It’s bizarre to me that people think this is actually what happened and not that MM very likely told teams not to draft him in the pre draft interviews
I know there's rumours everywhere but I doubt he actually told them not to draft him. Likely just didn't give off much interest, which sways teams away considering this pick means ALOT after a years worth of losing, low attendance games, etc. Look at it in Grier's perspective, it was his first real draft as GM, the team was in shambles, Michkov wasn't interested to interview much, was under contract for a few more years at the time, and Smith was still sitting there after having a great U18 season. Obviously Michkov's talent is straight unquestionable, and with retrospect the contract didn't play out, but atleast on draft day that's how a few teams viewed it.
With all that said, it's going to be fun to compare Michkov, Celebrini, and even Bedard moving forward. 3 amazing talents. I'm happy my team has Celebrini, and I'm sure Flyers/Hawks fans feel the same with their guys.
Where would you guys rank Edvinsson so far if he was eligible? He would be if he played one less game last year.
Hard to say. As unfair as it is he probably wouldn't really be in the convo given the offense shown from some of the other guys, and the unreal play from Wolf. It's hard for defenseman to win a lot of awards, and as he's not really an offensive guy with this rookie class looking very strong, he'd be on the outside looking in.