Bob McKenzie Draft Lottery Edition Top 16 rankings

[Clint Eastwood]

My 2 favorite memories on this website are going into a Caleb Desnoyers thread and being greeted by James Hagens conspiracy theories and trying to see how Sens fans felt about Travis Green over the offseason and reading 3 pages of posters talking about the best ways to cook steak instead.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

It seems picks 2-7 are interchangeable to some degree depending on the individual. Draft night should be interesting as I’m sure GMs have different thoughts

 

[PattyLafontaine]

Excuse my lack of paying attention but what did Hagans do to slowly drop in all rankings

I remember at one point he was ranked #1 and then dropped to #2 and now he’s down to 5

It's a Canadian conspiracy to devalue American prospects

 

[Grinner]

It never fails to amaze me how some folks take these rankings so personally that they get angry that their guy has dropped in the rankings. After all it isn't that these scouts do this for a living and presumably know something about how an 18 year old hockey will develop and how high his ceiling will be.

Fragile bulletin board egos

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Counter tariffs on American prospects

 

[PattyLafontaine]

My 2 favorite memories on this website are going into a Caleb Desnoyers thread and being greeted by James Hagens conspiracy theories and trying to see how Sens fans felt about Travis Green over the offseason and reading 3 pages of posters talking about the best ways to cook steak instead.

Medium rare
as to how
there are several good ways including sous-vide, cast iron pan reverse seer, wood smoked, and several others.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

I'm no prospect expert but I don't see what Schaefer has done to be considered better than Misa.

 

[tomd]

I'm no prospect expert but I don't see what Schaefer has done to be considered better than Misa.

He's played less and in this draft that is a positive!

 

[terrierguy11]

2020 (Lafreniere): Not the best player from 2020
2021 (Power): Has a small case, but probably not the best player from 2021
2022 (Slafkovsky): Oh look, someone else got a chance to go first!
2023 (Bedard): Has a case, but toss-up, at best, that he's the best player from 2023
2024 (Celebrini): This one is looking the best, but then again it's hard to judge because he's the only player from the draft that played his D+1 in the NHL

Track record doesn't look great.

I feel like Hockey Canada would have more of an incentive to punish Power and Celebrini (Canadians who played USHL and NCAA) than a guy like Hagens.

Also, I think it is important to note that in many drafts the first overall pick does not end up being the best player. It makes sense that the chances of 200 some-odd guys have a better chance of becoming the best player versus just 1, even if that guy was picked 1st.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

2020 (Lafreniere): Not the best player from 2020
2021 (Power): Has a small case, but probably not the best player from 2021
2022 (Slafkovsky): Oh look, someone else got a chance to go first!
2023 (Bedard): Has a case, but toss-up, at best, that he's the best player from 2023
2024 (Celebrini): This one is looking the best, but then again it's hard to judge because he's the only player from the draft that played his D+1 in the NHL

Track record doesn't look great.

Too early, and way way too early.
Try the 10 previous years maybe.
Also is it still a conspiracy if a Canadian goes #1, but the player who should've went #1 is also Canadian?
And if Hagens' stats were stifled by a shitty PP with no good d-man, why didn't they use Hagens on the point?

 

[Quatre Vingt Treize]

Excuse my lack of paying attention but what did Hagans do to slowly drop in all rankings

I remember at one point he was ranked #1 and then dropped to #2 and now he’s down to 5

Small playmker

 

[rsteen]

I feel like Hockey Canada would have more of an incentive to punish Power and Celebrini (Canadians who played USHL and NCAA) than a guy like Hagens.

Also, I think it is important to note that in many drafts the first overall pick does not end up being the best player. It makes sense that the chances of 200 some-odd guys have a better chance of becoming the best player versus just 1, even if that guy was picked 1st.

By starting in 2020 you also pull in the Covid drafts which were bound to turn out a bit odd with players missing seasons and partial seasons at a crucial developmental stage, players like Byfield and Turcotte in the AHL "too soon", etc.
The Hockey Canada conspiracy also failed somehow in 2022 with Wright falling to 4th, although IMO Cooley looks like he's the best player, but still too soon to say really.
Bedard and Celebrini are also too soon, but don't look like the wrong picks so far.

 

[Habsrule]

I'm no prospect expert but I don't see what Schaefer has done to be considered better than Misa.

Took his game is many notches.

His skating is so effortless. His offensive instincts are great. He was anointed Canada’s PP1 QB as a 17 year old. He doesn’t turn 18 until September. He has height at 6’2 and will fill in his frame from his listed 183 pounds.


Now don’t get me wrong Misa had an absolutely incredible season. I think his game projects to be an 80 plus point offensive player in the NHL while Schaefer projects to be a #1 defenceman. #1 defencemen are so hard to find that you need to draft them.

 

[shello]

I really don’t get the Schaefer hype. He didn’t play like a #1 overall pick last year, had a good start to this season and shined at the WJC before he got hurt but outside of that it’s like word of mouth hyping him up more than anything. I also can't remember the last time a prospect missed their draft year and still lived up to their expectations

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

This year is no different than 2023. They suppressed the best talent we’ve seen in years that wasn’t from Canada. They made up all types of nonsense about him why he couldn’t go in the most valued draft slots. Now Michkov has exposed them. Of course none of these people will get fired or apologize for getting it so wrong. They get to do it again in 2025. People call it a conspiracy theory when supposedly 69% of the best players from a draft are Canadian and Canada will have the 1OA 7 of the 8 years. Canada must really DOMINATE hockey then, huh? Except their level has been declining year over year and they’ve been caught for the best men’s national team.

You can be a good poster sometimes, but man....

 

[Postulates]

Excuse my lack of paying attention but what did Hagans do to slowly drop in all rankings

I remember at one point he was ranked #1 and then dropped to #2 and now he’s down to 5

be american, american fatigue has impacted scouts since 2024

they let the greatest goal scorer of all time drop to the islanders just because he was american

 

[Bobby Holik agent]

Getting into Gilbert Brule/Phil Kessel territory.

 

[Chainshot]

My 2 favorite memories on this website are going into a Caleb Desnoyers thread and being greeted by James Hagens conspiracy theories and trying to see how Sens fans felt about Travis Green over the offseason and reading 3 pages of posters talking about the best ways to cook steak instead.

So... about that steak method?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I really don’t get the Schaefer hype. He didn’t play like a #1 overall pick last year, had a good start to this season and shined at the WJC before he got hurt but outside of that it’s like word of mouth hyping him up more than anything. I also can't remember the last time a prospect missed their draft year and still lived up to their expectations

Morgan Rielly. He was the 3rd of 5 whl d-men taken in the top 8, and the only 1 who lived up to the hype. I think he had a torn acl, Schaefer has a broken collarbone, it's not a long term injury.
I could see someone talking down Schaefer as more flash than substance, but thinking it's word of mouth these days is just dumb.
There's video available, and not just highlight videos. That's where the hype is coming from.

 

[shello]

Morgan Rielly. He was the 3rd of 5 whl d-men taken in the top 8, and the only 1 who lived up to the hype. I think he had a torn acl, Schaefer has a broken collarbone, it's not a long term injury.
I could see someone talking down Schaefer as more flash than substance, but thinking it's word of mouth these days is just dumb.
There's video available, and not just highlight videos. That's where the hype is coming from.

Yes! You’re right about Rielly. I knew there was another 2012 outside of Galchnyuk who was also injured. I’m not so worried about the injury itself, just the lack of development time. Comes down to how patient is the organization that drafts him

 

[AlternateSideParking]

Forget conspiracy theories. This is simply shit journalism.

A lot of us have forgotten more about this draft class than McKenzie will ever know, so I guess I’m not surprised that he was quick to mention that scouts felt Hagens’ play “tailed off” (which it did) but made no mention that Martone’s second-half production literally dropped by more than half a point, or that Misa didn’t drive play once Chernyshov arrived and was an unmitigated disaster in the playoffs and then pulled out of a deciding game and the entire U18 WC because of an injury. How the hell do you omit that? Did he not ask?

Also, if Hagens dropping was partly due to play “tailing off”, then why didn’t Frondell jump Hagens AND Misa AND Martone when Frondell clearly surged since the December JWAC while the other three “tailed off”?

Using the same logic, on what planet did Mrtka NOT outplay Smith in the second half?

A competent journalist would have used his sources to quote scouts on the Misa injury, which to this day is shrouded in mystery. I guess these aren’t the droids we’re looking for.

Didn’t Bob once call himself “a machine”? Maybe he was talking about making margaritas.

 

[Kingpin794]

Guys, you aren’t that important.

You’re not calling out real injustices in the draft process. No one who’s actually involved with the draft from countries outside of Canada thinks they are being kept down by the system. That’s just you and other nobodies on the internet. And you aren’t some kind of police for the preservation of journalism in the free world. You haven’t uncovered some diabolical plan to suppress the truth or to present a false narrative in order to fool the masses. It’s not that deep.

Get over yourselves.

 

[Breeze 44]

It never fails to amaze me how some folks take these rankings so personally that they get angry that their guy has dropped in the rankings. After all it isn't that these scouts do this for a living and presumably know something about how an 18 year old hockey will develop and how high his ceiling will be.

Well Mel Kiper would just blow your mind...this is nothing compared to that guy.

 

[wingerdinger]

Who cares about what draft position any player goes, its all about how they perform once they make the show.

 

[AlternateSideParking]

Guys, you aren’t that important.

You’re not calling out real injustices in the draft process. No one who’s actually involved with the draft from countries outside of Canada thinks they are being kept down by the system. That’s just you and other nobodies on the internet. And you aren’t some kind of police for the preservation of journalism in the free world. You haven’t uncovered some diabolical plan to suppress the truth or to present a false narrative in order to fool the masses. It’s not that deep.

Get over yourselves.

Oh the irony in this post.