Prospect Info: The 2018 NHL Entry Draft Thread

[McMetal]

I don't see how Arizona could bottom out again. They just consolidated assets to get Stepan and Hjalmarsson, and although it won't make them contenders or anything, they could be a bubble team.

 

[henchman21]

I feel like Arizona is going to have a youth driven miracle year one of these years. There will be a couple tankers though. I'm just going to focus top 10, it's probably a fair range.

I don't think it will be a miracle year, I just think they will be good. They will have a great top pairing and top line. The rest of the lineup has enough talent to be solid (not great, but solid). Chychrun being out will hurt, but that should only be until January or so. If they can tread water, they can have a solid top 4 down the stretch too. That team has a real nice mixture of youth and vets on top of their game to insulate and lead the youth.

 

[Skip2myBordyloo]

I don't see how Arizona could bottom out again. They just consolidated assets to get Stepan and Hjalmarsson, and although it won't make them contenders or anything, they could be a bubble team.

Definitely think they have a better season than us.

Only team I think we top is Vegas.

 

[Pokecheque]

Not convinced at all the Arizona is gonna turn it around this upcoming season. I agree they sure made some big moves to try and turn it around but they're still relying on a lot of young players to do the heavy lifting, all of whom have had some worrisome stumbles in their development. Both Domi and Duclair had bad sophomore seasons, Dylan Strome is hardly looking like a surefire bet

And then there's Hjalmarsson and Stepan. Both are upgrades over what was there before but I'm not sure they're gonna move the needle THAT much. Lastly, Antti Raanta is an unknown quantity. He could do what Mike Smith couldn't do following his big extension, or he could be great. Hard to say.

This is one team wherein I actually buy into the notion that the_fan put forth about the Avs--they were unlucky enough in the draft to miss out on the one superstar who could turn it around, a kid from their neck of the desert. Right now I don't see any elite up-and-comers. Good players, yes, but no superstars. Not sure they'll be anything more than mediocre. Will that make them better than the Avs? Likely, but I'm not entirely sure they'll be even that. We'll see.

And people seem to forget that Rick Tocchet was a disaster his first go-around as coach. Yes, part of that may have been inexperience and bad ownership, but I'm just not convinced he's The Guy.

Now that I've said all that, watch 'em dominate the Pacific.

 

[Skip2myBordyloo]

Not convinced at all the Arizona is gonna turn it around this upcoming season. I agree they sure made some big moves to try and turn it around but they're still relying on a lot of young players to do the heavy lifting, all of whom have had some worrisome stumbles in their development. Both Domi and Duclair had bad sophomore seasons, Dylan Strome is hardly looking like a surefire bet

And then there's Hjalmarsson and Stepan. Both are upgrades over what was there before but I'm not sure they're gonna move the needle THAT much. Lastly, Antti Raanta is an unknown quantity. He could do what Mike Smith couldn't do following his big extension, or he could be great. Hard to say.

They finished 22 points ahead of us last year, and they've improved their team on last year with the exception of the goal tending position. Losing Smith will hurt, but with the improvements in other areas I think they'll have a similar season.

The Avs will improve, but barely.

I'd be flabbergasted if we finished ahead of them. We're walking into next year with the same team. And seemingly two rookie D-men, three if you include Mironov that will make the team without picking someone up on waivers.

 

[Pokecheque]

They finished 22 points ahead of us last year, and they've improved their team on last year with the exception of the goal tending position. Losing Smith will hurt, but with the improvements in other areas I think they'll have a similar season.

The Avs will improve, but barely.

I'd be flabbergasted if we finished ahead of them. We're walking into next year with the same team. And seemingly two rookie D-men, three if you include Mironov that will make the team without picking someone up on waivers.

Well no, it's not the same team. I wish people would quit saying that. Seven players (eight if you count Gelinas) are gone from the roster that closed out the Season of Suck. If you look at the roster that started the year there's even more players gone. So that's roughly a third of the roster that will now be different from last year, and all but one were major contributors to the suckiness (I give Wiercioch a pass, IMO he's a quality player but was a really bad fit in COL). The only two boat anchors remaining IMO are Soderberg and Colborne (and to a lesser extent, Comeau). They're going with youth, and will be a considerably faster team that won't be playing perimeter hockey the entire time. And yes, I think it is a demonstrably more talented team, because whatever talent guys like Iginla, Beauchemin, and Tyutin once had, it wasn't on display at all last season.

Will it be a good team? Probably not, but I don't think it'll be anywhere near as bad. Inexperienced as he is I don't think you'll be seeing Mironov getting torched by opposing forwards on a nightly basis like Beauchemin was.

I just think the Coyotes created more questions than they answered, and while I am NO fan of Smith at all (in fact I think Calgary is in for yet another disappointment in goal) I've no idea if Raanta is up to the task. I know he played well in NY but I didn't think he was some sort of revelation.

I'd be surprised if the Avs were actually better than the Coyotes, but I won't be that surprised if ARZ falters again this upcoming season.

 

[ASmileyFace]

Miss read the poll and voted for 2nd OA pick.

I think we'll pick 2nd OA but will finish between 3-6th. Last year was such crappy luck that I can't imagine we'll lost that bad on the lottery again... right?

 

[Pokecheque]

Miss read the poll and voted for 2nd OA pick.

I think we'll pick 2nd OA but will finish between 3-6th. Last year was such crappy luck that I can't imagine we'll lost that bad on the lottery again... right?

I'm a Nuggets fan. Trust me...multiple lottery losses are absolutely possible.

 

[landy92mack29]

Canada's performance vs the Czech Republic was flat out dominating

The players who were the most impressive over the Hlinka to me were
Rasmus Kupari(FIN)
Jan Jenik(CZE)
Adam Boqvist(SWE)
Dmitri Zavgorodny(RUS)
Joe Veleno(CAN)
Akil Thomas(CAN)
Ty Smith(CAN)

 

[Balthazar]

I know it will change but as of July, there were four LHD in the top 10, that's pretty incredible.

 

[Balthazar]

Is Brady Tkachuk projecting to be as good as his brother? He's ranked exactly at the same spot that his brother got drafted (6OA)

 

[tigervixxxen]

Is Brady Tkachuk projecting to be as good as his brother? He's ranked exactly at the same spot that his brother got drafted (6OA)

Better at this point

Who are those rankings from?

If you want some early rankings:

Future Considerations https://futureconsiderations.ca/top-rankings-2018/

Hockey Prospect https://www.hockeyprospect.com/2018-nhl-draft-rankings-hockeyprospect-coms-early-top-31/

 

[Balthazar]

Better at this point

Who are those rankings from?

If you want some early rankings:

Future Considerations https://futureconsiderations.ca/top-rankings-2018/

Hockey Prospect https://www.hockeyprospect.com/2018-nhl-draft-rankings-hockeyprospect-coms-early-top-31/

Thanks. I think remember you not being very high on McIsaac. Any particular reason? His profile on futureconsiderations kind of looks like what the doctor ordered for us. Big LHD, responsible on both ends, smooth skater, great first pass, cannon of a shot from the point. Would look great next to Makar.

 

[tigervixxxen]

No that wasn't me, I'm not down on McIsaac. He might not end up my favorite D from this draft but I doubt I'll end up disliking him. Maybe it was just I said don't anoint him #3 yet because we have a long, long way to go and many, many options out there. Yeah he has a lot of good tools, size, good skater, two way game. I think he can be a bit of an ahole, which isn't exactly bad because we need to get away from our collection of softies but gotta watch and see that doesn't spill over to other things. I've seen him be a bit more inconsistent than you'd like (obviously all kids of this age are to a degree). He had a rough first game at the Hlinka but picked it up after that.

 

[agentblack]

I know it will change but as of July, there were four LHD in the top 10, that's pretty incredible.

That's glorious.
McIssac just sounds like an Avs player

 

[McMetal]

It's too early for me to think rankings yet, it's going to change so much. McIsaac is great, gotta love his size at that age, he's going to be a real beast with pro conditioning.

 

[Iracundia]

No that wasn't me, I'm not down on McIsaac. He might not end up my favorite D from this draft but I doubt I'll end up disliking him. Maybe it was just I said don't anoint him #3 yet because we have a long, long way to go and many, many options out there. Yeah he has a lot of good tools, size, good skater, two way game. I think he can be a bit of an ahole, which isn't exactly bad because we need to get away from our collection of softies but gotta watch and see that doesn't spill over to other things. I've seen him be a bit more inconsistent than you'd like (obviously all kids of this age are to a degree). He had a rough first game at the Hlinka but picked it up after that.

I watched the game vs Sweden and he was exactly that when on the PK, he was very physical without going over the line. Im curious to see how his offence shows up this season because this is the only real area of concern I have about him.

These games can be watched online.

 

[landy92mack29]

I watched the game vs Sweden and he was exactly that when on the PK, he was very physical without going over the line. Im curious to see how his offence shows up this season because this is the only real area of concern I have about him.

These games can be watched online.

His consistency is my main concern with him. If he brings it every night he could lead tier 2 but if it stays the same he's more of a mid 1st guy to me.

Obviously getting Dahlin or Svechnikov would be amazing but a Veleno/Smith/Tkachuk would be awesome as well.

 

[cgf]

This should be an exciting draft year for the Avs. Lots and lots of good players available, even if the drop to 4 happens. I think the strength of the NA class is overshadowing Europe a bit right now... there are some good Euros to go along with this NA class. This would be a great year to get a 2nd first round pick.

...or two

 

[agentblack]

...or two

People hate the idea of the Isles pkg but the closer we get to the draft it'll start to look real nice

 

[cgf]

People hate the idea of the Isles pkg but the closer we get to the draft it'll start to look real nice

I'd absolutely love the Isles 1sts, Bellows and a 2nd

 

[Tweaky]

At this point, I have resigned myself to hoping for the Isles package of two firsts and two seconds. Then take all the D.

I kid. Kind of.

Side note, looks like there might yet another Andy MacDonald in the NHL in a few years.

 

[Balthazar]

At this point, I have resigned myself to hoping for the Isles package of two firsts and two seconds. Then take all the D.

I kid. Kind of.

Side note, looks like there might yet another Andy MacDonald in the NHL in a few years.

We don't need that many more dmen though. We need a first pairing guy to join Zadorov and Bigras on the left side and that's pretty much it. The pipeline on the right side is full, so one very high quality LHD is all it takes.

Other than that we need some forward help. If Tkachuk is indeed as good or better as his brother I'd love to have a guy like that with the AVS. A top 6 pest that can score.

 

[Tweaky]

Nah, take all the D, that way when our development program or injuries ruin three of them, we still have one left to play second pairing.

 

[McMetal]

Brady has more raw skill than his brother, IMO. He's going to be really good. Still though, I say take the best LHD you can get with your highest pick. This is the draft to force a pick in, it's an embarrassment of riches in that regard even if we fall to 7 or 8.