Silayev, Lindstrom, Catton, Iginla, Parekh, Eiserman

[Kents polished head]

Sennecke did it from January on and throughout the playoffs and as we discussed a thousand times, has a valid, physiological reason as to why it took time for his game to take off.

Yeah, how could I forget about muh growth spurt.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

All those guys - minus Lindstrom to an extent - have something in common though. They showed they were leaps and bounds better than their pears for an extended period of time. And in Lindstrom case, it was in spectacular fashion, playing a meat-and-potato kind of game, scoring 27 goals in 32 games in the process.

So this is not about projecting they can do it. They actually proved they can do it better than their pears at this point in time. Unlike the shiny new toy of this forum.

To suggest every prospect carries the same level of risk is just simplistic. Anybody with their eyes open can see Sennecke is an extremely odd looking player.

Saying he’s more unproven is a fair objection. However you can’t ignore the flipside to that coin. It’s very clear that his numbers improved in the second half and his growth spurt has a lot to do with it.

Even if there is risk associated with a lack of pedigree, teams would be shortsighted if they didn’t also look at the upside here.

Dude is big, strong, skilled. And his spurt has rocketed him up the rankings. Deservedly so. I have no issue with someone being leery of taking him but you have to acknowledge that the upside is huge. And sometimes the upside outweighs the risks.

 

[Kents polished head]

Saying he’s more unproven is a fair objection. However you can’t ignore the flipside to that coin. It’s very clear that his numbers improved in the second half and his growth spurt has a lot to do with it.

Even if there is risk associated with a lack of pedigree, teams would be shortsighted if they didn’t also look at the upside here.

Dude is big, strong, skilled. And his spurt has rocketed him up the rankings. Deservedly so. I have no issue with someone being leery of taking him but you have to acknowledge that the upside is huge. And sometimes the upside outweighs the risks.

That's the thing.

Dude is skilled, yup, absolutely. No questions there.
Dude is big, yeah. But he's not playing like a big guy.
Dude is strong, yeah might well be. But he's definitely falling on his ass a ton in the corners for a guy who's supposed to be strong.

I'm of the opinion that a high pick should be based on both risk and reward. Especially if you're looking to replenish a rather lackluster group of forward prospects.

We'll see what happens though. At this point nothing would surprise me. I just think the growth spurt excuse is being used like a bingo "FREE" case to excuse all kinds of very valid concerns on this guy.

If you pick this guy and he actually busts, this is a decision that might cost you your job. Because the bust factor is REALLY present given how awkward he looks on the ice.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

That's the thing.

Dude is skilled, yup, absolutely. No questions there.
Dude is big, yeah. But he's not playing like a big guy.
Dude is strong, yeah might well be. But he's definitely falling on his ass a ton in the corners for a guy who's supposed to be strong.

I'm of the opinion that a high pick should be based on both risk and reward. Especially if you're looking to replenish a rather lackluster group of forward prospects.

We'll see what happens though. At this point nothing would surprise me. I just think the growth spurt excuse is being used like a bingo "FREE" case to excuse all kinds of very valid concerns on this guy.

If you pick this guy and he actually busts, this is a decision that might cost you your job. Because the bust factor is REALLY present given how awkward he looks on the ice.

I think they know what they’re doing. I was massively disappointed with Slaf. Felt about him like you do about this guy… and he’s been terrific.

I’m fine with Amy of those forwards. If they draft Sennecke it’s because they think the upside outweighs the risk and that’s fine.

Once again, I’m still hoping we take Eiserman (a true book or bust pick) with a trade up pick.

 

[Habs]

I think they know what they’re doing. I was massively disappointed with Slaf. Felt about him like you do about this guy… and he’s been terrific.

I’m fine with Amy of those forwards. If they draft Sennecke it’s because they think the upside outweighs the risk and that’s fine.

Once again, I’m still hoping we take Eiserman (a true book or bust pick) with a trade up pick.

Would not be upset with that or if Sennecke was there.

 

[Paddyjack]

Maybe some were, but Zadina was the clear cut BPA according to this board. Tkachuk was the preferred choice of only a very few posters on here.

2018 HF Team Boards Mock Draft -- Pick #3

Every year there's a mock draft done by the team boards of HF -- here are the results of 2015, 2016, and 2017. Rules are easy: just pick the player you want your team to draft based on who is still available; "trade the pick" is not an option ;) 2018 Mock Draft 1 BUF --- D Rasmus Dahlin 117/126...

forums.hfboards.com

Funny to see that KK was not even in that list of choices ;p

 

[bcv]

Funny to see that KK was not even in that list of choices ;p

Yes he was, he received the same amount of vote as Tkachuk: 1.

 

[donghabs98]

Seeing how things unfolded with Matvei Michkov and Rutger McGroarty, the stigma around Russian players should be gone by now, just draft based on the player rather than circumstance. Id say College players have more risk of them not playing for their team compared to Russian players coming over considering the high profile players who have refused to sign with their teams.

 

[Tyson]

Seeing how things unfolded with Matvei Michkov and Rutger McGroarty, the stigma around Russian players should be gone by now, just draft based on the player rather than circumstance. Id say College players have more risk of them not playing for their team compared to Russian players coming over considering the high profile players who have refused to sign with their teams.

% there are risks with drafting NCAA bound kids

 

[Captain Mountain]

Seeing how things unfolded with Matvei Michkov and Rutger McGroarty, the stigma around Russian players should be gone by now, just draft based on the player rather than circumstance. Id say College players have more risk of them not playing for their team compared to Russian players coming over considering the high profile players who have refused to sign with their teams.

I doubt it changes a ton, the Russian player stigma is almost entirely macro, not micro. Both in terms of not getting as many viewings of players and not knowing how easy it will be to get players across the border.

 

[Paddyjack]

Yes he was, he received the same amount of vote as Tkachuk: 1.

Oh that's right, sorry my bad

 

[Sorinth]

Seeing how things unfolded with Matvei Michkov and Rutger McGroarty, the stigma around Russian players should be gone by now, just draft based on the player rather than circumstance. Id say College players have more risk of them not playing for their team compared to Russian players coming over considering the high profile players who have refused to sign with their teams.

The Russian factor is less about whether they will come over and more about it being harder to evaluate them without live viewings or tournaments along with a generally poor development focus by KHL teams.

 

[BJCOLLINS]

So if teams believe Dickenson projects to be a better player than fellow Knight Bouchard 2018 #10 OA it’ll be hard for him to get out of the top 5

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

The Russian factor is less about whether they will come over and more about it being harder to evaluate them without live viewings or tournaments along with a generally poor development focus by KHL teams.

By chance we have Bobrov and his father, that means a network of people there to evaluate. Btw some folks here still cpmplain we didn't take Michkov and they dont have the infos Bobrov and Co have in hands. That being said, I feel much more confident with the talent of Demidov vs Michkov. A more complete player, a bigger player and no negative reports about his character.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Seeing how things unfolded with Matvei Michkov and Rutger McGroarty, the stigma around Russian players should be gone by now, just draft based on the player rather than circumstance. Id say College players have more risk of them not playing for their team compared to Russian players coming over considering the high profile players who have refused to sign with their teams.

The thing about Michkov is that no one was able to go watch him live. So they couldn't fully assess him.

With Demidov, the Habs were able to go to Russia to watch live games. So they could evaluate how he is away from the puck and on the bench.

Also, the Habs are good with their NCAA prospects. It's happened time and time again we thought one or two wouldn't sign with them and they all ended up signing. In McGroarty's case, the reports said that he saw how the team handled Heinola and Perfetti and he's not keen on going through that.

 

[admiralcadillac]

That is how it works.. he's average sized.. he's not gonna be big.. and his skating is average. His shooting is average.

He's going to need to be insanely smart at the NHL level to be effective. He doesn't have the speed to defend the faster forwards or the size to defend the bigger forwards.

If anything (and certainly everything) you were saying were true he wouldn’t be in contention for a top 10 pick though. I will admit to not having seen him play beyond videos.

 

[donghabs98]

The thing about Michkov is that no one was able to go watch him live. So they couldn't fully assess him.

With Demidov, the Habs were able to go to Russia to watch live games. So they could evaluate how he is away from the puck and on the bench.

Also, the Habs are good with their NCAA prospects. It's happened time and time again we thought one or two wouldn't sign with them and they all ended up signing. In McGroarty's case, the reports said that he saw how the team handled Heinola and Perfetti and he's not keen on going through that.

I agree, we have a good track record with our NCAA prospects (having Hughes here too should keep us well connected to that world). If I'm a smaller market like Calgary or Winnipeg, I'd be a little more hesitant or at least invest more on ensuring the prospect wants to sign there.

 

[salbutera]

Seeing how things unfolded with Matvei Michkov and Rutger McGroarty, the stigma around Russian players should be gone by now, just draft based on the player rather than circumstance. Id say College players have more risk of them not playing for their team compared to Russian players coming over considering the high profile players who have refused to sign with their teams.

The “Russian stigma” is an easy way for orgs to not draft / publicly diss a prospect …

 

[WeThreeKings]

If anything (and certainly everything) you were saying were true he wouldn’t be in contention for a top 10 pick though. I will admit to not having seen him play beyond videos.

Because the production is there and he is a very smart player, the question is how those smarts scale up when the smartest hockey players in the world play. Some feel comfortable with that bet, but it's certainly not a bet I feel like we should make considering we already have Hutson in system and they have similar profiles to which if Hutson doesn't succeed, the odds off Buium succeeding are still higher because he is bigger than Lane but he won't be a 1D.

The thing about Michkov is that no one was able to go watch him live. So they couldn't fully assess him.

With Demidov, the Habs were able to go to Russia to watch live games. So they could evaluate how he is away from the puck and on the bench.

Also, the Habs are good with their NCAA prospects. It's happened time and time again we thought one or two wouldn't sign with them and they all ended up signing. In McGroarty's case, the reports said that he saw how the team handled Heinola and Perfetti and he's not keen on going through that.

The thing about Michkov is that he was loaned to Sochi 2 years in a row and with 2 more years of control they chose to let him go to Philly.. and the negotiations with Philly is that if he doesn't make their team, he goes back to the KHL, but to be loaned out to ANOTHER TEAM.

They don't want anything to do with Michkov playing for their team.

 

[BJCOLLINS]

The “Russian stigma” is a easy way for orgs to not draft / publicly diss a prospect …

I have a hard time believing that any team would pass on a player simply based on nationality? Attitude, skill set, IQ sure but nationality no. If another Ovi is out there you can’t believe an org is going to pass. Hell we’ve picked a player who had a criminal record & asked us not to pick him? NHL teams are thorough when assessing these kids, the days of blind ignorance (I hope) are gone!
Cheers

 

[BaseballCoach]

Position of need, longer runway for Iginla and Sennecke, and Buium's downside is glaring and Dickinson (who seems amazing to me) seems like he's dropped in consideration from must-draft to one-of-many. Seems pretty easy to figure this one out actually.

Scouts are major size-queens, they're not going to love LD Buium when we already have a ton of LDs and glaring holes elsewhere.

I've seen impressive highlights, a bigger Hutson at times. My concern with Buium is how many of his points came because he was on a stacked team offensively?

 

[WeThreeKings]

I've seen impressive highlights, a bigger Hutson at times. My concern with Buium is how many of his points came because he was on a stacked team offensively?

More than people want to admit. Denver always has big numbers.

 

[1909]

If they pick a forward at #5, I would like Habs to select a d-man at #26: EJ Emery, a big, very good skating RD.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

The “Russian stigma” is a easy way for orgs to not draft / publicly diss a prospect …

Why they would do that? Hockey is a business, politics are not invloved.
Or maybe it's the KHL and the way they operate.

 

[ReHabs]

I've seen impressive highlights, a bigger Hutson at times. My concern with Buium is how many of his points came because he was on a stacked team offensively?

As good as he could be, there are too many factors against him to take him at 5