I don't know that my opinion matters much. None of them play with a Dallas prospect so I didn't watch them or if I did it was one or two games against a Dallas prospect. Although, I don't recall watching either Konecny or Svechnikov.
I love the draft, but I mainly get serious after the picks are made. I don't have enough time to focus seriously on a bunch of players that ultimately end up elsewhere, but I wish I could. I just end up watching Dallas' prospects instead though ... mostly the AHL but as many others as possible.
All of my draft guesses are going to be on Dallas trends, we were very heavy WHL and Swedish team with Jackson. They weren't afraid of the BCHL or OJHL either. Nill and McDonnell have leaned much heavier on the OHL (they did in Detroit as well) which is obvious because that's who Nill was able to scout most often, and they aren't afraid of any level of European player it seems. They haven't done it in Dallas yet, but they were not afraid of Slovakian or Czech league players, and in Dallas for the first time (I believe that's accurate) they've taken a U18 Finnish league player in Miro Karjalainen. Detroit was also active in the Q where I don't think Dallas had drafted a player in years before Desrosiers. Bottom line ... I don't think you can narrow a pick down any longer by where they are from. Dallas is a team that won't show favorites or be scared by a lesser league. You use to be able to just know the Q and Russians won't be coming here.
As far as player types, I think Nill and McDonnell have followed Jackson's theme of mostly picking larger players ... very few undersized. That said, they obviously aren't afraid of taking highly skilled smaller players like Ully, Honka, or Prapavessis. Along with most draftees having size, the majority also are good to great skaters.
McDonnell added this last year, "I guess if you asked what we like, it’s skill and compete level. We’re going to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the players, but if you look at the end of the day, that’s the kind of player we’ll often get.” We also know that McDonnell said all things equal, he takes the defender.
It think Conner sounds like the safe pick. He checks off every important box. That said, I think Nichushkin and Honka proved they aren't necessarily what you'd consider traditionally safe with the first pick. Konecny and Svechnikov are the better home run potential. I think size with high end skill would be more attractive to them so ultimately if it came down to those three Svechnikov would be my ultimate guess.
