HF Habs: What are your initial impressions of the Habs 2023 Draft class?

[BenchBrawl]

"we're gonna slack for Mack" and then take a right shot D. This is going to be another long year.

lmao combination of this post + username was amazing for some reason

 

[HuGort]

I think we just have to hope that we get stupid lucky with a McAvoy/Pastrnak/Jason Robertson type pick.

That's like winning 6/49

 

[Egresch]

Totally different way than I expected, so it is hard to be positive.

- This team had CC, Suzuki, RHP, Farrell, Mesar, so I do not really get this Newhook trade. Only forwards with size are Slaf, Dach and Heineman when we talk about perspective of 3-5 years.
- Trading away those picks, they basically ruined their draft and eliminated it to two at 5, 69.
- I understand they did not want Michkov, but I was expecting to trade down few spots. I am OK with Reinbacher as he is very good prospect, but there is not much edge him over Leonard, Dvorsky. I think trading with PHI, DET or STL was a real option.
- Those steps would give us three picks in very interesting range where we could have drafted for need G- Hrabal, Gajan, Augustine, Bjarnason, RHD- Strbak, Bonk, Dragicevic, size- Edstrom, Wahlberg. I would be much happier with outcome like that.
- One more thing, I do not get drafting all those overagers. Seriously, just try to accumulate 7th round picks and throw your darts and draft kids in their draft year. Just from Slovakia, there are 3 guys who would be worth the risk, but went undrafted- Urban, Dej, Molnar.

 

[NameInUse]

I used to care a lot about who was picked when, but it led to my being disappointed every year, and most of the guys I wanted didn't pan out much better anyway. Now I only barely pay attention until players are actually Habs... I watched the first 5 picks, and the Habs pick was entertaining: 5/5!

I'm pretty sure Arizona wanted a D, which is why they reached for another one after Reinbacher was picked. There was little chance of Reinbacher becoming a Hab if the team had traded down...

 

[RC51]

I can't rate anything until I see the team the habs ice in october. Last year many were rookies and needed to play their first games, then some got hurt, some never finished the year. Now comes the off season. Hughes needs to dump some leaving room for even more young blood. Let him finish his job for 2023. Then let him start his Job for 2024. Over all the Hughes plan is to have ALL the new Talent reach their top play in about 2-3 years all about the same age, then BE STRONG for 5 years. This is what I see. Also, you had better get ready for yet another year of learning, and another top pick next year after all does ANYBODY think the rebuild is done and the habs might win the cup NEXT YEAR. NO!

 

[Frank Drebin]

That's like winning 6/49

So is bottoming out and winning the draft lottery with a superstar player

 

[Et le But]

There's some decent picks in a vacuum but we approached this draft like we were contenders who could draft for need and not one of the least talented teams in the league, and for that I got to give it a D, just an extremely baffling philosophy that suggests the organization is in win now mode and doesn't care about the draft.

Reinbacher was not a bad pick and can salvage the draft if he's the top pairing do everything guy he projects to be. On the flip side if the Habs are wrong about Mitchkov it's unforgivable.

Trading away our next two picks for a guy with questionable upside is concerning but at least we got a known NHLer out of it, if our scouts were not up to the task.

The Fowler pick I like, we got one of the better goalies in the draft, and Miller and Volokhin, while riskier, also seem to be as good goalie prospects as any, although taking 3, including the latter two above their projections, once again suggests drafting for need and not talent.

Harris and Xhekaj were absolutely wasted picks, low floor, low ceiling players who don't project to be NHLers and don't have much upside if they make it. With Xhekaj I get why people would like it solely due to who his brother is, but he in no way looks like an NHL quality player now, not even a 4th liner, and I'm not sure if family alone means he will have the same late improvement his brother did. At least it's possible, I guess.

Konyushkov has some intriguing numbers and by all accounts was the best defenseman on his team by the end of the year, the data is very positive, but at the end of the day he's still and undersized overager. I get Norlinder vibes where he might have figured something out and as a result not be a bad pick, but might have physical limitations that keep him on the wrong side of the bubble.

Eriksson has talent but has too small a sample size to be anything but a lotto ticket.

Mittelstadt seems like the one BPA pick regardless of need and seems like a fine pick, but at that stage in the draft that just means he has NHL upside.


Really I don't know anything, I don't have the time to follow prospects closely anymore. I'd like to think the Habs know more than me, but from the outside this draft looked equally arrogant and unambitious.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Totally different way than I expected, so it is hard to be positive.

- This team had CC, Suzuki, RHP, Farrell, Mesar, so I do not really get this Newhook trade. Only forwards with size are Slaf, Dach and Heineman when we talk about perspective of 3-5 years.

Newhook is bigger than CC, RHP, Farrell and Mesar and is the same size as Suzuki. Newhook is also a much more dynamic skater than all of these players. Hopefully, once you see Newhook skate with the puck, you, and all the doubters, will ‘get’ the trade. Many posters here have and continue to complain endlessly about Hughes’ lack of aggressiveness in his team building approach. I would suggest that his unexpected acquisition of Newhook would provide a convincing rebuttal to that narrative.

 

[InAG-P]

Overall seem like we over paid for Newhook and a lot of miscalculation, FOMO, contradictions and reach.
Not willing to take Michkov but still drafting 2 Russians, Drafting 3 goalies, talking about how size in important with Reinbacher and than targeting smaller D, drafting so many overager. Seem like we we pick at 5 and 69 and call it a day if your going to take wild home run swing why wouldn’t you take the younger and bigger player…

I disagree. The upside on Newhook is why you give up those two picks. Newhook's already achieved "floor" of a 3rd liner who is likely to hit his upside as a 2nd liner is worth more than the statistical probability that any of the picks we gave up might even come close to that floor. I'll take the guarantee who can work with Marty and Adam asap than waiting to see if picks pan out.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

Newhook is bigger than CC, RHP, Farrell and Mesar and is the same size as Suzuki. Newhook is also a much more dynamic skater than all of these players. Hopefully, once you see Newhook skate with the puck, you, and all the doubters, will ‘get’ the trade. Many posters here have and continue to complain endlessly about Hughes’ lack of aggressiveness in his team building approach. I would suggest that his unexpected acquisition of Newhook would provide a convincing rebuttal to that narrative.

Personally I’m excited by the Newhook addition, he’s actually who I wanted us to target in the 19 draft (I didn’t think Caufield would be available).

It takes more time for some players and he’s only 22 going on 23, if we look back at our own Tomas Plekanec he didn’t have his breakout year until 24 and his first 70 point season at 25.

I do believe that Newhook can be a consistent 50/60 point guy for us. People will be surprised I think

 

[ChesterNimitz]

I disagree. The upside on Newhook is why you give up those two picks. Newhook's already achieved "floor" of a 3rd liner who is likely to hit his upside as a 2nd liner is worth more than the statistical probability that any of the picks we gave up might even come close to that floor. I'll take the guarantee who can work with Marty and Adam asap than waiting to see if picks pan out.

Well said. It capsulizes the rationale behind the transaction perfectly. It was gutsy trade. But a very well conceived one.

 

[Shred]

Still not over but I don’t think our remaining pick(s) are going to move the needle all that much. Will update accordingly.

It’s certainly a draft class I don’t think anyone could have predicted. Definitely drafting for need and ignoring BPA in essentially every case. Clearly throwing darts at a board and hoping one of the goalies hit. I have high hopes for Fowler, just has to get in shape.

5th overall - David Reinbacher, D

69th overall - Jacob Fowler, G

101st overall - Florian Xhekaj, LW

110th overall - Bogdan Konyushkov, D

128th overall - Quentin Miller, G

133rd overall - Sam Harris, LW

144th overall - Yevgeni Volokhin, G

165th overall - Filip Eriksson, C

197th overall - Luke Mittelstadt, D

Happy with Reinbacher - likely to reach his potential of stud top pairing RD that is such a difficult spot to fill. Doughty was already a stud in his D+2 season and Pietrangelo in his D+3 so I expect we'll see him in Montreal in 2024 and we'll have a good idea if he can compare to those guys soon enough.

For what it's worth I would have taken Michkov as well but for now I'll trust that they have some information I don't and their pick is correct.

Love the Fowler pick. Insane stats and great personality. Smart kid with good attitude. Nice to get a legit #1 G prospect in the 3rd round.

I like the reasoning behind the Miller and Eriksson picks. Basically guys who didn't get all the opportunities last year and could take a big step.

Konyushkov looks like a steal. There will always be a spot in the NHL for smart defensemen. Don't need to have all the tools to be effective.

Not much to say about Harris and Mittelstadt. Don't hate picking overagers but it will look dumb if they get outperformed by the 18 year old D+1 kids next year.

Florian Xhekaj - they think the X brothers didn't get all the same opportunities growing up as most other prospects who come from higher middle class backgrounds but Arber has proven that he is insanely determined and can keep getting better after other stagnate. Looks like they really wanted him specifically due to the family ties and overpaid for him. Gonna look great if he can somehow add some offense to his game and bulk up training with his bro.

Not a fan of post draft interviews by Lapointe, Bobrov and Hughes. I suspect we would have heard a lot smarter and better informed takes from Christopher Boucher or that guy who really wanted Owen Beck last year.

Clearly Martin Lapointe is not articulate and Bobrov is a bit of a goofball. Doesn't necessarily mean incompetence even though it doesn't inspire confidence.

Overall I am cautiously optimistic and respect the overarching team building strategy. Lots of likeable guys on this team and really wish them the best.

 

[26Mats]

Similar to last draft:

- they chose a big player with their top 5 pick.
- then many sub 6 feet skaters after that. In fact this year their only other skater 6 feet and above was Xhekaj's brother.
2022: mesar, beck, hutson, rohrer, guidon, tourigny
2023: Konyushkov, Harris, Eriksson, Mittlestadt

 

[Andrei79]

Reinbacher is a really good player.

I understand the Fowler pick.

The rest though is some weird drafting. Lots of overagers and goalies. We'll see. It might produce NHLers but it's weird.

 

[Shred]

Knowing now that Ethan Gauthier was still available at #37, I think getting Newhook was a big mistake.

Add on top that we could have picked a high ranked goalie like Hrabal who is also a monster at 6'7'' with the #31...

Gulyayev was not a good fit. Too many small, highly skilled D is never a good idea, and we already have Hutson in the pipeline who I think is better.

I would have picked Mitchkov, but I understand the safe move at #5. The trade for 31 and 37 did not make sense to me, seeing now what we missed.

Ethan Gauthier doesn’t really project to be better than Newhook and will take 3+ yeaes to get there if he does no?

 

[The Great Weal]

People like Grant need to stop with the "you don't need a superstar to win a cup". No, you don't need the best player in the world to win but you do need elite talent. Vegas was the deepest team in the league for forwards and defensemen but had pieces like Eichel/Stone/Pietrangelo/Theodore who completely blow away Suzuki/CC/Guhle/Reinbacher, like it's not even close.

Yes you need size, yes you need competitiveness, yes you need guys who aren't afraid to make a hit to make a play, but when your team's top forward will likely be the least productive in the league, you need talent in the worst way. Hughes said that he thinks Suzuki/CC/Dach can become better players and point producers, but for that to happen you need some elite offensive dmen to help them out.

I'm really not optimistic about the future and do believe we will be a bottom 10 team for at least another 3 years which makes me wonder why we need guys like Anderson and Matheson when we could do what the Hawks are doing and just sign vets on expensive 1 year deals.

 

[AmeriHab]

Confused. We hear how we have a ton of talent in the pipeline but how many will reach that potential nor have we picked a bonafide superstar that I think was in the top 4 picks.

 

[Canad13ns]

Lower your expectations as far as Newhook is concerned. He didn't score a goal for the last 32 games of the season, including the playoffs if I'm not mistaken. He is very far from being a 2C and he has quite a hill to climb to get there.

Well to be fair to Newhook, he scored two goals in the last 32 games of the regular season, and one goal if you count the last 32 games from the team's last playoff game. But yeah, not looking like a scorer at all. Since it's a done deal though one has to hope that Marty can bring out some untapped potential..

 

[HuGort]

So is bottoming out and winning the draft lottery with a superstar player

Not really. Have to address every team rebuild differently. Montreal is not the Rangers. Guys like Fox or Panarin won't sign here. You need the star. Majority are at head of draft.

Gradual improve team won't work in Montreal. In terms of being future Cup contender. Hughes get us far as 2nd round of playoffs but that is it. Once he starts drafting in the 20s odds of getting core players are gone. As general rule of thumb once you get deep in playoffs start face teams who were once terrible team for prolonged period of time. They drafted high many times. Are stacked with the Mackinnons, Rantanen, Makars. Then they trade first round picks two or even three years ahead. To get pieces to increase odds of winning cup. Tampa has traded top 2 picks 3 years ahead. Toronto, Boston, Florida did similar.

 

[1909]

Overall seem like we over paid for Newhook and a lot of miscalculation, FOMO, contradictions and reach.
Not willing to take Michkov but still drafting 2 Russians, Drafting 3 goalies, talking about how size in important with Reinbacher and than targeting smaller D, drafting so many overager. Seem like we we pick at 5 and 69 and call it a day if your going to take wild home run swing why wouldn’t you take the younger and bigger player…

So geo politics was not the reason they did not pick him. Must had been other serious concerns about him.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Michkov's preferred destination confirmed. Friedman says his preferred destination was Philly

He had a special meeting in Philadelphia

 

[Et le But]

People like Grant need to stop with the "you don't need a superstar to win a cup". No, you don't need the best player in the world to win but you do need elite talent. Vegas was the deepest team in the league for forwards and defensemen but had pieces like Eichel/Stone/Pietrangelo/Theodore who completely blow away Suzuki/CC/Guhle/Reinbacher, like it's not even close.

Yes you need size, yes you need competitiveness, yes you need guys who aren't afraid to make a hit to make a play, but when your team's top forward will likely be the least productive in the league, you need talent in the worst way. Hughes said that he thinks Suzuki/CC/Dach can become better players and point producers, but for that to happen you need some elite offensive dmen to help them out.

I'm really not optimistic about the future and do believe we will be a bottom 10 team for at least another 3 years which makes me wonder why we need guys like Anderson and Matheson when we could do what the Hawks are doing and just sign vets on expensive 1 year deals.

Well said, the Knights are a weird team that absolutely killed it in the expansion draft and ended up with a deep core they aggressively worked to improve, but even if their top shelf talent is inconsistent, it's definitely top shelf. Do we have anyone remotely with the offense of Eichel? He might not be the American McDavid he was hyped to be, but I don't think we have anyone at that level - Grant's comment as always is dishonest, as Eichel played only 67 games before absolutely peaking for the playoffs. Caulfield might end up a PPG player, but he's a winger and a sniper whose overall game will make him likely a step below that level. For Vegas Stone is also just below a PPG player.

Like you point out, the Habs have a tendency to value hard working glue guys as much as they do stars, probably because we have so little of the latter, and not that they aren't important, but the result is we end up giving them inflated contracts, giving us guys like Gallagher and Anderson who definitely can be pieces of winning teams but shouldn't be paid like stars.

I really like CC and Suzuki but a team with those as your two best forwards does not belong in the same conversation as Vegas.

And before Vegas, most of the recent Cup champions definitely had elite first lines. It still seems like we are trying to duplicate the Blues of any recent cup champs, and so much went right for them at once.

 

[sampollock]

2023 NHL Draft winners and losers: Scott Wheeler ranks all 32 teams' selections

Scott Wheeler reviews how all 32 teams did at the 2023 NHL Draft, with thoughts on almost all of the 224 players selected.

t.co

 

[Runner77]

Good summary, but Newhook should count too. I believe that MSL and Nicholas, along with greater opportunities, will enable him to improve.

Only issue I have with that is — don’t we make that argument for every young player the team acquires? At some point, there will be a low level ceiling that may emerge from a given player and no one will able to do anything about it.

 

[JT3]

I'm a big Reinbacher fan and I love that pick in regards to the way we're building our team, but overall the draft (without accounting for Newhook) gets a C. Maybe a C- if that was an option.

Reinbacher - love the pick myself. We will see if passing on Michkov was the right or wrong decision, personally I'm fine with at this point in time. I don't know if he is on the same trajectory as he was a few years ago, and I don't know that having and paying two small, offensive dynamos is the right decision in the long run. But as for Reinbacher, I really do think he can be a top pair guy or even a #1 if things go well. He will make an impact on our team.

Fowler - Was in my top 3 goalies for the draft so I'm really happy with this pick and thought it was good value there as well. Boston College is a good route for him and they should be a damn good team.

Xhekaj - As much as I love the pick for the name, this was a big ol reach and I feel like we probably could have picked him much later on. At best he's probably a 4th liner who brings intangibles.

Konyushkov - Had no idea who this guy was but after reading a bit about him his development seems to have really taken off exponentially the last couple years. Going from tier 2 U20, to VHL, to #1D on his team in the KHL is impressive. I'm intrigued.

Miller - People with more familiarity with the Q than I have say this guy is pretty good but was stuck behind an older #1. Not sure if he'll be staying with a depleted Quebec or getting traded, but he should get a lot more games next season. Wait and see I guess.

Harris - I know nothing about this guy and haven't read anything about him that excites me. Big question mark here.

Volokhin - Same as above but Russian goalies are never a bad gamble.

Eriksson - Seems like a solid swing given his production when not injured. Might have gone higher if he was healthy.

Mittelstadt - Meh. I'm not a huge fan of undersized defenseman without standout skills and I don't know if Mittelstadt has any. Supposedly not a great skater either.

Overall, an awful lot of question marks. I'm okay with the Newhook gamble but not having any picks between 5 and 69 definitely hurts a bit.