2020 NHL Draft

[hohosaregood]

So we don't have a top 10 pick this year but we got some other draft picks. Might as well talk about any draft crushes we got. I'm kinda digging this Luke Evangelista kid out of London.

RW Luke Evangelista - London Knights, OHL (2020 Draft)

Click to read more...

 

[themelkman]

I really like Pavel Novak, he’s looked good when I’ve seen him in the Dub this year, and could be great on a line with Hertl in the future Pavel Novak at eliteprospects.com

 

[Bowie22]

Hendrix Lapierre, if he falls out of the 1st round. Top 10 talent, rated low due to injuries. Comes at a risk, but this team needs to swing for the fences.

 

[The Ice Hockey Dude]

at this time we have the following picks in this years draft:

UPDATAED post trade deadline day

1st rounder from the bolts (Goodrow)
2nd rounder
2nd rounder from the Avs
5th rounder
5th rounder from the sens
7th rounder from the pens
7th rounder from the caps

 

[hohosaregood]

at this time we have the following picks in this years draft:

2nd rounder
3rd rounder from the flyers
5th rounder
5th rounder from the sens
7th rounder from the pens
7th rounder from the caps

They're 100% gonna trade back the 3rd to get a 4th and at least one of those 5ths to get a 6th. Might trade the two 7ths up to get another 6th.

 

[The Ice Hockey Dude]

They're 100% gonna trade back the 3rd to get a 4th and at least one of those 5ths to get a 6th. Might trade the two 7ths up to get another 6th.

Thats why i said "at this time". I think DW will get us a 1st rounder also (or try!)

 

[Harbessix]

So we don't have a top 10 pick this year but we got some other draft picks. Might as well talk about any draft crushes we got. I'm kinda digging this Luke Evangelista kid out of London.

RW Luke Evangelista - London Knights, OHL (2020 Draft)

I’m also really high on Evangelista. Others I like that probably will be selected before our first pick are Amirov and Peterka. JL Foudy could also be a solid pick in the second round.

 

[LadyStanley]

Athletic paywall reference materials

 

[The Ice Hockey Dude]

what's the story with this years draft - depth, no depth, etc. anyone know?

 

[themelkman]

what's the story with this years draft - depth, no depth, etc. anyone know?

Very strong first round, after that seems okay

 

[hohosaregood]

Very strong first round, after that seems okay

I think it's regarded as one of the stronger top 10-15s in awhile and dips back to normal.

 

[The Ice Hockey Dude]

I can see what DW would wanna get back a 1st round pick, better if it's top 15.

 

[The Nemesis]

They're 100% gonna trade back the 3rd to get a 4th and at least one of those 5ths to get a 6th. Might trade the two 7ths up to get another 6th.

Those aren't DW's usual draft trade. You forget, he's he undisputed master of the "get an Xth round pick this year for next year's Xth rounder and this year's Xth+1" trade.

So....

2021 1st, 2020 2nd for 2020 1st (post-lottery). Then draft some guy that CSB had ranked 50+



For real though, my selfish pick for being in the upper portion of round 2 is Justin Sourdif (RW/Vancouver(WHL)). Good 2nd line two-way goal-scorer who can make passes too. He can play physically when the situation calls for it, but he's not out there to be a wrecking ball. And he'd need to get bigger to do it a the NHL level. Biggest issue right now is consistency. He can go pointless for 8-9 games then explode for 9 points in 5 games and goals in 4 straight.

Obviously I'm going to be hugely biased there, but as someone I get to see 30+ times a year I've liked most of it, even if it's left me wanting a bit more.

right now he's pegged as a late 1st/early 2nd rounder so he could be in the Sharks' wheelhouse

 

[Groo]

All in for Jaromir Pytlik.
If the Sharks manage a late-ish 1st
Kaiden Guhle
Braden Schneider
Jack Quinn

 

[themelkman]

Those aren't DW's usual draft trade. You forget, he's he undisputed master of the "get an Xth round pick this year for next year's Xth rounder and this year's Xth+1" trade.

So....

2021 1st, 2020 2nd for 2020 1st (post-lottery). Then draft some guy that CSB had ranked 50+



For real though, my selfish pick for being in the upper portion of round 2 is Justin Sourdif (RW/Vancouver(WHL)). Good 2nd line two-way goal-scorer who can make passes too. He can play physically when the situation calls for it, but he's not out there to be a wrecking ball. And he'd need to get bigger to do it a the NHL level. Biggest issue right now is consistency. He can go pointless for 8-9 games then explode for 9 points in 5 games and goals in 4 straight.

Obviously I'm going to be hugely biased there, but as someone I get to see 30+ times a year I've liked most of it, even if it's left me wanting a bit more.

right now he's pegged as a late 1st/early 2nd rounder so he could be in the Sharks' wheelhouse

Sourdif is awesome. Saw him on a vacation to portland earlier in the year.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

I'd be shocked (and very pissed) if we don't trade for at least 1 late first. I expect us to trade for a lot of seconds and later use those to trade into the first round.

Some names I like in the 20-40 range are:
Jack Quinn (will probably be drafted a little earlier imo)
Noel Gunler
Kaiden Guhle
and I also like Sourdif and Pytlik as mentioned above.

Some other guys I'm big fans of are Ryan O'Rourke, JL Foudy, Jacob Perrault, and Jan Mysak.
I've been to a few OHL games this year and they all stand out to me. Could be risers.

Hoping we don't draft Nico Daws early in the 2nd.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

I am really hoping we can land a mid-to-late 1st round pick and also move our 2nd round pick up to the 1st as well. Would be nice to have something to be happy about with the dismal season we have had.

 

[tony d]

I think we'll see the team trade 1 of the players on the team to get a late 1st round pick.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

I think we'll see the team trade 1 of the players on the team to get a late 1st round pick.

Should not really need to do that much for it to be honest. Potential for a 1st round pick.

Dillon + some mid-to-small add
Labanc
Taking on a bad contract like Backes + some mid-to-small add
Our own 2nd round pick + some mid-to-small add

This is without even moving any of the big guys some folks have mentioned, like Burns, Meier, Kane, etc.

 

[The Nemesis]

I'm just gonna leave this here to make my case for a certain Vancouver Giant who put the team on his back tonight and notched a pair of 3rd period goals (the game-tying and game-winning markers) to turn a 5-2 deficit into a 6-5 win and pick up the hatty in the process







They're not all highlight reel, but the guy scores more than just pretty rush goals. He notches the greasy ones too.

It was also a totally insane game full of seething hatred. I would say it was a fantastic atmosphere too, but the arena was full of Canucks fans who seemed like they showed up just because the Hitmen have a pair of Canucks prospects. For the first time since moving to Langley, the place was full of woochebags and some knob-head that kept yelling "punch him in the throat" every single time there was a scrum along the boards.

Otherwise it was nuts.

 

[Pistol Pete]

Very nice! I like that all 3 goals were different. I also like that he’s a right shot.

Where would you project him to be drafted? Any other insights on him?

 

[The Nemesis]

Very nice! I like that all 3 goals were different. I also like that he’s a right shot.

Where would you project him to be drafted? Any other insights on him?

I've seen him ranked anywhere between late lottery to early-ish 2nd round. He's a bit streaky so his stock tends to fluctuate, but he also seems to be at the whims of other players sliding up and down the board. On the NHL Central Scouting "Players to watch" list, which was last updated in November, Sourif was one of 5 WHL players to get an "A" grade that signifies potential 1st round talent.

He's a versatile all-situations winger. At his best he competes hard and gets to the net, but also has the skill and shot to punish defenders that let him get a step on them. He's no a dazzling east-west skill player, but he has enough that he also isn't totally at he mercy of what the D gives him. When he's off his game he still gets around the net, but the puck doesn't find its way to him and he can be boxed out on rebounds. I guess it's a little bit of an effort thing, but that also doesn't mean he's a total coaster when he's not engaged. He is also capable of making solid passes (good ones, not elite ones) though sometimes, especially when he's in a goals funk, he can be guilty of trying to force it to make up for his lack of contribution.

I think sometimes there's maybe a bit of a temptation to make the Evander Kane comparison because of the lazy, obvious fact that he's a goal-scoring Vancouver Giant who's a local product (he's from nearby Surrey, home of Scott Hannan and Brenden Dillon) and also black, but though Sourdif does have enough physicality to fight through checks, get into high-traffic areas, and dish out some punishment when he's working at full capacity, I don't see that rugged edge that Kane has being part of his regular game.

To draw a Shark-ish parallel, I feel like the upside of him is the good version of Devin Setoguchi. The one that had the 30-30 season (though maybe not quite to that extend. More like a 25-25 guy?). Maybe a bit more defensively responsible though. Not a team-carrying offensive player, but a good 2nd liner that can get some PP time and could even PK if you needed him to.

The downside is that he's not quite a boom-or-bust guy. He's not likely going to be the one you draft and he turns into Pavelski. Maybe there's the slimmest chance he does because there's always the slimmest chance that any prospect becomes anything, but it seems like maximizing his skills gets you a very good player just not one with a path to being a "great" one. I don't like saying "low-ceiling" because that's usually scouting euphemism for liking a guy's scouting report more for intangibles and secondary stuff than raw talent (whereas Sourdif's talent is unquestionably a thing and not a bunch of "grit/intensity/leadership/gets-the-most-from-what-he-has" platitudes) but he's not a home-run swing. He's more like a solid double to the gap.

I don't have a lot else to add from the draft-eligible Giants I watch regularly. C/W Cole Shepard is the only other one on the WHL watch-list. He had a "C" grade, which is basically earmarking for the back half of the draft (rounds 4+). He has OK skill and flashes puck control and a shot, but he also tends to float and is allergic to contact. Tristen Nielsen is a PPG undrafted 19-year-old who's a bit on the small side but is a big-heart guy with a ton of offensive drive (occasionally to the point of tunnel-vision) and is a rambunctious bundle of energy. I could see him as an interesting Cuda signing in the mold of Jayden Halbgewachs. The only other draft eligible players are Krz Plummer, Jacob Gendron, and Kaden Kohle, all of whom are varying degress of low-end depth guy at the WHL level. In other words they're pretty much non-starters from an NHL prospect point-of-view. Calgary D-man Luke Prokop and goalie Jack McNaughton were the only Hitmen on the CSB list, each earning "B" grades (rounds 2/3 projection) but it was such a crazy game and I suck at goalie evaluation so I'm not comfortable discussing the latter, and while the former was a -1 with no points. I thought he looked alright and he's a big body. But I hadn't recognized him as a notable draft prospect before the game so I wasn't watching that closely.

this was also the only game the two teams play this season, so no repeat viewings of Calgary for me short of a WHL Finals matchup.

I'm gonna try and make more of an effort over this last month of regular season play to pre-select potentially interesting players on visiting teams for me to keep an eye on.

As an aside, Calgary did have an 80-grade name in forward Orca Wiesblatt, brother of projected top-60ish 2020 draft eligible forward Ozzie Wiesblatt and potential 2022 draft eligible Oasiz Wiesblatt. They also have an older brother named Ocean. I swear I'm not making any of this up.

I also miss the pink on the Hitmen unis. They're all black/dark red/copper now. I want them to acknowledge their roots and bring back the pink.

 

[Pistol Pete]

I've seen him ranked anywhere between late lottery to early-ish 2nd round. He's a bit streaky so his stock tends to fluctuate, but he also seems to be at the whims of other players sliding up and down the board. On the NHL Central Scouting "Players to watch" list, which was last updated in November, Sourif was one of 5 WHL players to get an "A" grade that signifies potential 1st round talent.

He's a versatile all-situations winger. At his best he competes hard and gets to the net, but also has the skill and shot to punish defenders that let him get a step on them. He's no a dazzling east-west skill player, but he has enough that he also isn't totally at he mercy of what the D gives him. When he's off his game he still gets around the net, but the puck doesn't find its way to him and he can be boxed out on rebounds. I guess it's a little bit of an effort thing, but that also doesn't mean he's a total coaster when he's not engaged. He is also capable of making solid passes (good ones, not elite ones) though sometimes, especially when he's in a goals funk, he can be guilty of trying to force it to make up for his lack of contribution.

I think sometimes there's maybe a bit of a temptation to make the Evander Kane comparison because of the lazy, obvious fact that he's a goal-scoring Vancouver Giant who's a local product (he's from nearby Surrey, home of Scott Hannan and Brenden Dillon) and also black, but though Sourdif does have enough physicality to fight through checks, get into high-traffic areas, and dish out some punishment when he's working at full capacity, I don't see that rugged edge that Kane has being part of his regular game.

To draw a Shark-ish parallel, I feel like the upside of him is the good version of Devin Setoguchi. The one that had the 30-30 season (though maybe not quite to that extend. More like a 25-25 guy?). Maybe a bit more defensively responsible though. Not a team-carrying offensive player, but a good 2nd liner that can get some PP time and could even PK if you needed him to.

The downside is that he's not quite a boom-or-bust guy. He's not likely going to be the one you draft and he turns into Pavelski. Maybe there's the slimmest chance he does because there's always the slimmest chance that any prospect becomes anything, but it seems like maximizing his skills gets you a very good player just not one with a path to being a "great" one. I don't like saying "low-ceiling" because that's usually scouting euphemism for liking a guy's scouting report more for intangibles and secondary stuff than raw talent (whereas Sourdif's talent is unquestionably a thing and not a bunch of "grit/intensity/leadership/gets-the-most-from-what-he-has" platitudes) but he's not a home-run swing. He's more like a solid double to the gap.

I don't have a lot else to add from the draft-eligible Giants I watch regularly. C/W Cole Shepard is the only other one on the WHL watch-list. He had a "C" grade, which is basically earmarking for the back half of the draft (rounds 4+). He has OK skill and flashes puck control and a shot, but he also tends to float and is allergic to contact. Tristen Nielsen is a PPG undrafted 19-year-old who's a bit on the small side but is a big-heart guy with a ton of offensive drive (occasionally to the point of tunnel-vision) and is a rambunctious bundle of energy. I could see him as an interesting Cuda signing in the mold of Jayden Halbgewachs. The only other draft eligible players are Krz Plummer, Jacob Gendron, and Kaden Kohle, all of whom are varying degress of low-end depth guy at the WHL level. In other words they're pretty much non-starters from an NHL prospect point-of-view. Calgary D-man Luke Prokop and goalie Jack McNaughton were the only Hitmen on the CSB list, each earning "B" grades (rounds 2/3 projection) but it was such a crazy game and I suck at goalie evaluation so I'm not comfortable discussing the latter, and while the former was a -1 with no points. I thought he looked alright and he's a big body. But I hadn't recognized him as a notable draft prospect before the game so I wasn't watching that closely.

this was also the only game the two teams play this season, so no repeat viewings of Calgary for me short of a WHL Finals matchup.

I'm gonna try and make more of an effort over this last month of regular season play to pre-select potentially interesting players on visiting teams for me to keep an eye on.

As an aside, Calgary did have an 80-grade name in forward Orca Wiesblatt, brother of projected top-60ish 2020 draft eligible forward Ozzie Wiesblatt and potential 2022 draft eligible Oasiz Wiesblatt. They also have an older brother named Ocean. I swear I'm not making any of this up.

I also miss the pink on the Hitmen unis. They're all black/dark red/copper now. I want them to acknowledge their roots and bring back the pink.

What an awesome write up! Thanks, Nem!

It sounds like he could be a really solid NHLer. The only area of his game that you didn’t really comment on was his skating. With the E. Kane and Seto comps, does that also go for his speed? If so, he sounds like a player the Sharks could use in their pipeline.

My only concern is that Center and Goalie are more of a franchise need positionally than offensive winger currently.

One last question, how far away from the NHL would you say Justin is at this point?

 

[The Nemesis]

What an awesome write up! Thanks, Nem!

It sounds like he could be a really solid NHLer. The only area of his game that you didn’t really comment on was his skating. With the E. Kane and Seto comps, does that also go for his speed? If so, he sounds like a player the Sharks could use in their pipeline.

My only concern is that Center and Goalie are more of a franchise need positionally than offensive winger currently.

One last question, how far away from the NHL would you say Justin is at this point?

He has good enough speed. He can get by defenders and keep ahead of pursuers, but he's not a burner by any stretch. I think he has game speed, not testable speed.

To the second comment: never draft for positional need. If Sourdif is the most talented player where the Sharks draft, you take him and sort out positional holes in the org later. Between now and the time Sourdif or whoever they draft is NHL ready, who knows how much the landscape of what the Sharks need could change.

As for a timeline, I'm not sure I put a ton of faith in picking one. I would say the most likely outcome is he would return for his age 18 (post-draft) season for sure. After that I suspect that a patient Sharks team would probably leave him to still develop as a 19-year-old before re-evaluating him in the following off-season to either assign to the Cuda or give him a crack to make the NHL. So I would think that the best case scenario is that he wouldn't be NHL ready until 21/22, but maybe more conservatively 22/23 (when he would be about 21 years old at the start of the season)

 

[Alaskanice]

Nem,
Your passion is a joy. I truly hope our Sharks pick one of your targets. I would love to see how excited you’d be!!
Honestly, your posts during the draft concerning said players are one of my reasons for being on here that day.