Whom would you draft in 2023 with our first pick ?

[Habs]

My heart was with Leonard but I’m happy with Reinbacher


Which D are you drafting ahead of Demidov at 5 this year?

I wouldn't take anyone ahead of Demidov this year, a miracle he slid to us.
If we had taken Michkov or Leonard last year, I'd like to have taken Parekh or Dickenson this year though.

 

[SpeedyPotato]

I don't disagree. He was compared to someone selected very high going into draft, and based on his numbers. I had Dahlin in my mind when posted, but I may be misremember the name that was thrown out as a comparable.

Probably was Josi

 

[calder candidate]

I had no issue passing on Michkov but I feel like the move was either trade up for Carlsson or down for one of Benson/Leonard/Dvorsky

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I wouldn't take anyone ahead of Demidov this year, a miracle he slid to us.
If we had taken Michkov or Leonard last year, I'd like to have taken Parekh or Dickenson this year though.

Dickinson is LD that wouldn’t have helped us on the right side.

I think RB/Demidov is the better combo.

 

[montreal]

I had no interest in Michkov or Reinbacher. While I think Michkov will be very good, a better Caufield, I don't like the way he plays and I don't think you can win with him and Caufield as 2/3rds of your top line (pre Demidov of course).

I felt like Reinbacher was getting overrated and the scouting reports still don't mesh with what i've seen and i've seen just about every single game he's played this past season. But if you wanted to go safe you got yourself a surefire NHLer with his size, skating, mobility all being above average, he can move the puck but he'll likely never have the puck skills of say Hutson or the shot of Mailloux but I do think he's got more offense in him then most scouting reports seem to suggest.

His decision making in his own end is what shocked me the most, inconsistent and some really poor choices at times that certainly does not show elite shutdown type D or stay at home type. But once he adjusts to the smaller ice, hopefully we start to see both his offense and defense improve.

Going into the draft I thought for sure, no question Will Smith was going to drop to us and would be the pick. I guess I believed that SJ would go Michkov to build around since they likely had a long road ahead of them.

Having Smith and Demidov would certainly be an interesting thing to see when Hutson and Caufield were also on the ice but at least we got Demidov.

 

[KevSkillz4]

I had no interest in Michkov or Reinbacher. While I think Michkov will be very good, a better Caufield, I don't like the way he plays and I don't think you can win with him and Caufield as 2/3rds of your top line (pre Demidov of course).

I felt like Reinbacher was getting overrated and the scouting reports still don't mesh with what i've seen and i've seen just about every single game he's played this past season. But if you wanted to go safe you got yourself a surefire NHLer with his size, skating, mobility all being above average, he can move the puck but he'll likely never have the puck skills of say Hutson or the shot of Mailloux but I do think he's got more offense in him then most scouting reports seem to suggest.

His decision making in his own end is what shocked me the most, inconsistent and some really poor choices at times that certainly does not show elite shutdown type D or stay at home type. But once he adjusts to the smaller ice, hopefully we start to see both his offense and defense improve.

Going into the draft I thought for sure, no question Will Smith was going to drop to us and would be the pick. I guess I believed that SJ would go Michkov to build around since they likely had a long road ahead of them.

Having Smith and Demidov would certainly be an interesting thing to see when Hutson and Caufield were also on the ice but at least we got Demidov.

Yeah Will Smith would be very very good piece to add. I don't compare them, but Michael Hage looks a very good offensive prospect with high talent. So finish with Demidov and Hage, that's make me very happy for the future at forward group.

I think we have a really good one with Hage.

 

[Habs]

Dickinson is LD that wouldn’t have helped us on the right side.

I think RB/Demidov is the better combo.

guess we will see in a couple years

 

[Rapala]

Why are we doing this?

 

[Le Tricolore]

I like Reinbacher as a prospect and think he'll be good for the team but I wanted Michkov or Leonard. I didn't think Michkov was going to happen so I guess I was leaning towards Leonard.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I would have trade back with Philly and pick Reinbacher or Leonard

You couldn't because Philly would've taken Reinbacher at 5.

 

[Kennerback]

Why are we doing this?

It’s the elephant in the room. Might as well process and deal with now.

 

[CHwest]

Dickinson is LD that wouldn’t have helped us on the right side.

I think RB/Demidov is the better combo.

I think the future will show us just how much better. Feel much better about our combo than the other.

 

[electron58]

David Reinbacher, now that I know we have Ivan Demidov. If we hadn't drafted Ivan Demidov this year, then Ryan Leonard. Any way you look at it, things have worked out perfectly with our first round picks over the last 3 drafts. (except for Mesar imho)

 

[CanadienShark]

Id still go reinbacher although Leonard would be extremely tempting too.

Reinbacher is just so unique. Big mobile RD that plays aggressive, very decisive, and can move the puck up the ice quickly OR even take it in himself like we saw with his first goal in Laval.

Maybe he never exceeds 40 points, but He's going to contribute to our offence more than we think because of his skillet. I see us on the attack more often than not when he's out there. Always pushing the play up the ice, and when in the offensive zone, throwing pucks on net to create havoc.

I feel at his best, he would be alot more impactful than any other forwards left including Michkov, Benson, Leonard. Just too valuable of a position and he does it so well.

If we land a Pietrangelo clone, I'll be ecstatic. Or McDonagh.

I was upset with his pick, not because of the player, but because of who I wanted instead.

I think collectively were too low on Reinbacher though. He's absolutely got top pairing upside. He's a great player. Maybe comparisons aren't great, but if you give me a choice of:

Michkov + Levshunov

Or

Reinbacher + Demidov

It's a close call. I'm very, very happy where we're at.

 

[Hins77]

Reinbacher. Wich prospect/player is expecting to play as top Dman on right side? The only one I see is Reinbacher. In the pipeline and also on the current roster. I like Mailloux, but I think he is more a 3/4th dman.

 

[Whitesnake]

To me it was between Michkov and Leonard. I always say draft the talent. That's Michkov, but my god do I hope that our top 6 could add a bulldog type of scorer...which is what Leonard is. I still envision Reinbacher as a No3 or No4 d-man. And since I do, I don't think it's good use of a top 5 pick. Case in point...Silyaev. Kid is unique. Even more unique than Reinbacher. Could be better than Reinbacher defensively while having the same question marks offensively. And he's 6'7''. He was picked...10. Yes. this top 10 looked better than last year top 10. Still....

The great think is that...it's not like Reinbacher would have been a ND for me or 10th on my list. I don't see anybody else that I would have picked instead. At the very worst...it's

1-Michkov
2-Leonard
3-Benson
4-Reinbacher.

So..it's not THAT bad. Not the best...but not awful too. And then....only the future will tell.....as my new motto goes...

LET,S WAIT 4 YEARS!

P.S. I changed my mind. When you go into a draft...you don't take into consideration the next draft. Makes no sense. Imagine HAVING to pick a righty d-man with Demidov still available....Which in the end, might have come to this....Michkov-Parekh/Yakemchuck vs Demidov/Reinbacher. Personnally, I go with the latter. Still, that's not how you should view drafts. Go draft by draft. Pick the best that you need.

 

[junyab]

I see a lot of votes for Reinbacher but during his first season after his draft the amount of doubt/dislike/concern in the Reinbacher thread was overwhelming. People have short memories.

I would've gone Michkov or Benson.

 

[Kennerback]

To me it was between Michkov and Leonard. I always say draft the talent. That's Michkov, but my god do I hope that our top 6 could add a bulldog type of scorer...which is what Leonard is. I still envision Reinbacher as a No3 or No4 d-man. And since I do, I don't think it's good use of a top 5 pick. Case in point...Silyaev. Kid is unique. Even more unique than Reinbacher. Could be better than Reinbacher defensively while having the same question marks offensively. And he's 6'7''. He was picked...10. Yes. this top 10 looked better than last year top 10. Still....

The great think is that...it's not like Reinbacher would have been a ND for me or 10th on my list. I don't see anybody else that I would have picked instead. At the very worst...it's

1-Michkov
2-Leonard
3-Benson
4-Reinbacher.

So..it's not THAT bad. Not the best...but not awful too. And then....only the future will tell.....as my new motto goes...

LET,S WAIT 4 YEARS!

P.S. I changed my mind. When you go into a draft...you don't take into consideration the next draft. Makes no sense. Imagine HAVING to pick a righty d-man with Demidov still available....Which in the end, might have come to this....Michkov-Parekh/Yakemchuck vs Demidov/Reinbacher. Personnally, I go with the latter. Still, that's not how you should view drafts. Go draft by draft. Pick the best that you need.

Things turned out perfectly but for someone without the war room data, it seems like we played with fire. If the shit hit the fan, we’d be three years behind in our rebuild.

 

[BLONG7]

No reason not to stick with the best D prospect in the 2023 draft. 6'3 210 LB RD is the right guy.

Agreed.................I wanted a forward, but no issues with this pick of Reinbacher.
Other teams were after Reinbacher also....
A lot of good things being said about this kid.

 

[KevSkillz4]

I always been high on Slaf and Demidov before they got drafted.

I will never lie about a prospect that's a like or dislike.

I disliked Reinbacher before the draft (not like Anton Silayev, I was seeing good tools of Reinbacher, more than just skating ability like Silayev).

But at this moment, I want to made a big mea culpa, Reinbacher looks like a fantastic young D-man, his 11 games at AHL level, 5 points, play really solid, that's make me happy about his potential.

I will also said, putting 22 points in 46 games in Swiss league, that's really really good. The 2nd year, I said that he just play for a dumpfire team with 3 coachs different, not his fault at this point.

I really liked what I see from him in pre-season with Habs at the beginning and his 11 games with Laval. I think he will be a stud top pairing D-man.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

To me it was between Michkov and Leonard. I always say draft the talent. That's Michkov, but my god do I hope that our top 6 could add a bulldog type of scorer...which is what Leonard is. I still envision Reinbacher as a No3 or No4 d-man. And since I do, I don't think it's good use of a top 5 pick. Case in point...Silyaev. Kid is unique. Even more unique than Reinbacher. Could be better than Reinbacher defensively while having the same question marks offensively. And he's 6'7''. He was picked...10. Yes. this top 10 looked better than last year top 10. Still....

The great think is that...it's not like Reinbacher would have been a ND for me or 10th on my list. I don't see anybody else that I would have picked instead. At the very worst...it's

1-Michkov
2-Leonard
3-Benson
4-Reinbacher.

So..it's not THAT bad. Not the best...but not awful too. And then....only the future will tell.....as my new motto goes...

LET,S WAIT 4 YEARS!

P.S. I changed my mind. When you go into a draft...you don't take into consideration the next draft. Makes no sense. Imagine HAVING to pick a righty d-man with Demidov still available....Which in the end, might have come to this....Michkov-Parekh/Yakemchuck vs Demidov/Reinbacher. Personnally, I go with the latter. Still, that's not how you should view drafts. Go draft by draft. Pick the best that you need.

Silyaev is a LD though, that factors in. Moreover, this was a deeper draft. Dickinson went outside the top ten for example.

A big reason I think they took RB was position scarcity. Not many right side studs out there.

 

[themilosh]

I had no issue passing on Michkov but I feel like the move was either trade up for Carlsson or down for one of Benson/Leonard/Dvorsky

Except Benson, just no more room for small guys.

 

[Whitesnake]

Silyaev is a LD though, that factors in. Moreover, this was a deeper draft. Dickinson went outside the top ten for example.

A big reason I think they took RB was position scarcity. Not many right side studs out there.

Well like you said though...teams still preferred Iginla and Catton ahead of right D. The only difference here is Yakemchuck...was he targetted for his position? Still...statswise, the guy had insane stats in the CHL too. For Reinbacher...and in the end they might not be wrong, it's heavily projection. And to me the D that is also more a projection is Silyaev.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Michkov

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Well like you said though...teams still preferred Iginla and Catton ahead of right D. The only difference here is Yakemchuck...was he targetted for his position? Still...statswise, the guy had insane stats in the CHL too. For Reinbacher...and in the end they might not be wrong, it's heavily projection. And to me the D that is also more a projection is Silyaev.

Don’t forget, Levshunov went 2nd. He was the only real RD stud in the draft. Tons of forwards, tons of LD. Dickinson going outside the top ten was pretty unexpected. Would he have gone so late if he were on the right? Probably not.

Hugo’s said in the past they they take scarcity into account. It was probably a big reason for going RB.