Marshall
A ribbon reflector
Couple of the guys I like from my reading and podcast-listening that may be around 31 are Eggenberger and Lundstrom, but the guy I would most want is Dellandrea.
I think he's more of a winger due to the sense and consistency stuff. He's not bad...definitely a good skater. I have him toward the end of the top 20 so for he's unlikely to be BPA at 11/12 or 16 should Colorado perhaps acquire 4 and have interest in Grubauer. Maybe Ottawa at 22 could be a fit if they keep 4 but that seems just a bit late. I don't like him over mid-round Ws Kaut /Farabee or the Cs Lundestrom/Veleno. I think those guys offer more consistency and sense.Anybody else like center Rasmus Kupari from Finnland? From what I have read he has elite speed and great offensive skills, but lacks hockey sense.
I'm more and more on the Berggren train.
High-end IQ, motor, skating, and skill with the potential to play the pivot.
My biggest concern with him is: what am I missing? This looks like an Aho type that should be a consensus top-20 pick.
I mean, it's gotta be. The rating of a player like him all over the place makes me think this draft is gonna be nuts after #2.RLR doesn't say a bad thing about him in their write-up, yet has him listed at 85. Maybe his size?
Further to worst-case scenario gaming...take Bob's list, assume the top 21 are off the board as well as Dellandrea & Miller. Then remove your next seven.
For me that would be Wilde, Foudy, Alexeyev, Samuelsson, Berggren, O'Brien & Olofsson in no particular order. That leaves McLeod, McIsaac, Thomas, Sandin & Merkley among Bob's top 32. I guess I'd take McLeod, move him to wing and hope his tools eventually help him gain confidence to become more dominant. That would be going against recent type in a Canadian OHLer, though, so Sandin may be more realistic. I just think he's a bit too similar to Djoos ultimately. That group of seven would be the prime options I'd be pretty good with that may be fair possibilities. I might have some concerns about Wilde's hockey sense and the eventual upsides of Foudy & Samuelsson but they've got good cases for providing valuable characteristics the org could use. A few from that group should be available and I'd probably hope those OHLers+McIsaac are gone to give them a better selection between them.
No Merkley in Sam's first round but he does have McLeod, Thomas & Sandin off the board. Marchenko can rip it. Right shot, left wing? Seems familiar. He's got good size and stickhandling but needs to work on his skating a bit. In terms of pure offensive upside I could see this being a match, esp. with O'Brien & Berggren off the board.31. WASHINGTON CAPITALS
Kirill Marchenko, RW, Khtany-Mansiysk (MHL): A remarkably consistent season in the Russian equivalent to the CHL, Marchenko checks the size, skill and right shot boxes.
First draft I give a **** about in years.
Was about to post that. For a full rundown we have NYI (11/12), COL (16), OTT (22), CHI (27), DET (30) reportedly in the mix. If 16 is on the table then bundling 31 for 12 goes out the window IMO. Then it becomes NYI needing to move 12 outright. 16 or 22 would be just fine, though. I could maybe even see an Orpik+Grubauer package for Ottawa given that if they do make the pick at 4 they're not going to want to be suck next year.