[2018 Draft] Who are your sleepers and stay away from prospects for this upcoming draft?

[hawkeerox]

3 Sleepers:

Dellandrea - I think he has shone well enough to warrant NOT being ranked in the 40s!
McBain - another one ranked way too low, my guess is this guy will take off once he hits BC and develops in all the right ways
Kupari

3 Stay-aways:

Woo - I just don't see him cutting the ice in the big league
Merkely - well, I guess I have joined the crowd on this one
Sandin - atleast for the first round

 

[57special]

Minnesota sleepers in no particular order:

Scott Perunovich - Knows the play before anybody else. Could be a very good pick up from where he's currently ranked.

Collin Schmidt - CS had him at 6'4.5 and 230lbs. Skates well and has a very good shot. Pretty amazing he's not ranked way higher.

Jack Jensen - Mittelstadt had Jack on his line to play with last year and Jack didn't have that same type of luxury this year. Highly skilled and a great motor. Sounding like a team will get a bargain in a mid round but wouldn't doubt if a team did their homework and he goes much earlier.

Jack Perbix - A good sized kid that will fill out and his game will become more complete. Shows flashes of offensive brilliance.

I like Perbix.

Perunovich, too...don't know if he has the athleticism to make it, though. Great hockey mind.

Seems like Jensen has slipped WAY down, and has gone from overrated to underrated.

Have you seen Lagerstrom at all recently? I haven't. A big, RHD who scores a lot.

 

[AmericanDream]

Minnesota sleepers in no particular order:

Scott Perunovich - Knows the play before anybody else. Could be a very good pick up from where he's currently ranked.

Collin Schmidt - CS had him at 6'4.5 and 230lbs. Skates well and has a very good shot. Pretty amazing he's not ranked way higher.

Jack Jensen - Mittelstadt had Jack on his line to play with last year and Jack didn't have that same type of luxury this year. Highly skilled and a great motor. Sounding like a team will get a bargain in a mid round but wouldn't doubt if a team did their homework and he goes much earlier.

Jack Perbix - A good sized kid that will fill out and his game will become more complete. Shows flashes of offensive brilliance.

he was talked about very highly last year - figured he would drop some without CM...but like you I think the talent is there for a solid mid round pick, or some team getting him in the 3rd round

 

[landy92mack29]

Stay away from-Kupari, Denisenko, Merkley, Sandin, MacDonald, all highly ranked goalies
Sleepers-Dellandrea, Fonstad, Topping, Wouters, Thomas, Tendeck

 

[dellzor]

Stay away Tkachuk (overrated because intangibles and his juniors), Merkley (d game is MIA) and Hayton is overrated (I've seen as high as #13 for him lol)

Wahlstrom probably goes top 5 in a re-draft

 

[tony d]

Tkachuk is a definite stay away from me, at least in the top 5. Think he'll be the worst of the 3 Tkachuks. As to sleepers, Noah Dobson.

 

[Hammer Slammer]

3 Sleepers:

Dellandrea - I think he has shone well enough to warrant NOT being ranked in the 40s!
McBain - another one ranked way too low, my guess is this guy will take off once he hits BC and develops in all the right ways
Kupari

3 Stay-aways:

Woo - I just don't see him cutting the ice in the big league
Merkely - well, I guess I have joined the crowd on this one
Sandin - atleast for the first round

I like you. I've watched Kupari 20+ times this season and I have a strong feeling he'll surprise some people. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. People constantly knocking his hockey sense, I guess I just don't see what they do. I have a feeling there is some parroting going on.

 

[Toss it to Tanti]

Stay away from-Kupari, Denisenko, Merkley, Sandin, MacDonald, all highly ranked goalies
Sleepers-Dellandrea, Fonstad, Topping, Wouters, Thomas, Tendeck

Curious as to why Rasmus Sandin is on your stay away list. Seems to have adjusted very well to the NA style of game, and also would be AHL eligible next year which shouldn't effect draft ranking, but you know it does.

Do you think he's just a by-product of a really good SSM team?

 

[landy92mack29]

Curious as to why Rasmus Sandin is on your stay away list. Seems to have adjusted very well to the NA style of game, and also would be AHL eligible next year which shouldn't effect draft ranking, but you know it does.

Do you think he's just a by-product of a really good SSM team?

Sandin is for where he'll be drafted. If he's a mid 2nd or later pick fine but not worth a 1st to me. His numbers are very inflated(all of Soo's dmen numbers are) by how good of a forward core they have. I think he could become a solid 4/5 but just don't see a skill set worthy of a high pick

 

[ManUtdTobbe]

Sleepers: Nils Lundkvist and Martin Fehervary

Stay Away: Isac Lundeström

 

[firstemperor]

Guys I've watched that I think are sleepers, relative to some publications:

Kaut, Miller, Hallander, Samuelsson, Foudy, Regula, Dellandrea, Kotkaniemi, Alexeyev

 

[LeProspector]

Just wondering why people have Curtis Douglas as one to stay away from? Yes his skating isn't very good, but he does have tremendous hockey sense. You can teach a kid how to skate, but you can't teach a kid to think the game.
Right now he's projected to go after the 4th round. If it was the first round, no doubt but a 4th rounder? Come on, Mark stone had the same problems, look at him now.

 

[Howe Elbows 9]

Scott Perunovich - Knows the play before anybody else. Could be a very good pick up from where he's currently ranked.

Perunovich was eligble to be drafted in 2017, wasn't he? Or even 2016?

 

[Tryamkin]

Perunovich was eligble to be drafted in 2017, wasn't he? Or even 2016?

2016, yes. There’s many overagers on the lists of sleepers here which I find interesting.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

I wouldn't want my team to pick Kotkaniemi after watching him in the Liiga playoffs.

 

[Tube Skates]

If you don’t mind me asking, why would you stay away from Khovanov, I think he’s underrated.

Also, Salda is an overager, what exactly makes him a sleeper for you?

I've seen Khovanov enough now that he's looks disinterested and lazy. Takes lazy penalties and only looks interested on the powerplay. I've let my feelings known in his thread. I guess I was expecting a lot more. I hadn't seen him prior to coming to the Q so I didn't know what to expect. I was thinking maybe a Kostin type of player. Thoroughly disappointed in 6 viewings now. I don't like him as a player but his team mates seem to enjoy playing with him.

Salda is a pretty complete player with a lot of desire to win when he knows it's improbable. Great in the corners. Can take the puck up ice. Usually good defensively filling passing lanes very well. Quick getting to his man. Covers for team mates mistakes. Under rated offensive skills. I think this player is worth a flyer by some team in the late rounds and develop him over a couple years. Probably won't happen.

In short when I watch games I watch for Khovanov and he's invisible until he's on his way to the box. I don't look for Salda but makes himself noticeable every shift in some way. I can tell you that Salda and Safin were more noticeable on the ice than Veleno

 

[Thebesthockey]

Khovanov is one i would not draft
gives off that feeling that he will be the first to bolt for the homeland khl

 

[le_sean]

Sandin is for where he'll be drafted. If he's a mid 2nd or later pick fine but not worth a 1st to me. His numbers are very inflated(all of Soo's dmen numbers are) by how good of a forward core they have. I think he could become a solid 4/5 but just don't see a skill set worthy of a high pick

Sandin’s advanced stats tell a completely different story, it’s not about his offensive numbers.

 

[Zaddy]

Bit surprised how many people have Mattias Samuelsson on their list, and also to a lesser extent Adam Ginning. What's the reason behind that? Is it just because they are big defensemen? It's not even like these guys are that highly ranked either. Samuelsson if anything is slightly underrated I feel and Ginning well, he is what he is, but I don't see why you should stay away from him. He has legit upside as a two-way defenseman in the NHL. He has been dominant against his own age group in international play. All the tools are there, it's just about him refining them. Don't see why you should stay away from that with a 2nd/3rd round pick. I don't see him being riskier or lower reward than anyone else ranked in that range. Same with Samuelsson, I have him ranked in the teens. If he falls out of the 1st round I'll be shocked and disappointed.

 

[PKSpecialist]

My All-Sleeper Team:

LW - Jackson Leppard - Prince George Cougars - Severely underrated because of lackluster numbers on a bad team. He may well be the hardest working player in the draft. I think that he goes off in his draft+1 season.
C - Joseph Veleno - Drummondville Voltigeurs - I still think this guy is right there in the conversation for top 10. Lots of people dropping him to late first, and I think that's a mistake.
RW - Jonatan Berggren - Skelleftea - His offensive prowess should have him in the conversation for a late first.
D - Jordan Harris - Youngstown Phantoms - I think 10 years from now we will look back at this draft and be shocked that he wasn`t taken with at the very least an early second.
D - Nikita Makeyev - CSKA Moskva - If the trend in the NHL is that sub 5`10 defenders can play in the league, there aren`t very many who are better than this one.
G - Matthew Galajda - Cornell University - He`s pretty much the only goaltender available for the draft who didn`t disappoint statistically. A little undersized, but he proved this year as a double overager that he`s got game.

Honerable Mention to Ryan Chyzowski from Medicine Hat. Have a pretty good feeling that this guy becomes a solid NHLer and I don`t see anyone talking about him.

My Stay Away Team:
LW - Anderson MacDonald - I just don`t think he can skate well enough to contribute.
C - Benoit-Olivier Groulx - I don`t believe he has the skill to contribute offensively in the NHL.
RW - Serron Noel - Big and powerful, but overrated because of it.
D - Kevin Bahl - Doesn`t dominate offensively or defensively despite his size, and that concerns me.
D - Evan Bouchard - I really have no reason not to draft him, there is just something in my gut telling me to stay away.
G - Alexis Gravel - Again, solid prospect, and my only reason for not drafting him would be because I don`t like right shot goaltenders..lol

 

[hawkeerox]

D - Evan Bouchard - I really have no reason not to draft him, there is just something in my gut telling me to stay away.

Well, we must have eaten something different 'cause my gut tells me go draft him, hehheh

Battle of the Guts! May the best Sixth sense win

 

[hawkeerox]

I wouldn't want my team to pick Kotkaniemi after watching him in the Liiga playoffs.

What he just a liability no matter what he did, or did he simply seem disinterested?

 

[JK2K]

Talked with an NHL scout.
Noel was invisible vs Niagara.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Bit surprised how many people have Mattias Samuelsson on their list, and also to a lesser extent Adam Ginning. What's the reason behind that? Is it just because they are big defensemen? It's not even like these guys are that highly ranked either. Samuelsson if anything is slightly underrated I feel and Ginning well, he is what he is, but I don't see why you should stay away from him. He has legit upside as a two-way defenseman in the NHL. He has been dominant against his own age group in international play. All the tools are there, it's just about him refining them. Don't see why you should stay away from that with a 2nd/3rd round pick. I don't see him being riskier or lower reward than anyone else ranked in that range. Same with Samuelsson, I have him ranked in the teens. If he falls out of the 1st round I'll be shocked and disappointed.

There's a bias against big defensemen that exists.

 

[snipes]

Stay away from Merkley and Tkachuk in the top 10 even. Just don’t see it with Brady. Hughes worries me as well.

I have Wahlstrom at 4 after the consensus top 3.