2021 NHL Entry Draft Part 1

[CHfan1]

The 2020 draft ultimately took place in early October after being moved from its originally scheduled date in late June. A number of teams have asked the league if this year’s draft could similarly be moved back, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

“I think there are teams out there that would be interested in seeing the draft moved back to December or January instead of this July,” Friedman said during Saturday’s segment. “And I think there’s also a couple of teams … [discussing] the possibility of doing two drafts next June — a late ’02 and an ’03 draft on one day, and then maybe a few days later, an ’03 and an ’04 draft.

 

[SOLR]

Here they are crying about the lack of information.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

They should make the NHL draft for 20 years old and older.

And the top prospect sign and start playing their pro contract after being drafted.

 

[Sagikev]

They should make the NHL draft for 20 years old and older.

And the top prospect sign and start playing their pro contract after being drafted.

That would kill the CHL, highly doubt they do it tbh. Guys like Laf, Byfield, Dach, Byram, etc., wouldn't have went the CHL route if they were drafted at 20 only. They were already dominant at 17-18, no way they would stagnate there until 20. I think a format where you can draft 18 year olds in the first round only is good. Second to seventh round you'd have to draft 19+. That gives the best 18 year olds the opportunity to get drafted early and play earlier in the NHL (I'd also try to make drafted guys eligible for the AHL in the case of the CHL, Byfield, for example, is too good for the OHL, but too raw for the NHL, he'd benefit from playing in the AHL I believe), while giving one more season for the others to develop and prove themselves.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

That would kill the CHL, highly doubt they do it tbh. Guys like Laf, Byfield, Dach, Byram, etc., wouldn't have went the CHL route if they were drafted at 20 only. They were already dominant at 17-18, no way they would stagnate there until 20. I think a format where you can draft 18 year olds in the first round only is good. Second to seventh round you'd have to draft 19+. That gives the best 18 year olds the opportunity to get drafted early and play earlier in the NHL (I'd also try to make drafted guys eligible for the AHL in the case of the CHL, Byfield, for example, is too good for the OHL, but too raw for the NHL, he'd benefit from playing in the AHL I believe), while giving one more season for the others to develop and prove themselves.

Why would it kill the CHL? Quite the opposite actually.

Actually it would make the CHL way way stronger as ALL top prospect remain in the league until they are 20 years old. To quote you the Byfield/Byram/Dach/Laf would not stagnate at all as they would be playing against way better team and players. The level of competition at the CHL level would improve by tenfold. Actually the only players that would be "affected" are the non phenom 16/17 years as they would have harder time breaking in the CHL roster and might have to remain in Bantam or Prep school. And if one or two prodigies are way too good at 17/18 years old they might decide to turn pro at 19 years old in the SHL/KHL or whatever highly competitive man league to continue their progression.

The NHL would benefits as it would give more certainty about the quality and progression of all prospects AND their top prospect could start right away filling pro roles at the NHL or AHL (not that different than the NBA/NFL current model)

As for the CHL the level of competition would improve significantly.

Team would still keep unsigned player rights for a couple years.

 

[SOLR]

Why would it kill the CHL? Quite the opposite actually.

Actually it would make the CHL way way stronger as ALL top prospect remain in the league until they are 20 years old. To quote you the Byfield/Byram/Dach/Laf would not stagnate at all as they would be playing against way better team and players. The level of competition at the CHL level would improve by tenfold. Actually the only players that would be "affected" are the non phenom 16/17 years as they would have harder time breaking in the CHL roster and might have to remain in Bantam or Prep school. And if one or two prodigies are way too good at 17/18 years old they might decide to turn pro at 19 years old in the SHL/KHL or whatever highly competitive man league to continue their progression.

The NHL would benefits as it would give more certainty about the quality and progression of all prospects AND their top prospect could start right away filling pro roles at the NHL or AHL (not that different than the NBA/NFL current model)

As for the CHL the level of competition would improve significantly.

Team would still keep unsigned player rights for a couple years.

I agree with this, however, you would need to create a JNHL with fewer teams. And draw Russia, US, Swedish, Finnish etc. top U21 players as well. And pay them much better than they are in Juniors.

Hockey is missing the equivalent of "college football", I've said this for a long time.
Now a smartass will say "but there's college hockey duh!?" College football is 95% of the talent, college hockey is 20%, I think the JNHL should get all the best 18-19-20 in a league with all the future NHL prospects (95-98% of the talent).
It would not kill any of the current systems either, outside of maybe Junior B (as the junior B guys would play in the CHL when they are older).
The European leagues are already moving players young when they are good, but I suspect it's not even a good path for most 18 years old. There is a huge wastage from round 3 of the draft to round 7.

Hockey is not managing development from 18 to 21 well at all. There is no strategy, individual players are left on their own etc.

The tier 3 NHL cities would be better with JNHL teams (max 10 teams)
Quebec City
Halifax
Saskatoon
Markham
Victoria
Kansas City
Hartford
etc.

In fact, you would have U20 championship hockey and better (1 year older) in this league, I think this is what most of the prospect of this calibre need the most. Even the McDavid/Crosby of this world would benefit from this.

No one will convince me that the system is helping guys like Daigle, Yakupov, Byfield, KK, Chucky, etc. right now.

 

[Houlerion]

Humble question here from a fan who’s hopin’ that the freaking management is willing to put massive investment in scouting this year ;

Are teams allowed to organise private combines this year with the pandemic not willing to gtfo?

I mean, IK it’s looking to be a weak draft, but I can’t stop thinking that the Montreal canadien needs to step up their game and find one or two diamonds in the rough this years...Maybe other scouting staffs from world tiers teams won’t have the budget to evaluate properly kids that haven’t been yet on the radar and haven’t played much since last year...

 

[Hins77]

2022. I have the next sentence for the draft : « shane wright like a diamond »

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

2022. I have the next sentence for the draft : « shane wright like a diamond »

I guess it's a symptom of my age and musical tastes in general that my first thought reading this was '' For the Pink Floyd song right ? Cool ! '' and then immediately after '' wait, no you damn idiot, it's for the Rihanna one. God you're so old''

 

[Sagikev]

I agree with this, however, you would need to create a JNHL with fewer teams. And draw Russia, US, Swedish, Finnish etc. top U21 players as well. And pay them much better than they are in Juniors.

Hockey is missing the equivalent of "college football", I've said this for a long time.
Now a smartass will say "but there's college hockey duh!?" College football is 95% of the talent, college hockey is 20%, I think the JNHL should get all the best 18-19-20 in a league with all the future NHL prospects (95-98% of the talent).
It would not kill any of the current systems either, outside of maybe Junior B (as the junior B guys would play in the CHL when they are older).
The European leagues are already moving players young when they are good, but I suspect it's not even a good path for most 18 years old. There is a huge wastage from round 3 of the draft to round 7.

Hockey is not managing development from 18 to 21 well at all. There is no strategy, individual players are left on their own etc.

The tier 3 NHL cities would be better with JNHL teams (max 10 teams)
Quebec City
Halifax
Saskatoon
Markham
Victoria
Kansas City
Hartford
etc.

In fact, you would have U20 championship hockey and better (1 year older) in this league, I think this is what most of the prospect of this calibre need the most. Even the McDavid/Crosby of this world would benefit from this.

No one will convince me that the system is helping guys like Daigle, Yakupov, Byfield, KK, Chucky, etc. right now.

It definitely isn't helping kids. But I think leaving the draft as it is right now is viable if the NHL creates something like the JNHL. I'd make it a 18-22 year old league instead of capping out at 20, you could leave lesser prospects there (guys like Fonstad, McShane, etc., we could send them there instead of simply losing them, who knows how they'd look at 22 if they had played there instead?). That would also give CHL kids 4 years to sign with their NHL team, just like american kids in college.

I think this year is also the perfect year to make changes with the covid stuff and so many unsure things draft wise... I 100% expect status quo tho lol

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Can't see this draft happening this summer. They'll either wait another year or do it after the 2022 WJC.

I'd probably do it after WJC as this draft class will be completely over shadowed by the 2022 class if they do it together.

 

[CHfan1]

Can't see this draft happening this summer. They'll either wait another year or do it after the 2022 WJC.

I'd probably do it after WJC as this draft class will be completely over shadowed by the 2022 class if they do it together.

They won’t do it but this would be the perfect time to transition to a minimum 19 year old NHL draft. I think that would help parity as the top picks would be more of a sure thing and help with interest in the draft and tv ratings. Players would be a lot closer to NHL ready. Right now draft picks are still years away from contributing. There is only two players from the past draft playing right now.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

They won’t do it but this would be the perfect time to transition to a minimum 19 year old NHL draft. I think that would help parity as the top picks would be more of a sure thing and help with interest in the draft and tv ratings. Players would be a lot closer to NHL ready. Right now draft picks are still years away from contributing. There is only two players from the past draft playing right now.

I agree they won't do it but I imagine there will be discussion on it. This draft isn't that great, but I expect it will likely have more time too. Probably an additional 6 months.

 

[montreal]

Hes definitely way too good to be playing in the USHL right now, and playing with Coronato is definitely helping as he’s pretty much a sure shot first rounder. I’d love to target him

i'd be happy with either one of his linemates in the 1st round.

 

[Eegs]

Is that Shane Doan's kid that plays on the Steel as well?

edit: sorry, nevermind, eliteprospects confirms it is in fact Shane's kid.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

i'd be happy with either one of his linemates in the 1st round.

You’d have to think the Habs will have a real good long hard look at both of them given the fact they are obviously keep tabs on Farrell’s progress.

 

[Wats]

Farrell should be in the NCAA now. USHL (especially on a stacked team) is too easy for him. His NCAA years will be a better indicator of his upside.

Wonder if Habs gotten good look at Matthew Coronato, his teammate who's also ripping it up.

 

[Treb]

Wonder if Habs gotten good look at Matthew Coronato, his teammate who's also ripping it up.

I would assume so as Coronato (and Sasmokevich) was also on the team last year.

 

[1000eeer]

2 players that stand out to me being Bergevin/Timmins types of pick:

1. Zachary L'heureux (Grit/good motor/High compete level/Good mits). Comparable: Vasili Podkolzin
2. Corson Ceulemans (Athletic/High IQ/Smooth Skater/Solid overall). Comparable: Jake Sanderson

 

[CHfan1]

James Duthie: Is the league considering pushing back the draft?

Darren Dreger: It sure sounds like that; there’s ongoing conversations at the NHL level, hockey operations, the National Hockey League is deeply involved, the commissioner’s office will get involved as well. I will say this, there’s no guarantee that the NHL is going to host the draft in July. Now, there’s lots of talk across the National Hockey League about the draft being pushed from 2021 – this summer – to 2022 – the summer – and the NHL hosting back-to-back drafts. NHL general managers are very much in favour of this and you got to think the 2021 draft eligible players would also be in favour of it, given the fact a majority of these kids aren’t playing hockey right now. But, keep in mind this is a CBA-related issue, the NHLPA is not involved yet, but they will have to get involved if there’s change.

Insider Trading: NHL considering pushing back draft - TSN.ca

 

[WeThreeKings]

Insider Trading: NHL considering pushing back draft - TSN.ca

Please no.. this is an awful idea.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

What is with the obsession with making the draft age 19? Why wouldn't legal adults be allowed to play pro sports?

I hear people say it's so there's less uncertainty but that's most of the fun in the draft, otherwise why wouldn't we just be drafting kids at 23 and having them come over like Panarin did?

 

[WeThreeKings]

What is with the obsession with making the draft age 19? Why wouldn't legal adults be allowed to play pro sports?

I hear people say it's so there's less uncertainty but that's most of the fun in the draft, otherwise why wouldn't we just be drafting kids at 23 and having them come over like Panarin did?

They think it will help teams.. but uhh

it still remains a crap shoot

 

[CHfan1]

What is with the obsession with making the draft age 19? Why wouldn't legal adults be allowed to play pro sports?

I hear people say it's so there's less uncertainty but that's most of the fun in the draft, otherwise why wouldn't we just be drafting kids at 23 and having them come over like Panarin did?

Other leagues like the NFL and NBA have rules too where players can’t be drafted right out of high school. Also it’s not like there are a ton of players playing right after they were drafted. This season there is 2.

They think it will help teams.. but uhh

it still remains a crap shoot

View attachment 392957

First, as a Bears fan thanks for posting that draft. It’s always great to see that they traded up to take Trubisky.

Drafts will always be a crapshoot. Teams don’t really know what player they got until they’ve actually played in the league. But giving scouts an extra year to see players develop makes it a bit less of a crapshoot.

I also think it would make the draft more exciting for fans as more players would be closer to making an impact in the league. As it stands now we have to wait years to see most of the players play.

Regardless I don’t see the NHL doing it so it doesn’t matter.

 

[Sagikev]

What is with the obsession with making the draft age 19? Why wouldn't legal adults be allowed to play pro sports?

I hear people say it's so there's less uncertainty but that's most of the fun in the draft, otherwise why wouldn't we just be drafting kids at 23 and having them come over like Panarin did?

I'd be fine either way tbh (as I stated earlier). They absolutely have to change the rules for the CHL though, I feel like some are getting screwed (either by not being able to play in the AHL at 18-19, or by having only 2 years to get an ELC). That's the biggest point in my eyes.