Lord Stanley
Revoluccion Leader
HFNHL VEGAS DRAFT REVIEW 2023
1st Round, 15th Overall - W, Matthew Wood, UConn, NCAA - Drafted 15th overall to Nashville in the NHL. I was pretty excited to get him at 15, as I had him ranked 10th overall on my list. I had seen him ranked anywhere from 10th to 22nd on lists. The package of size and skill was too much for me to pass on. Skating is the one flaw that everybody is talking about, I think it’s probably the one thing that can be improved dramatically. You can’t teach size and IQ.
1st Round, 22nd Overall - C, Brayden Yager, Portland, WHL - We were getting nervous that Yager might not make it to us. When Putadelphia selected Musty we were very relieved. I had Yager ranked 15th overall on my list. He was drafted 14th overall in the NHL by the Penguins. I like his complete game, but I’m really intrigued by his offensive upside. Was once considered a top 5 pick for this draft. If he had been selected we would’ve been looking at But or Honzek here.
1st Round, 28th Overall - D, Mikhail Gulyayev, Omskie Yastreby, MHL - I traded down from pick 27 and added a 5th rounder. We were debating between Gulyayev and Bonk at 27 when we traded the pick. We figured that maybe the Canucks might make the decision for us, that didn’t happen. We ended up going with the player that we felt had the higher ceiling. Could look really good in the future on d-core featuring Luke Hughes and Owen Power. Will be interesting to watch him and Bonk develop for us to see if we made the right choice. The Avalanche selected him 31st overall in the NHL draft.
2nd Round, 47th Overall - W, Ethan Gauthier, Sherbrooke, QMJHL - I had Gauthier ranked 32nd on my list, he was the last remaining player I had ranked in the first round when this pick came up. Again as the picks passed I got more excited and anxious at the same time, will I get him or will he be gone? Had he been picked the next player up on my list was Charlie Stramel. Gauthier was selected 37th overall in the NHL by the Lighting. Pretty stoked to have him go to Tampa they seem to develop these types of players really well. I really thought he’d get selected in the late first of the NHL draft.
2nd Round, 59th Overall - C, Charlie Stramel, Wisconsin, NCAA - I probably had him ranked higher than most at 36th overall on my list. He was a guy that at the start of the year was considered a top 10 pick. Obviously a down year playing in a dumpster fire that was Wisconsin. Hopefully he rebounds this season, again the size package of skills to me says he’ll make it to the NHL in some role. Selected by the Wild 21st overall in the NHL. He was a player I thought had an outside change at being picked at the end of the first, fairly surprised it was that early. This gives me a total of 4 NHL first round picks from this years draft to go with the glut of NHL first round picks I have in my system all ready from the past 3 drafts. Wood, Yager, Gulyayev, Savoie, Geekie, Gaucher, Rinzel, Howard, Power, Hughes, Lucius, and Svechkov.
3rd Round, 76th Overall - C, Carey Terrance, Erie, OHL - I had him ranked 53rd overall on my draft list. He was a player that I really wanted and wasn’t sure I’d get him this late. I almost selected him with the 59th pick in the 2nd round for that reason. Played on a very poor Erie team and still managed to score 30 goals as a 17 year old in the OHL. Selected 59th overall by the Ducks in the NHL.
4th Round, 111th Overall - W, Ethan Miedema, Kingston, OHL - A former 4th overall OHL priority selection Miedema has some skill and potential. I had him ranked 86th overall and 3rd on my day two list. He’s a project at this point but given his size and skill package who knows what he turns into. This late in the draft if he becomes a useful role player it’s a win. He was the 109th overall selection in the NHL to the Sabres.
5th Round, 130th Overall - W, Jesse Nurmi, Kookoo, U20 SM Sarja - I had him ranked 94th on my list and 8th on my day two list. He put up 50 points in 41 games in the Finnish junior league. The highest scoring draft eligible in the league. All the others ahead of him were at least 2 years older. I’ve had good look drafting similar players from this league in this range before Niko Huuhtanen 132nd overall and Matias Maccelli 137th overall. The Islanders selected him in the NHL draft 113th overall.
5th Round, 137th Overall - W, Ondrej Molnar, Erie, OHL - I had Molnar ranked 120th on my list, despite believing there was a good chance he went undrafted in the NHL. It turns out that he did go undrafted. At the beginning of the year he was considered a late first early 2nd round candidate. Obviously a disappointing season on the ice coupled with an unfortunate incident off, were enough cause for concern for NHL teams not to take a chance. He’s somebody I’ll hold onto and watch to hopefully get drafted in the future as a re entry.
5th Round, 144th Overall - G, Yegor Zavragin, Mamonty Yurgy, MHL - This was the pick acquired from the Canucks for moving down from 27 to 28th in this years draft. Zavragin was selected 87th overall by the Flyers in the NHL draft. I was hoping to draft a goalie at some point in this years draft, I though it might have been quite a bit higher and one of the more well known ranked ones. They didn’t slide down to where I had them ranked however. I believe I got a pretty good pick here in the late rounds. With Russia being banned from international competition, I think Zavragin flew under the radar a bit. Has decent size and athleticism, needs some work on rebound control. With Dustin Wolf, Pyotr Kochetkov, and Mads Sogaard beginning to break into the HFNHL I need to add some more talent to my prospect ranks in net.
All in all I’m pretty excited about this draft class with 9 out of 10 players being selected in the NHL draft. Including 4 first rounders, and 2 second rounders. This was the last of 3 years in a row where I had multiple first round selections in my quest to build the Golden Knights into a perennial contender and cup champion. Now it’s time to see sit back and watch as these guys hopefully fulfill their potential.
1st Round, 15th Overall - W, Matthew Wood, UConn, NCAA - Drafted 15th overall to Nashville in the NHL. I was pretty excited to get him at 15, as I had him ranked 10th overall on my list. I had seen him ranked anywhere from 10th to 22nd on lists. The package of size and skill was too much for me to pass on. Skating is the one flaw that everybody is talking about, I think it’s probably the one thing that can be improved dramatically. You can’t teach size and IQ.
1st Round, 22nd Overall - C, Brayden Yager, Portland, WHL - We were getting nervous that Yager might not make it to us. When Putadelphia selected Musty we were very relieved. I had Yager ranked 15th overall on my list. He was drafted 14th overall in the NHL by the Penguins. I like his complete game, but I’m really intrigued by his offensive upside. Was once considered a top 5 pick for this draft. If he had been selected we would’ve been looking at But or Honzek here.
1st Round, 28th Overall - D, Mikhail Gulyayev, Omskie Yastreby, MHL - I traded down from pick 27 and added a 5th rounder. We were debating between Gulyayev and Bonk at 27 when we traded the pick. We figured that maybe the Canucks might make the decision for us, that didn’t happen. We ended up going with the player that we felt had the higher ceiling. Could look really good in the future on d-core featuring Luke Hughes and Owen Power. Will be interesting to watch him and Bonk develop for us to see if we made the right choice. The Avalanche selected him 31st overall in the NHL draft.
2nd Round, 47th Overall - W, Ethan Gauthier, Sherbrooke, QMJHL - I had Gauthier ranked 32nd on my list, he was the last remaining player I had ranked in the first round when this pick came up. Again as the picks passed I got more excited and anxious at the same time, will I get him or will he be gone? Had he been picked the next player up on my list was Charlie Stramel. Gauthier was selected 37th overall in the NHL by the Lighting. Pretty stoked to have him go to Tampa they seem to develop these types of players really well. I really thought he’d get selected in the late first of the NHL draft.
2nd Round, 59th Overall - C, Charlie Stramel, Wisconsin, NCAA - I probably had him ranked higher than most at 36th overall on my list. He was a guy that at the start of the year was considered a top 10 pick. Obviously a down year playing in a dumpster fire that was Wisconsin. Hopefully he rebounds this season, again the size package of skills to me says he’ll make it to the NHL in some role. Selected by the Wild 21st overall in the NHL. He was a player I thought had an outside change at being picked at the end of the first, fairly surprised it was that early. This gives me a total of 4 NHL first round picks from this years draft to go with the glut of NHL first round picks I have in my system all ready from the past 3 drafts. Wood, Yager, Gulyayev, Savoie, Geekie, Gaucher, Rinzel, Howard, Power, Hughes, Lucius, and Svechkov.
3rd Round, 76th Overall - C, Carey Terrance, Erie, OHL - I had him ranked 53rd overall on my draft list. He was a player that I really wanted and wasn’t sure I’d get him this late. I almost selected him with the 59th pick in the 2nd round for that reason. Played on a very poor Erie team and still managed to score 30 goals as a 17 year old in the OHL. Selected 59th overall by the Ducks in the NHL.
4th Round, 111th Overall - W, Ethan Miedema, Kingston, OHL - A former 4th overall OHL priority selection Miedema has some skill and potential. I had him ranked 86th overall and 3rd on my day two list. He’s a project at this point but given his size and skill package who knows what he turns into. This late in the draft if he becomes a useful role player it’s a win. He was the 109th overall selection in the NHL to the Sabres.
5th Round, 130th Overall - W, Jesse Nurmi, Kookoo, U20 SM Sarja - I had him ranked 94th on my list and 8th on my day two list. He put up 50 points in 41 games in the Finnish junior league. The highest scoring draft eligible in the league. All the others ahead of him were at least 2 years older. I’ve had good look drafting similar players from this league in this range before Niko Huuhtanen 132nd overall and Matias Maccelli 137th overall. The Islanders selected him in the NHL draft 113th overall.
5th Round, 137th Overall - W, Ondrej Molnar, Erie, OHL - I had Molnar ranked 120th on my list, despite believing there was a good chance he went undrafted in the NHL. It turns out that he did go undrafted. At the beginning of the year he was considered a late first early 2nd round candidate. Obviously a disappointing season on the ice coupled with an unfortunate incident off, were enough cause for concern for NHL teams not to take a chance. He’s somebody I’ll hold onto and watch to hopefully get drafted in the future as a re entry.
5th Round, 144th Overall - G, Yegor Zavragin, Mamonty Yurgy, MHL - This was the pick acquired from the Canucks for moving down from 27 to 28th in this years draft. Zavragin was selected 87th overall by the Flyers in the NHL draft. I was hoping to draft a goalie at some point in this years draft, I though it might have been quite a bit higher and one of the more well known ranked ones. They didn’t slide down to where I had them ranked however. I believe I got a pretty good pick here in the late rounds. With Russia being banned from international competition, I think Zavragin flew under the radar a bit. Has decent size and athleticism, needs some work on rebound control. With Dustin Wolf, Pyotr Kochetkov, and Mads Sogaard beginning to break into the HFNHL I need to add some more talent to my prospect ranks in net.
All in all I’m pretty excited about this draft class with 9 out of 10 players being selected in the NHL draft. Including 4 first rounders, and 2 second rounders. This was the last of 3 years in a row where I had multiple first round selections in my quest to build the Golden Knights into a perennial contender and cup champion. Now it’s time to see sit back and watch as these guys hopefully fulfill their potential.
