LW Cole Eiserman - USNTDP U18 (2024, 20th, NYI)

[Pavel Buchnevich]

They weren’t willing to let him?

Winnipeg wanted to sign McGroarty to a professional contract in April but was unwilling to promise a path to playing time. Whereas McGroarty’s University of Michigan teammates Frank Nazar and Gavin Brindley signed with Chicago and Columbus, respectively — and played NHL games, like McGroarty’s former Michigan teammates Adam Fantilli and Luke Hughes did last season — the Jets were focused on their upcoming playoff run.

Sometimes a collegiate player will sign and step right into the NHL, helping the team in the playoffs. Matthew Knies did this for Toronto in 2023 and Cale Makar’s first games were played for Colorado during its 2019 playoff run.

The Jets didn’t view McGroarty as ready to make that kind of impact, nor were they ready to guarantee him a roster spot in the NHL next season. McGroarty could sign and come to training camp but risked being demoted to the AHL instead of trying to lead his Michigan team to a national championship.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5583575/2024/06/22/winnipeg-jets-rutger-mcgroarty-trade/?source=user_shared_article

 

[SI90]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5583575/2024/06/22/winnipeg-jets-rutger-mcgroarty-trade/?source=user_shared_article

Understood. All things considered they did well in the trade but I would have given McGroarty a chance. I mean once he’s signed he has less leverage. If his play wasn’t NHL ready they could have called his bluff there.

 

[wetcoast]

Understood. All things considered they did well in the trade but I would have given McGroarty a chance. I mean once he’s signed he has less leverage. If his play wasn’t NHL ready they could have called his bluff there.

So you are saying the Jets could have promised him something then reneged on it?

Doesn't sound like a good strategy to me.

 

[wetcoast]

I think this is a great pick for you guys. I get he has flaws but you can't teach goal scoring and a good example or template is Boeser.
He was flawed but could snipe and if not for early injury history I'm convinced hed be a guy with a 50 goal season on his resume.

More importantly, he's turned into a hell of a complete two-way player out protecting leafs and scoring clutch goals.
No reason there can't be a similar trajectory here.

Well I for hope that the Canucks don't meet Toronto in the playoffs this year.

 

[wetcoast]

I was never a big fan of him for this reason. Wahlstrom isn’t small, doesn’t skate bad, has okay puck skills and can absolutely hammer the puck when he catches one, but the NHL isn’t a practice game against Latvia when you have the puck all game and your team basically has a PP type of possession advantage every shift with no real pressure on the puck. It’s competitive, fast, and back and forth. Wahlstrom can’t keep up with all of that. He needs to play in a slower pace league where quick decisions aren’t required and players give him time and space to hammer the puck on net.

I think Eiserman isn’t as dumb as Wahlstrom, but I also don’t think he’s necessarily a smart player. He’s a selfish player and has tunnel vision. I wouldn’t call him overly smart, but I think those are his two main hockey sense problems, which may be closer to lack of maturity than hockey sense. I also don’t think he’s anywhere near as bad of a skater as Bellows.

So he doesn’t have the same notable deficits as Bellows or Wahlstrom, but he’s very one-dimensional and has to be used as a complimentary player. He’s never going to drive play. It’s just not his style. Put him with Barzal and a strong defensive, physical, boards presence, and maybe it can work having a dirty work player alongside a player who can drive things for him in Barzal and make his job only about getting open to score goals. The biggest issue with Eiserman becomes he’s a very difficult player to make his role work because he has absolutely no B game. He’s worse than useless (an active detriment) if it’s not PP or with the exact right linemates. Risky pick, but one with real goal scoring upside in the NHL.

That's in part why he fell to 20th his goal scoring is really that good.

now how much of that elite trait will translate in part to what you say here but he could be a 50 goal scorer in the NHL with his shot and scoring instincts there is alot to work with here and I'm not a huge fan of his.

 

[wetcoast]

I don't sit around and count these. But conservatively, this happens at least three times per game. Five? His calling-his-own-number-to-shoot-from-anywhere/60 is probably the highest I've seen in a while...

Is it Ovechkin like?

Also it's funny because whenever I think of this type of player I reminded of 2 guys I played with in floor/ball hockey some 15 years apart but all they did was shoot and I mean literally all the time.

 

[wetcoast]

This is gonna be a little tough to express and I'm about to step out, but I challenge the notion that Eiserman "fell". One, I don't really believe in that concept because as SI90 mentioned and hopefully most folks know by now - draft boards are way different from people on the inside. People that are actually doing the work, wildly different. For some reason, the misguided idea of "consensus" rules here - or is at least at the podium - and it doesn't make much sense. Now, yes, Celebrini was the consensus #1 - that's not what I'm talking about.

It's part of the danger of making a list too early. Putting a number value to the left a guy in September has no benefit. I know he was really high on Bob's pre-draft list and all that. It's fine, I get that. But I don't think he ever belonged there. And then some folks got stuck in the anchoring bias of that and couldn't get off of it.

There were very few instances in the season where I had Eiserman as a first round pick and I'm not alone in that. I will say that I'm in the minority with that, but not alone. So from that perspective, the Isles "reached" (another fun term used sometimes) haha

I just don't think Cole Eiserman possibly staying out of the pros for half a decade or whatever was a factor in him "falling" (allegedly) - I think he went where he went and it's about right.

I agree with the main thought process here but I also think there was quite a drop-off after the top 15ish and sure some good players are going to emerge from the bottom 15 but how many and if a guy like Emery could go in the first round with basically zero offense projecting to the next level wouldn't Eiserman's elite goal scoring ability be more preferential at least to some teams?

After all good defensive players can be found more easily than elite goal scorers but then maybe some of the current NHL groupthink is that Emery has a pretty high floor and projecabitly on using his strength in the NHL while Eiserman has more risk.

 

[Guadana]

I agree with the main thought process here but I also think there was quite a drop-off after the top 15ish and sure some good players are going to emerge from the bottom 15 but how many and if a guy like Emery could go in the first round with basically zero offense projecting to the next level wouldn't Eiserman's elite goal scoring ability be more preferential at least to some teams?

After all good defensive players can be found more easily than elite goal scorers but then maybe some of the current NHL groupthink is that Emery has a pretty high floor and projecabitly on using his strength in the NHL while Eiserman has more risk.

Players like Emery can be listed as much more translatable on NHL than players like Eiserman by some scouts and gms.

 

[wetcoast]

Players like Emery can be listed as much more translatable on NHL than players like Eiserman by some scouts and gms.

Sure seems that way.

 

[57special]

Just guessing here, but I suspect that Eiserman fell because of intangibles, or rather, an intangible, namely, his mind. I think that teams decided that he was either too stupid, or too egotistical, or a combination of both, to recognize and fix the shortcomings in his game. There is nothing athletically to hold him back. He's average sized, but thick and big enough, is a good skater, and has a killer shot, and the consistent goal scoring ability should be a massive plus.

I am rooting for the guy. Started when I found out he changed schools so he could be closer to his Dad, who was undergoing cancer treatment. That's some character, right there. You don't have to be a genius to be a goal scoring winger- Gordie Howe sure wasn't- just smart enough to get out of your own way.

Eiserman and Sennecke will be fascinating prospects to watch as they develop(or not).

 

[Rogie21]

Lamoriello seems confident that Eiserman's overall game will be enhanced playing for 2 former Bruins player development guys--Pandolfo and Brandvold--at BU.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

This is gonna be a little tough to express and I'm about to step out, but I challenge the notion that Eiserman "fell". One, I don't really believe in that concept because as SI90 mentioned and hopefully most folks know by now - draft boards are way different from people on the inside. People that are actually doing the work, wildly different. For some reason, the misguided idea of "consensus" rules here - or is at least at the podium - and it doesn't make much sense. Now, yes, Celebrini was the consensus #1 - that's not what I'm talking about.

It's part of the danger of making a list too early. Putting a number value to the left a guy in September has no benefit. I know he was really high on Bob's pre-draft list and all that. It's fine, I get that. But I don't think he ever belonged there. And then some folks got stuck in the anchoring bias of that and couldn't get off of it.

There were very few instances in the season where I had Eiserman as a first round pick and I'm not alone in that. I will say that I'm in the minority with that, but not alone. So from that perspective, the Isles "reached" (another fun term used sometimes) haha

I just don't think Cole Eiserman possibly staying out of the pros for half a decade or whatever was a factor in him "falling" (allegedly) - I think he went where he went and it's about right.

100%. We often get accustomed to whatever rankings we see on here so we assume those are more or less official.

Whenever a popular name gets picked later than expected we always label them as a steal but that's mostly based on us being exposed to the name for so long that our brains assume they're good.

Those "draft steals" threads are always filled with prospects that became hyped earlier than others.