Confirmed with Link: Canadiens Will Pick 5th (Hughes Presser in OP) NO POLITICS

[Kennerback]

i mean, it could happen. all it takes is for Michkov to tell every team he's not coming and poof, he's in Washington this September.

Anything can happen. He likely goes elsewhere. But this is not the guy that will give me that news. Some Russian source? 8 year contract? Pass.

 

[bcv]

I'm getting more and more comfortable with Wood at 5, not enough people are discussing him.

Love me some Wood

 

[The Great Weal]

Love me some Wood

His outrageous growth spurt makes me think that he will overcome that skating.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

I'm getting more and more comfortable with Wood at 5, not enough people are discussing him.

7th on my board, would be happier with him than I would with Reinbacher.

 

[Gillings]

I find the actions and words
Contradictory with Hughes on this one. They drafted Slaf for his contributions in 3-4 years, not now, yet had him in the bigs playing 12-13 mins a night getting rocked every few games.

If you’re projecting him to be a solid player 3-4 years from now then you don’t need to see him
Struggling all year long as an 18 year old. It was textbook rushing and pure stupidity imo.

He went from playing only a certain amount of games against lesser competition to playing in the best league every game. If they wants him learning in the NHL it should have been games every other game, healthy scratching, lots of practice. Not just thrown to the wolves, f around and find out, kid gets his bell rung 3-4 times and starts moving his jaw like his neck and spine are now out of line.

Hughes and co def screwed up his first year. No vision.

 

[bmore236]

Mitchkov is one of the most talented players in the draft when they interviewed 16 scouts. More likely number 3 behind Bedard or Fantilli. Only one scout had him 5-10.

 

[jaffy27]

He really likes to go inside, which is how you produce in the NHL, unless you have a laser aimed shot.

I really like Michkov at 5 but Leonard is my pick, he checks so many boxes as you just mentioned, drives the net with skill, that equals goals goals goals and playoff goals!!

The laser shot is Caufield’s department, he can be that outside one timer threat.

Leonard is like Gallagher that’s ultra skilled and who can skate.

Just seems to really compliment our top 6.

Suzuki, Slaf, Dach, Leonard and fingers crossed PLD gives you a beautiful balance of skill, size and toughness.

And as WTK mentioned, he has the personality to thrive in this market….I mean his comparable to an animal was a BEAST!!!!

LOVE IT!!!!

 

[Gillings]

That’s one of the reasons fans want Michkov. They rather go for the home run then get another dim-a-dozen guy.

Some scouts are trying to push the narrative that there is a top 8 this year, not a top 5. But if we put that into perspective with your post, there are selling baloney.

There are risks with Reinbacher, Leonard and Benson too. One, two and maybe all 3 won’t hit their ceiling. And when you weight in the upside and risk of all of them, it looks like the wrong move not to pick Michkov starting at #5. I mean, it looks like a no-brainer to me to pick Michkov.

Because I also think that the effects of geopolitical problems are way overblown when relating this to hockey in 3 year. The war would need to last 3 more years, it would need to be worse than right now and Russian from any sphere of life would be prevented from leaving. All this with technologies like VPNs that help people have access to News and information (which was not possible during the Cold War). etc. To me that has less chances of happening than Putin being assassinated.

But back to Hockey, if we compare to last year, the differences between Wright, Slaf and Cooley weren’t that obvious. They all had plus and minus. But none of them had a huge plus, like Michkov has on others. That’s why the debate was more fluid.

If I HAD to pick someone else, it would be Benson though. He seems to have the highest IQ and passing, playmaking ability. His style should be able to adapt.

I’m starting to really push towards benson if we don’t take michkov. Benson is elite but small like michkov, benson doesn’t have a better shot but is at the least an equal to better play maker.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

1 week left until we know whether we are getting Michkov and Dubois or not.

 

[pepperMonkey]

His inside skill is really good and why I've been getting more and more excited about the prospect of picking him.

I must say, Leonard is interesting. I personally would rather get Michknov but we know what the likelihood of that is (well, we don't truthfully, but whatever). But assuming we don't...I'm somewhat conflicted between Leonard and W. Smith. Leonard looks to be more likely to be an impact player but he could turn out to be a 2nd line player but a very much useful and needed player. Smith on the other hand looks to have higher upside and be elite. Oh, I don't know, both could turn out to be absolute elite players or bust, though Leonard probably has a better chance of at least being useful. Then again, I wouldn't mind Benson either. *sigh* so many great prospects this year...

 

[WeThreeKings]

I must say, Leonard is interesting. I personally would rather get Michknov but we know what the likelihood of that is (well, we don't truthfully, but whatever). But assuming we don't...I'm somewhat conflicted between Leonard and W. Smith. Leonard looks to be more likely to be an impact player but he could turn out to be a 2nd line player but a very much useful and needed player. Smith on the other hand looks to have higher upside and be elite. Oh, I don't know, both could turn out to be absolute elite players or bust, though Leonard probably has a better chance of at least being useful. Then again, I wouldn't mind Benson either. *sigh* so many great prospects this year...

If we are picking Leonard it is because Smith is off the board.. and I don't think they have interest in Benson at all, I'd say it's Leonard/Reinbacher if Smith is off the board and the dark horse is Dvorsky.

 

[Adam Michaels]

That is a great film room and I think it will be Leonard for Montreal.

Especially if the rumors are true that Reinbacher had trouble in his interview with Montreal.

Leonard has the personality to thrive in the Montreal market, he has a skill set that is tough to come by, and the offense is at a top 6 level and as the video says, can grow from complementary to legitimate play driver.

I think Adam Nicholas watching that tape thinks that the flashes of high level playmaking can be turned into regular occurences.

Hughes mentioned that Leonard plays like the Tkachuk brothers. And it's been reported that Nicholas has shown Slaf videos of Matthew Tkachuk. So imagine having a Leonard and Slaf playing Tkachuk-like?

 

[The Great Weal]

7th on my board, would be happier with him than I would with Reinbacher.

Call me wacky but he's fighting for #5 for me. People say that Leonard has underrated skills. To that I say, why does the same not apply to Wood?

 

[Adam Michaels]

If we are picking Leonard it is because Smith is off the board.. and I don't think they have interest in Benson at all, I'd say it's Leonard/Reinbacher if Smith is off the board and the dark horse is Dvorsky.

And I'm good with all of them. Some I would prefer over others. But if Habs walk away with one of Smith, Leonard, Reinbacher or Dvorsky, I'll be happy.

Dvorsrky next year is rumored to play in the SHL for Oskarshamm. His team AIK will be in Allsvenskane next year. So him going to play a year in SHL will be good.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Call me wacky but he's fighting for #5 for me. People say that Leonard has underrated skills. To that I say, why does the same not apply to Wood?

Bedard

Michkov

Carlsson
Fantilli

Smith/Leonard (5a 5b)
Wood
Benson

Dvorsky
Reinbacher
Perreault
Moore

Are the tiers for me.

 

[Draft]

Call me wacky but he's fighting for #5 for me. People say that Leonard has underrated skills. To that I say, why does the same not apply to Wood?

His skills aren’t underrated, there’s really no issue there and he’s very well regarded in that aspect. It’s that his skating is well below average for even the NCAA. The fact that he’s been this successful with that stride is a testament to how skilled he is. Ground-up rebuild of likely the most important skill in today’s game and enduring questions about physical capacity to make those changes is a big ask at #5.

 

[The Great Weal]

His skills aren’t underrated, there’s really no issue there and he’s very well regarded in that aspect. It’s that his skating is well below average for even the NCAA. The fact that he’s been this successful with that stride is a testament to how skilled he is. Ground-up rebuild of likely the most important skill in today’s game and enduring questions about physical capacity to make those changes is a big ask at #5.

The fact that he grew 10 inches in 1.5 years makes me think he will build into it.

 

[Skip Bayless]

The fact that he grew 10 inches in 1.5 years makes me think he will build into it.

I've rarely seen a prospect go from what Wood currently is to being decent in the mobility department.

He will probably make the NHL on his scoring ability alone and will have to adapt his game to become something quite one dimensional.

 

[Draft]

The fact that he grew 10 inches in 1.5 years makes me think he will build into it.

Definitely possible - some do, some don’t. This is where you’d have to rely on your team doctors (flashes of Hutson). Even then, wouldn’t be the first player with poor skating we’ve tried to fix and failed.

 

[WeThreeKings]

18 year old in one of the best professional hockey leagues in the world. On a big upward trajectory.

 

[ZUKI]

According to the Match TV site, citing a well-informed Russian source, the attacker will land at the Washington Capitals in the first round, that is to say in 8th place in the draft. This source even claims that it is almost 99% certain.

The only other possibility would be to see him selected by the San Jose Sharks at number four. The Canadian would therefore be completely excluded from the race for the selection of Michkov.

“Matvei Michkov will go to Washington, you will see. The Capitals are definitely going to draft him. Michkov, who refused all meeting requests from team representatives in Russia, did so following requests from his team, the SKA, not to discuss with any representatives from outside. Everything seems crystal clear. Michkov will not be selected in the top three because of his 3-year contract in Russia. It's hard to imagine Montreal (5th) selecting him. Teams like Arizona (6th) or Philadelphia (7th) understand that he could not arrive in the NHL until 26 years old. In 8 seasons, the leadership group has time to change. What's the point of selecting a prospect who will only come to help the team during the reign of your successor? There is only only one real competitor for the Capitals and that is the #4 San Jose Sharks because the team owner loves Russian hockey and is a fan of Igor Larionov. If for some incredible reason the Caps do not select him, he will not pass the Vancouver Canucks (11th) but according to my information, the Capitals are seriously considering selecting Michkov to succeed Alex Ovechkin. »

- Anonymous Russian source

A good spy ; yet he’s in the know of the décision several teams will make,that from Russia.

 

[ReHabs]

The Swiss National League has produced not too many prospects. Many scouts obviously have doubts about Reinbacher because of this indisputable fact. It's as much of a risk to draft Reinbacher out of the Swiss League as it is to draft Michkov out of the KHL. Probably more of a risk to draft Reinbacher and have him land with a thud, tbh.

 

[Colezuki]

The Swiss National League has produced not too many prospects. Many scouts obviously have doubts about Reinbacher because of this indisputable fact. It's as much of a risk to draft Reinbacher out of the Swiss League as it is to draft Michkov out of the KHL. Probably more of a risk to draft Reinbacher and have him land with a thud, tbh.

I mean I may be misremebering here but didn't matthews play there in his draft year?

 

[SlafySZN]

I mean I may be misremebering here but didn't matthews play there in his draft year?

Yes

 

[ReHabs]

I mean I may be misremebering here but didn't matthews play there in his draft year?

Matthews was a top prospect who hand-picked the league of his choosing.

Where did Swiss Nico Hirscher come from? The Q.
Where did Swiss Timo Meier get drafted from? The Q.

Who was the highest scoring player in the NLA this past season? Roman Cervenka, failed NHLer aged 34.
Who was the second highest scoring player in the NLA this past season? Linus Omark (remember him?), failed NHLer aged 36.
Who was the third highest scoring player in the NLA this past season? Chris DiDomenico, failed NHLer aged 34.

39 year old Valtteri Filppula was fifth in NLA scoring this past season.

Reinbacher might look good but the quality of his competition is not impressive and serious scouts know this and it is reflected in his ranking. He is not a serious candidate to be picked at 5OA. There is as much downside risk as you can imagine. The same four or five individuals here pumping him up and concurrently trashing Michkov's chances at 5 are either in denial or have ulterior motives.

The KHL is a known league, the NLA is not.