Post your 2023 Draft List
- Thread starter GermanSpitfire
- Start date
Just easily for me to lump together that way. Been a little lazy in my research over last couple of months.
Better numbers vs better competition...yeah, I think Perreault over Cristall. But I could see other way too. Both look good.
95snipes
Registered User
- Dec 11, 2019
- 1,110
- 1,449
I guess now is a good time to provide an update. CHL regular season is over and NCAA is all but over.
Still lots of hockey left that I have earmarked to watch. A bunch of MHL games, I have barely seen the Russian prospects play. Will be a focus from now until the draft. Because of this, Michkov is my only Russian I have ranked as I have seen him play enough.
CHL playoffs will also be a focus and of course the Under 18. World Championships with a focus on Reinbacher. And then some tape on the NTDP I want to watch even though I feel pretty good about my conviction on those players. I hope they don't remove any of the streams on the ntdp website from now until the draft.
So still a lot of room for change, but this is where I'm currently at. Will have a top 64 and write ups come June.
Still lots of hockey left that I have earmarked to watch. A bunch of MHL games, I have barely seen the Russian prospects play. Will be a focus from now until the draft. Because of this, Michkov is my only Russian I have ranked as I have seen him play enough.
CHL playoffs will also be a focus and of course the Under 18. World Championships with a focus on Reinbacher. And then some tape on the NTDP I want to watch even though I feel pretty good about my conviction on those players. I hope they don't remove any of the streams on the ntdp website from now until the draft.
So still a lot of room for change, but this is where I'm currently at. Will have a top 64 and write ups come June.
1 | Connor | Bedard |
2 | Adam | Fantilli |
3 | Matti | Michkov |
4 | Will | Smith |
5 | Leo | Carlsson |
6 | Zach | Benson |
7 | Eduard | Sale |
8 | Dalibor | Dvorsky |
9 | Gabriel | Perreault |
10 | Ryan | Leonard |
11 | Colby | Barlow |
12 | Samuel | Honzek |
13 | David | Reinbacher |
14 | Tom | Willander |
15 | Brayden | Yager |
16 | Nate | Danielson |
17 | Andrew | Cristall |
18 | Calum | Ritchie |
19 | Quinton | Musty |
20 | Ettiene | Morin |
21 | Nick | Lardis |
22 | Axel | Sandin Pellikka |
23 | Oliver | Moore |
24 | Matthew | Wood |
25 | Lukas | Dragicevic |
26 | Jesse | Kiiskinen |
27 | Gavin | Brindley |
28 | Koehnn | Ziemmer |
29 | Otto | Stenberg |
30 | Carson | Bjarnason |
31 | Kasper | Halttunen |
32 | Ethan | Gauthier |
It's not a surprise though as scouts and NHL professional often have it wrong, although some of the misses is due to injuries and development issues, ie being rushed or blocked.
I also have Lardis in that range. If he has a great tournament he can go as high as 15 IMO
KingKhron
Registered User
- Sep 8, 2008
- 3,341
- 1,744
Sorry, I’m probably being a dick here but why the spoiler alert? Are people worried about knowing too much about a prospect?
Mrb1p
PRICERSTOPDAPUCK
I have him inside my top 20 now. Kid is electric. One of the best shot in the draft.
It's just to make the list more compact, so you don't have to scroll past the epic of gilgamesh.
MichaelFarrell
Registered User
I utilized the spoiler alert function to make the post less “busy”. It’s a little easier to read whenever there isn’t an overwhelming amount of text littering the post.
CutOnDime97
Too Showman
- Mar 29, 2008
- 15,819
- 9,980
2023 NHL Draft - March Rankings - Elite Prospects
User submitted ranking at Eliteprospects.com - 2023 NHL Draft - March Rankings
www.eliteprospects.com
Goldenhands
Slaf_The_Great
- Aug 21, 2016
- 10,236
- 13,505
Skating is junior level average at best, motor very very low, slacks of the backcheck, soft on pucks, doesnt hustle or forecheck either, poor defensive work, no physical involvement or puck protection skills. Kid is physically pretty weak at this point, not sure how you can describe him as having good size, he is barely 6 ft. tall, weighting about 170 lbs and plays like he was 5'7. I mean, kids like Benson, Brindley, Moore are smaller and all play much bigger. Smith has 0 grit to his game and is really soft out there, will need to hit the gym big time and make serious adjustments to his game cause he will hit a wall at higher levels. I have him mid first since talent alone cant lead you very far these days, you need to be competent on 200 ft. when you reach the pro level, especially the NHL one. I also think he is closer to Perreault than 5th OV.
On the positive side, he has great vision, creativity to his game, great hands and playmaking.
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shotvalley
Registered User
- Jan 18, 2010
- 391
- 156
That's called paying the "Canada Premium" and if your team's front office drafts that way, you may have a bad time.
Example: the above comedy of having Benson ranked higher than Carlsson.
CutOnDime97
Too Showman
- Mar 29, 2008
- 15,819
- 9,980
Plz link your top 32
Which Euros am I missing? My Canadian bias also has Michkov #2 over Fantilli, Dvorsky #9, Gulyayev #12, Mølgaard #19, Kantserov #21.
There are just a lot of good Canadians this year my guy.
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Castle8130
Registered User
- May 9, 2017
- 3,015
- 2,524
I find it quite hilarious to insult someone for having player x over player y on such a subjective science. Draft rankings are never correct. The goal of draft rankings is to have less inaccuracies than others
MichaelFarrell
Registered User
Mid first is just too low for a player with as much talent as Smtih. He has legit game breaking ability and his offensive numbers don’t lie and I think this is a pretty bad take.
Who do you have ahead of Smith where he is in the mid first? Colby Barlow? Because Barlow throws a hit sometimes? Will Smith is an extremely talented hockey player who can legitimately drive offense. While I agree that his motor is lacking, he is not slow by any means. Regardless, Smith is easily a top 10 pick.
Castle8130
Registered User
- May 9, 2017
- 3,015
- 2,524
I finally have adjusted my list after several tough decisions I had to make. Still a lot of players I haven't looked at so its still a work in progress. Below is the order;
1. Connor Bedard
2. Matvei Michkov
3. Adam Fantilli
4. Leo Carlsson
5. David Reinbacher
6. Zach Benson
7. Colby Barlow
8. Daniil But
9. Dalibor Dvorsky
10. Nate Danielson
11. Will Smith
12. Nick Lardis
13. Mikhail Gulygayayev
14. Ryan Leonard
15. Axel Sandin Pelikka
16. Oliver Moore
17. Eduard Sale
18. Brayden Yager
19. Gavin Brindley
20. Gabe Perrault
21. Dmitri Simashev
22. Samuel Honzek
23. Matthew Wood
24. Andrew Cristall
25. Bradly Nadeau
26. Quentin Musty
27. Riley Heidt
28. Calum Ritchie
29. William Whitelaw
30. Gracyn Sawchyn
31. Theo Lindstein
32. Oscar Fisker Molgaard
1. Connor Bedard
2. Matvei Michkov
3. Adam Fantilli
4. Leo Carlsson
5. David Reinbacher
6. Zach Benson
7. Colby Barlow
8. Daniil But
9. Dalibor Dvorsky
10. Nate Danielson
11. Will Smith
12. Nick Lardis
13. Mikhail Gulygayayev
14. Ryan Leonard
15. Axel Sandin Pelikka
16. Oliver Moore
17. Eduard Sale
18. Brayden Yager
19. Gavin Brindley
20. Gabe Perrault
21. Dmitri Simashev
22. Samuel Honzek
23. Matthew Wood
24. Andrew Cristall
25. Bradly Nadeau
26. Quentin Musty
27. Riley Heidt
28. Calum Ritchie
29. William Whitelaw
30. Gracyn Sawchyn
31. Theo Lindstein
32. Oscar Fisker Molgaard
Goldenhands
Slaf_The_Great
- Aug 21, 2016
- 10,236
- 13,505
Only on team USA, I have Ryan Leonard and Oliver Moore over him, both have translatable tools while Smith will require years of development, strengthening and polishment, the bust factor is much higher with Smith and Perreault.
Moore will bring you 60-70 pts per year being a motor on his line, bringing pace, skating, hard work and 200 ft commitment, weither thats down the middle or on the wing. He is a swiss knife you can use in all situations.
Leonard is a small powerfoward with great hands, high end shooting and goalscoring abilities, possibly a future 35-40 goal scorer in his prime, someone who competes hard on both sides of the puck in the same mold as Moore.
I ended up ranking Wright 10th OV last year for basically the same reasons Im dropping Smith.
Take a look at this, alot of cheating, passivity and low effort level, this is not what Im personally looking for in a top 10 pick.
His game without the puck is a joke, take a closer look at the 8:30 min mark where he just let his man go without giving a single effort, I mean, even pro level women hockey players have more grit to their game.
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A year from now when Will Smith has shredded college hockey while adding a good amount of muscle and smoothing out his weaknesses a bit in a far more structured type of hockey, people can pretend to be surprised. We can call it "pulling a Cooley"
I think Smith might do that to us, that's why I haven't dropped him down to 12-20.
But that's not how it went for Cooley. Cooley always had high motor and great skating, and his defensive involvement was never that bad and isn't much improved now.
You're right that people did question Cooley for unstructured play but some correctly interpreted that as Cooley experimenting and pushing the boundaries of his game. With Smith "just standing around" it's a different problem.
One suggestion is that as Smith improves the efficiency of his stride and improves his conditioning, he'll have more energy to play a complete game. I wonder if there's room left for improvement there. NTDP kids are usually in great shape.
Goldenhands
Slaf_The_Great
- Aug 21, 2016
- 10,236
- 13,505
Agree that adding a good amount of strength might correct some of his flaws at some extend, but how much strength/power can he add to his frame from now and would it fix the little interest he seems to have on the defensive side of the game? I highly doubt his motor or 200 ft. game will ever be very good, but if he can improve it to be just "ok" and trustable, its probably enough to have a nice NHL carreer with the skills level he has. At the end, he remains a 3-4 yrs project for me with some red flags and a higher bust potential than some others. It would be pretty hard to justify passing on a center like Dvorsky in favour of Smith at that point IMO.
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austin63867
Registered User
- Nov 13, 2018
- 513
- 605
rt
Clean Hits on Substack
As a Yotes fan, I’lI toss out a top 12 in honor of tonight being Ottawa’s last chance to screw up my hopes of keeping that pick, and forcing me to post a top 13. 
(as long as they don’t win the lottery I’m a happy guy).
1. Bedard
2. Fantilli
3. Benson
4. Carlsson
5. Michkov
6. Smith
7. Reinbacher
8. Danielson
9. Barlow
10. Honzek
11. Yager
12. Moore
(as long as they don’t win the lottery I’m a happy guy). 1. Bedard
2. Fantilli
3. Benson
4. Carlsson
5. Michkov
6. Smith
7. Reinbacher
8. Danielson
9. Barlow
10. Honzek
11. Yager
12. Moore
ottawa
Avatar of the Year*
As a Yotes fan, I’lI toss out a top 12 in honor of tonight being Ottawa’s last chance to screw up my hopes of keeping that pick, and forcing me to post a top 13.
1. Bedard
2. Fantilli
3. Benson
4. Carlsson
5. Michkov
6. Smith
7. Reinbacher
8. Danielson
9. Barlow
10. Honzek
11. Yager
12. Moore
Is Michkov 5 because he's 3 years away or other reasons?
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