Which C should the leafs take with their 1st rd pick

[Halla]

I'd avoid merkley, at least in the first round. His attitude isn't the best and he takes way to many risks that he doesn't even try to cover for if they go wrong. Now if we move back and he's there and we have another pick... I might consider him. To me though there are too many red flags.

high risk high reward guy like liljegren.
the talent is there though. over a ppg as a 17 year old dman is very impressive

 

[hockeynorth]

Olofsson, Lundestrom, Dellandrea or Dunkley seem like more likely NHL centres, and they're all projected later than our pick. Not saying Thomas is a bad player at all, I love watching him and I think he has a great future just not at C. However if he's the BPA take him and try to develop him as a center if you think it's doable and if not well we have another very skilled winger. In my opinion he's somewhere between a Marner and a Bracco so not a bad player to have.

 

[MR4]

high risk high reward guy like liljegren.
the talent is there though. over a ppg as a 17 year old dman is very impressive

Liljegren wasn't high risk imo

 

[Kiwi]

high risk high reward guy like liljegren.
the talent is there though. over a ppg as a 17 year old dman is very impressive

Not being good defensively at this age isn't a game breaker for me but his persistent attitude problems with multiple coaching staffs is

There's way to many red flags with him for me to be comfortable taking him in the first round

 

[lifelonghockeyfan]

I'm glad there was a post that indicated the Leaf should be drafting a centre. It's the Leafs weakest position with really just Matthews and Kadri as NHLers next July. I'm not sure who they should pick, but a someone with offensive potential (yea guess all teams want that). Heck take three centres with the first three picks.

 

[BayStreetBully]

I don't understand why you're in this thread. You stated you don't know who any of these players are and clearly don't want to learn, so what value are you adding?

I got a notification indicating someone was talking to me, and it turned out to be a condescending message comparing me to a bunch of scrubs, so here I am.

 

[Gallagbi]

I got a notification indicating someone was talking to me, and it turned out to be a condescending message comparing me to a bunch of scrubs, so here I am.

That's why you clicked the thread? Weird, I don't see anyone tagging you until after you took your ignorant shot at the players and topic.

 

[Ulysses31]

Mcbain has a sweet name

 

[highslot]

The Finns don't seem to agree... they all think Kotkaniemi is far superior.

they could be right, but we are talking about projection. i've seen kupari higher on some lists. they also thought laine was better than matthews.

this what i see:

kot on international ice makes better use of his men
kot has better vision and thinks the game at high speed. he finds the open man better and is a better playmaker and long passer. great high end speed and i'd be surprised if he doesn't make the nhl and also stay a c. he can go to the net, but seems to pass it off by the time he's in the slot and doesn't mind the perimeter. the only thing that would hold him back is if he can't adapt to the quickness, contact and having less space. also, he can't stay outside the slot.

kup
has better edgework, keeps his feet moving more and has a better smaller rink game.
kup has a quicker and more accurate release, drives the net and is a bit chippier. great at creating his own plays.
his game imo is more suited to the nhl, especially his skating and seems more reflexive which you will need with less time and angles. a natural goal scorer and goes more into the thick of things.
i will say i haven't seen enough games to see what his vision is like, but if it's not close to kot, he will probably be a winger at the nhl level. he's great at give and go but doesn't seem to be extremely creative for unfolding plays. maybe kadri level vision at best.

i think the chance of kup adapting to the nhl is greater because of his skating and fearlessness, but i think kot has more potential and as a centre. i'd take either, but they are neck and neck to me. only time will tell, because it will come down to who progresses quicker.

 

[highslot]

Mcbain has a sweet name

he wouldn't be my first choice, but if hunter thought he was good enough for a late first, or second, i'm fine with that. bpa for me.

 

[ErnieLeafs]

I bet most woulda said that about liljegren too.

I put Kupari there ebcause there IS a chance he drops that low. its looking unlikely though as his stock has improved.
honestly though im hoping for Merkley and the leafs being able to turn him into Ryan Ellis 2.0.

Merkley will NEVER be Ryan Ellis 2.0. Ryan Ellis was/is a 1st class character guy, a leader, and carried his team. He also played defense.

Merkley can't spell defense, and his character is hot trash. He should be kept as far away from this group as possible.

 

[firstemperor]

I bet most woulda said that about liljegren too.

I put Kupari there ebcause there IS a chance he drops that low. its looking unlikely though as his stock has improved.
honestly though im hoping for Merkley and the leafs being able to turn him into Ryan Ellis 2.0.

Liljegren dropped because he had a awful draft year though, besides 1 short tourney late into his draft year...that's not the case with Kupari....Liljegren was a projection pick because of his illness. Kind of like Rielly in his draft year, to a lesser extent. I should say, I like the other Finn up the middle more than Kupari- I can see him dropping, but not all the way to the mid-late 20's where we'll likely pick.

As for Merkley and Ellis I don't really see the comparison at all. Ellis was one of the most prolific scoring d-man in the OHL ever, he won defenseman of the year, and despite being small....he was as competitive as anyone which serves him well at his size at the next level. Not to mention the most important point, he was by far the better hockey player...

Merkley is the polar opposite, his compete can be questioned. The closest comparable to him at the NHL level would probably be Deangelo.

 

[Halla]

Liljegren dropped because he had a awful draft year though, besides 1 short tourney late into his draft year...that's not the case with Kupari....Liljegren was a projection pick because of his illness. Kind of like Rielly in his draft year, to a lesser extent. I should say, I like the other Finn up the middle more than Kupari- I can see him dropping, but not all the way to the mid-late 20's where we'll likely pick.

As for Merkley and Ellis I don't really see the comparison at all. Ellis was one of the most prolific scoring d-man in the OHL ever, he won defenseman of the year, and despite being small....he was as competitive as anyone which serves him well at his size at the next level. Not to mention the most important point, he was by far the better hockey player...

Merkley is the polar opposite, his compete can be questioned. The closest comparable to him at the NHL level would probably be Deangelo.

but he still dropped after being considered a lotto pick, which is the point i was making. doesnt matter about circumstance, a guy projected 2 overall fell to 17. Merkley was projected top 5-10 and he could drop to 26. not many leafs fans dislike the liljegren pick.

Ellis went 11th overall because of his size and questions about whether he could play D at the NHL level. He was taken lower than he should have because of size/questions about play away from puck. could easily be the case with merkley

in regards to Deangelo, he wasn't nearly as talented as Merkley is and the stats back it up (121pts through 2 seasons for merkley vs 81 for deangelo)

Deangelo is worse in his own end too IMHO. the hope is that Merkley can be coached into a solid top 4 dman.
maybe even a gardiner type

 

[hawkeerox]

Well, though I think he will go early second round, I would take Jack McBain.

He's about 6'4" now according to some threads, and getting into his size, has improved the skating, has an NHL pedigree, is a Toronto boy (yay Leafs) and apparently used to be one heck of a competitive athlete outside of hockey, since there were some scouting reports that said he needed to decide whether or not to focus on hockey. So I suppose he's the BAA (best athlete available hahhah) with a high ceiling
Give him some focused, far-greater training and instruction at Boston and I suspect he'll pleasantly surprise a lot of people in a year or two.

Again, though, I totally expect he's going in the second round this draft - just not doing enough to overcome skeptics, including NHL Central scouting, right now. He's fallen from the beginning of the year.

 

[Klinton]

The player that can skate the fastest...

 

[The Best Leafs Ever]

Konecny > Dermott + Bracco ?

I agree with you but moving back does have it's strengths even at this point of the rebuild, it depends on the situation.

It wouldn't be Dermott or Bracco if the one they wanted was still around before they traded further down. Sometimes you should just let it be as it comes and lets not forget that not every draft is as deep as 2015.

It's good that we got some picks to show up from 2015 but banking on winning all the trades to pick later is not a good idea.

 

[nobody]

Give me a kid with a high compete level and a good scoring touch. I'm not sure which one of these guys fits that build.

 

[darrylsittler27]

Instead of talking about the best ever taken at 24th? How many never panned out? How many took 5 years to ever play? I like Hunter but our run of luck(Take Nylander at 8th, win lotto(Mathews), Liljegren falls to 17th, trade Konency but get Dermott..) Brace yourselves because at 24th in an average draft, you might get air. I also think, with Lou having so many pieces(Bracco,Johnson,Leivo) we may trade up to get that guy they crave most.

How many spots does Leivo get us? I'm pretty sure Johnson and Kapanen just put Leivo under the bus. I think the rumour was Lou wanted a late first for Leivo.