Craig Buttons May 2023 Draft Ranking - Sandin Pelikka at #5 edition

[GermanSpitfire]

Craig's List: After impressive U18 showing, Axel Sandin Pellikka moves into Top 5 | TSN

Rising from No. 10 to No. 5 on Craig Button’s latest Craig's List, Axel Sandin Pellikka is fresh off winning best defenceman honours at the U18s in Switzerland after putting up 11 points in seven games to help Sweden earn silver.

www.tsn.ca

Just like to point out that they had To put a disclaimer at the top of the article - also like to point out that there is still errors with players that were traded in their respective CHL seasons - Miedema is listed as playing in Windsor but was traded at the deadline to Kingston.


I actually don’t mind the list. Other than putting a heavily emphasis on one tournament, a lot of the rankings aren’t terrible.

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[Hale The Villain]

Beyond obvious his list is primarily based on international tournaments, and therefore shouldn't be taken seriously.

 

[Lavar Ball]

Heidt at 51 is bonkers

 

[95snipes]

Pretty decent list IMO.

Danny Nelson's high for my liking and I'd have some different placements with other guys but overall it's solid.

Button loves ASP. Kept comparing him to Zubov at the U18s. I don't see that comparison but explains the top 5 placement.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

I can see arguments for ASP being above Reinbacher but 19 spots is ridiculous.

 

[Juxtaposer]

A classic Craig Button U18-based ranking.

Having Sale at 7 at this point is just negligent.

 

[Kcoyote3]

This is a very suspect list

 

[Czechboy]

Hrabal and Sale in round 1... love the list.

Can't quite put my finger on why so many Swedes moved up in rankings though.lol

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Hrabal and Sale in round 1... love the list.

Can't quite put my finger on why so many Swedes moved up in rankings though.lol

They won silver at the U18s?

 

[Kent Nilsson]

They won silver at the U18s?

 

[WarriorofTime]

Button covers the U18 in person for TSN, don't know how much Junior Hockey he is covering in-person over the course of the season (like if he does the Memorial Cup or what not, which is still in the future), but kinda makes sense he'd fall a bit in love with U18 performances.

 

[TK 421]

They won silver at the U18s?

Forgive me, GIF was burning a hole in my pocket so i had to use it.

 

[Oilers]

Button is always all over the place. Loves to make a lot of 'hot takes'

He has Reinbacher 24th overall on this list but for his Mock Draft last week he took him 8th.

I mean I get a draft rankings and a mock draft are different, but gimme a break.

 

[Castle8130]

Button is always all over the place. Loves to make a lot of 'hot takes'

He has Reinbacher 24th overall on this list but for his Mock Draft last week he took him 8th.

I mean I get a draft rankings and a mock draft are different, but gimme a break.

I'm pretty sure his rankings are him going rogue and the mock draft is based on what he has heard from pro scouts and NHL teams. Eduard Sale is not coveted by many pro scouts, but Button loves him and ranked him 7th (had him at 5 in March).

 

[Oilers]

I'm pretty sure his rankings are him going rogue and the mock draft is based on what he has heard from pro scouts and NHL teams. Eduard Sale is not coveted by many pro scouts, but Button loves him and ranked him 7th (had him at 5 in March).

ahh figured it was his thoughts for both.
but when I saw the two lists, I was thinking this guy is off the rails lol

 

[jfhabs]

He's not a bad defender, but this list is just insane recency bias lol
I would be pissed off if the Habs picked him over Smith, Dvorsky, Benson, Wood, Leonard...

Even considering the recency bias, I can't see how you can have Sale ahead of the names mentioned above either.

 

[WeThreeKings]

'I am going to make wild sweeping generalizations based on the two tournaments I am paid to cover by TSN" edition.

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

Button covers the U18 in person for TSN, don't know how much Junior Hockey he is covering in-person over the course of the season (like if he does the Memorial Cup or what not, which is still in the future), but kinda makes sense he'd fall a bit in love with U18 performances.

Last year he was at the Memorial Cup as an analyst on the intermission panel.

IIRC he called the CHL top prospects game and 1 or 2 of the WHL games TSN has shown this season.

This list is definitely wacky. ''Eduard Sale top 7 prospect'' is a hill Craig is willing to die on at this point.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Sandin Pellika, why did they give him both a Swedish and Finnish name ? Weirdest name in the draft.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Sandin Pellika, why did they give him both a Swedish and Finnish name ? Weirdest name in the draft.

maybe his father or grandfather is Finnish, but they've been in Sweden for a while (i.e., prior to his birth)

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Last year he was at the Memorial Cup as an analyst on the intermission panel.

IIRC he called the CHL top prospects game and 1 or 2 of the WHL games TSN has shown this season.

This list is definitely wacky. ''Eduard Sale top 7 prospect'' is a hill Craig is willing to die on at this point.

I Remember catching an OHL final broadcast last season on TSN between the Hamilton Bulldogs and the Windsor Spitfires in which Button was one of the people broadcasting the game.

Windsor goalie Matthias Onuska was playing well and Button said something along the lines of "I would be shocked if Onuska didn't get drafted this year" meanwhile anyone who was following the Spitfires could tell you that Onuska was nothing more than a good OHL goalie on a hot team.

That comment lives rent-free in my mind and convinced me 100% that Button puts too much stock in the performances he ACTUALLY watched.

 

[ponder]

Beyond obvious his list is primarily based on international tournaments, and therefore shouldn't be taken seriously.

For many years now his lists are primarily based on international tourneys, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be taken seriously.

IMO, as a pure talent evaluator, like watching a game and evaluating a prospect off that, Button is one of the best of any media member/analyst. He's actually worked as a GM, Director of Scouting and Director of Player Personnel at the NHL level, he has far more legit experience with this than most. And when Button feels really strongly about prospects, he has a pretty good track record, is decently often right when the "consensus opinion" is wrong. If you could just take an analyst (anyone who releases popular draft rankings), transport them into the future, have them watch 1 game of some prospect without being able to do any other research, I'll bet Craig would be one of the best analysts in terms of projecting their future.

His weakness is that he's been really successful, and IMO gotten a bit lazy. He doesn't wanna watch reams of OHL, WHL, QMJHL, KHL, SHL, NCAA, etc. games - he's not some young hustler trying to break into the field and willing to work insane hours. International tourneys are the best bang for his buck, he can see most top prospects in a small number of games, so he mostly just watches those. He makes lists of 100 prospects, if he tried to separately watch 3 league-level games each each of all 100 prospects, that's ~300 games, which is ~900 hours, or >100 8 hour days just watching game tape. Not very feasible.

So yeah, his opinions are dominantly based on international tourneys, but he's also a really good talent evaluator, sees things that most analysts don't. His takes are worth considering, as long as you realize that they're heavily based on international tourneys.

Re: this list, some things that jump out at me:
- He's quite a bit higher on Sandin-Pelikka, Sale and Willander than most
- He's quite a bit lower on Benson, Yager, Reinbacher, Leonard and Cristall than most (Cristall at 35!!)

Will be interesting to see how those opinions pan out in a few years time.

 

[HoweFan]

This list sure threw a screw into my draft plans

 

[majormajor]

ahh figured it was his thoughts for both.
but when I saw the two lists, I was thinking this guy is off the rails lol

I think mock drafts are usually "what I think they'll do".

Descriptive vs prescriptive, they should be very different lists.

 

[vildurson]

'I am going to make wild sweeping generalizations based on the two tournaments I am paid to cover by TSN" edition.

Yup. It's hard to take this list seriously when the bias is obviously towards few tournaments only. Lots of hockey is missed this way.