Five sleepers for 2018 draft

[emptyNedder]

In my day job we have a tool called a pre-mortem. We discuss what could go wrong before making a significant change to a strategy or process. I am using a similar idea here. Basically, this is a prediction of what a "re-draft" in 2023 might say. The list is of players outside the consensus top 15--because it is hard to define a sleeper that everyone thinks is among the elite.

1. Martin Kaut. He is just now making a few lists as a late first-rounder. Given his size, success in international play, and ability to compete in an adult league, I think by 2023 he will likely be considered the 5th or 6th best forward from this draft behind Svechnikov, Zadina, Wahlstrom, and one of Hayton/Veleno/McLeod.

2. Mattias Samuelssson. While there are many defensemen getting love this draft, Samuelson by age 23 will be viewed as equal to all his classmates except Dahlin. His size, bloodline, and training gained from the USNTDP will make the 5-7 teams that chose another D-man above him realize they missed out.

3. Linus Nyman. Even though he plays on the recently-stacked Kingston team, he still stands out. Most lists indicate he will be 4th rounder or lower. What I saw from this smallish overager was that he combines speed with a drive to get in front of the net. While smaller players draw comparisons to Johnny Gadreau, I think in 2023 Nyman will be mentioned as a younger version of Mats Zuccarello.

4. Carl Wassenius. This winger has good size (6'2" 200 lbs.) and has been scoring at every level of junior play in Sweden the past three years. While he was ranked around 90 on a few lists preseason, he is nowhere to be found in January. This despite the fact that his ppg is slightly higher than Dominick Bokk in the same league this year. A player who could be the rare 5th (or later) rounder who makes it to the NHL by 2023.

5. Christian Lindberg. I haven't seen him play. However, he is a 6'1" defenseman who scored at a point per game pace in both 18 and 20 leagues in Sweden earlier this season. Has been playing for more than half a season in Allsvenskan. Since he is a late birthday for the draft, I can't imagine a 17 -year-old playing with men who doesn't have potential. A deep sleeper, I admit, but surely a team will spend a 6th or 7th on a D-man who has shown potential to register points.

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[DatDude44]

Phillip kurashev, nico gross and Yeryomenko. Haven’t done my due diligence on this draft yet but they caught my eye at WJC and have looked into them more since. I like what I see, tho I need to see more of Yeryomenko and gross

 

[JiggsNY]

Jake Wise. We built him up to be equal or better than Eichel, he never had a chance living up to that, and then had a down year on the U17 team, but he looks to be having a much improved season this year so far. I think the initial sky high expectations combined with the down year caused an over reaction in dropping his draft stock.

 

[Frk It]

1. Blake McLaughlin
2. Jonny Tychonick
3. Riley Damiani
4. Jonatan Bergrren
5. Stanislav Demin

I think Jake Wise is being undervalued, but hard for me to consider someone who had that much hype a "sleeper".

 

[VictorLustig]

Wassenius has big skating issues. Lindberg scored at a PPG pace but it was in the 2nd tier Swedish U20 junior league.

Albin Eriksson's name will likely pop up on the draft board earlier than most people think.

 

[BKarchitect]

Love the Demin pick. I think he could go in the second round. I think Tychonick and McLaughlin have a fair amount of 2nd round type hype among people who follow prospects but Demin is a bit of a deeper cut who only recently has been building steam IIRC. I do wonder of somebody might look at Tychonick in the late 1st...definitely think he would if he were just a bit bigger. He doesn’t have Fabbro’s draft year stats but his Penticton team isn’t the crushing offensive machine that the Jost/Fabbro/Conway version was.

All three have the common bond of heading to powerhouse NCHC programs (Demin to DU, Tychonick to UND, McLaughlin to Minnesota) which know how to churn out NHL players.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I won't include anyone I have in the first round, so no Samuelsson, Wise, Galenyuk, Berggren.

Nils Lundkvist, Danila Zhuravlyov, Jan Jenik, Jacob Ragnarsson, Xavier Bernard

 

[Ovechkin962]

I would throw Nicolas Beaudin in there. PPG smaller dman playing with Drummondville.

 

[Vachon23]

I don't think Beaudin will have a big career. He reminds me Niklas Brouillard. Great offensive ability, but defensivly, it's really difficult

 

[Andre Palot]

Jake Wise. We built him up to be equal or better than Eichel, he never had a chance living up to that, and then had a down year on the U17 team, but he looks to be having a much improved season this year so far. I think the initial sky high expectations combined with the down year caused an over reaction in dropping his draft stock.

A Wise guy, eh?

 

[AmericanDream]

Jake Wise, Jacob Pivonka, and Blade Jenkins for me...

Wise was a potential #1 overall, now people have to start putting him back in their top 30 soon enough

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

Jordan Kooy is probably the biggest sleeper goalie out there in this draft class. Had a small bit of hype coming into the season, struggled out of the gate with the rest of the team, didn't play for two whole months because Dale Hunter hates goalies, and since coming back has been fantastic. He could have let those two months of no game time set him back but he hasn't.

 

[Maplebeasts]

1. Khovanov
2. Bernard
3. Bokk
4, Ragnarsson
5. Fouda

 

[Maplebeasts]

Jordan Kooy is probably the biggest sleeper goalie out there in this draft class. Had a small bit of hype coming into the season, struggled out of the gate with the rest of the team, didn't play for two whole months because Dale Hunter hates goalies, and since coming back has been fantastic. He could have let those two months of no game time set him back but he hasn't.

Good one. I also am a believer in Conrad Molder.

 

[TT1]

curtis douglas, biggest sleeper in the literal sense

 

[NCoRe]

Lemme guess. Op is Swedish

It was just a joke But good picks though. I wouldnt say Kaut as a sleeper. Jordan Kooy may end being the best goalie of this class

 

[NotProkofievian]

I won't include anyone I have in the first round, so no Samuelsson, Wise, Galenyuk, Berggren.

Nils Lundkvist, Danila Zhuravlyov, Jan Jenik, Jacob Ragnarsson, Xavier Bernard

Watch most lists have this guy in the top 100 after the U18 5 nations this month. I'm not sure if I've seen a single list have him higher than 200 yet.

 

[Castle8130]

Rasmus Sandin

 

[Whalers Fan]

Mattias Samuelssson. While there are many defensemen getting love this draft, Samuelson by age 23 will be viewed as equal to all his classmates except Dahlin. His size, bloodline, and training gained from the USNTDP will make the 5-7 teams that chose another D-man above him realize they missed out.

I have season tickets to the NTDP, and like this choice. I think Samuelsson is the best defensive prospect on this team -- better than his more hyped teammates Bode Wilde and K'Andre Miller, both of whom are very flawed defensively. While he doesn't have quite the offensive skills of those two, his overall game is much more solid and should translate well to the NHL.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Wassenius has big skating issues. Lindberg scored at a PPG pace but it was in the 2nd tier Swedish U20 junior league.

Albin Eriksson's name will likely pop up on the draft board earlier than most people think.

Eriksson is one that has caught my eye as well, pretty interesting combination of size and speed, has a nose for the net and appears to know what he's doing when he gets there.

Button has him as a late 1st, seems like the type of prospect who could jump up into that range.

 

[toxic poster]

Nathan Dunkley is the biggest sleeper imo. probably gonna go in the third or fourth round, i think he develops into a solid two-way 2nd liner. his production has kind of gone downhill since being traded to London, but they really don't have many offensive weapons any more. He's a really smart player with great foundational skills. Just plays a really solid game all around.

 

[VictorLustig]

Eriksson is one that has caught my eye as well, pretty interesting combination of size and speed, has a nose for the net and appears to know what he's doing when he gets there.

Button has him as a late 1st, seems like the type of prospect who could jump up into that range.

Bob Mckenzie had him at 58. Guessing his name was all over the place, chances are one team will like him a lot and use a pretty early pick on him. Like you said, his skill set is very intriguing but he's still raw, reminds me of Valeri Nichushkin.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Watch most lists have this guy in the top 100 after the U18 5 nations this month. I'm not sure if I've seen a single list have him higher than 200 yet.

#56 on my list.

 

[MikeyDee]

Ty Dellandrea (Flint Firebirds)

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I have season tickets to the NTDP, and like this choice. I think Samuelsson is the best defensive prospect on this team -- better than his more hyped teammates Bode Wilde and K'Andre Miller, both of whom are very flawed defensively. While he doesn't have quite the offensive skills of those two, his overall game is much more solid and should translate well to the NHL.

I don't agree that he's the best defensive prospect on the team, but I think Samuelsson is one of the more underrated players in this draft.

I think he's one of the most NHL ready players. He could probably play the role that every team's 5-6D plug plays as soon as next season. I've found in the games I've watched that he's very good defensively, well beyond his fellow NTDP defensemen when it comes to defending. Outside of Dahlin, I'm not sure there's a player in this draft who defends better than him currently.

I think Wilde has higher potential though. Miller might have higher potential, but I don't think he shows yet enough to have me rank him above Samuelsson. Wilde is very good offensively, and I think he has good defensive tools, the decision making just isn't there yet. I think he'll improve in that area though.