Pre-Game Talk: Kent Hughes Presser, Thursday morning, June 8th 2023 9:30 am

[WeThreeKings]

If they wanted to draft Michkov they would act like they wouldn't want to as to potentially "devalue" his worth to other teams. There's no point reading too much into this.

Who are they devaluing him to, the Sharks?

 

[WinterLion]

Timmins LOVES those types. I wonder if he'll put extra pressure on Columbus to consider picking him a tad early. We know Grant and him think alike.

Jarmo Kekolenen does too... he's still GM right? I remember him convincing Davidson to draft Ian Cole because he is built like a tank..

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

He didn't had the same stars in the eyes then when he talk about Leonard/Smith

Men when he was talking about them, he had the same stars in the eyes that I would have if I was in a date with Margot Robbie

He's known them personally for a while, so it makes sense he would feel that way when talking about them.

It wouldn't make sense to talk like that about any other prospects that he barely interacted with.

Most talented or best player available are two different things

Michkov is both

 

[Kennerback]

I had the feeling the underlying message was: we haven’t drawn up our final list yet and we haven’t crossed our t’s and dotted our i’s on Russian players. Separate message is that he had a personal liking to Leonard and Smith.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

No to Leonard!
Smith, Mitchkov or bust.

I want the most talented players. Sick of this team having no skill.

I don’t know the players enough but we said same thing with Brady. That worked out well…

 

[BergevinBurner]

If we take Leonard over Michkov, then Hughes better pray that Leonard turns into a PPG powerforward. Anything less and it'll put the KK over Tkachuk blunder to shame.

 

[Kennerback]

I don’t know the players enough but we said same thing with Brady. That worked out well…

Brady Tkachuk is at least 4 inches bigger than Leonard and his assists usually matched or surpassed his goals.

 

[Jaynki]

No doubt Leonard and Smith don't have Michkov skills.

But not having Michkov skills does not equal being unskilled.

They are both skilled as f***.

 

[xX SEYF Xx]

f***ing Kent Hughes, like him or not he masters communication, all he had to do is name dropping the Tkachuks and Leonard is now the popular name over here and on the few next media releases. Manage expectations they say

If Leonard is what we walk away with after this frustrating season, I'm disappointed, don't shoot me

 

[LyricalLyricist]

Brady Tkachuk is at least 4 inches bigger than Leonard and his assists usually matched or surpassed his goals.

Irrelevant to what the discussion was at the time. Many of our most knowledgeable posters HATED idea of tkachuk because KK seemed more of an offensive talent. That was a big mistake clearly.

 

[Gustave]

Kent said at the lottery that it was important for them to stay at 5. People interpreted that as meaning their top 5 includes Michkov, but in reality, it was Leonard he was referring to. This is why it is so important to stay at 5, because they believe the major talent drop is after Leonard, and if they would have been drafting at 6, they would have had to seriously consider drafting a player (Michkov) that comes with multiple red flags, because Reinbacher, Dvorsky and Benson are not in the same tier as Carlsson, Smith, Leonard or Michkov.

I’d bet they like they idea of size as they are aware the makeup isn’t optimal right now. The size tag is clearly on Leonard right now as the size brigade is sending out the signals of him being the hunk.

It wouldn’t be a catastrophy so it is what it is, just know that scouts can’t stop won’t stop losing their shit when they see athletic body types.

I love to have size too but I’m against selecting “for” size. I’d go with talent and would send the size brigade away from the amateur scouting to the pro scouting side. I prefer signing and trading for Anderson, PLD, Perry, Eddy, Chiarot and who ever else than going for size at 18 year old juniors. That’s just me. If there’s size to the talent, great. If talent is better in a player compared to another bigger player, pick the more talented player.

 

[Kosseca]

Lmao

He doesn't need to manage expectations. What he needs to do is play the game.

Not sure about your Lmao here.....

I dont disagree that he needs to play games, but that is not what he's doing with Mitchkov right now. He's 100% managing expectation.

If anything, the message he sending right now is counter productive to "playing games". He's devaluing the prospect by raising red flag and the lack of close scrutiny the team had on the players in recent months. This wont press a team higher to pick Mitchkov sooner and it wont invite team below to trade for the 5th if we are open to moving it.

So... you can LMAO all you want... he's not a stupid negotiator, so given the above, he's managing expectation pure and simple

 

[1909]

f***ing Kent Hughes, like him or not he masters communication, all he had to do is name dropping the Tkachuks and Leonard is now the popular name over here and on the few next media releases. Manage expectations they say

If Leonard is what we walk away with after this frustrating season, I'm disappointed, don't shoot me

If Hughes trade #5 (let's say Michkov is still available there) for Philly #7 and Carter Hart, that could lead Hughes to draft Leonard then. But if Smith or Carlsson or Leonard are still available at #5 (and Michkov is not) , would you have a problem then ?

 

[Kennerback]

Irrelevant to what the discussion was at the time. Many of our most knowledgeable posters HATED idea of tkachuk because KK seemed more of an offensive talent. That was a big mistake clearly.

From day 1 KK’s offence was a bit of a mystery. Everyone liked that he was a big 2 way Center that plays well both ways and could score. Many people didn’t know if his highest plateau was 60 points. His offence was a project. The rest of his game was good enough to get him to the NHL.

 

[ZUKI]

If anyone can tell me the french shit he's saying

eat some french

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

Hughes didn’t really play games last year when he spoke about the draft or the players. When they described what they wanted it was very clear he wasn’t describing Wright but people kept thinking he would be the choice. Hughes is pretty honest with his answers every time he speak.

They met like 5 times with Wright last year, went for dinner, had MSL/Lecavalier call him and Hughes said publicly a times how impressed he was with him.

When they met Slafkovsky just before the draft his comments were that they were just "dotting their i's and crossing their t's" which sounded more like due diligence rather than a glowing endorsement he was their pick.

Given how surprised not only most fans were, but both Wright and Slafkovsky were when the pick was made, it was pretty evident that Hughes and management held their cards very close through the whole process.

This was also a draft where they had the first pick and didn't have to worry about teams moving up to take their guy. Hughes has spent decades negotiating, so I personally am not putting much stock into the interviews/rumours on guys he like or doesn't like over the next couple weeks.

 

[A55P2]

Who are they devaluing him to, the Sharks?

Yep and the other teams in front of them. What's the point of hyping the guy? If you show some hesitation maybe they'll think we know something they don't. Or maybe they won't give a damn about what we think. Anyway there's no point in showing signs of interest towards him.

 

[JT3]

They met like 5 times with Wright last year, went for dinner, had MSL/Lecavalier call him and Hughes said publicly a times how impressed he was with him.

When they met Slafkovsky just before the draft his comments were that they were just "dotting their i's and crossing their t's" which sounded more like due diligence rather than a glowing endorsement he was their pick.

Given how surprised not only most fans were, but both Wright and Slafkovsky were when the pick was made, it was pretty evident that Hughes and management held their cards very close through the whole process.

This was also a draft where they had the first pick and didn't have to worry about teams moving up to take their guy. Hughes has spent decades negotiating, so I personally am not putting much stock into the interviews/rumours on guys he like or doesn't like over the next couple weeks.

Yeah there's a whole lot of jumping to conclusions here but it's all meaningless. Hughes won't tip his hand whatsoever so I take anything he says leading up to the draft pretty much with a grain of salt. They haven't finished evaluating/interviewing or even had their final scouting meetings yet as far as I know, so absolutely nothing is set in stone yet.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Yep and the other teams in front of them. What's the point of hyping the guy? If you show some hesitation maybe they'll think we know something they don't. Or maybe they won't give a damn about what we think. Anyway there's no point in showing signs of interest towards him.

The other teams in front of them aren't taking Michkov.

San Jose is the only team that could and I don't think the Sharks are going to make any decision differently based on what a team behind them might or might not be interested in.

 

[The Great Weal]

Brady Tkachuk is at least 4 inches bigger than Leonard and his assists usually matched or surpassed his goals.

You're not wrong, and that's kind of where I have some questions about Leonard since his play style is likely not durable, especially at his size. That said, he has more offensive upside than most thought Tkachuk did during draft time. You play Leonard with Dach and PLD or Suzuki and CC and I'd be surprised if he doesn't hit 65+ points consistently.

 

[McGees]

Timmins LOVES those types. I wonder if he'll put extra pressure on Columbus to consider picking him a tad early. We know Grant and him think alike.

They want and need a C otherwise maybe.

 

[GrandBison]

Hughes didn’t really play games last year when he spoke about the draft or the players. When they described what they wanted it was very clear he wasn’t describing Wright but people kept thinking he would be the choice. Hughes is pretty honest with his answers every time he speak.

You have no one to bluff when you pick first...

 

[morhilane]

Why would Monahan career be done?

Injuries after injuries.

 

[xX SEYF Xx]

If Hughes trade #5 (let's say Michkov is still available there) for Philly #7 and Carter Hart, that could lead Hughes to draft Leonard then. But if Smith or Carlsson or Leonard are still available at #5 (and Michkov is not) , would you have a problem then ?

not a fan of Hart
I'd be ecstatic with Carlsson, happy with Smith, meh with Leonard

 

[Team_Spirit]

Word on street; Arizona are hard at work trying to get another pick in the top 5 and secure the whole line.

Top5 Smith, 6 Leonard, 12 Perreault