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Draft and UDFA Thread 2018-19

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If things stay as expected, the real intrigue is how everyone falls in line after Hughes-Kakko.

Three is up for grabs, and it's not because the talent battling for the pick is underwhelming. Quite the opposite in fact.

Right now, you could make a compelling argument for about 5 guys to go third and each would have their own merits.

The top 13 of this draft is very promising, with the top 8 or 9 particularly interesting.
 
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as a proto type centerman, hughes seems to check all the boxes. hes got all the tools and pretty much does everything at elite processing speed. not many holes in his game.

kid is a dynamic player in every way. as a motor to a true first line, he seems like a sure fire way to turbo charge his line mates.

hes #1 on my list.

after the first 2 kids, theres gonna be alot of jockeying. the top 10 will look alot different come spring.
 
Is it just me or is this shaping up like a very poor dman draft?

The top guy right now is Byram, but is anyone else getting Ty Smith vibes from him? I'm not sure if that's an insult or not but he wound up falling out of the lottery picks. I haven't seen enough of him but some might see another undersized Dman from the W.
 
Savant said:
Is it just me or is this shaping up like a very poor dman draft?

The top guy right now is Byram, but is anyone else getting Ty Smith vibes from him? I'm not sure if that's an insult or not but he wound up falling out of the lottery picks. I haven't seen enough of him but some might see another undersized Dman from the W.
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As of right now, yeah, the top end of the draft is VERY forward heavy.

We’re in mid October, though. We’ve been around enough to see how rankings change throughout the year.
 
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Savant said:
Is it just me or is this shaping up like a very poor dman draft?

The top guy right now is Byram, but is anyone else getting Ty Smith vibes from him? I'm not sure if that's an insult or not but he wound up falling out of the lottery picks. I haven't seen enough of him but some might see another undersized Dman from the W.
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Yes this draft is very forward heavy espically compared to last year which was overflowing with dman (Dahlin, Hughes, Dobson, Bouchard, Smith, etc). As for Byram, from everything I've seen I'm a huge fan. I think hes prob in my top 5 favorite propsects in the draft
 
Savant said:
Is it just me or is this shaping up like a very poor dman draft?

The top guy right now is Byram, but is anyone else getting Ty Smith vibes from him? I'm not sure if that's an insult or not but he wound up falling out of the lottery picks. I haven't seen enough of him but some might see another undersized Dman from the W.
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Definitely leans forward, especially with centers at the top of the draft.

There is some varying opinions on the defense in this draft. Most people believe Byram is the best defenseman and a potential two-way number one defenseman. Broberg is probably his nearest competition and has been climbing lists since the Hlinka Cup. Some people have them neck and neck, some have a gap there.

Then there's other names like York, Robertson, Soderstrom, Mironov, Vlasic, Honka, Bjornfot. These guys are higher on some lists, lower on others. Robertson and York are probably higher on more lists, Soderstrom draws attention because of the potential offensive element. Honka is a guy who has fallen a bit. You maybe have a guy who emerges as a potential top pairing prospect over the course of the season, but most observations thus far have skewed toward second pair beliefs. But this will probably change as the season wears out.
 
Savant said:
Is it just me or is this shaping up like a very poor dman draft?

The top guy right now is Byram, but is anyone else getting Ty Smith vibes from him? I'm not sure if that's an insult or not but he wound up falling out of the lottery picks. I haven't seen enough of him but some might see another undersized Dman from the W.
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It's a weaker 1st round for defensemen, but Byram is a little above where Smith was in their draft years (in terms of potential offensively). The points will come, but Byram has the ability to go end to end and still get back on the backcheck to break up a play. He's highly physical, too, maybe even too physical at times. He's poised under pressure and can control a play on his own. ISS Hockey last year mentioned him as a "player with swagger" and it's obvious when one were to watch him play. I'd say he's a mix of Bogosian and Barrie. Smith definitely has that strength in his skating, but I've, personally never seen him go end to end and come back around with the quick shift. Also, loses the puck at times under pressure.

All in all, I think both a really good prospects, but I'd give the edge to Byram, ATM.

Here's a shift-by-shift between the two. Byram is No. 44 in black and Smith is No. 24 in white...

 
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Some dmen to keep an eye on are Jake Lee (Seattle Thunderbirds), Mitch Brown (Tri-City), and Thomas Harley (Steelheads). All are off to good starts in juniors and are late birthdays
 
Good if PB feels like Hughes isn't the clear number 1 that bodes well for us because we all know we aren't gonna get that number 1 ping pong ball to go our way. I am very happy to hear there are 2-3 guys that can be that super impact type player. Gives us a better shot to get one of them. Just hope for Ranger management to not go to far off the board if we get a top 3 pick.
 
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Rangers743 said:
Yes this draft is very forward heavy espically compared to last year which was overflowing with dman (Dahlin, Hughes, Dobson, Bouchard, Smith, etc). As for Byram, from everything I've seen I'm a huge fan. I think hes prob in my top 5 favorite propsects in the draft
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Haven't seen him much. Would you put him on Hughes or Dobson's level at least?
 
This is unfortunate since I'd place potential #1 defenseman as the top priority and biggest hole in this team's cabinet right now.
 
bl02 said:
Good if PB feels like Hughes isn't the clear number 1 that bodes well for us because we all know we aren't gonna get that number 1 ping pong ball to go our way. I am very happy to hear there are 2-3 guys that can be that super impact type player. Gives us a better shot to get one of them. Just hope for Ranger management to not go to far off the board if we get a top 3 pick.
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I think it would be pretty stupid to not select either Hughes or Kakko No. 1 and No. 2.
 
Chris Drurys Weekend said:
This is unfortunate since I'd place potential #1 defenseman as the top priority and biggest hole in this team's cabinet right now.
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Well considering that the 2018 draft class was primarily defensemen, one would think they'd go for the No. 1 center or winger (if the pick is Kakko) with the first pick. Miller has that potential. Lundkvist and Keane also have top 4 potential, maybe top pair. Ragnarsson could be a middle defender, too.

They have some depth with that class (and also through last year's trades), so I'd think it would make more sense, especially with the amount of quality centers available in the top 10, to go center. Right now the listing (non-depth wise) of NYR centers are....

Chytil
Hayes
Howden
Zibanejad
Spooner (Interchangeable)
Namestnikov (Interchangeable)
Nieves
Lettieri (Interchangeable)

Andersson
Fogarty
Fontaine
Holland

Virta
Barron
Lakatos

We'll most likely see some go by season's end and Lakatos is most likely going unsigned, so that'll leave roughly 8 or 9 centers in the system. None of which truly have that No. 1 potential, other than maybe Chytil or Andersson. So it would make a ton of sense for NYR to grab a center even more.
 
bl02 said:
Haven't seen him much. Would you put him on Hughes or Dobson's level at least?
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I would say better than Dobson but slightly worse than Hughes, but I feel like I need to watch more to be 100% sure of that
 
Speaking of watching more games the prices for the Chl live streaming is ridiculous. $280 per league so you gotta pay well over 800 bucks just to get the entire Chl. The Ahl changed its pricing structure and its awesome how affordable it is is, being only $80 for the whole league. Even if the Chl made it $80 a league that would be great and I would get it in a heartbeat. Oh well guess I gotta buy a ten game whl package to watch a few Vancouver Lethbridge and Saskatoon games
Edit: I think its actually $300 a league because they're running an earlybird special rn. That is insane theres no way people can actually afford these plans.
 
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Rangers743 said:
Speaking of watching more games the prices for the Chl live streaming is ridiculous. $280 per league so you gotta pay well over 800 bucks just to get the entire Chl. The Ahl changed its pricing structure and its awesome how affordable it is is, being only $80 for the whole league. Even if the Chl made it $80 a league that would be great and I would get it in a heartbeat. Oh well guess I gotta buy a ten game whl package to watch a few Vancouver Lethbridge and Saskatoon games
Edit: I think its actually $300 a league because they're running an earlybird special rn. That is insane theres no way people can actually afford these plans.
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Actually, people can afford it. Because fans of those teams just pay for one of the leagues. Nobody pays to watch all 3 leagues, aside from some wannabe scouts
 
Patriks Zabusovs with 6 SOG and +/- 0 in HC Riga's 0-4 loss to HC Kapitan. Has 8 goals (7 at ES) and 11 points in 15 MHL games this season and leads his terrible team in points by far (2nd has 7, 3rd has 6). June 2001 birthday.

I'm going to keep an eye on him this year. And by "eye" I mean watch his boxscores.
 
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