The Athletic Corey Pronman - Buffalo Has the Top Farm System and It Isn’t Really Close

[La Cosa Nostra]

Regardless of if Dahlin and Mitts arent really prospects the fact Botts has hit a grand slam on both of his firsts so far I'll venture to say that with a guaranteed 4 first round draft prospects added over the next 2 drafts and that Buffalo will still maintain an elite prospect pool.

Can we just be happy that we literally have the best F and D prospect in the entire game?! Mitts being voted 2nd best over Svech, Heiskanen etc means a lot. Having the 2 best prospects in the game to add to our already proven franchise center and young proven top pairing dman means we have one of the best young corps around. Honestly outside of McDavid, Draisaitl and Pulju, there isnt a single trio in the league I'd swap Dahlin, Eichel and Mitts for. And honestly I dont even know if I pull the trigger on that..

If Dahlin becomes the Norris level dman and if Eichel continues to become that 90 point center and Mitts develops into a 70 point 1B center then that could possibly be the best trio 22 and younger.

 

[Ace]

He used the same criteria for every team. Wanting us to be punished because our guys are too good on a list comparing quality of those players is the dumbest thing I’ve ever read.

 

[Goathead]

And? Sorry I have more faith in my team than you. I am basing it on Botts solid drafting ability.

What are you basing we will draft busts on? Bind pessimism?

Goes both ways.

While I like the picks Botts has made, for the most part, it is still way to early to be preaching about his “solid drafting ability”. The majority of them won’t pan out that’s just the way it is but if we get a couple solid roster players past his first round then we can talk about his drafting ability. As it stands it is yet to be seen.

 

[cramdizzl]

Olofsson and Ullmark behind Davidsson and Laaksonen is really puzzling. Untapped potential being given far too much weight compared to what Olo and Ullmark have done at the pro level.

 

[sabremike]

Regardless of if Dahlin and Mitts arent really prospects the fact Botts has hit a grand slam on both of his firsts so far I'll venture to say that with a guaranteed 4 first round draft prospects added over the next 2 drafts and that Buffalo will still maintain an elite prospect pool.

Casey was a tremendous pick that Botts deserves all the credit in the world for. Picking Dahlin is something no one outside of an insane asylum wouldn't have done.

 

[Sabreality]

Olofsson and Ullmark behind Davidsson and Laaksonen is really puzzling. Untapped potential being given far too much weight compared to what Olo and Ullmark have done at the pro level.

Thats not how Pronman works though, he is looking at NHL ceiling, not what they've already accomplished. He's always done it this way, I like the guy and usually agree with many of his takes, nobody is 100% though, and he sticks to his guns and doesn't always follow the crowd.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

Olofsson and Ullmark behind Davidsson and Laaksonen is really puzzling. Untapped potential being given far too much weight compared to what Olo and Ullmark have done at the pro level.

No different than the way the prospect polls work here. Some people value likelihood more than ceiling, some people do a combination of both, and some people rank on pure potential.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

 

[sincerity0]

What is it with people posting that Dahlin isn't a prospect? The kid has not played an NHL game and is 18 That makes him a prospect.

I agree. He is a prospect by any definition someone could come up with.

My point was that Dahlin is going to far out-weigh any other prospect in the NHL (and he was based on how Pronman rated the prospect pools). He could have excluded every other prospect aside from Dahlin and Buffalo would still be top-5. It’s like saying he Oilers had the best prospect pool in 2015 because they had McDavid. Having a whale at the top of the rankings is always going to distort the numbers because they’re worth so much.

Botterill has done a nice job the last two drafts outside of a Dahlin pick. Many here, including me, disliked the Mittelstadt pick at the time. Both of them quickly shoved it in our faces with him being one of the top prospects in hockey at the moment. He Who Shall Not Be Named has a few nice prospects that will be on the team over the next few years too (Guhle and Asplund).

 

[Sabretooth]

Casey was a tremendous pick that Botts deserves all the credit in the world for. Picking Dahlin is something no one outside of an insane asylum wouldn't have done.

Live shot of Botts hitting a grand slam with the Dahlin pick:

 

[Dingo44]

Can't listen if the Radio app doesn't work again.

 

[Icicle]

Pronman asked if Dahlin wasn't on the team where would they rank? "Probably 10 or 11"

 

[Mattilaus]

Live shot of Botts hitting a grand slam with the Dahlin pick:

Hey man T-ball is no joke. Ever tried hitting a home run when the ball has no momentum?

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

And? Sorry I have more faith in my team than you. I am basing it on Botts solid drafting ability.

What are you basing we will draft busts on? Bind pessimism?

Goes both ways.

I base it on historical data. I'm not assuming they bust at all -- as I said in my previous post, we could end up being in the top 5 or bottom 5 of the rankings next year, depending on how the pick pan out. I'm acknowledging the range of the most common outcomes.

Even Botts the mystical draft guru will get picks wrong in the first round, as every GM does.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Casey was a tremendous pick that Botts deserves all the credit in the world for. Picking Dahlin is something no one outside of an insane asylum wouldn't have done.

Casey fell to us. he was listed as going before us in almost every prospect ranking, and every mock draft. It was a great pick but a very easy one that he doesn't deserve as much credit for as you're giving him. Also, he still was using Murray's scouts, if memory serves.

 

[Zip15]

Casey fell to us. he was listed as going before us in almost every prospect ranking, and every mock draft. It was a great pick but a very easy one that he doesn't deserve as much credit for as you're giving him. Also, he still was using Murray's scouts, if memory serves.

Mitts was at #6 in Bob's final rankings, and we got him at #8. But Vilardi was #5 and he was still on the board when we picked, so it's not as if the pick was obvious if we were going with a forward. The buck stops with the GM, so he certainly gets credit for the pick - I doubt he was overly deferential with the first top-10 pick of his first job as GM (he probably was moreso later in the draft, e.g., Laaksonen).

I'm happy with the pick. That was a good draft for forwards. It'll be fun to watch the hypothetical redraft threads and the arguments for and against guys like Pettersson, Vilardi, Glass, Necas, Thomas, et al.

 

[1972]

Pronman comes across as so mundane to me, he says a lot without really saying much. I don’t mind him at all and respect his opinion, a guy like Asplund/Davidson/Guhle are never going to be highly regarded by him. He really favours puck skill and creativity highly.

 

[Dingo44]

I think people around here think too much about how we got guys or who deserves credit for which player, instead of appreciating the fact these guys are all in our system and multiple outsiders taking independent looks at every team have rated our futures #1 in the league.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Casey was a tremendous pick that Botts deserves all the credit in the world for. Picking Dahlin is something no one outside of an insane asylum wouldn't have done.

Absolutely Dahlin is a no brainer. So was Jack. Still doesnt mean that Botterill didnt hit 2 grand slams on 2 picks. Botts took the best prospect in the world outside of Dahlin at the 8th pick in a draft everyone said was super weak. And not many wanted Mitts. I remember being happy Vilardi was there and was a little upset they took Mitts. And then a year later Botts makes everyone look foolish as he took possibly the best player out of the entire draft at #8.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

8-31: Corey Pronman from The Athletic with The Instigators (16:08)

 

[sabremike]

I think people around here think too much about how we got guys or who deserves credit for which player, instead of appreciating the fact these guys are all in our system and multiple outsiders taking independent looks at every team have rated our futures #1 in the league.

The only problem is that the ranking is entirely due to a single player. The guy doing the rankings flat out said that without Dahlin we would be 10th or 11th. Not bad, but not exactly something to write home about.

 

[sabrebuild]

He used the same criteria for every team. Wanting us to be punished because our guys are too good on a list comparing quality of those players is the dumbest thing I’ve ever read.

If that’s how you understand that discussion, I’m a little worried for you.

 

[enthusiast]

Pronman asked if Dahlin wasn't on the team where would they rank? "Probably 10 or 11"

Sure, but if not for Dahlin we'd have Svechnikov, Kotkaniemi, etc. WGR question at its finest

 

[Aladyyn]

If you remove every team's prospect we're probably still top 5.

 

[Icicle]

I think people around here think too much about how we got guys or who deserves credit for which player, instead of appreciating the fact these guys are all in our system and multiple outsiders taking independent looks at every team have rated our futures #1 in the league.

The whole gist of the interview was that the only reason we were #1 was because of Dahlin and Mittelstadt. Considering they were both picked by the same guy, and the one wasn't even the consensus top available pick when taken, it absolutely does have bearing.