I think it's a fair point, maybe "BPA" is the wrong term, I do think you should generally draft based on talent (or perceived talent) first, and need second.
Prospect Info: 2021 NHL Draft Prospects
- Thread starter Brodeur
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I think it's a fair point, maybe "BPA" is the wrong term, I do think you should generally draft based on talent (or perceived talent) first, and need second.
Billdo
Registered User
Schwartz was a guy who immediately jumped out at me when I looked through the potential UFAs this year. Have liked his game for a while and would love to get him here.
Eggtimer
Registered User
I agree he is a good player but his injury history does not concern you? I am not a big advocate of us needing to have a blend of size on the roster, but he's also not exactly a big guy either.
Can I wear a number like 73 when I'm on their line to match my IQ?
- Dec 20, 2018
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I know Blues fans are pretty convinced that Schwartz is staying.
I think Danault will be a interesting UFA to watch, there hasn’t been a true centerman of note to hit the market post-apocalypse.
There were reclamation projects, and Wennberg has 19 points (11G 8A), but if you know Wennberg you know his current 19.6% shooting % isn’t real. And Turris sucks.
So I don’t know if RNH makes it to market, and maybe Danault doesn’t either, but I’m curious if teams throw more money at centermen than they did at wingers.
Krejci will be a UFA so Boston will be in the market too and they may not stick with the 35 yo. Bozak is a UFA and off the Blues cap. I feel like Danault could get a pretty good contract and even Glendening will do ok (not remotely as well, don’t get me wrong). Getzlaf’s contract is finally up. Cizikas’ contract is up too, so maybe Lou does try to keep Travis, which would be very annoying. (I couldn’t care less about Andy staying in Fishstickland but Zajac would stick in my craw.)
Isn't first line winger more important to NJ than 3c? At least they have guys that are showing ability in the NHL and can maybe grow into the role of 3c. Right now, even assuming Zacha and Bratt mesh with Nico, does the team really have to roll out Johnsson or some rookies as wingers for Hughes? If the team can spend the money and not get stuck with a boat anchor contract I'd just as soon see about a legit top six winger to play with Hughes. In that regard, I think the team is asking too much of its bottom six guys this season. I think they've done a nice job. Many nights, especially post covid break, they've been the best players on the team. I really think guys like Shara and Kuokkanen and even McLeod and Bastian and Johnsson and Merkley and Boquist will look much better when they are playing legit bottom six roles against bottom six competition behind a legit top six. I hope that when Nico is back he can mesh with Zacha and Bratt. I hope that when the team can find real wingers for Hughes that a great scoring line blossoms and changes how teams have to play against NJ.
- Dec 20, 2018
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I don’t know the specifics about Danault’s complaints of ice time. Sometimes a player is concerned about his playing time and role not because he’s a prima donna but because a big drop in production will effect his next contract. Bobby Holik had a wake up call about “defensive sacrifice” when Lou took him to an arbitration hearing and only discussed his offensive production and compared him to scrubs while low-balling him on his salary offer.
Maybe Danault’s behavior was outrageous when he did it, I don’t know, it’s always hard to tell with Habs drama because everything is dialed to 11 there, that locker room comes off like a mean girl clique in tv show high school.
What Danault will presumably care about is what every player will cares about: money, a chance to win and then, lastly, quality of life stuff (which we can’t guess about). I know everyone is dead set on getting a winger but I weirdly have faith that are gaggle of winger prospects will start to produce and we can get cheaper scoring.
I don’t see a near-Selke nominee center in prospect mix (he was 6th voting in 2019-20), and no Nico is not one, and Zajac hasn’t deserved one for several years (and not on the team). It might seem like a weird investment, particularly since defensemen are such a big need and yes I
goals too, but Danault is a genuine top-notch two-way center and you want to win games that’s one of the harder elements to find and they age better than wingers too (look at O’Reilly).In my rankings, it is historically tight between my top 7: (alphabetically) Beniers, Clarke, Eklund, Guenther, Hughes, Johnson, Power. So, all I'm hoping for is a top 7 pick, I don't much care where it falls in that range. Picking 8th the Devils might wind up falling a full tier down with Lambos or Edvinsson or Sillinger -- all great prospects, but not exactly in the same stratosphere.
Dude, put down the pipe.
Edit: I know. I'm just being silly. Guttersniped knows her stuff and goes well beyond to support her points with well researched backup. A lot of you could learn something from her. I'm looking at you @My3Sons.
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He'd be fine as a 3C most likely but given the amount of cap NJ has for next season I guess they can add at least one winger and Danault if they want. I'll disagree with you that he'd be more important than a true winger for Jack but no doubt the team needs strength up the middle.
- Dec 20, 2018
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You maybe right simply because there’s got to be a bunch of of teams interested in Danault and he might get a surprisingly large deal while wingers will still be going relatively cheap.
The big name defensemen and goalies weren’t going cheap last off-season, they just weren’t get quite the monster deals they normally get. We aren’t contending so it’s hard to compete if the center market heats up too much. We can afford to go high with AAV though even if we don’t get too generous with term (especially since it’s not my money).
Billdo
Registered User
Everyone's going to have red flags and sure as shit this board will pick them out and complain about it (not saying that's what you're doing). It is mildly concerning.
2021 Draft Profile:
RD Logan Mailloux, SK Lejon Hockeyettan (on loan from London Knights OHL)
Several OHL players have been severely hurt in terms of draft standing due to the pandemic, and Mailloux is unfortunately near the front of that line. He's a very intriguing prospect in a thin RD class, who could have moved into the first round conversation with an increased development curve. Playing for the NHL-factory London Knights, this 6'3-215 physical beast with excellent skates needs some experience and good coaching, but could be a real diamond in the rough.
What you're getting with Mailloux is essentially the big, mobile physical defender -- but also a guy with intriguing offensive potential due to a big shot from the point and above-average offensive awareness and passing ability. But there is a lot to work on -- he has a proclivity for forgetting about keeping his feet moving when defending and instead using his arms and stick, which often leads to bad penalties. And though he is a beast at clogging lanes and creating turnovers, he will also give them up when he is under significant pressure. Again, this is something which can be at least partially alleviated through good coaching, experience and development.
Mailloux is precisely the type of player the Devils should be focusing on in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. They have a desperate need for depth at RD, and this kid offers size, skating, physicality and some sneaky upside to perhaps have a ceiling of a mid-pairing, hard-checking intimidator who chips in his fair share of points. All of his abilities are projectable, and all of his flaws are correctable.
RD Logan Mailloux, SK Lejon Hockeyettan (on loan from London Knights OHL)
Several OHL players have been severely hurt in terms of draft standing due to the pandemic, and Mailloux is unfortunately near the front of that line. He's a very intriguing prospect in a thin RD class, who could have moved into the first round conversation with an increased development curve. Playing for the NHL-factory London Knights, this 6'3-215 physical beast with excellent skates needs some experience and good coaching, but could be a real diamond in the rough.
What you're getting with Mailloux is essentially the big, mobile physical defender -- but also a guy with intriguing offensive potential due to a big shot from the point and above-average offensive awareness and passing ability. But there is a lot to work on -- he has a proclivity for forgetting about keeping his feet moving when defending and instead using his arms and stick, which often leads to bad penalties. And though he is a beast at clogging lanes and creating turnovers, he will also give them up when he is under significant pressure. Again, this is something which can be at least partially alleviated through good coaching, experience and development.
Mailloux is precisely the type of player the Devils should be focusing on in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. They have a desperate need for depth at RD, and this kid offers size, skating, physicality and some sneaky upside to perhaps have a ceiling of a mid-pairing, hard-checking intimidator who chips in his fair share of points. All of his abilities are projectable, and all of his flaws are correctable.
JrFischer54
Registered User
- Apr 4, 2017
- 10,315
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Devils are absolutely going to be holding onto this pick the islanders gave them.
I second this. Maybe a thread were no one comments just so we can read all the pick profiles?
This is shattering, in that I was led to believe the Devils paid all of their players with @Guttersniped 's money.
Someone figure out how to do this, please! I'm just the writer-guy. I think between our write-ups and @thethinglonger 's awesome shift-by-shift videos, we can make a great draft resource on our HFBoards. Would it be possible to match-up the videos with the write-ups? Or to alphabetize the players for easier access? I think it's a great idea.
I think mods can move posts from thread to thread. Now, how do we bribe them? Booze?
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2021 Draft Profile:
LD Shai Buium, Sioux City USHL
I first noticed this 6'3-215 defensive monolith while checking up on 2020 Devils 4th rounder Ethan Edwards. Initially, Buium upset me by being, in my estimation, the best defenseman on Sioux City -- better than Edwards, who is a year older and generally higher regarded. But after watching the 2021 Biosteel All-American Game, my eyes really opened up to Buium, who in my mind was the best defenseman in the entire game.
Buium is both a unique story and a unique player. There's nothing typical about this kid. He grew up in San Diego, California to two Israeli parents. This is not generally the background of NHL draft prospects, but apparently Buium fell in love with the sport and quickly excelled at it. What I like about him is that his tools are -- across the board -- absurdly impressive. Except for one -- and it's the big one in the eyes of many draft analysts and scouts when rating defensemen: Buium is a below-average skater.
But before analyzing what Buium is lacking, let's look at what he offers. Defensively, Buium is an absolute monster. He's incredibly smart in his positioning and anticipation, His gaps and his reads are really top-notch, he rarely makes a mental gaffe, he has an active stick which he combines with his long reach to clog up passing and shooting lanes. He's ridiculously strong -- probably one of the four or five strongest kids in the 2021 class -- and he knows it. He shoves around opposing USHL forwards like Godzilla swatting helicopters. In sum, the combination of his awareness, anticipation, positioning and sheer power make him a kid who changes the entire opposition attack approach the moment he hits the ice.
Offensively? We are not talking about the "old school, physical plodding defenseman". Buium has an outstanding set of hands -- the guy can downright dangle the puck like a 5-9 skill forward. He's a smart and efficient passer and can be quite creative in space. His outlet passing is borderline first-round caliber, this is a kid who can thread a stretch pass from his own face-off circle to the opposing blueline like nobody's business. He's always got his head up, which is the perfect metaphor for Buium's entire game.
So who is Shai Buium? I think we're dealing with a kid with a set of tools -- size, physicality, passing, puck handling, defensive play, awareness -- which are all borderline first-round quality. But due to his skating -- which is not quite "bad", but it's far from good, either -- we're talking about a kid who has nary hit a top 100 ranking and should be available in the 5th or 6th round. To me, this is a kid you grab in the 4th round and run. If he improves his skating -- even to an NHL average caliber skill -- we could be talking about a very, very good mid-pairing defenseman at the NHL level. Even if his skating does not markedly improve, he has a legit shot to make it as a third-pairing guy with smart defense, big-time physicality and some sneaky scoring pop. This is a player whom the Devils scouts -- and all NHL scouts -- need to wake up on and start paying more attention to.
LD Shai Buium, Sioux City USHL
I first noticed this 6'3-215 defensive monolith while checking up on 2020 Devils 4th rounder Ethan Edwards. Initially, Buium upset me by being, in my estimation, the best defenseman on Sioux City -- better than Edwards, who is a year older and generally higher regarded. But after watching the 2021 Biosteel All-American Game, my eyes really opened up to Buium, who in my mind was the best defenseman in the entire game.
Buium is both a unique story and a unique player. There's nothing typical about this kid. He grew up in San Diego, California to two Israeli parents. This is not generally the background of NHL draft prospects, but apparently Buium fell in love with the sport and quickly excelled at it. What I like about him is that his tools are -- across the board -- absurdly impressive. Except for one -- and it's the big one in the eyes of many draft analysts and scouts when rating defensemen: Buium is a below-average skater.
But before analyzing what Buium is lacking, let's look at what he offers. Defensively, Buium is an absolute monster. He's incredibly smart in his positioning and anticipation, His gaps and his reads are really top-notch, he rarely makes a mental gaffe, he has an active stick which he combines with his long reach to clog up passing and shooting lanes. He's ridiculously strong -- probably one of the four or five strongest kids in the 2021 class -- and he knows it. He shoves around opposing USHL forwards like Godzilla swatting helicopters. In sum, the combination of his awareness, anticipation, positioning and sheer power make him a kid who changes the entire opposition attack approach the moment he hits the ice.
Offensively? We are not talking about the "old school, physical plodding defenseman". Buium has an outstanding set of hands -- the guy can downright dangle the puck like a 5-9 skill forward. He's a smart and efficient passer and can be quite creative in space. His outlet passing is borderline first-round caliber, this is a kid who can thread a stretch pass from his own face-off circle to the opposing blueline like nobody's business. He's always got his head up, which is the perfect metaphor for Buium's entire game.
So who is Shai Buium? I think we're dealing with a kid with a set of tools -- size, physicality, passing, puck handling, defensive play, awareness -- which are all borderline first-round quality. But due to his skating -- which is not quite "bad", but it's far from good, either -- we're talking about a kid who has nary hit a top 100 ranking and should be available in the 5th or 6th round. To me, this is a kid you grab in the 4th round and run. If he improves his skating -- even to an NHL average caliber skill -- we could be talking about a very, very good mid-pairing defenseman at the NHL level. Even if his skating does not markedly improve, he has a legit shot to make it as a third-pairing guy with smart defense, big-time physicality and some sneaky scoring pop. This is a player whom the Devils scouts -- and all NHL scouts -- need to wake up on and start paying more attention to.
Sold. I'll take a guy like this over a pretty skater with no brains any day.
nugg
NJ Hammerhead Bats!
Is Matthew Beniers pronounced Ben-yay (like Beignet), or Ben-ears? His name is french, but he's American.
Emperoreddy
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