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

[CBJWerenski8]

 

[rotsbu]

Past couple weeks, I've been pulling for the Red Wings for the first time in my life.

 

[LetsGOJackets!!]

"Many scouts (including me) feel like after 10th or so, every player should be slotted 10ish spots later. Not a fantastic draft at the top. One long time scout to me "I can't remember a worse draft.""

Yeesh.

That's Mark Spector.

Please don't tell me we got 3 1sts in a wasteland draft again.

Most of these kids have not played full season over the last year+ - I would prefer to think that with our Finnish GM we have an advantage scouting Sweden Finland etc.,

 

[CBJWerenski8]

The only reason this draft is “weak” is that most of these kids have had a year and a half of development ruined by the pandemic. Some haven’t and have been able to get in some games, but a lot of kids have been impacted. That doesn’t mean the draft is weak, the draft is just so so so wide open and unknown due to this. It’s like the boom bust of drafts, which is why we were able to snag firsts for rentals.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

The only reason this draft is “weak” is that most of these kids have had a year and a half of development ruined by the pandemic. Some haven’t and have been able to get in some games, but a lot of kids have been impacted. That doesn’t mean the draft is weak, the draft is just so so so wide open and unknown due to this. It’s like the boom bust of drafts, which is why we were able to snag firsts for rentals.

So don't expect NHL help soon from any of the 1st round picks. They might pan out. They might not. But not matter what they will be about 2 years behind the development curve.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

Most of these kids have not played full season over the last year+ - I would prefer to think that with our Finnish GM we have an advantage scouting Sweden Finland etc.,

Jarmo should be a scout. Not a GM.

 

[CharlotteJacket]

The two years Pittsburgh really sucked they had Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby to pick from.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

So don't expect NHL help soon from any of the 1st round picks. They might pan out. They might not. But not matter what they will be about 2 years behind the development curve.

Right. This goes for any draft year. Unless a player is a superlative talent and there’s no keeping him out of the lineup, stop expecting draft picks, even first rounders, to contribute in the first couple years. Give them time to develop.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Right. This goes for any draft year. Unless a player is a superlative talent and there’s no keeping him out of the lineup, stop expecting draft picks, even first rounders, to contribute in the first couple years. Give them time to develop.

I would expect those taken in this draft to take even longer.

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

I would expect those taken in this draft to take even longer.

Right. I’m just using this draft as an opportunity to point out that we as fans could stand to be more patient with draft picks in general.

 

[majormajor]

The only reason this draft is “weak” is that most of these kids have had a year and a half of development ruined by the pandemic. Some haven’t and have been able to get in some games, but a lot of kids have been impacted. That doesn’t mean the draft is weak, the draft is just so so so wide open and unknown due to this. It’s like the boom bust of drafts, which is why we were able to snag firsts for rentals.

That's a factor but I doubt it's the only one. The draft experts are surely capable of thinking through whether the talent level would have been behind regardless of the pandemic.

 

[LetsGOJackets!!]

The two years Pittsburgh really sucked they had Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby to pick from.

& they took Crosby and Malkin in successive years - tanking or good mgmt? You be the judge

 

[LetsGOJackets!!]

in 1991 the draft was Lindros, Falloon Neidermayer LaChance Ward Forsberg... the NYI fans are probably still pissed they drafted LaChance

and at 15 was Alexei Kovalev 16 Markus Naslund 18 Glenn Murray but the 1st pick of the 2nd round was a star named Ray Whitney. Doug MacLean let Whitney walk from the Jackets because they were $75K apart in contract negotiations.

Happens every year. Former Jackets LaChance, Tyler Wright and Ray Whitney.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

That's a factor but I doubt it's the only one. The draft experts are surely capable of thinking through whether the talent level would have been behind regardless of the pandemic.

I think it’s the biggest one.

Even if I play along, there’s still plenty of talent to be had in this draft. A weak draft, like 2013, will still produce plenty of solid players. It’s up to jarmo, if he decides to use them, to make the right ones

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Right. I’m just using this draft as an opportunity to point out that we as fans could stand to be more patient with draft picks in general.

That's funny (and true) considering there are sections of this board ready to toss away Texier for not being a first liner (and arguably even a 2nd liner) yet.

 

[majormajor]

I think it’s the biggest one.

Even if I play along, there’s still plenty of talent to be had in this draft. A weak draft, like 2013, will still produce plenty of solid players. It’s up to jarmo, if he decides to use them, to make the right ones

That's still a scary thought. We've got two picks that are probably going between 27-32. In 2013, the 30 picks from 27 to 57 were a near total wasteland. The top scorer in that group is Ryan Hartman. The top D-man is Robert Hagg, who makes Scott Harrington look good. The best pick is Tristan Jarry, and I still wouldn't be excited to draft him. We better hope it's a better draft than that, I don't think scouting talent can do much in a bad draft.

*Yes I narrowly tailored this selection to avoid Shea Theodore and Tyler Bertuzzi. Still, 30 picks in a row.

 

[Jovavic]

& they took Crosby and Malkin in successive years - tanking or good mgmt? You be the judge

Pens had to settle for Malkin since the Caps won the lottery and got Ovechkin. And instead of getting Malkin, Chicago picked Cam Barker lol

The Crosby draft was after the canceled season and with no standings to base the rankings on, I think the NHL used a weighted lotto system where if you had a top 10 pick in the previous 5 years you got a ball thrown into the hopper for each one.

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

Pens had to settle for Malkin since the Caps won the lottery and got Ovechkin. And instead of getting Malkin, Chicago picked Cam Barker lol

The Crosby draft was after the canceled season and with no standings to base the rankings on, I think the NHL used a weighted lotto system where if you had a top 10 pick in the previous 5 years you got a ball thrown into the hopper for each one.

And As I recall if they had done it based on previous season standings, that would have been one of our best chances to win the lottery and the f'ing penguins drafted a HoFer.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

So don't expect NHL help soon from any of the 1st round picks. They might pan out. They might not. But not matter what they will be about 2 years behind the development curve.

But is that any different from any other draft?

We will see an impact on the draft due to this pandemic for years to come (like 2-3) because almost everyone lost out on development. However, I don't necessarily believe every draft will be weak for a few years because of it. The truth is nobody knows if this draft is weak or not, and we won't know for sure until years from now.

I remember people saying the 2012 draft was weak and yet that draft produced tons of solid NHLers, I don't see why this year would be any different.

 

[Long Live Lyle]

"Many scouts (including me) feel like after 10th or so, every player should be slotted 10ish spots later. Not a fantastic draft at the top. One long time scout to me "I can't remember a worse draft.""

Yeesh.

That's Mark Spector. Edit: Mark Edwards, not Spector.

Please don't tell me we got 3 1sts in a wasteland draft again.

Wasn't the 2013 draft supposed to be amazing? I remember not only did we have three first rounders, but we had three first rounders... IN 2013!!! Maybe this will be opposite: a presumed mediocre draft that ends up being great.

ETA: Of course, the top did turn out to be really, really good. But it was not deep at all.

 

[majormajor]

Wasn't the 2013 draft supposed to be amazing? I remember not only did we have three first rounders, but we had three first rounders... IN 2013!!! Maybe this will be opposite: a presumed mediocre draft that ends up being great.

That's the hope, yes.

 

[koteka]

We will see an impact on the draft due to this pandemic for years to come (like 2-3) because almost everyone lost out on development.

Have people really lost out on development? They have lost out on games, but that is not the same thing.

One thing I have heard from some knowledgeable youth hockey coaches is that kids play too many games and don’t spend enough time working on the basics. What if many of the top 500 youth players that will be drafted this year and the next couple of years spent the COVID time working on skating, shooting, strength training, etc.? Maybe these kids will be more developed because of COVID. Heck, if you put 6-10 really good kids together working on small area skills, various situations (3 on 2, 2 on 1, etc.), skating, stick handling, and shooting for a season instead of playing a ton of games where they are the best players on the ice, they probably would have much better development. How do we know that didn’t happen?

Are the OHL kids sitting around doing nothing? If I was the parent of a top 16 or 17 year old last year, you can be sure I’d have him with a skating coach as much as possible. I’d also have better control of his diet (he’d be eating much better than if we were always driving all over the place) and have a personal trainer working on his strength and flexibility. He’d be in the basement or driveway shooting into an old washing machine all the time. Heck, virtual school means more time for working on skills.

I know certain parents (of ice skaters and ballet dancers) whose kids loved having virtual school options this year. More time for development for the kids. I also know the parent of a fairly serious ballet dancer whose kid gave it up this year because the “competition” were increasing the amount of time devoted to ballet and the kid decided that was too much.

 

[cbjgirl]

And As I recall if they had done it based on previous season standings, that would have been one of our best chances to win the lottery and the f'ing penguins drafted a HoFer.

And the CBJ had the same number of balls in the hopper as the Pens. I think it was 6 each.

 

[Jive Pawnbroker]

Wasn't the 2013 draft supposed to be amazing? I remember not only did we have three first rounders, but we had three first rounders... IN 2013!!! Maybe this will be opposite: a presumed mediocre draft that ends up being great.

ETA: Of course, the top did turn out to be really, really good. But it was not deep at all.

Thankfully we don't Tyler Wright running our draft this year. I've met the guy and I like him but personally I think he would have made a better coach than a scout.

It would be so nice if Ville & Co. hit on all three. It would set the team up for success for a long stretch. I don't think that anyone could top the Red Wings' draft of 1989 but I'd like to see this one of ours give it a run for its money.

 

[domi28]

But is that any different from any other draft?

We will see an impact on the draft due to this pandemic for years to come (like 2-3) because almost everyone lost out on development. However, I don't necessarily believe every draft will be weak for a few years because of it. The truth is nobody knows if this draft is weak or not, and we won't know for sure until years from now.

I remember people saying the 2012 draft was weak and yet that draft produced tons of solid NHLers, I don't see why this year would be any different.

It's not any different but solid NHLers don't bring Stanley Cups to teams. Jarmo needs to start hitting on elite talent that he can ride to a Cup, not depth guys.