2017 NHL Entry Draft - Thread V6 - Leafs at 17

[Morgs]

Any of Suzuki, Liljegren or Andersson would be a dream at 17th, but I suspect they may all be gone by then. I'm just quietly kinda hoping we stay away from the Foote/Hague type d-men. No rational reason for it, I just have this uneasiness about defensive prospects with concerns regarding their skating and/or limited offensive upside, at least that high in the draft.

Kostin and Brannstrom would probably be the most intriguing picks to me, if nobody drops to us.

This is literally me & my thinking.

I'd love Timmins too. If people thought of him as a 1st round pick before the season (like Suzuki), he'd probably be hovering right around 10-15 right now (like Suzuki).

 

[Mess]

One might think that by looking at his assist totals (not saying thats what you did) but in my viewings of him he showed some good playmaking abilities and vision. 5 on 5 he does need to be more effective and he can be with some changes to his game. He likes to keep to the outside and set up along the boards, but he has the size, skill and power to dominate the middle of the ice. If we were picking him, I would think that the leafs mgmt would be on his case about driving the middle of the ice and going to the net more rather than diverging to the perimeter.

Matthews had 40 goals and just 26 assists, and if that method was applied one would say Auston isn't a good playmaker as Rasmussen 32 goals and 23 assists in 50 games had similar like stats.

Too bad he broke his wrist ( and missed nearly 1/3 of the season) or he might have scored 45-50 goals this year. For a 6-6/221 power Centre with that kind of finish ability there will be teams lining up for him.

 

[Duffman955]

Matthews had 40 goals and just 26 assists, and if that method was applied one would say Auston isn't a good playmaker as Rasmussen 32 goals and 23 assists in 50 games had similar like stats.

Too bad he broke his wrist ( and missed nearly 1/3 of the season) or he might have scored 45-50 goals this year. For a 6-6/221 power Centre with that kind of finish ability there will be teams lining up for him.

Are you directly comparing the NHL production to minor league production rate? In that case, a lot players project to be better than crosby.

Are you impressed by 7 ES assists in 55 games? 4th liners usually put up better numbers.

 

[93LEAFS]

Matthews had 40 goals and just 26 assists, and if that method was applied one would say Auston isn't a good playmaker as Rasmussen 32 goals and 23 assists in 50 games had similar like stats.

Too bad he broke his wrist ( and missed nearly 1/3 of the season) or he might have scored 45-50 goals this year. For a 6-6/221 power Centre with that kind of finish ability there will be teams lining up for him.

Except Matthews got a ton of primary assists at ES. Rasmussen got 12 primary assists all year and only 3 at 5v5. That also jives with the eye-test of him being at best an average playmaker.

And he plays a very perimeter game when he isn't standing in front of the net. He's tall and big, but doesn't play a power game.

 

[Menzinger]

I'd still take a punt on him at #17

I don't like how the stats and eye test line up on him.

Relies on the power play for scoring and the Eye test says he's getting garbage goals in front of he net.

Seems like he's not using his skill to get these points but rather usage, which to me suggests he could have a difficult time repeating.

 

[firstemperor]

I don't like how the stats and eye test line up on him.

Relies on the power play for scoring and the Eye test says he's getting garbage goals in front of he net.

Seems like he's not using his skill to get these points but rather usage, which to me suggests he could have a difficult time repeating.

Eye test says he has a rare combination of size and skating. Everyone has knocks one way or the other by #17. Rasmussen's flaws are his ES production and assist rate.

Poehling has far less offensive pedigree and scores exclusively garbage goals. If you apply the same logic to Rasmussen then you would have to do that for Poehling too. Not to say you are high on either in particular.

 

[Warden of the North]

My fingers are crossed we get Valimaki

 

[Smif]

ISS has Kostin listed as a centre, anyone seen another list with him at C?

 

[Mr Hockey]

ISS has Kostin listed as a center, anyone has seen another list with him at C?

He seems to be a winger in the youtube videos I see him in?

 

[daethfromabove1979]

I think the My NHL mock draft is pretty accurate

http://www.mynhldraft.com/NHL-Mock-Draft/

I doubt we get any of the top 14 listed there - Suzuki, Rasmussen, Valimaki, and Liljegren are all likely gone by the time we pick

Then we will get one of Tolvanen, Andersson, Foote, Vesalainen and I would love anyone of them besides Foote

I can't imagine Brannstrom being on our radar though

If we keep 17 we are getting a good player

 

[Caesium]

I think the My NHL mock draft is pretty accurate

http://www.mynhldraft.com/NHL-Mock-Draft/

I doubt we get any of the top 14 listed there - Suzuki, Rasmussen, Valimaki, and Liljegren are all likely gone by the time we pick

Then we will get one of Tolvanen, Andersson, Foote, Vesalainen and I would love anyone of them besides Foote

I can't imagine Brannstrom being on our radar though

If we keep 17 we are getting a good player

I think Valimaki will be available at 17, and I think there's a 75% chance that Liljegren is available at 17.

 

[daethfromabove1979]

I think Valimaki will be available at 17, and I think there's a 75% chance that Liljegren is available at 17.

I'd be some pumped if Valimaki was there but I can't see it happening, hope I'm wrong

 

[supermann_98]

I think Valimaki will be available at 17, and I think there's a 75% chance that Liljegren is available at 17.

If both are still available to us at our pick I'll feel like I did in 2015 when both Nylander and Ehlers were still available at our pick ... excited and happy and praying we just take the swede and call it a day.

 

[93LEAFS]

ISS has Kostin listed as a centre, anyone seen another list with him at C?

He's a winger. ISS has been a joke since Stuart Hyman bought them.

 

[Drew311]

I'd be some pumped if Valimaki was there but I can't see it happening, hope I'm wrong

Is there any knock on Valimaki? Seems crazy that he would be available at #17.

Big, two-way, PPG defenseman in his draft year. I'm surprised he's not in the top 10 conversation.

 

[Kiwi]

Is there any knock on Valimaki? Seems crazy that he would be available at #17.

Big, two-way, PPG defenseman in his draft year. I'm surprised he's not in the top 10 conversation.

The only thing I've seen is his mobility is questionable
He gets beaten on the outside a bit

 

[93LEAFS]

Is there any knock on Valimaki? Seems crazy that he would be available at #17.

Big, two-way, PPG defenseman in his draft year. I'm surprised he's not in the top 10 conversation.

Can easily get beat by speed. Not very graceful footwork. I'd be fine with him at 17 though.

 

[Smif]

He's a winger. ISS has been a joke since Stuart Hyman bought them.

Damnit, I bought their guide today..

 

[bobermay]

To think, we'll be adding a few kids to our Leafs family within the next couple days! Gotta love it!

 

[Smif]

To think, we'll be adding a few kids to our Leafs family within the next couple days! Gotta love it!

Ya, exactly!! The only day we can 100% depend on for actually acquiring players

 

[93LEAFS]

Damnit, I bought their guide today..

Whatever, at least this year it goes to a good cause and wasn't crazily priced.

 

[FlareKnight]

Should be interesting to see what we do and who we draft. Just going to look on the bright side for whoever we pick though .

Damnit, I bought their guide today..

To be fair the ISS guide is so cheap that I wouldn't feel too bad.

 

[Judas Tavares]

My mock. Tough year. From a Leafs perspective, no clue what they will do really. In the past I've got Biggs, Rielly, Gauthier, Marner and Matthews (easy) all correct in my mocks, but this year I have no pulse on what they will do.

New Jersey Devils - C Nico Hischier
Philadelphia Flyers - C Nolan Patrick
Dallas Stars - D Miro Heiskanen
Colorado Avalanche - C Gabriel Vilardi
Vancouver Canucks - C Elias Pettersson
Vegas Golden Knights - C Cody Glass
Arizona Coyotes - D Cale Makar
Buffalo Sabres - D Timothy Liljegren
Detroit Red Wings - C Casey Mittlestadt
Florida Panthers - C Martin Necas
Los Angeles Kings - W Owen Tippett
Carolina Hurricanes - C Nick Suzuki
Vegas Golden Knights - C Michael Rasmussen
Tampa Bay Lightning - D Jusso Valimaki
Vegas Golden Knights - W Eeli Tolvanen
Calgary Flames - C Lias Andersson
Toronto Maple Leafs - D Nic Hague
Boston Bruins - C Ryan Poehling
San Jose Sharks - C Robert Thomas
St. Louis Blues - W Kristian Vesalainen
New York Rangers - D Cal Foote
Edmonton Oilers - D Erik Brannstrom
Arizona Coyotes - W Klim Kostin
Winnipeg Jets - D Connor Timmins
Montreal Canadiens - C Filip Chytil
Chicago Blackhawks - C Josh Norris
St. Louis Blues - C Shane Bowers
Ottawa Senators - W Isaac Ratcliffe
Dallas Stars - D Urho Vaakanainen
Nashville Predators - W Jason Robertson
Pittsburgh Penguins - W Kole Lind

 

[SeaOfBlue]

I still need to finish up my draft board for tomorrow, but I've done everything except non-CSS listed players and North Americans (for defense and wing). I don't know who to get off of the CSS lists besides Manukyan who many people like as a 7th rounder and Pontus Eltonius. I had a few others I added, but they didn't make the final cut for my bigger list.

If anyone has some guys you think I should highlight, please let me know. Whether they are late on the CSS, high on the CSS or not on the CSS at all. There may be some guys that I have not picked (or did pick) that should be worth a look or should (or shouldn't) be included on my list.

It's really tough finding scouting reports on guys, especially lesser known Europeans and NA guys playing outside of the OHL and WHL (even the QMJHL is really hard to find for anyone not highly ranked).

Some things I've noticed
1) A ton of good goalies that could be had in the later rounds. This is a draft where we could get a really good guy in the 4th round or in the 7th round if we really wanted to. There are some guys who didn't even make the CSS rankings I've found who are pretty damn good, and there were guys who could easily be 5th-7th round picks in a normal draft that I kept off my Leafs board simply because there were too many good goalies. I'm not even bothering going outside of the CSS because there are so many guys on the CSS rankings as it is, minus one OA Swedish goalie.
2) A lot of OA European guys who could be had in the late rounds. Volvchenko, Olund, Lakatos, Soderlund, Turkulainen, Luostarinen, etc.
2.5) In fact, a lot of good talent out of Europe all over I find. There are some guys I left off the list were guys I see could still be drafted, but I wanted to keep the list to around 50 from Europe. I have 53 draft worthy guys on my list for the Leafs, but it could easily be doubled if we wanted to. A ton of gems, especially from Slovakia and Czech Republic, I think could be found this year.
3) There are not a lot of strong center prospects (at least on the CSS rankings) that I feel are good enough to be taken in this draft in North America. All centers ranked in the top 100 NA rankings are worth a pick for the Leafs IMO (where, I have yet to determine), but after that I only see Rymsha, Studnicka, Seitz, Hawel, Jones, Hartikainen, Kastelic and Kelly as guys worth a pick outside of those rankings. If we want a center late, it'll likely be European or another longer term project/a high risk/reward pick like Kelly, who I will say could be a really good player as someone who has watched him a few times.

 

[Center Ice Scrum*]

1st choice - I really want Lias Andersson. I think he's going to be an impact forward. Kid has played a dominant role and produced at every level against his peers. Even in the SHL he's been a good player.

2nd choice - Timothy Liljegren (hopefully a dropper)

3rd choice - Kristian Vesalainen (Shown flashes of pure domination against his peers but like Nylander in his draft year, supposed attitude problems and constantly switching clubs might have cost him a possible top 10 selection. I don't know how else a guy his size, with his skating abilities and skills slides down to the late teens or twenties.)