Craig Buttons Final 2018 Draft Ranking

[AmericanDream]

Nylander-> Had him rated as the top prospect at one point on one of his prospect rankings.....going back to a season and a half ago or so he went on Leafs lunch- Leafs radio show in Toronto (this was during the Babcock-tough love, 4th line dangling endpoint)...he quite obnoxiously guaranteed he'd be traded within a year. Subsequently, he retracted this after Nylander won the WC MVP. But it was the arrogance that makes you lose respect for a analyst that speaks with that level of hyperbole...especially when your expectation (whether this is fair or not versus the expectation of simply being a analyst made for TV is subjective)- is as a relatively objective analyst.

Liljegren-> It's just the juxtaposition of Liljegren in his pre-draft ranking->afterwards (where he took him off the top 50 prospect ranking less than a half year after). This is coming off a horrible draft year with mono vs a year where he had a pretty strong draft year as an AHL'er. I also thought (from a Leafs lens)- that his commentating on the WJC was biased in this regard as well, but acknowledge it's a bit subjective as a Leafs fan.

Anymore specific questions feel free to PM me, don't want to derail the thread with qualms that are mostly off-topic and Leaf-specific, that's probably the last thing people want to hear on the prospect board.

interesting, obviously not a Leafs guy so that stuff is news to me, but pretty crappy of Button to be like that...no real reason to either..I always knew his love for Yotes players like 93Leafs said as well...but that is a bit surprising to say the least. I will still enjoy his stuff, but might look at things a bit different now.

 

[Mathew Barzal]

Bunch of people who read internet opinions and watch highlight packages screaming blasphemy.

How rich.

 

[Thebesthockey]

Jake wise at 42 ???
um no.....

 

[uncleben]

Jake wise at 42 ???
um no.....

Too early, you think?

 

[Thebesthockey]

Too early, you think?

hes gone by 30

 

[Dr Awesome]

Some surprising picks but that's the NHL draft. Over last few years I've grown to really enjoy Buttons picks. Looking forward to draft day to see all unfold. Does anyone track final draft results and then compare to pro lists posted on hf leading up to the event?

 

[93LEAFS]

interesting, obviously not a Leafs guy so that stuff is news to me, but pretty crappy of Button to be like that...no real reason to either..I always knew his love for Yotes players like 93Leafs said as well...but that is a bit surprising to say the least. I will still enjoy his stuff, but might look at things a bit different now.

Media doing favors for their friends will always be rampant in sports reporting. Especially for people from certain circles.

I'm fine with his draft list and opinions, but I do have issues with his post-draft rankings some time. As team-centric bias is quite obvious once you notice it.

He's better in written form or controlled environment. He goes off the rails when he does radio, as it doesn't tend to be structured.

 

[ChargersRookie]

Button has been an NHL Director of Scouting, Director of Player Personnel and GM. He continues to watch draft eligible players FAR more than most on these boards, and he’s also a FAR better judge of talent.

His opinions don’t always line up with the “consensus” - that’s fine, they’re his opinions! Plenty of his “weird picks” look bad in retrospect, but lots of them look great too. I always find his opinions/rankings interesting, personally. Real NHL scouts have tonnes of “dissenting opinions” too.

With that being said, this is actually one of his least controversial “final rankings.” A few guys are higher/lower than the “consensus” (for example Boqvist/Veleno low, Hayton high), but it’s actually pretty in line with standard media opinions for the most part.

Veleno has his special status billing to thank for a 1st rd. ranking. Will most likely require time to develop and work on his speed.

 

[uncleben]

hes gone by 30

Interesting...
Consensus has him going well after the first round typically.

Like, Future Considerations 63, Hockey News 89, CSS (North America) 38, Last Word on Hockey 34, Bob McKenzie 68, Sporting News 38 - Sportsnet, McKeen's, HockeyProspect, ISS all exclude him from their top 31...

Obviously some of those are much more reputable sources than others, and they all can very much be an echo chamber of opinion and ranking, but he's very consistently been placed outside the top 31.

Now, in terms of ceiling, do I think he could easily be one of the better Cs in the draft, even a top 30 player when all is said and done?
Yeah - he's got talent.
But do I think he will get drafted in the top 30?
Possibly, but not overly likely at this point, and consensus ranking does not point to it.

 

[ponder]

He's definitely cut down on how much he is watching prospects these days, as TSN has him wearing way too many hats. For example, one of the biggest scouting events of the year was the U-18 5 nations tournament, which Button missed completely due to being in South Korea having to cover the Olympics (where the only player who needed to be ranked their was Dahlin, not a hard ranking). TSN has him in studio way too much these days which has cut into his ability to get live viewings of people.

Now, he's still better than a decent amount of sources such as ISS or McCagg. But, the overall quality is slipping.

Yeah fair enough, I'm sure he watches the kids less than he used to. He still watches them quite a bit, though, and obviously has a great eye for scouting (you don't get to be an NHL Director of Scouting, Director of Player Personnel and GM without that), so I still find his opinions very interesting.

This years' rankings are actually quite "media consensus" for the most part ... maybe him having fewer dissenting opinions this year is partly because he's had less chance to watch these guys personally?

 

[XXIV97]

Wahlstrom, Boqvist or Bouchard at 10 would be amazing.

 

[VictorLustig]

Quinn didnt look out of place in much of the World's.. Boqvist struggled when he moved up for his dozen or so games in the SHL. Teams most definitely look at this. It's more than just Hughes "saying he will", we have data to watch. But when a kid says he's a few years away and struggled playing up, how do you justify a top pick?

In today's NHL, Top 10 picks that take 3 years aren't Top 10 picks anymore. Look at all the questions that have arisen about Juolevi. Boqvist may become a great player one day. But so can a guy drafted in the 6th round. To be drafted in the top ten these days, teams want you to be closer to the NHL than someone drafted in the bottom 1st and onward.

It's nothing against the kid. It's just why he's dropping on boards.

Tell me how many 17 year old D's didn't struggle playing in the SHL. I can only think of Dahlin, Hedman, Larsson and Brodin who even got a regular shift the last 15 years and Larsson did get benched from time to time. No 165 pound 17 year old offensive defenseman is going to be more than a 7th D, you can just look at Karlsson who was in a very similar position. And using the same logic, why did Hughes end up getting benched at the WJC, shouldn't that be a big red flag?

And you are saying 3 years. That was the timeline for Pettersson last year, he was very open about that and so were the Canucks. Went 5th overall. 2-3 years is a very reasonable timeline for a defenseman, most 18-19 year old D in the NHL have to be highly sheltered and really shouldn't be playing there.

 

[Zaddy]

Now he has future Mike Bossy dropping to #10? He ran out of complimentary adjectives to describe Wahlstrom at the u18s.,. Button never seems to have a real strong conviction in his rankings. I mean he had Boqvist all the way at #2 in January and at that point he would have seen him already in last year's u18s and at the Hlinka, plus his strong play in the Swedish u20 league to that point. Now he's free fallen to #12 despite continued strong play.

I also don't understand how he could watch all of Canada's games at the u18s and then have Tychonick at #54, that's perplexing.

Exactly this. That's my main issue with Craig's list these days. Really hard to take someone seriously who is flip-flopping like that. The Boqvist one in particular makes no sense to me. How do you go from better than Svechnikov to not even a top10 pick in such a short amount of time without anything major happening? It just looks silly.

Like, you don't put Boqvist ahead of Svechnikov to begin with if you aren't very comfortable with him as a player and with your opinion of him. You should have a strong conviction if doing so, but obviously Craig didn't as he now had no problem dropping him 10 spots, and that's despite Boqvist actually playing well. So it makes no sense.

It's kinda like he doesn't sit down and really think through his opinions and rankings before releasing them, it's like he just goes with what feels right in the spur of the moment. It just looks sloppy.

With all that being said I don't really have many issues with the rest of the list (aside from Kaut) and in general I like lists with opinions differing from consensus, but you need to properly be able to explain why you have certain guys ranked where and at least have some consistency with those rankings especially if they differ from consensus.

 

[Zaddy]

I want nothing to do with Boqvist in the top 10 as a Hawks fan - stay clear away from him. I just do not see it overall, his defensive play is non existent, his concussion issues are a concern, and just not seeing the offense with him either. I will take Smith, Bouchard, or Dobson over Boqvist at this time.

That's just a complete lie. Hate seeing people throw out stuff like this about players they barely watch just because they are smallish and primarily known for their offensive capabilities.

 

[93LEAFS]

Button just trying to play possum, trying to get his Team Calgary a decent pick in the 2nd round ? ppl might buy this garbage lol

Unless Calgary makes a trade, they aren't picking until the 4th round (Traded the 1st and 2nd for Hamonic and traded the 3rd in the Mike Smith package.

I thought I heard on a podcast that Button lives in Ann Arbor now. Or lived in Ann Arbor for quite a while. Maybe he's doing the Wings a favor, ranking Bouchard lower like that.

To the best of my knowledge, he lives in Calgary, with significant time spent in the GTA. He is a Michigan grad though.

 

[boredmale]

Wahlstrom, Boqvist or Bouchard at 10 would be amazing.

Even more amazing at 11. lol

 

[WeThreeKings]

hes gone by 30

Doubt it.

 

[boredmale]

Doubt it.

I wouldn't be surprised if he goes top 30. I have him anywhere from 20-45. My guess is some team who is short on offensive centers might take a shot early(20-30) in hopes of hitting a home run

 

[ps241]

Media doing favors for their friends will always be rampant in sports reporting. Especially for people from certain circles.

I'm fine with his draft list and opinions, but I do have issues with his post-draft rankings some time. As team-centric bias is quite obvious once you notice it.

He's better in written form or controlled environment. He goes off the rails when he does radio, as it doesn't tend to be structured.

I like the pre draft rankings because everyone is up for grabs and HFBoards fans are less homerish about the prospects. Fans and publications have their favorites but the only tainting from fans is light. Once they get afiliated with a club the entire ranking process gets pretty homerish and honestly at that point what’s the point they are assigned. I have a mild curiosity bout who Pronman or Button think are the top 25 but more often than not it ends up being an exercise in debate fodder.

 

[Castle8130]

The problem with some of Buttons rankings is that he looks at the potential side of prospects more than their actual skill at the moment.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

The problem with some of Buttons rankings is that he looks at the potential side of prospects more than their actual skill at the moment.

Problem?

 

[Castle8130]

Problem?

Thats why they seem a little odd. If he thinks that Hayton (for example) has a lot of potential, but really isn't as skilled as Kotkaniemi, he will put Hayton over Kotkaniemi even though most prospects never meet their potential.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Thats why they seem a little odd. If he thinks that Hayton (for example) has a lot of potential, but really isn't as skilled as Kotkaniemi, he will put Hayton over Kotkaniemi even though most prospects never meet their potential.

I got what you were saying , just I don't think that should be categorized as a problem

 

[DDRhockey]

Edmonton wont pass up on boqvist at 10th

 

[Castle8130]

I got what you were saying , just I don't think that should be categorized as a problem

For most people on this forum that are complaining, it is and for probabilities sake.