2024 Draft Thread

[AintLifeGrand]

Connelly

 

[Scoresberg]

Connelly

Sure, if he's still there. As of now, he's #12 on the consolidated list. Should not be there where we're picking.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

Sure, if he's still there. As of now, he's #12 on the consolidated list. Should not be there where we're picking.

the more woke teams will pass on him.. I'm confident we won't hold past transgressions against him

 

[herzausstein]

im going to be pissed if weburn our 1st on a d man and not a center

Worthwhile centers are probably going to get picked before we pick (going off where we sit right now). My preference is a center. Connelly is going to be in that 10-15 range but once you get past him im not seeing any centers im getting excited about. Maybe Michael Hage another USHL player a few points behind Connelly. He's 20ish area.

 

[Scoresberg]

the more woke teams will pass on him.. I'm confident we won't hold past transgressions against him

We shall see. Obviously, I'm in favor of going after him if he's still up there,

That being said, I do like the D prospects I mentioned in my last post. Especially Buium, Yakemchuk and Jiricek to some degree. Those would not be bad picks either in my opinion.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Does Connelly actually project as a center in the NHL? Dobber has him listed as a LW so is he one of those guys who plays center in junior but moves to wing as he progresses?

In a vacuum I'd prefer a center but its not like our D pool is super strong either. If the center options are all most likely middle six types I wouldn't pick one just to pick one.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

Nikita Artamonov is another interesting option...killing it in the K... 5g 12 a 17 pts in 35 games
here is what dobber has to say

Artamonov is a skilled, intelligent, and high-motor winger who has played impressive hockey in Torpedo’s Top 6 and top PP unit at just 17 years of age.

 

[maplepred]

for the love of God no more D men

we need to go all in on centers until we draft a #1 center

We have lots of blue chip forward prospects like svechov, Kemell, Wood, evangelista, Parssinen, Tomasino, Schaefer and they could all amount to something special.

How many defenseman do we have with that potential?
Molendyk and Matier…

Yeah let’s go defense.

Plus don’t forget your boys gunnarwolfe and knak, two superstars in the making lol

 

[Predsanddead24]

We have lots of blue chip forward prospects like svechov, Kemell, Wood, evangelista, Parssinen, Tomasino, Schaefer and they could all amount to something special.

How many defenseman do we have with that potential?
Molendyk and Matier…

Yeah let’s go defense.

Plus don’t forget your boys gunnarwolfe and knak, two superstars in the making lol

Still on the Matier thing? I hope he makes it to the NHL one day but being stuck in the ECHL isn't a great sign that he's a blue chip prospect.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

We have lots of blue chip forward prospects like svechov, Kemell, Wood, evangelista, Parssinen, Tomasino, Schaefer and they could all amount to something special.

How many defenseman do we have with that potential?
Molendyk and Matier…

Yeah let’s go defense.

Plus don’t forget your boys gunnarwolfe and knak, two superstars in the making lol

I don't know if I would refer to any of the aforementioned names as " Blue Chip"... they are all B Level prospects. Top and Middle 6 upside , yes? But future top line, all star forwards ? Probably not

 

[herzausstein]

Molendyk is the closest thing we have to a blue chip d prospect.

Kemell, L'Heureux, Wood, are our closest at wing and i think Fink is going to end up surprising.

Svechkov is the closest we have at center.

We have more depth pieces at defense and wing (del gaizo, Stastney, matier, Chistyakov, Kulonummi, ufko, livingstone) that may end up playing middle of the lineup roles or play up if they develop just right. But at center... we are alot more thin even with the depth pieces. Ingram looks interesting though.

To me, it is best player available between center or defense. Not terribly interested in another winger unless it is an absolute cant pass

 

[AintLifeGrand]

organizationally we are the tits at drafting D Men...so lets do our thing and make a default D man pick in the 2nd and 3rd rounds while going for Centers and high end wingers in rd 1

 

[ShagDaddy]

Still on the Matier thing? I hope he makes it to the NHL one day but being stuck in the ECHL isn't a great sign that he's a blue chip prospect.

Matier is a 6’5” 20 year old defenseman in his first year as a professional. Him being “stuck” in the ECHL is less an indictment on him and more of a glutton of defensemen in the organization. Bigger defenseman typically take longer to mature and the Preds are stacked with defenseman that should be or have been in the NHL. Let’s not get too down on the kid just yet.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Matier is a 6’5” 20 year old defenseman in his first year as a professional. Him being “stuck” in the ECHL is less an indictment on him and more of a glutton of defensemen in the organization. Bigger defenseman typically take longer to mature and the Preds are stacked with defenseman that should be or have been in the NHL. Let’s not get too down on the kid just yet.

I'm not down on him per se, but calling him a blue chip prospect is a bit much. Some good players occasionally come out of the ECHL but outside of goalies there are no blue chip prospects to be found there and even that is pretty rare. There's nothing more than I'd love to have than a giant top pairing defenseman, but as of now hoping Matier becomes that just seems like wishful thinking.

 

[OHLoutsider2020]

I'm not down on him per se, but calling him a blue chip prospect is a bit much. Some good players occasionally come out of the ECHL but outside of goalies there are no blue chip prospects to be found there and even that is pretty rare. There's nothing more than I'd love to have than a giant top pairing defenseman, but as of now hoping Matier becomes that just seems like wishful thinking.

He's better than some of the contracts in Milwaukee. Time will tell. He needs to pay his dues and keep progressing.

 

[maplepred]

I don't know if I would refer to any of the aforementioned names as " Blue Chip"... they are all B Level prospects. Top and Middle 6 upside , yes? But future top line, all star forwards ? Probably not

Are you kidding me? You don’t think Kemell, wood and evangelista don’t have top line potential??

Still on the Matier thing? I hope he makes it to the NHL one day but being stuck in the ECHL isn't a great sign that he's a blue chip prospect.

It’s only because we are insane crowded with defense in ahl.
Still on the Matier thing? What’s that even mean? He’s a really good prospect. Period. It’s his first year out of juniors. Smh

 

[AintLifeGrand]

Are you kidding me? You don’t think Kemell, wood and evangelista don’t have top line potential??


It’s only because we are insane crowded with defense in ahl.
Still on the Matier thing? What’s that even mean? He’s a really good prospect. Period. It’s his first year out of juniors. Smh

Kemmell fringe 1st liner based on PNHLe

Wood looks like he will be an Andrew Copp type player - He has also experienced a horrific regression this year. His skating may hold him
back from even being a regular nhl player. It was a bad pick in retrospect

the only potential sure fire 1st liner we have based on PNHLe is Fink who IMO based on his production at Penn State( leading team in pts as a freshman and 6th overall in NCAA scoring) should be our 3rd best prospect

 

[herzausstein]

I think this is a case of perception of what 1st line is vs superstar 1st line. Right now all 3 of forsberg ror and nyquist are producing at top line forward rates (top 96 forwards). We should probably broaden our idea of what a 1st line forward looks like or narrow in what we mean and be more specific like superstar winger/center.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Are you kidding me? You don’t think Kemell, wood and evangelista don’t have top line potential??


It’s only because we are insane crowded with defense in ahl.
Still on the Matier thing? What’s that even mean? He’s a really good prospect. Period. It’s his first year out of juniors. Smh

I mean crazy overhyping him. He’s a fine a prospect but he is closer to Prokop than he is Molendyk.

 

[wmupreds]

Kemmell fringe 1st liner based on PNHLe

Wood looks like he will be an Andrew Copp type player - He has also experienced a horrific regression this year. His skating may hold him
back from even being a regular nhl player. It was a bad pick in retrospect

the only potential sure fire 1st liner we have based on PNHLe is Fink who IMO based on his production at Penn State( leading team in pts as a freshman and 6th overall in NCAA scoring) should be our 3rd best prospect

You've decided Wood is a bad pick based on 18 games with a below average team. We've seen some of these bigger players with skating deemed questionable break out, sometimes at relatively late ages.

"Horrific" regression = a lower assist rate with actually a higher goal rate so far, in about half of a short season. What seems consistently horrific is your player evaluation and giant overreactions.

 

[101st_fan]

Kemmell fringe 1st liner based on PNHLe

Wood looks like he will be an Andrew Copp type player - He has also experienced a horrific regression this year. His skating may hold him
back from even being a regular nhl player. It was a bad pick in retrospect

the only potential sure fire 1st liner we have based on PNHLe is Fink who IMO based on his production at Penn State( leading team in pts as a freshman and 6th overall in NCAA scoring) should be our 3rd best prospect

Do you actually read what you type before posting it? I've heard Tourette's rants that make more sense than your takes here.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

Nothing I’ve said is incorrect, If Matthew Wood proves me wrong I’ll be thrilled.

Fact of the matter is we lack a true blue chip fwd prospect

 

[maplepred]

I mean crazy overhyping him. He’s a fine a prospect but he is closer to Prokop than he is Molendyk.

I strongly disagree here. I have Matier rated quite highly. Time will tell.

 

[JohnnySmash]

At center -
Celebrini and Catton are the top prizes as of right now. They are both probably gone by #5. After that, there really isnt much id spend an early pick on. Mid 1st has some possible mid 6 talent.

At Defense -
Levshunov is a good size RHD with 9 points in 10 games in his freshman year. Mobile and good offense.

Silayev is a huge LHD getting minutes in the KHL and doing fine. Though this may turn into another Chistyakov thing.

Sam Dickinson is another good size LHD kindof like a larger Molendyk or maybe a better defense version of edmontons bouchard.

Wings -
Eiserman is a LW with high goalscoring ability. Not overly large at 5'11" but already NHL weight 192 lbs so he already has some muscle on him

Levshunov, Silayev and Dickinson are my picks but I'll settle for Zayne Parekh. Guys will always find ways to feed the nets but to me defense is such a commodity. Especially when it comes to the playoffs.

 

[Scoresberg]

Took a couple looks at Helenius. Man, the kid looks like the next Aho.

My view is that if we don't somehow sneak into the top-10/12 and get a chance at a Helenius, Connelly or even Lindström then we'd probably be better off drafting a defenseman. Here's my estimate on the top-15 after the WJC.

1. Celebrini
--
2. Eiserman
3. Levshunov
4. Catton
5. Dickinson
--
6. Helenius
7. Lindström
8. Buium
9. Demidov
--
10. Silayev
11. Brandegg-Nygård
12. Connelly
--
13. Yakemchuk
14. Parekh
15. Jiricek