Redline Report (defensemen)

[Debrincat93]

has staal really dropped that much?

 

[Upside]

has staal really dropped that much?

No Redline has had him low all year. It says in the USAToday article they want guys to have more upside (nice word) to be ranked high. Each their own.

 

[hockeyfan125]

Lashoff sucks.

 

[rt]

Lashoff sucks.

He's a young man, with a bright future, you can't blame him for kissing your girlfriend. How was he supposed to know that she had mono?

 

[espo*]

I sat down with a couple of scouts for a few beverages the other night, and we talked quite a bit about the draft, among other subjects.

I can assure you that Kindl is not the third defenceman on their lists, nor any of their scouting friends. The odds of him being selected ahead of Staal, Bourdon or Parent are slim at best. I'm quite confident in projecting that all three will be selected before Kindl. I'd also hazard to guess that Lashoff will be picked ahead of his teammate.

I mentioned to the scouts that Red Line had Skille five positions ahead of Ryan on his forwards list. They just shook their heads. Ryan is a top four overall pick in their books. Apparently more than a few scouts were surprised by Skille's measurements at the scouting combine. Not nearly as tall as listed.

I also told them that Red Line had Latendresse rated ahead of Ryan, which elicited an even larger reponse of surprise. "He'll make a good second round pick" was the kindest comment I heard. His skating is a huge concern.


My top five defencemen:

JJ Top 3
Staal Top 7
Bourdon Top 10
Parent Top 12
Lashoff Top 18

After that I think there's a little drppoff. Scouts have reservations about picking Russian defencemen with high picks, other than Grebeshkov there just hasn't been much success in recent years with developing Russian blueliners. Thus I'd be surprised to see any picked in the first round. Laakso and Vojta were inconsistent, which raises concerns. European defencemen in general really have to impress these day thanks to the Andrei Zyuzins and Aki Bergs to be worthy of high first-round consideration, and there doesn't appear to be any stud European rearguards in this draft.

I can see Lee, Mikkelson and Laakso being taken in the late stages of the first round along with the "Fab Five". .

A couple of sleepers IMO could be Kudelka, Mihalik and Bork. I thought they all showed flashes at the under-18s, and might be good second round value.

Interesting stuff.................thanks for the info.

 

[Upside]

I sat down with a couple of scouts for a few beverages the other night, and we talked quite a bit about the draft, among other subjects.

I can assure you that Kindl is not the third defenceman on their lists, nor any of their scouting friends. The odds of him being selected ahead of Staal, Bourdon or Parent are slim at best. I'm quite confident in projecting that all three will be selected before Kindl. I'd also hazard to guess that Lashoff will be picked ahead of his teammate.

I mentioned to the scouts that Red Line had Skille five positions ahead of Ryan on his forwards list. They just shook their heads. Ryan is a top four overall pick in their books. Apparently more than a few scouts were surprised by Skille's measurements at the scouting combine. Not nearly as tall as listed.

I also told them that Red Line had Latendresse rated ahead of Ryan, which elicited an even larger reponse of surprise. "He'll make a good second round pick" was the kindest comment I heard. His skating is a huge concern.


My top five defencemen:

JJ Top 3
Staal Top 7
Bourdon Top 10
Parent Top 12
Lashoff Top 18

After that I think there's a little drppoff. Scouts have reservations about picking Russian defencemen with high picks, other than Grebeshkov there just hasn't been much success in recent years with developing Russian blueliners. Thus I'd be surprised to see any picked in the first round. Laakso and Vojta were inconsistent, which raises concerns. European defencemen in general really have to impress these day thanks to the Andrei Zyuzins and Aki Bergs to be worthy of high first-round consideration, and there doesn't appear to be any stud European rearguards in this draft.

I can see Lee, Mikkelson and Laakso being taken in the late stages of the first round along with the "Fab Five". .

A couple of sleepers IMO could be Kudelka, Mihalik and Bork. I thought they all showed flashes at the under-18s, and might be good second round value.

I have to ask what it is that you like so much about Laakso. He is average sized at best and an average skater. Add to that he gets his shot blocked at an alarmingly high rate (and his shot is a major strength for him) and I can't see why he'd go in the first round.

 

[Kamsa]

No Scott Jackson? He is a top ten d-man forsure, just watch he will be a late first rounder.

 

[Hunter74]

Red Lines report on Bourdon reads alot like Phaneufs when he was drafted. Tough as nails physical blueliner with big shot. Mobile and can make a crsip outlet pass but people wonder about his hockey smarts.

I wonder if it will be repeat of the 2003 draft in regards to teh defenseman. Or maybe some GM will see a similarity and hope to follow in the Flames good fortune?

 

[Divine Wind]

No Scott Jackson? He is a top ten d-man forsure, just watch he will be a late first rounder.

I did a mock draft on the Oiler's board a couple months ago, and said i had considered him for my high 2nd round pick and got flamed. He has good all around skills and plays with an edge, sounds liek a pretty good defense prospect to me, however, i am jsut going by articles and scouting reports.

 

[McDonald19]

wow Staal at 8??

I highly doubt that Lee gets drafted before Staal!!

I'd put Staal in the top 3.

 

[BobMarleyNYR]

After that I think there's a little drppoff. Scouts have reservations about picking Russian defencemen with high picks, other than Grebeshkov there just hasn't been much success in recent years with developing Russian blueliners. Thus I'd be surprised to see any picked in the first round. Laakso and Vojta were inconsistent, which raises concerns. European defencemen in general really have to impress these day thanks to the Andrei Zyuzins and Aki Bergs to be worthy of high first-round consideration, and there doesn't appear to be any stud European rearguards in this draft.

Tyutin?

 

[Kaizer]

+ Volchenkov and Babchuk

 

[BobMarleyNYR]

Yup... Babchuk, I'm a little wary of... Volchenkov is great.

 

[Hiishawk]

Some responses (I've been away for a few days so sorry about the latenesss of this reply).

Why Vojta over Buravchikov? OK- For starters I think we can agree that they are likely to be late 1st or early 2nd round picks. If I'm picking I go for the guy with the better upside (and vice-versa, crash potential)- that's Vojta. When he's on his game (like vs. Russia at the U18s) he may be next only to Johnson in this draft among DF.
But there's more. Vojta seems to be able to adapt himselff to better teams and players. He plays well against the better NHL prospects on other teams but can admittedly be sloppy and seemingly disinterested against lesser teams and opponents. Therefore, I think he's the kind of player who can raise his game when necessary.
But for Buravchikov, I see a low ceiling. Buravchikov looks great playing against lesser teams and individual opponents but when pressured by the bigger, better more NHL-ish players his normally excellent puck skills and offensive decision-making get all jittery. For that reason I think he'll have a great career in Europe but with his size and failure to advance his skills when an O'Marra or a Setoguchi are moving in on him, I have some doubt. He actually reminds me of Igor Knyazev in this way- similar size too (although Knyazev was much better defensively). Vojta reminds me more of Tyutin.

Someone asked about Juraj Mikus- I like the way he has gotten better with each tournament this year and became THE MAN for Slovakia at the World U18s. He's very smart and can dangle and feather passes like countryman Zagrapan and is IMO grittier although Zagrapan has a more fluid stride.

Finally, since somebody (rightly) thinks scouts should also say who ISN'T a prospect, I agree with the poster above who questions Teemu Laakso. He has actually regressed in the past year, does not appear to have grown much (if at all) and is one of the physically weakest players on that Finnish team. I heard that there have been numerous small injuries, which could be a mitigating factor but he has been one of the major disappointments of the 2004-2005 season for sure.

 

[czechhockeyfan]

Some responses (I've been away for a few days so sorry about the latenesss of this reply).

Why Vojta over Buravchikov? OK- For starters I think we can agree that they are likely to be late 1st or early 2nd round picks. If I'm picking I go for the guy with the better upside (and vice-versa, crash potential)- that's Vojta. When he's on his game (like vs. Russia at the U18s) he may be next only to Johnson in this draft.
But there's more. Vojta seems to be able to adapt himselff to better teams and players. He plays well against the better NHL prospects on other teams but can admittedly be sloppy and seemingly disinterested against lesser teams and opponents. Therefore, I think he's the kind of player who can raise his game when necessary.
But for Buravchikov, I see a low ceiling. Buravchikov looks great playing against lesser teams and indicdual opponents but when pressured by the bigger, better more NHL-ish players his normally excellent puck skills and offensive decision-making get all jittery. For that reason I think he'll have a great career in Europe but with his size and failure to advance his skills when an O'Marra or a Setoguchi are moving in on him, I have some doubt. He actually reminds me of Igor Knyazev in this way- similar size too (although Knyazev was much better defensively). Vojta reminds me more of Tyutin.

Someone asked about Juraj Mikus- I like the way he has gotten better with each tournament this year and became THE MAN for Slovakia at the World U18s. He's very smart and can dangle and feather passes like countryman Zagrapan and is IMO grittier although Zagrapan has a more fluid stride.

Finally, since somebody (rightly) thinks scouts should also say who ISN'T a prospect, I agree with the poster above who questions Teemu Laakso. He has actually regressed in the past year, does not appear to have grown much (if at all) and is one of the physically weakest players on that Finnish team. I heard that there have been numerous small injuries, which could be a mitigating factor but he has been one of the major disappointments of the 2004-2005 season for sure.

I agree with most things you said about Mikus. He was good at the tourney in August and very good at World U-18 championship. However he was ordinary at thhe tourneys in November and February. And what I didn´t like primarily there was that he played solid games when his team played well. However when Slovakian team was down then he often dissapeared from the ice. It was different in April though. Still he is definitely the best Slovak playing in Europe this year. And the only one(frankly I would consider Mihalik too) I would select in first three rounds even if i know someone will take Lelkes and maybe Bartanus there.

 

[Puckhead]

Is it just me or are staal and bourdon kinda far back? i mean id probably have it

Johnson
Bourdon
Staal

Youre probably right, but Staal has the brand name which no doubt means he's picked earlier than he should be.

 

[Ego]

I agree with most things you said about Mikus. He was good at the tourney in August and very good at World U-18 championship. However he was ordinary at thhe tourneys in November and February. And what I didn´t like primarily there was that he played solid games when his team played well. However when Slovakian team was down then he often dissapeared from the ice. It was different in April though. Still he is definitely the best Slovak playing in Europe this year. And the only one(frankly I would consider Mihalik too) I would select in first three rounds even if i know someone will take Lelkes and maybe Bartanus there.

Guys, I like your thoughts on Mikus. In August, he was the best Slovak player playing mostly in third line. In November he played in second line on left wing (not his usual right wing) and he was a big dissapointment. I like his decision to stay in Slovakia as he will get good portion of ice-time with Skalica first team. I thought he will go around no. 50 in the draft, but his stock rises and he can be picked in the first round.
I don't like both Bartanus and Mihalik. I hate how every tall Slovak defenseman is compared to next Zdeno Chara. There have been so many of them- Kudroc, Stehlik, Valabik...
Lelkes is a very risky pick. He has size and ton of skills, but his work ethic and grit is poor. He can be drafted in the second round, though.