GDT: 2023 Draft- do we draft in the first round?

[MinJaBen]

We could move them pretty much anywhere in the Carolinas, keep the name, change the logo to reflect the NASCAR and moonshine running roots of the region...and slowly watch hockey people lose their shit. Again.

We have a jerk reputation to live up to.

Ooooo! And with the Nascar theme, we could put adds on the jerseys as part of the theme from the start. It wouldn't be caving to the bean counters, it would be a built in feature.

Get Dundon this idea now!!

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

FYI - we are one of just 4 teams to get an "A+" draft grade from EliteProspects (others: Blackhawks, Flyers, Sharks)

EP Rinkside grades for the 2023 NHL Draft

Mitch Brown and David St-Louis grade all 32 NHL teams on their work at the 2023 NHL Draft.

eprinkside.com

 

[Svechhammer]

Because I feel like we're neglecting other parts of the world chasing that one gem out of Russia every year because they look to have possibly hit with Nikishin. I have no issue with drafting out of Russia, I just feel like we're focusing way too much time/effort there right now (and not getting much value for our time there yet).

See, I don't think we're obsessing with Russian players so much as we're seeing that the rest of the league is apparently too chickenshit to draft Russian players right now because of the war, and its causing a lot of talented prospects to tumble in the draft. We all know how much our front office likes to pounce on good values, and the league is creating this by being really stupid with Russians right now. Just look at how Michkov fell to 7th in the draft.

I wonder if The Borg might be taking advantage of what they see as a market inefficiency with regard to how the rest of the league calculates the risk / reward of drafting Russian players?

Yep, exactly. The rest of the league having cold feet with Russians is exactly why we're going to this well over and over. When you get guys at your draft spot with valuations significantly higher than where you are picking them, our front office will pounce each and every time. We're just taking advantage of everyone else making mistakes.

 

[HisIceness]

I guess the idea is to find prospects that can one day slot into the top-6 or top pairing, and grab the 3rd/4th line and bottom pairing guys in free agency.

It's not a bad strategy if you can successfully execute it.

 

[WreckingCrew]

See, I don't think we're obsessing with Russian players so much as we're seeing that the rest of the league is apparently too chickenshit to draft Russian players right now because of the war, and its causing a lot of talented prospects to tumble in the draft. We all know how much our front office likes to pounce on good values, and the league is creating this by being really stupid with Russians right now. Just look at how Michkov fell to 7th in the draft.

I could 100% agree with this last year, because most of the guys we took were fallers BECAUSE they were Russian. This year, I could see 1-2 maybe, but we kinda picked "where" they were supposed to go, not really fallers. After that though it seemed like we were taking Russians just to take Russians, because we were passing on other clear fallers for guys who likely would have been available if we had 4 7th round picks. Maybe we have done tons of scouting over there and are finding hidden gems nobody else saw, but this year it feels almost like we said "it worked last year, let's go all-in on that strategy this year!"

 

[chaz4hockey]

Draft ratings up: NHL Draft scores record-setting viewership

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

I think that successful drafting as a late-drafting contender means that you can lay claim to a collection of players that extend the window by a greater amount than your immediate competition. I think that all of our drafts under the Yorke scouting regime have done that in one way or another. 2019 gave us Kochetkov. 2020 gave us Jarvis and (in all likelihood) will give us Nikishin. 2021 might give us Morrow. That's a pretty strong track record even at this early stage, and there are a ton of undetermined outcome hanging around in Europe/NCAA/AHL that might further add to this group.