NHL 2021 Draft Thread

[Saxon Eric]

Figured why not
I received Redline's November Report and thought now's a good time as any to start the discussion, lots of interesting takes and tidbits
As of today Edmonton's Dyan Guenither ,RW 6-2/170 is Redlines number 1,he's been loaned out to Sherwood Park Crusaders of the AJHL, I had no idea it was a pay to play league and Redline states expect for more WHL kids to play down a level there for the time being until their league starts up again

Also of note you're starting to see a trickle of CHL players headed to the European U-20 circuit, with Carson Lambos being the biggest name.

The Michigan 3 are still in the top 10

Highly ranked Zach L'Heureux of the Halifax Mooseheads caused a bit of a stir during a fight,apparently spitting in the other combatants face,ill advised anytime but especially with Covid hanging around

Up to this point in the Q the Maritime teams are still playing regularly while the rest of the league has had to stop for a bit but scouts are still attending and you have to wonder if it ultimately hurts the other 2 leagues come draft day

Dman Simon Edvinsson of Frolunda is the highest ranked Euro at #4,
Chaz Lucius ranked #15 is the highest NTDP player
Jesper Wallstedt of Lulea is the first goalie,#17
It appears no Russians in the first round!
And finally the player I wanted Boston to pick in the second round and went undrafted... is now ranked 113,that being Oliver Suni

Click to read more...

 

[Babajingo]

I think Prof Don has his board made up. I see them picking Alex Graham of the Sheffield Steeldogs.
52 points in 38 games in the National Ice Hockey League of Great Britain. That should translate to 5.2 points in 38 games in the AHL.
But give him 6 years development and he should be able to round that up to 6 points.
Look out Seny!!!

 

[PepeBostones]

Wonder if Don Sweeney and his scouting staff had a feeling USHL would be playing and not to bother with Canada and Canadian junior players because of restrictions travelling to and from Canada.

It's very unfortunate for Canadian junior players as they only get to play half a season compared to all the countries who have been playing since October.
Can't help but think about how much all this will effect young players not playing games regularly during a critic phase of their development.

Anyway a normal year this 2021 NHL Draft has some fantastic prospects on defense. Players like Owen Power, Carlos Lambos, Brandt Clarke, Simon Edvinsson and Luke Hughes could be just what the doctor ordered for the Bruins or any NHL team for that matter or if they prefer a forward no problem. Kent Johnson, Matt Beniers, Aatu Räty, Dylan Guenther are all top talent.

My personal favorite is Luke Hughes. Brother's Quinn and Jack Hughes are already in NHL. Luke is much bigger than both his brother's but still is very skilled and talented. Playing with the USNTDP in the USHL. What sets him apart is his late birthday and size. Born Sep 9, 2003 he's already 6'2" and almost a year younger than Power, Daniil Chayka, Räty, Beniers and Johnson and six months younger than Lambos, Edvinsson and Clarke.

It's probably much harder for teams and scouts to predict where players are and will be in development in this year. Think there will some real surprise. Bruins could be set on another few players from USHL or maybe Europe. I really do hope the Canadian kids get to play a regular season, even if shortened, later this year.

Haven't seen the Redline Report but I like their choice Dylan Guenther. Also Edvinsson is a tremendous defense prospect I've followed a few years. Now with Frölunda and he could be the next Victor Hedman. Very skilled, great playmaker, good skater and somewhere around 6'4" 190 pounds. He's already made his SHL debut.

 

[SanDogBrewin]

Matt Knies, committed to Minnesota, would be a nice pick up if the Bruins are picking low in the 2021 draft.

 

[BruinDust]

I think Prof Don has his board made up. I see them picking Alex Graham of the Sheffield Steeldogs.
52 points in 38 games in the National Ice Hockey League of Great Britain. That should translate to 5.2 points in 38 games in the AHL.
But give him 6 years development and he should be able to round that up to 6 points.

Look out Seny!!!

Graham probably has 2 more years left to go in the British League, followed by 4 seasons at Harvard, then 2-3 more years in Providence.

Wonder if Don Sweeney and his scouting staff had a feeling USHL would be playing and not to bother with Canada and Canadian junior players because of restrictions travelling to and from Canada.

It's very unfortunate for Canadian junior players as they only get to play half a season compared to all the countries who have been playing since October.
Can't help but think about how much all this will effect young players not playing games regularly during a critic phase of their development.

Anyway a normal year this 2021 NHL Draft has some fantastic prospects on defense. Players like Owen Power, Carlos Lambos, Brandt Clarke, Simon Edvinsson and Luke Hughes could be just what the doctor ordered for the Bruins or any NHL team for that matter or if they prefer a forward no problem. Kent Johnson, Matt Beniers, Aatu Räty, Dylan Guenther are all top talent.

My personal favorite is Luke Hughes. Brother's Quinn and Jack Hughes are already in NHL. Luke is much bigger than both his brother's but still is very skilled and talented. Playing with the USNTDP in the USHL. What sets him apart is his late birthday and size. Born Sep 9, 2003 he's already 6'2" and almost a year younger than Power, Daniil Chayka, Räty, Beniers and Johnson and six months younger than Lambos, Edvinsson and Clarke.

It's probably much harder for teams and scouts to predict where players are and will be in development in this year. Think there will some real surprise. Bruins could be set on another few players from USHL or maybe Europe. I really do hope the Canadian kids get to play a regular season, even if shortened, later this year.

Haven't seen the Redline Report but I like their choice Dylan Guenther. Also Edvinsson is a tremendous defense prospect I've followed a few years. Now with Frölunda and he could be the next Victor Hedman. Very skilled, great playmaker, good skater and somewhere around 6'4" 190 pounds. He's already made his SHL debut.

They didn't seem to bothered by CHL players before COVID and the border closure.

 

[Lobster57]

Graham probably has 2 more years left to go in the British League, followed by 4 seasons at Harvard, then 2-3 more years in Providence.



They didn't seem to bothered by CHL players before COVID and the border closure.

aside from the occasional career AHLer in the 1st round

 

[Fenian24]

Normally when a teams looks like it will struggle to make the playoffs you t least get the hope of getting a top draft pick, maybe even a top 5. With Donnie running things we won't even get this as he will screw up the pick like he always does.

I also doubt Donnie and the scouts picked USHL players, who were listed so low you couldn't find some in draft books, because they felt they would play. He did it to show everybody how "smart" he is, which isn't very.

 

[Saxon Eric]

My go to draft expert

 

[Saxon Eric]

 

[Saxon Eric]

 

[Saxon Eric]

December draft update from Redline and other sources
Tough to gage to overall quality of this years draft with so many leagues on pause,strong top 10, good year for D but then lots of questions
Owen Power looks to be the consensus #1
Dylan Guenither #2
And for me Mathew Beniers at #3, I've watched a ton of Michigan, Redline likes Swede Simon Edvinsson
Aatu Raty seems to have caught Angelo Esposito disease and is failing like a stone in the ranking
Jesper Wallstedt is still the first goalie ranked at #13
Luke Hughes brother of you know who's is first NTDP player at #14
First Russian based player is Nikita Chibrikov at #31
Lots of USHL players are migrating from the 3rd round into the second
An USHL insider recently told me the leagues overall play has been very strong ,nice influx of talent from Junior A in Canada and College kids that had their season canceled
4 of the 12 pages in Redline were dedicated to over agers from the OHL, Q,WHL,USHL, NCAA ,Finland and other Euros
USHL source also told me to expect more over agers getting drafted going forward
Minnesota High School Hockey is set to kick off soon ,I'm keeping an eye on Tucker Ness,Right Shot D,6-2 205,seems very Bruin like

And finally ranked at #95 playing Center for your Halifax Mooseheads it's Bobby Orr

 

[Sheppy]

Do they have something against drafting Canadians?

Over/Under 1 Canadian being drafted?

 

[Saxon Eric]

Do they have something against drafting Canadians?

Over/Under 1 Canadian being drafted?

Canadians no
CHL players it would appear yes
I think draft position plays a part as does monetary payments in drafting CHL'S vs Euros and College bound kids and of course there's the contract issue,CHL kid is are on the clock for a contract as soon as he's drafted,NCAA kid you could possibly defer that up to 6 years
I would think once Boston starts picking higher again you'll see more CHLers
Personally i think the Senyshyn/Gabrielle mistakes left a bad taste in their mouth, one coaching staff didn't lift a finger to help develop their player and the other lied about character issues who do you blame? The Bruins scouts or the prospects coaching staff?
It appears Boston blames the latter

 

[Saxon Eric]

 

[Saxon Eric]

 

[DominicT]

Worth repeating: The NHL Draft is a crapshoot. I looked back at 6 drafts from 2010 to 2015 to see which teams found success. The success benchmark is set at players who played 100 NHL games. I stopped at 2015 because there's a lot of players still at the development stage. 2015 still does as well. For instance, do you believe Daniel Vladar and Jeremy Lauzon will play 100 NHL games?

There were 1255 players selected from 2010 to 2015. Only 343 went on to play in 100 plus NHL games. That's a 27.3% success rates. Your NHL Bruins were at the league average at 27.5%. Pittsburgh, who have a habit of trading away picks had the fewest picks with 29, but a whopping 44.8% success rate.

Surprisingly, considering their current prospect pool, the NYR were easily the worst with 5 out of 35 or 14.3% going on to play 100+ games.

16 times an NHL team went through the draft without a single player going on to play 100+ NHL games

2010 - Vancouver
2011 - Vancouver (again), Washington
2013 - Your Bruins
2014- Colorado, Dallas, Montreal, New Jersey, NYR, Ottawa
2015- Montreal (again), NYR (again), Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, Washington

This is not a 2015 excuse post. But to expect anyone to hit on all their draft picks is a pipe dream. Your Bruins did come close in 2014 when they hit on 4 out of 5.

All Bruins picks were done with the Peter Chiarelli scouting staff. Only time will tell if the larger Don Sweeney scouting staff fairs better.

 

[DominicT]

 

[Lobster57]

black numbers have hit 100gp, red haven't, dashes = no pick, what are the zeroes?

 

[DominicT]

black numbers have hit 100gp, red haven't, dashes = no pick, what are the zeroes?

No pick. I went back and changed them to - to make it easier to read. Guess I missed a few

 

[Lobster57]

No pick. I went back and changed them to - to make it easier to read. Guess I missed a few

got it, i only spotted 3 or 4, and there's a lot of info. 2013 hurts.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

No pick. I went back and changed them to - to make it easier to read. Guess I missed a few

Really interesting stuff, Dom. It's awesome to see it league wide. You mentioned Lauzon somewhere when referencing this chart (maybe Twitter?) but if he plays the full 56 game season this year (which who knows with his health issues in the past), he'd be 9 games away from hitting that 100 GP mark. A long way to go but hitting on 50% of his first 6 picks as a GM wouldn't be a bad start when you start to really focus on how he's drafted.

 

[DominicT]

Really interesting stuff, Dom. It's awesome to see it league wide. You mentioned Lauzon somewhere when referencing this chart (maybe Twitter?) but if he plays the full 56 game season this year (which who knows with his health issues in the past), he'd be 9 games away from hitting that 100 GP mark. A long way to go but hitting on 50% of his first 6 picks as a GM wouldn't be a bad start when you start to really focus on how he's drafted.

I mentioned it here and on Twitter. I think Lauzon will get there eventually. I think Vladar will as well at some point. I actually think Zboril will as well, maybe with a different team?

 

[Saxon Eric]

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

If Boston really really falls off, think about this:

Owen Power, Simon Edvinsson, or Luke Hughes with McAvoy in a few years.

 

[Saxon Eric]