Prospect Info: Canucks draft LW Jackson Kunz 113th Overall (USHS / Green Bay Gamblers --> North Dakota commit)

[VanJack]

Reminds me a bit of the Aidan McDonough pick.

My thoughts were the same. Knock on McDonough was his skating which is why he fell to the 7th round, but clearly picked it up dramatically in his freshman year at Northeastern U. So maybe Jackson Kunz follows the same path in the NCAA.

Last U.S. high school player the Canucks selected was Rathbone--which worked out fine.

 

[timw33]

You mean the two time cup champ Patrick Maroon who’s an excellent depth player?

It's stupid to try and draft bottom-6 depth players in general. Just draft pure skill and ability.

And yes, Maroon eked out a career as a 30ish point depth player, one of the absolute easiest kind of player to acquire for very cheap in free agency, unless you're of course the Vancouver Canucks.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

It's stupid to try and draft bottom-6 depth players in the draft. Just draft pure skill and ability.

And yes, Maroon eked out a career as a 30ish point depth player, one of the absolute easiest kind of player to acquire for very cheap in free agency, unless you're of course the Vancouver Canucks.

It’s the 4th round
90% of the 4 round picks never play a single nhl game

 

[timw33]

It’s the 4th round
90% of the 4 round picks never play a single nhl game

Oh for sure, another reason to swing for the fences. Hopefully this kid's goal scoring touch transfers over to the next two levels (USHL this year, NCAA next).

 

[bobbyb2009]

It's stupid to try and draft bottom-6 depth players in general. Just draft pure skill and ability.

And yes, Maroon eked out a career as a 30ish point depth player, one of the absolute easiest kind of player to acquire for very cheap in free agency, unless you're of course the Vancouver Canucks.

Hey. I understand your point, but if they were so F ing easy to acquire for cheap, why the ell cant we do it.

 

[StreetHawk]

It's stupid to try and draft bottom-6 depth players in general. Just draft pure skill and ability.

And yes, Maroon eked out a career as a 30ish point depth player, one of the absolute easiest kind of player to acquire for very cheap in free agency, unless you're of course the Vancouver Canucks.

you need to draft guys who can turn into NHLers. Not every skilled guy is going to make it.

TB traded the 20th pick in the draft to grab a 3rd line guy.

At this point in the draft you want qualities that make the player an NHL and have to determine if they can overcome their weakness(es) to make it to the NHL full time.

 

[timw33]

Hey. I understand your point, but if they were so F ing easy to acquire for cheap, why the ell cant we do it.

Because our management is objectively in the bottom-5 of the entire league and has no idea how to manage a salary cap?

 

[timw33]

TB traded the 20th pick in the draft to grab a 3rd line guy.

They traded the 20th pick in the draft for one of the best contracts in the league.

 

[StreetHawk]

They traded the 20th pick in the draft for one of the best contracts in the league.

Correct, from the TDL to the end of next season when his contract expires when he is 29 going on 30.

So, if you can manage to draft and develop someone like that, who will be off to NCAA and maybe come out after 3 years, you send him to the A for 1-2 years to develop, so you still have him on your roster for 4-5 years at a manageable contract.

Teams are not going to draft the same type of player each round. Going to look for some different traits.

Ideally, you get 2 players out of each draft. One in the top 6F or top 4D or a starting G. The other a bottom 6 or bottom half Dman. If you can find a 3rd guy in that draft or a 3rd guy every other year, that's good.

Everyone is a hopeful on draft day. Time will reveal which ones can rise up and take the next step.

 

[MS]

you need to draft guys who can turn into NHLers. Not every skilled guy is going to make it.

TB traded the 20th pick in the draft to grab a 3rd line guy.

At this point in the draft you want qualities that make the player an NHL and have to determine if they can overcome their weakness(es) to make it to the NHL full time.

Coleman is basically prime Burrows on a contract that pays him nothing. It's not really correct to classify him as a '3rd liner'.

Most bottom-6 NHLers were drafted as skill players, couldn't make it on their skill, and then found ways to adapt. Gritty CHLers who 'project as good 4th liners' almost always end up in the ECHL. Pat Maroon who has been talked about here was a huge junior scorer.

When you look at the 'hits' in the draft after the 3rd round, they virtually all fit into a few categories :

1) Talented guys who fell because they were small.
2) Talented guys who fell because they were slow (and this might be the unfortunately named Kunz).
3) Talented guys who slipped through the cracks due to lack of exposure/playing in a weird league.
4) Talented guys who fell because they had been passed over in a previous draft and were late bloomers.

 

[F A N]

They traded the 20th pick in the draft for one of the best contracts in the league.

They also traded one of the best contracts in the league for what turned out to be the 20th pick.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

this sure is the best era to pick guys with 'heavy boots'...

Pat Maroon has back to back Cups, just sayin.. like the pick.

 

[Tryamkin]

Interesting that he didn't lead his team in scoring. His teammate (and presumably linemate) who did score more is a Russian guy who was ranked higher by Central Scouting: Artem Shlaine at eliteprospects.com

Also Kunz isn't going to ND until 21-22 (Shlaine is going to Connecticut this next season).

Kunz didn't impress me much. I really liked Shlaine.

 

[RobertKron]

Coleman is basically prime Burrows on a contract that pays him nothing. It's not really correct to classify him as a '3rd liner'.

Most bottom-6 NHLers were drafted as skill players, couldn't make it on their skill, and then found ways to adapt. Gritty CHLers who 'project as good 4th liners' almost always end up in the ECHL. Pat Maroon who has been talked about here was a huge junior scorer.

When you look at the 'hits' in the draft after the 3rd round, they virtually all fit into a few categories :

1) Talented guys who fell because they were small.
2) Talented guys who fell because they were slow (and this might be the unfortunately named Kunz).
3) Talented guys who slipped through the cracks due to lack of exposure/playing in a weird league.
4) Talented guys who fell because they had been passed over in a previous draft and were late bloomers.

Maroon was also an overweight kid, weighing like 260 in his draft year, who lost a bunch of weight and was taken the next year as an overager. Teams likely stayed away due to obvious fitness concerns.

 

[Nazzlind]

The Vancouver Canucks decided that the best strategy, after watching the extremely high skill, high class skating Tampa Bay team win the cup, was to try and draft Patrick Maroon players.

Tampa Bay themselves drafted 9 players today and not all of them were high skill, high class skating prospects lol

Literally their first pick, Jack Finley, has questionable skating.

 

[F A N]

It's stupid to try and draft bottom-6 depth players in general. Just draft pure skill and ability.

And yes, Maroon eked out a career as a 30ish point depth player, one of the absolute easiest kind of player to acquire for very cheap in free agency, unless you're of course the Vancouver Canucks.

Are you talking about Patrick Maroon? You make it sound like he was always destined to be a 4th line plug. He wasn't. He had an outlier 27 goal season and has good skill and soft hands which constantly gave him opportunities with skilled players. He's kind of like a better version of Lee Goren.

 

[Ginger Papa]

Correct, from the TDL to the end of next season when his contract expires when he is 29 going on 30.

So, if you can manage to draft and develop someone like that, who will be off to NCAA and maybe come out after 3 years, you send him to the A for 1-2 years to develop, so you still have him on your roster for 4-5 years at a manageable contract.

Teams are not going to draft the same type of player each round. Going to look for some different traits.

Ideally, you get 2 players out of each draft. One in the top 6F or top 4D or a starting G. The other a bottom 6 or bottom half Dman. If you can find a 3rd guy in that draft or a 3rd guy every other year, that's good.

Everyone is a hopeful on draft day. Time will reveal which ones can rise up and take the next step.

Coleman is basically prime Burrows on a contract that pays him nothing. It's not really correct to classify him as a '3rd liner'.

Most bottom-6 NHLers were drafted as skill players, couldn't make it on their skill, and then found ways to adapt. Gritty CHLers who 'project as good 4th liners' almost always end up in the ECHL. Pat Maroon who has been talked about here was a huge junior scorer.

When you look at the 'hits' in the draft after the 3rd round, they virtually all fit into a few categories :

1) Talented guys who fell because they were small.
2) Talented guys who fell because they were slow (and this might be the unfortunately named Kunz).
3) Talented guys who slipped through the cracks due to lack of exposure/playing in a weird league.
4) Talented guys who fell because they had been passed over in a previous draft and were late bloomers.

2 well thought out, reasonable Posts with excellent points imho. It’s good to step back once in a while to look at the bigger picture.

 

[clay]

This is the only pick we had that I am quite disappointed about as I really hoped we’d take Evan Vierling. That said, I don’t know anything about this player and our US scouts have earned the benefit of the doubt.

 

[IComeInPeace]

Hmmmm. Players taken from USHS basically never turn out, but it's a weird year.

In the last few years we’ve drafted both Jack Rathbone and Tyler Madden from the USHL.

While it remains to be seen how their NHL careers turn out, without any doubt, both guys were great value picks.

 

[Melvin]

In the last few years we’ve drafted both Jack Rathbone and Tyler Madden from the USHL.

While it remains to be seen how their NHL careers turn out, without any doubt, both guys were great value picks.

I don't know why that's "without any doubt."

The USHL is not the same as USHS. If Rathbone becomes an NHL player he'll basically be the first successful high school pick since 2005.

Please don't draftsplain our picks to me. I am well aware of them.

 

[MS]

If Rathbone becomes an NHL player he'll basically be the first successful high school pick since 2005.

I'm no fan of HS draft picks and agree with your general take, but doing some spot checking it looks like Ryan Donato and Warren Foegele are HS draft picks from 2014 who are currently NHL regulars.

 

[VanJack]

I'm no fan of HS draft picks and agree with your general take, but doing some spot checking it looks like Ryan Donato and Warren Foegele are HS draft picks from 2014 who are currently NHL regulars.

Under normal circumstances you'd probably agree that picking a guy out of high school hockey in the U.S., which might be the lowest rung of competitive hockey for teen-age kids, is always going to be a stretch.

But Kunz has been recruited by the North Dakota Huskies program and they don't offer up scholarships to nobodies. They're one of the most successful NCAA programs in the States, and have a top-notch reputation for their training facilities and player development. Just look at what they did for Boeser and Stecher.

Kunz might need three years of NCAA hockey, but at the end of it the Canucks will clearly have an idea of whether or not they have a player.

 

[wetcoast]

My thoughts were the same. Knock on McDonough was his skating which is why he fell to the 7th round, but clearly picked it up dramatically in his freshman year at Northeastern U. So maybe Jackson Kunz follows the same path in the NCAA.

Last U.S. high school player the Canucks selected was Rathbone--which worked out fine.

I love Rathbone but it hasn't worked put yet.

As for this guy time will tell 4th rounders are a crapshoot.

 

[F A N]

If Rathbone becomes an NHL player he'll basically be the first successful high school pick since 2005.

I'm no fan of HS draft picks and agree with your general take, but doing some spot checking it looks like Ryan Donato and Warren Foegele are HS draft picks from 2014 who are currently NHL regulars.

Yep. Melvin is wrong. High school hockey in a place like Minnesota is also in a different class as they have produced players like Donato who do choose to continue playing high school hockey instead of the USHL. Miles Wood, Bjustad are other names.

 

[Bleach Clean]

Tampa Bay themselves drafted 9 players today and not all of them were high skill, high class skating prospects lol

Literally their first pick, Jack Finley, has questionable skating.

A draft mantra or mode does not mean that it has to be wholly exclusive. It just has to be predominately one thing or focus.