D Lukas Dragicevic - Tri-City Americans, WHL (2023, 57th, SEA)

WeThreeKings

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Scouting lists may ignore him but you can bet teams aren't ignoring him. He will be a top 10 pick, RHD that is leading his team in scoring as a 17 year old. I can see him being draft as early as 6th.

That's pretty lofty, there's too many names that have top 10 billing.. the only defenseman I see in the top 10 is Reinbacher.
 

Frk It

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Jul 27, 2010
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-Just a thought-

If he goes in the 2nd round, I wonder if he could end up being like the Jason Robertson of this draft (defenseman version)?

Feels like everyone is focused on what he doesn't do well as opposed to what he does well, for some reason.
 

BigRangy

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Mar 17, 2015
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I sort of agree. Like, if he was a forward with that stat line he’d probably go top 20 no question about it. He’s basically got the same goal and assist numbers as Barzal had in his draft year. Plus he’s 6’2”.
 
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Sergei Shirokov

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His wrist shot looks phenomenal. I like the Bouchard comp though Dragicevic looks a little more dynamic offensively whereas Bouchard's calling card is really having the booming shot. Also wonder if he's a slightly better skater than Bouchard, atleast with his edgework (which is important).

The question is whether he's good/consistent enough defensively to be 'elite', but should be good enough to atleast be a 2nd pair guy that runs your PP.
 

Kcoyote3

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-Just a thought-

If he goes in the 2nd round, I wonder if he could end up being like the Jason Robertson of this draft (defenseman version)?

Feels like everyone is focused on what he doesn't do well as opposed to what he does well, for some reason.
This is a really good point. The first thing I noticed about him was his ability to pass out of almost any situation when he has the puck. Really excellent passing ability IMO. Reading breakouts, stretch passes, bank passes, in stride passing. It's almost automatic how he can shuffle the puck, and I think you're right that a lot of people just kind of gloss over that because of what he does poorly.
 

Thechozen1

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Sep 8, 2021
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Top 10 pick?
He's consistently rated outside the top 20, which is madness.
Outside the top 20 would be PERFECT!!!! Would like the Jets to have a shot at this kid because at the rate they’re going they’re unlikely to get through the 1st round of the playoffs if they actually get in.
 
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Artorius Horus T

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Nov 12, 2014
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5 points shy of 80 point draft season. (15+60)

"Interesting" tidbit, in his last 10 games, has gathered 21 penalty minutes, including 1 x 5 min in one game and 10 x min penalty in another.
 

MS

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His rankings are oddly low.

Yes, he isn't perfect defensively but this is a 6'2 RHD with huge talent and some grit and physicality and to me he should be in the 15-20 range. Instead he's consensus ranked at #27 when I'd pretty easily rate him ahead of Denton Mateychuk who went 12th last year. Yes, this is a deeper draft, but not to that extent.

It feels like there’s some overthinking going on with this player, much like with guys like Fowler and Chychrun in the past. Sometimes you get too invested in some defensive warts and can’t see the forest for the trees with a player who is pretty clearly a big, mobile, major talent.
 
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Gaylord Q Tinkledink

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Apr 29, 2018
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Just looking at his numbers and where he's ranked it's so odd. I would assume with those numbers he would be high.

What, if any is the comparison between him and Korchenski ?
 

MichaelFarrell

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Just looking at his numbers and where he's ranked it's so odd. I would assume with those numbers he would be high.

What, if any is the comparison between him and Korchenski ?
Korchinski isn’t the best comparison. I don’t know who you would compare Dragicevic to in regards to his play style. He’s an odd player. When I’ve watched him, I just haven’t been sure what to think about him. Even every scouting report seems to give contradictory information and everybody seems to rank him differently. His play is just oddly inconsistent. Not in terms of his offensive production, which has been pretty consistent all year, but his play style and defense positioning are very inconsistent game-to-game. It seems like some games he’s trying to decide if he’s a winger or a defenseman.

Is the offensive ability there? Absolutely. People who like his game swear by him and people that don’t like him really don’t seem to like his game at all.

I think he’s a huge risk early in the first round. He does not play a mature style of hockey. His game is very “junior hockey style” at this point if that makes sense.
 

vildurson

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Main problem with Dragicevic is his defensive game and play on his own zone. He plays very protected minutes and almost no defense at all for a defensive guy. Nobody is questioning his offensive production, it's just about everything else that you need to do as d-man.

Then again, defensive game should be easier to teach than pure offensive skill.
 

WhiskeyYerTheDevils

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Korchinski isn’t the best comparison. I don’t know who you would compare Dragicevic to in regards to his play style. He’s an odd player. When I’ve watched him, I just haven’t been sure what to think about him. Even every scouting report seems to give contradictory information and everybody seems to rank him differently. His play is just oddly inconsistent. Not in terms of his offensive production, which has been pretty consistent all year, but his play style and defense positioning are very inconsistent game-to-game. It seems like some games he’s trying to decide if he’s a winger or a defenseman.

Is the offensive ability there? Absolutely. People who like his game swear by him and people that don’t like him really don’t seem to like his game at all.

I think he’s a huge risk early in the first round. He does not play a mature style of hockey. His game is very “junior hockey style” at this point if that makes sense.
The most "junior style" player among the top prospects in this draft. On top of that, I'm not really impressed with his toolset for being an offensive dman. He's a decent skater but his mid-long range shot is pretty weak.

He's able to create offense at this level but without significantly improved tools, its gonna be hard to do against men.
 
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majormajor

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His rankings are oddly low.

Yes, he isn't perfect defensively but this is a 6'2 RHD with huge talent and some grit and physicality and to me he should be in the 15-20 range. Instead he's consensus ranked at #27 when I'd pretty easily rate him ahead of Denton Mateychuk who went 12th last year. Yes, this is a deeper draft, but not to that extent.

It feels like there’s some overthinking going on with this player, much like with guys like Fowler and Chychrun in the past. Sometimes you get too invested in some defensive warts and can’t see the forest for the trees with a player who is pretty clearly a big, mobile, major talent.

Just looking at his numbers and where he's ranked it's so odd. I would assume with those numbers he would be high.

What, if any is the comparison between him and Korchenski ?

I love his deceptive passing game but he looked very slow to me (unlike Korchinski). I think that might be what is warding off scouts. Like there won't be much margin for error as a pro.
 

Mrb1p

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Can anyone describe the difference between what a Junior style versus what a Pro game entails?
Usually just in the way offense is generated. In junior, offense can be generated from the outside and by challenge more than one player in small space ice. In the NHL, more simple plays are needed to produce. (Think deflections, rebounds.) Watching Jonathan Drouin in junior could give you a decent example of what a junior player is.
 

Malaka

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Usually just in the way offense is generated. In junior, offense can be generated from the outside and by challenge more than one player in small space ice. In the NHL, more simple plays are needed to produce. (Think deflections, rebounds.) Watching Jonathan Drouin in junior could give you a decent example of what a junior player is.
More simple plays? Or more complex?

For us in goaltending, that would be interesting because an observation is comparatively at the pro level how quickly the puck moves from low danger areas like off the boards to high danger opportunities maybe as you suggest
 

Mrb1p

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More simple plays? Or more complex?

For us in goaltending, that would be interesting because an observation is comparatively at the pro level how quickly the puck moves from low danger areas like off the boards to high danger opportunities maybe as you suggest
Id say simple, or at least, streamlining the way you go about producing. Id say everything comes faster in the pro, lol.
 

Captain97

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Jan 31, 2017
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I feel like he's going to be a late 1st/early 2nd round swing that either figures it out and makes the GM look like a genius or become a Gustafsson type player.

And people understand why they took the gamble.
 

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