Prospect Info: 2023 NHL Draft

[542365]

This isn't a bad result for a mock draft - Leonard, Willander, But

MSN

That’d be an incredible 1st round. Two safe floor guys who seem very likely to be solid NHLers in some capacity and a total wild card.

 

[STL fan in MN]

A lot of mock drafts seem to have the Blues taking Charlie Stramel with one of our later first round picks. Admittedly I don't know much about him but I do recall him being highly touted prior to entering college and his lackluster production is what dropped him down the rankings. He appears to be a big bodied center (which everyone loves) but lacks high end skill and hockey IQ. I'm curious to those that are more knowledgeable on this draft, what's the scoop on Stramel? Is he worth a late 1st? His tool set doesn't jump out as very appealing to me but I tend to be biased toward skilled players who can skate and anticipate the play.

Others like him more but I see him as a 3rd rounder. Seems like the type that has the tools and size to be an NHLer so he has somewhat of a safe trajectory. But I’d be pretty surprised if he was ever a top-6 forward. I see him as a likely future 4C, maybe 3C or wing if he’s able to figure out how to process the game faster.

Stramel has been pretty highly touted for years, thus why he was a part of the NTDP. He’s the type that’ll look good when you purely look at his skills. He’s also big and works hard. But I wasn’t overly impressed with him with the U18 team last year and he really struggled at Wisconsin this season. One could argue Wisconsin was a bad team this season but there were other ‘04s on that team that did much better. To me, I see notably below average hockey sense. He had a lot of trouble adjusting to the increased pace of college hockey…which is still many notches below the pace of the NHL.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I wonder if we are active in moving up. Would we want Michkov or would it have to be top 4 or bust. If we are looking. I imagine Montreal is the main spot to target for moving up, unless we give San Jose a reason to move.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

I wonder if we are active in moving up. Would we want Michkov or would it have to be top 4 or bust. If we are looking. I imagine Montreal is the main spot to target for moving up, unless we give San Jose a reason to move.

Hopefully not

 

[Blueston]

As we close in on draft, who do you want at 10? Let’s assume Bedard, fantilli, Carlson, smith, Leonard, michkov, reinbacher, and dvorsky are all gone.

My pick would be Willander with honzek as alternate.

Who you got?

 

[BleedBlue14]

As we close in on draft, who do you want at 10? Let’s assume Bedard, fantilli, Carlson, smith, Leonard, michkov, reinbacher, and dvorsky are all gone.

My pick would be Willander with honzek as alternate.

Who you got?

I would be happy with any of the following. I don't necessarily think all of them should be drafted this high, but if they are that's a really good sign that our amateur scouts like the fit and makeup of the player.

Willander
Honzek
Moore
Yager
Ritchie
Benson

In no particular order. I think there's a good chance that Benson is one of the better players of this draft class. I know he's small and he doesn't necessarily fit a position of need, but I can't look past how productive and effective he has been in juniors paired with that compete level.

Ritchie and Yager I feel like have a good chance to be at least a 2C. I think Ritchie has a bit higher of a floor but a bit lower of a ceiling.

Moore I still really like his toolbox. I know there's concerns about some aspects of his game, but if our scouts are taking him, there's a real reason to believe that he will move past those concerns.

Honzek seems like a wild card. Huge frame, probably will move to center. Don't love him at 10, but could definitely see him progressing into something special.

I really really like Willander's game. Not too in-depth of looks, but everything I see from him screams NHLer. If we get a 2nd pairing defenseman long term I think you can be ok with that at #10. Would certainly be more ideal if he were a LHD for us given where we're at. But i'd imagine it takes him a year or two to get to the NHL anyways if not 3.

At this point, I wouldn't mind moving back a bit here. I like all 6 of those players pretty equally. I think a few of them are more of a gamble than others though.

 

[LGB]

As we close in on draft, who do you want at 10? Let’s assume Bedard, fantilli, Carlson, smith, Leonard, michkov, reinbacher, and dvorsky are all gone.

My pick would be Willander with honzek as alternate.

Who you got?

Benson. This would be a rare opportunity for the Blues to get a truly elite CHL prospect. After that, I've been really warming up to Wood. I think some of my criticism of him was a bit unfair considering he's a 17 year old playing in the NCAA. I really believe in his hockey IQ.

 

[542365]

As we close in on draft, who do you want at 10? Let’s assume Bedard, fantilli, Carlson, smith, Leonard, michkov, reinbacher, and dvorsky are all gone.

My pick would be Willander with honzek as alternate.

Who you got?

Perreault, Wood, or Benson.

 

[AjaxManifesto]

Total crap shoot. Just throw darts at a board with remaining names on it.

 

[Oberyn]

As we close in on draft, who do you want at 10? Let’s assume Bedard, fantilli, Carlson, smith, Leonard, michkov, reinbacher, and dvorsky are all gone.

My pick would be Willander with honzek as alternate.

Who you got?

Benson. Alternate is Wood or Perreault.

 

[JEMarks3]

25 and 29 should get Blues another Top 15 guy. Why not go for two studs?

Coming away with two of Reinbacher/Willander/Benson/Honzek would be legit.

Consolation prize: Simashev or Yager

Cherry on top: Hrabal

 

[Drubilly]

As we close in on draft, who do you want at 10? Let’s assume Bedard, fantilli, Carlson, smith, Leonard, michkov, reinbacher, and dvorsky are all gone.

My pick would be Willander with honzek as alternate.

Who you got?

I'd be happy with those two. I keep thinking Danielson for some reason and I'm also warming up to Wood.

 

[Thallis]

As we close in on draft, who do you want at 10? Let’s assume Bedard, fantilli, Carlson, smith, Leonard, michkov, reinbacher, and dvorsky are all gone.

My pick would be Willander with honzek as alternate.

Who you got?

Zach Benson. Dimitrij Filipovich has been Benson pilling me and I think there's going to be a bunch of teams kicking themselves for not taking him due to size concerns.

 

[LGB]

25 and 29 should get Blues another Top 15 guy. Why not go for two studs?

Coming away with two of Reinbacher/Willander/Benson/Honzek would be legit.

Consolation prize: Simashev or Yager

Cherry on top: Hrabal

I agree on trading up from 25. We can come out of this draft with two really exciting prospects. My guy is still Ritchie.

 

[LetsGoBooze]

As we close in on draft, who do you want at 10? Let’s assume Bedard, fantilli, Carlson, smith, Leonard, michkov, reinbacher, and dvorsky are all gone.

My pick would be Willander with honzek as alternate.

Who you got?

Easily Benson

 

[Stealth JD]

As we close in on draft, who do you want at 10? Let’s assume Bedard, fantilli, Carlson, smith, Leonard, michkov, reinbacher, and dvorsky are all gone.

My pick would be Willander with honzek as alternate.

Who you got?

Benson, Perrault, Wood…in that order. Don’t want D at #10. Not even Reinbacher.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

Benson has had the pleasure of playing with two centers that were drafted right around the top 10. My question is why he didn’t put up more points. A guy that’s never been drafted scored more goals than he did. Smallish average skater. I just can’t get there. He’s available at 25. I’ll take him then. I see better pics at 10.

He’s good, but is he just benefitting from the talent around him is my biggest question. Is he Rob Preston good? (There’s an old name for you)

 

[JEMarks3]

Some trade up options from 25 & 29:


Canucks: 11 (338.98)

<->

Blues: 25 (181.80), 29 (151.85), 106 (10.14) = 343.79

_____

Penguins: 14 (297.13), 90 (16.63) = 313.76

<->

Blues: 25 (181.80), 29 (151.85) = 333.65


… something like one of these, would leave the good guys with:

- 1st: 10
- 1st: 11 or 14
- 3rd: 74
- 3rd: 76
- 5th: 138
- 6th: 170
- 7th: 202

Package a Top 4 d’man with a 3rd?

 

[PJJJP]

Some trade up options from 25 & 29:


Canucks: 11 (338.98)

<->

Blues: 25 (181.80), 29 (151.85), 106 (10.14) = 343.79

_____

Penguins: 14 (297.13), 90 (16.63) = 313.76

<->

Blues: 25 (181.80), 29 (151.85) = 333.65

Don't think the Canucks would want to drop from 11 to 25. Maybe the pens would want to drop but I think it will be very hard to move up 10 plus spots

 

[542365]

Benson has had the pleasure of playing with two centers that were drafted right around the top 10. My question is why he didn’t put up more points. A guy that’s never been drafted scored more goals than he did. Smallish average skater. I just can’t get there. He’s available at 25. I’ll take him then. I see better pics at 10.

He’s good, but is he just benefitting from the talent around him is my biggest question. Is he Rob Preston good? (There’s an old name for you)

He put up more points than both of those top ten centers who are a year older than him. Perhaps they’ve benefitted from playing with him.

EDIT:I messed up the quoting. Can’t be bothered to fix it.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Benson has had the pleasure of playing with two centers that were drafted right around the top 10. My question is why he didn’t put up more points. A guy that’s never been drafted scored more goals than he did. Smallish average skater. I just can’t get there. He’s available at 25. I’ll take him then. I see better pics at 10.

He’s good, but is he just benefitting from the talent around him is my biggest question. Is he Rob Preston good? (There’s an old name for you)

Another way to look at it is whatever line he was on was the most productive with two centers who were high picks. He’s a line driver and competes very hard in all 3 zones. Not the most physically gifted but neither was Schwartz and I think we’re happy with how that pick turned out

 

[LetsGoBooze]

Another way to look at it is whatever line he was on was the most productive with two centers who were high picks. He’s a line driver and competes very hard in all 3 zones. Not the most physically gifted but neither was Schwartz and I think we’re happy with how that pick turned out

That's just it, i think he's an even better Schwartz. And Schwartz was my favorite player here until he left. We need a tenacious productive player to lead by example, and Benson is all that. Imagine if we draft him and he grows 2or3 inches. Even without a spurt, i easily take him @10 if no other top prospects fall.

 

[Blueswin]

Blues draft

 

[Spicy Panger]

Here's my working prediction for the top 9 picks:

Prediction:
1 Bedard
2 Fantilli
3 Carlsson
4 Smith
5 Michkov
6 Reinbacher
7 Leonard
8 Dvorsky
9 Benson

With these players off the board, I'd like to see us take either Honzek or Perreault.

 

[BleedBlue14]

Blues draft

I really hope they continue making these throughout the whole process