glenwo2
LINDY RUFF NEEDS VIAGRA!!
We sacrifice a Summer to the doldrums of BOREDOM this year in exchange for a Summer of Excitement with two drafts.
I'm okay with this.
Prospect Info: 2021 NHL Draft Prospects
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We sacrifice a Summer to the doldrums of BOREDOM this year in exchange for a Summer of Excitement with two drafts.
I'm okay with this.
Pronman published updated T-31 rankings. Owen Power drops to 3rd in the rankings. Luke Hughes is now Pronman's top pick.
The 2021 NHL Draft ranking: Pronman's top 31 prospects has lots of movement
Notable is that Eklund is ranked 7th but Pronman's writeup looks like something you'd read about a top 3 pick. I'd jump out of my seat to grab this kid at the draft.
7. William Eklund, LW, Djurgarden-SHL
Oct. 12, 2002 | 5-foot-10 | 176 pounds
Previous ranking: 23
Eklund has been a top player on an SHL team as an 18-year-old, a rare feat for a first-year draft-eligible player. His skating ability helped him translate easily to the SHL level. He has good straightaway speed to go along with fantastic edgework. He shows tremendous elusiveness to evade pressure and create space for himself with his skating. Eklund skates fast, but it’s his skating plus his compete that earned the trust of big minutes as he showed he could be responsible off the puck. He combines that with a high skill level, a very imaginative brain offensively, and the ability to execute difficult plays at speed. His ability to play in the high-traffic areas and win battles but also play on the perimeter and be a primary setup guy will make him a versatile NHL player.
The 2021 NHL Draft ranking: Pronman's top 31 prospects has lots of movement
Notable is that Eklund is ranked 7th but Pronman's writeup looks like something you'd read about a top 3 pick. I'd jump out of my seat to grab this kid at the draft.
7. William Eklund, LW, Djurgarden-SHL
Oct. 12, 2002 | 5-foot-10 | 176 pounds
Previous ranking: 23
Eklund has been a top player on an SHL team as an 18-year-old, a rare feat for a first-year draft-eligible player. His skating ability helped him translate easily to the SHL level. He has good straightaway speed to go along with fantastic edgework. He shows tremendous elusiveness to evade pressure and create space for himself with his skating. Eklund skates fast, but it’s his skating plus his compete that earned the trust of big minutes as he showed he could be responsible off the puck. He combines that with a high skill level, a very imaginative brain offensively, and the ability to execute difficult plays at speed. His ability to play in the high-traffic areas and win battles but also play on the perimeter and be a primary setup guy will make him a versatile NHL player.
Can we bully devils Twitter into drafting aito iguchi with a 5th-7th round pick like we did with gusev?
doubt he’ll ever make it but total wildcard. USHL combine highlights is the last we’ve really heard from him but he looked really good, Andthen for some reason stayed in Japan. Would be a fun prospect
doubt he’ll ever make it but total wildcard. USHL combine highlights is the last we’ve really heard from him but he looked really good, Andthen for some reason stayed in Japan. Would be a fun prospect
- Dec 20, 2018
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While I love Lilliputian prospects as much as anyone (Oh, Pashin *sob*) Aito Iguchi is listed as 5’3”. If he’s that short he’s not getting drafted. He’s too small for pro hockey, I mean, Elite Prospects has him at 117 lbs. lol. Plus he’s currently playing Japanese high school hockey and the level of competition has got to be comparatively low.
We all love underdogs but reality sets in at some point.
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Id still probably rather choose a D just because I think we have a greater need for a top line defensemen. The idea of Having a line with holtz and Eklund on the wings does sound intriguing. I have only ever seen Eklund play as centre so I don't know how he is as an LW.
Analyzing how Maple Leafs, Canadiens have risen to top of North Division
Small tidbit, but Friedman corroborating something that Darren Dreger mentioned previously. Not sure if they'd allow fans to attend, but I already bugged my friend in Dallas that I'd consider going if things were normal-ish by then.
Small tidbit, but Friedman corroborating something that Darren Dreger mentioned previously. Not sure if they'd allow fans to attend, but I already bugged my friend in Dallas that I'd consider going if things were normal-ish by then.
This draft is going to make a lot of people pull out their hair.
Normally, I would call the 2021 class great fun, on account of -- not only is there not a clear-cut #1 or #2 pick -- but there is not a clear cut tier anywhere whatsoever. When you combine that with the fact that some of these kids are not even playing due to the pandemic? It's chaos.
There will be players ranked #3 overall by one expert who does not make the first-round cut for another expert. The consensus is shot to hell.
Corey Pronman just came out with a top 31 list for 2021. It literally made me laugh. I actually love Pronman, I read everything he writes and find him to be fantastic, even when I disagree strongly with him. But first of all -- isn't the first round 32, not 31, this year? Second of all, Pronman admittedly down-ranks defenders in favor of forwards in his draft rankings. For 2021, Pronman has a D at #1, two D in his top 3 and 4 in his top 10.
But Corey Pronman is good. What happens when some of these lesser writers start coming out with their draft rankings? At the Athletic, with all my respect for Scott Wheeler I completely disagree with his entire ranking philosophy. In his recent prospect rankings, Wheeler had the Devils at #11 (I have the Devils top 5). This made sense to me in that Wheeler ranks Reilly Walsh as the Devils #5 prospect. (I do not rank Walsh as a top 5 defenseman among Devils prospects). What is Wheeler going to do in a draft where many of the top prospects are the type of players who Wheeler notoriously down-ranks -- defensemen who focus on defense first? Owen Power, Carson Lambos, Kiril Kirsanov, Stanislav Svozil -- will these players even make Wheeler's first round?
I think we certainly need some sort of prospect tournament to be played in the month prior to the draft. Let's take the consensus 250 or so players and split them up into 12 teams -- not by nationality but by "lottery". We can't have coaches making g their roster decisions based on the immense pressure of national pride, this should be about seeing what the draft eligible players can do against top players of their own age group.
Normally, I would call the 2021 class great fun, on account of -- not only is there not a clear-cut #1 or #2 pick -- but there is not a clear cut tier anywhere whatsoever. When you combine that with the fact that some of these kids are not even playing due to the pandemic? It's chaos.
There will be players ranked #3 overall by one expert who does not make the first-round cut for another expert. The consensus is shot to hell.
Corey Pronman just came out with a top 31 list for 2021. It literally made me laugh. I actually love Pronman, I read everything he writes and find him to be fantastic, even when I disagree strongly with him. But first of all -- isn't the first round 32, not 31, this year? Second of all, Pronman admittedly down-ranks defenders in favor of forwards in his draft rankings. For 2021, Pronman has a D at #1, two D in his top 3 and 4 in his top 10.
But Corey Pronman is good. What happens when some of these lesser writers start coming out with their draft rankings? At the Athletic, with all my respect for Scott Wheeler I completely disagree with his entire ranking philosophy. In his recent prospect rankings, Wheeler had the Devils at #11 (I have the Devils top 5). This made sense to me in that Wheeler ranks Reilly Walsh as the Devils #5 prospect. (I do not rank Walsh as a top 5 defenseman among Devils prospects). What is Wheeler going to do in a draft where many of the top prospects are the type of players who Wheeler notoriously down-ranks -- defensemen who focus on defense first? Owen Power, Carson Lambos, Kiril Kirsanov, Stanislav Svozil -- will these players even make Wheeler's first round?
I think we certainly need some sort of prospect tournament to be played in the month prior to the draft. Let's take the consensus 250 or so players and split them up into 12 teams -- not by nationality but by "lottery". We can't have coaches making g their roster decisions based on the immense pressure of national pride, this should be about seeing what the draft eligible players can do against top players of their own age group.
The high ranked guys are lucky. They are at least well known enough to get drafted. The lower round guys wont be able to show what they worked on the past year and may be skipped over entirely.
Its even worse if the NHL decides to push the draft one year ahead. Those same guys will be stuck in a weird purgatory where they still have an opportunity to get drafted and pursue a career in hockey but they'll miss the first year out of high school and any non-hockey career opportunities that could come up.
Wheeler's love of Reilly Walsh is the funniest thing to me. He's loved Walsh for years, and I can't make heads or tails of it. In 2020 he ranked Walsh as the second best Devils prospect behind only Ty Smith. This year he has Walsh in front of Mukhamadullin and Bahl, and 14 spots in front of Okhotiuk, a younger defenseman than is far superior in almost every aspect of the game.
I respect it though, that's his guy and he can't be accused of just going with the consensus.
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I'm not sure that anyone would classify Okhotyuk as "far superior in almost every aspect of the game" to Walsh. Pronman also has Walsh straight up ahead of Okhotyuk and Masisak had Walsh an entire tier above Okhotyuk. Walsh is lightyears ahead of Okhotyuk in pretty much every offensive category.
Masisak also had Walsh ahead of (in the same tier as) Mukhamadullin and Bahl. So this isn't that crazy of a take.
Pronman clearly doesn't think much of either guy (Ranked Walsh as the Devils's 14th prospect, Okhotiuk unranked), and while I like Masisak, he's not really a prospect watcher.
I see Okhotiuk as an all-around defender with good size, good skating, good outlet passing, and a physical edge. I see Walsh as a one-dimensional pp specialist that's smaller, a weaker skater, and less physical. I guess we'll see what happens.
It may be a matter of fit and preference. If NJ ends up with a pair of Bahl and Severson and a pair of Smith with a RD who is a defense first guy that isn't in NJ yet and then has a third pair of Okhotiuk with Walsh you might get both to work out. If Walsh has to pair with Butcher on a third pair maybe it's not a good fit at that point. Right now NJ has nobody other than Walsh and maybe eventually McCarthy at RD in the prospect pipeline that projects as an NHL defender? That's a question but I think I've read that before.
That's why we pay you the BIG bucks.
Haha, I'm worried I'm going to look like an ass on this year's rankings. It's just so hard to see these kids play and size them up against each other. Right now? I think my top 5 would look like this:
1 Beniers
2 Eklund
3 Power
4 Lambos
5 Raty
I love Beniers. The kid is just so smart and relentless and quick. He's can't miss, but the only question is if he's your 65-point, 2-way second line center or your first line 85-point kid. It's important to keep in mind there's probably no 100-point scorer in this draft, and an all-situations center is incredibly valuable in today's NHL. Same reason I have Raty ranked over Kent Johnson, who has more pure offensive upside -- in fact Johnson and Eklund probably have the most pure offensive potential of all the forwards in this draft.
Luke Hughes is right outside my top 5 -- he might have the most overall upside of anyone in the draft -- Quinton Hughes with size for Pete's sake -- but he's very mistake-prone and has a lot to improve upon before I can justify taking him in the top few picks.
Other kids I'm a huge fan of right now include Fs Guenther, Sillinger and Pastujov and Ds Svozil, Kirsanov, Clarke and Edvinsson.
As always, don't ask me about goalies, haha.
I think this year is going to be crazy when we look back on the 2021 draft in a decade. There will be kids in the 6th and 7th round who turn into stars but were passed over because no one saw them play, and there will be more first-round "busts" than in many, many years. Teams are just going to shrug their shoulders and take the kid with size and speed because they will consider it the "safe" pick. Teams who judge too heavily on statistics are also in for rude awakenings -- there is nothing to use as a "mean" for the 2020-21 season's mathematics.
I like Wheeler, he's a good guy and he sticks to his guns. However, I couldn't agree less with the fact that he does not even consider defensive play a relevant factor in rating defensemen -- it's as if he throws it out completely under some auspice that good defense can be taught at any level.
I would consider it the opposite. There are more cases of great defensive defensemen learning to succeed at offense later in their career -- Mark Giordano or Jeff Petry or Jake Slavin -- than players that suddenly develop great defensive ability. I mean, sure there are guys like Erik Karlsson who was awful defensively when he broke in and became pretty good defenders, but there are more cases of kids like Gostisbehere or DeAngelo or Will Butcher who can't stay in a line-up despite 50+ point ability because their defense is so bad they still cause more goals against than for.
Walsh is certainly a good offensive talent from the back end. But he's not elite, and his defensive play is below average. I would not rank him currently as a top 5 Devils defenseman prospect, much less a top 5 prospect overall. I'd say he's our second best RD prospect after Case McCarthy, and he's certainly got a shot to be a mid-pairing, 40-point D-man, but his defense simply must improve and he's one of the Devils older prospects.
I'm all into Clarke, but my evaluations are from reading other people's evaluations.
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Luke Hughes is just so young though, this season is the equivalent to Quinn’s 2016-17 season. He’s less then a week from being in the 2021 draft with his September 9 2003 birthday.
I get that potential is only potential and I don’t want to fixate too much on his age* but four of the guys you picked have October/November 2002 birthdays and Lambos has a January 2003 birthday. It’s a factor here.
*too late!
Well, Brandt Clarke is going to be a Devils favorite going into the 2021 draft, I think we all know that. Not only is he the younger brother of Devils' prospect Graeme Clarke (who is also a friend of emerging franchise player Jack Hughes), but Brandt is also the consensus top player at RD, which happens to be the position of most need throughout the Devils prospect pipeline.
So, let's talk about what Brandt Clarke brings to the table. In terms of upside, he might be the top defenseman in the entire 2021 class. Despite a slightly "unique" stride, Clarke is an excellent skater. With the puck, I would call him the best defenseman in the entire 2021 class. His vision and hands are potentially elite traits. I would certainly also call him a good shooter. If Clarke has any flaws, they are similar to the plights of many flashy young offensive-oriented defensemen -- he can be a bit mistake prone with the puck, and although he has improved defensively, he is by no means the guy you rely on late with a one-goal lead.
I was happy to see Clarke move to the Slovakian league when the OHL was shut down due to the pandemic. Why? It's simple -- the Slovakians and Czechs generally don't give a damn about offense from the blueline, so long as rearguards are taking care of their own end. I'm hoping this geographic and philosophic move will help Clarke round out his game. Because offensively, his defensive ceiling is only rivaled in the class of 2021 by another brother of a Devils draft pick in LD Luke Hughes. Though I would give the younger Hughes an edge in skating, I'd say Clarke is more dangerous with the puck on his stick anywhere other than open ice.
Ultimately, in terms of upside at RD, I don't think anyone in the class of 2021 is close to Brandt Clarke right now. Because of this and his position, I think we can see him challenge for the #1 pick overall. But it's a volatile draft, so we can also see him drop out of the top 10 completely. He's certainly a kid for Devils fans to monitor as the season progresses.
Four months of age might be a tie-breaker between two kids of similar ability, but for me it's certainly not a determinant. I do love Lambos for the same reason I loved Jake Sanderson last year and Moritz Seider in 2019 -- I love the kids whose offensive talent is only limited by the fact that they are team-first players who take care of their end first. Every critique I've read of Lambos is "...but how high is his offensive upside?"
In my mind, if Carson Lambos played the hell-bent-for-leather, "who cares if my team is scored on as long as I'm getting stats" style of a Jeremie Poirier or Helge Grans, he would lap those less-talented players in scoring numbers. The kid is a tremendous passer with great vision, an excellent shot and very advanced awareness out there. He's a big, assertive kid who can really skate the lights out. But he knows his #1 job is to take care of his own end, and he's as good at defensive play as anyone in the 2021 draft.
Unfortunately, the questions about offensive upside and a lack of action in 2020-21 (no WHL season) seems to have dropped Lambos in the consensus. I personally have him neck and neck with Power as the #1 defenseman, and to be honest I could easily see him going into the 2021 draft as my #1 overall prospect. I liked this kid that much with the Winnipeg Ice last year, I think there's just been some "recency bias" on my part since I haven't seen him play in a while.
The final point I'd like to make about Carson Lambos (for now) is that the pandemic -- and the lack of play for 2021 draft eligibles -- is going to make teams more apt to make "safe picks", in my opinion. The safest D picks in the 2021 draft are certainly Lambos and Owen Power. You just know they are excellent defenders with size and skating, the only question is really will they put up top-pairing or mid-pairing numbers at the NHL level? So, I think we're talking about a likely top 5 pick here.
Eklund is a heck of a player, one of my favorites in the 2021 class. I'd say the only forward whom I can say has distinctly more pure offensive talent would be Kent Johnson, but Eklund is superior when it comes to versatility, compete level and all-around play. Pronman really hit the nail on the head when describing Eklund's many strengths -- he's just an extremely fun to watch, quick and exciting young prospect.
I'll be fighting the urge to go. Friend in Dallas already offered up their guest room and I could scratch the Texas Rangers' new stadium off the list that first weekend as well.
glenwo2
LINDY RUFF NEEDS VIAGRA!!
Yeah for sure, if anything I think I just miss vacation planning. Sometimes I enjoy the planning process more than actually taking the trip. From a hockey point of view, it's probably going to be a below average crop as well since a decent chunk of the top 2021 draft prospects are late '02 birthdates and ineligible for this tournament (Power/Beniers/Eklund/Johnson/Raty/Wallstedt). Plus any CHL players who haven't been eliminated from their league playoffs yet.
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