Magua's 2018 NHL Draft Guide

Magua

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Apr 25, 2016
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Hey all. I tend to post on the Flyers thread and share my copious (oh so copious) amount of prospect blather there, and since I've been a member I've done a ranking of draft eligibles. But this year I decided to go all out and synthesize all that blathering and do a REAL write-up thing, which I wrote over the course of the season, editing or adding as needed. It ended up lengthy, but if anyone was bored and had time on their hands, if only to skim around.......

If you want consensus opinions, I gather you know where to find them, but I assure you these really are my thoughts: undiluted and based on little but my own watching. Many of these blurbs or remarks I originally wrote months ago. Whether too bold one way or the other, I can proudly say its my boldness and nothing was half-assed. I spent the year watching hundreds of hours of these prospects in actual games. At the very least, I’m just trying to give my take. I operated on the simple idea: set up a board as I see it for who I think projects as the best NHL players. I have a few international blind spots that I did my best with, but this isn't a true "draft ranking" so much as my personal board.

My rankings and alphabetized write-ups are in the attachment provided. There are a few players I didn’t do write-ups on, either because they’re top of the draft players and I had nothing special to contribute, or I had minimal viewings and did not feel comfortable blathering about them (Bokk, Ylonen, Eriksson, and to a lesser extent O’Brien and Bernard-Docker, though I did see game tape). I generally tried to rank those players conservatively or based on consensus but didn’t want to exclude them either. So, grain of salt. I chose not to rank goalies or re-entries and also had several leftover write-ups from earlier in the season that I included for unranked players, some controversial top 2 rounders even (don't hate me).

These thoughts were batted around in my brain over and over, so if there’s anything I can explain or answer, I will! If nothing else, I tried my best and did this almost year-long project to test myself and perhaps provide something informative (TBD). Please do peruse!



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Zaddy

Registered User
Feb 8, 2013
13,058
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Really nice work. I always enjoy reading your posts on prospects and I even venture over to the Flyers draft thread a few times a season to read your stuff. I may not agree with everything you say but I can tell you know what you're talking about. So thumbs up from me :thumbu:
 

ChicagoBullsFan

Registered User
Jun 6, 2015
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Looks great.
What made you put Niklas Nordgren 26th place.
Nordgren is promising winger but i don't see him going 26th in actual NHL draft this Saturday.

Keep up good job.
 
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AuraSphere

Registered User
Jun 27, 2012
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No Merkley or WIlde in top 62? I know they have issues but that's a stretch, no? if leafs got Alexeyev at 52 oh man, that'd be amazing
 

JojoTheWhale

(after my conversation with Torts)
May 22, 2008
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If you want consensus opinions, I gather you know where to find them, but I assure you these really are my thoughts: undiluted and based on little but my own watching. Many of these blurbs or remarks I originally wrote months ago.

I just want to highlight this point because it’s important. It’s easy to tell whether someone actually takes the time to do this because he/she is talking about random prospects on a Tuesday in February, not vomiting out the info a week before the draft with slight variations on the phrasing from the Black Book.

If you’re not familiar with the poster, be assured he saw what he says he did.
 

Magua

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Apr 25, 2016
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Looks great.
What made you put Niklas Nordgren 26th place.
Nordgren is promising winger but i don't see him going 26th in actual NHL draft this Saturday.

Keep up good job.

I tried my absolute best to divorce consensus rankings or mock rankings from my rankings, though it can be tough at times. So, my rankings are just my rankings, irrelevant to where a player will go. Nordgren will assuredly go in the 2nd, and 26th is ~2nd round given how the draft goes.

As I said in my write-up, I don't think his skating is quite as bad as some people say, and his skill and smarts and effort are through the roof. He's really versatile too off-puck as a finisher or as a playmaker. You see what players like DeBrincat do and Nordgren has those qualities. Or pick another small player. Atkinson? He's still pretty sturdy and a reasonable 5'9. He's just a really good hockey player plain and simple. And to be honest, I think Ruslan Iskhakov is closer to Nordgren than my ranking makes out. But he'll go much later, so I felt a little safer there.

No Merkley or WIlde in top 62? I know they have issues but that's a stretch, no? if leafs got Alexeyev at 52 oh man, that'd be amazing

I'm.......not a fan. Anyone who knows me knows I've been shouting these things since forever. :laugh:

I struggle to see NHL players out of the both of them. I didn't want to rank them because I would't take them. I feel like when players get rated as mid-1sts or whatever early on, there's a hesitancy to drop them too too far. But I felt so strongly I did it. I ranked Kupari low, and it's the same deal, but his skill level is even higher. As I said, maybe Wilde simplifies and can be a depth player, but their hockey senses are just really subpar. I'd rather just draft someone else. I still did the write-ups for them though explaining why.

Alexeyev I bet is a late 1st-early 2nd. I get why people like him; I think he can be an NHL d-man. I just have my issues.
 
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Magua

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Apr 25, 2016
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Love your ranking or Berggren . Gonna be the steal of the draft

I've been talking about him all year and even convinced the Flyers fans to vote him in the mock draft they run here. :laugh:

I watch a lot of players; we all do. So often you TRY to like a player and look for something, even highly ranked players. And maybe you do like them, maybe it takes some watches. But it's the best feeling when a less hyped player just shows it to you and you're like, "Bingo." And you keep watching and nothing changes. He's gradually moved into the late 1st, but his rankings still puzzle me, especially with players like Denisenko, who I do like, rated in the mid-teens.

The closest feeling I've had to Berggren is when I had Keller #3. That's not to say he's the best player obviously, but in terms of gut reaction to a player like that. I'm not advocating taking Berggren at #9 for value reasons. I am advocating taking him as soon as the mid-late teens what the first tier drops.
 

theVladiator

Registered User
May 26, 2018
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Love your writeups. Saying it's right or wrong would be presuming to know better. I am sure I do not, do not spend that much time "scouting". It was nice to read your writeups on some players where I would only get "um, something is off here, I dunno" from limited video, and go "oh yeah, that's the problem, now I see it".
 
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Nucker101

Foundational Poster
Apr 2, 2013
21,877
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How much do you weigh a prospect’s pure upside vs their liklehood of becoming a useful NHL’er?

I ask because some people refuse to rank Hughes higher than Dobson/Bouchard because of the lack of short “#1” dmen in the league. And some people love guys like Hayton and Veleno because they think that they’re sure fire NHL’ers
 

SabresSharks

Registered User
Oct 2, 2007
6,559
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@Magua

I was particularly interested in your skating analysis. It's the foundation of a player's performance, of course. I don't care how much "skill" a guy has. If faster, less-skilled players can consistently beat him to 50-50 pucks, that skilled guy becomes a liability.

But you cover way more than straight-ahead speed - posture, mechanics, first step, acceleration, top-end, agility, edgework, walking the blueline, etc. It's a bit pompous for a couch-potato fan (who's skated plenty though) like me to critique NHL players' skating, but I often see players too crouched or too tall, with a stride too short or too long, bent over or sitting back, etc., and it drives me batty. Sure, they still skate the proverbial rings around players at lower levels, but the point is that almost every player has room for improvement in their skating. (Some much more than others, obviously.)

You used a term I haven't encountered - 4-way agility. I'll take a guess ... the combination of inside /outside edge and forward stride / backward stride? Anyway, please advise.

Thanks again for a superb write-up. Don't know where you find the time to do this, but I'm already looking forward to your 2019 Guide.
 

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