2018 NHL Entry Draft Thread

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Habs76

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He's extremely skilled. I've cancelled my CMORE subscription until the new year (because they charge crack prices) but what I'm most interested to see is how he adapts to the SHL over the season. He's already crushing J20, and has scored his first SHL goal. So far he alternates between looking meh and very, very good. That indicates that he's just figuring the league out. If, by the end of the year, he's looking noticeably more pro, I wouldn't hesitate to rank him very high.
He's in my top 15.
 

le_sean

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Oct 21, 2006
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I don’t care about situation, but a red flag for a prospect is always a lack of upward trajectory in production. Veleno hasn’t improved in that regard. Great players just find ways in the CHL. It’s like Bitten. They have their uses, but at the end of the day there’s an underlying individual reason that they dont produce.
 

S Bah

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Nice to see that Joe Veleno will have another good opportunity to win the QMJHL's President's Cup & go to the Memorial Cup. The Drummondville Voltigeur's will be a much stronger team, already a contender, Veleno's two way game down the middle make them a formidable force to defend against. :vhappy::welcome::hit:
 

LastWordArmy

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Veleno has talent, but it doesn't seem to be franchie changing talent. A good second line centre seems to be the upside, not so much the 1st line future franchise guy.

He wouldn't be a bad pick at 10 or later.
 

NotProkofievian

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Denisenko is an interesting player. He is absurdly skilled with the puck. He reminds me a bit of Barzal with the way he hangs on to it. His MHL production seems pretty lacklustre but his minutes are fairly erratic. He averages about 15 minutes per game or so. I just watched a game where he was getting 3rd line minutes and secondary PP.
 

Habs76

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I think we're probably going to be best off picking a defender in this draft. There's just so many great options dispersed all throughout the first round. From Dahlin, Boqvist and Hughes to Woo, Samuelsson and Dobson, Throw in Merkley, Smith and Bouchard. One guy I don't want though is Jared McIsaac. As a player who is praised for his defensive play he makes far too many mistakes in his own end and really has not started off great this year. I always look at player trajectory when analyzing a player and it does not appear that he's trending up a whole lot.
 

SOLR

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Veleno has talent, but it doesn't seem to be franchie changing talent. A good second line centre seems to be the upside, not so much the 1st line future franchise guy.

He wouldn't be a bad pick at 10 or later.

Veleno is deep in my 3rd round, I think it is very unlikely that he will put everything together. He just doesn't have the speed to make it naturally.
 

NotProkofievian

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Wahlstrom would be great if we finish bottom 10 and don't get a chance at Dahlin, Svechnikov or Boqvist.

Yup. He's killing it against NCAA Div 1 competition. A bit of a step down from what Keller was doing, but 9 pts in 6 games is nothing to sneeze at. He was held pointless once against Bowling Green.

How's Zadina doing, besides destroying the Q?
 
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WeThreeKings

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Yup. He's killing it against NCAA Div 1 competition. A bit of a step down from what Keller was doing, but 9 pts in 6 games is nothing to sneeze at. He was held pointless once against Bowling Green.

How's Zadina doing, besides destroying the Q?

Zadina is very Timo Meier like. He wouldn't be my choice for the Habs because we'd never get everything out of him without a proper center.
 

Habs Halifax

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If you could name another non-moosehead comparable for him, what would it be?

Iginla & Perry or Mantha type. Or even Vanek in his early days in the NHL. He's good at everything and he has a very good and accurate shot with a bit of play making skills for a winger. Skating is not elite but it's good. I'd like to see him improve this area of his game.

Meier is a good comparison though. I think Zadina might have a bit less size but a bit more overall offensive skills.
 
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Pompeius Magnus

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Iginla & Perry or Mantha type. Or even Vanek in his early days in the NHL. He's good at everything and he has a very good and accurate shot with a bit of play making skills for a winger. Skating is not elite but it's good. I'd like to see him improve this area of his game.

Meier is a good comparison though. I think Zadina might have a bit less size but a bit more overall offensive skills.
I didn't get to see Zadina play yet this year but the Meier comparison is consistent with everything I'm hearing. He'd most likely be the BPA if he made it to whatever spot we end up at but I expect we'll be picking 8-9-ish so he'll be gone anyway. A center with upside is such a giant need for us ( even with Poehling and Evans), it sucks that this isn't a great year for those.
 

Pompeius Magnus

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Zadina is very Timo Meier like. He wouldn't be my choice for the Habs because we'd never get everything out of him without a proper center.
That's actually a very good point. If he's not the type of winger that can create his own offense in the pros then he'll have a hard time with us. Unless Poehling and Evans really pan out and reach their top potential.
 
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Habs Halifax

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I didn't get to see Zadina play yet this year but the Meier comparison is consistent with everything I'm hearing. He'd most likely be the BPA if he made it to whatever spot we end up at but I expect we'll be picking 8-9-ish so he'll be gone anyway. A center with upside is such a giant need for us ( even with Poehling and Evans), it sucks that this isn't a great year for those.

Agreed. It will be hard to find another Poehling type and the center I would like is Tkachuk. He's likely to go in the top 5. Otherwise, I would go after a LD prospect. Then a center with some of our 2nd round picks. Trading Patch for a premium prospect and a 2018 1st (at least) would get us in better position to snag a Center and LD prospect in the 1st round.
 
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