For competitive purposes, I'll circle back on this as to not give away all of "my guys" as the board's mock draft is going on.
I've mostly been focusing on guys outside the first round and then I plan on coming back to Flyers targets for the first round (before they trade the pick for Jones).
Mallioux: skeptical on the puck moving department or offense beyond shooting, looks f***ing massive (bigger than 6'3) and rangy on the ice though. Very good defensively and pinching. Not really a 1st but raw
Yeah, he's a big boy and athletic. Seems like a big piece of clay type prospect with a huge variance. You liked his defensive game? That was the part I was unsure about. He played in a glorified beer league this year with little structure so that probably played a part but he didn't looked real comfortable defending rushes. He didn't look comfortable going backwards, much better as an attacker. But as we talked about with Power, he looks athletic and agile enough to overcome it. Agree on the other points.
McKenzie has him ranked in the mid-40s so you probably won't get him in the mid round where I'd feel more comfortable taking him without any exposure to high end competition. His scoring in minor hockey was on par with Ethan Del Mastro who is a DND for me, but he had the highest scoring u19 season in the Junior B league he played in at 16 (ahead of Montour who did it at 18 and scored everywhere else) so the arrow seems to be pointing up. Not sure why he didn't get invited to the u18s other than obvious reasons because that blueline was garbage outside of the top 3 guys.
London has three huge RHD prospects in this draft that I've heard varying things about (Bryce Montgomery and Ben Roger). They seem to load up on them every year and end up playing them on their off-side.
Svechkov: he really does have "good Rubtsov" vibes -- with better feet. I still don't know if that's a good thing. I like play controlling, cerebral centers.....but over the years I've been burned by guys who need less composure and more urgency. I still like him though in that high floor/mid ceiling range
Yeah I took him at 17 in our mock for a lot of those reasons.
@landsbergfan took McTavish the pick before me and left me with a board with a clear dropoff in talent. No Russia prospect is really "safe" but he just checks a lot of boxes. Nice sized, two-way center, with plus vision and passing skills and who likes to carry the puck in transition. Might be the best defensive center in the draft. Seems like he has a reasonable chance at being a solid middle 6 center with much more upside than that. Maybe like Lundell from last draft.
Pinelli: hard to get a read on his offensive skills. Definitely an NHL athletic profile, strong u18 numbers but I can't comment on them. Flashes but I'm just not sure -- wasn't on the puck enough in the game I saw
He beat up on the competition during group play and also got benched during the tournament, but I think he's probably the OHL guy I'd bet on making a big leap next year outside of the top guys.
Bolduc/L'Heureux: just too bland for me as 1sts. At least L'Heureux played with some pace and a plan and has NHL potential. Bolduc just looked slow and confused in the IQ department
Heard some of the same complaints about Bolduc but I haven't seen him play since last year. His ES numbers are fantastic though even while shooting 8%. 8% seems to be on the unlucky side but I read he takes a lot of low percentage shots so that may be a product of that.
If you're studying up on RHD...Scott Morrow, Corson Ceulemans, Brent Johnson were taken in our draft so far. Morrow and Ceulemans could be trade back options. Morrow looks like McAvoy at the Prep level, but didn't score in his USHL cameo. Older Prep players without high end exposure is the JOB bucket. I'm cooler on Ceulemans, but he's
fine. Does a little bit of everything. I really liked what I saw from Johnson and his numbers are awesome. Probably Morrow, Johnson, Ceulemans for me right now.
