2018 NHL Entry Draft Thread

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Mathletic

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About Veleno, it's only the first year he's playing full-time centerman. He's obviously not a generational talent but like others have said I think he could slot in as a good 2-way player. He might be better suited to play wing in the NHL. I'd compare his game to Marcus Johansson's, somewhat. I think there's more offense to his game than he has shown so far this season.
 

le_sean

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Oct 21, 2006
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I wrote about him above. I don't think he's going to be a top 10 pick in this draft but you're going to get a good player.

He's surprised me with his defensive smarts. Really think he can be a two way forward who produced around 50 pts.

I see he’s putting up the points, but how do you like Zadina?
 

Pompeius Magnus

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We look at some prospects who we feel that NHL Central Scouting has underrated with their first list, and who will quickly rise this season.

http://lastwordonhockeyprospects.co...andouts-central-scoutings-players-watch-list/
Do you guys have a theory on why the CSS seems kinda low on Bode Wilde ? Is it all a product of him not putting up a ton of points last year with the U-17 squad ? He's been hyped for a long time and he's certainly producing this year. Tools wise I don't see the reason for him not being an ''A'' talent.
 

LastWordArmy

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Do you guys have a theory on why the CSS seems kinda low on Bode Wilde ? Is it all a product of him not putting up a ton of points last year with the U-17 squad ? He's been hyped for a long time and he's certainly producing this year. Tools wise I don't see the reason for him not being an ''A'' talent.

CS doesn't provide their explanations for people on the list, so its really hard to know what they are thinking.

Perhaps, like we said in the piece, the issue is his poise with the puck at the blue line, and his ability to run a powerplay. That seems to be his biggest issue right now. Running the play from the point. But even then, is it a huge weakness, no. Its something that can be improved, but I don't believe its a fatal flaw either. He has all the other tools, skating, moving the puck out of his zone and through the neutral zone on the rush, the defensive game, the footwork, positioning. He's also 6'2 and nearly 200 lbs. So I don't get the low ranking.
 

Clearedwaivers

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On Joey Veleno. I'm hearing from some here that he has a good defensive game, but not a tremendous offensive upside. Would you compare him to Michael McLeod from his draft year? A guy with some great assets, but lacking a bit offensively?
 

NotProkofievian

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Nov 29, 2011
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I haven't been nearly as impressed with Kupari as I thought I would be after the U18's last year. On the prospects board at least one finnish poster has expressed reservations about his hockey sense, and Kupari hasn't done very much to prove him wrong in that regard. It's worth considering that this might have something to do with him not being physically ready for Liiga. He pretty much just has to wait for someone else to get him the puck, at which point it's obvious that his skills are Liiga ready. But because he cannot win a puck battle he does a lot of drifting. In last night's game I saw him try to drop a shoulder on someone, and it didn't go well. I would probably avoid physical confrontation if I were him, too.

Kotkaniemi is managing the transition to Liiga much better, even if he has been equally unproductive for the last couple weeks.
 

NotProkofievian

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For our resident Haligonians, seems like Zadina has adjusted nicely to his new digs. Any interesting reports?
 

Pompeius Magnus

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What's the consensus on his upside offensively? From the few games I saw he seems to play a similar game as his big bro.
They're similar, Brady isn't quite the agitator Matthew is but he's a better pure playmaker. Both make their bread and butter playing a strong cycle/around the net game .
 
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Pompeius Magnus

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I have to say, for an exceptional status talent in his third full season in the Q, Veleno's overall numbers are pretty underwhelming. I wonder if there's going to be enough questions surrounding his upside to make him slip out of the top 10/15 come next June.
 

Lebowski

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Dec 5, 2010
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I have to say, for an exceptional status talent in his third full season in the Q, Veleno's overall numbers are pretty underwhelming. I wonder if there's going to be enough questions surrounding his upside to make him slip out of the top 10/15 come next June.

Am I off base or could he project as some sort of Couturier down the line? Even though Couturier had a much better track record in the Q.
 

Pompeius Magnus

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Am I off base or could he project as some sort of Couturier down the line? Even though Couturier had a much better track record in the Q.
I would be the wrong guy to ask honestly. Looking purely at the stats, Couturier produced a lot more but I haven't seen enough of Veleno to compare them style wise. Couturier did carry Gabriel Dumont to a 50 goals season, does Veleno elevate his teammates like that ?
 

S Bah

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Nov 7, 2010
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I have to say, for an exceptional status talent in his third full season in the Q, Veleno's overall numbers are pretty underwhelming. I wonder if there's going to be enough questions surrounding his upside to make him slip out of the top 10/15 come next June.

If so, I'm sure the Habs & Timmins won't mind taking him later in the 1st round, even if they have to use a couple of their 2nd round picks to move up for that pick, IMHO!!!...
 

le_sean

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This is a great year to get a Top 5 pick. It’ll be something like

Dahlin/Svechnikov/Tkachuk/Zadina/Boqvist

These are all special players.

I’d be interested to know exactly what Sweden did in the 2000s for hockey development because they are churning out ridiculously talented defencemen.
 

Pompeius Magnus

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I’d be interested to know exactly what Sweden did in the 2000s for hockey development because they are churning out ridiculously talented defencemen.
I really think a lot of it has to do with Nick Lidstrom being such an iconic player in Sweden. A generation of kids grew up watching him dominate his position, which helped make playing defense seem ''cool'' to them. That would be my theory at least, the 05/06 Olympic goal medal and 07-08 Stanley cup had a giant impact in Sweden.
 

le_sean

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I really think a lot of it has to do with Nick Lidstrom being such an iconic player in Sweden. A generation of kids grew up watching him dominate his position, which helped make playing defense seem ''cool'' to them. That would be my theory at least.

That’s a good call.

Now waiting for the slew of hockey player twins in a few years :laugh:
 

NotProkofievian

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The best swedish player right now is Karlsson, so they'll probably keep turning out top defencemen until the end of time.
 

Prntscrn

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Sep 29, 2011
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I really think a lot of it has to do with Nick Lidstrom being such an iconic player in Sweden. A generation of kids grew up watching him dominate his position, which helped make playing defense seem ''cool'' to them. That would be my theory at least, the 05/06 Olympic goal medal and 07-08 Stanley cup had a giant impact in Sweden.

It's possible. But thing is in Sweden Lidström was nowhere near as popular and iconic as Forsberg. Forsberg was the Ibrahimovic of swedish hockey basically. Hopefully we'll start to spit out some forwards soon though :D
 

montreal

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One guy that might get on some lists if he keeps up his production is John Leonard who's off to a great start in the NCAA. He was in the USHL the past 2 seasons and was passed over in the '16 and '17 drafts but so far in his Freshman year he's been on fire.
 
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