Devils Draft Review

[Stephen Gionta]

Really? Because when you don't have a single forward on the roster who could crack the top line of most teams in the league, it seems to me you are pretty far from fine.

Going back a couple pages......

I'd say to classify as a top line player that means the player should be in the top 30 in the league at his position. Mike Cammalleri and Kyle Palmieri are both in the top 30 at their positions. Palmieri is a first line RW and Cammalleri is a first line LW. While I agree they obviously aren't elite, they are still first line players.

Lets look at the Penguins - the best team in the league - Cammalleri would be their best LW. Palmieri would be their 2nd best RW.

 

[JimEIV]

Going back a couple pages......

I'd say to classify as a top line player that means the player should be in the top 30 in the league at his position. Mike Cammalleri and Kyle Palmieri are both in the top 30 at their positions. Palmieri is a first line RW and Cammalleri is a first line LW. While I agree they obviously aren't elite, they are still first line players.

Lets look at the Penguins - the best team in the league - Cammalleri would be their best LW. Palmieri would be their 2nd best RW.

Cammalleri was top 10 in the league in points per 60 minutes 5v5 this season...Pretty impressive. 8th actually for players that played more than 500 minutes

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...ards&minutes=500&disp=1&sort=PCT&sortdir=DESC

Then sort that by goals per 60 minutes...Henrique was 28th in in the league, Cammalleri was 37th in the league and Palmieri was 82nd in the league.

 

[JimEIV]

And looking at those numbers I saw something kind of interesting too...

Travis Zajac had the same rate of assist per 60 minutes played as Ryan Nugent Hopkins...

Zajac had a better assist per 60 minutes than
Tyler Seguin
Ryan O'Reilly
Tyler Toffoli
Evgeni Malkin
Sam Reinhart
Nikolaj Ehlers
Jack Eichel

 

[GeNeXt]

I wonder if any of our draftees get selected in the import draft tomorrow. Rykov should be fine in the KHL, but I'd like to see Maltsev and preferably Bratt come over and get acquainted to North American ice, if they aren't playing in the highest pro league in their regions.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

I'd rather roll 2 good '2nd lines' and 2 good '3rd lines' than one really good 1st line and 3 lines of turd.

I like where things are heading so far.

 

[NJDevils17]

http://www.thedraftanalyst.com/nhl-draft-2016/report-cards/

Very high praise for New Jersey's draft.

 

[JimEIV]

http://www.thedraftanalyst.com/nhl-draft-2016/report-cards/

Very high praise for New Jersey's draft.

This should also go in the Bennett thread. I completely agree with it. I will say I was a bit disappointed with McLeod at.the time of the pick...but I have since warmed to it.

In the days before the draft I convinced myself we were getting Jost.

 

[NJDevils17]

This should also go in the Bennett thread. I completely agree with it. I will say I was a bit disappointed with McLeod at.the time of the pick...but I have since warmed to it.

In the days before the draft I convinced myself we were getting Jost.

If it wasn't for penciling us in on getting Jost/Keller it would be a lot easier to love for everyone I think. I've really grown to like the pick given who was available and that I think Brown has bust written all over him. The guy doesn't use his body at all and doesn't produce much better offensively than McLeod.

 

[Zippy316]

This should also go in the Bennett thread. I completely agree with it. I will say I was a bit disappointed with McLeod at.the time of the pick...but I have since warmed to it.

In the days before the draft I convinced myself we were getting Jost.

I was crossing my fingers praying for Keller, but expecting Jost.

I agree on McLeod though. I was upset at the pick primarily because I wanted one of Jost, Keller, Nylander, or Sergachev. I wasn't too fond of Brown.

But the thing that intrigues me about McLeod is it fits our identity. I can get behind it because there's a real purpose for picking a guy like McLeod over a guy like Brown. McLeod does have some concerns on his potential, but he has a lot of things going for him right now and his deficiencies appear to be things that can be worked on.

 

[tr83]

And looking at those numbers I saw something kind of interesting too...

Travis Zajac had the same rate of assist per 60 minutes played as Ryan Nugent Hopkins...

Zajac had a better assist per 60 minutes than
Tyler Seguin
Ryan O'Reilly
Tyler Toffoli
Evgeni Malkin
Sam Reinhart
Nikolaj Ehlers
Jack Eichel

3C BRAH!

http://www.thedraftanalyst.com/nhl-draft-2016/report-cards/

Very high praise for New Jersey's draft.

Meanwhile Puck Daddy pans our draft.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...aft-report-card-for-every-team-130925591.html

Ryan Lambert gives us one of the worst grades in the draft. He thinks McLeod was a puzzling pick. Seems Ryan is just a puzzled by hockey. I'd like to know who he would have picked at 11 (even before they moved down a spot)

 

[MichaelJ]

This should also go in the Bennett thread. I completely agree with it. I will say I was a bit disappointed with McLeod at.the time of the pick...but I have since warmed to it.

In the days before the draft I convinced myself we were getting Jost.

When Juolevi went higher than expected at 5, I was sure Arizona would go defense and we'd be guaranteed Nylander or Jost. When they took Keller, ever pick after was excruciating.

But, I really like McLeod and was someone I had hoped for earlier in the year before his stock dropped a bit. Now I've warmed back up to him after reading and reminding myself of all the positives.

 

[Zippy316]

3C BRAH!




Meanwhile Puck Daddy pans our draft.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...aft-report-card-for-every-team-130925591.html

Ryan Lambert gives us one of the worst grades in the draft. He thinks McLeod was a puzzling pick. Seems Ryan is just a puzzled by hockey. I'd like to know who he would have picked at 11 (even before they moved down a spot)

Articles like that are purely who was picked later than they should've been. It's all about the team that seems to take the best player available, but if a guy ranked #30 falls to #186 and is passed by every team multiple times, there has to be a reason there.

The one thing that gets me behind the draft is a sense of drafting with an identity. It started last draft with guys like Speers, White, and Seney -- the emphasis on skating and speed -- and it continues this draft. Shero is looking to build a team full of size and speed.

 

[tr83]

The one thing that gets me behind the draft is a sense of drafting with an identity. It started last draft with guys like Speers, White, and Seney -- the emphasis on skating and speed -- and it continues this draft. Shero is looking to build a team full of size and speed.

Me too.

The Flyers had been doing the same thing with defense for a few years. Seems it finally sunk in that all the offense in the world won't win anything if you keep your goalies hanging out to dry.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

http://www.thedraftanalyst.com/nhl-draft-2016/report-cards/

Very high praise for New Jersey's draft.

wow, was next expecting something like that from Kournianos. Nice boost of optimism.

 

[NJDevs26]

When Juolevi went higher than expected at 5, I was sure Arizona would go defense and we'd be guaranteed Nylander or Jost. When they took Keller, ever pick after was excruciating.

But, I really like McLeod and was someone I had hoped for earlier in the year before his stock dropped a bit. Now I've warmed back up to him after reading and reminding myself of all the positives.

fwiw at the q/a thing at Rock on Sunday Hynes said he talked to Castron over the winter (I think it was February), asking him about the draft board and Castron brought up McLeod to him even then as a player Hynes would like.

 

[devilsfan35]

Keller wore a red tie on draft day. He was totally expecting the Devils to draft him!

 

[AfroThunder396]

I'm convincedArizona's new GM Chayka is an HFBoards poster. Every single player he drafted and moved for just screams armchair GM. He's the HF Trade Board personified.

So I wasn't really surprised when he ganked Keller at 7, or traded back up for Chychrun.

 

[MichaelJ]

fwiw at the q/a thing at Rock on Sunday Hynes said he talked to Castron over the winter (I think it was February), asking him about the draft board and Castron brought up McLeod to him even then as a player Hynes would like.

That's great, and I bet it's true. I think McLeod will fit Hynes's style perfectly....and I think a Zacha-McLeod duo (if both wind up on the same line instead of the two top C's) could be devastating playing here.

Our forward group is knocked as not having enough high-end talent, but I'm optimistic about it. I'm optimistic because Hynes seems to be able to get the best out of "his" players and who fit his system. Zacha, McLeod, Henrique, Palmieri, Wood, Quenneville, Speers, Bastian et. al. might not have the name recognition or the ranking respect around the league, but I think they all fit what Hynes does and I can see them all thriving here. Our forward group as a whole will be very difficult to play against. Imagine other teams having to defend against line after line of big, fast, skilled monsters who just don't let up. They'll never be able to rest.

 

[Bleedred]

I'm convincedArizona's new GM Chayka is an HFBoards poster. Every single player he drafted and moved for just screams armchair GM. He's the HF Trade Board personified.

So I wasn't really surprised when he ganked Keller at 7, or traded back up for Chychrun.

He looks younger than some of the kids drafted this weekend, I'm convinced you're probably right and that he is an HF boards poster.

Not that I'm saying most posters here are very young, I'm certainly not. Although I did get a nice compliment today!

 

[Emperoreddy]

I'm convincedArizona's new GM Chayka is an HFBoards poster. Every single player he drafted and moved for just screams armchair GM. He's the HF Trade Board personified.

So I wasn't really surprised when he ganked Keller at 7, or traded back up for Chychrun.

Read my ****ing mind. His draft just screamed what a HF draft would look like as it is the only draft the main board seemed to agree was good.

The trade to get Chychrun is what has me leery about his skills. The fact they might of taken him at 7 is even scarier. The trade with Detroit isn't bad in a bubble as they gave nothing up to move up.

The trade is awful to me because he proved he is a **** negotiator. He got giddy about the chance to draft Chychrun (see how that even works out) and basically lost all his negotiating power to Holland. Taking on Dat's cap hit should of netted them more, but he let Holland take him out to the woodshed and think he did well over it when really all he did was do Holland a massive favor.

 

[Emperoreddy]

wow, was next expecting something like that from Kournianos. Nice boost of optimism.

We did well for what we had. We restocked the prospect pool with a lot of new forwards. We have two kids with high floors and and decent ceilings (higher then 3rd liners...WTF was Sweeney doing?)

We than added some potential gems with really high upside if things work out. I really love the Gignaic pick. He has some real skill and some real speed as well.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Articles like that are purely who was picked later than they should've been. It's all about the team that seems to take the best player available, but if a guy ranked #30 falls to #186 and is passed by every team multiple times, there has to be a reason there.

The one thing that gets me behind the draft is a sense of drafting with an identity. It started last draft with guys like Speers, White, and Seney -- the emphasis on skating and speed -- and it continues this draft. Shero is looking to build a team full of size and speed.

It is pretty clear that they just rated the draft against some pre-draft rankings of the players and graded that and the trades. They don't actually know a single thing about the players drafted.

Kournianos actually had some legit insight into why he gave us such a high draft grade because he seems to know a good amount of these prospects, or at least bothered to research them.

 

[Burner Account]

Ask me in 6-8 years

 

[Combat Koala]

Another solid draft from Shero & co. I was too anxious to get Keller or Jost, so picking McLeod was a bit of a disappointment at first but I do believe he might take huge steps scoring wise in a year or two. Seems like a guy that does almost everything but score and some analysts like him very much. A good choice at #12 since no one fell to our hands.

Bastian was a guy I thought we should target if he fell to us, and he did. Nice. Like it. Alot. Not much else to say about that. His playing style is something we need. Gignac was kind of a "who?" for me but from the looks of it and the word around the internet the pick was good. He looks very fast and skilled, nice upside pick. Getting Bratt as late as round six was the icing on the cake. I thought he'd go earlier on. Cormier and Davies are meh, but who knows if they become relevant. Doubtful, but still.

Bennett trade was neat. Low risk, possible high reward -type of deal. Familiar with the GM and coach and has been solid when not injured. That said, I hope he stays healthy.