3rd overall pick

[Henkka]

I don't think we have to worry about Dach skating, if another guys of the future center core are Larkin and Veleno.

We'll get pretty nice matchups with that kind of combo. 2 speedsters + a big guy who can throw laser-beam passes.

 

[Barry Amsterdam]

who would be good player comparisons for all of the listed prospects?

 

[jkutswings]

who would be good player comparisons for all of the listed prospects?

I'm not aware of a single location that includes comparables on all the big names, but check out the prospects forum, and there's a thread on each of the high end kids, including some comparables for style of play:

NHL Draft - Prospects

For example, I've heard Getzlaf and Thornton for Kirby Dach, and Scheifele and Kopitar for Dylan Cozens.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

To be fair Dach stride is more Mantha bad than actually terribly troubling. So I disagree there. I am with the scouts from Bobby Mac's mid-season top 10 in terms of I have trouble seeing him not in the middle. While I wish he had an extra gear if he wasn't in a draft with a generational passer I think he would be getting a lot more run in my opinion.

My very first comment was that I don't have any big issues with his skating. I am not calling him an awful skater. For me it is all about explosiveness with the big guys. One-step quickness is invaluable. I am also not necessarily predicting he will be a wing at the pro level. When I go looking for guys to play center, I just put a big, big premium on skating. Call it a personal preference.

The good thing with Dach is that even if he doesn't play center, he is still a very skilled playmaker with really good vision. Those traits will help our top 6 even if they come from a winger.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

My very first comment was that I don't have any big issues with his skating. I am not calling him an awful skater. For me it is all about explosiveness with the big guys. One-step quickness is invaluable. I am also not necessarily predicting he will be a wing at the pro level. When I go looking for guys to play center, I just put a big, big premium on skating. Call it a personal preference.

The good thing with Dach is that even if he doesn't play center, he is still a very skilled playmaker with really good vision. Those traits will help our top 6 even if they come from a winger.

Explosiveness also takes longer to come along with most big guys. It is one of the reasons big players usually develop a little slower. I think he has a pretty good base, it will be interesting to see some of his drill numbers at the combine in this regard though.

He would likely play the center role in the offensive zone regardless. An interesting thing down the rode is Rasmussen's flexibility in terms of he could still provide cover here and is a good draw guy at lower levels. He is going to need to make skating gains, but we have some options and flexibility once you enter the zone in my opinion.

 

[Frk It]

17 year old Mantha would dust Dach in a straight line.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

17 year old Mantha would dust Dach in a straight line.

Not sure I really agree with that. It would be somewhat close with a slight edge to Mantha, I guess our better giant comparable is Rasmussen who skates well for a big man but still needs to work on his explosion a bit though his combine numbers suggest he has a lot to work with. So did Mantha and he has in my opinion. The explosion element is something Mantha is still improving on himself though. Point is with big men it takes a little longer most often.

I do think the combine will be somewhat big for Dach. It will be interesting with guys starting to sit this out how that plays out. I would feel better if his athletic metrics were better. That was something that really harmed Zadina for me in all honesty, he was a player where I questioned some of that stuff and then the numbers weren't good either. So Dach flunking the combine would worry me. But man is his passing ability insane, he drops onto our roster with perhaps the best vision from day one in my opinion.

 

[Frk It]

Not sure I really agree with that. It would be somewhat close with a slight edge to Mantha, I guess our better giant comparable is Rasmussen who skates well for a big man but still needs to work on his explosion a bit though his combine numbers suggest he has a lot to work with. So did Mantha and he has in my opinion. The explosion element is something Mantha is still improving on himself though. Point is with big men it takes a little longer most often.

I do think the combine will be somewhat big for Dach. It will be interesting with guys starting to sit this out how that plays out. I would feel better if his athletic metrics were better. That was something that really harmed Zadina for me in all honesty, he was a player where I questioned some of that stuff and then the numbers weren't good either. So Dach flunking the combine would worry me. But man is his passing ability insane, he drops onto our roster with perhaps the best vision from day one in my opinion.

I’m not concerned with Dach, I just think Mantha has always been an above average skater for his size. He’s always been able to get going when he wants but you don’t realize it because he also is content with coasting a lot. So I don’t see that parallel here, but that’s me.

Dach has the skill and vision to where I’ll applaud that pick all day. Dach and Cozens are the guys who fit best what we are building.

As much as I like Turcotte and Krebs, they are kind of redundant to what we have in Larkin/Veleno in my opinon. Then Podkolzin is kind of redundant to Zadina for me.

I like all of these guys, but if we want guys that bring a different dimension I think you have to give a boost to Cozens and Dach. I think Cozens with his RH shot would feast on our power play. He was lethal for Canada at the Hlinka as the trigger man. Dach is your elite setup guy and I think he will improve his skating because it’s already gotten better since last year.

 

[Henkka]

Future powerplay:

----------------- Rasmussen(L) (net-front)

Dach(R) ----------------------------->>>> Zadina(L)
---------------------Larkin(L) (middle-man, Faceoffs + Zone entry)


------------ Cholowski(L) or Hronek(R) (on point)



Dach feeding Zadina would be nice to watch....

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Most of these players minus the US guys played in the Hlinka, and those games can be re-watched here for anyone interested: Schedule and Scores

Also you can re-watch some USHL games where they face the USA U18 team, to see Hughes and company (via hockeytv.com)

I couldn't get the Hlinka videos to work (it just redirects you to tsn.ca's video page), but someone has uploaded most of the Hlinka games to YouTube.

For someone who wants to get into Cozensmania, this is a good game to watch. I don't know if it was his best game in the tourney, but I can tell you that Craig Button can't stop telling you how good Cozens is. Dach and Byram are also in the game playing fairly significant minutes, so it's a good watch.

 

[Copenhagen91]

Curious.

Would people be pissed as all hell if Holland passed up on either of the centers and picked Byram and #3?

I personally like Kakko more than Hughes (been doing a bit of research lately). I like Kakko’s game and I’ve read that he could play center even though he’s listed as a wing. Apparently he’s the most NHL ready too and has had a really great showing as of late. I do think Hughes has tremendous more IQ though. And his skating is wonderful. Kakko just seems to be more... steady.

To me it’s:

1) Kakko/Hughes
3) Cozens
4) Dach
5) Byram

6) Turcotte

Podkolzin scares me because of the whole doesn’t want to leave until he wants/ready thing.

Nope not at all. I think Byram has very big upside. In my opinion he will be a top pairing guy

 

[sureWhyNot]

Byram every day. We went the “best player available” route last year. At some point we need to start building out our backend.

All the offense in the world can’t make up for a awful defense. And I hate to tell you guys, we don’t have a bonafide #1 on our roster or in our system.

Mindset going into the draft is “best dman available”.

 

[HisNoodliness]

Okay, here's my honest view of this draft based on limited viewings. Hughes is #1 and Kakko is #2 and they're in their own tier. 3-6 is another tier consisting of Cozens, Dach, Byram and Podkozlin. You can argue others belong here, but the point is that I have Byram in my third tier and thus chose him over the centers. Few others agree that he is within that tier of players otherwise he'd be getting more votes.

So my question for you guys based on the premise above, what does Byram have to do to end up in the 3rd OA tier for you guys? Is it a lack of offensize creativity and he needs flashier goals/assists? Does he just need more production in general? Do you want to see better defensive play? I can't figure out why this fanbase that's usually ravenously searching for D prospects isn't higher on Byram. To me he seems to do it all.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Danny Dekeyser says hi. Drew Miller is waving awkwardly from behind him.

I don't know how Dekeyser looks his teammates in the eyes when they all commit to intense weight training and he has a 16 year old boys frame.

 

[ricky0034]

Okay, here's my honest view of this draft based on limited viewings. Hughes is #1 and Kakko is #2 and they're in their own tier. 3-6 is another tier consisting of Cozens, Dach, Byram and Podkozlin. You can argue others belong here, but the point is that I have Byram in my third tier and thus chose him over the centers. Few others agree that he is within that tier of players otherwise he'd be getting more votes.

So my question for you guys based on the premise above, what does Byram have to do to end up in the 3rd OA tier for you guys? Is it a lack of offensize creativity and he needs flashier goals/assists? Does he just need more production in general? Do you want to see better defensive play? I can't figure out why this fanbase that's usually ravenously searching for D prospects isn't higher on Byram. To me he seems to do it all.

for me it's more about yeah he's probably a similar level of prospect to those other guys but 1: a Center like Dach or Cozens is gonna be much easier to project and is a far safer bet to actually become a very good NHL player than a Defenseman will be and 2: honestly I don't really trust the Wings to develop Defensemen anyways

last year? something of a different story especially if Zadina hadn't fallen,but I wouldn't pass on a Center prospect of that quality even for someone like Byram