Prospect Info: 2018 Draft Thread (STL #1 via WPG is 29th OA)

[MissouriMook]

I just don’t see our front office taking the gamble with Merkley. His skill speaks for itself... he’s absolutely phenomenal. He *should* be a top pick. The fact that he isn’t is worrying. He’s 17, everybody is entitled to be a **** head when they’re that old, but we’ve seen with Ho Sang and Sean Day, sometimes those habits carry forward and can impact a career. If you want boom/bust you take Merkley, and seeing as how we took Kostin who had different question marks, but question marks nonetheless last year, maybe we do roll the dice...

One important distinction between the two situations is that the Kostin pick was our second pick, not our first. I could see us taking a flyer on a kid with health or character questions with #45 if we keep the WPG 1st, but not with our first selection in the draft.

 

[EL Bandito]

One important distinction between the two situations is that the Kostin pick was our second pick, not our first. I could see us taking a flyer on a kid with health or character questions with #45 if we keep the WPG 1st, but not with our first selection in the draft.

Exactly. Like an Alexander Khovanov.

 

[G0bias]

For the 3rd and 4th rounds.....

Ivan Morozov
Alec Regula
Simon Johansson
Xavier Bouchard
Xavier Bernard
Nando Eggenberger

5th, 6th and 7th rounds......

Jack Jensen
Nikolai Kovalenko
Connor Roberts
Logan Hutsko
Seth Barton
Nico Gross

If they had to pick a goalie I'd take a late flyer on Jordan Kooy or Jacob Ingham but neither before the 5th.



If I had to nail down a pick my perfect draft would go:

1. Jack McBain
2. Alexander Khovanov or Alexander Alexeyev
3. Ivan Morozov or Simon Johansson
4. Alec Regula
5. Jack Jensen
6. Nikolai Kovalenko
7. Jacob Ingham

There's barely any talk about him, what's your take? Any idea why he got skipped last year?

 

[kimzey59]

27th-31st overall....

Jack McBain
Martin Kaut
Akil Thomas
Ty Dellandrea
Jett Woo
Alexander Alexeyev

McBain is an absolutely dreadful skater. He has size and a modest amount of skill, but right now he makes Jaskin look agile.
Woo is a very talented D man with a bit of a physical game, but I worry that he might be limited to being a PP specialist at the NHL level.
Alexeyev is the opposite. Very steady D man who makes some nice rushes, but I really worry about how his offense translates to the NHL.
Kaut is a boom or bust type. He has incredible skating ability and high end puck skills; but right now I'm not sure he knows what a "defensive zone" is, let alone where to find it or what to do once he gets there.
Thomas is an absolute buzzsaw on the ice with very good skating ability and the ability to a shot away from anywhere on the ice no matter how many defenders are around him.
Dellandrea is a tireless worker with very good skating ability and excellent puck skills.

Of this group; Akil Thomas and Ty Dellandea are far and away the two gems.

If I'm ranking this group-
1-Akil Thomas
2-Ty Dellandrea
3-Alexeyev
4-Woo
5-Kaut
6-McBain

45th overall.....

Jack McBain (really doubt he winds up this far even though there are lists with him in the 50s)
Ty Dellandrea
Jett Woo
Alexander Alexeyev
Jake Wise
Jay O'Brien
Stanislav Demin
Jack Drury
Alexander Khovanov (mega boom/bust)
Jared McIssac (dropping too far on lists, quality dman)
Liam Foudy
David Gustafsson
Xavier Bernard
K'Andre Miller
Jacob Olofsson
Alexander Romanov
Niklas Nordgren

Where are Kotkov, Bokk and Lundkvist in all this?
Don't get me wrong, my hope is that Dellandrea, Thomas or Kaut somehow fall into this range; but I take any of those 3 over 2/3 of that list.

If I had to nail down a pick my perfect draft would go:

1. Jack McBain
2. Alexander Khovanov or Alexander Alexeyev
3. Ivan Morozov or Simon Johansson
4. Alec Regula
5. Jack Jensen
6. Nikolai Kovalenko
7. Jacob Ingham

I would be EXTREMELY disappointed if we go with McBain/Khovanov ass our top 2 picks. And only slightly less so if it's McBain/Alexeyev.
JMO but McBain is not a 1st round talent. His skating is that bad. I'm honestly not even sure I'd be too happy with him as a 2nd round pick depending on who's there.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

McBain is an absolutely dreadful skater. He has size and a modest amount of skill, but right now he makes Jaskin look agile.
Woo is a very talented D man with a bit of a physical game, but I worry that he might be limited to being a PP specialist at the NHL level.
Alexeyev is the opposite. Very steady D man who makes some nice rushes, but I really worry about how his offense translates to the NHL.
Kaut is a boom or bust type. He has incredible skating ability and high end puck skills; but right now I'm not sure he knows what a "defensive zone" is, let alone where to find it or what to do once he gets there.
Thomas is an absolute buzzsaw on the ice with very good skating ability and the ability to a shot away from anywhere on the ice no matter how many defenders are around him.
Dellandrea is a tireless worker with very good skating ability and excellent puck skills.

Of this group; Akil Thomas and Ty Dellandea are far and away the two gems.

If I'm ranking this group-
1-Akil Thomas
2-Ty Dellandrea
3-Alexeyev
4-Woo
5-Kaut
6-McBain





Where are Kotkov, Bokk and Lundkvist in all this?
Don't get me wrong, my hope is that Dellandrea, Thomas or Kaut somehow fall into this range; but I take any of those 3 over 2/3 of that list.





I would be EXTREMELY disappointed if we go with McBain/Khovanov ass our top 2 picks. And only slightly less so if it's McBain/Alexeyev.
JMO but McBain is not a 1st round talent. His skating is that bad. I'm honestly not even sure I'd be too happy with him as a 2nd round pick depending on who's there.

What are you basing your thoughts on McBain’s skating on? Because everything I’ve seen of him (and read about him from scouts I trust) indicates the opposite. He isn’t McDavid by any means, but I wouldn’t rank his skating in the minus column either

If you want to see a bad skater, watch Anderson McDonald

 

[stl76]

FWIW they mentioned on Sportsnet that Bill Armstrong was at the SSM vs Hamilton game today. Obviously he was watching Thomas, but perhaps also guys like Sandin, Hayton, Saigeon, Nurse, etc.

 

[kimzey59]

What are you basing your thoughts on McBain’s skating on? Because everything I’ve seen of him (and read about him from scouts I trust) indicates the opposite. He isn’t McDavid by any means, but I wouldn’t rank his skating in the minus column either

If you want to see a bad skater, watch Anderson McDonald

Personal viewing.
His top end speed is decent; but I see very limited agility and very poor acceleration. From what I have seen of him, his skating will need a ton of work before it is NHL capable. He has the size and puck skills to be intriguing, but there’s no way I take him before the 3rd round. He needs way too much work on his footwork to become NHL caliber.

And yes, McDonald is a terrible skater also and he may end up going undrafted as a result. You can not be a bad skater in today’s NHL.

 

[MissouriMook]

39 days and counting.

I still think this year's draft, maybe more so than last year's, will be about the trades more than the picks. I really feel like Army is going to be very active in the trade market leading up to and at the draft.

I don't think there is much of a chance at all that we actually use the WIN 1st rounder as our pick. My opinion on the odds of what happens with that pick is:

80% we trade it in a package for an NHL roster player
15% we trade it to move down and add picks in the 2nd round
4% we trade that pick and other assets to move up in the 1st round and grab a player we rate highly
1% we use the pick when it comes up

Again, JMO.

 

[Brian39]

FWIW they mentioned on Sportsnet that Bill Armstrong was at the SSM vs Hamilton game today. Obviously he was watching Thomas, but perhaps also guys like Sandin, Hayton, Saigeon, Nurse, etc.

As much as he has to love what Thomas is doing right now, I'd be shocked if the main purpose of that visit was to watch Thomas. Keeping an eye on your own prospects is certainly a component of his job, but the two months leading up to the draft are all about preparing for the draft. Unless we are realistically considering trading Thomas at the draft and determining how highly the organization should rate him, he's there to watch undrafted talent and/or prospects from other teams to target in a trade. I sincerely doubt we are even considering moving Thomas, so I'd wager we like another prospect playing in that game.

With all that said, he has to be loving what Thomas has done in the last couple months. Our CHL prospects are making him look fantastic at the moment.

 

[Ranksu]

I don't think there is much of a chance at all that we actually use the WIN 1st rounder as our pick. My opinion on the odds of what happens with that pick is:

80% we trade it in a package for an NHL roster player
15% we trade it to move down and add picks in the 2nd round
4% we trade that pick and other assets to move up in the 1st round and grab a player we rate highly
1% we use the pick when it comes up

Again, JMO.

Bolded one: Trade 1st + prospect for Oshie type of player. Great plan.

 

[The Note]

Bolded one: Trade 1st + prospect for Oshie type of player. Great plan.

Are you being sarcastic? Because trading a late first and Thompson for a 50+ point, 2-way RW would be a pretty good trade.

 

[WeWentBlues]

As much as he has to love what Thomas is doing right now, I'd be shocked if the main purpose of that visit was to watch Thomas. Keeping an eye on your own prospects is certainly a component of his job, but the two months leading up to the draft are all about preparing for the draft. Unless we are realistically considering trading Thomas at the draft and determining how highly the organization should rate him, he's there to watch undrafted talent and/or prospects from other teams to target in a trade. I sincerely doubt we are even considering moving Thomas, so I'd wager we like another prospect playing in that game.

With all that said, he has to be loving what Thomas has done in the last couple months. Our CHL prospects are making him look fantastic at the moment.

Scouting some of Thomas teammates perhaps? Brandon Saigeon has gone undrafted the past two drafts but will be selected in 2018 after the season he just put up for Hamilton.

 

[kimzey59]

Scouting some of Thomas teammates perhaps? Brandon Saigeon has gone undrafted the past two drafts but will be selected in 2018 after the season he just put up for Hamilton.

Local Boy Watch:
Ryan Roth plays for SSM.
Draft Eligible this year though I don't see him getting mentioned on a lot of the ranking sites.

Undersized RW with some solid wheels a decent set of hands. Might be worth a late round pick.

 

[Ranksu]

Are you being sarcastic? Because trading a late first and Thompson for a 50+ point, 2-way RW would be a pretty good trade.

It doesn't work that way you trade away your top6 for guy who 'fits better in your team', 'cus coach told so and afterwards understand you only made bigger hole in your team. That is bad roster management.

 

[WeWentBlues]

I posted on the Hamilton sub-forum. Sharing this response I received.

Regular season: primarily Strome - Thomas - Entwistle. Thomas had difficulty finding chemistry and Gruden tried almost every line combination imaginable with him.

Playoffs: Saigeon - Thomas - Nurse. After a loss to Ottawa early in the first round, the lines were shaken up again. So much so that Saigeon was moved to LW with Thomas, which hadn't been done before. Saigeon is a natural center and solidified his spot on the second line. Since that game, Saigeon has remained on LW with Thomas as they formed a lot of chemistry together. Isaac Nurse was RW on the top line for almost all of the playoffs, except Strome played RW for the final 2 games.

Going back to players finding chemistry, this isn't a knock on Thomas or any others. After watching Thomas for a few months, you can see he has a unique style of play. He loves to control the puck can often evade defenders in their own end while he has puck possession. Players likely had to adjust, much like he also had to adapt to his new teammates' style of play. With Thomas players need to anticipate unexpected passes, including passes through a lot of traffic. He's been an incredible addition to the Bulldogs.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Trying to find some diamonds in the rough (still), and I stumbled upon Christian Lindberg, a lefty defenseman from Sweden. Reminds me of Anton Andersson, our 7th round pick from last draft.

He captained his U18 IK Oskarshamn squad this year, posting 35 points in 33 games. He was then called up to the J20 team, and scored 15 points in 13 games. He then played 33 games with the Allsvenskan squad, but didn’t score any points there.

However, his superlatives are notable: most assists, goals, and points for a dman in the J18 league, both for the South division and for the league overall. He also had the most goals for a dman in the south division of the J20 league.

He isn’t ranked by any of the “big” scouting services, but @Tryamkin over in the prospects boards has had him ranked in the 4th round or so all season, and Steve Kournianos has him ranked as a 7th rounder.

Given the fact that we took Andersson last year even though he was in a similar situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if we had our eye on Lindberg too. He would be worth a late flyer, if nothing else.

 

[Tryamkin]

Trying to find some diamonds in the rough (still), and I stumbled upon Christian Lindberg, a lefty defenseman from Sweden. Reminds me of Anton Andersson, our 7th round pick from last draft.

He captained his U18 IK Oskarshamn squad this year, posting 35 points in 33 games. He was then called up to the J20 team, and scored 15 points in 13 games. He then played 33 games with the Allsvenskan squad, but didn’t score any points there.

However, his superlatives are notable: most assists, goals, and points for a dman in the J18 league, both for the South division and for the league overall. He also had the most goals for a dman in the south division of the J20 league.

He isn’t ranked by any of the “big” scouting services, but @Tryamkin over in the prospects boards has had him ranked in the 4th round or so all season, and Steve Kournianos has him ranked as a 7th rounder.

Given the fact that we took Andersson last year even though he was in a similar situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if we had our eye on Lindberg too. He would be worth a late flyer, if nothing else.

Hey there.

Lindberg would be a great flyer pick. I have him listed in the 4th because his potential seems to be quite high. Going over PPG in the J20’s is quite impressive. The points haven’t come yet for him in the 2nd tier of Swedish hockey, but he’s got some good potential. He’s a good skater with a nice 6’1 frame. Nice shot but obviously doesn’t get much ice time with his team. Next year I’m expecting him to emerge and I thin any team who selects him will be pleasantly surprised. Slick player with some sneaky upside.

If you guys have any questions about a prospect, I’d be glad to offer my opinion.

 

[carter333167]

39 days and counting.

I still think this year's draft, maybe more so than last year's, will be about the trades more than the picks. I really feel like Army is going to be very active in the trade market leading up to and at the draft.

I don't think there is much of a chance at all that we actually use the WIN 1st rounder as our pick. My opinion on the odds of what happens with that pick is:

80% we trade it in a package for an NHL roster player
15% we trade it to move down and add picks in the 2nd round
4% we trade that pick and other assets to move up in the 1st round and grab a player we rate highly
1% we use the pick when it comes up

Again, JMO.

I hope we save and use the pick.

 

[WeWentBlues]

I hope we save and use the pick.

We need more immediate help than a late 1st that is years away from contributing. You have to trade the pick to improve the top 6.

 

[Ranksu]

I hate if we use that pick for package + lose one of our best young prospect.

Doug Armstrong should push hard for trade away Jbo, Gunnar, Sobotka and Berglund and get many as possible picks, let Bill Armstrong build our team. That's the only way we can build for Stanley Cup contender.

 

[Bluesguru]

I hate if we use that pick for package + lose one of our best young prospect.

Doug Armstrong should push hard for trade away Jbo, Gunnar, Sobotka and Berglund and get many as possible picks, let Bill Armstrong build our team. That's the only way we can build for Stanley Cup contender.

Blues are built to win now. I agree the dead weight must go but the Blues have to get back on track to being a contender again. There's no excuse to miss the playoffs next year. Not with Tarasenko, Schwartz, Schenn and an elite defense leading the way. Time for Armstrong to figure things out and fill in the pieces.

 

[DatDude44]

Jonatan Berggren has grown on me a lot as well, wouldn't hate that pick at wherever the WPG pick ends up, higher risk higher reward kinda guy. smaller but super skilled and always seems to have the puck on his stick and make plays. He was the driver for sweden's offense in the U-18's.

Seems like the perfect guy to go after with a late 1st. Serious playmaking potential. I thought he was leaps and bounds better than Jacob Olofsson who's been a fringe 1st all year

 

[Itsnotatrap]

Listened to McKenzie’s podcast, and he mentioned the impasse between Florida and 2016 2nd round pick Adam Mascherin. It sounds like Adam just has an aversion to Florida as much as anything with the way it was presented. What would people think about us trying to toss a 5th or so over to Florida, to try to bring him into the fold before he reaches redraft?

 

[67Blues]

Listened to McKenzie’s podcast, and he mentioned the impasse between Florida and 2016 2nd round pick Adam Mascherin. It sounds like Adam just has an aversion to Florida as much as anything with the way it was presented. What would people think about us trying to toss a 5th or so over to Florida, to try to bring him into the fold before he reaches redraft?

They'll have to move quick. Don't they have until the 22nd to figure out what to do with him before he goes back into the draft?

His size scares me though. Can he have longevity in the Western Conf?

 

[Majorityof1]

They'll have to move quick. Don't they have until the 22nd to figure out what to do with him before he goes back into the draft?

His size scares me though. Can he have longevity in the Western Conf?

He's listed at 190 lbs though. 5'9" and 190. As a frame of reference, 6'4" Sanford and 6'6" Thompson are listed at 185.

From Dobber prospects:

At 5’10” it is easy to dismiss Mascherin as a “small player” and that is not entirely accurate. Yes he is short by pro hockey standards, but he is not small. He is 205 pounds and strong as an ox. He is built like a fire hydrant and has excellent skating ability. He has explosive acceleration and a high end top gear. Mascherin has a deadly shot, hard, quick and accurate and controls the puck well at top speed. His game is reminiscent of Phil Kessel, but stronger and not yet quite as gifted offensively. Peter Harling

Other scouting reports question his skating, not having high end speed. All the ones I have read agree he is built like a short tank. The skating questions are more of a concern for me than his height. But for a late round pick, I'd definitely take him. He was a 2nd rounder and he improved his numbers like you would expect. So his value hasn't dropped from there. Getting a 2nd round player for a 5th is a no brainer.