Prospect Info: The 2024 NHL Entry Draft Thread

[Balthazar]

He'll be fine. Comparing him to players with a smaller frame is where this is odd. Weiss was 5'10" Hanson is 5'9"... Connelly is 6'1". He's going to end in the same realm as Kyle Connor.

Should the Avs draft Connelly or not?

 

[henchman21]

Should the Avs draft Connelly or not?

I'm not an authority figure or anything like it to determine that. Nor do we really have an idea how this draft will tilt. The board could fall ways where he's the very clear BPA who has risk associated with him. Or it could fall where there are players who are close to as good without the risk... or at least a different type of risk.

IMO he's a top 5 talent in this draft who will likely go somewhere between 14-40. His skill set on the ice is not perfect (I have IQ concerns as he forces things a lot), but he looks like a 1st line talent with 80-90 point potential. I see shades of Mike Modano in his game with some Kyle Connor. He skates incredibly well, has fantastic hands, great vision, and can play a very modern, against the grain attacking style where he's an equal threat shooting or passing. Celebrini is the only forward who has a clearcut better offensive game. Connelly is in that next group down where they all have some positives and negatives. Off the ice, even assuming he's a perfect citizen from this point forward (which I personally think is a stretch), he's going to be a PR mess. It will take a team that is either really skilled in that area (like the Caps), simply doesn't care (Canes), or does the ostrich (Avs).

The Avs are a team well connected to Tri City/Noreen. They're doing their homework and background extensively. If they pass on him, the most likely case is they feel the character risk is too high. An exception to that would be if somebody Jiricek fell to them where he's as talented with simply an injury concern.

I think odds are high we will never know though as I think he's going to Nashville.

 

[Balthazar]

Sounds like Connelly was asked the tough questions at the combine. Apparently Marty Lapointe looked at him and asked him straight up why he urinated on his teammate's stuff. Now I don't know if you've seen Lapointe recently but he's a pretty intimidating guy, he's like the opposite of friendly. Poor kid must have felt pretty small.

 

[dahrougem2]

Sounds like Connelly was asked the tough questions at the combine. Apparently Marty Lapointe looked at him and asked him straight up why he urinated on his teammate's stuff. Now I don't know if you've seen Lapointe recently but he's a pretty intimidating guy, he's like the opposite of friendly. Poor kid must have felt pretty small.

Lmao what the f*** is up with Montreal and hiring the most jacked, intimidating scouts?

 

[S E P H]

Oh that's the nazi prospect. I don't think the Avs would go for it. Big difference between cocaine and nazism. One's a vice and the other is hate.

Is he a Nazi at 16 years old or is he an idiot kid who doesn't know any better the horror that regime caused humanity? Not an argument from me, but a genuine question because I suspect whoever drafts him will get the media optics of the former instead of the latter, even though he might truly be the latter.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

Is he a Nazi at 16 years old or is he an idiot kid who doesn't know any better the horror that regime caused humanity? Not an argument from me, but a genuine question because I suspect whoever drafts him will get the media optics of the former instead of the latter, even though he might truly be the latter.

Maybe the Avs pulled out Axis and Allies and let him pick what team he'd like to play as during their board game-based interviews.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Oh that's the nazi prospect. I don't think the Avs would go for it. Big difference between cocaine and nazism. One's a vice and the other is hate.

I’m not here to defend his actions because well… obviously they’re problematic. But chances are he was just the thing where teenagers think doing edgy and offensive things are funny. Doesn’t make it right, deserves punishment but chances that he’s an actual full blown nazi are quite low I’d say.

 

[jabubenice]

I’m not here to defend his actions because well… obviously they’re problematic. But chances are he was just the thing where teenagers think doing edgy and offensive things are funny. Doesn’t make it right, deserves punishment but chances that he’s an actual full blown nazi are quite low I’d say.

 

[Chiarelli]

A lot of us would have trouble explaining behaviour from our youth. These dudes have a microscope on them. IMO the focus should be on the process following the event rather than the issue itself. Some things are inexcusable but these don't fit that category at least for me. I came across similar in my younger years and those people went on to become just fine members of society.

 

[Gumballhead]

A lot of us would have trouble explaining behaviour from our youth. These dudes have a microscope on them. IMO the focus should be on the process following the event rather than the issue itself. Some things are inexcusable but these don't fit that category at least for me. I came across similar in my younger years and those people went on to become just fine members of society.

I went to school with a kid who is in the yearbook wearing a KKK getup on his candid for his senior picture page, and I think he inherited his family's business and did just fine in the way a lot of rich kids do, but when I found him on Facebook in the mid 2000s he still kind of seemed like that guy. An Albertan!!

 

[Vaslof]

People can grow up and change with time. Emphasis on time. The nazi stuff was recent.

 

[Balthazar]

People can grow up and change with time. Emphasis on time. The nazi stuff was recent.

I don't know about you but I did dumb stuff at 15-16 that I wouldn't have done at 18.

15-16 is probably the worst age to do all kind of shit that you'll later regret.

 

[henchman21]

People can grow up and change with time. Emphasis on time. The nazi stuff was recent.

Recent can mean many things. It can mean two weeks ago, in hockey terms it can mean the whole cap era. We should probably be clear when speaking about these things, the swastika incident happened in 2022 when he was 16. The pissing in a teammates' bag happened when he was 14. The shitting in a bag has never been confirmed, and likely a myth on the internet. The racial slur suspension happened in 2021 (the suspension was rescinded with no proof of it happening, but very clearly something was said and it wasn't good). All of that could be considered recent by different definitions.

There are many kids that do shitty things when they are young. Some stay shitty. Some grow out of it.

If the Avs do draft Connelly, there will be a lot of chatter and frankly I think there should be as it is an important topic. Until that happens though... maybe we keep it to a minimum? Recognize the risk and optics, but don't fill tons and tons of pages?

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I wouldn’t touch Connelly. Too many red flags. With issues like this, I always come back to the parents, and from what I’ve heard, the parents aren’t better. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

 

[Ceremony]

If the Avs do draft Connelly, there will be a lot of chatter and frankly I think there should be as it is an important topic. Until that happens though... maybe we keep it to a minimum? Recognize the risk and optics, but don't fill tons and tons of pages?

I can't believe you're advocating we should draft a nazi bag pisser and I'm going to post several times telling you this, even if we don't draft him.

 

[Vaslof]

Recent can mean many things. It can mean two weeks ago, in hockey terms it can mean the whole cap era. We should probably be clear when speaking about these things, the swastika incident happened in 2022 when he was 16. The pissing in a teammates' bag happened when he was 14. The shitting in a bag has never been confirmed, and likely a myth on the internet. The racial slur suspension happened in 2021 (the suspension was rescinded with no proof of it happening, but very clearly something was said and it wasn't good). All of that could be considered recent by different definitions.

There are many kids that do shitty things when they are young. Some stay shitty. Some grow out of it.

If the Avs do draft Connelly, there will be a lot of chatter and frankly I think there should be as it is an important topic. Until that happens though... maybe we keep it to a minimum? Recognize the risk and optics, but don't fill tons and tons of pages?

Yeah I think we talked about this same thing before as well. I'm okay dropping the subject.

Just one more opinion from me. Whoever drafts him should probably not fast track him into NHL.

 

[Muffin]

I honestly don't care if he's the BPA. I never thought of NHL players as role models anyways, they're playing in the NHL because they're good at hockey not because they're a good person. Majority of professional athletes are d-bags anyways.

He could get away with that stuff because he was the best player on the team, he wouldn't pull that stuff with guys like MacKinnon on the team.

 

[henchman21]

I can't believe you're advocating we should draft a nazi bag pisser and I'm going to post several times telling you this, even if we don't draft him.

Nazi bag pisser... he's in full Hugo Boss SS pissing in old lady's handbags.

 

[Muffin]

Nazi bag pisser... he's in full Hugo Boss SS pissing in old lady's handbags.

Speaking of old lady handbags

 

[henchman21]

Just one more opinion from me. Whoever drafts him should probably not fast track him into NHL.

I honestly feel the exact opposite with character issue players. If you have a good leadership group, you should bring them into the fold ASAP. Ryan Getzlaf is a very prime example of just that. Big character red flags caused him to drop. They got him up right after the lockout around some of the best leaders in the game and he matured very quickly. Keeping these kids away from real structure, leadership, and teachings on what it means to be a pro does them a larger disservice. If you have a good leadership group, you bring players like this in early. The sooner they are around good pros, the better.

 

[Ceremony]

I honestly feel the exact opposite with character issue players. If you have a good leadership group, you should bring them into the fold ASAP. Ryan Getzlaf is a very prime example of just that. Big character red flags caused him to drop. They got him up right after the lockout around some of the best leaders in the game and he matured very quickly. Keeping these kids away from real structure, leadership, and teachings on what it means to be a pro does them a larger disservice. If you have a good leadership group, you bring players like this in early. The sooner they are around good pros, the better.

Is our leadership group any good? Our captain who everybody worships is a glorified mascot, our best player is a Nice Guy, our other best player is either a despotic psychopath or a petulant child depending on whether or not we're winning, and the guy who pads his stats because of them chain smokes and seems to score points in spite of himself nowadays. Our other leader is apparently Andrew Cogliano who is done.

Which one of them is going to keep the nazi bag pisser in line?

 

[Chiarelli]

"I wanted verification on your dietary habits but this is a bit much"

 

[S E P H]

@Balthazar that is a smooth YT channel you found.

He sounds just like Zadorov

 

[henchman21]

Is our leadership group any good? Our captain who everybody worships is a glorified mascot, our best player is a Nice Guy, our other best player is either a despotic psychopath or a petulant child depending on whether or not we're winning, and the guy who pads his stats because of them chain smokes and seems to score points in spite of himself nowadays. Our other leader is apparently Andrew Cogliano who is done.

Which one of them is going to keep the nazi bag pisser in line?

That's a pretty major question I have moving forward. Landy's presence probably changes a lot, but the leadership group isn't without question here.

On the bright side, there will be plenty of piss to test for cocaine.

 

[S E P H]

People can grow up and change with time. Emphasis on time. The nazi stuff was recent.

The brain doesn't fully develop until the mid-20s and there is a good chance that a good chunk of people are not fully mature past 18 years old as well, but that's the random standard most of the countries use to claim "adulthood," at least on a legal level.