3 have turned out very well and are on track for NHL careers. I would happily add either of the 2nd rounders from last year (Nabokov and Yegorov) to our prospect pool. I think there have been a pretty decent smattering of goalies taken in the 2nd round recently who are also well on track... Blomqvist and Commesso have played NHL games this year, Augustine is tracking very well.

Anyway, I don't think it's quite the voodoo it used to be? It's still a long development path, and it's also true that good goalie prospects can also be found in later rounds as well. Although we might have to spend 3 or 4 later round picks to get the same odds as a single 1st or 2nd rounder. I don't mean any disrespect whatsoever to Haider, Milota, or Jatkola... but I don't see anybody giving them attention as potential future NHLers yet. Maybe as they continue to grind their way up the ranks, with a little Korn magic sprinkled in, one will emerge? But I think the timeline is such that we can afford to draft another 18-year old goalie prospect, and let them percolate for 5 or 6 years too.

If somebody knows a hidden gem who is just as good as Ravensbergen or has a smart scouting perspective on why he's overrated and there's a guy in a later round who is secretly just as good, then hey, I'm all for waiting for later for that guy. But I don't have that kind of info, so I can only go by the consensus.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

If someone offers you a 1st for anyone that's over 30 not named Josi you take it and run. ROR ain't important enough to this team to be getting all huffy about whether its a good or bad draft year. He could blow a knee out next year and you get nothing, take it while you can.

I don't think there's any huffiness about keeping ROR. It's more sad resignation? Trotz isn't trading him for a 1st this year, we know that. Good or bad draft year.

My worry isn't so much that he'll blow out a knee, but rather that he'll just keep declining... and that decline will become increasingly obvious to teams who might be interested in trading for him. He's getting force-fed a lot of prime icetime THIS season to put up maybe a total of 50 pts by the end of the year (and be -25 or whatever). I'm worried about what that will look like next season, and how that might affect his trade value.

I guess we'll find out.