2018 vs 2019 NHL Draft

[Daximus]

Byram is better than any D prospect in 2018 other than Dahlin and Knyazev is very good

Byram is really good but I don't even see him as a guaranteed top pairing defender. I think he is pretty comparable to a kid like Ty Smith in their draft year. Though Byram is a 4 months younger at the same time. Great two-way skater that loves to carry the puck and can get shots through. Great passers and can hold the line well.
Knyazev is a great skater and easily Russia's best defencemen since Provorov but I need to see more from him. He's underwhelmed a bit.
EDIT: Forgot about Sergachev who is clearly very good.

Dahlin alone makes 2018 better but having Boouchard, Dobson, Hughes, Smith, Boqvist alone blows 2019 out of the water.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Not sure Knyazev is as good as the above comments state. He really underwhelmed this past season. Calling him "easily Russia best defensemen since Provorov" ignores there's guys like Sergachyov who are already in the NHL, very good and might end up better than Provorov. If Knyazev was better than Sergachyov, wouldn't he be a lock for the top 5?

 

[Daximus]

Not sure Knyazev is as good as the above comments state. He really underwhelmed this past season. Calling him "easily Russia best defensemen since Provorov" ignores there's guys like Sergachyov who are already in the NHL, very good and might end up better than Provorov. If Knyazev was better than Sergachyov, wouldn't he be a lock for the top 5?

To be honest I completely forgot about Sergachev being Russian. But I will reiterate that he has underwhelmed. The 2019 Dclass is not looking all that great this far out.

 

[tcat84]

Every draft you guys say "the next draft is better" haha

The future is always brighter than the present

 

[Elias Pettersson]

I have 1 rule: new is always better

 

[93LEAFS]

2019 looks better now than 2018 did, but I don't think either will go down as significantly better or worse than the other. Neither draft will end up in the extreme side, such as 2012 vs 2015.

 

[Vide]

I have 1 rule: new is always better

 

[cg98]

2018 draft dmen >>> 2019 draft dmen
2019 draft fwds >> 2018 draft fwds

2019 is just loaded with centers and high end wingers. Byram, Honka and York are next years top flight blue line prospects but the pool thins out after them.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

2018 draft dmen >>> 2019 draft dmen
2019 draft fwds >> 2018 draft fwds

2019 is just loaded with centers and high end wingers. Byram, Honka and York are next years top flight blue line prospects but the pool thins out after them.

I like Soderstrom and Robertson better than Honka and York.

 

[kroypuck]

I like Soderstrom and Robertson better than Honka and York.

I would say Soderstrom might be on the same level or better but Robertson definitely not.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I would say Soderstrom might be on the same level or better but Robertson definitely not.

I think Robertson could be a two way guy, but it seems like a steadier game on the back-end is less in vogue now.

 

[ijuka]

I like Soderstrom and Robertson better than Honka and York.

I hope we can get back to this during / after next season. Honka was so GOOD by every metric including eye test during last season in Liiga as a 17-year-old that I'd be absolutely floored if someone like Soderstrom was better. He should be getting big minutes this season.

I still call Honka becoming a top 5 pick.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I hope we can get back to this during / after next season. Honka was so GOOD by every metric including eye test during last season in Liiga as a 17-year-old that I'd be absolutely floored if someone like Soderstrom was better. He should be getting big minutes this season.

I still call Honka becoming a top 5 pick.

I agree. The Finn's are always better than the Swedes. I remember your Dahlin comments.

 

[ijuka]

I agree. The Finn's are always better than the Swedes. I remember your Dahlin comments.

Because Söderström is Dahlin. Ridiculous. Let's get back to this next season.

Speaking of which, I've had Dahlin going #1 the entire time, right? Not sure what this strawman is even for.

 

[bukwas]

According to some of the scouts i listened to in the last year, 19 and 20 are supposedly just as good as 18. And i believe there was support for 19( might have been 20 though) being a bit better/deeper.
I will say that the depth of the 18 draft seemed mostly overlooked when that class was being discussed in the years leading up to it. So while the top end talent isn't so difficult to see coming i think the quality of the depth is more of a crap shoot until they're actually playing their draft season. Still, the job is to prognosticate whether it be top end or depth, so they do it.

 

[kroypuck]

This is shaping up to be a great draft for the Americans. Hughes, Turcotte, Caufield, York, Vlasic, Boldy, Knight, Wolf, McCarthy, Warren etc.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

This is shaping up to be a great draft for the Americans. Hughes, Turcotte, Caufield, York, Vlasic, Boldy, Knight, Wolf, McCarthy, Warren etc.

Zegras, Kaliyev, Thrun, Meyer, Donovan, Brinkman. I wouldn't put Vlasic on that list. I don't think he's any good. McCarthy and Warren are good players, but secondary guys right now, in my opinion. Just not anything standout about what they do. They didn't even make my initial list of 45. Wolf is good. He might have as good of a shot as anyone to be the second goalie off the board, but goalies are unpredictable.

I could see like 10 of them going in the first round. Maybe even more. The US record is 11. Its possible that it could be broken. I have 9 in my top 31 right now.

 

[kroypuck]

Zegras, Kaliyev, Thrun, Meyer, Donovan, Brinkman. I wouldn't put Vlasic on that list. I don't think he's any good. McCarthy and Warren are good players, but secondary guys right now, in my opinion. Just not anything standout about what they do. They didn't even make my initial list of 45. Wolf is good. He might have as good of a shot as anyone to be the second goalie off the board, but goalies are unpredictable.

I could see like 10 of them going in the first round. Maybe even more. The US record is 11. Its possible that it could be broken. I have 9 in my top 31 right now.

Care to share your list?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Care to share your list?

It was initially 45, but then I realized I forgot Holmstrom, so I didn't want to just take a player off the list. Made it 46 instead.

1. Alex Turcotte-C
2. Jack Hughes-W
3. Bowen Byram-LD
4. Alex Newhook-C
5. Kaapo Kakko-W
6. Dylan Cozens-C
7. Victor Soderstrom-RD
8. Ryan Suzuki-C
9. Matvei Guskov-C
10. Artur Kaliyev-W
11. Peyton Krebs-C
12. Trevor Zegras-C
13. Matthew Robertson-LD
14. Raphael Lavoie-C
15. Kirby Dach-C
16. Henri Nikkanen-C
17. Simon Holmstrom-W
18. Jakob Pelletier-W
19. Cole Caufield-W
20. Michael Vukojevic-LD
21. Antti Saarela-W
22. Spencer Knight-G
23. Maxim Cajkovic-W
24. Nolan Foote-W
25. Cam York-LD
26. Vasili Podkolzin-W
27. Kaedan Korczak-RD
28. Anttoni Honka-RD
29. Matthew Boldy-W
30. Moritz Seider-RD
31. Henry Thrun-LD
32. Michal Teply-W
33. Josh Williams-W
34. Nikita Okhotyuk-LD
35. Matias Maccelli-W
36. Daniil Gutik-W
37. Blake Murray-C
38. Valentin Nussbaumer-C
39. Nikita Alexandrov-C
40. Simon Lundmark-RD
41. Ben Brinkman-LD
42. Brady Meyer-W
43. Nikola Pasic-C
44. Sasha Mutala-W
45. Colton Ellis-G
46. Martin Hugo Has-RD

And to anyone who asks. I will not be fielding questions about why I don't have Hughes #1. I've answered this many times, and its annoying that the assumption is that Hughes has to be first on every list. I think he's a winger, therefore I think where he goes on my list will be based on what the centers do. If they project as 1's, they go ahead of him. So he could be anywhere from 1 if none of them project as 1's to 6 or 7 if the centers have great draft years and we have a lot who project as 1's. Only have 1 center right now who projects as a 1, so only 1 ahead of Hughes. Really unlikely he'd fall out of the top 3 or 4, as its highly unlikely more than 2-3 in any draft would project as 1's, but this is a great center draft, so I don't know for sure yet.

I might even throw a defenseman ahead of him, if they project as a 1D. But its not looking like a great draft in that regard. I could see in the range of possibilities that Byram is ahead of Hughes on my list at the end of the season. I'm not sure about the others right now, but its a long time until the next draft, so who knows. Wingers just aren't as valuable in my opinion. Doesn't mean they are bad players or anything like that, but a 1C or a 1D will always be above a 1W on my list, unless we are talking about the two generational goal-scorers, Ovechkin and Laine.

 

[Hfbsux]

I think the top 5 of the 2019 draft is crazy good. I'm really high on Kakko and Newhook. Can't wait to see how Turcotte will do playing a full year on the top 6 center with the USDP-U18 squad.

 

[ViktorBaeArvidsson]

Well the center depth in this draft is insane compared to 2018. Teams won’t have to desperately have to take a center like they did last year. Kotkaniemi and Hayton although good players, I didn’t see them as Top 5 picks. I mean 2019, Hughes, Newhook, Lavoie, Cozens, Turrotte, Dach, R. Suzuki, Boldy, Murray, and Nussbaumer just to name a few. (btw if some of then are actually wingers mb)

 

[ijuka]

To be honest, I really don't think there's any chance a team wouldn't have Hughes as # 1 at this point in time even if he's 100% guaranteed to only be a winger at NHL level. Just like I doubt Columbus would have picked Dubois over Laine if Matthews wasn't in that year's draft.

It's only a consideration if it's at all close. For example, I doubt Montreal was picking Kotkaniemi over Dahlin.

 

[Mrb1p]

To be honest, I really don't think there's any chance a team wouldn't have Hughes as # 1 at this point in time even if he's 100% guaranteed to only be a winger at NHL level. Just like I doubt Columbus would have picked Dubois over Laine if Matthews wasn't in that year's draft.

It's only a consideration if it's at all close. For example, I doubt Montreal was picking Kotkaniemi over Dahlin.

What are you even trying to say ?

 

[Daximus]

What are you even trying to say ?

That Hughes is as close to a guaranteed 1OA as you can get at this point.