HF Habs: Draft 2018: What are your immediate draft class feelings?

[sandviper]

Question for you guys. I think Islanders, Detroit, Rangers and Habs had the most picks of the draft(I hope I didn't miss a team). How do you rank them right now?
I'd say:
Islanders
Detroit/Habs
Rangers

I would say Detroit did better in the first half, but we did better in the second half

This is pretty much my feeling also. I think Chicago deserves some love though.

Islanders - They got great value out of their first 4 picks. I even think Skarek was a good pick for them given their needs. I know he doesn't have many fans, but I like the Jenkins pick, plus they drafted the best name on the draft.

Detroit - First 5 was a solid haul. I don't think we are going to like playing against Berggren and Zadina moving forward.

Habs - Due to sheer volume of picks, we had a great draft. A couple days removed, I feel we got the right player in Kotkaniemi. Ylonen, Olofsson and Hillis are all potential top-6 players if they hit their ceilings. A couple of the unknowns to me in the later rounds are just meh, but Romanov is still a bit of a head scratcher to me. Would have liked Hallander but I'm hoping Romanov pans out the way TT says.

Chicago - Boqvist was my favorite player outside the consensus top-2. Beaudin was a solid pick, and I like Nordgren, Wise and Kurashev. Gravel was a solid pickup near the end.

Rangers - LOVE LOVE Kravtsov (picked him in our mock). I do think he is a bit of a reach at their position, but he was a goner for sure before the teens. I think they had a good draft rest of the way, and really overhauled their defence which is currently a mess on the pro team.

Islanders
Detroit
Habs
Chicago
Rangers

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Realistically how many prospects do we have at the WJCs this year?

USA: Poehling, maybe Primeau
CAN: Brook? Outside chance at 1 of this years picks
FIN: Kotko/Ikonen/Ylonen
SWE: Olofsson
RUS: Romanov

Pretty much this. Ikonen has had knee surgery & is out for 6 months, so he may not play due to that.

As sure as it gets:

U.S.: Poehling
Finland: Kotkaniemi, Ylonen
Sweden: Olofsson
Russia: Romanov

Primeau & Brook: maybe - both should get a camp invite at least. (U.S & Canada, respectively)

Real dark horses: Tyzska, Hillis, McShane & Fonstad for Canada.

 

[sandviper]

McGuire didn’t like our 5th overall pick in 2005. He’s not more informed than Timmins

McGuire is an analyst also and not an insider. While I don't agree with all insiders, if somebody like Bob puts Kotkaniemi is #5 in his final draft list, it means something.

Anyhow, Kotkaniemi wasn't a shocker for me, but sticking with just the top-10:

1. Hayton at #5 was the biggest shocker.
2. Zadina sliding to #6 was a bit of a shocker.
3. Kravtsov a very minor shocker.
4. Kotkaniemi a shocker to the misinformed, and to at least one live attendee.

 

[TouzY]

Kotkaniemi looks like a monster puck carrier which is very good for mtl if he develops well, very thrilled.

I really like McShane aswell I've watched him go a few times in different games and he stands out with a quick shot he really seem to have something special, might of been a steal IMO only time will tell.

 

[AntonCH]

About Quebec players, there are many drafts that they should have tried a little harder to draft a good q player. This years draft was awful. And most people here including the writers who write online probably never even saw our new #3 play. I agree with McGuire who was not high on this player being picked at #3. I value McGuire opinion better than anyone on this forum as McGuire knows his players better than anyone on this forum

If Timmons was so great then how come we are drafting #3 this year?

If Timmons is so good why haven't we won more than 2 rounds in the play offs ?

These picks were awful. We need to change our people at the top as long as they're in charg we will never get past second round.

And price isn't getting younger lol. Wait wait till price starts slowing down.

To each their own opinion, but valuing an individual who has shown time and time again that he has a hard on for a given team is futile. McGuire ripped the Habs for years for not taking Kopitar, organizational need he cited. Now a decade later he rips the Habs for taking a big center that best projects to a kopitar?!? It’s ridiculous!

 

[BLONG7]

McGuire is an analyst also and not an insider. While I don't agree with all insiders, if somebody like Bob puts Kotkaniemi is #5 in his final draft list, it means something.

Anyhow, Kotkaniemi wasn't a shocker for me, but sticking with just the top-10:

1. Hayton at #5 was the biggest shocker.
2. Zadina sliding to #6 was a bit of a shocker.
3. Kravtsov a very minor shocker.
4. Kotkaniemi a shocker to the misinformed, and to at least one live attendee.

View attachment 126637

That lady must be Zadina's aunt...lol

 

[yoteshot]

Don't know if you guys saw that, but Montreal wanted Berggren right after he was picked by Detroit:

Zalmos Free web proxy!

(used a proxy because YT doesn't allow this video to be seen in Canada somehow... Thanks Red Wings).

 

[Sorinth]

You can't see Kotkaniemi being part of our core?

I mean...our last #3 was Galchenyuk who missed an entire year and people were high on him anyway.

You've either become jaded or Kotkaniemi was too much of an obvious pick to excite you.

A big center will be part of our core if he has an ounce of talent.

I think there might be some confusion over the terms. I consider guys you build around to be the go to guys who can carry the team for a game/series. That's a step above being a core player, who can be great complimentary players but don't drive the team in the same way. As an example I see more O'Reilly then I do Kopitar.

End of the day you just hope you get a solid player in there. History suggests there's good odds of picking up a capable player, maybe a #1B type of center. Habs should not stop here though. They need MORE top picks in coming years to really stockpile and do a proper rebuild.

For sure there are no guarantees (Though you should also include picks 4-7 since they were available), but compare the hype around this pick vs when we got Galchenyuk. With Galchenyuk we very much thought we had a #1 center, with Kotkaniemi, it's more we got a 2nd line center with an outside shot at being a #1.

 

[acadiange]

I must say, like the woman we saw showing her ultimate surprise at their 1st pic, this is the most disappointing draft to date. I was ecstatic that they would pixk up Tkachuk, best in draft from what I saw and read but they picked a center rated much lower. With 4 2nd rounders, thought they would trade to get a couple more 1st rounders but nada.

Maybe Olofson about the only one I like.

Oh great all those centers but most well under 6 feet.

Traded Galcheniuk for another small forward.

They just keep getting smaller.

So disappointing, hopefully we all work for Jack Hughes for next year.

 

[NeptunesTrident]

I must say, like the woman we saw showing her ultimate surprise at their 1st pic, this is the most disappointing draft to date. I was ecstatic that they would pixk up Tkachuk, best in draft from what I saw and read but they picked a center rated much lower. With 4 2nd rounders, thought they would trade to get a couple more 1st rounders but nada.

Maybe Olofson about the only one I like.

Oh great all those centers but most well under 6 feet.

Traded Galcheniuk for another small forward.

They just keep getting smaller.

So disappointing, hopefully we all work for Jack Hughes for next year.

So you were disappointed with the lack of size from the 2018 draft, yet you post that you are hopeful for Jack Hughes in the 2019 draft. All 5'10" 165 lbs Jack Hughes...?

 

[LastWordArmy]

The Biggest Draft Review we've Ever done

2018 NHL Draft Grades - Last Word on Hockey

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

The Biggest Draft Review we've Ever done

2018 NHL Draft Grades - Last Word on Hockey

Good job, I'm on board with you guys as far as the Habs are concerned. You didn't mentioned Gorniak is headed for Wis-U next year, it's seems like a pretty foregone conclusion : Three more Badgers chosen in 2018 NHL Draft

 

[WeThreeKings]

The Biggest Draft Review we've Ever done

2018 NHL Draft Grades - Last Word on Hockey

Albin Eriksson is not a defenseman and would be interested to see where he took a lot of point shots.

 

[ItzaGreat]

Houde is the big head scratcher. I know they wanted to get a Q player, but I swear sometimes they pick a random one for the sake of it.

What part of Houde’s game gives any sense of confidence he can play in the NHL?

His last name.

 

[LastWordArmy]

Albin Eriksson is not a defenseman and would be interested to see where he took a lot of point shots.

Referencing hundreds of notes there was bound to be a mistake or two. Will fix.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

I think there might be some confusion over the terms. I consider guys you build around to be the go to guys who can carry the team for a game/series. That's a step above being a core player, who can be great complimentary players but don't drive the team in the same way. As an example I see more O'Reilly then I do Kopitar.



For sure there are no guarantees (Though you should also include picks 4-7 since they were available), but compare the hype around this pick vs when we got Galchenyuk. With Galchenyuk we very much thought we had a #1 center, with Kotkaniemi, it's more we got a 2nd line center with an outside shot at being a #1.

Well I thought Galchenyuk would be a 60-70 point guy. With little I know I feel Kotkaniemi can be that too no? Only thing is Galchenyuk likely has better goal scoring but someone with more knowledge would need to confirm or deny that.

 

[ginomini]

One thing is sure: we will have much more fun following our prospects next year than in the previous years !

I would not be surprised if one of Fonstad, Hillis or McShane explode next year with near 100 pts season!

 

[McGuires Corndog]

Well I thought Galchenyuk would be a 60-70 point guy. With little I know I feel Kotkaniemi can be that too no? Only thing is Galchenyuk likely has better goal scoring but someone with more knowledge would need to confirm or deny that.

Galchenyuk has more of a shooters instinct and perhaps a “heavier” shot, but Kotkaniemi has a very fast and precise shot (something Galchenyuk doesn’t have).

Kotkaniemi is more engaged and has a wider assortment of ways to score goals, I think you will see they have about the same scoring pace at the NHL level (25-30 a year) but I think JK will put up more points and be a vastly better all around player (100% a center, too).

 

[Aspirine]

Please NHL draft gods, let us have a few pan-outs and diamonds-in-the-rough this year.

 

[JoelWarlord]

I'm overall pretty happy. Kotkaniemi is a bold pick, and I think it's a smart calculated risk. If he ends up being 90% as talented as Zadina but plays a possession and playmaking game at C I think we'll be thrilled with the pick and his shot seems to be really strong. Obviously not at the level of Wahlstrom/Zadina/Svechnikov but it seems like his shooting is a real plus and could be a big part of his game. I like Ylonen, great skater and seems to be a player with some real panache that the Habs desperately need. Romanov felt like a reach but I guess we can just pretend Oloffsson went at 38 and they took Romanov at 56. After that the draft is really intriguing, the Habs got an absolute haul of guys that are all PPG+ in the CHL with Hillis, McShane, and Fonstad standing out to me as exceptional value for where they were taken. I guess you can question some of the picks made with bigger names and/or guys with size like Thomas/Wilde/Woo/Wise/McLeod/McBain available but you have to wonder if there's a reason those guys all dropped quite a bit.

I like the strategy of picking lots of PPG+ CHLers and hoping one or more pans out into a real player. I have some concerns that most of the guys they took besides Kotkaniemi aren't really shooters, but I can't complain too much that they took too many skilled playmakers. I've been complaining about the Habs leaving skill on the board to draft "safe" guys with size and I can't start quibbling about playmaker vs. shooter now after they got a half dozen PPG junior guys. It is a concern now that Galchenyuk is gone and Pacioretty will probably be gone, but I guess you just have to hope at least a couple will round out into strong finishers, and who knows what the team will look like in 3-5 years when these guys are in their primes. I Don't really love the Stapley pick, a 10 point jump from 18 to 19 in Jr. A doesn't really wow me but it's a 7th rounder and since he's going to college it'll just be hands off and you can see how he develops playing in the NCAA.

I've seen complaints about the Habs drafting "small" guys which is dumb as hell to me. Their first two picks were big 6'2" 190 (i.e. will be pros at 210-215) centers with size and strength to their games, and Ylonen is slight now but at 6'0" his pro frame won't exactly be Brian Gionta. After that they took a bunch of guys that are average height, all around 5'11" which isn't really "small" anymore. I could not imagine being upset that they didn't pick a bunch of coke machines, somehow it's "risky" to take 5'11" guys that are PPG in the best junior league in the world but taking coke machines like McCarron or Tinordi who couldn't score against teenagers on a stacked NTDP team in the USHL is "safe". The point of this strategy is that it works on aggregate, any one of Hillis, McShane, Ylonen, Fonstad, Gorniak, or Harris might bust or be too small to play at an NHL level, but if even one or two of those guys pans out you're getting a player much better than a McCarron with a 3rd line ceiling, or a Connor Crisp who was maybe the dumbest pick of the Bergevin era.

Oloffsson feels a bit like De La Rose, but I'm encouraged by comparing their track record of scoring. De La Rose never really was a scorer at any level, he was PPG at 17 in the U18 Swedish league but other than that he was never really a guy that scored much at all and seemed to just be a defensive forward at every level. In contrast Olofsson had respectable numbers in the Swedish U20 league, scored a lot in the U18 league, and quickly leapfrogged the junior leagues to a respectable 21P in the Allsvenskan at 17 years old and he'll now be in the SHL next year after helping his team get promoted. I doubt he really has top 6 upside but he could end up as a decent middle six option or a strong 3C, if he's a Lars Eller I think we'll be pretty happy.

 

[WinterLion]

Obviously it is way too early to start judging, but overall I am quite happy.

- We went for speed and skill

- We took 11 picks and still added 3 for next year.

- We had a nice mix of college CHL and European picks.

- We have a lot of guys who might play at the WJC

I'm a bit miffed that we weren't able to trade Patches and get an extra pick.

 

[sandviper]

I must say, like the woman we saw showing her ultimate surprise at their 1st pic, this is the most disappointing draft to date. I was ecstatic that they would pixk up Tkachuk, best in draft from what I saw and read but they picked a center rated much lower. With 4 2nd rounders, thought they would trade to get a couple more 1st rounders but nada.

Maybe Olofson about the only one I like.

Oh great all those centers but most well under 6 feet.

Traded Galcheniuk for another small forward.

They just keep getting smaller.

So disappointing, hopefully we all work for Jack Hughes for next year.

None of our picks are going to be old school power forward centers like Eric Lindros. However, our top picked centers aren’t necessarily small.

Kotkaniemi - 6’2
Olofsson - 6’3

Hillis, McShane, Fonstad, Houde and Stapley hover around 5’10-5’11. As they age, they’ll fill out a bit but our top picks aren’t small guys.

Anyhow, just a FYI, Hughes is smaller than all the centers we drafted this year. His ridiculous skill makes up for it, but just saying.

 

[Guilliam]

As many others have said, I'm happy that they went for talent and upside instead of safer picks with limited potential (except maybe Olofsson). I am a bit worried though that they seem to have picked for needs so you gotta wonder just how much they reached for it instead of taking BPA.

I'm ecstatic about:
Ylonen
Hillis

Happy about:
Kotkaniemi
McShane
Fonstad

Skeptical about:
Olofsson

Completely in the dark about:
Romanov
Harris
Gorniak
Houde
Stapley

 

[montreal]

Realistically how many prospects do we have at the WJCs this year?

USA: Poehling, maybe Primeau
CAN: Brook? Outside chance at 1 of this years picks
FIN: Kotko/Ikonen/Ylonen
SWE: Olofsson
RUS: Romanov

Team USA - Poehling and Primeau have been invited to the Summer camp. Poehling of course is a lock. Primeau for now is the front runner for the starters job.

Team Canada - Brook will be at the summer camp, the rumor is his coach at Moose Jaw, former NHLer Tim Hunter is going to be named coach so I can't see him not inviting one of his best players. Not sure if any others get invited or not.

Team Finland - Kotkaniemi and Ylonen will be there, Ikonen if he's back around mid Nov he might be there.

Team Sweden - Olofsson is a lock

Team Russia - not sure if he's going to be there or not.

 

[ArsHabs]

I don't understand something

Many people are saying "in my list I had him " here or there

Are you guys scouts ?
Have you guys been a watching "all"these players ????

I trust McGuire more than hf board scouts. Lol

If McGuire says our #3 player was picked to early then I believe him and you guys should also

McGuire? I trust Bob MacKenzie way more. What did he rate Kotkaniemi? Pretty sure it was top-5.