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

Overall INITIAL grade?

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Habsfan18 said:
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
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Based on names alone, A+

Based on the team that drafted them, B-

Based on who was available, ?

Initial reactions: a lot of interesting players in a draft where we swing for the fences on every single pick. The reason I like the fact they did that is because of the amount of picks we had and the previous draft year hitting on every single player it looks like.

Florian for me is a weird pick at 101. Seems another team was pretending to aim for him just to screw the order up a bit.

Does Montreal have this years late round star?
 
BJCOLLINS said:
If Reinbacher’s “floor” is 70-80 gms 30 pts 2nd pairing x8 years
if Newhook 70-80 gm 60+ pts
if Fowler becomes a steal
if lil wifi plays on the 4th line (he can outskate Reaves now)

if these 4 become regular players I’d give an A+
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I like it. Fowler could be a steal, I’m hoping he turns into a man and not a boy child ( no offence broken men ). He could really do damage.
 
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WeThreeKings said:
I asked Bexell, he said it's too early to use the 'steal' word but he did say that it's clear he should have gone long before the 6th round.
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I think the only player in the 2023 draft that has me unsure what they were thinking is Sam Harris.

Everyone else, even if you might wonder if they could have picked someone else, you still see the thinking behind those picks and see potential:

- Reinbacher
- Fowler
- Xhekaj
- Konyushkov
- Miller
- Volokhin
- Eriksson
- Mittelstadt

And Harris was taken before Volokhin and Eriksson. I guess they probably felt Volokhin would still be on the board later. But they took Harris before Eriksson.

Granted Harris is a 5th round pick so I won't lose sleep if he amounts to nothing. But I'm still not sure what they saw in him.
 
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Adam Michaels said:
I think the only player in the 2023 draft that has me unsure what they were thinking is Sam Harris.

Everyone else, even if you might wonder if they could have picked someone else, you still see the thinking behind those picks and see potential:

- Reinbacher
- Fowler
- Xhekaj
- Konyushkov
- Miller
- Volokhin
- Eriksson
- Mittelstadt

And Harris was taken before Volokhin and Eriksson. I guess they probably felt Volokhin would still be on the board later. But they took Harris before Eriksson.

Granted Harris is a 5th round pick so I won't lose sleep if he amounts to nothing. But I'm still not sure what they saw in him.
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I didn't like the Mittelstadt pick either, just feels like a filler pick but its the 7th round. Obviously super wrong on the Xhekaj pick, I understand it a lot more now.

Harris, I guess he had some really good USHL metrics that could have deemed there was something more there. Also he has some jam to his game that we haven't seen yet at the NCAA level.

Could just be a scratched pick but I'd like to see how he does next year when he might have more opportunity at Denver. It ain't as bad as Jack Smith.
 
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BJCOLLINS said:
If Reinbacher’s “floor” is 70-80 gms 30 pts 2nd pairing x8 years
if Newhook 70-80 gm 60+ pts
if Fowler becomes a steal
if lil wifi plays on the 4th line (he can outskate Reaves now)

if these 4 become regular players I’d give an A+
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I wouldn’t.

Let’s say Newhouse becomes a 75+ pts guy, Reinbacher’s floor a 1st liner that puts up 45+ pts, lil wifi becomes a 3rd liner, etc.

Are you still going to give it A+??

You need to give some room for much better then expected.

Anyway, I wouldn’t give A+ based on the projections you put up.
 
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Tim Wallach said:
Thanks. It sure seems like it. It was a puzzling draft at first but looks like they may have unearthed a few hidden gems.
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Like I said after the draft was over.. I think we, as a fan base, might have received the draft differently if they communicated about their picks.

One guy asked them to go over all of their picks at once (which was a lazy question, I don't blame them pushing back on it.. some idiot at TVA/RDS) and they were like I'm not going to go down a list here, who do you wanna know about.

And then we just got no information on why they picked anyone that they picked. It wasn't until the draft video months later that we even got insight into what they thought about Florian Xhekaj.
 
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WeThreeKings said:
Like I said after the draft was over.. I think we, as a fan base, might have received the draft differently if they communicated about their picks.

One guy asked them to go over all of their picks at once (which was a lazy question, I don't blame them pushing back on it.. some idiot at TVA/RDS) and they were like I'm not going to go down a list here, who do you wanna know about.

And then we just got no information on why they picked anyone that they picked. It wasn't until the draft video months later that we even got insight into what they thought about Florian Xhekaj.
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Yeah, the one thing that became apparent quickly is that they had a plan that included a fair bit of intel on where these players would fall. Each of them seemed to be chosen about 10-20 picks ahead of where another team would have snagged them. So that groundwork is impressive.
 
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NORiculous said:
I wouldn’t.

Let’s say Newhouse becomes a 75+ pts guy, Reinbacher’s floor a 1st liner that puts up 45+ pts, lil wifi becomes a 3rd liner, etc.

Are you still going to give it A+??

You need to give some room for much better then expected.

Anyway, I wouldn’t give A+ based on the projections you put up.
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The last time the Habs won big in the draft was 1984 when we drafted Svoboda #5, Corson #8, Richer #29, Roy #51.

so yeah if Reinbacher, Newhook, ‘lil Wifi & Fowler make the team & contribute we win big, cheers.

ps that‘s the year we drafted Sid the kids father #240
 
BJCOLLINS said:
The last time the Habs won big in the draft was 1984 when we drafted Svoboda #5, Corson #8, Richer #29, Roy #51.

so yeah if Reinbacher, Newhook, ‘lil Wifi & Fowler make the team & contribute we win big, cheers.

ps that‘s the year we drafted Sid the kids father #240
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Pacioretty, Subban and McDonagh was great too...
 
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Looking back I voted D, but that was because I think the most impactful decision was passing on Michkov and I never liked it.

Putting that first pick aside however, I think they did pretty darn well.
 
I don't watch too many draft eligible prospects unless they are playing against a Hab prospects but I did try to watch a little bit more last year or two. So far I have to say while it's extremely early for the 2023 draft, after that top 3 or 4 I can't say I've been too impressed with many of the other early 1st round picks.

I know all the talk is Mickhov, I only saw 1 game this year and I did catch a little of today's game vs Konyushkov and I still have the same opinion that he is overrated and I still am not interested in picking him. He's having a great year and while I haven't seen a ton of KHL games this year, I wonder how strong the league is this year. I can see why the Habs weren't interested and that's with me being shockingly surprised at how bad at times Reinbacher has looked as I thought he would just be a kind of boring but effective two way type that does most things well but maybe nothing great.

I'm just not sold on how this team currently could win in the playoffs with Caufield and Michkov on your top line as having a 5'8 and a 5'9 winger that lets say aren't the hardest workers without the puck I just don't think that's a great way to go but it would be fun as shit at see. I wonder if Eiserman is in a similar situation here for us.

Another one was Leonard who I did see before the draft and would have been happy if we picked him and while he's looked better of late and solid in the WJC's for some reason I can't get over how small he looks in the NCAA same for Smith but his production is sick as is Perrault's who I said early on in the season that he was looking better then Leonard.

So I don't want to shit on the 2023 draft as clearly Bedard is going to rule and there are going to be a number of very good NHLers I assume but so far I guess I'm a little surprised at how many kids from the 1st round that I haven't been too impressed with. Willander has been solid but he's another one that for some reason I expected him to look bigger and thought he would be much better. Dvorsky I only saw a little of but wasn't impressed same for Danielson in the WJC's but I don't know his game at all since I didn't see a single WHL game last year (or this year)

Just rambling about how i'm a little disappointed so far from this draft but that doesn't mean anything of course as 10 years from now it could look amazing who knows. But I was pretty hard on the Habs for the Reinbacher pick and trading 31/37. But now that some time has passed it's starting to look like the Habs made some smart decisions if say this class after 3 or 4 isn't much to write home about, getting 2 NHLers in Reinbacher and Newhook could look very smart. At the time I thought we needed to make those picks and go for an offensive forward and of course it will be years before we can say most likely but I shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss their plan.
 
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montreal said:
I don't watch too many draft eligible prospects unless they are playing against a Hab prospects but I did try to watch a little bit more last year or two. So far I have to say while it's extremely early for the 2023 draft, after that top 3 or 4 I can't say I've been too impressed with many of the other early 1st round picks.

I know all the talk is Mickhov, I only saw 1 game this year and I did catch a little of today's game vs Konyushkov and I still have the same opinion that he is overrated and I still am not interested in picking him. He's having a great year and while I haven't seen a ton of KHL games this year, I wonder how strong the league is this year. I can see why the Habs weren't interested and that's with me being shockingly surprised at how bad at times Reinbacher has looked as I thought he would just be a kind of boring but effective two way type that does most things well but maybe nothing great.

I'm just not sold on how this team currently could win in the playoffs with Caufield and Michkov on your top line as having a 5'8 and a 5'9 winger that lets say aren't the hardest workers without the puck I just don't think that's a great way to go but it would be fun as shit at see. I wonder if Eiserman is in a similar situation here for us.

Another one was Leonard who I did see before the draft and would have been happy if we picked him and while he's looked better of late and solid in the WJC's for some reason I can't get over how small he looks in the NCAA same for Smith but his production is sick as is Perrault's who I said early on in the season that he was looking better then Leonard.

So I don't want to shit on the 2023 draft as clearly Bedard is going to rule and there are going to be a number of very good NHLers I assume but so far I guess I'm a little surprised at how many kids from the 1st round that I haven't been too impressed with. Willander has been solid but he's another one that for some reason I expected him to look bigger and thought he would be much better. Dvorsky I only saw a little of but wasn't impressed same for Danielson in the WJC's but I don't know his game at all since I didn't see a single WHL game last year (or this year)

Just rambling about how i'm a little disappointed so far from this draft but that doesn't mean anything of course as 10 years from now it could look amazing who knows. But I was pretty hard on the Habs for the Reinbacher pick and trading 31/37. But now that some time has passed it's starting to look like the Habs made some smart decisions if say this class after 3 or 4 isn't much to write home about, getting 2 NHLers in Reinbacher and Newhook could look very smart. At the time I thought we needed to make those picks and go for an offensive forward and of course it will be years before we can say most likely but I shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss their plan.
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I think we missed it by 1. Smith having good season Boston College. A center also, his level they hard to find. Reinbacher solid defense but not top defenseman
 
montreal said:
I'm just not sold on how this team currently could win in the playoffs with Caufield and Michkov on your top line as having a 5'8 and a 5'9 winger that lets say aren't the hardest workers without the puck I just don't think that's a great way to go but it would be fun as shit at see. I wonder if Eiserman is in a similar situation here for us.
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3 months ago, you said something like we missed our shot at having Kulich - Cooley - Michkov.

Happy to read the change in tone honestly.
 
Jaynki said:
3 months ago, you said something like we missed our shot at having Kulich - Cooley - Michkov.

Happy to read the change in tone honestly.
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No I never wanted us to draft Michkov. I watched him when he was 15 since he was teammates with Alexander Gordin and I said all along that he reminded me of Caufield and that we shouldn't draft him.

I do think we should have picked Kulich, and I said I actually liked Nazar more then Cooley because while I felt Cooley was more skilled, I thought Nazar played with more jam. I would have been thrilled if they just took Cooley, Nazar, Kulich, Goyette and Hutson.
 
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