Craig's List: Bouchard rocketing up draft board - Article - TSN
1 Rasmus Dahlin Frolunda (SHL) D
2 Brady Tkachuk Boston U (NCAA) LW
3 Andrei Svechnikov Barrie (OHL) RW
4 Filip Zadina Halifax (QMJHL) RW
5 Evan Bouchard London (OHL) D
6 Adam Boqvist Brynäs (SWE J20) D
7 Barrett Hayton S.S. Marie (OHL) C
8 Noah Dobson A-Bathurst (QMJHL) D
9 Oliver Wahlstrom USA NTDP (USHL) C
10 Jesperi Kotkaniemi Ässät (SM Liiga) C
11 Bode Wilde USA NTDP (USHL) D
12 Quinn Hughes Michigan (NCAA) D
13 Rasmus Kupari Kärpät (SM Liiga) C
14 Grigori Denisenko Yaroslavl (MHL) LW
15 Joel Farabee USA NTDP (USHL) LW
16 Serron Noel Oshawa (OHL) RW
17 Isac Lundestrom Luleå (SHL) C/LW
18 Rasmus Sandin S.S. Marie (OHL) D
19 Ty Smith Spokane (WHL) D
20 Akil Thomas Niagara (OHL) RW
21 Jacob Olofsson Timra (SWE-Als) C
22 Jack McBain Toronto (OJHL) C
23 Filip Hallander Timra (SWE-Als) C/LW
24 Jared McIsaac Halifax (QMJHL) D
25 Nicolas Beaudin Drummondville (QMJHL) D
26 Ryan Merkley Guelph (OHL) D
27 Joe Veleno Drummondville (QMJHL) C
28 Mattias Samuelsson USA NTDP (USHL) D
29 Albin Eriksson Skellefteå (SWE J20) LW
30 Ryan McLeod Mississuaga (OHL) C/LW
31 Benoît-Olivier Groulx Halifax (QMJHL) C
Here’s Craig’s monthly ranking, and I need to let loose some air on how I feel about this.
first thing; Tkachuk at 2 is laughably bad. Taking him over Svechnikov or Zadina would be one of the worst GM moves ever. Worse than than Juolevi over Serg and Tkachuk. It doesn’t make any sense, and it adds to my point that he buys into media pressure. He’s had Boqvist at 2 the entire year and literally hasn’t stopped praising him. Look at every one of his lists the entire year. Now he drops Boqvist to 6 when he realizes he’s been partially wrong the entire time. Hayton is a favourite player he’s always had. He’s even credited himself for his discovery so I’m not surprised he’s still in his top 10. I don’t even see Hayton as a top 3 center in the draft. Positionally, Wahlstrom is a winger. Still on Bode Wilde, even though he’s been quite bad. He’s always had a love for SSM players and it’s evident with the crazy high rankings of Sandin and Hayton as I mentioned earlier. I remember he had Frost and McCann high as well. He’s dropped Veleno due to bad performance but hasn’t raised him since he’s improved over the last month or two. Along the same path, he dropped Tkachuk when he had a bad few months. All of a sudden he moves Tkachuk back to the top right after a good WJC and a few alright games. That’s completely not a balanced way to measure prospects. You can’t do it for some and not others. Smith is too low, I cant believe he has Sandin above him considering Sandin is literally the same mold of defender as Smith, just worse. Of course he sticks with his love for Lundestrom, Hallander and Olofsson. He literally has Swede Fever. They play worse and he just continues to build them up. Again, Albin ******* Eriksson is in his first round.. why am I surprised. Apparently he needs to watch 4 games to measure players. Bokk and Kravtsov aren’t there of course. How has he NOT seen 4 VAXJO LAKERS GAMES to watch Bokk but he’s seen so many games on Lulea and Frolunda. Back to positions, Groulx is a winger. He was only a center in junior and he can’t play center anymore, he just isn’t that player. 2 Russians in the 1st round, yet 9 players with Swedish roots. He’s got McIssac and Noel high still, not factoring in that they’ve been playing worse and shouldn’t be in the 1st anymore.
That’s just my opinion. What do you guys think?