Here's my final list!
This is generic for any team. For the Kraken I'd probably swing a little higher, our prospect pool is relatively balanced but we lack high end talent. So I'd go a little lower for us on MBN, Surin, Dickinson, etc.. and take bigger swings.
The notes at the end are largely what I've been posting here for months.
1 | Macklin Celebrini | C |
2 | Ivan Demidov | F |
3 | Zeev Buium | LD |
4 | Cayden Lindstrom | F |
5 | Beckett Sennecke | W |
6 | Michael Brandsegg-Nygard | F |
7 | Carter Yakemchuk | RD |
8 | Tij Iginla | W |
9 | Berkly Catton | W |
10 | Jesse Pulkkinen | LD |
11 | Jett Luchanko | F |
12 | Konsta Helenius | C |
13 | Stian Solberg | LD |
14 | Anton Silayev | LD |
15 | Yegor Surin | C |
16 | Sam Dickinson | LD |
17 | Zayne Parekh | RD |
18 | Alfons Freij | LD |
19 | Julius Miettinen | C |
20 | Igor Chernyshev | W |
21 | Marek Vanacker | W |
Notes:
- I think the consensus is probably wrong about
Brandsegg-Nygard's upside. He's probably never a very good rush player but there are indeed many excellent topline players in the NHL who mostly thrive off of the cycle / forecheck. Those players are if anything more rare. He wins the large majorities of his battles, is very smart defensively, and of course has an elite shot. He reminds me of a stronger version of Oliver Bjorkstrand. A little bit of Landeskog as well.
- He's an overager but if my team drafted
Jesse Pulkkinen 10th-15th a year ago I'd be very happy with how his last year has gone. He has elite tools. I love the defense. There's NHL shutdown upside at 6'6. I love the way he reads defenders when he is attacking with the puck. The adaptive intelligence is high end. He'll need to get quicker and learn a lot more at both ends, but the pace of improvement makes me inclined to bet on this player.
- I saw
Anton Silayev a lot at both the KHL and MHL level and I think the visions of him scoring 40 pts are pure fantasy. His KHL production was very good for his age but it looks like random points when I watch it. He rarely shows offensive initiative. This will be a shutdown D, and a very good one.
-
Yegor Surin is a wild beast. He reminds me a lot of Brandon Dubinsky. He plays a lot like Sam Bennett as well. But he's stronger than both, a tremendous athlete. The competitiveness is off the charts. I think he'll be a strong matchup center that can take on anyone.
- I like
Dickinson and
Parekh a fait bit, I wanted to move them higher because they both looked impressive to me in the Memorial Cup. I just had too many players that I liked a bit more. It's a deep draft for me up until around pick 21. Dickinson I expect to top out at minimum as a second pair guy, and he might be a #2D. Parekh could end up as one of the best players in this class, and I'm even seeing his D game improve a lot. He'll always get pushed around in his zone though, and my big concern is injuries - there is a high bust risk if he keeps getting hurt this often.
- The big omission is of course
Levshunov. There are many D in the NHL who have the physical tools to be #1Ds but lack the thinking. It's not tools that separates the best from the rest. Levshunov is largely just tools. His passing game reminds me of Jack Johnson. I don't think he has improved that much either over the course of the year, and I'm hearing from the Blackbook that his trajectory is somewhat oversold, he's been a specimen and a top prospect for years now. I think you can draft him higher but the team will have to mold him into something more structured and less dynamic. I don't think he has the hockey sense to succeed playing a rover game.
