2021 NHL Draft Thread (All draft, lottery, and prospect talk)

[majormajor]

No - D at the 5th pick. Again we have 2 fantastic D-men currently

Who is going to tell him?

 

[Hello Johnny]

I would add that we are razor thin on guys who can get the puck into the slot. Big reason why I miss BJA.

 

[majormajor]

I would add that we are razor thin on guys who can get the puck into the slot. Big reason why I miss BJA.

Yes, I remember seeing shot charts from year to year and the Jackets went from pretty decent at getting pucks to the slot to being dead last this year. We had nothing there.

 

[Hello Johnny]

Yes, I remember seeing shot charts from year to year and the Jackets went from pretty decent at getting pucks to the slot to being dead last this year. We had nothing there.

It was infuriating last year, all perimeter play and zero penetration into the high danger areas.

I've grown very fond of Eklund for the reasons others have outlined, the need to get players who are play drivers and excel at zone entries, but McTavish would fill the need that we're talking about. I like the Pavelski comparison but I also see some TJ Oshie in there too.

 

[Youngguns80]

If you want PP help then grab a guy like McTavish when you can. That guy has rare goal scoring ability in the netfront and slot. We have good halfwall shooters and that's about it.

Of course if you see anyone with elite playmaking ability grab that first. But I think Eklund and Johnson are getting overrated in that regard just because they are currently the best playmakers in this draft, they're really nothing compared to the playmakers we see in some drafts. Johnson has to take some big steps or he won't even make the NHL, while with Eklund I just don't see that much upside.

Edit:

McTavish doesn't have plus vision, though he's fine. But when he wants to make a pass his touch is superb. His hands are great all around. Look at this little backhand pass.

Wow just wow - all speculation without any facts.

Eklund plays in a pro league and McTavish doesn’t. Eklund is a better skater then McTavish. Eklund is rated Elite in hockey sense and McTavish is not. Eklund is rated heads above McTavish. Here is the Black Book write up on Eklund and they have him at #2 and Beniers at #4

William Eklund is a deceptive and dynamic playmaking winger who keeps a very good pace, while having arguably the best vision out of any draft eligible forward. We discuss development curves often, since we feel they are incredibly important when evaluating and projecting a prospect accurately. In the case of Eklund, we watched a player who had difficulty the past couple of seasons, play with a mature structure within his attack on occasion. Usually an instinctive line driver, William was prone to playing with a lack of efficiency and relying too much on his own abilities, while failing to incorporate his teammates as often as we would have liked. There was a lot of experimentation found within his game and he was still trying to figure out exactly what he was capable of doing on any given shift.
Fast forward to the first drop of the puck in the SHL this past season and Eklund immediately began showing his off season body of work, having transformed his game so that it could match the pro level. No longer was he over-handling the puck or making high risk plays in the wrong areas of the ice as often as he was previously, instead he showed that he was capable of making his linemates better, while still driving play from time to time, without being a liability off the puck.
What makes Eklund truly unique is his ability to remain balanced while utilizing his small area manipulation, and his advanced look offs and hip mobility in combination with his outside edges to generate space for himself, so that he can take advantage of his elite level vision and playmaking ability.
His deception is characterized through generating defensive triggers; meaning he uses hesitation plays to continue to draw opposing players into pockets of ice that he will then use to spin or peel away from them, as one example. As another example, it means that he uses his hips to create sudden fast twitch movements to bait an opposing defender into taking a knee for a shot block, so that he can streak past them and get a higher percentage shot or pass off. Most importantly he generates triggers in tight areas in the corners of the rink and around the goal line, where he’s capable of making some of his most dangerous plays while remaining elusive. We will discuss this concept in depth later in the breakdown.
The trait that we can define as elite and is responsible for his production emerges after Eklund slips off of coverage or gets into a position to find trailing options. Which is his ability to cheat the system, by not keeping his head on a swivel in order to assess his options nearly to the same degree as most other primary playmakers. Or in other words, he can identify most of his options without having to direct his head towards their position. His looks offs are already world class, and they are what makes it so difficult for defenses to recognize where he’s trying to transfer the puck with his playmaking ability.
He has eyes in the back of his head and a passing sixth sense for where his teammates are positioned based off of his advanced reads of the play. Furthermore, although he’s not the biggest player, he’s not a winger that we would label a soft or perimeter player. He can draw multiple defenders into his space when attacking both east west or north south into heavy trafficked areas, which subsequently frees up an additional teammate after readjusting and manipulating available passing lanes.

 

[Youngguns80]

More for the doubters of William Eklund

He and Beniers are pretty much interchangeable for me at number two.” - NHL Scout, April 2021
“Wish I could’ve seen him a bit more but from what I saw he is the best player in this draft.” - NHL Scout, May 2021
“Puck magician who led his team through a disappointing season.” - NHL Scout, June 2021
“I think he can play in the NHL right away.” - NHL scout, May 2021
“He might end up being the best player in this draft.” - NHL Scout, May 2021
“I know some scouts think he can play in the middle, but I think he’ll just be a small winger. He will be a very good one but that winger projection is why he slid slightly for me. Still top 5 though.” - NHL Scout, June 20211
“He has it all. He makes plays...he hunts down pucks, creates turnovers, he can score but also is a high end playmaker. He can probably be a good penalty killer down the road too. I think he’s a future star.” - NHL Scout, June 2021
“A player that manages to combine skill and hard work. Has excellent puck skills and drives the play incredibly well, not only for an 18-year old, but in the whole SHL.” - HP Scout, Johan Lindemalm Karlsson
“Best playmaker in the draft, and it’s not close for me.” – HP Scout Jérôme Bérubé, March 2021
“My favourite player in this draft class, I am so impressed with his progression over the last two seasons.” – HP Scout Jérôme Bérubé, May 2021
“He made Alexander Holtz and Lucas Raymond look average in comparison to their first full seasons in the SHL. That’s not easy to do” – HP Scout, Brad Allen, June 2021
“One of those players that I liked more every time I watched him. Still a bit raw, but he’s already so good, that it turns out to be another positive. We love high hockey IQ and his vision is fantastic...fun player to watch. He ended up being a challenger to Power for our number one spot.” - HP Scout, Mark Edwards, June 2021

Why do think Seattle, Buffalo and Anaheim are looking at him. Do you hear that about McTavish - no and it isn’t hype. If I had a choice between him and Beniers it would be tough. Beniers would be a safer pick but Eklund has much higher ceiling.

 

[Youngguns80]

Who is going to tell him?

You are cherry picking my responses - kinda of like how you do because of your bromance with McTavish.

Here was my quote - No - D at the 5th pick. Again we have 2 fantastic D-men currently and the team is bad. Why because no play-drivers/playmakers/high-end skill.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

You are cherry picking my responses - kinda of like how you do because of your bromance with McTavish.

Here was my quote - No - D at the 5th pick. Again we have 2 fantastic D-men currently and the team is bad. Why because no play-drivers/playmakers/high-end skill.

So answer me this. What do you do if we trade Jones for a very nice center prospect/player? Trading Jones is inevitable, it’s going to happen, and we’re going to be left with one fantastic defenseman, Gavrikov, and nothing else. And we have almost nothing coming down the pipelines unless you’re a big Peeke/Knazko fan. Do you then explore drafting a defenseman?

Or, let’s make this easier. What if the draft order goes 1. Power, 2. Beniers, 3. Eklund, 4. Hughes/Clarke/Edvinsson (point is, a defenseman). Who do you go with if this happens, because it likely will in some order.

 

[Hello Johnny]

So answer me this. What do you do if we trade Jones for a very nice center prospect/player? Trading Jones is inevitable, it’s going to happen, and we’re going to be left with one fantastic defenseman, Gavrikov, and nothing else. And we have almost nothing coming down the pipelines unless you’re a big Peeke/Knazko fan. Do you then explore drafting a defenseman?

Or, let’s make this easier. What if the draft order goes 1. Power, 2. Beniers, 3. Eklund, 4. Hughes/Clarke/Edvinsson (point is, a defenseman). Who do you go with if this happens, because it likely will in some order.

Not directed towards me but I am admittedly tough on defensemen this high in the draft.

If it's Clarke or Edvinsson at 4, I'd explore Hughes vs. McTavish but ultimately land on Hughes. If it's Hughes, I take McTavish (or maybe trade down).

 

[majormajor]

Wow just wow - all speculation without any facts.

Eklund plays in a pro league and McTavish doesn’t. Eklund is a better skater then McTavish. Eklund is rated Elite in hockey sense and McTavish is not. Eklund is rated heads above McTavish. Here is the Black Book write up on Eklund and they have him at #2 and Beniers at #4

William Eklund is a deceptive and dynamic playmaking winger who keeps a very good pace, while having arguably the best vision out of any draft eligible forward. We discuss development curves often, since we feel they are incredibly important when evaluating and projecting a prospect accurately. In the case of Eklund, we watched a player who had difficulty the past couple of seasons, play with a mature structure within his attack on occasion. Usually an instinctive line driver, William was prone to playing with a lack of efficiency and relying too much on his own abilities, while failing to incorporate his teammates as often as we would have liked. There was a lot of experimentation found within his game and he was still trying to figure out exactly what he was capable of doing on any given shift.
Fast forward to the first drop of the puck in the SHL this past season and Eklund immediately began showing his off season body of work, having transformed his game so that it could match the pro level. No longer was he over-handling the puck or making high risk plays in the wrong areas of the ice as often as he was previously, instead he showed that he was capable of making his linemates better, while still driving play from time to time, without being a liability off the puck.
What makes Eklund truly unique is his ability to remain balanced while utilizing his small area manipulation, and his advanced look offs and hip mobility in combination with his outside edges to generate space for himself, so that he can take advantage of his elite level vision and playmaking ability.
His deception is characterized through generating defensive triggers; meaning he uses hesitation plays to continue to draw opposing players into pockets of ice that he will then use to spin or peel away from them, as one example. As another example, it means that he uses his hips to create sudden fast twitch movements to bait an opposing defender into taking a knee for a shot block, so that he can streak past them and get a higher percentage shot or pass off. Most importantly he generates triggers in tight areas in the corners of the rink and around the goal line, where he’s capable of making some of his most dangerous plays while remaining elusive. We will discuss this concept in depth later in the breakdown.
The trait that we can define as elite and is responsible for his production emerges after Eklund slips off of coverage or gets into a position to find trailing options. Which is his ability to cheat the system, by not keeping his head on a swivel in order to assess his options nearly to the same degree as most other primary playmakers. Or in other words, he can identify most of his options without having to direct his head towards their position. His looks offs are already world class, and they are what makes it so difficult for defenses to recognize where he’s trying to transfer the puck with his playmaking ability.
He has eyes in the back of his head and a passing sixth sense for where his teammates are positioned based off of his advanced reads of the play. Furthermore, although he’s not the biggest player, he’s not a winger that we would label a soft or perimeter player. He can draw multiple defenders into his space when attacking both east west or north south into heavy trafficked areas, which subsequently frees up an additional teammate after readjusting and manipulating available passing lanes.

My comment was specifically about McTavish and the PP. You're poo-pooing McTavish on the PP and you don't seem to be aware that that is an area of strength for him (hence the Pavelski comparisons). You don't need to give me the black book on Eklund. I like the player and have him in my top 5.

Also if you're going to complain about my lack of facts you might want to get yours right. McTavish played in a pro league this year, for EHC Olten in Switzerland. Putting him against pros on the big ice would seem to be the worst case for a player of his type but he did really well. The guy has shown great adaptability on every team he's been put on.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I value your opinion, so I just want to ask. Why do you have Luke Hughes lower on your rankings list? @majormajor

 

[majormajor]

You are cherry picking my responses - kinda of like how you do because of your bromance with McTavish.

Here was my quote - No - D at the 5th pick. Again we have 2 fantastic D-men currently and the team is bad. Why because no play-drivers/playmakers/high-end skill.

I knew what you meant.

Fixing our weakness in one area by making weakness in another isn't really much of a solution. There need to be several legs on this stool. You have to look at finding value over replacement with whatever the draft gives you. I'd be happy to get Eklund, we can't go wrong with him, but I don't see an all-around elite playmaker in this draft.

 

[NotWendell]

Expert ANALysis: I don't like Eklund because his name reminds me of the blogger from Philly that always talks out his ass. /s

Seriously though, who here thought Jarmo was going to pick Chinakov last year? I have no idea who he's going to pick, so I'm just hanging on for the ride. We have so many needs, just pick the best guy on the board.

 

[majormajor]

I value your opinion, so I just want to ask. Why do you have Luke Hughes lower on your rankings list? @majormajor

You probably shouldn't value my opinion on prospects honestly! The more I watch the more I realize how much work it is to get to a point where you can appropriately rank them. Ideally you want to watch them until you get to a point where each good or bad play they make doesn't budge them in your rankings, and I'm just not there with Hughes or with most guys in the draft.

But to answer your question, Luke Hughes reminds of Chabot on a bad day, or maybe Cam Fowler. The tools are great but with USNTDP he's just super blase. He's not quite Quinn offensively and still pretty bad defensively. I need to watch a couple more videos though. I'm going partly based on the Scouching vid on him and also the blackbook, but I haven't done a shift-by-shift yet.

*You can also see a ton of prospects at once if you watch some USNTDP games, like against the Chicago Steel.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

You probably shouldn't value my opinion on prospects honestly! The more I watch the more I realize how much work it is to get to a point where you can appropriately rank them. Ideally you want to watch them until you get to a point where each good or bad play they make doesn't budge them in your rankings, and I'm just not there with Hughes or with most guys in the draft.

But to answer your question, Luke Hughes reminds of Chabot on a bad day, or maybe Cam Fowler. The tools are great but with USNTDP he's just super blase. He's not quite Quinn offensively and still pretty bad defensively. I need to watch a couple more videos though. I'm going partly based on the Scouching vid on him and also the blackbook, but I haven't done a shift-by-shift yet.

*You can also see a ton of prospects at once if you watch some USNTDP games, like against the Chicago Steel.

Fair. I just have grown very fond of watching him and his skating ability. He might not be dynamic like Quinn in creating offensive chances for himself or scoring at ease, but I think with his speed and rush joining ability he will be a problem for NHLers and create chances by just doing that. A large issue we have had since Panarin left was our ability to rush the puck in and create chances, and I think Luke does that from the back end.

 

[LetsGOJackets!!]

Powers, Beniers, Eklund will all be gone Hughes, Clarke, Guenther, MacTavish,Edvinsson. We have 40 pages of thoughts & in the end we have no idea in the world what Jarmo will do. He & Siren march to their own beat.

 

[Youngguns80]

So answer me this. What do you do if we trade Jones for a very nice center prospect/player? Trading Jones is inevitable, it’s going to happen, and we’re going to be left with one fantastic defenseman, Gavrikov, and nothing else. And we have almost nothing coming down the pipelines unless you’re a big Peeke/Knazko fan. Do you then explore drafting a defenseman?

Or, let’s make this easier. What if the draft order goes 1. Power, 2. Beniers, 3. Eklund, 4. Hughes/Clarke/Edvinsson (point is, a defenseman). Who do you go with if this happens, because it likely will in some order.

I get what you are saying but I highly doubt Jones merits a center prospect like Dach. If he does then I am ecstatic and I imagine every other Blue Jacket fan as well.
I also agree losing Jones does leaves the cupboard bare but at 5 if there is center, wing or defensemen then I am going with a center or wing over defense unless that defensive prospect is a can’t miss and significantly higher or trading down. Defense can be had picks 10-30.
My point is we couldn’t even get it out of own zone/zone entry because we lacked a good puck carrying forward - other than JR. Nobody who could carry the play. It’s that simple is to look at a forward with those skills. Not many forwards in the draft have those attributes.

 

[majormajor]

Fair. I just have grown very fond of watching him and his skating ability. He might not be dynamic like Quinn in creating offensive chances for himself or scoring at ease, but I think with his speed and rush joining ability he will be a problem for NHLers and create chances by just doing that. A large issue we have had since Panarin left was our ability to rush the puck in and create chances, and I think Luke does that from the back end.

Sounds a lot like Morgan Rielly.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

I get what you are saying but I highly doubt Jones merits a center prospect like Dach. If he does then I am ecstatic and I imagine every other Blue Jacket fan as well.
I also agree losing Jones does leaves the cupboard bare but at 5 if there is center, wing or defensemen then I am going with a center or wing over defense unless that defensive prospect is a can’t miss and significantly higher or trading down. Defense can be had picks 10-30.
My point is we couldn’t even get it out of own zone/zone entry because we lacked a good puck carrying forward - other than JR. Nobody who could carry the play. It’s that simple is to look at a forward with those skills. Not many forwards in the draft have those attributes.

So, in my hypothetical where Beniers and Eklund are gone by 5, you're going to pick Guenther or McTavish at 5 regardless of which D out of Hughes, Edvinsson, Clarke are available? Not judging, just wondering.

 

[EspenK]

So, in my hypothetical where Beniers and Eklund are gone by 5, you're going to pick Guenther or McTavish at 5 regardless of which D out of Hughes, Edvinsson, Clarke are available? Not judging, just wondering.

Not YG80 but I would definitely take one of the two F's (McTavish my preference). I think all of the D have questions that the the two F's don't have. If I had to take a D, in order I would take Clarke,Hughes and Edvinsson. To me Ed is the guy with most bust potential.

Here is a great write up on McT Prospect of Interest: Mason McTavish will be 'difficult to stop' in NHL

 

[KJ Dangler]

So, in my hypothetical where Beniers and Eklund are gone by 5, you're going to pick Guenther or McTavish at 5 regardless of which D out of Hughes, Edvinsson, Clarke are available? Not judging, just wondering.

Hughes, or Edvinsson …I also wouldn’t discount Johnson . He has some areas to work on , but is a magician with the puck . Eklund/ Beniers is it for me though .. and I would explore what it would take to go get one of them

 

[EDM]

Perhaps our draft direction will be affected by any trade Jarmo may have in place for Jones. If that trade returns a top young d-man, we go offense at No. 5. If the trade tields a younf upcoming center, maybe we go defense with your first pick.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

 

[JacketsDavid]

I'm all about taking the best dman or winger at #5.

Was listneing to NHL channel on Sirius this am and their draft guy was saying they had 3 goalies rated in top 32. To me I'm not as intrested in goalies but they also made the point if you looked at the final 4 teams each had a Goalie who was an early pick. So I would consider a goalie later in first if he was BPA, but before we trade Elvis or Korpi I still think we're ok there.

 

[EspenK]

Beniers sits at second, as McKenzie reveals his Top 10
https://www.tsn.ca/NHL/video/beniers-sits-at-second-as-mckenzie-reveals-his-top-10~2244588
McTavish no longer a reach at 5 (or 4 for that matter)....Edvinsson drops to 3 from 2.