Post-Game Talk: 2016 NHL Draft

[Scurr]

Sbisa doesn't have any skill to make up for his boneheaded mistakes

Right. Defensemen that are trying to push the play consistently are given a little more rope to work with as long as they're contributing offensively. How much rope Sergachev will get will be directly related to how many points he can put up. Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson get away with whatever they want

 

[WonderTwinsUnite]

When the Sedins leave the Canucks will have 14m in incentives to bring in a center.

In the last 10 years, how many #1 centers have become UFAs? Maybe Stamkos, and that's it.

 

[ATypicalCanadian]

What do people think of this ?

 

[Icebreakers]

What do people think of this ?

Dumb... what does Benning liking him 2 years ago (to when he actually showed some kind of potential) to now where he has regressed heavily and didnt even get signed. Cole as an 18 year old upside>>>>>>>Bleackley.

 

[Jimson Hogarth*]

Pronman actually gave the Canucks a B+ for their draft.

Liked the First 3 picks.

Pronman and Benning think alike when it comes to prospects/drafting, it seems.

 

[Jimson Hogarth*]

Not sure what did Oil did, they kinda lucked out and that is truly beyond our control, but I am not afraid to say, both these teams do not have a goalie in their system as good as Demko or a dman as good as Juolevi in both their systems.

Yup, truth. Oilers fluked the **** out with McDavid. Other than that their young player/prospect pool is meh.

 

[sting101]

Pronman and Benning think alike when it comes to prospects/drafting, it seems.

Really liked Juolevi Candella and McKenzie.
Would have just signed Abols and Drafted Soy and Ronning instead of Stukel and Abols, but obviously they were taking BtM 6 potential guys that met their criteria.

Lockwood seemed off the board but I know nothing about him so chime in boys if you've seen him play

 

[JA]

They knew they were taking Dubois, so I'm not sure why the Blue Jackets wouldn't trade down to five. Perhaps they were afraid that the Canucks would have taken him third overall.

 

[JA]

They really felt that it was worth taking 20-year-old Rodrigo Abols over the local player with their seventh round, 194th overall selection? Nobody would have blamed them for not taking Abols, especially since the likelihood of seventh round picks becoming NHL players is very low. Abols has been passed over twice as well.

The Canucks probably felt that they had an obligation to draft him.



1:12 of this video:



http://canucksarmy.com/2015/9/15/fun-with-the-cba-why-the-canucks-can-t-sign-rodrigo-abols

Fun With the CBA: Why The Canucks Can't Sign Rodrigo Abols
Jeremy Davis
September 15 2015 06:35PM

If you’ve been following the Canucks this past season, then you’re probably familiar with the story of the Latvian Locomotive, Ronalds Kenins. Kenins achieved cult hero status this season in Vancouver when he scored 3 goals in his first 7 NHL games (that snipe in the playoffs didn't hurt either) after being signed as a completely unknown player in the summer of 2013. He came over to North America for the 2014-15 season and, after putting up decent depth numbers for Utica, he set the world on fire at the NHL level (relatively speaking of course).

So you’ll forgive Vancouver fans for their love affair with Latvian hockey players. Upon finding out that the Canucks had invited Latvian born forward Rodrigo Abols to the Young Stars Classic, we were of course ecstatic. Could this be the next Ronalds Kenins? Plus, you know, he’s 6-foot-3, so meat and potatoes? Check! Sign him! Sign him immediately!

Well you can’t have him. At least not yet. The dirty rotten CBA is preventing us from laying claim to the next great Latvian (probably), and here’s how it’s doing it.

Why We Love Rodrigo Abols

First, a quick refresher on why we love Rodrigo Abols so much already.

In typical Latvian fashion, Abols has already drawn attention from his home country, where friends and family (and probably complete strangers, Latvians love their hockey) are staying up through the wee hours of the night to watch Rodrigo compete in the Youngs Star Classic.

“I have my girlfriend wake up, my parents, my godfather – everyone was up in the morning and watching me play. When you realize … it’s very special to have that kind of support.”

Abols didn't take long to make himself noticed on the ice either. He put himself on Canucks fans' radar with a breakaway attempt early in the first Young Stars game against the Oilers.

...

We can’t sign him. The deal with him is that we watched him last year, we were thinking about drafting him, and then for whatever reason we didn’t draft him. He’s playing in Portland this year, and because he’s a European player, he’s ineligible to sign with us right now, or with anytime, so he’ll play in Portland this year, he’ll go through the draft next year, and that’ll decide where he ends up.

...

Without fulfilling any of the exceptions, Abols is eligible to be claimed in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, and therefore he is ineligible to be signed by any NHL team at this point. Sorry guys.

The Canucks have the option of course of selecting Abols in the 2016 Draft. If they choose not to do so, and he somehow manages to slip past all 30 teams, his situation will change.

...

 

[Tim McCracken]

Talked to a pretty connected bud back east and for what it's worth, just another opinion and I personally have no opinion but:

1) Thinks there's more offensive upside to Juolevi's game but it will be next year that will tell you pretty much what to expect going forward. Nothing wrong with picking him at 5, way less risk than the other D, underrated role on the Knights and in extremely good hands. (Hunter). Safe but not "franchise" D and could have gone 4 - 7. Coin flip pick with Tkachuk based on organizational need or want. Liked Keller more than Tkachuk though.

2) Expects Lockwood will play in the NHL at some point. Crap happens when he's on the ice. Excellent skater, hustles and uses it to his advantage in forcing the opposition to move the puck. Could be good complementary player creating turnovers for his linemates. Fourth liner maybe, unless he learns to finish, but would be very popular with the fans and more appreciated during the playoffs vs regular season. Better guys on the board but not a wasted pick.

3) Candella is a sleeper. Has seen a decent amount of him over the years and figures if healthy, could have gone as a late 2nd. If he makes it, likely a 3rd pairing Hamhuis type that could move up the lineup for periods due to injury and not embarrass you. Same thing, liked other guys still around but very good pick.

Only other guy he's seen is McKenzie. Not much there, should have gone for a smaller offensive player like a Ronning. Hasn't seen Ronning much himself but figures it was a mistake not taking him with either of the last two picks.


Again, I personally have no idea but respect this guy's opinion. Like he says, you talk to 30 teams scouts and GM's Saturday night over beers and they're all happy.

 

[Bettman Returnz]

Well I think it's a bit early to really judge these kids... The draft had been Benning's stronger suit so let's give this a bit of time to play out. From my point of view I don't even know most of these kids unless they play locally or been on the "big stage" (world jrs, memorial cup etc). In fact I didn't really know who boeser was when they picked him last year but he's now looking like a steal @ 23OA! My one wish would've been taking ronning with one of our 7th round pick... I think this would have been a good home town pick that our fan base would be happy with it. But let's face it, how many late round picks make it to the NHL??! Anyways that's my 2 cents..

 

[docbenton]

It's interesting to consider the gray zone between BPA and position in a draft like this: IMO Laine is a little better than Matthews, Puljujarvi is a little better than Dubois, and Tkachuk is a little better than Juolevi.

But what I really mean by that though, is that the wingers here are slightly more standard deviations better the average winger. However one has to consider the rarity of centers and defenseman who are the same level of standard deviations away, and the importance/value of a player of that position.

 

[Shareefruck]

What's with this revisionism about Boeser? As I recall, most people liked the pick and thought it was a bit of a steal at the time.

 

[topheavyhookjaw]

But his name isn't Adam Smith, it's Ronning. Considering that yes, he was good enough to get drafted, and these 7th picks are such low odds anyways why not take the kid that will generate some local interest?

Yeah, honestly don't see why people wanted Ronning so bad. 94 nostalgia is half the problem with ownership/management here. Not saying I want Abols, but pick the guy who's better, even in the 7th. Wanting Ronning to appease fans is dumb.

Why is Jasek a good pick? He played in a league last year that has never graduated a NHLer from what I can see. He was the right idea of for a later pick (skill over size) but he has done nothing to show he was actually a good pick.

Edit: same with Neill. He was the right idea and a huge improvement over our late picks this year and in 2014 but he still isn't really a good pick. I guess he's good in the sense that the pick wasn't immediately a bust like Stewart, Petit and the overagers this year.

Yeah, Jasek looked good with Canucks Army's numbers at the time, but didn't do anything last year to look like a prospect.

Neill was OK, but hard to see him as anything more than AHL depth.

Olson and Gaudette were pleasant surprises for me though. At this time last year wasn't sure they were worth the picks but both had promising years.

I don't hate overage players, there's some good research that shows draft +1 guys are often undervalued in the draft, I just don't like the ones they got particularly.

 

[Horrorshow]

What's with this revisionism about Boeser? As I recall, most people liked the pick and thought it was a bit of a steal at the time.

I think the perception of that pick was coloured by the fact that Konecny fell into our range. A lot of posters here had that player ranked in the top 20. And the fact that he has ties to Horvat made him coveted by many here.

There were fair number of posters really liked Boeser, and wanted him at our pick regardless of who fell, too. It was only a mixed reaction because most thought it was unlikely Konecny would be in our range.

 

[MS]

What do people think of this ?

Wow, dodged a bullet there.

Shows how fine the line is between 'great drafting GM!' and 'terrible drafting GM!'.

If we'd taken a Nathan Smith/Patrick White-level insta-bust like Bleackley right after the debatable Virtanen pick, that 2014 draft would be looking awful.

What's with this revisionism about Boeser? As I recall, most people liked the pick and thought it was a bit of a steal at the time.

Yeah, it was pretty much a uniformly liked pick of a player most people had as a reasonable selection.

Few people here had seen him play because of his league, so there were knowledge gaps, but from what people knew the pick was popular.

 

[NYVanfan]

is there a succinct review anywhere here of the Canucks entire draft?

i want to know how angry to get

 

[bossram]

I don't think the draft was *bad* but it could have been better. I didn't like the Lockwood pick with guys like Dineen, Abramov and Fox on the board, but its defensible. Pronman seems to like him a bit.

And with PLD off the board, Juolevi is a perfectly fine pick. I'm not a huge Tkachuk fan (IMO would rather Keller anyway) so failing that, if we're taking a defenseman I think Juolevi is a fine pick. But fine is all it is. I don't see him being a star, but maybe a Tanev/Hamhuis style player which is still very useful. Personally rather trade down and find a way to get more assets and still pick one of Keller/Jost/Brown, but that can be tough.

I think the late round OA were the worst picks. Yah late picks don't have a great success rate anyway, but by taking the guys they picked, even if they "hit", we're only going to be getting singles. Abols, Stukel and McKenzie won't ever be impact players should they make the NHL. Would guys like Ronning or Sokolov? Still probably not, but they have a sliver's chance. The former do not. They're still picks. Don't have to waste them just because they're "only 7ths".

I did like the Candella pick though.

 

[Fonzerelli]

My one wish would've been taking ronning with one of our 7th round pick... I think this would have been a good home town pick that our fan base would be happy with it...

That's a slippery slope. Now he's in your system and those same fans want him to play - not because he can play at the next level, but for the same reason they wanted him drafted in the first place - because his father was Cliff Ronning. He becomes more of a distraction than he's worth.

Vancouver did well to avoid him altogether. Once the Giants are done spoon feeding him unearned opportunities, his career will likely fizzle out. Might as well happen quietly elsewhere.

 

[duplo]

04-28-2016, 03:35 PM

Hey guys,

I know how much you LOVE unsolicited rumours, but everything Benning said in that interview reaffirmed what my friend told me. Take it or leave it, but my friend is a reputable source who works in the industry. If you look at my post history, I've never put anything out there like this and I generally try to avoid attention.

Here's the deets I was given yesterday:

- Benning and the gang are all about drafting a centre or a d-man. They don't care about wingers at all.

- That being said, the big three is the big three. They won't hesitate to draft any of those three if they're lucky enough to. Here's the thing though. There's an outside chance they'd take Puljujärvi over Laine, but it's doubtful. The reason is they could try and convert Pulju as a centre.

- It's the same reason they definitively like Dubois at the 4 spot. They'd want to develop him as a centre.

- What's SUPER NOT COOL is that after that, they're all about a d-man. Juolevi is their guy right now, followed by Sergachev. He said he's 90% sure they'd take Juolevi at 6, with a strong chance of reaching even further and taking him if they draft at 5. I hope he's wrong, but as of now they're saying that's where they're leaning.

Original post link.



Anyway, I still wish it didn't end up being true.

 

[pitseleh]

Wow, dodged a bullet there.

Shows how fine the line is between 'great drafting GM!' and 'terrible drafting GM!'.

If we'd taken a Nathan Smith/Patrick White-level insta-bust like Bleackley right after the debatable Virtanen pick, that 2014 draft would be looking awful.

Pretty much. Signal to noise in terms of short term draft results is pretty low.

 

[Baby Pettersson]

Original post link.



Anyway, I still wish it didn't end up being true.

I'm going to listen to everything you ever have to say from now on and believe it all!

 

[Seattle Totems]

So..are we back to poor drafting now that Benning has reorganized the scouting department and reinstated Ron Delorme as head scout? This is a weird looking draft. A lot of overagers like 2012.

 

[tradervik]

So..are we back to poor drafting now that Benning has reorganized the scouting department and reinstated Ron Delorme as head scout? This is a weird looking draft. A lot of overagers like 2012.

Ron Delorme is not the "head scout". Judd Brackett is the Director of Amateur Scouting, replacing Eric Crawford who was fired last year in the great purge of Gillis loyalists.

 

[Tank]

We could have walked out of this draft with Tkachuk, Dineen, Sokolov and Ronning......let that sink in for a bit

The more I let that sink in the more ecstatic I a with our draft. Have you seen Sokolov play??He is a an overweight prima donna - Dineen - smurf, Tkachuk one speed and although I have a soft spot for Ronning definitely long shot over a player like McKenzie. A year ago nobody was talking about olsen or gaudette - give it time people. I am pleased with this draft especially with no second or fourth .