Does anybody actually care about the upcoming draft?

[BCNate]

These prospects have really lost a year and a half of showcasing themselves. Sure there are maybe not many franchise level talents, but that does not make it a poor draft. There are still likely some very good players who will come out if it, especially in the middle rounds. This one will take a few years to get a read on, as these kids will need to catch up on some development.

I always enjoy the draft, this year will be no different.

 

[TheHelmet]

Because OP is Toronto fan, so if toronto doesnt have a pick the draft is meaningless.

yawn

 

[nobody]

Because OP is Toronto fan, so if toronto doesnt have a pick the draft is meaningless.

yawn

This probably has some truth to it.

However, the way I see this draft going down, there are about 10-12 players who will go in the top 15 in whatever order who are certainties because of pedigree. After that, I feel like it's a complete shitshow. Usually every draft there will be guys who were projected in the late 1st/ 2nd round or later who shoot up the charts and end up being top tier draft picks and usually, these teams do well drafting them because they hit their development curve at the right time and rocket up (Pettersson, Makar, Scheifele, Sanderson, Seider, Broberg, KK, etc.). This year some of those guys won't get their chance to show off their development and subsequently will fall to later rounds. Meanwhile, there will be a ton of guys who will be drafted in the top 2 rounds who will bust because these would be the guys that normally teams would shy away from due to lack of production/ growth compared to peers.

In short, if you're drafting in the top 10-15 in this draft, I think you're sitting pretty and will probably get a legit prospect. After those 10-15 picks, you will probably see a bunch of guys that will be head-scratchers for why they went so high and probably a few guys who we'll be shocked to see drop to the 4th/5th round. Teams with big-budget scouting and quality scouting should reap benefits from this year's draft. Smaller budget teams who aren't so great at drafting/ that don't have a great scouting reach (or the Sabres who fired their entire scouting team) will probably pay the price.

Owen Power is a decent defenseman and I've watched him play a ton this year and last year and if he's projected to go at the top of the draft, I have serious questions about the depth/ quality of this draft. If he was being drafted in last years' draft for example, I honestly don't think Power cracks the top 15.

 

[WatchfulElm]

You don't see this often because most GMs are on short leash and want to win now, but I think it would be a good year to trade your 1st round pick against a 2022 or 2023 1st round pick, and probably get a compensation like a 2nd or 3rd round pick for the added delay, but also for the possibility that the 1st round pick you trade for might be lower than the 2021 one.

But chances are next year pick will be better, as long as you don't mind waiting one more year.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

In a way, this should be the most interesting draft in a while.

There's no guarantee for any of the picks. Not even #1.

This is where scouts make their money. Anyone can go up and pick Wright, Bedard, or Michkov but can they find a stud in a weak draft class with limited viewings?

 

[Zach716]

Amazing year to be last in the league lol

 

[Peat]

As a Pens fan, limited interest as we have limited picks.

As someone intrigued in where the newest high end talent ends up, only moderately interested. I am going entirely on hearsay and am well aware of the bad reputation rafts without top end talent get, but I've heard far more bad than good about this draft and that's been going back a while. Insofar as I've seen people talking about the back end of the 1st and the depth going into the 2nd, I've not seen much positivity.

As someone who just likes knowing about the game, the draft, and unusual situations, should be pretty interesting - although it might take a while to make sense.

 

[lawrence]

due to the lack of amateur play going on with covid and stuff it was kinda hard to follow this years draft wether my team sucked or not. the interest wasn't really there mainly the CHL was shut down for so long made it hard to draw any interest. Of course it does matter to all the teams, regardless of how bad or how we perceive this draft, it is still a draft and it is an important draft to any team, of course it's extremely important for Seattle and any struggling team. I do think it's a weak draft, does it lack depth? we will have to wait and see, 2017 was labeled a weak draft and it turned out pretty well, not sure if it's comparable to 2017, I think it's maybe more 2012 weak, but who knows.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

This year will be the real draft lottery.

As a Canucks fan, I care... but I'm prepared for disappointment.

Still think we might move our #1 to get rid of Eriksson. If ever there was a draft to do it.

 

[HabsQC]

I'm sure teams have some kind of algorithms to project players stats from last year or something like that, but it won't be as good as actually watching these players. There's always a few guys that come out of nowhere in their draft year.

 

[CBJx614]

As a fan of a team who’s ass. Yes.

As a fan of a team with a second first rounder, hell yes.

As a fan of a team with a third first rounder, hell f***in yes.

Although I don't think we end making 3 picks on draft day.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Is anybody looking forward to this draft?

As a fan of the Jackets and Sharks I better be. I may not be going to the prom with the homecoming queen, but I have a few dates.

 

[Jumptheshark]

teams and fans not involved in the playoffs care

 

[Leonardo87]

Ducks are guaranteed a Top 4 pick, for like the first time in a long time. So yeah, they care that one of these players becomes a big part of their team which is desperately needed , so yeah they do care.

Also, how do you know this draft is not going to be good, because no one really knows , there hasn’t been enough games to play and scout due to COVID. If anything this draft will be more intriguing because there is no set 1OA or even a 2nd OA.

So, If you are guaranteed to pick in the Top 6 (Sabres, Ducks, Devils), should be excited, going to still get a very good player that could have potentially been a Top 3 in other drafts if they had more games under their belt and more scouting on them.

 

[Muikea Bulju]

Owen Power is gonna suck?

He already has a HHOF-calibre hockey name

 

[Ita]

This year will be the real draft lottery.

As a Canucks fan, I care... but I'm prepared for disappointment.

Still think we might move our #1 to get rid of Eriksson. If ever there was a draft to do it.

Move our first to save 5M of cap space for 1 year?
Glad you are not the GM.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Move our first to save 5M of cap space for 1 year?
Glad you are not the GM.

Well, it all depends on how far down in the draft we are, and what kind of cap space we need to ice a team next year.

If Benning hadn't screwed us over with so many bloated, useless contracts, rest assured, I wouldn't entertain the idea for a second.

 

[stevo61]

How much excitement does Jarmo and company cause everytime they make some off the board pick? This draft is gonna be filled with those type of surprise picks, its likely going to be quite exciting

 

[Bixby Snyder]

I don't not care about it.

 

[Kshahdoo]

We really cant say its going to be weak or not. A lot of these prospects haven't really had enough time to show case what they bring to the table. Meaning there very well could be prospects that in normal years would of skyrocketed to mid 1st round guys, but yet are projected to go 4 or 5th round due to the lack of playing time to improve their stock. It's going to be a crap shoot from the 1st round on.

If 2023 draft kids are already better, than anybody on this draft, it says something about its quality.

 

[FrolundaRedWings]

If 2023 draft kids are already better, than anybody on this draft, it says something about its quality.

I see your point but I think it speaks more to how special Bedard & Michkov are. Keeping up with McDavid's pace at the U18s is quite impressive.

 

[Hunter368]

Looking forward to it, I love the draft every year.