Official 2025 NHL DRAFT Thread

  • We sincerely apologize for the extended downtime. Our hosting provider, XenForo Cloud, encountered a major issue with their backup system, which unfortunately resulted in the loss of some critical data from the past year.

    What This Means for You:

    • If you created an account after March 2024, it no longer exists. You will need to sign up again to access the forum.
    • If you registered before March 2024 but changed your email, username, or password in the past year, those changes were lost. You’ll need to update your account details manually once you're logged in.
    • Threads and posts created within the last year have been restored.

    Our team is working with Xenforo Cloud to recover data using backups, sitemaps, and other available resources. We know this is frustrating, and we deeply regret the impact on our community. We are taking steps with Xenforo Cloud to ensure this never happens again. This is work in progress. Thank you for your patience and support as we work through this.

    In the meantime, feel free to join our Discord Server
Interesting info draft wise since Lombardi is one of our senior advisors.

Dean definitely has 30+ years of lessons learned. When I attended the 2011 Draft, I was seated near the Kings table. For most of the Day 2 picks, he wasn't even at the draft table and let the scouts run the show. At one point Dean was in the stands talking with an agent (presumably about Drew Doughty's next contract).

The big "lesson learned" that Kings scouts still talk about today was to avoid what happened in 2007 when they pigeonholed themselves into taking a puck moving defenseman out of need. There really wasn't a guy like that in that area of the draft but they talked themselves into Thomas Hickey. And then the following year they drafted a couple guys (Doughty/Voynov) who immediately leapfrogged Hickey.

The funny thing about the Hickey pick was that it had some origins with Lombardi's experience as San Jose's GM in 1996. San Jose had the #2 pick and Andrei Zyuzin was the consensus #2 but San Jose's staff wasn't sold on him. As a young GM, Lombardi didn't have the confidence to go against the grain and they chose Zyuzin; Lombardi would happily flip Zyuzin a few years later when he still had value. When explaining the Hickey pick to angry Kings STH in 2007, Lombardi mentioned that draft and how Calgary "reached" for Derek Morris at #13 at the same draft while San Jose played it safe with Zyuzin.

Another fun Lombardi related draft story was 1993. The Sharks owner fired their original GM Jack Ferreira after their inaugural season. Instead of appointing a replacement, he had a weird co-GM setup between Lombardi, Chuck Grillo, and head coach George Kingston. Lombardi was more focused on the pro side while Grillo was more focused on the prospects. But since neither had clear seniority over the other, personnel decisions were especially rough (until they fired Grillo in early 1996).

San Jose had the #2 pick in 1993. There wasn't a consensus among their scouts. Some liked Chris Pronger while others preferred Paul Kariya. Grillo thought Europe was undervalued (in the context of the early 90's, he wasn't necessarily wrong) and had steered the Sharks early drafts to be heavily European. Although ironically San Jose would use a late round pick to take Grillo's son. Grillo and his cadre of scouts pushed for Viktor Kozlov instead of Pronger/Kariya and they eventually got their way.

They figured they could trade down and still get Kozlov. Lombardi was tasked with that mission. Three teams were the main suitors: Rangers, Nordiques, and Whalers who all wanted Pronger. Not sure what the Rangers' offer was but their 1st rounder (#8) was too late to land Kozlov. Quebec offered #10 and Mike Ricci but similarly that pick was too late to get Kozlov. Quebec tried to get #3 from Tampa and offered to flip with San Jose but Tampa wasn't interested.

Quebec's owner tried to negotiate with San Jose's owner which angered Lombardi. And then allegedly Quebec no showed a meeting with Lombardi the night before the draft. We were only a year removed from Quebec trading Lindros twice, so they understandably didn't have the best reputation.

Eventually Lombardi settled on Hartford's offer since that was the only scenario where they were walking off with Kozlov. But on the draft floor, Quebec suddenly offered the rights to an unsigned Peter Forsberg straight up for the pick. After the draft, Lombardi fumed to the press basically saying he would have done the deal contingent on Forsberg signing. But he was pissed since Quebec waited until the last minute which gave San Jose no time to negotiate.

The problem was that CBA allowed certain unsigned European picks to sign offer sheets and Forsberg was days away from being able to do that. The previous summer, Teemu Selanne signed an offer sheet with Calgary (3 years x 400K plus a 1.5 mil signing bonus) that Winnipeg begrudgingly matched. There were rumors that a couple teams were ready to offer Forsberg a 4-5 mil signing bonus or that Forsberg's agent was eyeing the record rookie contract that Alexandre Daigle was about to get (5 years, 12.25 mil). San Jose wasn't sure they'd have the budget and then the messy thing was that a team got no compensation if they didn't match.

But kinda fun thinking about the parallel universe where there was a de facto Forsberg for Pronger trade in 1993.
 
Last edited:
All they have to do for next year is go with Ersson/Fedotov/Kolosov and it's McKenna Time!
Yup! That’s the best way to tank. If they can some how get a top 3 pick this year and next and hit then things look a lot better. Dropping in top talent to a team full of good middle sixers is what they need to do. Crazy that even with that, you are still likely going to have to add another big piece. Looking like a 1D.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Larry44
All they have to do for next year is go with Ersson/Fedotov/Kolosov and it's McKenna Time!
Don't jinx us!

The optimistic side would say MM and Brink are going to be better, if Rocky is off the PP and it becomes at least average. Not sure both Foerster and Tippet are going to regress again next year. Coots while cooked is still at least a solid 3rd/4th liner. We might improve back to 10th/11th/12th.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Larry44
Dean definitely has 30+ years of lessons learned. When I attended the 2011 Draft, I was seated near the Kings table. For most of the Day 2 picks, he wasn't even at the draft table and let the scouts run the show. At one point Dean was in the stands talking with an agent (presumably about Drew Doughty's next contract).

The big "lesson learned" that Kings scouts still talk about today was to avoid what happened in 2007 when they pigeonholed themselves into taking a puck moving defenseman out of need. There really wasn't a guy like that in that area of the draft but they talked themselves into Thomas Hickey. And then the following year they drafted a couple guys (Doughty/Voynov) who immediately leapfrogged Hickey.

The funny thing about the Hickey pick was that it had some origins with Lombardi's experience as San Jose's GM in 1996. San Jose had the #2 pick and Andrei Zyuzin was the consensus #2 but San Jose's staff wasn't sold on him. As a young GM, Lombardi didn't have the confidence to go against the grain and they chose Zyuzin; Lombardi would happily flip Zyuzin a few years later when he still had value. When explaining the Hickey pick to angry Kings STH in 2007, Lombardi mentioned that draft and how Calgary "reached" for Derek Morris at #13.

Another fun Lombardi related draft story was 1993. The Sharks owner fired their original GM Jack Ferreira after their inaugural season. Instead of appointing a replacement, he had a weird co-GM setup between Lombardi, Chuck Grillo, and head coach George Kingston. Lombardi was more focused on the pro side while Grillo was more focused on the prospects. But since neither had clear seniority over the other, personnel decisions were especially rough (until they fired Grillo in early 1996).

San Jose had the #2 pick in 1993. There wasn't a consensus among their scouts. Some liked Chris Pronger while others preferred Paul Kariya. Grillo thought Europe was undervalued (in the context of the early 90's, he wasn't necessarily wrong) and had steered the Sharks early drafts to be heavily European. Although ironically San Jose would use a late round pick to take Grillo's son. Grillo and his cadre of scouts pushed for Viktor Kozlov instead of Pronger/Kariya and they eventually got their way.

They figured they could trade down and still get Kozlov. Lombardi was tasked with that mission. Three teams were the main suitors: Rangers, Nordiques, and Whalers who all wanted Pronger. Not sure what the Rangers' offer was but their 1st rounder (#8) was too late to land Kozlov. Quebec offered #10 and Mike Ricci but similarly that pick was too late to get Kozlov. Quebec tried to get #3 from Tampa and offered to flip with San Jose but Tampa wasn't interested.

Quebec's owner tried to negotiate with San Jose's owner which angered Lombardi. And then allegedly Quebec no showed a meeting with Lombardi the night before the draft. We were only a year removed from Quebec trading Lindros twice, so they understandably didn't have the best reputation.

Eventually Lombardi settled on Hartford's offer since that was the only scenario where they were walking off with Kozlov. But on the draft floor, Quebec suddenly offered the rights to an unsigned Peter Forsberg straight up for the pick. After the draft, Lombardi fumed to the press basically saying he would have done the deal contingent on Forsberg signing. But he was pissed since Quebec waited until the last minute which gave San Jose no time to negotiate.

The problem was that CBA allowed certain unsigned European picks to sign offer sheets and Forsberg was days away from being able to do that. The previous summer, Teemu Selanne signed an offer sheet with Calgary (3 years x 400K plus a 1.5 mil signing bonus) that Winnipeg begrudgingly matched. There were rumors that a couple teams were ready to offer Forsberg a 4-5 mil signing bonus or that Forsberg's agent was eyeing the record rookie contract that Alexandre Daigle was about to get (5 years, 12.25 mil). San Jose wasn't sure they'd have the budget and then the messy thing was that a team got no compensation if they didn't match.

But kinda fun thinking about the parallel universe where there was a de facto Forsberg for Pronger trade in 1993.
What was the knock on Pronger at the time? I can’t imagine a team having a chance to get him and say no thanks.
 
I think there's a 0% chance they use all seven first/second rounders.
They have set themselves up to do some smart stuff. The issue is the people making the picks. They are one of the worst drafting teams in the NHL, constantly doing stuff against the grain to show how smart they are.

I keep running into the same thing. Can’t wait for the draft but at the same time know their drafting philosophy is so flawed that they are going to mess it up. When they admit themselves that they draft for current needs over BPA, you know we are never going to get ahead. Really is a shame
 
They have set themselves up to do some smart stuff. The issue is the people making the picks. They are one of the worst drafting teams in the NHL, constantly doing stuff against the grain to show how smart they are.

I keep running into the same thing. Can’t wait for the draft but at the same time know their drafting philosophy is so flawed that they are going to mess it up. When they admit themselves that they draft for current needs over BPA, you know we are never going to get ahead. Really is a shame
Can't even really look forward to the idea of trading any of the picks either because their pro scouting is even worse :laugh:
 

Attachments

  • Pronger.jpg
    Pronger.jpg
    50 KB · Views: 3
What was the knock on Pronger at the time? I can’t imagine a team having a chance to get him and say no thanks.

No particular knock, the Rangers/Whalers/Nordiques badly wanted him. The funny thing is that the urban legend from that draft was that Quebec offered the farm to get Alexandre Daigle but it was really Pronger who was their target since they already were stacked with young forwards.

If San Jose had a strength at the time, they did have some young defensemen and they talked themselves into Viktor Kozlov being a franchise center. In the context of 1993, Alexander Mogilny led the league with 76 goals, Pavel Bure just potted 60 goals in his second season. Sergei Fedorov was over a point per game while getting Selke votes. Apparently San Jose would have taken Alexei Yashin with #3 in 1992 but Ottawa unexpectedly took him at #2. Russians were definitely the new hotness in the early 90's, so that might've pumped up Kozlov's stock although the pre-draft reports labeled him as a bit of an enigma rather than a sure thing.

With Yashin off the board, they took Mike Rathje. They had Sandis Ozolinsh who was 20 and was fresh off a decent half-season debut in the NHL. They had a 6'5 LHD prospect named Michal Sykora who just put up 73 points in 70 WHL games.

Maybe in a world where San Jose gets Yashin in 1992, they just take Pronger in 1993?


Some fun quotes from a San Jose scout about the 1993 Draft in 2020. The Lombardi/Grillo divide is sorta alluded to.

Future Hall of Famer Kariya went fourth-overall to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The San Jose Sharks selected the 6-foot-5 Kozlov with the sixth-overall pick, Czech defenseman Vlastimil Kroupa with the 45th, and Finnish winger Ville Peltonen with the 58th.

“Like the Dallas Cowboys were America’s Team, Chuck wanted the Sharks to be known as the World’s Team,” Friedlander said. “Could you say he was wrong? We tried that way and did get a lot of good hockey players.

“Chuck knew at that time you could find players nobody else could [in Europe]. How do you think they found Nabokov? Nobody was scouting Europe [in person].”

“You get these guys in the room, all these guys that Chuck hired, they ain’t going to go against Chuck,” Friedlander said, laughing. “I hate to say it, but the loudest voices in the room don’t always win. And Timmy Burke was always the loudest voice in the room and so was Ray.”

San Jose fired Grillo in early 1996. It was probably passing on Kariya for Kozlov that did him in the moment. Kariya was in the midst of a 50 goal season for a division rival while Kozlov struggled in his first full NHL season. Pronger had been traded for Brendan Shanahan and hadn't yet turned a corner in St. Louis.
 
Last edited:
Flyers will be terrible next season too. No goalie, no top six centers, no no. 1 D. Briere should literally do nothing this offseason to maximize chances to draft McKenna. Some people, including Comcast, won’t like it, but too bad.
Trade Konecny at the draft to Buffalo for their 1st. Draft Hagens, Martone, and Ryabkin.
 
Buffalo has three meaningful young stars

It occurred to me that some people may push back on the 3 young stars thing, but I don't know if people have checked what's happening with a certain infamous draft slider from 2 years ago.

*spoiler* He's really f***ing good already at 19.
 

Attachments

  • Benson.png
    Benson.png
    123.5 KB · Views: 4
No particular knock, the Rangers/Whalers/Nordiques badly wanted him. The funny thing is that the urban legend from that draft was that Quebec offered the farm to get Alexandre Daigle but it was really Pronger who was their target since they already were stacked with young forwards.

If San Jose had a strength at the time, they did have some young defensemen and they talked themselves into Viktor Kozlov being a franchise center. In the context of 1993, Alexander Mogilny led the league with 76 goals, Pavel Bure just potted 60 goals in his second season. Sergei Fedorov was over a point per game while getting Selke votes. Apparently San Jose would have taken Alexei Yashin with #3 in 1992 but Ottawa unexpectedly took him at #2. Russians were definitely the new hotness in the early 90's, so that might've pumped up Kozlov's stock although the pre-draft reports labeled him as a bit of an enigma rather than a sure thing.

With Yashin off the board, they took Mike Rathje. They had Sandis Ozolinsh who was 20 and was fresh off a decent half-season debut in the NHL. They had a 6'5 LHD prospect named Michal Sykora who just put up 73 points in 70 WHL games.

Maybe in a world where San Jose gets Yashin in 1992, they just take Pronger in 1993?


Some fun quotes from a San Jose scout about the 1993 Draft in 2020. The Lombardi/Grillo divide is sorta alluded to.





San Jose fired Grillo in early 1996. It was probably passing on Kariya for Kozlov that did him in the moment. Kariya was in the midst of a 50 goal season for a division rival while Kozlov struggled in his first full NHL season. Pronger had been traded for Brendan Shanahan and hadn't yet turned a corner in St. Louis.

Crazy how things worked out and how much could have been drastically changed for a lot of fans.
Trade Konecny at the draft to Buffalo for their 1st. Draft Hagens, Martone, and Ryabkin.
We 100% should be targeting them. Any player that leaves there does better and they have high draft stock that they have to be lower on than any other team given their history. I actually think TK could do wonders for them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BernieParent

Ad

Ad