Bob McKenzie's 2023 mid-season draft rankings

[Favin]

Bob McKenzie

2017: "This will be termed the Nolan Patrick Draft"
2022: "Let’s make one thing clear: The 2022 NHL Draft is the Shane Wright Draft."
2023: "2023 has for quite some time been billed as the Connor Bedard Draft

(not challenging the assertion Bedard will be No. 1, just that Bob needs some new material)

 

[martygod12]

I mean wasn't sale benched for one game and like all his points came from the games against Austria and Switzerland? Btw I don't think Dvorsky was as good as many poeople say. They are actually similar - average skaters with very good hockey IQ, but questionable whether they really are top talents

Dont undersdand the benching, I think it was just so Sapousek can play also or I dont know. He had assist in both games against Canada, and 1+1 in QF, yeah against Switzerland, but they were looking pretty solid in the group, so it honestly was a suprise for me, that we thrashed them so hard

Well most scouts sees them as top prospect, as I said before, I dont see any other players from Europe being better then them, except for Carlsson, Michkov and maybe Pelika (but thats same level I would say)

 

[Jukurit]

What a crap draft for Finland. Czechia and Slovakia will soon pass Finland in hockey.

 

[martygod12]

From my limited viewings they don't seem to me like top ten material. Maybe the draft is weak like last year; but that's my opinion.

Especially with Dvorsky, you can see some glimpses of skill and potential and his two way game is quite good. But I feel like his absolute ceiling is maybe a 2nd/3rd line Center. Like I said, maybe its a weak draft, but personally being picked 9th seems quite a bit high for him.

Well I cant speak for Dvorsky, because I have never seen him play. But Sale definitely looks like a top pick for me. I have seen quite a bit of his games in Kometa, and his game was really good, considering he is playing in a really bad and low scoring team. There was quite a few games, where he created a lot of chances, but his teamates just couldnt finish them. If he was in a better team his stats would be much better, so the fact that he has only 8 points so far is really not reflecting reality in this case.

As I said not much better players this year from Europe than Sale. Cant say about NA, cause it is hard to compare. But the scouts all have firm opinion, that both Sale and Dvorsky are top talents, so I would say, that there is not a lot of better players even in the NA.

 

[Bubbles]

What a crap draft for Finland. Czechia and Slovakia will soon pass Finland in hockey.

Meh, this kind of thing tends to be cyclical. Not too long ago, and the Czech and Slovak posters can weigh in, maybe 10 years ago it was the absolute lowest point of both programs. Not a lot of prospects at all, not even role players. Now they are both producing top line NHL talent.


Wasn't Finland churning out prospects 5-6 years ago? Laine/Kakko...

 

[Czechboy]

Meh, this kind of thing tends to be cyclical. Not too long ago, and the Czech and Slovak posters can weigh in, maybe 10 years ago it was the absolute lowest point of both programs. Not a lot of prospects at all, not even role players. Now they are both producing top line NHL talent.


Wasn't Finland churning out prospects 5-6 years ago? Laine/Kakko...

It's a down year for the Finn's but last year and next year were very good.
For Finn hockey this is a minor blip.. not even a bad one as there are some good players.

Czechs had a decade of crap prospects... now they are starting to get about 8 to 10 guys with 1 or 2 in round 1 (Eg. Jiricek and Kulich last year and Sale and, maybe, Hrabal this year). Next few years look to have 1 or 2 first rounders too! Amazingly, on Defence which is our big weakness. Still, a long way to catch Finland in this regard.

 

[Kevin Musto]

You can literally watch a Kelowna vs Winnipeg game and see Benson and Cristall on the ice together at the same time

The disparity in the ranking here is illogical and baffling

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Top 4 seems entrenched by most scouting lists at this point, whether Michkov drops further come draft day is big question.

Smith and Benson at 5 and 6 is legit, but I have severe disagreements with the rest of the top 10. 7-10 seems like safe city to me, and even as is I prefer Oliver Moore to all of them if we're talking "safe."

 

[Halfy]

You can literally watch a Kelowna vs Winnipeg game and see Benson and Cristall on the ice together at the same time

The disparity in the ranking here is illogical and baffling

Cristall should be much closer yes but Benson without a doubt deserves to be where he is. Both should be top 10 and closer to 5 than 10

 

[95snipes]

I agree with the rankings much more this year than I have in past years. Probably because most of the guys in the top 10-15 are fairly sure things, just a question of how good they end up being.

Everyone's complaining about Cristall, but most of the guys ahead of him are centers that range in projection from a 1A to a 2C. NHL teams are going to value those players much more than a 5'9 winger with skating concerns. Every time. It should not be surprising at all.

 

[NewEraGM]

Have a feeling Benson ends up going top 3.

There’s a spicy hot take!!!

 

[NewEraGM]

that cristall ranking i don’t quite understand. Say what you want about his deficiencies (size and skating), you can’t deny is talent in the offensive zone.

I don’t know if he will be as good (probably not) but he’s a bit how Marner was in junior

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

Nice to see my Reinbacher campaign paid off.

I think you would like the 2023 draft thread on the Habs forum. Most have Reinbacher top-15 and a lot top-10

 

[GermanSpitfire]

I think you would like the 2023 draft thread on the Habs forum. Most have Reinbacher top-15 and a lot top-10

I am working on my mid-season rankings, and spoiler alert: I have him at #6.

Glad me and a good portion of Habs fans can agree on something. That doesn’t happen too often

 

[Juxtaposer]

I am working on my mid-season rankings, and spoiler alert: I have him at #6.

Glad me and a good portion of Habs fans can agree on something. That doesn’t happen too often

I have a group of guys I feel could go somewhat interchangeably between 7-15, but Reinbacher leads that group for me. I just love his defensive game.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

Player	2nd	3rd	4th
Fantilli	4	5	1
Carlsson	3	5	2
Michkov	3	0	7

2-4 is super tight. Basically a coin flip.

This makes sense. If you're willing to take the risk you draft him 2, if you aren't you rank him 4. But Carlsson and Fantilli are so close that nobody would feel strongly enough to sandwich Michkov in between them.

 

[Ace]

Nice to see my Reinbacher campaign paid off.

That’s future Buffalo Sabre Reinbacher

 

[ponder]

Cristall at 18 is the biggest surprise for me, a lot lower than I expected.

I wonder what the reservations are about his game? He is small, and is a “slow the game down” type, vs. someone who plays with a lot of pace, maybe scouts don’t like that combo? I suppose there’s an argument that he doesn’t play with enough pace to get separation at the NHL level, and won’t have the size/strength to fend off defenders when they do get close.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

What a crap draft for Finland. Czechia and Slovakia will soon pass Finland in hockey.

Not sure about that. Believe next year a Finn may go first overall (or close to it).

It is interesting how the pendulum has swung a bit though. When I first started following drafts in the late 1990's, the Czechs seemed well ahead of Finland when it came to producing players. Finland closed the gap and seemed to pass the Czech Republic as the Czech junior programs struggled. Nice to see the house being in order.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Not sure about that. Believe next year a Finn may go first overall (or close to it).

It is interesting how the pendulum has swung a bit though. When I first started following drafts in the late 1990's, the Czechs seemed well ahead of Finland when it came to producing players. Finland closed the gap and seemed to pass the Czech Republic as the Czech junior programs struggled. Nice to see the house being in order.

No shot Kiviharju goes first.

 

[macbowes]

No shot Kiviharju goes first.

Yeah, I honestly think he might not even be the first drafted Finn with how well Konsta Helenius is playing.

 

[Captain97]

I am working on my mid-season rankings, and spoiler alert: I have him at #6.

Glad me and a good portion of Habs fans can agree on something. That doesn’t happen too often

I so want Reinbacher with Florida's 1st

 

[FourQuarters]

Did you think Cristall "falls"?
Consider where he was ranked before, I would say he just not rise as quick as people expected.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

These rankings are very good in my opinion. Gauthier is just ranked too high.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Nice to see my Reinbacher campaign paid off.

I really hope Flames draft him or if the Sens could somehow swap their higher pick with a slightly lower first rounder for a team to take Zaitsev and draft him that'll be awesome as well.