Kraken 2024 draft

[RainyCityHockey]

Recently Yakemchuk seems to have fallen off a cliff in terms of pre-draft rankings as more commentators point out the holes in his defensive game and the fact that his hockey IQ in general is not exactly stellar. Silayev seems to be dropping as well, though that one I find harder to fathom. At worst, he is going to be a mobile 6'7'' shutdown defenseman who doesn't shy away from contact. Freij seems to be moving upward, but one guy offered a cautionary note that as the competition he plays against improves, his defensive shortcomings appear more glaring. It now looks, at the moment anyway, that Buium will be the first defenseman chosen in the draft.

I don't think Buium will be taken before Levshunov.
Though I expect Buium to be selected before the 8th OVR pick.

 

[majormajor]

Here's another late riser:



Incredible hands.

We might see a lot of churn in the lists leading up to the draft. Some of the top forwards didn't have good playoffs (Catton, Lindstrom) or were inconsistent (Iginla). This Sennecke kid is torching the OHL playoffs. He has a lot of room to fill out on his 6'2 frame.

I wasn't kidding around with Sennecke. Late [ongoing?] growth spurt, big increase in scoring in the second half and playoffs.

Beckett Sennecke Climbing the Rankings

recrutes.ca

Habs fans are debating whether he is a target at #5-#7. So I think he's legit for us to talk about at #8-#10.

 

[kihei]

Sennecke got another three points tonight (2 goals, 1 assist) in a losing cause. That gives him 12 goals and 13 assists in 15 OHL playoff games. A lot of people seem to think that is no lucky hot streak but a culmination of the potential that he has shown all along.

Meanwhile in the U18s worlds, Eiserman is tearing it up with six goals and 3 assists in four games. His stock has badly fallen recently but if he keeps going at this pace, he could well reverse that trend. Decisions, decisions.

 

[majormajor]

Am I crazy for thinking this guy should go top 10?

 

[kihei]

You may or may not be crazy but you are definitely in the minority on this one. Most of the prospect sources rate Pulkkinen as a mid-to-late first rounder or early second rounder. People seem to like his potential a lot but think he is raw, a major work in progress. Inconsistencies in his defensive game gets mentioned frequently and the fact that he has much to work on for a second year eligible player. Could be a late first round steal, but he doesn't seem like a top ten player to me. The Top Ten is already pretty crowded, anyway.

 

[kihei]

Top three? This kid is moving up the charts faster than the Beatles used to do:



Sennecke discussion starts at the 37:40 minute mark. The whole podcast is interesting stuff, though. No way this guy is going to be around at #8, but that just frees another good player for us to consider.

 

[majormajor]

@montreal has several of these Dickinson vs Parekh videos (and other matchups) from the OHL playoffs.



Those two would make an interesting choice for us at #8-#10.

Personally after watching a couple of these games this is my updated quick scouting report of the two players.

Sam Dickinson's defense looks close to NHL ready. He'd be one of the best skating D-men on any team in the league right now. And he'll soon be stronger than most NHL D too. But his OHL point totals oversell his offensive ability, Dickinson is very basic. I've compared him to Hanifin and Bouwmeester, though I think he might be closer to the 30 pt version of those guys, not their best offensive seasons.

Zayne Parekh by contrast is pure magic with the puck, he can see plays few others can, and he has an elite shot. And his defense, though still bad, is showing some signs of improvement in his technique. I'm more concerned with how he takes contact and protects (or doesn't protect) himself. Parekh gets thrown around, it looks like opponents take a chunk out of him with every shove. He stands very high on his skates and can't dig in enough to stop opposing forwards from skating through him. This will effect his defense, but also make him a high bust risk given how often he's likely to be injured.

 

[majormajor]

Here's my May list, FWIW. I've seen 2+ games for all of these players and could say much more about them. This is just meant to be a concise snapshot with a brief description including the players upside.

1	Macklin Celebrini	C	all purpose franchise center
2	Ivan Demidov	F	80+ pt top line forward
3	Zeev Buium	LD	65 pt all around #1D
4	Cayden Lindstrom	F	topline power-forward, 2C floor
5	Beckett Sennecke	W	70++ pt upside, big room for growth
6	Michael Brandsegg-Nygard	F	topline forward, playdriver + shooter, 60 pts
7	Berkly Catton	W	80 pt upside, but significant injury risk
8	Artyom Levshunov	RD	flawed decisions but still a low end #1D
9	Tij Iginla	W	high motor playdriving goal scorer
10	Jesse Pulkinnen	LD	#1D tools but needs to come a long way
11	Carter Yakemchuk	RD	#1D “Brent Burns” tools, but big weaknesses
12	Anton Silayev	LD	pure shutdown D, but a great one
13	Konsta Helenius	C	very smart do-it-all player, very likely a 2C
14	Sam Dickinson	LD	top 4D that can skate pucks and handle D
15	Yegor Surin	C	fiery Dubinsky type center, skill and strength
16	Yegor Chernyshev	W	big body hard skating Nichushkin type
17	Zayne Parekh	RD	elite offense, improving D, big injury risk
18	Adam Jiricek	RD	can skate pucks and hit, but not shoot

I'm a little surprised by how it shook out. I like the D in this class. But several of the forwards have popped lately and pushed all but Buium down a bit.

Sennecke is a clear cut #5 for me, after that you can take players a few spots higher or lower depending on need.

You can make an argument for the Kraken needing just about everything, so I'm not sure what that means for us.

 

[kihei]

Here's my list for May

1. Celebrini
2. Demidov
3. Lindstrom
4. Buium
5. Levshunov
6. Sennecke
7. Iginla
8. Parekh
9. Silayev
10. Brandsegg-Nygard
11. Catton
12. Dickinson
13. Eiserman
14. Helenius
15. Yakemchuk
16. Connelly
17. Jirecek
18. Greentree
19. Hage
20. Chernyshov

This list is not based on my personal "evaluation" abilities which stop rather abruptly at tennis. The list is based on copious reading and viewing of scouting reports and other sources.

I could see Parekh, Eiserman and Connelly going earlier as some team might just be too tempted by the upside to worry about the red flags.

Catton continues to make me nervous; Dickinson is the equivalent of vanilla ice cream; Helenius the equivalent of diet vanilla ice cream; Jiricek might be a mid-round steal for somebody; I'm more sure than ever that Iginla goes top seven; Sennecke may be a little high as the fever might abate a little the rest of the way; In our range currently on my list, I would like for the Kraken to pick either Silayev if we go for a D which we should or Iginla (if he falls) or Brandsegg-Nygard if we are going for a forward. And, yeah, I would be at least tempted by Parekh if he fell to #8.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

The top 5 seems like they are starting to cement.

Celebrini
Demidov
Buium
Levshunov
Lindstrom

Seems like things start going all over the place after that.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Yeah. Iginla just keeps pushing himself up the top-10.

 

[majormajor]

Here's my list for May

1. Celebrini
2. Demidov
3. Lindstrom
4. Buium
5. Levshunov
6. Sennecke
7. Iginla
8. Parekh
9. Silayev
10. Brandsegg-Nygard
11. Catton
12. Dickinson
13. Eiserman
14. Helenius
15. Yakemchuk
16. Connelly
17. Jirecek
18. Greentree
19. Hage
20. Chernyshov

This list is not based on my personal "evaluation" abilities which stop rather abruptly at tennis. The list is based on copious reading and viewing of scouting reports and other sources.

I could see Parekh, Eiserman and Connelly going earlier as some team might just be too tempted by the upside to worry about the red flags.

Catton continues to make me nervous; Dickinson is the equivalent of vanilla ice cream; Helenius the equivalent of diet vanilla ice cream; Jiricek might be a mid-round steal for somebody; I'm more sure than ever that Iginla goes top seven; Sennecke may be a little high as the fever might abate a little the rest of the way; In our range currently on my list, I would like for the Kraken to pick either Silayev if we go for a D which we should or Iginla (if he falls) or Brandsegg-Nygard if we are going for a forward. And, yeah, I would be at least tempted by Parekh if he fell to #8.

It looks like our pick from your list might be Iginla, and from my list MBN.

I dropped Iginla a bit because he had a lackluster round vs Prince George and so far a lackluster U18s. He really only rose so fast earlier because he had a dominant first round of the playoffs, so it is admittedly just "what have you done for me lately".

Iginla has a good motor and terrific body positioning for puck protection, which are great pro tools, but after that his game is raw. He knocks the puck away too often.

MBN is solid pro tools all around, he's NHL ready whereas Iginla is a couple years away. MBN's scoring in the Allsvenskan playoffs and so far in World Championship friendlys has me thinking that his upside is getting underrated. He's such a good goal scorer. This is the guy you want next to your top playmaking forward, MBN will win the puck back and do the finishing. I'm very keen to see more of his World Championship matches.

 

[majormajor]

The top 5 seems like they are starting to cement.

Celebrini
Demidov
Buium
Levshunov
Lindstrom

Seems like things start going all over the place after that.

I don't know if that's the top 5 cementing for the professional scouts or just for internet types and folks like me.

Pronman likes to mimic the professionals and on his latest list he still had all the big D near the top - including Silayev, Dickinson, and Yakemchuk.

Yakemchuk I was thinking would make a nice pick for us, but I've only seen the two shift-by-shifts of him on youtube and I wasn't impressed in one of them. That latest video was from December and I haven't seen anything from recent months to know if he has improved his defense. His offensive upside is elite, it's really just the transition defense that has me concerned with him. Interestingly though he handled Cayden Lindstrom physically with ease. Yakemchuk is a bull, but if he's a turnstile on the rush?

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

I don't know if that's the top 5 cementing for the professional scouts or just for internet types and folks like me.

Yeah. I think that is probably true for us internet warriors ..

Pronman likes to mimic the professionals and on his latest list he still had all the big D near the top - including Silayev, Dickinson, and Yakemchuk.

Yakemchuk I was thinking would make a nice pick for us, but I've only seen the two shift-by-shifts of him on youtube and I wasn't impressed in one of them. That latest video was from December and I haven't seen anything from recent months to know if he has improved his defense. His offensive upside is elite, it's really just the transition defense that has me concerned with him. Interestingly though he handled Cayden Lindstrom physically with ease. Yakemchuk is a bull, but if he's a turnstile on the rush?

I do like Yakemchuk's tools. He has an NHL-ready build/body already, and his offense is good. Last I read, he improved his defense considerably in the later part of this season after the horrid start. I think his floor is like a PP2 QB and a 3rd pairing D. But if he can continue to improve his D, the sky is the limit. He can bully players and keep the front of the net clear. That is hard to teach. Plus, he is an RD. That is not just a need for us but also something that is valued pretty highly in the league.

I wouldn't be disappointed if we select Yakemchuk at 8. I trust our scouting team to have thoroughly evaluated him and anticipate his growth. After all, we've had success with players like Ryker Evans, whom we drafted as an overager and who has since shown promising development.

 

[kihei]

The top 5 seems like they are starting to cement.

Celebrini
Demidov
Buium
Levshunov
Lindstrom

Seems like things start going all over the place after that.

You literally have several guys that it wouldn't surprise anybody if they got picked 5th or they got picked 12th. As on scout pointed out. "It's a good year to miss the playoffs."

 

[majormajor]

Yeah. I think that is probably true for us internet warriors ..

I do like Yakemchuk's tools. He has an NHL-ready build/body already, and his offense is good. Last I read, he improved his defense considerably in the later part of this season after the horrid start. I think his floor is like a PP2 QB and a 3rd pairing D. But if he can continue to improve his D, the sky is the limit. He can bully players and keep the front of the net clear. That is hard to teach. Plus, he is an RD. That is not just a need for us but also something that is valued pretty highly in the league.

I wouldn't be disappointed if we select Yakemchuk at 8. I trust our scouting team to have thoroughly evaluated him and anticipate his growth. After all, we've had success with players like Ryker Evans, whom we drafted as an overager and who has since shown promising development.

If that's the case then I'd happily put Yakemchuk back around my top 5 or 6 picks.

Someone needs to upload some video so I can see this improved defense!

Some of the most insane scoring tools you'll ever see from a D:



And this is the game vs Medicine Hat where you can see Yakemchuk manhandling Lindstrom at several points. But he also had some bad rush defense.

 

[majormajor]

It looks like our pick from your list might be Iginla, and from my list MBN.

I dropped Iginla a bit because he had a lackluster round vs Prince George and so far a lackluster U18s. He really only rose so fast earlier because he had a dominant first round of the playoffs, so it is admittedly just "what have you done for me lately".

And apparently in today's game the answer is that Iginla was sensational.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

And apparently in today's game the answer is that Iginla was sensational.

He really was. I actually watched the 3rd period and what I love is that he draws defenders towards him while driving the net and makes really good passes. I feel like he makes his own space and does not really need to worry about it either.

If that's the case then I'd happily put Yakemchuk back around my top 5 or 6 picks.

Someone needs to upload some video so I can see this improved defense!

Some of the most insane scoring tools you'll ever see from a D:



And this is the game vs Medicine Hat where you can see Yakemchuk manhandling Lindstrom at several points. But he also had some bad rush defense.

I watched his report on youtube which pointed out his improved defense. Not sure where it was. Elite Prospects or Blue Chip Prospect. Let me look it up and see if I can find it.

Edit: It was this one:

 

[kihei]

^^^^^^^^^^^^

If Francis and the scouts decide to go with Yaremchuk, at least that video is reassuring, the most positive that I have seen when it comes to evaluation of Yaremchuk's defensive play and potential. The thing I initially liked about him, before his defensive play became a huge question mark with so many evaluators, was his mean streak. I'm tired of our D not making people pay physically for taking liberties in and near the crease. Carter could go a long way toward setting a very different tone. One thing for sure is that RF will have a lot of talent to pick among when our turn comes up.

 

[kihei]

Trevor Connelly adds to an already impressive collection of red flags. MIdway through the third period with the USA leading 3-2, Connelly drew a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking a Canadian player in the head. Canada scored three times to take a 5-3 lead, eventually winning 6-4.

I'm on record in saying I hate tanking a season, but in the case of 16-year-old Gavin McKenna I'm pretty sure I could be talked into it.

 

[majormajor]

Trevor Connelly adds to an already impressive collection of red flags. MIdway through the third period with the USA leading 3-2, Connelly drew a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking a Canadian player in the head. Canada scored three times to take a 5-3 lead, eventually winning 6-4.

I stopped paying attention to him a while ago because I'm pretty sure every team is going to pass on him, at least through the first round.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Trevor Connelly adds to an already impressive collection of red flags. MIdway through the third period with the USA leading 3-2, Connelly drew a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking a Canadian player in the head. Canada scored three times to take a 5-3 lead, eventually winning 6-4.

I'm on record in saying I hate tanking a season, but in the case of 16-year-old Gavin McKenna I'm pretty sure I could be talked into it.

Yeah. Connelly basically cost USA the game. Even before that he had looked average at best in the tournament.

I don't think we have to "tank". But if Francis can convince the ownership that we need one more season of good drafting to get the team setup for the future, it shouldn't be too hard for us to get there.

- Trade expiring UFA's who you do not consider part of the future. Gourde, Tanev, etc.
- Try to extend Larsson. If he is not willing, trade him.
- Take expiring contracts for assets.
- Don't worry about adding anything other than warm bodies to fill out our roster of this season.

Either you commit to competing or you commit to going down your original path and draft high to setup the team for the future.

 

[RainyCityHockey]

Draft lottery is set for Tuesday, May 7th at 3:30 p.m. PT/6:30 p.m. ET.

 

[kihei]

Draft lottery is set for Tuesday, May 7th at 3:30 p.m. PT/6:30 p.m. ET.

We have a 6% chance of winning, right? Stranger things have happened.

 

[majormajor]

The top 5 seems like they are starting to cement.

Celebrini
Demidov
Buium
Levshunov
Lindstrom

Seems like things start going all over the place after that.

I don't know if that's the top 5 cementing for the professional scouts or just for internet types and folks like me.

Pronman likes to mimic the professionals and on his latest list he still had all the big D near the top - including Silayev, Dickinson, and Yakemchuk.

Bob's latest poll is out.

Only one of the ten scouts had Buium in the top 5. Instead, most had Silayev there.

Bob McKenzie's NHL Draft Ranking: An 'unpredictable ride' after Macklin Celebrini | TSN

Ten out of 10 NHL club team scouts surveyed in the past week by TSN have Macklin Celebrini as the undisputed No. 1 draft prospect. Beyond Celebrini, though? Buckle up.

www.tsn.ca

Buium is 8th in the poll, Iginla 10th, Catton 11th. There should be very good choices for the Kraken.

And the rise of my guy Sennecke hasn't found it's way into Bob's list yet, he's 14th here. Late risers often don't show up on these lists until the final version though. It seems the scouts need time after the playoffs to catch up on video. For example - Jake Sanderson, Mason McTavish.