2015 NHL Draft Thread Full of Hope and Optimism

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SpookyTsuki

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Dec 3, 2014
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Not sure why everyone is so scared of "droppers" in this thread, it seems.

I would MUCH rather take a dropper than a late riser.

I mean weren't Mantha, Athanasiou, and Pulkks all droppers? We seem to do well with them.

Datsyuk was a dropper wasnt he?
 

Lampedampe

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Feb 26, 2015
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Kylington is an amazing player, seen him play plenty of times and he's something special. I mean he started Playing against men at the age of 16 in the best league in Sweden. and he scored twice and was a +5.. I'm sure someone will come and say that shl is not what it once was, but in that case why isn't there more 16 year Olds playing in shl then?! He's special and the only reason he's dropping is due to injuries.. I mean serioulsy, the youngest player in shl history to score a goal and it was a GWG as a defenseman. Sure he got injured and had a "worse" season. But the talent is still there and the past season might have motivated him to work harder.

Roy is tempting, but mostly because of the Right handed shot, but then again we have to remember that when the defensemen that are drafted this year will probably have their first shot at nhl when kroner is on the verge of retiring, so that won't matter anymore. But if Roy would drop to the 2nd round i hope KH makes a move.
 

Tatar

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Kylington is an amazing player, seen him play plenty of times and he's something special. I mean he started Playing against men at the age of 16 in the best league in Sweden. and he scored twice and was a +5.. I'm sure someone will come and say that shl is not what it once was, but in that case why isn't there more 16 year Olds playing in shl then?! He's special and the only reason he's dropping is due to injuries.. I mean serioulsy, the youngest player in shl history to score a goal and it was a GWG as a defenseman. Sure he got injured and had a "worse" season. But the talent is still there and the past season might have motivated him to work harder.

Roy is tempting, but mostly because of the Right handed shot, but then again we have to remember that when the defensemen that are drafted this year will probably have their first shot at nhl when kroner is on the verge of retiring, so that won't matter anymore. But if Roy would drop to the 2nd round i hope KH makes a move.

Roy is tempting because he's a smart player that plays a consistent North American style game. Being a right handed shot just makes him more desirable. Barring some unforeseen problem at the combine, he'll be selected in the 15-25 spot in the draft.

I've not seen as much of Kylington as I have Roy, and I'm not knocking Kylingtons skill, I just believe that Roy is the safer pick at the 19th spot. He also will fill our need for a RHD.

Interesting fact, the last time we took an international skater playing in Europe during the first round was Kronwall in 2000. Perhaps that will change this year.
 

SpookyTsuki

Registered User
Dec 3, 2014
15,916
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Kylington is an amazing player, seen him play plenty of times and he's something special. I mean he started Playing against men at the age of 16 in the best league in Sweden. and he scored twice and was a +5.. I'm sure someone will come and say that shl is not what it once was, but in that case why isn't there more 16 year Olds playing in shl then?! He's special and the only reason he's dropping is due to injuries.. I mean serioulsy, the youngest player in shl history to score a goal and it was a GWG as a defenseman. Sure he got injured and had a "worse" season. But the talent is still there and the past season might have motivated him to work harder.

Roy is tempting, but mostly because of the Right handed shot, but then again we have to remember that when the defensemen that are drafted this year will probably have their first shot at nhl when kroner is on the verge of retiring, so that won't matter anymore. But if Roy would drop to the 2nd round i hope KH makes a move.

Right handed shot shouldn't matter, Draft the best player available. If they have even skills, And even futures then you go with the what do we need
 

newfy

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Jul 28, 2010
14,718
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Not sure why everyone is so scared of "droppers" in this thread, it seems.

I would MUCH rather take a dropper than a late riser.

I mean weren't Mantha, Athanasiou, and Pulkks all droppers? We seem to do well with them.

I'm scared of droppers who dont have a good reason to drop. A flyer on Pulkkinen is fine or Marchenko because they were a little hurt in their draft years if I remember correctly. Mantha went right around where he was expected to and youre right AA was a dropper from a top 20ish at the start of the year to the fourth round.

As far as I can tell, Kylington has just played poorly this season compared to whats expected. Was he injured? I'm not scared of droppers per se but theres usually a reason for them falling so much, everyone proclaims theyre a steal, and 5 years later theyre in the ECHL. A dropper could just as easily be Tyler Biggs or Martin Frk as it is a player that works out. I will also say that none of the guys you mentioned have proven a thing in the NHL at this point so its hard to say if its actually working out or not based on those 3 players
 

The Zetterberg Era

Ball Hockey Sucks
Nov 8, 2011
40,957
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I'm scared of droppers who dont have a good reason to drop. A flyer on Pulkkinen is fine or Marchenko because they were a little hurt in their draft years if I remember correctly. Mantha went right around where he was expected to and youre right AA was a dropper from a top 20ish at the start of the year to the fourth round.

As far as I can tell, Kylington has just played poorly this season compared to whats expected. Was he injured? I'm not scared of droppers per se but theres usually a reason for them falling so much, everyone proclaims theyre a steal, and 5 years later theyre in the ECHL. A dropper could just as easily be Tyler Biggs or Martin Frk as it is a player that works out. I will also say that none of the guys you mentioned have proven a thing in the NHL at this point so its hard to say if its actually working out or not based on those 3 players

Cory Emmerton is actually probably a great example for what you're getting at here. Emmerton was ranked a top 10 player in his draft class entering his year and was even at 10 in the final central scouting rankings. All of a sudden he was tumbling, we took that chance and he was tumbling with good reason as it turns out.

AA was buried in London and had trouble adapting initially. His physical tools were never in question, attitude and willingness to accept a lesser role was the issue. He also grew two inches after his draft year so part of what you are looking at in the steal realm (hopefully) plays a big factor.

Jurco and Frk both slid in their draft year. I think the Wings trust their board, a lot of their leg work is done in advanced with the kind of mixed results one might expect out of any draft. They have reached on guys and taken sliders, but I doubt to them it would be well he should have gone. They trust their board and clearly rank all the guys regardless, remember it being reported Nuke was #3 on their board, so clearly they are running all the numbers regardless of drafting position.
 
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Chex LeMeneux

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May 4, 2014
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I'm scared of droppers who dont have a good reason to drop. A flyer on Pulkkinen is fine or Marchenko because they were a little hurt in their draft years if I remember correctly. Mantha went right around where he was expected to and youre right AA was a dropper from a top 20ish at the start of the year to the fourth round.

As far as I can tell, Kylington has just played poorly this season compared to whats expected. Was he injured? I'm not scared of droppers per se but theres usually a reason for them falling so much, everyone proclaims theyre a steal, and 5 years later theyre in the ECHL. A dropper could just as easily be Tyler Biggs or Martin Frk as it is a player that works out. I will also say that none of the guys you mentioned have proven a thing in the NHL at this point so its hard to say if its actually working out or not based on those 3 players

He was injured during the WJC and didn't play. That undoubtedly impacted his draft stock. Plus in a deep draft, you never know if it's him playing poorly, or others playing above their heads. It's not like he's falling drastically, he's still in the the late-teens/early-20s in most mock drafts that I've seen recently.

Edit: Just looked it up again on eliteprospects and it says he did play. I guess I should have checked that instead of just using google. It says he played 5 games so maybe he didn't play the whole tournament or had lingering issues :dunno:
 
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Probie

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Feb 19, 2009
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I'm scared of droppers who dont have a good reason to drop. A flyer on Pulkkinen is fine or Marchenko because they were a little hurt in their draft years if I remember correctly. Mantha went right around where he was expected to and youre right AA was a dropper from a top 20ish at the start of the year to the fourth round.

As far as I can tell, Kylington has just played poorly this season compared to whats expected. Was he injured? I'm not scared of droppers per se but theres usually a reason for them falling so much, everyone proclaims theyre a steal, and 5 years later theyre in the ECHL. A dropper could just as easily be Tyler Biggs or Martin Frk as it is a player that works out. I will also say that none of the guys you mentioned have proven a thing in the NHL at this point so its hard to say if its actually working out or not based on those 3 players

What's funny is we wanted Tyler Biggs, and when he got snatched up we traded down to grab jurco.
 

BStinson

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Nov 11, 2013
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I think Datsyuk was just not on any other teams radar at the time. Detroit was the only team to have scouted him specifically, if i remember correctly
Detroit actually didn't specifically scout Datsyuk, they went to scout another player and Datsyuk caught Hakan's eye.
Datsyuk was a dropper wasnt he?
Datsyuk wasn't a dropper.

Back on topic. There is some interesting defenseman even late round guys that have caught some interest from the scouting reports i've read. The following are some of the top of my head.

Roger Karrer
Gustav Bouramman
Yegor Rykov
Veeti Vaino
Ethan Bear
Parker Wotherspoon
Caleb Jones
 

Rzombo4 prez

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May 17, 2012
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He was injured during the WJC and didn't play. That undoubtedly impacted his draft stock. Plus in a deep draft, you never know if it's him playing poorly, or others playing above their heads. It's not like he's falling drastically, he's still in the the late-teens/early-20s in most mock drafts that I've seen recently.

Edit: Just looked it up again on eliteprospects and it says he did play. I guess I should have checked that instead of just using google. It says he played 5 games so maybe he didn't play the whole tournament or had lingering issues :dunno:

I am pretty certain that he was injured in one of the pre-tournament exhibition games and never actually played in the tournament. I want to say that he also missed a chunk of time after the tournament.
 

Chex LeMeneux

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May 4, 2014
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I am pretty certain that he was injured in one of the pre-tournament exhibition games and never actually played in the tournament. I want to say that he also missed a chunk of time after the tournament.

Yeah, I did a bit more research after posting that. Apparently he missed the under-20 tournament, but played in the under-18 tournament, which makes sense cause the very first article I found was from March. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for us) he didn't play well in the under-18 tournament, which was after getting injured and he hasn't been the same since. So it could very well be a case of a player sliding because of an injury issue during their draft year, which could be great for us.
 

Tatar

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Mar 26, 2011
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Detroit actually didn't specifically scout Datsyuk, they went to scout another player and Datsyuk caught Hakan's eye.

Datsyuk wasn't a dropper.

Back on topic. There is some interesting defenseman even late round guys that have caught some interest from the scouting reports i've read. The following are some of the top of my head.

Roger Karrer
Gustav Bouramman
Yegor Rykov
Veeti Vaino
Ethan Bear
Parker Wotherspoon
Caleb Jones

I really hope we draft this kid. 6'2" and a point per game defenseman in the Finnish juniors. Something that's hard to do as a forward, let alone a defenseman. I hope he's still on the board by our Dallas pick.
 

Lampedampe

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Feb 26, 2015
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I'm scared of droppers who dont have a good reason to drop. A flyer on Pulkkinen is fine or Marchenko because they were a little hurt in their draft years if I remember correctly. Mantha went right around where he was expected to and youre right AA was a dropper from a top 20ish at the start of the year to the fourth round.

As far as I can tell, Kylington has just played poorly this season compared to whats expected. Was he injured? I'm not scared of droppers per se but theres usually a reason for them falling so much, everyone proclaims theyre a steal, and 5 years later theyre in the ECHL. A dropper could just as easily be Tyler Biggs or Martin Frk as it is a player that works out. I will also say that none of the guys you mentioned have proven a thing in the NHL at this point so its hard to say if its actually working out or not based on those 3 players

Kylington was injured and played on 3 different teams, just going back and forth. I think that's reason enough. And he didn't play on different teams because he was bad, he was loaned to a number of teams due to contracts i believe.
 
Jul 30, 2005
17,660
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I mean, what is location, really
ISS final rankings. Some good players available at 19.

http://www.isshockey.com/iss-top-30/

1 McDavid, Connor C 1/13/1997 L 6.00.75 195 Erie OHL
2 Eichel, Jack C 10/28/1996 R 6.02 196 Boston Univ H.E.
3 Strome, Dylan C 3/7/1997 L 6.03 185 Erie OHL
4 Crouse, Lawson LW 6/23/1997 L 6.04 215 Kingston OHL
5 Hanifin, Noah LD 1/25/1997 L 6.02.75 203 Boston College H.E.
6 Marner, Mitchell C 5/5/1997 R 5.11 160 London OHL
7 Provorov, Ivan LD 1/13/1997 L 6.00.5 201 Brandon WHL
8 Barzal, Mathew C 5/26/1997 R 5.11.25 175 Seattle WHL
9 Rantanen, Mikko RW 10/29/1996 L 6.03.5 211 TPS Turku FinE
10 Zacha, Pavel C 4/6/1997 L 6.03 210 Sarnia OHL
11 Werenski, Zach RD 7/19/1997 L 6.02 206 Michigan BigTen
12 Konecny, Travis C 3/11/1997 R 5.09.75 175 Ottawa OHL
13 Connor, Kyle C 12/9/1996 L 6.01 177 Youngstown USHL
14 Meier, Timo RW 10/8/1996 L 6.01 209 Halifax QMJHL
15 White, Colin RW 1/30/1997 R 6.00 183 USA Under-18 NTDP
16 Chabot, Thomas LD 1/30/1997 L 6.01.5 180 Saint John QMJHL
17 Bittner, Paul LW 11/4/1996 L 6.04 204 Portland WHL
18 Svechnikov, Evgeny RW 10/31/1996 L 6.01.75 199 Cape Breton QMJHL
19 Merkley, Nick C 5/23/1997 R 5.10.5 191 Kelowna WHL
20 Ek Eriksson, Joel C 1/29/1997 L 6.01.75 180 Farjestad SweJE
21 Carlo, Brandon RD 11/26/1996 R 6.05 196 Tri-City WHL
22 Zboril, Jakub LD 2/21/1997 L 6.00.75 184 Saint John QMJHL
23 Roy, Jeremy RD 5/14/1997 R 6.00 188 Sherbrooke QMJHL
24 Guryanov, Denis RW 6/7/1997 L 6.02.5 183 Togliatti Ladya RusJr
25 Harkins, Jansen C/LW 5/23/1997 L 6.01.25 182 Prince George WHL
26 Sprong, Daniel RW 3/17/1997 R 6.00 180 Charlottetown QMJHL
27 Debrusk, Jake LW 10/17/1996 L 5.11.5 174 Swift Current WHL
28 Bracco, Jeremy RW 3/17/1997 R 5.09.25 173 USA Under-18 NTDP
29 Juulsen, Noah LD 4/2/1997 R 6.01.5 174 Everett WHL
30 Carlsson, Gabriel LD 1/2/1997 L 6.04 183 Linkoping SweJE
 
Jul 30, 2005
17,660
4,588
I mean, what is location, really
LMAO at crouse over marner and hanifin.
That's been their thing all year. Yikes.

Anyway, an interesting storyline here to me: if a 6'2 Swedish goalscoring center with a good defensive game and top six upside falls to the Wings (in Eriksson-Ek), can they resist taking him? They need a defenseman, but it sure seems like he's everything Detroit wants, even if he's not really what they need.

A very competitive center who uses his size, skill, and skating to power to the net and create scoring chances. Possesses an elite-level shot, great vision, and slick puckhandling skills; as a result, it's no surprise that he has a natural knack for scoring big goals. Offensive catalyst, but also defensively responsible. Plays a creative, 200-foot game. All-in-all, an intelligent, scoring center that is productive at both ends of the ice. (Curtis Joe, EP 2014)

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=139633

Love his size, energy, skating ability... just works his ass off, great energy and battle for pucks along the boards and good skater. Great work rate and motor. Competes for everything.
(Some poster named Puckfan13)

Joel Eriksson-Ek is a pure sniper with one of the best wrist shots in this draft, and an impressive snap shot. He has a lightning quick release, and his shot is already NHL ready. He protects the puck extremely well using his body to shield defenders, and his stickhandling to keep control while also being fully capable of driving to the front of the net, and having the soft hands to finish in close. He is good in the cycle game and extremely hard to knock off the puck. Eriksson-Ek is not afraid to battle in the corners and often comes out with loose pucks. He has very good vision and passing skills and can play the role of playmaker down low as well. He has very good hockey sense, making smart plays with the puck and finding ways to get open without it.

Eriksson-Ek’s two way game is extremely well developped. He is very good at the little things, such as winning faceoffs, using his long stick to break up passing lanes, and supporting his defence down low. He shows the ability to work along the boards and win battles in all three zones and doesn’t take shifts off. He also is able to contain opponents on the cycle game and Eriksson-Ek is willing to block shots. His compete level is very high, and he is always at the middle of post-whistle scrums.

from http://lastwordonsports.com/2015/04/20/2015-nhl-draft-profile-20-joel-eriksson-ek/

also good for a laugh:

Joel Eriksson-Ek has the potential to be a very valuable two-way centre in the NHL. If he develops to his full potential he can be the type of centre who provides offence and is also tasked with killing penalties and playing against the other team’s top line. His style is reminiscent of Johan Franzen of the Detroit Red Wings, though this is a stylistic comparison and not a talent one.
I guess other teams view Franzen differently... especially considering they're raving about this kid's compete level.
 
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InjuredChoker

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Dec 25, 2011
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don't know about ek but i'd likely take white at 19. depends who is out there.

kylington is such a wild card but i think i'd gamble with him at 19. ISS doesn't even have him at top 30. hard to imagine he falls to the 2nd round.
 
Jul 30, 2005
17,660
4,588
I mean, what is location, really
don't know about ek but i'd likely take white at 19. depends who is out there.

kylington is such a wild card but i think i'd gamble with him at 19. ISS doesn't even have him at top 30. hard to imagine he falls to the 2nd round.
Yeah, I'd love White. Although that's an interesting debate all its own: White or Ek? They're similar in some ways. White has the speed down, but they're both shoot-first players with grit and compete level. They're both ranked about the same, on average.

Kylington... I dunno. What a gamble that pick would be. For an organization that is increasingly having trouble keeping its Swedish prospects happy, that pick would make me worried. He has issues all his own, and then perhaps some Hakan Andersson tough love, and I don't know.
 

Frk It

Mo Seider Less Problems
Jul 27, 2010
36,201
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don't know about ek but i'd likely take white at 19. depends who is out there.

kylington is such a wild card but i think i'd gamble with him at 19. ISS doesn't even have him at top 30. hard to imagine he falls to the 2nd round.

I would be happy with any of White, Merkley, or Eriksson Ek.

I also am a fan of Chlapik, if we are trading back.
 

detredWINgs

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Jan 1, 2004
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Don't know why everyone is speculating about Kylington. We have one of the most revered Swedish scouts in the game. If there's an inside scoop - good or bad - Hakan will know. And I would bet my life that he is more informed as to what's going on with Kylington than those that contribute to the rankings. That's not to say that Andersson is bulletproof but he surely knows much more than what's available to us.
 

Rzombo4 prez

Registered User
May 17, 2012
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We need both centers and defensemen. If we go the center route at 19, I would prefer White over Ek but would be fine with either. There are a ton of different directions to go with defensemen at 19.

The hardest decision for me would be to have White, Kylington and Roy all available at 19.
 
Jul 30, 2005
17,660
4,588
I mean, what is location, really
The thing that's making me unsure about Roy is his footspeed. I watched him at the U18 and it's not exactly the most impressive thing, and he has trouble keeping his positioning at times. With how much NHL defense today is about skating and moving the puck, it's a little worrying. and, of course, that's exactly why he'll be available at #19. Can he work on that? Hard to tell. He always looks like he's standing still. I think I still want the Wings to draft him, but I'm a little hesitant.

On the other hand, Chabot is pretty much the picture of an NHL puckmover, but he's a LH LD without significant O-zone skill, and not really what the Wings need at all. But you can see why Chabot will probably go closer to 10 than to 15. I think if Roy could skate like Chabot, he'd go top 10 for sure. Maybe higher.

Edit: what's totally weird, though, is some outlets have Roy as a good skater. I'm not sure what that's about. Maybe they're projecting him to improve.

Like check this out:

Roy is an outstanding skater, and shows great mobility both forwards and backwards, as well as the strong edge work and agility to cover all areas in the defensive zone, and walk the line in the offensive zone.
They make him sound like Duncan Keith! http://futureconsiderations.ca/playerprofiler/JEREMY-ROY/
 
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