Prospect Info: 2018 Draft Thread (STL #1 via WPG is 29th OA)

MortiestOfMortys

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Let's get the thread started for the 2018 draft! A little less than a year away, never too early to start.

Blues are already out and about, scouting.



We interviewed Evan Bouchard and Alec Regula, two big, right-handed shot defensemen for the London Knights. Regula likely projects as a late-rounder at best, barring a big step forward this year, but Bouchard is a big fish, currently ranked #18 by FC, and we'd probably have to move up to get him. All the same, it's never too early to start doing our homework.
 

Mike Liut

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Wish we had a 1st rounder, but I loved the move dumping Lehtera and adding Schenn. Maybe we can move Berglund for a 1st later on.
 

The Note in MI

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Bouchard would be a great get IMO. Knights fans are high on him as well. We will get some good viewing of him this year with Thomas playing for the Knights.
 

Ranksu

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If we manage to get top 10 pick and its protected what is condition what we've to give for Philly?
 

LetsGoBooze

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If we manage to get top 10 pick and its protected what is condition what we've to give for Philly?

You pretty much said it, if in 2018 we end up with a top 10 pick via the lottery we keep the pick and our 2019 1st rounder goes to Philly instead.
 

STL fan in MN

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Still very early but two guys I saw a couple of times last year in the USHL were Svechnikov and Tkachuk. The Blues don't have a chance at either but here's what I thought.

Svechnikov: Wow! Absolutely destroyed the league as a 16 year old. Was perhaps the most impressive draft prospect I've seen in the 12+ years I've been closely following the USHL. And the other guys that really stood out (Schwartz, Okposo and Grimaldi) were 17. Svechnikov was clearly more impressive while being a year younger. I've only see a little of Dahlin but he must be damn good if he's better than Svechnikov.

Tkachuk: Count me as surprised to see him ranked in the top-5. I'm not familiar with a lot of his peers yet but in watching him, I didn't see a guy worth of a top-5 pick. He seemed to have a very good summer though. But in the 2 times I saw him, he was a good power forward but I didn't see top skills. I liked his brother Matthew a good amount better. Small same size though.
 

Stealth JD

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well if Petro or Parayko miss any significant time this year, we might be in the Svechnikov sweepstakes after all, considering our 2018 1st is top-10 protected. (Anyone know if that is pre- or post-lottery, top-10? I'd hate to see us own the 12th pick, which would then go to Philly...only to watch them win the lottery with our pick)
 

STL fan in MN

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well if Petro or Parayko miss any significant time this year, we might be in the Svechnikov sweepstakes after all, considering our 2018 1st is top-10 protected. (Anyone know if that is pre- or post-lottery, top-10? I'd hate to see us own the 12th pick, which would then go to Philly...only to watch them win the lottery with our pick)

I would assume post lottery but it's a fair question.
 

BleedBlueForever

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well if Petro or Parayko miss any significant time this year, we might be in the Svechnikov sweepstakes after all, considering our 2018 1st is top-10 protected. (Anyone know if that is pre- or post-lottery, top-10? I'd hate to see us own the 12th pick, which would then go to Philly...only to watch them win the lottery with our pick)

Can't imagine the implosion of this board if our pick was outside the top 10 and won the lotto pick.
 

Majorityof1

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well if Petro or Parayko miss any significant time this year, we might be in the Svechnikov sweepstakes after all, considering our 2018 1st is top-10 protected. (Anyone know if that is pre- or post-lottery, top-10? I'd hate to see us own the 12th pick, which would then go to Philly...only to watch them win the lottery with our pick)

I thought Dahlin was the prize. I have seen him ranked ahead of Svechnikov in a few lists. I'd probably go LD over RW for us, all else being equal. Neither Dunn, Walman nor Mikkola are guaranteed top pairing potential and we need to move on from JBO eventually. Dahlin is already playing with men at 17.
 

Bluesnatic27

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I haven't really started my prospect research for the 2018 draft, but from initial impressions, the Blues did well in planning how they've drafted the last couple of years. This draft is so defense heavy that if the Blues manage a late first, they could walk away with quite the defenseman. However, that also means that there will be plenty of good forward prospects as well. Guys like Isac Lunderstrom, Jack McBain, or Akil Thomas could become great prospects that fell simply because of the amount of defensive players that are perceived as better.

I can't really say who I'd like at this point, but 2018 is shaping up to be a good looking draft.
 

Evocable Manager

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Rasmus Dahlin has a better track record at his age than any other Swedish defenseman and possibly player ever. His game is very polished for his age and I'd wager he will step in and be an impact player right away.
 

MortiestOfMortys

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Rasmus Dahlin has a better track record at his age than any other Swedish defenseman and possibly player ever. His game is very polished for his age and I'd wager he will step in and be an impact player right away.

People were saying the same thing about Liljegren at this time last year. It certainly looks like Dahlin's the real deal, but we'll see how things change over this season. As of today, I think anyone who gets Dahlin is going to be set up extremely well, and for a team like Colorado who is destined for that 1OA spot, that's a dream come true. We'll see what happens. We should have realized by now that the hype train is carrying a boxcar full of salt.
 

Stealth JD

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I thought Dahlin was the prize. I have seen him ranked ahead of Svechnikov in a few lists. I'd probably go LD over RW for us, all else being equal. Neither Dunn, Walman nor Mikkola are guaranteed top pairing potential and we need to move on from JBO eventually. Dahlin is already playing with men at 17.

Dahlin looks amazing. He really does. But...two words: Erik Johnson.

If the unthinkable happened, and the Blues somehow, someway came away with the 1st pick (humor me)...would anyone really be comfortable drafting a D-man first overall? Granted, the '93 draft showed that sometimes it's possible that a D-man going 1st overall makes sense. But...once bitten, twice shy. That would be a kick in the nuts missing out on a 90-point forward, considering our current overall depth on D and desperate need for another game-changer up-front. Yes - BPA...and if that's Dahlin, so be it...but damn, '06 still stings.

Erik ***-**** Johnson
 

Majorityof1

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Dahlin looks amazing. He really does. But...two words: Erik Johnson.

If the unthinkable happened, and the Blues somehow, someway came away with the 1st pick (humor me)...would anyone really be comfortable drafting a D-man first overall? Granted, the '93 draft showed that sometimes it's possible that a D-man going 1st overall makes sense. But...once bitten, twice shy. That would be a kick in the nuts missing out on a 90-point forward, considering our current overall depth on D and desperate need for another game-changer up-front. Yes - BPA...and if that's Dahlin, so be it...but damn, '06 still stings.

Erik ***-**** Johnson

The Erik I hear Dahlin compared to is Erik Karlsson. Would you be happy passing up Erik Karlsson for Nail Yakupov? Forwards bust too. Don't be gun shy because you got burned once before. We also took Petro 4th OA, and he worked wonderfully.

Granted its all moot, because we aren't picking 1st or 2nd.
 

Ranksu

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The Erik I hear Dahlin compared to is Erik Karlsson. Would you be happy passing up Erik Karlsson for Nail Yakupov? Forwards bust too. Don't be gun shy because you got burned once before. We also took Petro 4th OA, and he worked wonderfully.

Granted its all moot, because we aren't picking 1st or 2nd.

Bolded: That's why we should target on guys like Andrei Svechnikov and Brady Tkachuk.


* * *



Wish we had a 1st rounder, but I loved the move dumping Lehtera and adding Schenn. Maybe we can move Berglund for a 1st later on.

This have to be done next off-season. Sell Berglund and get at least 1st round pick return. I bet we've enough younsters coming next season for in this team and Berglund will be expendable piece.
 

Evocable Manager

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Bolded: That's why we should target on guys like Andrei Svechnikov and Brady Tkachuk.


* * *





This have to be done next off-season. Sell Berglund and get at least 1st round pick return. I bet we've enough younsters coming next season for in this team and Berglund will be expendable piece.

So target the 2nd and 3rd projected picks?
 

MortiestOfMortys

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Getting a first rounder is totally within the realm of possibility. Getting a top-5 pick is not. We aren't going to be that bad, and nobody who is that bad is going to trade us their pick because there isn't anything we could offer for it. We had two first rounders last year, and assuming we explored moving up, there were no takers. If you want a top-5 pick, our core has to be on the table, and that isn't a trade worth making. So yeah, Dahlin, Svech, Tkachuk, Zadina, Boqvist are all pretty much off the table. Unfortunately, this thread is going to be sifting through the rubble to find a diamond in the rough. Who's good enough to play in the NHL one day, but not rated highly enough to go in the first round. There's a possibility we do move up into the 20s again, but other than that I'm not holding my breath for one of the big names
 

Ranksu

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Its going to sting hard if we fall heavily and get draft around #12-15, but Philly gets that pick. Yikes.
Tho, could Army pull out something decent back to Philly and we get back our 1st round pick? Man that's tough one if team fall and miss playoffs.
 

Bobby Orrtuzzo

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Its going to sting hard if we fall heavily and get draft around #12-15, but Philly gets that pick. Yikes.
Tho, could Army pull out something decent back to Philly and we get back our 1st round pick? Man that's tough one if team fall and miss playoffs.
I was just thinking it'd be such a blues move to fall so far in the standings and end up at like #11 just to lose it.

Now, I wonder, say hypothetically we fall to that 11-15 range, but end up winning one of the 1-3 pick lotteries (that's how that works, right?) would we still keep it?
 

EastonBlues22

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I was just thinking it'd be such a blues move to fall so far in the standings and end up at like #11 just to lose it.

Now, I wonder, say hypothetically we fall to that 11-15 range, but end up winning one of the 1-3 pick lotteries (that's how that works, right?) would we still keep it?
I haven't confirmed this, but I'd imagine we keep it. Draft pick positions technically aren't determined until after the lottery, so losing it pre-lottery doesn't make any sense to me.
 
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nicholas89alex

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for the blues to have a top 12 pick this year they would have to lose 25-30 of their remaining 40 games in regulation. in another term they would have to get less than 35 percent of the available points this season. does anyone really imagine this team only winning 10-15 more games this years and taking only a handful of games to overtime?

i know its been a bad slump but every single team has slumps. We've played more games than anyone else in the league so far and a ridiculously busy December schedule.
 

Bluesnatic27

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Okay, so fresh off the World Junior hype, and since we are over halfway through the season, anyone want to share their thoughts on some upcoming 2018 prospects?

Admittedly, I haven't done as much research for this draft as I have for years prior. I'll try to get a more informed opinion in the next month or so. But from my general impressions, the Blues should be looking at some Europeans for the future because there are quite a few good Czech and Swedish players that are getting overshadowed by the likes of Zadina, Boqvist, and Rasmus McDahlid. I saw that Morty already posted some of his impressions in the prospect thread, and that prompted me to ask the rest of the Blues fan community. I love prospects, so I'm hoping there are a few others here that can share their thoughts.

As of now, I'm really interested in Nathan Dunkley. He's a lefty center sitting at 5'11" that was recently traded to the London Knights. He's not commanding much attention, but he's producing at a nice clip. He was centering Robertson out of the Frontenacs before going to London, but it doesn't seem that Dunkley was riding coattails. His more advanced stats had him right up there with Robertson, and had him being one of the most important scorers on the team.
 

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