2020 NHL Draft Thread: only 365 more days until next years hockey tryouts

[Nsjohnson]

Initial impression in the industry is that the 2020 draft could be the deepest draft yet. Deeper than 2015, 2013, and... 2003. There are about the equivalent of 20 players right now that have a top 10 resume going into the season which is extremely unique. This would be the best of years to have a few 1sts. I’m ready to embrace the tank next year.

I have heard similar things, but I think that every year the next draft looks very very good, until it starts getting picked apart.

But, I don't have a doubt it will be one of the deeper drafts of the last 20 year.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Who's a 1st round/2nd round prospect, cause we all know Minnesota will be drafting 31st!

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

I have heard similar things, but I think that every year the next draft looks very very good, until it starts getting picked apart.

But, I don't have a doubt it will be one of the deeper drafts of the last 20 year.

I agree I’ve been hearing it’s a good draft every year, but 2017 was supposed to be a bad draft and 2018, while not as deep as 2019, is supposedly a good draft

 

[Fremitus Borealis]

I'll admit it, though... I still forget all about almost all of the picks within a couple weeks of each draft, no matter how good it was

 

[tyratoku]

Brian Rolston's son Ryder was one of the few U17 players playing with the U18 US NTDP last year, so he will likely be a high pick.

Lafrenier will be a stud, Byfield could have challenged for 1st or 2nd overall in any of the last several drafts. Add in the two Swedes in Holtz and Raymond, and the top5 is looking like one of the better top 5s in several years.

 

[2Pair]

Minnesota's own Jaxon Nelson is expected to be a top prospect. Brian Rolston's son Ryder was one of the few U17 players playing with the U18 US NTDP last year, so he will likely be a high pick.

Lafrenier will be a stud, Byfield could have challenged for 1st or 2nd overall in any of the last several drafts. Add in the two Swedes in Holtz and Raymond, and the top5 is looking like one of the better top 5s in several years.

Nelson?

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Minnesota's own Jaxon Nelson is expected to be a top prospect. Brian Rolston's son Ryder was one of the few U17 players playing with the U18 US NTDP last year, so he will likely be a high pick.

Lafrenier will be a stud, Byfield could have challenged for 1st or 2nd overall in any of the last several drafts. Add in the two Swedes in Holtz and Raymond, and the top5 is looking like one of the better top 5s in several years.

Nelson was eligible for the 2018 draft and has gone undrafted.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Call me crazy but I’m not sure Lafrienere is a better prospect than Hughes is, let alone a tier higher like some have alluded to. He could prove me wrong, but he was almost eligible for this draft, in which case he wouldn’t have been a homer in #1 pick.

 

[tyratoku]

Nelson was eligible for the 2018 draft and has gone undrafted.

You're right - I could have swore I was just reading something about a MN player as a top prospect for the next draft, had a brain fart, and thought it was him. Now I cant think of who I was just reading about just a few hours ago. Whoops.

 

[puckMAN]

You're right - I could have swore I was just reading something about a MN player as a top prospect for the next draft, had a brain fart, and thought it was him. Now I cant think of who I was just reading about just a few hours ago. Whoops.

Blake Biondi?

 

[AKL]

Call me crazy but I’m not sure Lafrienere is a better prospect than Hughes is, let alone a tier higher like some have alluded to. He could prove me wrong, but he was almost eligible for this draft, in which case he wouldn’t have been a homer in #1 pick.

Yes he is and yes he would have.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Yes he is and yes he would have.

Agree to disagree. I think they’re pretty comparable in ceilings, and I’ll take the center/dynamic skater. Though it seems Lafrienere is more of the do everything type that wins games. A Sidney Crosby is a good style comparison, his ceiling isn’t close to that though.

 

[AKL]

Agree to disagree. I think they’re pretty comparable in ceilings, and I’ll take the center/dynamic skater. Though it seems Lafrienere is more of the do everything type that wins games. A Sidney Crosby is a good style comparison, his ceiling isn’t close to that though.

It’s not an agree to disagree situation. He’s putting up McDavid numbers, playing with kids older than himself, and has been the consensus 1st overall in 2020 for years. He’s a better prospect than Hughes. Hughes being a center doesn’t change that.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

It’s not an agree to disagree situation. He’s putting up McDavid numbers, playing with kids older than himself, and has been the consensus 1st overall in 2020 for years. He’s a better prospect than Hughes. Hughes being a center doesn’t change that.

Definately is an agree to disagree situation if your basing your sole arguement on stats.

Just for the sake of using your stat based arguement, let’s compare this. Jack Hughes in his D-1 season put up 1.9 points per game at the u-18 level, and exactly 2 points per game at the USHL level, and Lafrienere in his d-1 season put up 1.7 points per game in the QMJHL. Don’t see how that is in any way superior to Hughes.

 

[AKL]

Definately is an agree to disagree situation if your basing your sole arguement on stats.

Just for the sake of using your stat based arguement, let’s compare this. Jack Hughes in his D-1 season put up 1.9 points per game at the u-18 level, and exactly 2 points per game at the USHL level, and Lafrienere in his d-1 season put up 1.7 points per game in the QMJHL. Don’t see how that is in any way superior to Hughes.

Because 1.7ppg against the QMJHL on a crappy team that he had to carry is better than 1.9ppg against the USHL on a historically good team with so much depth that top 10 picks were playing on the third line.

And you can't compare point per game rates directly across leagues. Saying "uh 1.9>1.7 so Hughes>Lafreniere" is ridiculous.

I mean if you consider this another way, Lafreniere has been the consensus top pick in a far better draft class.

 

[AJ Thelen]

Brian Rolston's son Ryder was one of the few U17 players playing with the U18 US NTDP last year, so he will likely be a high pick.

Lafrenier will be a stud, Byfield could have challenged for 1st or 2nd overall in any of the last several drafts. Add in the two Swedes in Holtz and Raymond, and the top5 is looking like one of the better top 5s in several years.

If his slapper is half as good as his dads was, I'm all in.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Because 1.7ppg against the QMJHL on a crappy team that he had to carry is better than 1.9ppg against the USHL on a historically good team with so much depth that top 10 picks were playing on the third line.

And you can't compare point per game rates directly across leagues. Saying "uh 1.9>1.7 so Hughes>Lafreniere" is ridiculous.

I mean if you consider this another way, Lafreniere has been the consensus top pick in a far better draft class.

A. It’s way too early to accurately say this is a far better class. It indeed looks good, and there’s a lot to be excited about, but we won’t have a good idea of how this class compares to rest until these guys have all played their draft seasons, and even then one could argue we really don’t know how good the draft class is until all of these players have finished their careers.
B. I don’t like the stats assessment either, but it’s hard to prove that Lafrienere’s situation is far more impressive than Hughes. I was looking for an article that compared them a while back and couldn’t find it, but they argued that Lafrienere is in a more Ideal situation for actual production because his QMJHL team ran everything through him and he played around 22 minutes a night, whereas Hughes was averaging just over 17 minutes a game on an NTDP team that rolled 4 lines consistently. Just another way of thinking about it. Again, I’m not one to agree with looking at stats as an arguement, as I believe stats without context are near garbage.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a Pro-scout, so my player evaluation’s are not only based on a few highlight clips and shift by shifts in YouTube, but also at times bad. That being said, I like to rely on the people who get paid to do this for their opinions, and I’m yet to find a single one that definitively says Lafrienere is a far superior prospect to Hughes. Some say Hughes is better, some say Lafrienere is better, but most say Lafrienere is roughly comparable to Hughes.

Also, it’s worth noting that Lafrienere is 2 weeks away from being eligible for the 2019 NHL draft, while Hughes Just turned 18 less than a month ago.

 

[AJ Thelen]

I sent a question about Anton Lundell to Jokke Nevalainen from DobberProspects. Here is his response.



I really hope we get a top 5 pick in next years draft.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

I wanted newhook

 

[2Pair]

I wanted newhook

Wouldn't count

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Wouldn't count

As long as at counts at development camp, I’m happy

 

[Digitalbooya]

As long as at counts at development camp, I’m happy

It didn't even count in that video, ref waved it off.

 

[AJ Thelen]

Doesn't even know the rules.
Clearly a bust.

 

[thestonedkoala]

I sent a question about Anton Lundell to Jokke Nevalainen from DobberProspects. Here is his response.



I really hope we get a top 5 pick in next years draft.

Didn't you hear, the Wild are building on the fly and not going to get a high draft pick.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Didn't you hear, the Wild are building on the fly and not going to get a high draft pick.

As long as we own the pick, the chances are never zero.