GDT: The 2023 NHL Entry Draft - Nashville, TN - 4:00pm (AZ) - ESPN, ESPN+

[knich]

I love these picks because BA and the scouts picked these players. Name me two teams who have better scouts. Name me two teams who have better management team. We have who's who of managers on our team. We have who's who of scouts and we have the former top scout of Cup Champs St. Louis Blues.

So..the so called pundits like Megan Chayka or anyone else you want to throw in there have crystal balls? People said the same thing when Yotes selected Blake Wheeler at 5 overall.

I trust these guys selected who they wanted at those slots and executed their plan. Who cares what we think??? And they don't care what the "pundits" think..because BA and crew are the pundits.

Can anyone really say the on ice product is going in the wrong direction and think about what players are coming. Go BA!!!

 

[Bonsai Tree]

I’m wondering if AM told the team not to talk to EDPN because they hired Meghan Chayka for their coverage?

 

[Freddy Sjostrom]

I love these picks because BA and the scouts picked these players. Name me two teams who have better scouts. Name me two teams who have better management team. We have who's who of managers on our team. We have who's who of scouts and we have the former top scout of Cup Champs St. Louis Blues.

So..the so called pundits like Megan Chayka or anyone else you want to throw in there have crystal balls? People said the same thing when Yotes selected Blake Wheeler at 5 overall.

I trust these guys selected who they wanted at those slots and executed their plan. Who cares what we think??? And they don't care what the "pundits" think..because BA and crew are the pundits.

Can anyone really say the on ice product is going in the wrong direction and think about what players are coming. Go BA!!!

What did Bill say at the top of the scout meeting? Stack one good player on another and we control that in this room. And nobody can stop us. Good or bad, his stamp is going to be on this team.

 

[Mosby]

I’m not usually in favour of drafting goalies but Gajan has good size (height at least) and our goalie pipeline is dry.

Organizational depth now:

Vejmelka
Ingram
Prosvetov — RFA, kind of sucks
Tendeck — RFA, not progressing
Thornton
Korhonen — took a step back

That’s it. That’s the whole list.

 

[knich]

I’m not usually in favour of drafting goalies but Gajan has good size (height at least) and our goalie pipeline is dry.

Organizational depth now:

Vejmelka
Ingram
Prosvetov — RFA, kind of sucks
Tendeck — RFA, not progressing
Thornton
Korhonen — took a step back

That’s it. That’s the whole list.

Goalies take so long to develop. I would rather someone else develop them and then we acquire them in enough time to put our stamp.

 

[Mosby]

I’m generally the same but it seems BA wants a young goalie in the organization.

 

[SR]

Still not overly thrilled with the picks. I think if we were going Russian anyway I would have went for michkov. I also thought Leonard was the end all be all BA guy.

Simashev, after watching videos is extremely elusive for his size. Covers massive ice in seconds and defends with the best of them, I can certainly see why he was picked, just not at 6, granted we don’t know who was rumored to take him before 12.

I would have liked to have targeted a center and Dvorsky was there.

But was high on a lot of lists a year ago (top 10) not sure why he slid, but I can understand this pick too. We are small on the wings with Keller, Maccelli, Cooley we need size down the middle and But might have been the best pick at center that has that size. He’s also not afraid to shoot the puck. Simashev, lamareuox, moser, sodersteom all home grown and not a terrible top4. Not to mention Durzi and valimaki it actually rounds out nicely. I can kind of see where we’re going here

AM sounds like he opened the wallet so maybe we fill the voids via trade or FA.

Tomorrow would be nice to come away with strbak or draga since we’re already in on D.

I’m good with it, hopefully this turns into a look at us in 4 years.

 

[Schemp]

Was really hoping Bedard would slide down to 6th.

 

[rt]

I’m not usually in favour of drafting goalies but Gajan has good size (height at least) and our goalie pipeline is dry.

Organizational depth now:

Vejmelka
Ingram
Prosvetov — RFA, kind of sucks
Tendeck — RFA, not progressing
Thornton
Korhonen — took a step back

That’s it. That’s the whole list.

Hopefully Gajan or Fowler drops to 70.

 

[Coyotedroppings]

Button's interview clearly says he believes they drafted for need. He mentions it more as how you build a team. Not BPA.

Whatever, they are now Coyotes' prospects so hope for the best for them.

BPA… that fits our needs.

 

[tucknroll]

I will give the scouts benefit of the doubt because they have earned it. But I will always compare these players value in the future to Michkov and Benson. Even if they turn out to be solid players...they need to bring more value than the two that I'm sure most would have considered BPA.

 

[Coyotedroppings]

Hey they are the guys paid to scout, draft and build this team so let's see in 4 or 5 years how they did. I think I'm thrown a bit by the fact that Keller is by far the best player on the team. He is smallish. Cooley is by far the best prospect they have. He is smallish. Even Guenther who is still the 2nd best prospect after this draft might be bigger but is far from physical and aggressive. Those are the players we are all excited about and the team is banking on.

Of course maybe I just explained why they did went the way they did this year.

Actually looking forward to how it all unfolds. I’ll be damned if I know why we always have to go outside the box though.

 

[Freddy Sjostrom]

I’m not usually in favour of drafting goalies but Gajan has good size (height at least) and our goalie pipeline is dry.

Organizational depth now:

Vejmelka
Ingram
Prosvetov — RFA, kind of sucks
Tendeck — RFA, not progressing
Thornton
Korhonen — took a step back

That’s it. That’s the whole list.

Gajan would be great, but two kids they brought into the combine in Toronto were big Italian Damian Clara and Melker Thelin from Sweden.

 

[TheLegend]

Still believe BA is looking at building his 2025-26 team at the draft. Next two seasons will come from finding a few more Bjugstads and Ghostbeheres.

As long as /we don’t add any Kassians we’ll be fine.

 

[JasonDemersWasOkay]

Everyone talking mad shit about our picks on the main boards is kinda making me defiantly in favor of them. I’m not quite there yet but I’m getting there

 

[Bonsai Tree]

So maybe those non hockey concerns about Michkov scared the scouts. It certainly wasn’t the Russia factor.

 

[TheLegend]

Everyone talking mad shit about our picks on the main boards is kinda making me defiantly in favor of them. I’m not quite there yet but I’m getting there

Oh… you mean the hive mind of NHL2K GMs over there??

 

[Mosby]

Tomorrow starts at 11 eastern as an FYI

 

[rt]

Tomorrow starts at 11 eastern as an FYI

And a whole whack of great options on the board.

 

[Freddy Sjostrom]

He wanted to be a Flyer, go figure.

 

[rt]

Everyone talking mad shit about our picks on the main boards is kinda making me defiantly in favor of them. I’m not quite there yet but I’m getting there

Yep. Those dudes have watched a ton of USHL, NCAA, MHL, KHL, Allsvenskan SHL and CHL games. So they DEFINITELY know that these were not the right picks. Not only have the watched them play a ton but they also actually know what they’re looking at when they scout. Lots of professionals out there on the main boards. Lol.

Guess how many Yaroslavl games I caught this season? Yep. Zip. Nada. Just like 98% of the people who are having those opinions out there. Lol.

 

[Prestigeworldwide]

 

[Mosby]

And a whole whack of great options on the board.

This really is the draft of the sub 6 footers.

 

[Freddy Sjostrom]

This really is the draft of the sub 6 footers.

And Bob McKenzie said teams that value size took their guys earlier and that led to some smaller players slipping outside of the consensus.

 

[Mosby]

Both are already better English speakers than Rick Tocchet.