23rd Overall - Conner Bleackley

[cgf]

The post was prompted by an athletic article recently about how Hughes ended up in Vancouver that gave a lot of inside information on teams draft boards. Hayton for me is the most surprising draftee of the last decade when it comes it to the disconnect between fans/internet scouts and teams/actual scouts. He seemed to have come out of nowhere as a top 5 pick but a lot of teams really valued him highly.

With hindsight a lot of people are saying it made sense as teams love players like him but at the time no one was talking about it. If you go back and read the Avs forum from right before the draft there was not one mention of him going top 5 (even top 10 was scoffed at) and was actually a lot of talk of hoping he might slide a little bit to get to 16th. He was one of the more talked about players on this board. He was generally thought of as a 12-16 kind of guy by fans but teams clearly thought a lot more of him, he almost went 3rd to Montreal.

That's not quite true. Henchy was pumping his tires pre-draft; which is why by draft night Hayton seemed like a top 10 lock...even if I didn't buy the hype myself like I did with Kotka; since I'm generally more skeptical of Hayton's archetype standing out at the next level than NHL-people are.

 

[Eltuna]

That's not quite true. Henchy was pumping his tires pre-draft; which is why by draft night Hayton seemed like a top 10 lock...even if I didn't buy the hype myself like I did with Kotka; since I'm generally more skeptical of Hayton's archetype standing out at the next level than NHL-people are.

Top ten was suggested but far, far, from a lock. Go and read the threads there were many hoping he fell to 16.

 

[cgf]

Top ten was suggested but far, far, from a lock. Go and read the threads there were many hoping he fell to 16.

I guess I'm thinking more of our draft-nerd posters ( :-p ) specifically and you're talking more about HFAvs in general.

 

[Eltuna]

I guess I'm thinking more of our draft-nerd posters ( :-p ) specifically and you're talking more about HFAvs in general.

I really think you are remembering it incorrectly and are thinking of Kotka who the board scouts definitely had the jump on before others did. From what I can tell the three kind of “board scouts” here are Henchman, Rocklobster, and Seph.

Seph had Hayton at 16, and the other two liked him at 16 but thought he might go a couple of picks ahead, definitely expected him in that range though.

Here’s the pre-draft thread, Prospect Info: - The 2018 NHL Entry Draft Thread

It seems weird that I know who everyone liked but I like to read draft threads after the fact, I find it really enlightening when you can read about opinions before the gift of hindsight.

 

[cgf]

I really think you are remembering it incorrectly and are thinking of Kotka who the board scouts definitely had the jump on before others did. From what I can tell the three kind of “board scouts” here are Henchman, Rocklobster, and Seph.

Seph had Hayton at 16, and the other two liked him at 16 but thought he might go a couple of picks ahead, definitely expected him in that range though.

Here’s the pre-draft thread, Prospect Info: - The 2018 NHL Entry Draft Thread

It seems weird that I know who everyone liked but I like to read draft threads after the fact, I find it really enlightening when you can read about opinions before the gift of hindsight.

You're probably right, a quick search found Henchy saying Hayton over Farabee and that he didn't think Farabee would make it to 12-14, from which we can extrapolate that Hayton would need to be in his top 10, but a simple search for Hayton in that thread didn't yield me the posts I thought I remembered from Henchy & Ivan(maybe?) in those final weeks...must've been a concurrent discussion in a different thread or a false-memory *shrug*

 

[Eltuna]

You're probably right, a quick search found Henchy saying Hayton over Farabee and that he didn't think Farabee would make it to 12-14, from which we can extrapolate that Hayton would need to be in the 10, but a simple search for Hayton in that thread didn't yield me the posts I thought I remembered from Henchy & Ivan(maybe?) in those final weeks...must've been a concurrent discussion in a different thread or a false-memory *shrug*

That’s the thing though, it wasn’t just our thread where not one poster thought he would go that high (even top 10 I could not find one single post), I don’t think any thread on hfboards had him so highly rated. I really do think it’s the most surprising top 5 pick of the decade and probably since Hickey in 2007 which was similar. Had he actually gone 3rd to Montreal it would have been one of the most surprising draft picks of all time, at least for me who legitimately thought he would be near the Avs pick that year.

 

[henchman21]

Drafts are a bit unpredictable and players can rise and fall even if they are high on lists. I know I pumped Hayton up from time to time during that year. He was the 2nd best center in that draft and that alone is going to push him up, but even with that, he was an underrated player by fans. It'll never really surprise me when a center goes higher than most expect. It is the most difficult position to acquire at the top end, followed closely by defense. Wings and goalies can always be had. Along with this, teams are pretty secretive with where they rank players prior to the draft, and right after they tend to get pretty loose lipped. Arizona is a team that will gladly say where prospects ranked that they selected. They are probably more on the extreme end, but many will let things go after.

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

Drafts are a bit unpredictable and players can rise and fall even if they are high on lists. I know I pumped Hayton up from time to time during that year. He was the 2nd best center in that draft and that alone is going to push him up, but even with that, he was an underrated player by fans. It'll never really surprise me when a center goes higher than most expect. It is the most difficult position to acquire at the top end, followed closely by defense. Wings and goalies can always be had. Along with this, teams are pretty secretive with where they rank players prior to the draft, and right after they tend to get pretty loose lipped. Arizona is a team that will gladly say where prospects ranked that they selected. They are probably more on the extreme end, but many will let things go after.

On the other hand you have teams like the Flames that insist Mark Jankowski is the best player in the draft. And was #1 on their board.

 

[henchman21]

On the other hand you have teams like the Flames that insist Mark Jankowski is the best player in the draft. And was #1 on their board.

John Weisbrod has never found a hyperbole he didn't love.

 

[Pokecheque]

Weisbrod thought (still probably thinks) he was the next Joe Nieuwendyk.

 

[Chiarelli]

His last name is ironic