GDT: NHL Draft Combine: June 4-10, Buffalo

[rabbit4949]

I'm amazed you can guarantee me the next Lafleur AND inexplicably somehow be upset at the notion of getting another Suzuki like he's a joke or something all in the same sentence lol

Man, It's not about 'agreeing with the decision' , it's simply about being able to come to terms with and accepting an inevitable outcome even if you're not happy about it, or you'll just end up being absolutely miserable and upset over it, And I just don't do that anymore bud lol
Do I want Michkov? of course I do man, like come on
But, Is them not picking him and indictment on our new managements regime and way of thinking and possibly their overall intelligence as management and human beings?? No, they're good dude, they are, they are actually good at their jobs these guys.
How can I possibly blame them, when, even YOU who says he should go 2nd overall and so by definition, a whole BUNCH of teams, are not taking a risk, with one of the most unusual and absolutely crazy set of circumstances for a player that we've quite possibly never seen before, i mean a number of things hang in the balance with this player and this pick, and evidently a whooole bunch of people are scared of the situation, including us unfortunately, and it sucks yeah, what can I tell you right? It's a major bummer.

And I just can't kill "our" guys for listening to their scaredy cat owner boss who told them, "uhh yeah listen that kid with all the stuff hanging over him, yeah we're not going there sorry, but keep up the good work guys get me a winner, now watch this drive"

Because im sure more than one said the same thing to their guys
I know some people already hate HuGo amazingly, but them not picking this kid is not going to ruin what we're actually building here and growing really well already, people are losing sight of that because of this particularly important draft, but man, whoever we get, is going to be a big part of this Machine that's already well under construction right now
And I'm excited to be quite honest, you should be too

You know that there is no room on this board for these kinds of posts. Way too much insight and common sense.

 

[Goldenhands]

He had Slafkovsky first last year too. Cutter Gauthier 2nd, which honestly is looking better every day. Cooley third.

Michkov's skill and hockey IQ definitely are amazing.



He had Slafkovsky 1st and Geekie 5th in his final draft board.

Slaf, Gauthier, Cooley, Nemec, Geekie was his top 5.

Yep he ended up ranking Slaf 1st, but it took him a while to get there, was late to the party. Gauthier 2nd is a nice call, I ended up ranking him too low personally, his foot work was a work in progress and he didnt have a great U18. He would crack my top 5 and Snuggerud my top 10.

 

[BenchBrawl]

He had Slafkovsky first last year too. Cutter Gauthier 2nd, which honestly is looking better every day. Cooley third.

Michkov's skill and hockey IQ definitely are amazing.



He had Slafkovsky 1st and Geekie 5th in his final draft board.

Slaf, Gauthier, Cooley, Nemec, Geekie was his top 5.

Where can we find his lists?

 

[SlafySZN]

Where can we find his lists?

Don’t think he really post his lists anywhere, he talks about them on different podcast he goes on every year.

This was his list a month ago the day of the lottery

 

[WeThreeKings]

Habs fans:

Habs should take Zadina at 3, he's BPA, highest upside and will score ppg.

*4 years later*

Buhhhh massive mistake to pass on Brady Tkachuk, we needed him!!!

Now:
Habs should take X player he's a superstar. Ryan Leonard sucks!!!!

 

[BehindTheTimes]

AI will replace scouts in a few years anyway, analyzing games, stats and such… At least the « art form » of scouting player will change completely.

Not in our lifetime.

 

[BergevinBurner]

Habs fans:

Habs should take Zadina at 3, he's BPA, highest upside and will score ppg.

*4 years later*

Buhhhh massive mistake to pass on Brady Tkachuk, we needed him!!!

Now:
Habs should take X player he's a superstar. Ryan Leonard sucks!!!!

Michkov is 10x the prospect than Zadina ever was.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

I think we can remove Dvorsky from the convo at this point. There hasn’t been a single insider that has mentioned his name as part of the discussion recently. It really sounds like a two horse race between Rienbacher/Leonard unless one of the top 4 falls (it’s basically confirmed we aren’t touching Michkov)

No it's not. It's rumors and rumblings in a time where you can't trust any reports because 80% of the league wants to see Michkov drop to them.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

He's got some Andrei Markov authentic humor in him. I like.

 

[salbutera]

I still think Michkov's lack of size may be part of the issue.

if he were 6'0 or 6'2, would HuGo still pass on him?

I think it’s a combination of factors: avg foot speed + not a big boy like Ovy + zero defensive awareness (reportedly) + all encompassing Russian & Ukraine war factor + perhaps the biggest contributor … scouts not seeing him especially vs his draft peers this past season

Ovy had very poor defensive awareness (and even 19-years post draft remains very mediocre), but talent + size + compete level + speed blew all other factors out of the water.

Seemingly Michkov doesn’t have multiple positive attributes that have pushed the needle to not doubt about it top-2 pick

 

[MTL Dirty Birdy]

Super strict too! Impressive lil Bedard.


I mean people are calling Benson very small and Leonard big and there's less than a 2cm difference between them so yeah

I think the 30lbs difference between them may have something to do with it

Don't know why Leonard reminds me of Higgins.

For myself I’m seeing a bit Chris Kreider

 

[Mrb1p]

I think the 30lbs difference between them may have something to do with it


For myself I’m seeing a bit Chris Kreider

Bodyweight is nothing. High level athletes will max out their physical potential.

Leonard comes from a program that has them training like Ivan Drago 24/7 from the age of 16, they are much more likely to not develop much further physically than CHL draftees who still eat white pasta and steamed broccoli while doing very little gym work.

 

[1909]

Yeah, it's a big issue, but Kreider can be moved to RW. They should probably just trade Lafreniere if they're just going to leave him stuck behind those 2.

This year, they added Kane and Tarasenko to fill the two top
RW spots. The kids were all stucked on the 3rd line again. + a very expensive Goodrow.

 

[Tyson]

The more I read about Ryan Leonard the more I think he is probably going to be the Habs pick. Honorable mention to Dalibor Dvorsky as well.

 

[1909]

QUESTION:

IF Habs would have drafted 2nd or 3rd instead of 5th, would you still want them to take Michkov OR any of Fantilli, Carlsson or Smith ?

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

QUESTION:

IF Habs would draft 2nd, 3rd instead of 5th, would you want them to take Michkov OR any of Fantilli, Carlsson or Smith ?

Anyone but Smith.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Friedman mostly got that this was the worst combine they ever went to.

There was no one there. Boring combine.

Bedard and Leonard are ripped.

 

[MadMslm]

Friedman mostly got that this was the worst combine they ever went to.

There was no one there. Boring combine.

Bedard and Leonard are ripped.

I’ve never seen a combine with less exposure than this one.

There was like 6-7 journalists asking Hughes questions at his press conference, yet only one truly reported on those prospects.

Kind of disappointing on all fronts. Now they have two weeks to finish their ranking.

 

[danyhabsfan]

Leonard would play in the NHL maybe 2 years after his draft year.

So you're telling me we're gonna pick him over Michkov for 1 year difference. (assuming Michkov comes to NA after his 3 years contract)

 

[Redux91]

QUESTION:

IF Habs would have drafted 2nd or 3rd instead of 5th, would you still want them to take Michkov OR any of Fantilli, Carlsson or Smith ?

And that exact question, is basically the crux of this entire thing now isn't it.
If Michkov truly is the 2nd best prospect in this draft, How can we just let the teams before us 'get away' with not taking Matvei, because they can just settle for 'well, maybe this guy will be better? We hope so anyway',
While when it'll be the Habs turn, and we try to do the same thing, with a very possible chance that the guy we do pick at 5 could by chance be the 2nd best or 3rd best or 4th best player when it's 5 years later
Somehow Hughes and Gorton have now "no balls, no intelligence, afraid"
And the same goes for all the teams after us that also 'pass' on the supposed 2nd best player in the draft.
Guess everyone is just plain stupid.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

Having a hard time deciding between Leonard and Smith but I think Leonard is just a little bit ahead for me at this point. I just don't know that Smith has another gear to his skating and his defensive play makes me think he won't be trusted at center.

Therefore, after careful consideration at 5th overall I would take Matvei Michkov.

 

[bopeep]

Now that the combine is over and done with, shouldn't we be having our mock draft fairly soon? @MarkovsKnee

 

[montreal]

QUESTION:

IF Habs would have drafted 2nd or 3rd instead of 5th, would you still want them to take Michkov OR any of Fantilli, Carlsson or Smith ?

early in the year when I started seeing some USNDTP games, I said that I thought Smith would be in the conversation for 2nd OA and that there would be some NHL teams that had him ranked 2nd OA. I didn't get to see much of any of these prospects (though I have likely seen a lot more of Michkov then most on this board since he used to be teammates with Alexander Gordin who I saw more then I should have.

So despite not having the time to see these draft guys that much, I figure I will still go with my gut that says take Smith.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Friedman mostly got that this was the worst combine they ever went to.

There was no one there. Boring combine.

Bedard and Leonard are ripped.

Holding it during the finals doesnt help, obviously.

 

[Redux91]

Having a hard time deciding between Leonard and Smith but I think Leonard is just a little bit ahead for me at this point. I just don't know that Smith has another gear to his skating and his defensive play makes me think he won't be trusted at center.

I've been having a lot of "Drouin/Mackinnon" Vibes when it's coming to this Smith/Leonard conundrum..

Now, Leonard will not be Mackinnon, and Smith is not Drouin (and I happen to like Smith a lot,... but I liked Drouin in junior too..)

I could never reconcile Drouins junior production being that incredible and even above Mackinnons..
Nathan was can't miss, can't fail, just obviously the guy at 1
But Drouin's production always kept him right there in the top 5 conversation despite playing with Mack..

So you get to Smith and Leonard..
Even if Ryan won't ever Sniff Mack's level, ..they sorta play similar
Even if Smith is better than Drouin.. they sorta play similar..

Are we watching something similar unfolding here is all I'm saying

If we luck out and Leonard turns out the better NHLer, it would be a gigantic enormous W for us in this draft that most are already considering a L.