Rumor: Eric Engel: "Mtl is locked on Kotkaniemi"

[Scintillating10]

They will try to draft down, but they are locked on Kotkaniemi.
That is what the habs fans thought, still hope we trade down to 5-6 to get him and not draft him at #3.

Galchenyuk 2.0

 

[haveandare]

He didn't go up just because he had a great tournament. I think a lot it has to do with scouts being able to watch Kotkaniemi more. I don't think he got anywhere near as much attention from the scouts as the other top prospects were getting because he was playing in Finland. The time zone difference and the accessibility to watch the games made it much harder.

Scouts can easily watch junior players (svech, zadina, dobson, bouchard).
The same goes for college players (tkachuk and hughes).
With the amount of prospects on Wahlstrom's team, he obviously got a ton of coverage.
Scouts have been watching Dahlin for years.

Kotkaniemi and Boqvist weren't getting as much attention. The u18 was probably the 1st time many scouts watched Kotkaniemi for an extended period of time. After the tournaments were over, they also had the time to over the games Kotka played in the liiga.

I’d be pretty surprised if this day and age scouts weren’t watching kids projected to go top 15 or so regardless of what country they’re in.

 

[MardyBum]

yup and Hawks at 8...I am so happy this is happening, reach reach reach Montreal...help the Hawks land Wahlstrom at 8!!!!

He'd be likely going before those two picks anyways, so there wont be a difference.

 

[HOPE]

One tournement doesn't make a carreer.

yeah lets ignore he's playing AHL caliber-ish hockey, He's one of the youngest guy in the draft, He already plays a solid 2-way game AGAINST man.

The reason why his stock went up after 1 tournament is because they were able to watch him more and play against people around his age and he exelled.

as a habs fan i'd be more than happy to draft him!

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

e

I keep seeing this like it's a a general consensus Montreal lost on these trades. The Drouin one doesn't look great but there is a lot of time for Drouin to turn things around and Sergachev also had his struggles at times this year.

As far as Weber he was excellent in his first year here and then last year he broke his foot in the first game of the year last season and never fully recovered. I still take Weber over Subban on my team personally and so would a lot of people.

Maybe, many Habs fans, but Subban is a reinforcement for a team making the playoffs.

 

[aspin3]

Eh, people were laughing at Columbus for taking Dubois ahead of the great Puljujarvi, don't see much of that these days though...

Sorry, what has Dubois done so much more than Pool Party?

 

[Halla]

Eh, people were laughing at Columbus for taking Dubois ahead of the great Puljujarvi, don't see much of that these days though...

Boston took three straight guys that werent the best available (Barzal and Connor)
imagine that team with an extra 85pt C and 30g winger instead of Debrusk and 2 B prospects

 

[Halla]

Sorry, what has Dubois done so much more than Pool Party?

20g/48pt as a rookie C>>>>13g/28pts in 93 games as a winger

 

[Halla]

Did you say the same thing when Columbus took Dubois over Puljujarvi?

reaches work sometimes, and fail horribly sometimes. the kings reached hard on tomas hickey 4th overall with couture,voracek and mcdonagh all rated higher. the bruins decided a kid ranked mid 2nd rd (Senshyn) was worth reaching for over the next 2 guys to come off the board (Barzal and Connor)

 

[snipes]

Dubois wasn't that much of a reach. From 19 to 3 in 2 months without playing a single game? A reach.

You're not including the U-18s though.

Anyways, I don't even think Kotka is that big of a reach. The Kopitar comparisons are legit, he's a very complete player.

 

[McShogun99]

20g/48pt as a rookie C>>>>13g/28pts in 93 games as a winger

With no PP time and Strome or Letestu as his main centres. Not many players can produce spending 1/3 of a season on a line with Strome and a slumping Lucic.

 

[McDrailers]

Sorry, what has Dubois done so much more than Pool Party?

Scored a playoff goal for one...

 

[ottawa]

reaches work sometimes, and fail horribly sometimes. the kings reached hard on tomas hickey 4th overall with couture,voracek and mcdonagh all rated higher. the bruins decided a kid ranked mid 2nd rd (Senshyn) was worth reaching for over the next 2 guys to come off the board (Barzal and Connor)

I'm what world is Kotka a reach? He's top 5 going at #3.

Senshyn is a reach

 

[Leafs87]

They should take Dobson

 

[maxbussey]

As a Wings fan, I think they should switch spots... that way they can get Zadina (unless defense, of course). But it would depend on what they'd have to give up for #3.

didn’t even have to. What a steal.