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Prospect Info: Draft 2025: Is it too late to tank? Asking for a friend

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Pancakes said:
The draft reminds me of interviewing. Every company is convinced they have the perfect process to figure out how to find good candidates and the truth is nobody has any f-ing idea what they're doing. I've seen people who aren't the greatest interviewees who end up being strong workers and vice versa.

Nobody has any clue, but they like to think they have it figured out.
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When you reach for disaster, you usually get it.
 
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Randy Butternubs said:
Yeah right.

Pixies has never posted anything useful and I bet they still don't in the future.
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So the pro comparables for the guys at the top of this class are:

-Schaefer: Heiskanen
-Misa: Point
-Hagens: Diet Jack Hughes
-Martone: Brady Tkachuk
-Frondell: Leo Carlsson
-Eklund: a less skilled but grittier version of his brother
-McQueen: something between Bjugstad and Thompson
-O'Brien: Dylan Strome but better defensively (I've also seen O'Reilly player comparisons but I like the Strome comparison a bit more)
-Desnoyers: Danault

These seem about right?
 
Feels like Wheeler is closer to Martone than Tkachuk. He doesn't really use his size to dole out pain. For some reason it's a knock against him. It's not like he plays soft though, or doesn't use his size to his advantage to protect the puck, so I don't get the criticism.
 
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Empoleon8771 said:
Gagne is a guy I remember from NHL games but don't actually remember anything about how he played :laugh:
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For me it’s the relative build/posture, left shot with white tape, kinda upright fluid skater and sorta an equal mix of passer/shooter/dangler. Gagne was pretty reliable defensively too.
 
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I know they're just highlights so they mean little ultimately but where are we getting that O'Brien is somehow like Strome? Guy looks like he plays with pace and isn't overly big.
 
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Someone posted some advanced stats on Eklund a month or so ago and while I’m skeptical of analytics in the Allsvenskan it showed him as being excellent at zone entry with possession. Much better than Frondell in fact.

And that makes sense because he really likes to wind up in his own zone and attack with speed and push defenders back. Sometimes it’s him trying to do too much but it’s a good problem to have. I’m not sure how much that’ll translate to the NHL level but thought it was interesting.
 
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Turin said:
I know they're just highlights so they mean little ultimately but where are we getting that O'Brien is somehow like Strome? Guy looks like he plays with pace and isn't overly big.
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The two are pretty similarly sized, O'Brien is 6'2" and Strome is 6'3". That said, Strome had notable skating concerns that were known dating back to juniors. I think O'Brien could have similar issues, but his skating is more "not a strength" than "bad".

I also think what Strome has become (playmaking top-6 center without speed) is pretty reasonable to ping O'Brien's upside at, although I've seen scouting reports that suggest O'Brien also projects to be good defensively as well. Either way, Dylan Strome has turned out into a pretty damn good top-6 center, so I wouldn't be mad at all if O'Brien becomes a similar player.
 
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Empoleon8771 said:
The two are pretty similarly sized, O'Brien is 6'2" and Strome is 6'3". That said, Strome had notable skating concerns that were known dating back to juniors. I think O'Brien could have similar issues, but his skating is more "not a strength" than "bad".

I also think what Strome has become (playmaking top-6 center without speed) is pretty reasonable to ping O'Brien's upside at, although I've seen scouting reports that suggest O'Brien also projects to be good defensively as well. Either way, Dylan Strome has turned out into a pretty damn good top-6 center, so I wouldn't be mad at all if O'Brien becomes a similar player.
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Idk he looks like a better skater/less soft than Strome but maybe has not quite as good hands/size. Strome was almost 20 lbs heavier than O'Brien when he was drafted, that's a massive difference in the OHL.
 
Turin said:
I know they're just highlights so they mean little ultimately but where are we getting that O'Brien is somehow like Strome? Guy looks like he plays with pace and isn't overly big.
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That's exactly who he reminds me of as well.
 
O’Brien’s an interesting skater. He has a posture that isn’t super efficient for skating but it keeps him available to make a play when he has the puck. His upper body and hands are always “at the ready” but it keeps him a bit rigid. Kind of a trade off I guess. Thornton did something similar, I think Ron Francis was like that too.
 
A big part of the reason I'm really excited about the idea of getting both Eklund and O'Brien in this draft is because I think the two fit really well together and could make up 2/3 of a damn good top-6 line down the line. If the draft ends out playing out like that, I think you could end up with a McGroarty-O'Brien-Eklund line that is a force at both ends of the ice.

If Crosby is still playing at that point, I think you could be cooking with a top-6 of something like:

McGroarty-Crosby-Koivunen
XXXX-O'Brien-Eklund
 
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