Pre-Game Talk: 2024 Draft Thread

[Blueston]

But the poster I was referring to didn't look at any of that, or at least didn't mention it if he did. He said "This guy stepped it up for the playoffs." Nothing about pushing through contact or the rest. He took a small sample size and extrapolated that this is the type of player we want. I said "Hey, be leery, small sample size". Then you wrote a paragraph, only to finish with "hey small sample size so its not predictive".

the poster that you were responding to was a bit ambiguous, but i don't believe that i ever suggested that goals in a single playoffs are all that helpfulby themselves as a predictor of future success. i believe HOW a guy plays in playoffs matters in evaluating a prospect. is he able to effectively play the style of play that typically make him effective. that is why i was pushing back on your dismissal of playoff performance.

 

[Blueston]

the more u18 i watch the more i want us to sacrifice next year. strength at top (5-7 picks) of draft looks really strong. hagens looks awesome, martone fantastic, mcqueen and spence impressive too. hensler and schaeffer and atchinum could be #1ds. and that's just guys shining here. there are other top guys not here for variety of reasons. i don't want to blow it all up, but if we take step or 2 back next year that might be for best.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

the poster that you were responding too was a bit ambiguous, but i don't believe that i ever suggested that goals in a single playoffs are all that helpfulby themselves as a predictor of future success. i believe HOW a guy plays in playoffs matters in evaluating a prospect. is he able to effectively play the style of play that typically make him effective. that is why i was pushing back on your dismissal of playoff performance.

Majority. I don’t expect that you’re going to read every post I put down. I’ve made comments all year that Sennecke is a very good player. Burns and Mayich both are very good defensive prospects I saw a lot of. They played a lot with Sennecke on the ice. if they made a mistake when Sennecke was on the ice, then Sennecke made them pay for it. More than any other player this year, he capitalized on these guys assignment errors I noticed. He is a relentless player, which you need in the regular season and the playoffs. What I have noticed is that he’s even stepped up his game in the playoffs further and isn’t afraid of the compete or the heavier game. He seems to thrive on it. Like another poster said, he just shot up in size and looked a bit awkward out there. He also looks like he’s 12 years old when you see his face like Brad Thompson used to. Ha ha. I think you build a team to win the Stanley Cup not the regular season. When you have guys that can turn it up a notch in the playoffs, then that’s what you look for on your team not disappearing acts.

 

[Xerloris]

i've now watched 2 full sweden u18 games (unfortunately i didn't see the best one, against czechs). they're clearly nowhere near as good as last year, either in terms of high-end talent or depth of nhl prosepects.

lsw is nice player but on small side. i know button keeps gushing on him and the obvious comp is guy who wore 4 for sweden last year in this tourney, but lsw doesn't look near as dynamic as asp. track record of swedish d under 6' with relatively small frame is not particularly good. that said, he is good player and at some point risk becomes worth it, but i don't see that point occurring in 1st round for us.

freij i so wanted to like him. he was guy i was most looking forward to seeing in this tournament. i thought he might even be option for our 1st. i no longer think that. freij has good size, great skating, easy handle, natural offensive skills. on raw talent you could see him as top 10 pick (you get visions of sergachev). but his game lacks maturity, his decision making and defensive commitment are questionable at times. how much of it is lacking hockey sense versus how much is he's a teenager and those parts of his game will come as he ages? That will ultimately define him as a player. he isn't as good defensively as you would want if he is going to play 23+ minutes a night, so the juice better be pretty darn sweet to be worth the squeeze. i have him late 1st/early 2nd. he's a boom or bust type, but if he puts it together could be real stud,

eriksson--him i like. captain of swedish u18 team. played against men this year on djurgardens team that lost in finals to lindstein's brynas club for promotion to sel. center with nhl size and skill and bit of snarl. i don't think he has high end offensive upside, but i would be happy with drafting him as early as late 1st.

pettersson- not quite as big as you would like for a center but isn't too far off, good player, has some skill. reminds me a bit of ostlund, but not quite as good. question is whether that means he is still nhl player or fallls short and is just really good over in sweden? thinking someone will bet on his talent in 2nd round.

zetterbug- tiny. like nathan walker could eat soup off his head. att this level he always seems to make an impact and has been arguably top forward his agre group in sweden for years. i expect someone will take him by 3rd.

fernstrom- this is more a case of me looking for him than him being noticeable. he has some size and skill but doesn't seem particularly dynamic. 3-5th rounder to me.

nobody else really stood out to me (amongst draft eligibles; eklund- little brother of shark- looks to be a player)..overall, i'd say freij looks to be most talented but eriksson is who i would most want blues to pick,

Are any of these guys Blues owned or are we talking draft eligible?

 

[Xerloris]

the more u18 i watch the more i want us to sacrifice next year. strength at top (5-7 picks) of draft looks really strong. hagens looks awesome, martone fantastic, mcqueen and spence impressive too. hensler and schaeffer and atchinum could be #1ds. and that's just guys shining here. there are other top guys not here for variety of reasons. i don't want to blow it all up, but if we take step or 2 back next year that might be for best.

I think that means Binnington has plans to make it to the conference finals and therefore giving us pick #28

 

[STL fan in MN]

Are any of these guys Blues owned or are we talking draft eligible?

None of them have been drafted yet. U18 = Under 18 (although most have actually turned 18 by now).

 

[Beauterham]

Anyone watched the Norway game? If so, how was Mathias Dehli? Seems he had quite a decent U18's for a player being on a bad team. Late round pick candidate?

 

[LetsGoBooze]

the more u18 i watch the more i want us to sacrifice next year. strength at top (5-7 picks) of draft looks really strong. hagens looks awesome, martone fantastic, mcqueen and spence impressive too. hensler and schaeffer and atchinum could be #1ds. and that's just guys shining here. there are other top guys not here for variety of reasons. i don't want to blow it all up, but if we take step or 2 back next year that might be for best.

I preached this all this past season. If we wanted a "retool" to be successful and didnt want to go into a full on 6-7 year rebuild, or get stuck in the murky middle where we perpetually attempt to add vets every offseason to fill gaping holes in our roster just to finish 18th overall every season, or barely make the playoffs and get eliminated 1st round. Then the answer was obvious, we really need(ed) to be picking top ten in all three of the 2023-2025 drafts. We had a massive draft in 2023, coupling that with two more top 10 picks, a few already developing prospects and Thomas/Kyrou moving forward would have made a great next core that you can then start adding external pieces in a year or two and build out from there. This past season was absolutely worst case scenario.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Anyone watched the Norway game? If so, how was Mathias Dehli? Seems he had quite a decent U18's for a player being on a bad team. Late round pick candidate?

Which Norway game? I have the US-Norway game from Saturday on my DVR but haven’t watched it yet. If you’re talking about the relegation game this morning between Norway and Kazakhstan, that one was unfortunately not televised. Based on the box score, it looks like it was a good game. Back and forth game when Kazakhstan scored 2 in the 3rd to tie it 5-5. It went to an ELEVEN round shootout where Norway finally won it. Norway survives, Kazakhstan is relegated to Division 1A, to be replaced by Germany next year.

As for Dehli, I’ve got nothing on him unfortunately.

 

[Drubilly]

Which Norway game? I have the US-Norway game from Saturday on my DVR but haven’t watched it yet. If you’re talking about the relegation game this morning between Norway and Kazakhstan, that one was unfortunately not televised. Based on the box score, it looks like it was a good game. Back and forth game when Kazakhstan scored 2 in the 3rd to tie it 5-5. It went to an ELEVEN round shootout where Norway finally won it. Norway survives, Kazakhstan is relegated to Division 1A, to be replaced by Germany next year.

As for Dehli, I’ve got nothing on him unfortunately.

But how does Norway’s potassium stack up against Kazakhstan’s??

 

[ezcreepin]

I preached this all this past season. If we wanted a "retool" to be successful and didnt want to go into a full on 6-7 year rebuild, or get stuck in the murky middle where we perpetually attempt to add vets every offseason to fill gaping holes in our roster just to finish 18th overall every season, or barely make the playoffs and get eliminated 1st round. Then the answer was obvious, we really need(ed) to be picking top ten in all three of the 2023-2025 drafts. We had a massive draft in 2023, coupling that with two more top 10 picks, a few already developing prospects and Thomas/Kyrou moving forward would have made a great next core that you can then start adding external pieces in a year or two and build out from there. This past season was absolutely worst case scenario.

Worst case? I don't think it's necessarily worst case. Blues have said externally that they are trying to compete for playoffs, so the expectation as fans should be that they probably aren't going to be awful. From a retool standpoint? I guess it depends how you view a retool, but obviously a top 10 pick would be preferable in building a team for the future; also have to be cognizant that being competitive is good for the players in the NHL right now. However, whoever the Blues do pick this draft could be a trade chip in the future or they could be a core player on this team. We have a ton of forward depth and my guess is if we pick another forward, then we will absolutely see the Blues trade one of their younger forwards for a potential top pairing defenseman.

 

[EastVillageBlues]

But how does Norway’s potassium stack up against Kazakhstan’s??

Are you referring to this incident ?

 

[Blueston]

I preached this all this past season. If we wanted a "retool" to be successful and didnt want to go into a full on 6-7 year rebuild, or get stuck in the murky middle where we perpetually attempt to add vets every offseason to fill gaping holes in our roster just to finish 18th overall every season, or barely make the playoffs and get eliminated 1st round. Then the answer was obvious, we really need(ed) to be picking top ten in all three of the 2023-2025 drafts. We had a massive draft in 2023, coupling that with two more top 10 picks, a few already developing prospects and Thomas/Kyrou moving forward would have made a great next core that you can then start adding external pieces in a year or two and build out from there. This past season was absolutely worst case scenario.

To be clear, I am not advocating tearing it to studs. I don't think that is advisable. I am just saying that if we have to have a step back year next year could be good one because we don't need to have 1oa to get impact player. so we can deal buchy and faulk, let some younger kids show what they can do (kessell, dean, bolduc, etc..) as we give them increasingly bigger roles. we have been hesitant to do much that will hinder our playoff chances and i think next year is the one to do that.

As to the larger point, not all top 10 picks are the same. last year we got dvo at 10 and passed on guys like willander, benson, and ASP. i don't see anyone of that quality being there at 10 this year. Celebrini is great but once you get outside of top few this year's draft isn't that strong at top. all of the d in this class have flaws that you would hope not to see at top. nonetheless, I like the depth of d prospects, and overall the ranks of guys who could be good nhl players is solid, but from 2 until about 20, this draft still feels significantly weaker in impact than last year. we should get some nice pieces, but overall this is a year where 7 and 17 are of much less difference than many years and I think that is because the strength this year isn't what you would expect in that tier.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Are you referring to this incident ?

Wow. Didn’t realize that happened! That lady and the rest of the Kazakh contingent must’ve been so pissed off and embarrassed.

 

[Thallis]

Worst case? I don't think it's necessarily worst case. Blues have said externally that they are trying to compete for playoffs, so the expectation as fans should be that they probably aren't going to be awful. From a retool standpoint? I guess it depends how you view a retool, but obviously a top 10 pick would be preferable in building a team for the future; also have to be cognizant that being competitive is good for the players in the NHL right now. However, whoever the Blues do pick this draft could be a trade chip in the future or they could be a core player on this team. We have a ton of forward depth and my guess is if we pick another forward, then we will absolutely see the Blues trade one of their younger forwards for a potential top pairing defenseman.

I don't see our future as the post - Tavares Islanders to be a particularly rosy outlook

 

[Drubilly]

Are you referring to this incident ?

Yaaaassss

 

[SirPaste]

Speaking of Norway, have any of you guys had a chance to watch Stian Solberg? Everything I read about him leads me to believe he would be a great get in the 2nd/3rd round, but haven't seen him play myself

 

[STL fan in MN]

Speaking of Norway, have any of you guys had a chance to watch Stian Solberg? Everything I read about him leads me to believe he would be a great get in the 2nd/3rd round, but haven't seen him play myself

He’s 3 days too old for this year’s U18s (Dec 29 birthday) but I looked for him at the U20s back in December. He seemed fine. Got walked a few times but it’s hard to evaluate guys on teams that just get smoked every game by the top teams. Beyond that, there’s some highlight videos of him out there but all in all, I’d say I don’t have a great read of him yet.

 

[Blueston]

He’s 3 days too old for this year’s U18s (Dec 29 birthday) but I looked for him at the U20s back in December. He seemed fine. Got walked a few times but it’s hard to evaluate guys on teams that just get smoked every game by the top teams. Beyond that, there’s some highlight videos of him out there but all in all, I’d say I don’t have a great read of him yet.

that tracks with my viewings. you watch him and think he has full package of tools and then somebody turnstiles him or he makes bad decision with puck and it goes other way. he will be playing in sweden next year i believe, which should aid his development as there is only so much he can grow his game in norway. he is bit of boom/bust but has intriguing potential.

 

[Celtic Note]

To be clear, I am not advocating tearing it to studs. I don't think that is advisable. I am just saying that if we have to have a step back year next year could be good one because we don't need to have 1oa to get impact player. so we can deal buchy and faulk, let some younger kids show what they can do (kessell, dean, bolduc, etc..) as we give them increasingly bigger roles. we have been hesitant to do much that will hinder our playoff chances and i think next year is the one to do that.

As to the larger point, not all top 10 picks are the same. last year we got dvo at 10 and passed on guys like willander, benson, and ASP. i don't see anyone of that quality being there at 10 this year. Celebrini is great but once you get outside of top few this year's draft isn't that strong at top. all of the d in this class have flaws that you would hope not to see at top. nonetheless, I like the depth of d prospects, and overall the ranks of guys who could be good nhl players is solid, but from 2 until about 20, this draft still feels significantly weaker in impact than last year. we should get some nice pieces, but overall this is a year where 7 and 17 are of much less difference than many years and I think that is because the strength this year isn't what you would expect in that tier.

That should have started last year IMO, but not sure it’s worth rehashing

 

[Drubilly]

Are you referring to this incident ?

I was referring to the song not that incident.