Prospect Info: Current #2 overall poll and discussion

[ninetyeight]

I think most of us were hoping to land either of the RDs pre-lottery, but then we jumped to #2 and now have a chance to grab one of the two best guys. Who people much smarter than me, view as clearly above the rest. Would be disappointing not to get one of them, but even more disappointing if we trade so much down that we also miss the two best RDs.

 

[Eggtimer]

I think most of us were hoping to land either of the RDs pre-lottery, but then we jumped to #2 and now have a chance to grab one of the two best guys. Who people much smarter than me, view as clearly above the rest. Would be disappointing not to get one of them, but even more disappointing if we trade so much down that we also miss the two best RDs.

Yes l it will be a swift kick to the pills if we end up trading down for someone we haven’t even really considered or discussed much. I have my hopes up now for Slafkovsky. Originally it was Slaf but after we finished in the 5 spot , I pretty much thought Slaf was a 1 in a million shot at falling to us at 5 or even 6 (where we had the highest odds of picking ).
I was even bummed out thinkimg we would miss out on Jirichek and Ne as well if we picked #6.
Us winning pick #2 was massive and got me pumped for Slafkovsky again.
Now all this talk about trading the pick is acting as major buzz kill.
Now the only way trading the pick would not be seen as a major bummer , is if we trade for some crazy package or player that will , for me , have to be a major overpay, for me not to be disappointed. As in , a true elite stud player like Tkachuk coming back. Even then I will be apprehensive about the move and always concerned about how well Slavkovsky will develop and if we made a mistake.

If it is some under whelmping package or player like swapping the pick for Filala….I will probably cry myself to sleep for the next month .

 

[Eggtimer]

There is so much potential for a ton of changes , not only league - wide either. Us specifically .
We have some major assets gathered up plus cap space amd still need a lot of holes plugged ( but have a promising amount of skill and assets to work with ).
Pick #2 potentially in play , Fitz saying he wants to add players harder to play against , massive need for a goalie and need a RHD to replace Subban.

Im going crazy going over all our options. Fitz beig quoted as saying he would consider moving our pick has me worked up as well lol.
I know GMs say this all the time pre-draft , but I think there might be more to it with us this year.
So many questions and options out there.
1. Keep pick #2 or trade it?
2. If we keep it , who do we take ? (Hopefully Slaf)
3. Do we trade the pick outright ? If so , who for ? Fiala (god no) , DeBricat (for me , not the best fit amd use of assets . I’d rather pay a UFA Gaudreau Forsberg )
4. Do we trade down with the pick and use one pick on ourselves then trade the other ?
5. If we keep the pick , do we trade other assets like Holtz / protected 2023 1st ? If so , who do we target in trade ? Fiala ? Tkachuk ? DeBrincat ?
Again, I’d rather we keep our pick .However , I’d entertain trading Holtz for a legit , established scoring top 6 winger . But I’m still not sure if that’s the smart move. I dont wamt a high cap hit payer if he cannot play an interior style of game and do not want to be capped out amd still need work at RHD amd more interior / heavy / defensive players in the lineup .
6.Who do we get in net ? It’s a massive #1 need . But the options out there are far from perfect. They all have question marks attached to them.
!ah e there is an unseen trade available that we don’t know about ( I hope).

I just want whatever the best move(s) to happen for the long term success of the tea .
After being this patient amd sucking for this long , I hope we don’t over react orget impatient and hurt the team long term by makig a panic move(s).

In a prefext world , for me , I move Smith ,Zacha ,Johnson, Tatar, Kuokkanen.
Draft Slafkovsky , sign or tradefor best goalie available. I would be “okay” with a slight overpay on a goalie like Hellebuyck .

Sign ome or more of Nichushkin , Lyubushkin, Marchment, Neiderrier , Motte .

Holtz would be the top asset I’d prefer to move out of pick #2 , Holtz , 2023 protected 1st.
Id use him on an elite goalie or top 6 winger.

 

[My3Sons]

There is so much potential for a ton of changes , not only league - wide either. Us specifically .
We have some major assets gathered up plus cap space amd still need a lot of holes plugged ( but have a promising amount of skill and assets to work with ).
Pick #2 potentially in play , Fitz saying he wants to add players harder to play against , massive need for a goalie and need a RHD to replace Subban.

Im going crazy going over all our options. Fitz beig quoted as saying he would consider moving our pick has me worked up as well lol.
I know GMs say this all the time pre-draft , but I think there might be more to it with us this year.
So many questions and options out there.
1. Keep pick #2 or trade it?
2. If we keep it , who do we take ? (Hopefully Slaf)
3. Do we trade the pick outright ? If so , who for ? Fiala (god no) , DeBricat (for me , not the best fit amd use of assets . I’d rather pay a UFA Gaudreau Forsberg )
4. Do we trade down with the pick and use one pick on ourselves then trade the other ?
5. If we keep the pick , do we trade other assets like Holtz / protected 2023 1st ? If so , who do we target in trade ? Fiala ? Tkachuk ? DeBrincat ?
Again, I’d rather we keep our pick .However , I’d entertain trading Holtz for a legit , established scoring top 6 winger . But I’m still not sure if that’s the smart move. I dont wamt a high cap hit payer if he cannot play an interior style of game and do not want to be capped out amd still need work at RHD amd more interior / heavy / defensive players in the lineup .
6.Who do we get in net ? It’s a massive #1 need . But the options out there are far from perfect. They all have question marks attached to them.
!ah e there is an unseen trade available that we don’t know about ( I hope).

I just want whatever the best move(s) to happen for the long term success of the tea .
After being this patient amd sucking for this long , I hope we don’t over react orget impatient and hurt the team long term by makig a panic move(s).

In a prefext world , for me , I move Smith ,Zacha ,Johnson, Tatar, Kuokkanen.
Draft Slafkovsky , sign or tradefor best goalie available. I would be “okay” with a slight overpay on a goalie like Hellebuyck .

Sign ome or more of Nichushkin , Lyubushkin, Marchment, Neiderrier , Motte .

Holtz would be the top asset I’d prefer to move out of pick #2 , Holtz , 2023 protected 1st.
Id use him on an elite goalie or top 6 winger.

With respect to trading the pick, if you peruse all the various threads on the main trade board, they all boil down to the same thing. Lesser pieces and parts or good players heading to UFA in a year or two. I have yet to see a deal proposed by a fan of another team that makes me want to seriously consider a trade. Who knows what real world GMs will do but I don't want two years of a good player who then decides to leave.

 

[glenwo2]

With respect to trading the pick, if you peruse all the various threads on the main trade board, they all boil down to the same thing. Lesser pieces and parts or good players heading to UFA in a year or two. I have yet to see a deal proposed by a fan of another team that makes me want to seriously consider a trade. Who knows what real world GMs will do but I don't want two years of a good player who then decides to leave.

It's always a case of an opposing team's fans proposing trades that give US crappier players while taking our more talented ones (or high draft picks).

That's not how things work. LOL!

You need to GIVE SOMETHING in order to GET SOMETHING.

Those fans don't understand that.

 

[Xirik]

Seeing the Slafkovsky thread om the draft prospect board slowly going to the next page and then the next has me like.

 

[Nubmer6]

It's always a case of an opposing team's fans proposing trades that give US crappier players while taking our more talented ones (or high draft picks).

That's not how things work. LOL!

You need to GIVE SOMETHING in order to GET SOMETHING.

Those fans don't understand that.

 

[Saugus]

Seeing the Slafkovsky thread om the draft prospect board slowly going to the next page and then the next has me like.

And this is why I no longer go to the main boards much.

Not that we're much more rational here, of course. But at least our crazy is within normal parameters, not crazy crazy.

 

[Rhodes 81]

Sorry if I'm repeating a general consensus but frankly I haven't read all 500 pages of draft threads and what else is this place for than shouting my opinions nobody asked for into the void?

I think Wright is a similar prospect value wise to Nico, where you can almost be sure he won't be the best player in the draft, but it's also just kind of indefensible to take anyone else over him. I think Cooley has a good chance to end up the best player in the draft, but if the Devils are picking at 2 I think they take Slafkovsky every time. He's got a lower perceived floor than the defensemen, but you can be reasonably sure you'll get 1 top line level goal scorer out of him/Holtz, or at least good enough to not be a drag on Hughes. He can probably play immediately which is a bonus for a team looking to compete now. Taking one of the D when you already have Hamilton long term and assets invested in Luke, Shakir, Bahl, and a slew of other maybes in the AHL essentially forces you to move on from Severson and that sets you back another couple of years on the rebuild. I don't think they can do that or else they're risking being non-competitive in the prime years of Hughes. They're already entering the prime for Bratt and Nico.

Trading down within the top 10 just doesn't really happen much in the NHL, but this could be the draft where it makes sense for a team to want to move up. To me, Cooley is the wildcard. Seattle, Philly, or Columbus may be willing to move assets to make sure they get him and not Arizona. If one of those teams prizes Gauthier or Savoie (or someone totally off the board), the Devils could trade down and still have a chance of picking up Slaf or Jiricek. The question would be how many picks is it worth it to NJ to go down 2 spots or 4. Or would Anaheim maybe be willing to move both their picks to jump up and try to accelerate their rebuild? I don't know if that would be enough for us since we would be missing out on that top two tiers of players, but the idea is a bit intriguing.

The only player that seems for sure available in a trade is Fiala, and I'm not convinced he's worth 2OA. I'm not trading 2OA for a goalie.

Overall, I'm taking Slaf and moving on. He might play this year, and if he pans out he could be our top goal scorer within a couple years, coinciding with the time frame you expect this team to make a real run at things.

 

[StevenToddIves]

Sorry if I'm repeating a general consensus but frankly I haven't read all 500 pages of draft threads and what else is this place for than shouting my opinions nobody asked for into the void?

I think Wright is a similar prospect value wise to Nico, where you can almost be sure he won't be the best player in the draft, but it's also just kind of indefensible to take anyone else over him. I think Cooley has a good chance to end up the best player in the draft, but if the Devils are picking at 2 I think they take Slafkovsky every time. He's got a lower perceived floor than the defensemen, but you can be reasonably sure you'll get 1 top line level goal scorer out of him/Holtz, or at least good enough to not be a drag on Hughes. He can probably play immediately which is a bonus for a team looking to compete now. Taking one of the D when you already have Hamilton long term and assets invested in Luke, Shakir, Bahl, and a slew of other maybes in the AHL essentially forces you to move on from Severson and that sets you back another couple of years on the rebuild. I don't think they can do that or else they're risking being non-competitive in the prime years of Hughes. They're already entering the prime for Bratt and Nico.

Trading down within the top 10 just doesn't really happen much in the NHL, but this could be the draft where it makes sense for a team to want to move up. To me, Cooley is the wildcard. Seattle, Philly, or Columbus may be willing to move assets to make sure they get him and not Arizona. If one of those teams prizes Gauthier or Savoie (or someone totally off the board), the Devils could trade down and still have a chance of picking up Slaf or Jiricek. The question would be how many picks is it worth it to NJ to go down 2 spots or 4. Or would Anaheim maybe be willing to move both their picks to jump up and try to accelerate their rebuild? I don't know if that would be enough for us since we would be missing out on that top two tiers of players, but the idea is a bit intriguing.

The only player that seems for sure available in a trade is Fiala, and I'm not convinced he's worth 2OA. I'm not trading 2OA for a goalie.

Overall, I'm taking Slaf and moving on. He might play this year, and if he pans out he could be our top goal scorer within a couple years, coinciding with the time frame you expect this team to make a real run at things.

Two narratives we need to dispel:

1) Cooley has a higher ceiling than Wright. What we should be asking is: does Cooley have the highest ceiling on the US-NTDP? Because to me, that could be Nazar. Cooley is a great prospect, but you're drafting him because he's a very good all-around player who plays an extremely high pace style of hockey. To me, he's safe -- a good comparable to me would be like a higher-floor, lower-ceiling Mat Barzal. But Cooley is not a dominant offensive, 100+ point-type. He didn't lead his own team in scoring. Not only is he not Jack Hughes, but he's also not Trevor Zegras. Meanwhile, Wright lacks Cooley's speed and pace, but he's literally higher end in every other tool or ability. He's a better passer than Cooley and shoots far, far better -- I'm not sure in what world that gives Cooley higher offensive "upside" than Wright. In terms of pure offensive upside among 2022 draft-eligible centers, I'd rank Cooley 4th behind Wright, Lambert and Savoie; and this is because I'm not sure if Nazar is a center or RW at the NHL level.

2) Slafkovsky does not have a high floor. There are no red flags which can hold Slafkovsky back -- he's literally a high-intangible, high-skill 6'4-220 kid who displayed a higher development arc in his draft-eligible season than any player being considered in the top 20. Is there a chance he completely plateaus out of the blue and doesn't pan out as a first-liner? Well, sure -- there's that chance with any prospect -- but a lot of bad things would have to happen to an almost preternatural degree in order for this to happen. Like Wright, I'd consider Slafkovsky "high floor, high ceiling" -- they're both so good right now, it's tough to imagine them not continuing to improve.

I think people like to make up narratives and run with them. If we're talking about a low floor or a high ceiling, I can present to you Brad Lambert. This kid is the best skater in the draft and his vision/puckhandling is probably second after only Slafkovsky. He has the rare ability to dangle the puck at lightning speed with the same acuity as he does standing still. If he puts it all together, he'll be lethal. The problem is, Lambert has difficulty putting two good shifts in a row, much less two games. He hasn't shown the compete level or consistency of effort or willingness to pay a price or team ethic we normally see in our star players. Maybe it's just immaturity, and there will be a point where he figures it out and takes off. Maybe he just needs the right coach or system.

 

[Guttersniped]

it would certainly be a better outcome than whatever player we'd end up at #5 had we not won the lottery.

Not necessarily. Did the Avs miss out in 2017 by losing the lottery and ending up with Makar at #4? While it seems like Wright is the clear #1 there is certainly no guarantee that he (or Slafkovsky for that matter) will end up as the best player of this draft class.

It’s not clear when we would pick if we didn’t win. Colorado was guaranteed the 4th spot by having the worst record in 2016-17.

With Montreal, who has the best odds out, the 2nd pick lottery was much more of a jump ball.

Add the fact that Arizona is absolutely cursed when it comes to NHL lotteries and then only a Seattle or a Philly win prevents us from being pushed down to 6.

I prefer winning. I never agreed with wanting the 2nd when we won so we didn’t have to choose between Nico vs Patrick or Hughes vs Kakko. No GM should think that way. (And it worked out for the best twice.)

I have to admit that I really wanted the 3rd pick in 2020 and not the top 2 but I wanted Stuetzle way more than Lafreniere and I thought Byfield was hard to pass up but not what we needed. And people would have bitched less about us winning a lower pick so it would be a win win.

And I curse everyone in the interwebs who allowed me to believe that Detroit could take Perfetti so Raymond could make it to #7. (Turns out neither defensemen would have made it to us unless both were still available at #6 because the Ducks were planning to the one that was left.)

The 2020 draft was torturous, for the ridiculous two lotteries so playoff teams got in the 1OA lottery runoff, for the endless wait up to it, for the stupid amount of time we put into Sanderson vs Drydale just to torture ourselves. (That’s why I’m allowing myself to remain not completely decisive on Jiricek/Nemec, that’s emotional investment in RHD we won’t get that I won’t risk lol.)

And the 2nd day was cartoonishly long, just the 2nd round took a couple hours and the whole 2nd day took over 7 hours. I still can’t believe I watched the whole thing.

We drafted Baumgartner at #161, then traded the #192 pick to the Coyotes, and that was all followed by Carolina drafting Pashin at #199. Was this disappointing for me after +7 hours?

Yes, yes it was. (I also was pretty punchy after awhile.)

Going back to this draft. There’s rumors/theories/guesses of a riser like Gauthier shaking the top 5 up but if we were choosing #6 and the top 5 go as expected (Wright, Cooley, Slaf, Nemec, Jiricek) people might be bummed. I could see Jiricek making it to #6 though.

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Watch Montreal take Cooley and throw everyone for a loop.

 

[Smitty426]

There is so much potential for a ton of changes , not only league - wide either. Us specifically .
We have some major assets gathered up plus cap space amd still need a lot of holes plugged ( but have a promising amount of skill and assets to work with ).
Pick #2 potentially in play , Fitz saying he wants to add players harder to play against , massive need for a goalie and need a RHD to replace Subban.

Im going crazy going over all our options. Fitz beig quoted as saying he would consider moving our pick has me worked up as well lol.
I know GMs say this all the time pre-draft , but I think there might be more to it with us this year.
So many questions and options out there.
1. Keep pick #2 or trade it?
2. If we keep it , who do we take ? (Hopefully Slaf)
3. Do we trade the pick outright ? If so , who for ? Fiala (god no) , DeBricat (for me , not the best fit amd use of assets . I’d rather pay a UFA Gaudreau Forsberg )
4. Do we trade down with the pick and use one pick on ourselves then trade the other ?
5. If we keep the pick , do we trade other assets like Holtz / protected 2023 1st ? If so , who do we target in trade ? Fiala ? Tkachuk ? DeBrincat ?
Again, I’d rather we keep our pick .However , I’d entertain trading Holtz for a legit , established scoring top 6 winger . But I’m still not sure if that’s the smart move. I dont wamt a high cap hit payer if he cannot play an interior style of game and do not want to be capped out amd still need work at RHD amd more interior / heavy / defensive players in the lineup .
6.Who do we get in net ? It’s a massive #1 need . But the options out there are far from perfect. They all have question marks attached to them.
!ah e there is an unseen trade available that we don’t know about ( I hope).

I just want whatever the best move(s) to happen for the long term success of the tea .
After being this patient amd sucking for this long , I hope we don’t over react orget impatient and hurt the team long term by makig a panic move(s).

In a prefext world , for me , I move Smith ,Zacha ,Johnson, Tatar, Kuokkanen.
Draft Slafkovsky , sign or tradefor best goalie available. I would be “okay” with a slight overpay on a goalie like Hellebuyck .

Sign ome or more of Nichushkin , Lyubushkin, Marchment, Neiderrier , Motte .

Holtz would be the top asset I’d prefer to move out of pick #2 , Holtz , 2023 protected 1st.
Id use him on an elite goalie or top 6 winger.

Posted elsewhere. Its not enough for LC (not far off) but add Nichsukin, and the left side with Slaf is pretty stout

NJD​

1. Crouse, Lawson [RFA Rights]
2. 2022 1st round pick (ARI)

Additional Details:
Arizona gets Cooley guaranteed

ARI​

1. 2022 1st round pick (NJD)
2. 2022 4th round pick (NYI)

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Posted elsewhere. Its not enough for LC (not far off) but add Nichsukin, and the left side with Slaf is pretty stout

NJD​

1. Crouse, Lawson [RFA Rights]
2. 2022 1st round pick (ARI)

Additional Details:
Arizona gets Cooley guaranteed

ARI​

1. 2022 1st round pick (NJD)
2. 2022 4th round pick (NYI)

Don’t see why Arizona would do that. We probably aren’t gonna take Cooley over Slaf so they’re gonna get him anyways. Pointless trade.

 

[Devs3cups]

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Jeez Gauthier was pretty heavily featured. It was mostly him and Wright with appearances from Cooley, Slafkovsky, Kasper, and Savoie. Not sure that really means much at all. Might’ve just been a good interview that they wanted to feature.

20 more days!

 

[glenwo2]

Watch Montreal take Cooley and throw everyone for a loop.

The fans in MTL would riot.

Meanwhile, the Devils will still draft Slaf and Arizona will (unfortunately for Wright) get to draft Shane Wright.

 

[Smitty426]

Don’t see why Arizona would do that. We probably aren’t gonna take Cooley over Slaf so they’re gonna get him anyways. Pointless trade.

I agree but if there is any thought someone in top couple picks want a C Sea for instance itscan incentive. I also said it would have to be a better puck from us

 

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Two narratives we need to dispel:

1) Cooley has a higher ceiling than Wright. What we should be asking is: does Cooley have the highest ceiling on the US-NTDP? Because to me, that could be Nazar.

@Favin posted this to the main forum. I was surprised how big difference there was between Cooley's and Nazar's point production.

"The USNTDP has harder schedule than OHL teams, including many games vs a number of division I NCAA oppnents.

Here is how Cooley stacked up vs D1 relative to others (ppg)

Keller (15-16): 1.64
J Hughes (18-19): 1.60
M Tkachuk (14-15): 1.46
Cooley (21-22): 1.36
Matthews (14-15): 1.30
Kane (05-06): 1.27
Zegras (18-19): 1.25
Wahlstrom (17-18): 1.15
Caufield (18-19): 1.13
van Riemsdyk (06-07): 1.07
Larkin (13-14): 1.00
Snuggerud (21-22): 0.94
Howard (21-22): 0.88
Wilson (06-07): 0.80
Beniers (20-21): 0.76
Boldy (18-19): 0.75
Nazar (21-22): 0.75
Compher (12-13): 0.75
Saad (09-10): 0.73
Farabee (17-18): 0.69
Hartman (11-12): 0.64
Norris (16-17): 0.62
Gauthier (21-22): 0.60
B Tkachuk (16-17): 0.50
White (14-15): 0.50
Eichel (13-14): 0.50
Roslovic (14-15): 0.38
Terry (14-15): 0.31
Rust (09-10): 0.27"

Few notes:

"Tkachuk, Matthews, Kane, etc were all a year younger. They weren’t at the NTDP in their draft years."

"It was all their 17 year old years though. They weren’t at the NTDP in their DY because they were on the older end for their DYs and were 18 and aged out of the NTDP."

"I grabbed his game log and then threw it into a pivot table. Not sure where Favin got 1.36 PPG against NCAA as it's 1.33 based on my math."

 

[Captain3rdLine]

@Favin posted this to the main forum. I was surprised how big difference there was between Cooley's and Nazar's point production.

"The USNTDP has harder schedule than OHL teams, including many games vs a number of division I NCAA oppnents.

Here is how Cooley stacked up vs D1 relative to others (ppg)

Keller (15-16): 1.64
J Hughes (18-19): 1.60
M Tkachuk (14-15): 1.46
Cooley (21-22): 1.36
Matthews (14-15): 1.30
Kane (05-06): 1.27
Zegras (18-19): 1.25
Wahlstrom (17-18): 1.15
Caufield (18-19): 1.13
van Riemsdyk (06-07): 1.07
Larkin (13-14): 1.00
Snuggerud (21-22): 0.94
Howard (21-22): 0.88
Wilson (06-07): 0.80
Beniers (20-21): 0.76
Boldy (18-19): 0.75
Nazar (21-22): 0.75
Compher (12-13): 0.75
Saad (09-10): 0.73
Farabee (17-18): 0.69
Hartman (11-12): 0.64
Norris (16-17): 0.62
Gauthier (21-22): 0.60
B Tkachuk (16-17): 0.50
White (14-15): 0.50
Eichel (13-14): 0.50
Roslovic (14-15): 0.38
Terry (14-15): 0.31
Rust (09-10): 0.27"

Few notes:

"Tkachuk, Matthews, Kane, etc were all a year younger. They weren’t at the NTDP in their draft years."

"It was all their 17 year old years though. They weren’t at the NTDP in their DY because they were on the older end for their DYs and were 18 and aged out of the NTDP."

"I grabbed his game log and then threw it into a pivot table. Not sure where Favin got 1.36 PPG against NCAA as it's 1.33 based on my math."

They played 15 of their 48 games against D1 teams from my count.
And then another 12 international games.

I don’t think that’s a harder schedule. The OHL is stronger than the USHL no question. NCAA d1 is better than the OHL because of the age difference but those 15 of 48 games doesn’t make their schedule harder IMO.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

@Monsieur Verdoux
Where did you get those numbers from?
I just went through and he had 14 points (6 goals and 8 assists) in 13 games vs NCCA division 1 opponents.

That’s basically 1.08ppg

 

[Captain3rdLine]

Oh did you include the 6 points in 2 games he had against the two d3 teams they played.

That would get you to 1.33PPG but that’s doesn’t really make sense IMO to do that considering it’s a big drop off from NCAA d1.

 

[Monsieur Verdoux]

@Monsieur Verdoux
Where did you get those numbers from?
I just went through and he had 14 points (6 goals and 8 assists) in 13 games vs NCCA division 1 opponents.

That’s basically 1.08ppg

I quoted Favin's message, so I'm not sure where he did find those numbers:

C Logan Cooley - USNTDP, USHL (2022, 3rd, ARI)

Some pretty good writeups in there. Definitely disagree with some of their rankings but you can tell lots of work was put into it. That said, there is no way this impacts Montreal's decision. Chris Peters was just on the PHNX podcast and he was just gushing about Cooley and explained in detail...

hfboards.mandatory.com

WhiskeyYerTheDevils got 1.33ppg on his math.

C Logan Cooley - USNTDP, USHL (2022, 3rd, ARI)

The USNTDP has harder schedule than OHL teams, including many games vs a number of division I NCAA oppnents. Here is how Cooley stacked up vs D1 relative to others (ppg) Keller (15-16): 1.64 J Hughes (18-19): 1.60 M Tkachuk (14-15): 1.46 Cooley (21-22): 1.36 Matthews (14-15): 1.30 Kane...

hfboards.mandatory.com

I should have also mentioned that those quotes were not from me but other writers.

 

[StevenToddIves]

It’s not clear when we would pick if we didn’t win. Colorado was guaranteed the 4th spot by having the worst record in 2016-17.

With Montreal, who has the best odds out, the 2nd pick lottery was much more of a jump ball.

Add the fact that Arizona is absolutely cursed when it comes to NHL lotteries and then only a Seattle or a Philly win prevents us from being pushed down to 6.

I prefer winning. I never agreed with wanting the 2nd when we won so we didn’t have to choose between Nico vs Patrick or Hughes vs Kakko. No GM should think that way. (And it worked out for the best twice.)

I have to admit that I really wanted the 3rd pick in 2020 and not the top 2 but I wanted Stuetzle way more than Lafreniere and I thought Byfield was hard to pass up but not what we needed. And people would have bitched less about us winning a lower pick so it would be a win win.

And I curse everyone in the interwebs who allowed me to believe that Detroit could take Perfetti so Raymond could make it to #7. (Turns out neither defensemen would have made it to us unless both were still available at #6 because the Ducks were planning to the one that was left.)

The 2020 draft was torturous, for the ridiculous two lotteries so playoff teams got in the 1OA lottery runoff, for the endless wait up to it, for the stupid amount of time we put into Sanderson vs Drydale just to torture ourselves. (That’s why I’m allowing myself to remain not completely decisive on Jiricek/Nemec, that’s emotional investment in RHD we won’t get that I won’t risk lol.)

And the 2nd day was cartoonishly long, just the 2nd round took a couple hours and the whole 2nd day took over 7 hours. I still can’t believe I watched the whole thing.

We drafted Baumgartner at #161, then traded the #192 pick to the Coyotes, and that was all followed by Carolina drafting Pashin at #199. Was this disappointing for me after +7 hours?

View attachment 559534

Yes, yes it was. (I also was pretty punchy after awhile.)

Going back to this draft. There’s rumors/theories/guesses of a riser like Gauthier shaking the top 5 up but if we were choosing #6 and the top 5 go as expected (Wright, Cooley, Slaf, Nemec, Jiricek) people might be bummed. I could see Jiricek making it to #6 though.

I also was just devastated by the Devils taking Baumgartner, as you know. I think it's the worst pick the Devils made in the 6th round this century. I couldn't recall the last time we took a player who I immediately thought had zero chance of making the NHL, and the fact he was an over-ager took the pick from bad to downright embarrassing.

There were so many good prospects on the board -- not just Pashin but also Oksentyuk, Miettinen, Persson, Bauer, McClennon, Seeley. Hell, just take a flyer on a goalie! Devon Levi went in the 7th round. But no, we had to take a 5'9 over-ager with meh intangibles and zero plus tools. I still can't explain it.

Watch Montreal take Cooley and throw everyone for a loop.

I'd give this a 0.00001% chance of actually occurring, but yes it would make draft day a lot of chaotic fun.

 

[Captain3rdLine]

I quoted Favin's message, so I'm not sure where he did find those numbers:

C Logan Cooley - USNTDP, USHL (2022, 3rd, ARI)

Some pretty good writeups in there. Definitely disagree with some of their rankings but you can tell lots of work was put into it. That said, there is no way this impacts Montreal's decision. Chris Peters was just on the PHNX podcast and he was just gushing about Cooley and explained in detail...

hfboards.mandatory.com

WhiskeyYerTheDevils got 1.33ppg on his math.

C Logan Cooley - USNTDP, USHL (2022, 3rd, ARI)

The USNTDP has harder schedule than OHL teams, including many games vs a number of division I NCAA oppnents. Here is how Cooley stacked up vs D1 relative to others (ppg) Keller (15-16): 1.64 J Hughes (18-19): 1.60 M Tkachuk (14-15): 1.46 Cooley (21-22): 1.36 Matthews (14-15): 1.30 Kane...

hfboards.mandatory.com

See my above post.
He was only a 1.08 against NCCA division 1 teams.

If you include his 6 points in two games against much weaker division 3 teams that’s gets him to 1.33PPG but that would be dumb to include IMO.