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

[GermanSpitfire]

Yeah - Buttons is nuts (no surprise there). At least 4 of those guys (Bedard, Danielson, Crystall, Heidt) will be 1st rounders.

I wouldn’t draft Cristall in the first round, either…

It wouldn’t surprise me if there were quite a few teams that agree with Button and I.

 

[WarriorofTime]

The Hawks have 9 picks in the top-100 (1/19/35/44/51/55/67/88/99). If Buttons' list is correct - here are the players the Hawks will draft:

1. Connor Bedard (C) Regina
19. Nate Danielson (C) Brandon
35. Andrew Crystall (RW) Kelowna
44. Easton Cowan (LW) London
51. Reily Heidt (C) Prince George
55. Etienne Morin (D) Moncton
67. Carson Rehkopf (LW) Kitchener
88. Brad Gardiner (C) Ottawa
99. Connor Levis (C) Kamloops

Buttons' mock draft is wildly different than other mocks I've seen but I would be very pleased if it worked out this way.

Are Button's lists too Major Junior-heavy? I know a lot of players get drafted out of Major Juniors of course but hard to believe a random scatterplot of top 100 slots like that would be all major junior.

 

[EbonyRaptor]

I wouldn’t draft Cristall in the first round, either…

It wouldn’t surprise me if there were quite a few teams that agree with Button and I.

Yeah maybe. Every mock can get nitpicked but from an overall perspective Buttons' mocks are at least a degree crazier than the average.

Are Button's lists too Major Junior-heavy? I know a lot of players get drafted out of Major Juniors of course but hard to believe a random scatterplot of top 100 slots like that would be all major junior.

Random scatterplot is a good term for Button's mocks.

 

[jfhabs]

If Matvei isn't an option at 5 I actually don't hate the pick if I'm a habs fan.
Obviously the safer play is the Centre but those guys while good are not Leo or Fantilli while ASP could very be that new age type of D in the mold of Quinn or Fox etc. As a nucks fan, EP40 is our most important player but Quinn is a very very close 2nd, maybe even equal, he does everything now and tilts the ice for the team.

I know hab fans think Lane is gonna be that guy but that's highly doubtful and given the fact he dropped two the 2nd, every team felt he wasn't worth the risk with a 1st, some multiple 1sts while ASP will likely be a top10 pick. The ceiling is very tempting and any team that needs that potential #1 D might take the leap.

Every year we seem to be seeing D deemed worth the risk, despite the fact its much harder to reach their ceiling or for scouts to even be able to truly gauge them. Quinn Hughes is a great example of that as well, some teams saw the talent but were uneasy, some had him out of the top 10 and a few like Vancouver had him top 3 and one only needs to see Bennings reaction to see that

I'm sure many team regret not picking Hudson earlier.
He still as a lot to over come, he's very boom or bust. I'm the highest in the fan base one him, but where he was picked means very little right now.

There was a very good article on the athletic from Pronman today. The new age defender are mostly big mobile defenders with good transition game. He compared the defenders picked in the 2018 namely Hughes, Boqvist, Smith, Sandin VS Dobson, Bouchard, Miller, Samuelsson

I'd be very upset if the Habs picked another boom/bust type of prospect like ASP with forwards with safe projection to be top 6 players available. It's my personal view but I prefer Reinbacher to ASP.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

I always hate Craig’s lists. I think this one is pretty terrible.

 

[STL fan in MN]

Based on this list, I can only assume he’s secretly been hired by the Swedish Hockey Federation to promote their players.

 

[NotProkofievian]

I wouldn’t draft Cristall in the first round, either…

It wouldn’t surprise me if there were quite a few teams that agree with Button and I.

He's going to slip. I don't agree with that, as he's my hot take this year. I'm ranking him high. Right after the guys who you are basically sure are going to make it and score a bunch. Like most years, I doubt I'll go 32 for 32 awesome picks in the first, so might as well gamble.

 

[Perfect Human]

People should just stop clicking Buffoons and Conmans article altogether.

At least Corey Pronman’s lists are based on “what he hears from scouts” and he outwardly says that.