Next season should be pretty interesting in terms of graduating prospects. Sokolov, Shaw and Belpedio in Iowa, and with Kunin probably spending some time there too. Then Greenway who will probably spend the whole year in NHL.
Not sure how those first three will do but it's a thing to follow. Add JEE's progression and overall it's an injection of youth to the organisation. Some of these are of course long shots to make it but not total no-hopers either.
Iowa really needs a goalie though. Second most goals against in Western conference; Michalek's .906 and Svedberg's 0.905 save% is not enough. KKK would be kind of an important signing (if Kirill Kaprizov is KK then Kaapo Kahkonen is KKK, right?!). If not him and sticking to Finish goalies, there are two other intriguing free agent options. Lankinen (23) and Vehvilainen (21) had great seasons this year, arguably better than Kahkonen (22). There should be promising options out there even if you can't sign Kahkonen.
Position/Skills | Names |
Goalie | Kaapo Kahkonen, Steve Michalek (RFA), Dereck Baribeau, Ales Stezka |
Two-way D | Louie Belpedio, Gustav Olofsson, Dylan Labbe (RFA), Jack Sadek |
Puck-moving D | Eric Martinsson, Gustav Bouramman, Brennan Menell |
Shutdown D | Nick Seeler (RFA), Hunter Warner, Jacob Golden, Nick Boka |
Playmaking C | Mason Shaw, Sam Anas |
Two-way C | Dante Salituro, Landon Ferraro, Adam Gilmour (RFA), Andrei Svetlakov |
Scoring F | Kirill Kaprizov, Dmitri Sokolov, Jordan Greenway, Luke Kunin, Nick Swaney |
Two-way W | Ivan Lodnia, Chase Lang, Justin Kloos, Bryce Misley |
Checking F | Pavel Jenys, Brandon Duhaime |
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
Position/Skills Names Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen, Steve Michalek (RFA), Dereck Baribeau, Ales Stezka Two-way D Louie Belpedio, Gustav Olofsson, Dylan Labbe (RFA), Jack Sadek Puck-moving D Eric Martinsson, Gustav Bouramman, Brennan Menell Shutdown D Nick Seeler (RFA), Hunter Warner, Jacob Golden, Nick Boka Playmaking C Mason Shaw, Sam Anas Two-way C Dante Salituro, Landon Ferraro, Adam Gilmour (RFA), Andrei Svetlakov Scoring F Kirill Kaprizov, Dmitri Sokolov, Jordan Greenway, Luke Kunin, Nick Swaney Two-way W Ivan Lodnia, Chase Lang, Justin Kloos, Bryce Misley Checking F Pavel Jenys, Brandon Duhaime
Where's Soucy?
traded for Panarin
nah, just forgot him. I guess he's in the shutdown camp - don't think he'll bring more offense than Seeler will honestly.
So I guess looking at it like this we should probably add a Puck moving D, a Playmaking C, a Two way C, a two way W and a Checking F late in the draft. So basically forwards for the most part.[TBODY] [/TBODY]
Position/Skills Names Goalie Kaapo Kahkonen, Steve Michalek (RFA), Dereck Baribeau, Ales Stezka Two-way D Louie Belpedio, Gustav Olofsson, Dylan Labbe (RFA), Jack Sadek Puck-moving D Eric Martinsson, Gustav Bouramman, Brennan Menell Shutdown D Nick Seeler (RFA), Hunter Warner, Jacob Golden, Nick Boka Playmaking C Mason Shaw, Sam Anas Two-way C Dante Salituro, Landon Ferraro, Adam Gilmour (RFA), Andrei Svetlakov Scoring F Kirill Kaprizov, Dmitri Sokolov, Jordan Greenway, Luke Kunin, Nick Swaney Two-way W Ivan Lodnia, Chase Lang, Justin Kloos, Bryce Misley Checking F Pavel Jenys, Brandon Duhaime
So I guess looking at it like this we should probably add a Puck moving D, a Playmaking C, a Two way C, a two way W and a Checking F late in the draft. So basically forwards for the most part.
Height is overrated.
Says every short person everywhere...
It's just easier to make a bigger player into a "checking FWD" than it is to make an Ennis into one.
If I'm taking a 5'9" player it's because of top 6 upside, not ease of turning into something lesser, and not all that difficult to find.
You never have enough of anything. Draft the best player. Period. putting any kind of parameters on a draft, only makes it less likely to succeed.The Wild have spent how much looking for a checking FWD is the past few years? How many are in the system? It's not all that easy. If I get any sort of a NHL player out. of a 4th or later pick I'm happy.
There really is enough undersized players in the pipeline right now. They really don't need to draft anymore this year.
You never have enough of anything. Draft the best player. Period. putting any kind of parameters on a draft, only makes it less likely to succeed.
I would really hope that a GM and his scouts would see things quite a bit differently than that.Is there really a best player once you get into the late rounds of the draft? Heck even past the top 2 or 3 overall every year the best player is debatable.
I would really hope that a GM and his scouts would see things quite a bit differently than that.
So I guess looking at it like this we should probably add a Puck moving D, a Playmaking C, a Two way C, a two way W and a Checking F late in the draft. So basically forwards for the most part.
Staal 6'4"
Koivu 6'3"
Coyle 6'3"
Nino 6'2"
Eriksson Ek 6'2"
55.56% of the projected top 9 with 1 spot to fill with maybe 6'5" Greenway.
They also have: Anas, Rau (does he count?), Kloos, Salituro, Shaw, and Lodnia as prospects.
Size is a factor to play in the NHL. Inconsistent Coyle, no offense JEE, and good for hitting people Foligno; wouldn't be NHL players last year if they were Anas' size. Spurgeon would be a top-5 d-man in the league if he was Hedman's size.