2020 Draft & Undrafted Free Agent Thread

[Joey Bones]

2019 Draft was a success for the most part, onto the next one!!

Hlinka-Gretzky tournament should be coming up soon, no?

Click to read more...

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

This is going to be a very fun thread this year

 

[Joey Bones]

Elite Prospects - NHL Draft Center

Early look for whoever wants to start keeping tabs....

 

[Ghost of jas]

Lundell, you complete us.

 

[NYRFANMANI]

Byfield for me please!

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

My early 2020 personal favorites are:
Raymond
Lundell
And Justin Barron

But this isn’t new information to anyone here

 

[eco's bones]

My early 2020 personal favorites are:
Raymond
Lundell
And Justin Barron

But this isn’t new information to anyone here

Pretty sure that Justin Barron is Morgan's brother.

 

[Thirty One]

ASSUMING that Dallas signs Zuccarello and the Rangers end up with the #1 and #2 picks next year:

After taking Lafreniere, do you take Byfield because he's a center? It seems like the two Swedish wings are a little ahead of him. Can you trade down a couple spots? I'm a big believer in BPA, but there's limits. Gonna be a tough decision.

EDIT: Please note in this scenario, the Rangers missed the playoffs by 1 point after a bad call in the final game.

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

Pretty sure that Justin Barron is Morgan's brother.

He is! I already believe the Rangers won’t end up taking him (especially after the moves made this off season so far), but I’ll be crossing my fingers in a year hoping that one of the teams I hate doesn’t get him

 

[Maximus]

So for those peeps like me who aren't up to snuff on 2020 at this point as I'm still coming down from the Kakko 2019 buzz, how good is this Lafreniere kid?

Are we talking Kakko/Hughes type good? Better? Worse?

For example had he been available in this past draft do the Black Hawks definitely take him #3 behind Hughes and Kakko? Had he been available in 2018, does he go #1 ahead of Dahlen? The answers to these will give me a pretty good indicator as to how good this kid is.

Also and like I said, I'm not savvy at all to 2020 prospects much at all at this point in time but I know a bunch of you are and so here's a hypotethitical for y'all:

I read on another teams board...I think it was the Canadians where it was mentioned that a 15-20 overall pick next year due to the solid depth of the draft as it's apparently deep, would be the equivelent to what a 6-10 type pick was this year? Do you buy that line of thinking and is it true next year's draft is deeper than this years?

 

[Thirty One]

So for those peeps like me who aren't up to snuff on 2020 at this point as I'm still coming down from the Kakko 2019 buzz, how good is this Lafreniere kid?

Had he been available in this past draft do the Black Hawks definitely take him #3 behind Hughes and Kakko?

I know very little about him, but I think I remember hearing that he would probably have gone #1 this year.

 

[apoptygma]

ASSUMING that Dallas signs Zuccarello and the Rangers end up with the #1 and #2 picks next year:

After taking Lafreniere, do you take Byfield because he's a center? It seems like the two Swedish wings are a little ahead of him. Can you trade down a couple spots? I'm a big believer in BPA, but there's limits. Gonna be a tough decision.

EDIT: Please note in this scenario, the Rangers missed the playoffs by 1 point after a bad call in the final game.

There is also very good Finnish C-prospect in Anton Lundell that went 0,5ppg in SM-liiga this year as a 17 year old.

Anton Lundell at eliteprospects.com

I think Lafreniere will go 1., but next years draft seems like it has real good depth in most positions at this year. Byfield, Lundell and Rossi all looks like really good C prospects.

 

[ElLeetch]

Badly want into the top-4 next year. Byfield, Lundell, Lafrenire, Raymond.

If we can get a 1-2 punch of Kaako+_____, and have our secondary threats of Kravtsov+Chytil... it would really put is in a good place (obviously). Thinking back to teams like Chicago with Kane+Towes with Hossa+Sharp as support, of Pittsburg with Crosby+Malkin with Staal+Kunitz as support. More recently, with the Caps having Ovi+Backstrom with Kuznetsov + Oshie.

Its *pair of piars* that seem to be the magic formula for sustained success, and i feel we have at least 3 of the 4 pieces.

 

[True Blue]

As is, this team has an excellent chance to be a top-5 pick team next year. Quite a deep draft. A good haul from that draft would be the cherry on top of the asset gathering stage of the rebuild.

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

So for those peeps like me who aren't up to snuff on 2020 at this point as I'm still coming down from the Kakko 2019 buzz, how good is this Lafreniere kid?

Are we talking Kakko/Hughes type good? Better? Worse?

For example had he been available in this past draft do the Black Hawks definitely take him #3 behind Hughes and Kakko? Had he been available in 2018, does he go #1 ahead of Dahlen? The answers to these will give me a pretty good indicator as to how good this kid is.

Also and like I said, I'm not savvy at all to 2020 prospects much at all at this point in time but I know a bunch of you are and so here's a hypotethitical for y'all:

I read on another teams board...I think it was the Canadians where it was mentioned that a 15-20 overall pick next year due to the solid depth of the draft as it's apparently deep, would be the equivelent to what a 6-10 type pick was this year? Do you buy that line of thinking and is it true next year's draft is deeper than this years?

Lafreniere would’ve gone #1 handidly this past draft, and right now it’s looking like next years draft has A level talent into the early teens

 

[broadwayblue]

As is, this team has an excellent chance to be a top-5 pick team next year. Quite a deep draft. A good haul from that draft would be the cherry on top of the asset gathering stage of the rebuild.

Do you really see the team being worse than last year? I mean it's possible. But we've got a lot of young talent being inserted in the lineup and while they may not put it all together out of the gate, I do wonder if they won't be somewhat improved.

 

[Rangers in 7]

#tankforalex

 

[Polar Bear]

Lafreniere would’ve gone #1 handidly this past draft, and right now it’s looking like next years draft has A level talent into the early teens

Still need to see how Raymond and Byfield take the next step next season. Wouldn't shocked me if one of them for some reason don't produce as much as we're expecting. Isn't Raymond a tad bit undersized for a winger as well, IIRC?

 

[Maximus]

Lafreniere would’ve gone #1 handidly this past draft, and right now it’s looking like next years draft has A level talent into the early teens

Dang..."handily" #1 for Lafreniere this past draft...eh?

Hmmm...well than I guess we are talking about a generational type talent here?

If next year's draft level has "A level" talent in the early teens, how far did you project A-level talent heading in this past draft...just curious?

 

[NYRFANMANI]

Top 5 next year should be the absolute goal. We need MORE elite talent and we're starving on the wings. The center depth is also shaky, if not phony.

 

[True Blue]

Do you really see the team being worse than last year? I mean it's possible. But we've got a lot of young talent being inserted in the lineup and while they may not put it all together out of the gate, I do wonder if they won't be somewhat improved.

There may be young talent here, but it needs time to develop. You are also doing without the production of Kevin Hayes and Zucc.

Do think that the young players can take a step forward? Sure. But to have all of them not just step but take leaps and bounds, is unrealistic. Let's put it this way, even if you were to swap out Kreider for Panarin, I think that the production of Kreider/Haes/Zucc will be more than Panarin/Kakko/Kravstov. Then take into account how many times the team got the loser's point last year.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

#tankforalex

#NukeThisForLucas

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

Still need to see how Raymond and Byfield take the next step next season. Wouldn't shocked me if one of them for some reason don't produce as much as we're expecting. Isn't Raymond a tad bit undersized for a winger as well, IIRC?

Raymond is 5’10”, and right now I really like him at #2. I’m not in love with Byfield yet, but I know that’s not a super popular opinion. And with Lafreniere, he just led the entire QMJHL in even strength points as a 16 year old, if he can replicate or build on that, I think he’ll still be the #1

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

Dang..."handily" #1 for Lafreniere this past draft...eh?

Hmmm...well than I guess we are talking about a generational type talent here?

If next year's draft level has "A level" talent in the early teens, how far did you project A-level talent heading in this past draft...just curious?

I think Laf is like a Dahlin-level prospect, he still has to keep up his end of that bargain this upcoming season though.

And I think this year I’d probably cut the number of A level guys at 8ish. And right now I feel like there’s a few guys that can be Kakko/Hughes level or better out of the 2020 draft, they’ve got their work cut out for them because Kakko and Hughes are stupid good, but they’ve got the potential to be that good too

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

#NukeThisForLucas

#IFellForLundell