Prospect Info: Aiden Celebrini: 171st Overall 2023 Draft (Brooks AJHL) - RD

[ziploc]

What a weird draft.

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

2 little side notes.

1. David St. Louis (quoted in the article in OP) is one of my very favourite public scouts. His breakdown videos are some of the best you'll find on prospects.

2. I saw Daniel Wagner (pass it to bulis) wrote 'thus continues the Canucks tradition of acquiring the lesser brother' and I can't imagine being such an unrepentant dipshit on this kid's draft day. Like this is probably one of the happiest days of this kid's life and that will probably pop up on his feed. All so Wagner can feel clever pushing out a tired and largely irrelevant post.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

What a weird draft.

I assume because first two picks were great third was mediocre, 4th round was terrible, and last pick was actually good value?

 

[ziploc]

I assume because first two picks were great third was mediocre, 4th round was terrible, and last pick was actually good value?

Yup

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Yup

Aha I feel you. Kinda thought canucks would have picked Pinelli and Mania at least. Would have made it a good draft overall if they did.

 

[Vector]

Pronman's brief comments.

Celebrini, the older brother of projected No. 1 2024 overall pick Macklin Celebrini, is a mobile defenseman who competes hard and can make a lot of stops. He shows flashes of offensive skill in the AJHL, but I don’t think he’s a natural puck-mover, and whether he has enough offense for the pro game is a real question.

 

[MarkMM]

I assume because first two picks were great third was mediocre, 4th round was terrible, and last pick was actually good value?

Thinking back to that video with Harvey, wasn't he saying something about rounds 1-3 done by him and senior management and then 4-7 with the regional scouts or something? Once I heard that I wanted to see if there was a notable change in tenor.

 

[thefeebster]

His team put out a few highlights. I’m quite intrigued by this pick.

 

[dwarf]

Yes
He is going to convince his brother when he is chosen 1st overall in 2024 to only play in Vancouver

Good

All good, we will be drafting 1st overall next year anyway.

 

[Cancuks]

All good, we will be drafting 1st overall next year anyway.

It'll never happen with Petterson, Hughes, and Demko. And no one will be out tanking the Sharks next season.

 

[F A N]

Thinking back to that video with Harvey, wasn't he saying something about rounds 1-3 done by him and senior management and then 4-7 with the regional scouts or something? Once I heard that I wanted to see if there was a notable change in tenor.

That sounds like a terrible draft process to me. I get that somebody in the end needs to make the call but that’s a lot of authority placed on Harvey. But in a room where there are at least 2 AGMs including Granato, I assume the ultimate authority lies with Granato.

I would think the real fight is getting the first 20-30 or so names right which likely covers the 2nd or even 3rd round too (given teams have their own list)

But ya in later rounds you are going to rely more on regional scouts’ inputs. Even saying this, it’s not like the Canucks have a big staff. We also have 2 AGMs who are suppose to function as cross over scouts too.

 

[DonnyNucker]

I hope media asks him about where he is playing next season. Everything I have checked shows him incoming 2024-2025 to BU.

Recruiting Boston University

Recruiting Boston University

www.collegehockeynews.com

He is playing at BU this season. They had his coach on the radio

2 little side notes.

1. David St. Louis (quoted in the article in OP) is one of my very favourite public scouts. His breakdown videos are some of the best you'll find on prospects.

2. I saw Daniel Wagner (pass it to bulis) wrote 'thus continues the Canucks tradition of acquiring the lesser brother' and I can't imagine being such an unrepentant dipshit on this kid's draft day. Like this is probably one of the happiest days of this kid's life and that will probably pop up on his feed. All so Wagner can feel clever pushing out a tired and largely irrelevant post.

Wagner is the worst media member in town.

 

[MS]

His team put out a few highlights. I’m quite intrigued by this pick.

Yeah he shows up in this year’s Centennial Cup highlights a fair bit as well.

You can see he skates well and engages physically and it looks like he has the sort of frame that could fill out quite a bit bigger than his listed size.

 

[Breakers]

Looks like he is for sure at BU next season
conflicting reports on where he actually is


he's gonna struggle with ice time
Covid rules allow McCarthy to play a 5th year as their captain
Our guy wallinder incoming
Buffalo's 3rd rounder incoming freshman also on the right side
Webber is their senior assistant
Hutson their #1 on the left side
Gallagher is still unsigned

 

[biturbo19]

I think this pick is probably a slam dunk, as the older brother is almost always the better NHL player. I see no reason to question that reasoning in this case.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Smart pick. Angling to get his brother to refuse to report anywhere except Vancouver.

understanding that brian burke didn’t have the foresight to acquire rob niedermayer as canucks gm and poor nonis was left to extending naslund in his old emo years

that said i fully expect both celebrini brothers to catastrophically tear their ACLs in their first game in the league

 

[AHLdepth]

The Canucks have always seemed to have this weird scouting thing where they seem to expect they "have to" get an NHLer out of their 4th 5th and 6th round guys, and always seem to sike themselves out by picking super niche guys that they feel might translate. Then it hits the 7th round and they finally allow the possibility that players picked here may not make it, so they take these cool swings, and so often it seems that it works out better for them? I like Celebrini more than the previous few picks. Past years we snagged McDonagh who has turned out fine, Costmar, who was at least a swing for the fences excitement for a tournament and a half, Kudryatsev, etc.

I think Vancouver needs an overhaul in how they think about the draft

 

[82Ninety42011]

It'll never happen with Petterson, Hughes, and Demko. And no one will be out tanking the Sharks next season.

Tanking is great and all but its still a lottery. Never know weirder things have happened.

 

[Izzy Goodenough]

The draft analysts (Robinson etc.) are saying this is another wasted pick.

Why even have an amateur scouting department?

Where is the Potato when you need him?

Just more abysmal scouting.

 

[HairyKneel]

The draft analysts (Robinson etc.) are saying this is another wasted pick.

Why even have an amateur scouting department?

Where is the Potato when you need him?

Just more abysmal scouting.

Happy Canada Day

 

[TomWillander1RD]

The draft analysts (Robinson etc.) are saying this is another wasted pick.

Why even have an amateur scouting department?

Where is the Potato when you need him?

Just more abysmal scouting.

I don't blindly trust what analysts say. He seems to possess some skills warranting 6th round selection.

 

[chi1999]

Looks like he is for sure at BU next season
conflicting reports on where he actually is


he's gonna struggle with ice time
Covid rules allow McCarthy to play a 5th year as their captain
Our guy wallinder incoming
Buffalo's 3rd rounder incoming freshman also on the right side
Webber is their senior assistant
Hutson their #1 on the left side
Gallagher is still unsigned

There’ll be 7 drafted defensemen at BU next season. 2 LHD, 5 RHD. It’ll be exciting to se show good the d-corps is, but Celebrini may find difficulty getting consistent minutes.

 

[clay]

There’ll be 7 drafted defensemen at BU next season. 2 LHD, 5 RHD. It’ll be exciting to se show good the d-corps is, but Celebrini may find difficulty getting consistent minutes.

Ya I doubt he gets much action at all unfortunately. Slightly concerned about Willander's ice time as well with 2 returning drafted RHD and another highly regarded 2023 RHD pick in Gavin McCarthy.

 

[VanJack]

Normally by the time the draft hits the 7th round, NHL teams are down to a wing and a prayer. But having said that, in last few drafts the Canucks have plucked some potential gems in the last round of the draft.

Aiden McDonough, Lucas Forsell and Kirill Kudryavtsev all look like they could be decent AHL players at the very least, and their upside might be higher than that.

So with the elder Celebrini, who knows? I know next to nothing about AJHL....is it on par with the BCJHL?

 

[chi1999]

Ya I doubt he gets much action at all unfortunately. Slightly concerned about Willander's ice time as well with 2 returning drafted RHD and another highly regarded 2023 RHD pick in Gavin McCarthy.

I think Willander will play a big role for their team. Even Pandolfo, the head coach, said they have big plans for him. Will he be playing 30 mins a night? Probably not. But, it's not always bad to have seniors there for your freshman year. Still, will be tough to evaluate progression sometimes, though I think BU has a tremendous staff where they will develop.