GDT: Draft thread Day 2 - 11AM

[Taylor Halls Teeth]

Who would you have picked?

He does seem like a classic example of a player that would have been available with a trade down. Nobody liked him close to this much. Maybe he's the next Kucherov. Nothing to do now but wait and see.

 

[Duffman955]

It's crazy we wasting 1st round picks on players who's ceiling is 5'10 3rd line winger.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

I don't really have a strong opinion about most of these players.

Easton Cowan seems like a gutsy pick.

I'm intrigued...

 

[Jozay]

Drafting 3rd liners is Wes Clarks favourite.

Lets hope he follows Dubas to Pit.

 

[the Mighty Oak]

If you couldn't trade down, then take a swing at Gulyayev. Or Dragicevic. Or even Halttunen/Hrabal. This is like passing over Luneau to take Minten all over again.

Not really that upset over passing on Heidt or Cristall, but Cowan was like the 5th best Cowan-esque player left on the board. Gauthier, Nadeau, Brindley... All very competitive players with much higher ceilings and similar floors. Cowan is like Hirvonen level or a slightly better version of Nick Moldenhauer. We have a glut of prospects just like him, and we find them all of the time in the mid-late rounds.

We can complain about the lack of picks all we want but all we are doing is shooting ourselves in the foot with these questionable selections. The past two years have not been all that great, and it is not like analytics can support it either. Analytics wouldn't support taking 3rd line upside players like Minten and Cowan in the top 50.

Some pro team should hire you as their director of Scouting.

 

[RoadWarrior]

He reminds me of Paul Kariya with that quick accurate release.

Lol! He’s not Paul Kariya.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

Some pro team should hire you as their director of Scouting.

Probably wouldn't be the best, but I wouldn't be shocked if I was not the worst either.

 

[MilkofthePoppy]

Love draft days, where everybody is confident their preferred player is going to have a long career. The truth is nobody knows, it is all luck of the draw.

 

[LaPlante94]

If you couldn't trade down, then take a swing at Gulyayev. Or Dragicevic. Or even Halttunen/Hrabal. This is like passing over Luneau to take Minten all over again.

Not really that upset over passing on Heidt or Cristall, but Cowan was like the 5th best Cowan-esque player left on the board. Gauthier, Nadeau, Brindley... All very competitive players with much higher ceilings and similar floors. Cowan is like Hirvonen level or a slightly better version of Nick Moldenhauer. We have a glut of prospects just like him, and we find them all of the time in the mid-late rounds.

We can complain about the lack of picks all we want but all we are doing is shooting ourselves in the foot with these questionable selections. The past two years have not been all that great, and it is not like analytics can support it either. Analytics wouldn't support taking 3rd line upside players like Minten and Cowan in the top 50.

A lot of analytics people I usually see say he's a good pick. Probably could've traded back a bit but he seems like he has potential.

 

[Woodman19]

Lol! He’s not Paul Kariya.

I didnt say he was

 

[Martin Skoula]

Not that I hate the pick in a vacuum, I can see the argument for Konecny/T.Moore upside, but what’s the endgame here?

If all our prospects hit their max ceiling, what do we do with Hirvonen, Cowan, Robertson, SDA, Amirov, Moldenhauer, Abruzesse, Voit, Tverberg, etc etc? They’re all the same guy with mildly different balances of skills. Cool we have a bunch of intelligent hardworking undersized guys with good skating, we can play 2-3 of them in the middle 6 and the rest are worth late 1st/2nd best case.

I get drafting these kinds of “safe” picks after Hunter’s awful drafts to build up some value in the system that you can extract ELC contributions out of and later flip for picks to make up for deadline expenses, but at this point we’re well beyond that phase. Either those guys already in the system hit or they don’t, drafting them in 2023 means they only get ELC or trade value in 2026 in an optimistic scenario.

 

[613Leafer]

Our obsession with drafting moderately skilled small guys shows we don't just want one Kerfoot, but a team full of Kerfeet!

 

[TimeZone]

why would you have picked them

I literally just explained to you why I would've selected them lol

 

[Rude Dog]

I wish we could make a poll each year for the leafs first 2 round selections. We vote to see who we collectively would taken vs the player actually selected. I would bet on us.

 

[JSn0w93]

Our staff looks for iq and competitiveness, and for better or worse they got it with the pick.

Would I have taken him there? No. I would have taken Gulyayev, but this kid will definitely grow on us. I can see an offensive explosion coming from him and Barkey next season.

 

[francis246]

Our obsession with drafting moderately skilled small guys shows we don't just want one Kerfoot, but a team full of Kerfeet!

All the guys people wanted at that pick were small.

Gulyayev is like 5’10. Heidt, 5’10, Cristall 5’9.

I wish we could make a poll each year for the first 2 round selections. Who we at hfboards would take vs player actually selected. Whomever wins the poll would be our selection. I would bet on us.

LOL no we wouldn’t. People here on HF think they are way smarter than they actually are. The reality is none of us know Jack shit. All these teams have databases full of data and information that we can’t even fathom. Not just hockey related data on players. HF Boards would lose a good majority of the time.

 

[Rude Dog]

the more players the Leafs get who hate to lose the better. Hoping Cowan is one of them

 

[The Best Leafs Everr]

What a waste of 33% of your picks in the draft. Garbage GM for garbage team.

 

[Gabriel426]

Just the fact he was sitting up in the rafters showed even he didn't expect to be drafted early.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

For what it's worth Kyle Davidson said he tried to get Hawks back into last part of 1st round but none of the teams drafting were willing to trade out of 1st round

Won't know what was offered but Hawks had #35, #44, #51, #55, #67 and #93 as trade chips but GM's were not willing to trade down

Honestly I was surprised nothing happened with Hawks/Leafs involving a trade down (Murray or no Murray involved) but from what Davidson said no one was budging

Even more surprised after seeing the Leafs pick

Also tried to trade up to grab Moore but no one wanted to trade down in that part of draft either

 

[SeaOfBlue]

A lot of analytics people I usually see say he's a good pick. Probably could've traded back a bit but he seems like he has potential.

Man can get in line. I could easily pull up a few others who have better looking charts. It is really not that impressive. And especially considering he doesn't have the skill to back up a subpar defensive game, that is especially concerning. Of course you could also go riskier:

But you are not looking at a guy who really has an exceptionally high floor. He still needs a good amount of work. And his ceiling is limited because he is not really possessing too many plus skills. It is really just his IQ, but at that point, you are just drafting Kerfoot's. I have nothing against drafting Kerfoot's. I have nothing against Kerfoot being in the lineup. You don't draft them in the top 50 though. Not when there are better versions of them available to boot.

Just like Minten, let's hope he at least reaches his potential... But Clark is making some really questionable picks. It is like he is so focused on finding prospects in the late-2nd/early-3rd range that he doesn't realize that he should probably look at guys in the late 1st/early-2nd range? But then with Robertson/Knies, he was in the late-2nd/early-3rd range but was able to get late 1st/early-2nd round talents... So he is being the opposite of what made him good and doing what the bad scouts did to let him make those good picks earlier on.

 

[ACC1224]

Just the fact he was sitting up in the rafters showed even he didn't expect to be drafted early.

Why did he show up at all?

 

[Gabriel426]

Why did he show up at all?

getting a seat for tomorrow or agents ask him to come to show teams that he has the confidence that he will get drafted.

Really don't know.

All I know is that from all the draft coverage(both NBA and NHL) I had watched over the years, I had never ever heard anyone said, he is sitting quite high and it will take him longer to reach the podium. And I don't think this is a Leafs thing where they are poking fun but more about how unusual that is.

 

[LaPlante94]

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Man can get in line. I could easily pull up a few others who have better looking charts. It is really not that impressive. And especially considering he doesn't have the skill to back up a subpar defensive game, that is especially concerning. Of course you could also go riskier:

View attachment 723301

But you are not looking at a guy who really has an exceptionally high floor. He still needs a good amount of work. And his ceiling is limited because he is not really possessing too many plus skills. It is really just his IQ, but at that point, you are just drafting Kerfoot's. I have nothing against drafting Kerfoot's. I have nothing against Kerfoot being in the lineup. You don't draft them in the top 50 though. Not when there are better versions of them available to boot.

Just like Minten, let's hope he at least reaches his potential... But Clark is making some really questionable picks. It is like he is so focused on finding prospects in the late-2nd/early-3rd range that he doesn't realize that he should probably look at guys in the late 1st/early-2nd range? But then with Robertson/Knies, he was in the late-2nd/early-3rd range but was able to get late 1st/early-2nd round talents... So he is being the opposite of what made him good and doing what the bad scouts did to let him make those good picks earlier on.

Brindley the only 1 of those 4 who is a better skater though. Cristall for his size and his skating does not look good for future projections. Gauthier is another who I like but his skating is also questionable. Cowan can skate and has a good shot and has all the tools to be better than all these guys. Only issue I have with the pick is like most say is we could've dropped down, but the player seems like a late 1st round talent regardless.

 

[francis246]

Why did he show up at all?

Obviously his agent was tipped by a few teams that there is a chance. That’s usually how it works. I’m willing to bet there may have been another team or teams who would have also taken a flyer on him with a late first.

I would have loved Nadeau or Gauthier but willing to give the guy a shot. Maybe he pans out.