2022 NHL Entry Draft Part 3 (#9, #16, #28)

[Der Jaeger]

Ive ended up in this strange world, where whenever people tell me we should draft XX because he is a center, I just cant believe it. Going into the 2019 draft , Dylan Cozens was the "prototypical" 2 way center, big fast, exactly what you are looking for as a top 6 center. Now people are saying he is a wing. So we should draft Cooley, or Kasper etc, because they are centers. yeah, they are centers until they are wingers

No time to look now, but a few months back I did a 20 year review on top 10 picks in the draft. 1/3 were centers. The reason is that it's a hard position to fill, especially for the top 2 lines.

My philosophy is always take BPA unless there's a tie in the tier, then take the center if available. Also, if you're in the top 10, center should always be a consideration because they are harder to find and usually go high (data supports this over the past 20 years).

So, when I look at the draft and think about what Buffalo can do, here's what I think:
- There are 2 top centers: Wright and Cooley
- Many of the centers in the next tiers are not pure centers and could shift to wing, or are projected to be wingers (Gauthier, Nazar, Savoie, Lambert).
- The one pure center likely to be available at 9 is Geekie, who has a lot of questions about his game.
- The better pure center types aren't top line skill centers (Kasper) or require a lot of development (Kulich, Ostlund).

I'd rather take my chances developing Cooley, who has a lot of the same aspects to his game which made Brayden Point successful.

 

[Fjordy]

I've been wondering that if Yurov is gone at 16 and we're not going Dman, if Trikozov becomes a serious consideration at that spot. In terms of guys with elite high end talent, he may the BPA or at least BFA at that spot.

The good thing is this team showed us last year they're not afraid of drafting Russian players, so we know they'll give those 2 guys (and other guys in the 2nd & 3rd round range) an honest look and strong consideration.

I think Trikozov would be a good choice at 16, like some other players, I like a lot of players in this range. I'm interested to see Bob's updated list, because in the old list, Gleb was ranked 64th, which is certainly too low.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

No time to look now, but a few months back I did a 20 year review on top 10 picks in the draft. 1/3 were centers. The reason is that it's a hard position to fill, especially for the top 2 lines.

My philosophy is always take BPA unless there's a tie in the tier, then take the center if available. Also, if you're in the top 10, center should always be a consideration because they are harder to find and usually go high (data supports this over the past 20 years).

So, when I look at the draft and think about what Buffalo can do, here's what I think:
- There are 2 top centers: Wright and Cooley
- Many of the centers in the next tiers are not pure centers and could shift to wing, or are projected to be wingers (Gauthier, Nazar, Savoie, Lambert).
- The one pure center likely to be available at 9 is Geekie, who has a lot of questions about his game.
- The better pure center types aren't top line skill centers (Kasper) or require a lot of development (Kulich, Ostlund).

I'd rather take my chances developing Cooley, who has a lot of the same aspects to his game which made Brayden Point successful.

I fully agree. We traded a quarter for two dimes and a nickel earlier this season with Eichel -- now it's time to do the reverse at the draft and give up several lesser picks for a sure-fire top 6 center.

 

[Rowley Birkin]

No time to look now, but a few months back I did a 20 year review on top 10 picks in the draft. 1/3 were centers. The reason is that it's a hard position to fill, especially for the top 2 lines.

My philosophy is always take BPA unless there's a tie in the tier, then take the center if available. Also, if you're in the top 10, center should always be a consideration because they are harder to find and usually go high (data supports this over the past 20 years).

So, when I look at the draft and think about what Buffalo can do, here's what I think:
- There are 2 top centers: Wright and Cooley
- Many of the centers in the next tiers are not pure centers and could shift to wing, or are projected to be wingers (Gauthier, Nazar, Savoie, Lambert).
- The one pure center likely to be available at 9 is Geekie, who has a lot of questions about his game.
- The better pure center types aren't top line skill centers (Kasper) or require a lot of development (Kulich, Ostlund).

I'd rather take my chances developing Cooley, who has a lot of the same aspects to his game which made Brayden Point successful.

Or how about you just drop the obsession for drafting 'top centres' and look at the bigger picture?

I fully agree. We traded a quarter for two dimes and a nickel earlier this season with Eichel -- now it's time to do the reverse at the draft and give up several lesser picks for a sure-fire top 6 center.

The team is better off with Tuch, Krebs & whoever is drafted at 16 than with Eichel.

And i can almost certainly guarantee that Cooley or whoever else taken at 2 is not as good a player as Eichel is.

 

[jmelm]

Here are all the RHD in Pronman's list.

The number of RHD he has in the 2nd round range has me even less interested in the talk about using 41OV to move up in the first round.

Assuming that Nemec & Jiricek are off the board by 9, going F-F-RHD-RHD would not upset me in the least. Especially if the Sabres can get a potential top 6 C with one of those F picks.

I wouldn't put too much stock into Pronman's list. Some of his rankings are so out of whack I don't get it. Odelius in the 70's? The guy has as good a chance of being taken in the 1st round as the top half of the second round. Bischel over Korchinsky, Mintyukov and Pickering. Rinzel at 50, Trikozov at 51, Perevalov at 58, Goyette at 61 and Warren at 81, among others.

That said, if we want one of the top RD, we're either going to have to take them at 16 (when some elite forwards may still be available), or trade up into the very early 20's by packaging 28 & 41.

And if we do take forwards at both 9 and 16 (as opposed F at 9, and D at 16), then not only would I look to trade 28 & 41 to get one of the top rated Dmen still on the board; I would also look to package the 3rd & 4th to move up into the mid 2nd round to take one of the RD rated in that range (like a Kulonummi or Salamonsson or whoever).

Depending how our list shakes out, I may be less concerned with wanting to trade up twice (28+41, and 3rd + 4th) if we do end up getting 2 Dmem in the first round versus only 1 Dman. Just my opinion.

 

[jmelm]

I'm rarely a fan of comparisons overall. Describing the type of player is okay, but trying there is so much made of players "being the next _____" over the years that both sets unrealistic expectations or doesn't do justice to their actual skills.

Agreed, but what also exacerbates this problem is that he's restricting himself to current NHL players rather than previous NHL players (not from the distant past, but even just from the last 10-15 years). Would give a much broader and more accurate list of players to choose from if he's going to elect to make comparisons. This is what Craig Button and some other scouts tend to do if asked for comps -- think about the player from the recent past whose game they best approximate, rather than only guys playing in the NHL today.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Or how about you just drop the obsession for drafting 'top centres' and look at the bigger picture?

To make sure it's clear, it's not just my "obsession." When teams take centers in the top 10 of a draft 1/3 of the top, over 20 years of drafts, it's not just me.

On any given night, an NHL team will dress 20 players. 4 play center. That's 20% of a roster. When you have a top 10 draft pick, and over 30% of the time, a team takes a center, there's something more there than just an "obsession."

A center who can play on your top 2 lines is the hardest position to find in hockey. That's why teams take them in the top 10 of drafts more often than required, so they fill the position.

Look at the final four teams. 8 top 6 centers. Six of them drafted in the top 10 of their draft years. It's not coincidence.

 

[Dingo44]

All our centers are wingers and all our tackles are guards. Buffalo sports fans, rinse and repeat.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

All our centers are wingers and all our tackles are guards. Buffalo sports fans, rinse and repeat.

And all our goalies are Mike Smith

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

And all our goalies are Mike Smith

Who are these goalies you speak of? I count a grand total of zero on the team right now.

 

[RhinoFan]

Just pointing out Cozens mostly played with PLD at the World's - which was why a few people were suggesting trying to pry PLD out of Winnipeg or draft someone similar.

Good call, you're right. Not sure how I mixed the two.

Think the point still stands, Cozens just needs better linemates than anything. He could probably succeed in either position, but you're seeing the best of him with guys like PLD so I can see why he's a target. We kind of saw the same thing last year, he played 40 minutes on the top line, had 4 points, 7 goals scored as a line, none against.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Who are these goalies you speak of? I count a grand total of zero on the team right now.

They still are until July 1st

 

[RhinoFan]

Off topic for this thread, but I've always thought Cozens was a winger, even during his draft year. His traits lend themselves to being a Kreider style winger. When he's had the chance to play wing, I think what we see are his best traits used optimally.

I believe at the Hlinka tourney he played right and ripped it up, he's certainly not out of place there. He still needs to fill into his body and I think once he does he's a horse down the middle is all.

And I think it's valid discussion as it will help determine areas of need for picks. If he's out of the middle, as Jaeger said, center becomes a hole on the roster. With Quinn and Peterka coming, if anything, we're overloaded on wing and LHD now.

 

[Snippit]

Quinn?

They have a lot of very similar guys.

I thought he was more of a two-way guy in comparison to someone like Peterka. Either way both I expect to be top 6 guys pretty soon.

 

[Zach716]

Didn’t NJ say they were looking at trading #2 to improve the team with a good young player? If that’s the case, they’d be looking for guys like Cozens/Quinn- not a collection of other draft picks.

This whole discussion is pretty moot because it’s not even addressing what the team is asking for.

 

[Ace]

Didn’t NJ say they were looking at trading #2 to improve the team with a good young player? If that’s the case, they’d be looking for guys like Cozens/Quinn- not a collection of other draft picks.

This whole discussion is pretty moot because it’s not even addressing what the team is asking for.

Where were you two days ago? We could have saved people so much time

 

[Jim Bob]

Didn’t NJ say they were looking at trading #2 to improve the team with a good young player? If that’s the case, they’d be looking for guys like Cozens/Quinn- not a collection of other draft picks.

This whole discussion is pretty moot because it’s not even addressing what the team is asking for.

The theory was that they would move 2OV for a bunch of picks and then move those some or all of those picks for immediate help.

 

[Rowley Birkin]

To make sure it's clear, it's not just my "obsession." When teams take centers in the top 10 of a draft 1/3 of the top, over 20 years of drafts, it's not just me.

On any given night, an NHL team will dress 20 players. 4 play center. That's 20% of a roster. When you have a top 10 draft pick, and over 30% of the time, a team takes a center, there's something more there than just an "obsession."

A center who can play on your top 2 lines is the hardest position to find in hockey. That's why teams take them in the top 10 of drafts more often than required, so they fill the position.

Look at the final four teams. 8 top 6 centers. Six of them drafted in the top 10 of their draft years. It's not coincidence.

You keep regurgitating a variation of this same post. I've read it 100x before.

Moving forward - this team's 'top 9' centres will be some combination of :

-Thompson (1st round pick, just had a breakout season where he emerged as a legit '1C')
-Cozens (Top 10 pick)
-Krebs (1st round pick - would have been top 10 if it wasn't for injury)
-Mittlestadt (Top 10 pick)

It's possible these are our four centres but i like a defensive specialist in there somewhere.

All of these guys are 24 or under.

Why not just come out and say you want to use first round picks on centres every single year otherwise you hate it? Talent and or need be damned. Because that's what you are constantly arguing for.

The fact that you so passionately wanted Beniers over Power shows just how blinkered you are when it comes to this.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Looking around for potential suitors for gibson…. I think the Sabres are in a good spot right now…. Have some great pieces on the back end, and a ton of young wingers to fill out the forward group going forward, you could argue the biggest weaknesses for the Sabres is in goal.

I imagine they want to keep all the young forwards, and would prefer to keep 9th overall.
How does this look from a Sabres perspective?

Buffalo:
Gibson

Anaheim:
16th overall
Portillo
2023 2nd(last of your 3, turns to highest 2nd if you guys make playoff)

 

[Zman5778]

Looking around for potential suitors for gibson…. I think the Sabres are in a good spot right now…. Have some great pieces on the back end, and a ton of young wingers to fill out the forward group going forward, you could argue the biggest weaknesses for the Sabres is in goal.

I imagine they want to keep all the young forwards, and would prefer to keep 9th overall.
How does this look from a Sabres perspective?

Buffalo:
Gibson

Anaheim:
16th overall
Portillo
2023 2nd(last of your 3, turns to highest 2nd if you guys make playoff)

I can't picture Gibson getting a 1st, a legit prospect AND a 2nd/3rd in return. Certainly not from us.

I'd be willing to do 28 plus Portillo, but that'd be about the highest I'd go.

 

[Faceboner]

Looking around for potential suitors for gibson…. I think the Sabres are in a good spot right now…. Have some great pieces on the back end, and a ton of young wingers to fill out the forward group going forward, you could argue the biggest weaknesses for the Sabres is in goal.

I imagine they want to keep all the young forwards, and would prefer to keep 9th overall.
How does this look from a Sabres perspective?

Buffalo:
Gibson

Anaheim:
16th overall
Portillo
2023 2nd(last of your 3, turns to highest 2nd if you guys make playoff)

Instead of the pick how about Johnson and a 2nd

 

[Rowley Birkin]

I can't picture Gibson getting a 1st, a legit prospect AND a 2nd/3rd in return. Certainly not from us.

I'd be willing to do 28 plus Portillo, but that'd be about the highest I'd go.

I'm not even sure if Gibson is worth that, TBH.

You're banking on him coming back from a couple of relatively rough seasons.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Looking around for potential suitors for gibson…. I think the Sabres are in a good spot right now…. Have some great pieces on the back end, and a ton of young wingers to fill out the forward group going forward, you could argue the biggest weaknesses for the Sabres is in goal.

I imagine they want to keep all the young forwards, and would prefer to keep 9th overall.
How does this look from a Sabres perspective?

Buffalo:
Gibson

Anaheim:
16th overall
Portillo
2023 2nd(last of your 3, turns to highest 2nd if you guys make playoff)

The GM said they won't be looking at goalies with term more than 2 or 3 years so they don't block UPL, Levi, and Portillo in the medium term.

Seems like a fair offer, but Buffalo isn't going to be the team to trade for him.

 

[Fjordy]

Looking around for potential suitors for gibson…. I think the Sabres are in a good spot right now…. Have some great pieces on the back end, and a ton of young wingers to fill out the forward group going forward, you could argue the biggest weaknesses for the Sabres is in goal.

I imagine they want to keep all the young forwards, and would prefer to keep 9th overall.
How does this look from a Sabres perspective?

Buffalo:
Gibson

Anaheim:
16th overall
Portillo
2023 2nd(last of your 3, turns to highest 2nd if you guys make playoff)

No thx

 

[TheMistyStranger]

Looking around for potential suitors for gibson…. I think the Sabres are in a good spot right now…. Have some great pieces on the back end, and a ton of young wingers to fill out the forward group going forward, you could argue the biggest weaknesses for the Sabres is in goal.

I imagine they want to keep all the young forwards, and would prefer to keep 9th overall.
How does this look from a Sabres perspective?

Buffalo:
Gibson

Anaheim:
16th overall
Portillo
2023 2nd(last of your 3, turns to highest 2nd if you guys make playoff)

Way too much.