Prospect Info: Max Graham (C - #139 Overall - Round 5 - 2024 Draft)

named kelowna captain. thus concludes his 24-25 season highlights :sarcasm: in fairness he actually had, what i would now like to dub, a max graham hat trick the other day: a minor, a major, and a misconduct (all on separate plays, mind you)
 
named kelowna captain. thus concludes his 24-25 season highlights :sarcasm: in fairness he actually had, what i would now like to dub, a max graham hat trick the other day: a minor, a major, and a misconduct (all on separate plays, mind you)
A 20 year old Max Graham playing junior's hockey just ain't right, but him being captain is pretty cool.

Let's see what kind of numbers he puts up. Really don't think a lot of fights needs to be part of the mix. But if he can build upon the solid goal scoring from last year that would be cool.

Wonder if he get's special teams minutes.
 
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have mercy on me i spent my friday night watching max graham play hockey
  • most of his offensive contributions centered around setting up shop right outside the crease and fighting for space. he was extremely competitive in this regard, but he struggled to make himself a consistent option. basically, he was constantly battling defenders and so infrequently actually tried pulling away/getting his stick in position for a redirect
  • when he did possess the puck in the off zone, those playmaking flashes i talked about were still very apparent. surprisingly good reads/timing to find linemates for dangerous scoring chances. confident carries, too. never stationary, always circling the zone with a lot of momentum
  • i dont know if its implicitly trying to tie him to tom wilson or what but i feel like he should be a better shooter than he is and its just not the case. struggled to get pucks through to the net, had some ill-advised decisions to curl the puck out in traffic, even in tight a lot of his chances didnt wind up being anything great because either the placement wasnt there or he couldnt get it off in time
  • i cant believe im saying this but his backchecking was actually really good. legitimately. multiple, multiple intercepts, be it from proactively taking away lanes, getting a clean stick check in, or just huffing it back and creating pressure. jumped started many plays in transition with a mix of carries and quick passes
  • the hits he was finishing man...they looked like they hurt. he was coming in with some heat tonight
  • impact was felt specifically in puck battles. wasnt always coming away with it (more often than not he did), but his stick caused havoc and he was making defenders pay the price for being involved
  • as is the trend, he was really good at being disruptive off the puck. lifting sticks to clear lanes, using his body to get defenders off balance as hes crashing in on the forecheck, etc.
i need to contextualize some things
--hes a 6'3" 209lb captain playing his 4th season in the whl. regardless of how much weve roasted the pick, hes supposed to be halfway decent lol
--he plays 1LW with tij iginla (who im sure you all remember me hyping up this past draft) and andrew cristall who, while having some warts to his projection, is a tremendous playmaker. by design, graham is letting them do a lot of the work offensively

he...kinda can hang with talent. the big thing is gonna be getting him to figure out how to be an active threat in front and not just a nuisance to defenders, but he keeps up, moves pucks well, and creates space. the off puck contributions are quite good. the picks still hard to like given the options we passed on, but i appreciate the fact that it didnt already blow up by now lol
 
have mercy on me i spent my friday night watching max graham play hockey
  • most of his offensive contributions centered around setting up shop right outside the crease and fighting for space. he was extremely competitive in this regard, but he struggled to make himself a consistent option. basically, he was constantly battling defenders and so infrequently actually tried pulling away/getting his stick in position for a redirect
  • when he did possess the puck in the off zone, those playmaking flashes i talked about were still very apparent. surprisingly good reads/timing to find linemates for dangerous scoring chances. confident carries, too. never stationary, always circling the zone with a lot of momentum
  • i dont know if its implicitly trying to tie him to tom wilson or what but i feel like he should be a better shooter than he is and its just not the case. struggled to get pucks through to the net, had some ill-advised decisions to curl the puck out in traffic, even in tight a lot of his chances didnt wind up being anything great because either the placement wasnt there or he couldnt get it off in time
  • i cant believe im saying this but his backchecking was actually really good. legitimately. multiple, multiple intercepts, be it from proactively taking away lanes, getting a clean stick check in, or just huffing it back and creating pressure. jumped started many plays in transition with a mix of carries and quick passes
  • the hits he was finishing man...they looked like they hurt. he was coming in with some heat tonight
  • impact was felt specifically in puck battles. wasnt always coming away with it (more often than not he did), but his stick caused havoc and he was making defenders pay the price for being involved
  • as is the trend, he was really good at being disruptive off the puck. lifting sticks to clear lanes, using his body to get defenders off balance as hes crashing in on the forecheck, etc.
i need to contextualize some things
--hes a 6'3" 209lb captain playing his 4th season in the whl. regardless of how much weve roasted the pick, hes supposed to be halfway decent lol
--he plays 1LW with tij iginla (who im sure you all remember me hyping up this past draft) and andrew cristall who, while having some warts to his projection, is a tremendous playmaker. by design, graham is letting them do a lot of the work offensively

he...kinda can hang with talent. the big thing is gonna be getting him to figure out how to be an active threat in front and not just a nuisance to defenders, but he keeps up, moves pucks well, and creates space. the off puck contributions are quite good. the picks still hard to like given the options we passed on, but i appreciate the fact that it didnt already blow up by now lol
Thanks for your work a lot!

I still would prefer to find potential Iginlas and Crystalls in later round, because mostly Grahams are free on the market, can be found in ncaa. And I'm talking about better versions.
But we should move on. He is the pick, so. Its interesting that he is on his place with better players. He is very experienced and I woukd like to see him play in harder league but may be a couple of better players woll teach him how to be ready for their fast decisions. If he wil be average with his passing it will really help him to survive. For now I will be happy if he will become more than bottom line player in ahl.
 
was looking forward to this viewing. paper thin kelowna roster with tij done for the season and all of cristall, price, stancl, etc. at wjc camp. chance to see graham without a support system around him
  • given that a lot of talent was missing, it felt like he wasnt exactly in the always-defer-to-linemates frame of mind. some longer possessions, got a little fancy trying things on the puck, played up more/not quite the same intensity on the backcheck (although he was still good at disrupting opposing passing lanes). that type of stuff. close enough to his core game but with a little more flair
  • that said, the forechecking game was still great (and heavy). lotta jump to his step. i know i complained about some cute plays with the puck but his passing game was largely fine (reads/ideas, whip, getting pucks from the boards to the middle, etc.). im always taken back that a player of his profile isnt a total black hole with it lol
  • i liked him individually jumpstarting things off the rush more. if he got a touch in, he wasnt just grabbing the puck to spot a linemate in transition, hed take it in stride and continue to back defenders up. really was able to go full speed since he was leading some of these attacks himself and boy was he fast
  • also seemed to be shooting more. wasnt just crashing the net for tips, saw him open up in the slot for some wristers and even tee up a couple one timers from range. nothing tremendously threatening but good attempts
  • otherworldly effort on his goal. poked a puck free, had some crazy handles through multiple stickchecks/intense physical contact, and roofed it far side on the backhand. yes, this guy. linked a clip at the bottom since neither KEL nor the whl account are posting it (do the people not wanna see max graham... :sarcasm:)
  • called for a hit to the head mid 3rd in a tied game (and his arm did get up). immediately scrummed it up with a guy to land an unsportsmanlike conduct as well. KEL didnt give up a goal on the pp but it kinda derailed things w TC scoring 3 straight in quick succession right after. didnt see him get shifted for a while after either. gotta have more respect for game scenarios, that was not the time to throw a reckless hit
 
So - do we think we might have someone who could play in the bottom 6 in the NHL?
long ways to go. difficult projection/resume to bet on, particularly at his age (even if theres something to be said about him being a bit of a late bloomer/underdog type). ahl energy guy still feels most likely

big thing for me is that there are legitimate elements to his game (explosiveness, passing ideas, aggressive forechecking, boards to middle plays, etc.) hes not quite the big lumbering physical goof we kind of expected when the pick was made
 
long ways to go. difficult projection/resume to bet on, particularly at his age (even if theres something to be said about him being a bit of a late bloomer/underdog type). ahl energy guy still feels most likely

big thing for me is that there are legitimate elements to his game (explosiveness, passing ideas, aggressive forechecking, boards to middle plays, etc.) hes not quite the big lumbering physical goof we kind of expected when the pick was made
Start him out in Utica and see what he does with it.
 
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and thatll do it for his season. wouldve liked to see more games from him post-selloff but alas. next stop will be utica. might do a bigger rundown of our 2024 class at the end of the season but for a pick a lot of us straight up despised, i wouldnt say i hated my viewings, its just very hard to expect that much of a player out of him
 
Comets have needed centers since the Devils affiliation began 4 seasons ago. That issue has only worsened every season since. No NJ Devils center draft selections during that stint.

I only figures that when they might finally get one, he is first off an overage Jr. and secondly, that overage season is ended by a serious season ending knee injury requiring major surgery.

Any centers drafted this off season will likely be too young to play here for at least 2 seasons depending upon where they are drafted from.

Europeans and Americans not playing in Canadian Jrs. aren't restricted by age as to when they can turn pro. Most Europeans stay home and play in their organizations instead of coming here early.

Really goood Americans usually declare to a top hockey D-1 NCAA Universitry for ast least 2 seasons and if dratfed at 16/17 that may end up being 3 or 4 seasons.

Fitz's inexplicable failure to sign any centers in that time period when it was evident his own team would be in serious trouble if they lost one of their centers let alone two since there were none available to call up. Now he is short Not 1, Not 2, but 3!!!!!!!!!!!! centers and he already has mostly had the only quality center on the Comets roster since 10/28. There are no more in Utica!

He can only acquire any other centers through the waiver wire or trades. If he does nothing until the trade deadline arrives, and the Devils can't hold onto their playoff spot until then, Fitz will be called on the carpet.

His #1 goalie out for at least 4 weeks doesn't help the cause either.

This is, as most are well aware, a very critical time span the Devils must weather.
 

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