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Draft and UDFA Thread 2017-18

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Nopuckluck said:
So they fit a certain stereotype!
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In fairness, I think Russian players got labeled with that because skill training was a primary focus of their training. But the reality is that you can probably say it for a lot of players coming from development programs that emphasize finesse.

It just so happens that from a prep standpoint, that tends to be a lot of Russian prospects and those from Quebec. But it’s not a genetic predisposition.
 
Ds in Russian hockey are by far the group of Ds that are the least amount involved in the offense of all groups no matter how you slice them.

Watch Russia in like the WCHs or WJCs, Russian Ds plays very deep, aren’t supported a ton by the forwards and they don’t join the play much at all.

This is also the case in the KHL.

It created a bit of a unique style, a lot of open ice in the neutral zone, the Ds back down instead of stepping up as much. A bigger range between the Ds and forwards, brings down the intensity a little.

Russia also still has those Hockey Academies that drills promising kids a ton at a young age. Kids coming from those schools are so well rounded. Stickhandling without looking at the puck. All details, backhand passing game is great, always. But they play much fewer games at a younger age than in other places, especially NA. Affects effectiveness and benefits skills.

I think it’s as simple as with a different input you will get a different output. Anything else would be strange.

With Russians we all often feel a little frustrated because we are used to see a certain ratio between skill and effectiveness and it doesn’t apply.. And when a NA kid — for example — is much more skilled than he is effective there is usually a reason in the character of a flaw behind it. With the Russians who simply have focused more on skill than effectiveness, you get that discrepancy more often and it’s more explained by other factors than character flaws.

I think is an important destination to make because you can’t just take skilled Russian and yell at him and say that he just must work harder to get involved more, you just work harder with them to teach them how to approach certain situations.
 
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Kreider in his draft year was raw speed and power and he had great size and athleticism. What he didn't have was good hockey experience and he pretty much had to learn how to play the game from scratch. He was a project--and it took him time to put his game together. It doesn't always happen. McIlrath is a case in point--but the way game changed changed in Kreider's favor and not in McIlrath's.

Just being in the KHL Kravtsov is way ahead of where Kreider was in his draft eligible year. He's kind of a wild card--I don't see him getting past 15 and I don't see him as a top 10 but on draft night he could go as high as 5. He and Kotkaniemi are the guys that will really move up on draft night--or not.
 
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I was talking stylistically. Obviously they are very far apart from a development standpoint when you compare NE Prep hockey vs the KHL.

But go back and watch tape of how Kreider played at BC (pretty different from how he looks in the NHL). Many similarities.
 
HatTrick Swayze said:
I was talking stylistically. Obviously they are very far apart from a development standpoint when you compare NE Prep hockey vs the KHL.

But go back and watch tape of how Kreider played at BC (pretty different from how he looks in the NHL). Many similarities.
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Yeah I also think there are some similarities, with Kravtsov definitely very much being a Russian version of course.
 
Ola said:
I love him, where can you see him now? I think we will see some movement in this draft that wasn’t seen in the ‘consensus’ rankings earlier in the year.

I released my top 31, before the final round of the U18 and before any of the spring rankings were out. This is my top 10, and I while I am sure I have made mistakes generally I still stand by it and think that it will show to be pretty good:
1. Dahlin
2. Svechnikov
3. Zadina
4. Tkachuk
5. Boqvist
6. Kotkaniemi
7. Wilde
8. Wahlstrom
9. Kravtsov
10. K’Andre Miller
11. Noah Dobson

And like I’ve said before — I think it’s much much much more thight between the 5-20 ranged guys than people imagine. Looking at physical tools, Wilde and Miller can definitely match up against Bouchard and Dobson. There pros and cons among all those 4. Why should Bouchard and Dobson be ranked a lot higher than Wilde and Miller? I can get arguments for it, but there are many arguments against it. The reason — I suspect — for it to be the case is simply that EB and ND are top players in the CHL and when people are merging their lists they place them higher than they should.

And Kravtsov is one that also is a victim of that. I definitely think that he is up there with guys like Farabee and Wahlstrom. Pros and cons.

I am usually pretty critical of rankings, but after the latest shake up of the rankings I am much more in line with the general notions. Before I struggled a lot more with the cemented notion that among others Boqvist was super cemented in the top 5, Wahlstrom was seen as flawless, Kotkaniemi and Kravtsov was why too low. There are pros and cons with a Q Hughes too.

If there is anything I like to see Gorton do, it’s move up with our later picks in the 20s because very very good picks will be made in the 10-22 range too.
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At this point I think Kravstov can go anywhere from 11 to 15. Wide array I know but that's probably a good projection.
 
HatTrick Swayze said:
I was talking stylistically. Obviously they are very far apart from a development standpoint when you compare NE Prep hockey vs the KHL.

But go back and watch tape of how Kreider played at BC (pretty different from how he looks in the NHL). Many similarities.
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I kind of remember Chris in his first playoff game---racing all over the place---getting gassed and not really sure where he should be. And the next game I think he settled down some and got his first NHL goal. I think Stepan set him up. But then he'd have games where he'd be caught out of position all the time. His all around game has improved year to year and whether he ever becomes a 30-30 guy or more he still seems to be getting better year to year. Torts and him weren't really a good mix. As I've said before he prospered under AV.

There are some similarities between Chris and Kravtsov but Kravtsov's coming from a much better place. He's a guy who possibly could play in the NHL next year and maybe do okay. I don't think he'd put up a bunch of offense yet and language and culture issues and rink adjustment might be a problem too. But Chytil kind of dealt with it so.........to me a 19-20 date for Kravtsov is probably more realistic. IMO he is not going to be behind the learning curve as much as Kreider was.
 
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