NHL Entry Draft 2020 NHL Draft Discussion

[Samsquanch]

Yes I would be a little bit cautious with a player his size playing in junior against 160lb kids. Of course he is going to physically dominate, but will he leave the same impression when playing against players his size?

His game really isnt built around out muscling smaller players, although yes he can obviously do that right now basically whenever he feels like it, and isnt shy about it either.

Everything about the way he plays screams "pro game" that will instantly translate imo. Hes a jack of all trades player with an elite hockey brain, and god given size and athletic gifts.

Cory Stillman (Wolves HC) is moulding him into a tenacious 200ft player that prides himself at both ends of the ice. He already does so many little of things right as a centerman working down low in his own zone. He was regularly on the ice with 1 min left protecting the lead in games by the end of his 16 yr old season, fwiw.

His attitude, motor and compete level are all Crosby-esque too, which makes opens the door for him to possibly become an extraordinary and unique player. Think "fully engaged/pissed off Malkin" on a shift by shift basis.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

Conflicted between getting hype for Byfield/Lafreniere and trying to tell myself the Sens might not get either.

 

[Qward]

one of two things will happen. Either Sens get the first or second over all and get a future star or they draft 3-5 which are all Europeans. If they get the Europeans, that is one more year of development that the team will use. That is an extra year of growing the prospects. Then grab Brandt Clarke in 2021.

 

[Micklebot]

Conflicted between getting hype for Byfield/Lafreniere and trying to tell myself the Sens might not get either.

Odds are we don't get either, but there are still some really nice players that will be available 3-5. Aim for a guy like Raymond and be pleasantly surprised it we get somebody ranked higher.

 

[TkachukNorris79]

Conflicted between getting hype for Byfield/Lafreniere and trying to tell myself the Sens might not get either.

One of Lafreniere, Byfield, Raymond, Lundell, Holtz, Perfetti, and Lapierre will be an Ottawa Senator next June. Can't be mad at that!

But you're right, landing one of those two would do wonders for us

 

[Hale The Villain]

Yeah at this stage to me it looks like there's a solid top 3 (Byfield, Lafreniere, Raymond), then another 4-5 guys that have high-end potential and would be top 5 picks in most years (Lapierre, Perfetti, Holtz, Drysdale, Lundell)

This is a great year to bottom out. At least we have that going for us.

 

[benjiv1]

A lot of teams passed on Kopitar, Sens included. Sens never drafted good in the first rounds. After first is a crap shoot, just got lucky. Not because they smart or knew something.
-Jared Cowen
-Mika Zibanejad
-Stefan Noesen
-Matt Puempel
-Cody Ceci
-Curtis Lazar
-Logan Brown
-Thomas Chabot
-Colin White
Outside of Chabot.............all total garbage. Even Zibanejad, never liked him.
Because of the terrible drafting, that's the reason Ottawa is bad for years!!!

I think your expectations of what 1st Rd picks outside the top 5 produce is unrealistic.

Regardless of if you like Zibanejad, you have to consider that a hit, likely the same with White considering where he was drafted.

The jury is out on Brown (for now), but you conveniently left out Karlsson and Tkachuk.

 

[Hale The Villain]

1st round grades

Karlsson - A+
Chabot - A+
White - B
Zibanejad - B
Ceci - C
Noesen - C
Lazar - C-
Puempel - D
Cowen - F

2 massive steals
2 solid picks
2 okay picks
2 bad picks
1 horrible pick

Hardly a bad track record, especially when you consider draft position.

Too early to say when it comes to 2016-2019, but I don't like the direction we have gone in the 1st round under Dorion's reign as GM.

 

[bert]

One of Lafreniere, Byfield, Raymond, Lundell, Holtz, Perfetti, and Lapierre will be an Ottawa Senator next June. Can't be mad at that!

But you're right, landing one of those two would do wonders for us

Bingo just gotta hope they get first choice when it comes down to it. I think its almost a guarantee the worst pick they have is 5th which likely means Raymond or Lundell. Cant be mad about that.

 

[benjiv1]

1st round grades

Karlsson - A+
Chabot - A+
White - B
Zibanejad - B
Ceci - C
Noesen - C
Lazar - C-
Puempel - D
Cowen - F

2 massive steals
2 solid picks
2 okay picks
2 bad picks
1 horrible pick

Hardly a bad track record, especially when you consider draft position.

Too early to say when it comes to 2016-2019, but I don't like the direction we have gone in the 1st round under Dorion's reign as GM.

I really don’t think you can rank Zibanejad a B, when he put up 74pts last year, unless you are basing it off value relative to where he was drafted.

I would have Ceci as a B, considering how many NHL games he has played. And while Cowen ended up hustling due to injury, he was serviceable for a couple of years.

 

[JungleBeat]

I would have Ceci as a B, considering how many NHL games he has played. And while Cowen ended up hustling due to injury, he was serviceable for a couple of years.

Cowen was serviceable for only his rookie season when he was paired with Gonchar. Even then he wasn’t that good and was masked by the team performing well.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Conflicted between getting hype for Byfield/Lafreniere and trying to tell myself the Sens might not get either.

Yep.

Statistically speaking, we're slotted at #4. Might as well prepare for that....and hopefully (fingers crossed) be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Deku]

Yep.

Statistically speaking, we're slotted at #4. Might as well prepare for that....and hopefully (fingers crossed) be pleasantly surprised.

Yeah, I am not even bothering to get hyped for Lafrenierre, as we likely won't get the top pick. I want one of Byfield, Lundell, Perfetti... we need an elite C

 

[JD1]

I really don’t think you can rank Zibanejad a B, when he put up 74pts last year, unless you are basing it off value relative to where he was drafted.

I would have Ceci as a B, considering how many NHL games he has played. And while Cowen ended up hustling due to injury, he was serviceable for a couple of years.

Those grades show off the bias on this board.

Ceci has played over 400 games in the nhl and counting. The other three "Cs" are arguably all busts.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

I wonder if Dorion would even consider Raymond or Holtz at 3/4. Might not be his kind of guy (skilled). Would be funny if he went off the board for a White/Lazar/Bowers/Pinto type there and left skill on the board yet again. I'll just pray to to RNGesus we get 1 or 2.

 

[Micklebot]

I really don’t think you can rank Zibanejad a B, when he put up 74pts last year, unless you are basing it off value relative to where he was drafted.

I would have Ceci as a B, considering how many NHL games he has played. And while Cowen ended up hustling due to injury, he was serviceable for a couple of years.

If you are grading quality of drafting, don't you have to do it relative to where the guy was picked?

Zibanejad wasn't a bad pick, but with Shiefele, Couturier, Hamilton and Brodin being the next 4 guys drafted, you'd have had to have really reached to make a bad pick.

With the benefit of hindsight, Ceci over Hertl, Teravainen, Vasilevskiy, and Wilson was probably a mistake (who knows how all of their development paths would have gone had we drafted them).

Cowen's injury makes grading him a bit tougher. There were some better players and some other busts drafted right after him. I would probably put an asterix beside him

 

[DaveMatthew]

I just learned that Hendrix Lapierre is from Gatineau. I expect him to be the pick if we have 1,2,3 or 4.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

Pardon my ignorance, but is Lapierre only now getting loads of attention because of Hlinka, or was he getting some high praise before?

 

[SAK11]

I just learned that Hendrix Lapierre is from Gatineau. I expect him to be the pick if we have 1,2,3 or 4.

Under Dorion, the Sens have had 5 1st round picks. They took a Finn playing in the WHL, an American playing college hockey, a Canadian (Alberta) in the AJHL, a Canadian (Nova Scotia) in the USHL, and an American in the OHL. Going with the local guy hasn’t been a priority.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Yeah, I am not even bothering to get hyped for Lafrenierre, as we likely won't get the top pick. I want one of Byfield, Lundell, Perfetti... we need an elite C

How about winning 1st overall ( TOP pick ) and use it to Byfield ?
Lundell is good and promising center but he's not next Barkov.
In my opinion he's more like next Mikko Koivu.

Lundell isn't flashy and he don't do fancy dekes etvc tricks with the puck.
But he has high hockey IQ and good two way game and he's responsible with his defensive duties.

Lundell might be good 2nd or 3rd line center in NHL but he necessarily isn't franchise level center.
Also it's possible Lundell drops a bit in the actual draft
because the competition of TOP5 positions will be extremely tough
( so many good options between Lafreniere, Byfield, Perfetti, Lapierre, Raymond, Holtz, and Lundell )

 

[Six Assets]

Time flies, 2020 draft feels like it should be at least a few years out.

 

[SAK11]

I wonder if Dorion would even consider Raymond or Holtz at 3/4. Might not be his kind of guy (skilled). Would be funny if he went off the board for a White/Lazar/Bowers/Pinto type there and left skill on the board yet again. I'll just pray to to RNGesus we get 1 or 2.

Tough to say what will happen as the only top 5 pick in Dorion’s tenure was used on Tkachuk. At the time people complained that they left skill on the board (myself included, whoops). If they want a more well-rounded player, Lundell is looked at as strong a two-way centre. Now Dorion did pick Logan Brown fairly high as a “skill-first” pick. He also just traded for Brannstrom who is extremely skilled.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

Pardon my ignorance, but is Lapierre only now getting loads of attention because of Hlinka, or was he getting some high praise before?

He was 1st OV in 2018 Q draft and then went almost PPG as a rookie

Unless he is getting top 10 hype, nothing especially new there... I have mostly seen him projected in the upper-middle half of rnd 1

 

[aragorn]

Hopefully, Ottawa will be smart enough to draft Askarov G at the 2020 draft as I have suggested many times. It doesn't matter that they already have plenty of goalies, IMO they shouldn't have drafted Sogaard, but they might be able to trade him later or one of the others. Askarov as I have said looks like he is a legitimate #1 franchise goalie & Ottawa should have the best opportunity to draft him in 2020 with all of the picks they have going into the draft to move up to get him. They should use their SJ 1st rd pick along with a 2nd rd pick & more if needed to acquire a future franchise goalie who could play for them for the next decade. The only down side is that he is a Russian & we're not sure how this org feels about drafting them given what Bobrovsky has done to Columbus, it's definitely a risk. IMO he will be better than Spencer Knight or Sogaart or any of our other goalies in the NHL.

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

Hopefully, Ottawa will be smart enough to draft Askarov G at the 2020 draft as I have suggested many times. It doesn't matter that they already have plenty of goalies, IMO they shouldn't have drafted Sogaard, but they might be able to trade him later or one of the others. Askarov as I have said looks like he is a legitimate #1 franchise goalie & Ottawa should have the best opportunity to draft him in 2020 with all of the picks they have going into the draft to move up to get him. They should use their SJ 1st rd pick along with a 2nd rd pick & more if needed to acquire a future franchise goalie who could play for them for the next decade. The only down side is that he is a Russian & we're not sure how this org feels about drafting them given what Bobrovsky has done to Columbus, it's definitely a risk. IMO he will be better than Spencer Knight or Sogaart or any of our other goalies in the NHL.

Just my opinion but I think that would be the opposite of smart, unless the other players available are not high end / for sure top six/four guys