Ladislav Smid

He was drafted 9th by anaheim in the draft, I haven't heard alot about him. Admittedly i've seen little of him and would have preferred Thelen, but I just wanted to see what the people here thought of him now and his future.

Also how would you guys grade anaheims defense prospects as a whole?I think they are pretty good with Smid,Popovic,Rome,O'Brien,Klubbertanz etc

 

I definetly like Anaheim's group of D prospects more now than 6 months ago.

 

For me, Smid was the one guy I badly wanted to see Canucks GM David Nonis trade up and get. He is a guy who can do everything - he's big, he doesn't use his size a lot yet, but he's not soft and you can teach guys to become more aggressive I think. His skills with the puck are amazing, and he has a lot of offensive upside. To me, I think he can become a bonefide #1 defenseman in this league. I think he's one of the top defensive prospects around.

As for the Ducks D on the whole, it's pretty darn good. Getting Rome was quite a coup, especically since it was from the rival Kings.

 

I had read he had #1 potential but that he was a safe pick and not with the upside of say a Thelen. I hope he can be tought the physical side because he is big, and adding that element to your game can be vital.

 

I read that Smid is more aware with the puck than thelen, so it's more responsible in his own end and rarely make a mistake.
Despite some past comments I read on him, I think he has a good offensive upside. I know he had only one goal (and one assist), but so had Olesz, and the year before Michalek had zero goals.

Guess the Czech league has lower scoring than the RSL

 

Smid REALLY seems like Ohlund to me.

 

I would say that while Thelen has more offensive upside, based purely on potential alone, I still like Smid more. I feel Smid could be something like a Mattias Ohlund or a Roman Hamrlik, whereas Thelen might be something more like a Bryan McCabe.

Thelen will probobly score more than Smid either way though. His offensive capabilities are awesome, but some people question his defensive game. Smid on the other hand was perhaps the most solid defensive prospect going into the draft outside of maybe Fransson.

 

I like well rounded defensemen, when you run a guy like Martin Skoula out there your always at risk for less than par defensive play. Alot of people are high on Fransson, how did he fall so far?

I wanted us to take Thelen because of his potential but it seems Smid is a safer bet and if he's an Ohlund type then you basically have a Norris quality defensemen(I've always felt Ohlund was).

I think the teams overall defensive depth is good...people forget Vishnevski is only 24 and he was really good last year, Skoula is 24 and he averaged about .50 PPG. Throw in solid vets like Carney,Ozolinsh and Salei and the teams D throughout the organization looks good...I really like Rome this guy is going to be a rock.