2024 NHL Draft: WE DID IT, CELEBRINI IS OURS!!!

[StanleyCup2035]

Will Quinn still be the coach next year?

I hope so. Can't think of a better tank commander. He's been a pretty bad coach in the NHL...

 

[Juxtaposer]

God… this is the sort of game that makes you fall in love with a prospect. Artyeom Levshunov is him.

 

[Friday]

God… this is the sort of game that makes you fall in love with a prospect. Artyeom Levshunov is him.

So nice to hear that. Anything to make me feel better about the possibility of landing at the second choice

 

[hohosaregood]

I'm on board with levshunov at 2.

 

[themelkman]

Will Quinn still be the coach next year?

As long as hes gone when we have good players Im fine to let him build a resume for his next job

 

[Cas]

No Filip Bystedt, Kasper Halttunen?

Halttunen is nowhere near ready and will spend the year in the OHL again.

Bystedt probably needs a year of marination in the AHL.

 

[Jargon]

As fun as it would be, we've seen how much Eklund's benefited from being pushed to the lower lines to match up against weaker competition when he's struggled against top lines this year. We just wouldn't be able to do that for Celebrinis, Smith, Musty, and Gushchin if they all had bad stretches. I'd expect maybe 1 or 2 guys coming in just to not overload the integration.

No I know, it’s ultimately a bad idea. But so fun.

Will Quinn still be the coach next year?

I genuinely like Quinn as a development coach. I think he’s a really good guy and I think he helps young guys really well. I’d love to see what he can do with a real roster.

 

[Gecklund]

Let's say we're not lucky enough to get Celebrini, who would you all take at 2nd? Who would you take at 3rd in worst case scenario?

Demidov looks so good so I personally would mind taking him at 2nd. I'm at a loss when it comes to 3rd if we fall that low.

Levshunov or Demidov

What would you part with to get Leonard? He and Smith work so well together.

Highly highly doubt that WSH would do this but I’d strongly consider PIT 1st, VGK 1st and Bordeleau

 

[LadyStanley]

 

[cheechoo]

Levshunov is such an enigma. Easy to see why he’ll go high in the draft. He has all of the physical tools. 6’2 and sturdy and moves really well. He’s an extremely good skater and has all of the pivots going both forwards and backwards and it helps him when in his own zone under pressure. And then in transition he does a little skip hop, plants his foot in the ice and blows past everyone.

I felt like he wasn’t processing fast enough defensively. He was all over the place and reacting rather than anticipating. Not all that physical or mean either. Shifty wingers give him problems when he has to defend the cycle. He was in the red and trying to survive a lot against W Michigan, an older bigger faster team than Michigan State.

It’s a lot to ask of a freshman with his trajectory to be dominating in all phases of play as one of the youngest players in the NCAA. He’s very smart with the puck on his stick and loves to activate from the point to keep the puck in. True 4th forward mentality. He'll end up in the crease trying to whack the puck in. On the 4-4 goal in the dying minute he flies past everyone with the puck on his stick and sets up the goal with a really nice cross seam feed.

I'm not sure if I'm higher or lower on him after watching him again.

This draft is super scary. A lot of polarizing players with extremely high ceilings but equally low floors.

 

[coooldude]

God… this is the sort of game that makes you fall in love with a prospect. Artyeom Levshunov is him.

I swear we're watching different players.

I felt that way in the first period ("finally!") and then in the second he was completely lost and was very lucky not to be directly responsible for at least a goal. I posted about it in his thread. The comp that someone shared was Bogosian... which would be very much a floor situation for Lev.

Levshunov is such an enigma. Easy to see why he’ll go high in the draft. He has all of the physical tools. 6’2 and sturdy and moves really well. He’s an extremely good skater and has all of the pivots going both forwards and backwards and it helps him when in his own zone under pressure. And then in transition he does a little skip hop, plants his foot in the ice and blows past everyone.

I felt like he wasn’t processing fast enough defensively. He was all over the place and reacting rather than anticipating. Not all that physical or mean either. Shifty wingers give him problems when he has to defend the cycle. He was in the red and trying to survive a lot against W Michigan, an older bigger faster team than Michigan State.

It’s a lot to ask of a freshman with his trajectory to be dominating in all phases of play as one of the youngest players in the NCAA. He’s very smart with the puck on his stick and loves to activate from the point to keep the puck in. Shows it off on the 4-4 goal in the dying minute he flies past everyone with the puck on his stick and sets up the goal with a really nice cross seam feed.

This draft is super scary. A lot of polarizing players with extremely high ceilings but equally low floors.

Very well said. He did excellently in the first period, and in the second he struggled with their forecheck and struggled to keep on top of the play in his own zone.

 

[Juxtaposer]

I swear we're watching different players.

I felt that way in the first period ("finally!") and then in the second he was completely lost and was very lucky not to be directly responsible for at least a goal. I posted about it in his thread. The comp that someone shared was Bogosian... which would be very much a floor situation for Lev.


Very well said. He did excellently in the first period, and in the second he struggled with their forecheck and struggled to keep on top of the play in his own zone.

The context you’re missing is that he’s an 18 year old defenseman in the NCAA. In his second year in North America. And he was being deliberately physically targeted by Western Michigan all game.

His positioning is not perfect and he’s never going to wow you with Ferraro-like hustle. He’s inconsistent, this much is true. But whenever I see criticisms of Levshunov I feel like people are expecting him to be absolutely perfect as an 18 year old defenseman in the NCAA.

The breakouts are not a Levshunov problem but an MSU problem. They’re obsessed with having the defensemen make one-touch breakout passes to cherry-picking wingers every time they get the puck in their own zone, meaning the defensemen are hardly ever actually carrying the puck for any extent of time. All the defensemen turn the puck over a lot, not just Levshunov.

But Levshunov absolutely has the potential to be a plus-plus defensive player in the NHL. He forces a lot of dump-ins because of his size, skating, and spacing. He has a really quick defensive stick and broke up a lot of cycles behind the net and rush attempts today. I don’t know why people are expecting him to be physically dominant against NCAA guys, but he is absolutely good at tying up his guy in front of the net and boxing out.

This is not a guy who is going to step into the NHL next year, just because he’s physically mature doesn’t mean he’s close to NHL ready.

 

[coooldude]

The context you’re missing is that he’s an 18 year old defenseman in the NCAA. In his second year in North America. And he was being deliberately physically targeted by Western Michigan all game.

His positioning is not perfect and he’s never going to wow you with Ferraro-like hustle. He’s inconsistent, this much is true. But whenever I see criticisms of Levshunov I feel like people are expecting him to be absolutely perfect as an 18 year old defenseman in the NCAA.

The breakouts are not a Levshunov problem but an MSU problem. They’re obsessed with having the defensemen make one-touch breakout passes to cherry-picking wingers every time they get the puck in their own zone, meaning the defensemen are hardly ever actually carrying the puck for any extent of time. All the defensemen turn the puck over a lot, not just Levshunov.

But Levshunov absolutely has the potential to be a plus-plus defensive player in the NHL. He forces a lot of dump-ins because of his size, skating, and spacing. He has a really quick defensive stick and broke up a lot of cycles behind the net and rush attempts today. I don’t know why people are expecting him to be physically dominant against NCAA guys, but he is absolutely good at tying up his guy in front of the net and boxing out.

This is not a guy who is going to step into the NHL next year, just because he’s physically mature doesn’t mean he’s close to NHL ready.

I really love your passion and posts, but I would appreciate if you stopped telling me (and others) that we're missing context. I know all that context on the player. I watched every shift of the game too. We had a long back and forth about Levshunov not 2 weeks ago. You and I do not agree that he is fall-in-loveable and that's OK, but only if you accept that I have a different opinion.

Levshunov absolutely has the potential to be a plus-plus defensive player - yes, sure. I actually think he DID look physically dominant at times. I'm far more concerned (and have been consistently concerned) with the floor in the event that he can't really process the off-puck game at a high speed and sophistication, which is required in the NHL to be a top pairing RHD. The floor is what is scary with a 2-4OA pick.

Now, as previously discussed, we are in a situation where the other 6 options at 2-4OA are also not-fall-in-lovable for me, so all I'm saying is I'm not in love with Levshunov and I still see concerns given how important he's going to be for the club if we pick him. I'm not saying I'd be unhappy with the pick or don't believe he can be an impact player.

 

[Juxtaposer]

I really love your passion and posts, but I would appreciate if you stopped telling me (and others) that we're missing context. I know all that context on the player. I watched every shift of the game too. We had a long back and forth about Levshunov not 2 weeks ago. You and I do not agree that he is fall-in-loveable and that's OK, but only if you accept that I have a different opinion.

Levshunov absolutely has the potential to be a plus-plus defensive player - yes, sure. I actually think he DID look physically dominant at times. I'm far more concerned (and have been consistently concerned) with the floor in the event that he can't really process the off-puck game at a high speed and sophistication, which is required in the NHL to be a top pairing RHD. The floor is what is scary with a 2-4OA pick.

Now, as previously discussed, we are in a situation where the other 6 options at 2-4OA are also not-fall-in-lovable for me, so all I'm saying is I'm not in love with Levshunov and I still see concerns given how important he's going to be for the club if we pick him. I'm not saying I'd be unhappy with the pick or don't believe he can be an impact player.

If my “reminding you of context” is such a pervasive problem, why even engage me about Levshunov? I’ve been pretty clear about what I think of him—frankly, I think we tend to feel similarly about him, except I’m more intrigued by what he could be if he pans out and you’re more worried about what happens if he doesn’t. That’s completely fine to worry about that, but I just think you should adjust your expectations a little. Because if Bogosian hadn’t had a slew of injuries in his early-mid 20’s, he would have been a long-term middle-pairing defenseman. I agree that Levshunov could end up Bogosian, but healthy Bogosian was actually a pretty good and valuable player.

I’m more than happy to agree to disagree and move on.

 

[LilLeeroy]

I really love your passion and posts, but I would appreciate if you stopped telling me (and others) that we're missing context. I know all that context on the player. I watched every shift of the game too. We had a long back and forth about Levshunov not 2 weeks ago. You and I do not agree that he is fall-in-loveable and that's OK, but only if you accept that I have a different opinion.

Levshunov absolutely has the potential to be a plus-plus defensive player - yes, sure. I actually think he DID look physically dominant at times. I'm far more concerned (and have been consistently concerned) with the floor in the event that he can't really process the off-puck game at a high speed and sophistication, which is required in the NHL to be a top pairing RHD. The floor is what is scary with a 2-4OA pick.

Now, as previously discussed, we are in a situation where the other 6 options at 2-4OA are also not-fall-in-lovable for me, so all I'm saying is I'm not in love with Levshunov and I still see concerns given how important he's going to be for the club if we pick him. I'm not saying I'd be unhappy with the pick or don't believe he can be an impact player.

And the fact that Levshunov is leading his top 5 team in points and +/- (by a ton) in his draft year clearly seems to suggest you are missing something if you have come away from all of your viewings unimpressed.

Confirmation bias is a thing, and I've got a feeling you're being overly critical every time he doesn't look like a Bobby Orr/Nicklas Lidstrom hybrid.

 

[Mattb124]

And as someone that played D1 sports I have pretty universally always called nonsense on that notion. I was smack in the middle of my graduating class age wise. I had guys that I played with that were old and young and it virtually never mattered nor was it ever considered (quite literally never had a single coach ask about birth date as part of the recruiting process). The most physically mature guy in my freshman class in college was far and away the youngest.

To assume that age within a draft year makes a marked difference relies on the assumption that bodies all develop relatively linear and more time = more body development (which I think we all agree is false). I was an early grower and tapped out in height at age 14. Others (even within my own family) were growing still until they were 25.

The month by month tracking for NHL draftees (literally the only sport where people even discuss or care about it as part of the draft process) is mostly filled with nonsense and I'd peg any sort of trends into more of a correlation/coincidence than age being a true causation of the outcome.

Cool story, but there is a ton of data that shows age bias is prevalent in NHL drafting (Google “relative age effect” or REA). Where your opinion falls down is that, in the NHL draft, teams are trying to project what a player will become a few years down the road and thereafter whereas college coaches are making assessments on the player right in front of them.

 

[LilLeeroy]

I definitely think Levshunov is by far the most likely outcome at this point. Lindstrom and Demidov compared to him might not meet the risk-reward threshold.

Rick putting his thumb on the scale won't help matters either.

 

[cheechoo]

The one thing I really do like about Levshunov is how heads up he is in the offensive zone. He doesn't have the shot from the point like Dickinson, but he's very heady and always trying to make the better play. Also very consistent in getting pucks on net. He's someone that would elevate with superior talent around him in the way Smith gets to activate sixth sense alongside Perreault and Leonard.

Tournament rages on. Some fun watchings left ahead.

 

[wishman]

Lindstrom back playing tonight. Hopefully they make a deep run so can get some good viewings of him.

 

[cheechoo]

Lindstrom back playing tonight. Hopefully they make a deep run so can get some good viewings of him.

He already took it coast to coast for an assist.

Back looks good!

 

[coooldude]

I definitely think Levshunov is by far the most likely outcome at this point. Lindstrom and Demidov compared to him might not meet the risk-reward threshold.

Rick putting his thumb on the scale won't help matters either.

And the fact that Levshunov is leading his top 5 team in points and +/- (by a ton) in his draft year clearly seems to suggest you are missing something if you have come away from all of your viewings unimpressed.

Confirmation bias is a thing, and I've got a feeling you're being overly critical every time he doesn't look like a Bobby Orr/Nicklas Lidstrom hybrid.

I'm not "unimpressed," you can read that in what I said. I said I'm not in love. I'm not telling anyone else to not be in love, but there has to be room for different opinions. I even said I'd be good with the pick, but it'll make me just as concerned as I am about Smith -- really holding out hope for the ceiling. In contrast, last year I was in love with all top 3 and Michkov. This year I'm only in love with Macklin in the top 5, and anyone else will be exciting but nerve wracking... but there are a bunch of players I'd be in love with at 11-12 if we get that pick.

I've liked your posts lately but this one is unnecessarily black and white and exaggerating what I said to fit a different narrative. I never said he had to be Lidstrom or Orr.

 

[coooldude]

If my “reminding you of context” is such a pervasive problem, why even engage me about Levshunov? I’ve been pretty clear about what I think of him—frankly, I think we tend to feel similarly about him, except I’m more intrigued by what he could be if he pans out and you’re more worried about what happens if he doesn’t. That’s completely fine to worry about that, but I just think you should adjust your expectations a little. Because if Bogosian hadn’t had a slew of injuries in his early-mid 20’s, he would have been a long-term middle-pairing defenseman. I agree that Levshunov could end up Bogosian, but healthy Bogosian was actually a pretty good and valuable player.

I’m more than happy to agree to disagree and move on.

I think we do pretty much agree on the player except I'm not in love and you said you are. No worries there. I just bristled at being told I was missing context, and it's not the first time you've said it. I think we all have the same information at this point and we're not that far apart anyway.

 

[Jargon]

I think we should pick Michkov.

 

[fasterthanlight]

I think we should pick Michkov.

They should change the draft so that in addition to drafting prospects, each year is a simultaneous expansion draft. Teams submit their expansion-draft esque protected lists, and teams can select either a prospect or an unprotected player from another team. </s>

 

[YUPPY 2 7 10 11]

I think we should pick Michkov.

I get it. Ha ha ha!!! Good one.