Prospect Info: 2022 NHL Draft Hype

[TheDaysOf 04]

First awarded in 2015, the E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence is presented annually by the League to a candidate who best exemplifies commitment to excellence through strength of character, competitiveness, and athleticism.

“Lane Hutson is a worthy recipient of the 2022 E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence after exhibiting all the qualities recognized by this honor,” said Dan Marr, Director of NHL Central Scouting. “Lane, whose season culminated by being named Best Defender at the 2022 Under-18 World Championship, plays a dynamic game in which he consistently excels in utilizing his speed, smarts and skills. As a 5’8” defenseman, any description of Lane has always referenced his size. One of his more appealing traits is his ability to use that size to an advantage and dispel any perceived limitations. His passion for the game has earned him the respect of teammates and opponents alike – a special player who will find his way into an NHL line-up and be a positive influence for others along the way.”

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

To create the consensus poll, we took each of the 13 rankings and assigned points to each of the top 32 players listed. The top player in each draft ranking received 32 points, the second 31, and so on until one point was given to the No. 32-ranked player.

The rankings used include those produced by Chris Peters (The Daily Faceoff), Scott Wheeler (The Athletic), Corey Pronman (The Athletic), Sam Cosentino (SportsNet), Craig Button (TSN) and Ian Kennedy (Yahoo! Sports) as well as HockeyProspect.com, McKeens Hockey, Draft Prospects Hockey, Smaht Scouting, Elite Prospects, FC Hockeyand Dobber Prospects.

25. Owen Pickering​

26. Noah Ostlund ​

27. Jagger Firkus​

28. Gleb Trikozov ​

29. Calle Odelius​

30. Lian Bichsel ​

31. Lane Hutson​

32. Seamus Casey​

Zhilkin said he understands there needs to be growth in his game, and it's one reason he watches Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov so closely.

"He can do it all so well," Zhilkin said. "He's got such a great shot and his vision. I was actually lucky enough to be at Game 5 in the Stanley Cup Final [in 2021] when they won. It's an unbelievable experience to watch those guys live and it's great."

 

[BowDownToVasilevskiy]

Assuming we use our 1st round pick this year, what is our biggest draft need? I would probably say we need a winger.

 

[ccman68]

Assuming we use our 1st round pick this year, what is our biggest draft need? I would probably say we need a winger.

a skilled forward. we have enough hard working bottom 6 prospects

 

[DistantThunderRep]

a skilled forward. we have enough hard working bottom 6 prospects

Yeah we need a boom or bust pick. High end talent, but needs work to play at NHL speeds.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Yeah we need a boom or bust pick. High end talent, but needs work to play at NHL speeds.

I completely agree with you. This would be my approach too. We haven't had a 1st rounder for a few seasons and we won't have one in 2023 or 2024. Might as well swing for the fences to try to maximize as much value out of this pick as we can. Targeting a "safer" prospect who becomes more of a complimentary piece or role player doesn't really do anything for our prospect pool. In the previous drafts Murray has taken Namestnikov, Howden, N. Foote, Masin, Stephens, and Erne in the 25-35 range. All solid prospects, almost all of them eventual nhl players, but mostly guys who slid more towards their floor than their ceiling.

 

[Hoek]

We suck at first round picks. Trade down and take two home run swings instead.

 

[JTBF81]

We suck at first round picks. Trade down and take two home run swings instead.

Or use the 1st as part of a deal to acquire a youngish cost controlled winger perhaps.

 

[Felonious Python]

 

[TheSchmidt]

Or use the 1st as part of a deal to acquire a youngish cost controlled winger perhaps.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Bob McKenzie's Final Rankings

Many of the players ranked from Nos. 33 to around 50 on TSN’s list got enough consideration as first-round picks from scouts that they could move into the Top 32.

We have an early 4th round pick from the Hagel trade (pick #102). Looking at Bob's list, these 2 names stuck out as players who could be available then:

Lucas Edmonds - He played his rookie OHL season this year as an over age player. That's because he spent the previous 5 seasons playing in Sweden, some of which playing professionally. He has dual Canadian/Swedish citizenship. But in his only OHL season he put up big numbers (34 goals, 113 points) playing on Shane Wright's team in Kingston.



Viktor Neuchev - 18 year old, 6'2" winger. Plays for Avto over in Russia. Big year with 40 goals (2nd most) and 67 points (8th most) in the MHL this season. His goals per game in that league were comparable to Trikozov and better than Yurov and Perevalov.

 

[Point21]

I really hope a guy like Miroshnichenko drops to us at 31, he would be a huge boost to the prospect pool

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Bob McKenzie's Final Rankings






We have an early 4th round pick from the Hagel trade (pick #102). Looking at Bob's list, these 2 names stuck out as players who could be available then:

Lucas Edmonds - He played his rookie OHL season this year as an over age player. That's because he spent the previous 5 seasons playing in Sweden, some of which playing professionally. He has dual Canadian/Swedish citizenship. But in his only OHL season he put up big numbers (34 goals, 113 points) playing on Shane Wright's team in Kingston.



Viktor Neuchev - 18 year old, 6'2" winger. Plays for Avto over in Russia. Big year with 40 goals (2nd most) and 67 points (8th most) in the MHL this season. His goals per game in that league were comparable to Trikozov and better than Yurov and Perevalov.

Both look like good choices to me. Unless something drops in our lap, I wouldn’t mind packaging off the first, or trading down to pick both up.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

In our range I think we have to go for a boom or bust type of player.

Denton Mateychuk and Lane Hutson fit exactly that as a defense. Unbelievable puck movers. They don't fit with the direction of what we've been going for defenders, though.

As forwards there's a chance that Yurov falls because... Russia. He would be my #1 target.

I like also Trikozov

View attachment 562938

How much of those metrics are part of playing with the best player in the world?

 

[Gulf Coast Pucks]

Trikozov at the end of first round would be highway robbery. Great skill, good skater, transition monster
and can create offense.

 

[Ducati Boy]

Jagger Firkus, Moose Jaw. Creative. On the rise. Point’s old team. Best. Name. Ever.

Jagger Firkus at eliteprospects.com

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Lambert’s CHL rights are traded on the eve before the import draft. He’s currently not under contract with anyone either.

“The opportunity to add a player of Brad’s caliber was too enticing to pass up,” said Thunderbirds general manager Bil La Forge. “We are excited to see where Brad gets drafted next week and wish him well in his quest to play in the NHL. We feel we are a very good option for him to continue his development. This transaction has the potential to greatly improve what is already a good team.”

“The timing of our CHL Import Draft being held before the NHL Draft made it very difficult to predict since we needed to declare a decision by today if we wanted to use the 37th import draft pick and the NHL Draft is still a week away,” Blades general manager Colin Priestner said.

“This was definitely a unique situation all around given he’s a high profile player with family connections to Saskatoon, but we’ve had his rights for over two full years and we felt the odds of him ever playing junior hockey in Canada were quite low and this way we get three good assets guaranteed up front plus two more really high picks if he ever plays in Seattle,” Priestner added.

Lambert is currently training with Gary Roberts in Toronto

 

[HanTykje]

Trikozov at the end of first round would be highway robbery. Great skill, good skater, transition monster
and can create offense.

Compare Trikozov vs Miroshinchenko?

Trikozov is can take Kucherovs spot in the future?
Same type of player like Kucherov?

 

[HanTykje]

Jagger Firkus, Moose Jaw. Creative. On the rise. Point’s old team. Best. Name. Ever.

Jagger Firkus at eliteprospects.com

A name you find in Monty Phyton.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

31. Tampa Bay Lightning - Filip Mesar, C, HK Poprad (Svk)

I think you would have to be ecstatic if you are Tampa and Mesar is still there in the first where you are picking. His offensive upside is significant, and he can play with the kind of pace Tampa likes their forward prospects to have. This is only the Lightning’s second first round pick in the last five years, so they need to take a big swing here to help replenish a system that is starting to really look sparse. Ohgren would look good here too. So would one of the talented Russian wingers like Trikozov or Perevalov.

 

[Felonious Python]

The Brick Tournament program for the 2022 draft class.

https://cloud.rampinteractive.com/brickhockeytourney/files/Tournament%20Program/2014-Tournament.pdf

Seamus Casey
"Seamus’ favorite NHL team is the Tampa Bay Lightning and his favorite player is Steven Stamkos."

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Jiri Kulich selected by Cape Breton (QMJHL). He interviewed with all 32 NHL teams at the combine.

Marco Kasper selected by Ottawa (OHL). He interviewed with 30 NHL teams at the combine.

Ivan Miroshnichenko selected by Blainville-Boisbriand (QMJHL). I’m guessing his selection was allowed because he was taken in the import draft last year by Acadie-Bathurst. He originally signed a tender to play for Muskegon (USHL) in 2020 but had a visa issue that prevented that. The thought though was he’d do USHL and then CHL and follow the same path as Svechnikov and Afanasyev.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

google translated:

Miroshnichenko, a Russian national, was eligible for the European draft despite the CHL's ban on selecting Russian and Belarusian players since he was selected last year by the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. By doing so, he retained his eligibility for the 2022 draft.

“We are taking a bet with this selection, without having any assurance that Ivan will join our team next season. He is an elite player that we will try to attract. – Pierre Cloutier, general manager of the Armada

He has 2 years left on his contract with Avangard Omsk. I believe his agents are Mark Gandler and Todd Diamond of International Sports Advisors Co. They rep Mikhail Sergachev too. Their office is in Fort Lauderdale.

Who knows what's going on behind the scenes. Obviously getting him set up somehow to play in the CHL would improve his draft stock in every NHL GM's eyes.



There is some speculation right now to if he even ever returned to Russia after finishing his treatment in Germany.