majormajor
Registered User
- Jun 23, 2018
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No - D at the 5th pick. Again we have 2 fantastic D-men currently
Who is going to tell him?
No - D at the 5th pick. Again we have 2 fantastic D-men currently
I would add that we are razor thin on guys who can get the puck into the slot. Big reason why I miss BJA.
It was infuriating last year, all perimeter play and zero penetration into the high danger areas.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.
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.
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.
Not directed towards me but I am admittedly tough on defensemen this high in the draft.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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 themSo, 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.