2014 Draft Thread – Part Five

[cybresabre]

That is filthy.

Flashes of Jurco

 

[billsandsabres]

is there one player you'd put your money on that Buffalo will use one of their 2nd rounders to select?

 

[EichHart]

4 weeks away can't wait!

 

[Paxon]

Would anybody care to speculate on players they think Murray is high on that are projected to be selected in the second half of the first round? What do you think it would take to acquire an additional pick in the range that such player may be selected?

It's hard to say who is slotted in the second half because each draft guide differs substantially, Central Scouting uses 4 distinct lists, and McKenzie's top 30 hasn't been updated in a while. So here's a guess of guys Murray may target, ranked in order of who I'd want most:

Ivan Barbashev (if Murray can get over him being Russian, and if he falls)
Adrian Kempe
Alex Tuch
Jared McCann
Connor Bleackley

 

[Gabrielor]

Anyone building a draft board?

 

[Jim Bob]

Must be a lax player.

He's LI, so maybe.

But, in all the background articles I've seen on him there have been no mentions of playing lax.

 

[Zip15]

Milano is a good talent, and I think he'll be a good NHL player. I just find no reason to pay much attention to him for purposes of the draft, because I think he's going to fall squarely in the donut hole between our picks. Ditto someone like Tuch. Even if we have the ammo to move up to around 20, I think those guys will be gone by then.

 

[Jim Bob]

Milano is a good talent, and I think he'll be a good NHL player. I just find no reason to pay much attention to him for purposes of the draft, because I think he's going to fall squarely in the donut hole between our picks. Ditto someone like Tuch. Even if we have the ammo to move up to around 20, I think those guys will be gone by then.

I could see Milano fall to the later part in the first ala Tyler Ennis due to concerns about his size.

I see Tuch being a guy that goes a little too early because of his size.

 

[Zip15]

I could see Milano fall to the later part in the first ala Tyler Ennis due to concerns about his size.

I see Tuch being a guy that goes a little too early because of his size.

HockeyDB has him at 6'0'', 186 and I've also seen him listed at 5'10'', 176. Splitting the difference and calling him 5'11'', 180ish, he's not Ennis small. I think 13-17 is where he goes.

 

[Woodhouse]

Reinhart was interviewed by Dunleavy at the combine yesterday:

[NHL]622338[/NHL]

 

[haseoke39]

Reinhart was interviewed by Dunleavy at the combine yesterday:

[NHL]622338[/NHL]

Very levelheaded kid. Still want him with #2. Take the sure thing now and go for home runs next year.

 

[Ethan Edwards]

Very levelheaded kid. Still want him with #2. Take the sure thing now and go for home runs next year.

This is typical Sam Reinhart from what I've seen these past 13 months, and is reflective of his maturity. It translates on the ice as well. Solid kid.

 

[SabresFan26]

If Bennett is not selected 1st, I think he is the Sabres selection

 

[Jim Bob]

Flashes of Jurco

http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=29743

As a freshman at Portledge School (N.Y.) in 2011, Milano was awestruck by an NHL.com video showcasing the magical hands and creativity of then-Saint John Sea Dogs right wing Tomas Jurco. Jurco went on to be selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the second round (No. 35) of the 2011 draft.

"Me and my friend, Brandon Fortunato, watched Jurco do those tricks during a lunch break," Milano said. "We saw that and said let's try doing that in the lunch room at school. We started stickhandling and doing those tricks the whole year. It was a little private school so we went outside in the parking lot to do them whenever we could."

Milano got pretty good at it.

Speaking of which....

 

[Jim Bob]

If Bennett is not selected 1st, I think he is the Sabres selection

If I had to guess based on Murray's comments, I would think that the Sabres board might be:

1 - Ekblad
2 - Bennett
3 - Reinhart

 

[Jim Bob]

http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=29746

Ekblad on beating Lemieux in ping pong:

One solid moment this week occurred when I not only beat Brendan once, but twice, in ping pong; once for TSN and another for NHL Network. Both scores were actually very close, but I did win both matches. I made him very angry and I was very happy about that (laughing).

 

[Paxon]

The more I think about it, the more I think Bennett's eyebrow game is the difference maker. Those pups are both big and bold. Reinhart? Does he even have eyebrows?!

 

[Jim Bob]

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/juniorh...-fabbri-guelph-storm?urn=juniorhockey,wp33101

Fabbri knows Zads after this year.

4. Who has been the toughest defenceman you have faced in the OHL?

"I saw a lot of [Buffalo Sabres prospect] Nikita Zadorov this year — big, strong, fast defenceman. That's the type of defenceman you see at the next level, so it's great to play against him."

 

[1972]

Sam definitely has the demeanor of a low maintenance player who understands his game and how he needs to go about his business. Almost reminds me of Stamkos in how well spoken he is, unlike many of the top players in most drafts he doesn't seem go give those cliche answers and actually listens to and answers the question. It's easy to see that he is going to be wearing a letter in the NHL sooner then later. He really does strike me as the type of player who is going to have a long career while having consistently good seasons. Another thing I am interested to see what he comes in at, he still looks pretty lanky and has some room to fill out. He is listed at 6-1 185 right now but he may very well be closer to 6-2 200lb in a couple years and at the very least your probably getting a 6-1 190lb which is pretty solid. With his hockey IQ, vision and even size a team is getting alot to work with. If you can get his skating more powerful, along with being little more aggressive then you could be looking at a franchise player. It's in interesting dynamic to the draft this year, you have some very good players but they all bring something completely different to the table. I honestly think it's going to come down to what Buffalo is looking for in a player, both Sam's are future 1st line players from what I've seen relative to comparable prospects coming out of juniors. Both should also be given the opportunity to run with it here which should only help their development.

 

[woodfeld2]

Flyers offering free tickets to 2014 NHL Draft

Anyone else have issues trying to get these? Got in right at 1 pm and it said none were available after selecting the amount of tix and typing in the "word" verification.

 

[Ethan Edwards]

Sam definitely has the demeanor of a low maintenance player who understands his game and how he needs to go about his business. Almost reminds me of Stamkos in how well spoken he is, unlike many of the top players in most drafts he doesn't seem go give those cliche answers and actually listens to and answers the question. It's easy to see that he is going to be wearing a letter in the NHL sooner then later. He really does strike me as the type of player who is going to have a long career while having consistently good seasons. Another thing I am interested to see what he comes in at, he still looks pretty lanky and has some room to fill out. He is listed at 6-1 185 right now but he may very well be closer to 6-2 200lb in a couple years and at the very least your probably getting a 6-1 190lb which is pretty solid. With his hockey IQ, vision and even size a team is getting alot to work with. If you can get his skating more powerful, along with being little more aggressive then you could be looking at a franchise player. It's in interesting dynamic to the draft this year, you have some very good players but they all bring something completely different to the table. I honestly think it's going to come down to what Buffalo is looking for in a player, both Sam's are future 1st line players from what I've seen relative to comparable prospects coming out of juniors. Both should also be given the opportunity to run with it here which should only help their development.

Pretty solid assessment.

 

[flashsabre]

If I had to guess based on Murray's comments, I would think that the Sabres board might be:

1 - Ekblad
2 - Bennett
3 - Reinhart

What makes you come to this conclusion? Not calling you out, just curious as I have had a hard time getting a handle on who Murray and Devine are interested in most.

Murray's comment that he has a better chance of getting his guy at number 2 rather then winning the lottery makes me think Ekblad is not #1. Murray stating that he doesn't know if Ekblad has the pace in his game to be an elite dman and Devine stating that he doesn't know if Bennett can play his game at the NHL level and last are both interesting. The one guy neither one has had any question marks about in their comment thus far has been Reinhart. That could mean nothing though.

Personally I would like them to take Reinhart, then Bennett then Ekblad.

 

[CaseyMitts37]

Anyone else have issues trying to get these? Got in right at 1 pm and it said none were available after selecting the amount of tix and typing in the "word" verification.

Yeah I had the same problem

 

[sabresandcanucks]

Pretty solid assessment.

Agreed,

I always enjoy 1972's comments.

 

[Jim Bob]

What makes you come to this conclusion? Not calling you out, just curious as I have had a hard time getting a handle on who Murray and Devine are interested in most.

Murray's comment that he has a better chance of getting his guy at number 2 rather then winning the lottery makes me think Ekblad is not #1. Murray stating that he doesn't know if Ekblad has the pace in his game to be an elite dman and Devine stating that he doesn't know if Bennett can play his game at the NHL level and last are both interesting. The one guy neither one has had any question marks about in their comment thus far has been Reinhart. That could mean nothing though.

Personally I would like them to take Reinhart, then Bennett then Ekblad.

Maybe he's blowing smoke, but he's talked about Ekblad in a way that makes me think that he really likes him.

Sure, he's not Erik Karlsson, but I get a sense that Ekblad's all around game is something that Murray covets.

But, who knows.

It is lying season after all.