Prospect Info: 2022 NHL Draft

[Masch78]

So you guys hope for a year of no progression at best?

 

[JabbaJabba]

I have no high expectations for the upcoming season. Even if Zegras progresses the lineup isn't that good. Also, he's going to have some growing pains. And you just know that one of or both Manson and Lindholm are going to be injured and miss time, which weakens the defence. The offence should be better though. A lot relies on if they can improve the PP. I mean it can't get any worse, can it? Also, Eakins is still the head coach, so what can we expect from him, especially if the story is true that he'll be replaced after next season. How motivated will he be?

The thing that will prevent the Ducks from being on the bottom is the fact that the division is the weakest in the league and there are couple of teams who are also a mess right now. They'll be playing against other rebuilding teams and I think they'll be able to go on winning streaks and their morale will be higher. This season was tough, going to Vegas to Colorado for a handful of games and getting spanked by both probably wasn't encouraging. Next season they can go to Vancouver, Calgary and Seattle on their roadtrip, which sounds much more pleasant.

Overall, the Ducks should finish higher than this season. I am not conviced that it will be that much higher though. Progression from young players and playing against weak teams more often will help. However, I don't see that much improvement in the lineup or with coaching, unless Murray makes some deals and if the special teams get better.

 

[Fighter]

So you guys hope for a year of no progression at best?

Exactly. I expect to pick anywhere between 3# and 8#.

 

[Opak]

So you guys hope for a year of no progression at best?

I would like to think that being enthusiastic about the next draft class is not necessarily the same as advocating the team to tank.

For me personally, I'm only hoping that we establish some semblance of a plan as to how this team is going to bounce back into contention. There have to be changes in the personnel, that's for sure, as last season was bad overall.

 

[anezthes]

after we trade our pick to Buffalo for Eichel?

ANA 1st 2022 -> BUF for Eichel
Rakell -> Team X for 1st 2022
Manson -> Team Y for 1st 2022

Team X and Y fail to make the playoffs, their picks end up being #1 and #2 in the draft.
ANA drafts Wright and Lambert.
Rakell and Manson miss ANA so much they re-sign dirt cheap.

(Murray trades Zegras, McTavish, Wright and Lambert because they're scoring too much.)

 

[Gliff]

I never want to see the Ducks lose..... but this is the year to lose if they are going to.

A top 3 pick this year would be franchise changing.

 

[HunterDuck]

We will be a lottery team once more. Top 5 pick guaranteed. Who are we beating? The only thing that I will really hate is seeing LA continue to improve.

 

[bsu]

Seattle, Buffalo will 100% be worse than us, then throw in the other usual suspects. I think we will pick between #4 - #7.

 

[Terry Yake]

seattle, buffalo, and arizona will for sure be worse

it'll be very ducks to end up with the #4 pick

 

[HunterDuck]

1. Buffalo
2. Seattle
3. The Rangers again somehow
4. The Houston Aeros (formerly Arizona Coyotes)

…

13. Ducks lol

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Because we were involved in a lot of one-goal tassels last year, I think we can trend upwards. Again, a lot depends on the health of our blue line and getting top-6 help. With Zegras and Drysdale going into their second season in the NHL, that's a significant boost of talent to our NHL club! Also, I think our bottom-6 might improve to help us out more as I see the following players there: Getz, Lundy, Volkov, and Carrick. Maybe Steel on wing in the bottom-6.

A bunch of little things going right is what I'm hoping for this season, but it would help out far more if we got two more top-6 forwards in our lineup.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

If Seattle ends up with Shane Wright they will be better down the middle than the Ducks.

 

[TheGoodShepard1]

So you guys hope for a year of no progression at best?

I do not hope for it, but unless Bob does something fairly significant in the next couple weeks, I don't see how we're not in the same situation as last year where we're hoping for big progression out of one of Terry/Steel/Jones (I think Drysdale/Zegras will take the next step in their development, which will help incrementally, but the surrounding infrastructure is still a whole lot of meh).

 

[Masch78]

Lindholm, Fowler, Mason, Drysdale is a solid top 4

Gibson is still a top 10 goalie in the league

If all prospects progress, we should be better. Silfverberg should be better.

If this team does not end up being better than last yeat, we're in big trouble.

 

[nbducksfan19]

I want a top 3 pick, but short of major injuries, I can’t see us being worse than Buffalo, Arizona, Seattle or Columbus. If we are, that is likely a real bad sign for our future as Zegras, Drysdale, terry, steel, jones ect may not be processing at the rate we need them to. Just gotta hope we get better quickly and compete or we get lucky in lottery.

 

[ADHB]

Yeah I mean, I've said this before but I'll repeat it since it's relevant to this thread... if we are a bottom 2 or 3 team again this season, unless it's injury related, then it doesn't matter if we get another high pick, because that means all our young players are garbage and/or didn't progress at all. If that's the case, one top prospect isn't going to solve anything.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

I want a top 3 pick, but short of major injuries, I can’t see us being worse than Buffalo, Arizona, Seattle or Columbus. If we are, that is likely a real bad sign for our future as Zegras, Drysdale, terry, steel, jones ect may not be processing at the rate we need them to. Just gotta hope we get better quickly and compete or we get lucky in lottery.

The 30 year olds in Manson, Henrique, Silf and Fowler(30 in december) may show decline.
If we were to look at progress of the young players conservatively it would seem Jones, Steel and Lundestrom are the least likely ones to improve that much.
Lundestrom will probably improve defensively with more experience but not much on the offensive side.
Don't feel confident about Steel or Jones becoming more than 3rd liners.

I see Zegras, Comtois, Terry and Drysdale as the most likely ones to improve.
Terry did improve last season, just needs to be more consistent + stronger and i think he'll head in the right direction.
I think Zegras, Comtois, Terry and Drysdale could have great seasons and the Ducks still finish with a top5 pick because Jones/Steel/Lundestrom still don't produce.
And the veterans only get more injury prone as they age and i imagine one of Lindholm, Manson or Fowler miss a ton of games which sinks the team down more.
Gibson in tank mode doesn't help either.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Yeah I mean, I've said this before but I'll repeat it since it's relevant to this thread... if we are a bottom 2 or 3 team again this season, unless it's injury related, then it doesn't matter if we get another high pick, because that means all our young players are garbage and/or didn't progress at all. If that's the case, one top prospect isn't going to solve anything.

That's a very demoralizing thought. ::: sighs :::

Right now, I'm glad to have seen Comtois take a big step last year along with Lundy taking a solid step. Zegras' second recall at center has made me feel so much better. Drysdale running on fumes is okay because he started off hot, but his diminutive 18/19 year old body couldn't keep up. Jones took a baby step forward. Terry stayed the same. Steel went SNAFU at the end.

The are a few prospects on the NHL fringe in C Groulx and a plethora of defensemen in Larsson, Guhle, Curran, and Andersson. All the other prospects seem like years away still from the NHL.

 

[bsu]

Terry did not stay the same, cmon you can't be serious he was one of our only line drivers (if you even want to call our forwards that) Him and very few others would even carry the puck in everyone would just dump or chip and chase.

 

[405Entrance]

If lindholm, gibson and fowler get hurt again we’ll obviously be bottom 5 again. It doesn’t matter how good the kids are. We need the vets to step up

 

[405Entrance]

Also it’s obviously Murray and the front office don’t expect much of this team. If he thought we could do well he would’ve sacked Eakins and wouldn’t be trying to get rid of rakell and Rico. We’ll see what happens though

 

[Rasp]

2022 draft has great top end talent but 2023 is a lot better.

We should have a top 10 pick this year so hopefully we can continue to build our forward lines.

 

[Masch78]

Also it’s obviously Murray and the front office don’t expect much of this team. If he thought we could do well he would’ve sacked Eakins and wouldn’t be trying to get rid of rakell and Rico. We’ll see what happens though

Who said they're trying to get rid of Raks?

 

[JabbaJabba]

Lindholm, Fowler, Mason, Drysdale is a solid top 4

Gibson is still a top 10 goalie in the league

If all prospects progress, we should be better. Silfverberg should be better.

If this team does not end up being better than last yeat, we're in big trouble.

I wouldn't be too worried if the team isn't much better than last year. Yeah, that top 4 is nice, though you just know that there will be injuries and then someone like Larsson will get 20 minutes 'cos they have no one better. Gibson has had his ups and downs in last couple of years and the team could again leave him alone facing 40+ shots per game.

It's unlikely that everyone progresses at the same time, hopefully the most important ones will though. Also, I don't know why Silfverberg should be better. He's likely going to miss the start of the season, which means it will take time to get him going and he just had a major surgery. Hip injuries are no joke for hockey players.

Rebuilds take time and the Ducks have not been rebuilding for long.

 

[GermanRocket7]

Let us not forget that we have the worst coach in the NHL by far, as even the numbers show. We'll be right up there with the worst teams easily.