FC's Final Ranking for 2018

[AuraSphere]

I'm not that high on Dobson. I have him #9.

I guess it's a difference of scouting. I've had a pretty good scouting record these past few years

Noah Dobson is going to be the 2nd best all rounder of this draft. I personally take him over Hughes and Boqvist and definitely over Bouchard. Mind you I think Boqvist has highest ceiling. Dobson is safer

 

[danyhabsfan]

I guess it's a difference of scouting. I've had a pretty good scouting record these past few years

Noah Dobson is going to be the 2nd best all rounder of this draft. I personally take him over Hughes and Boqvist and definitely over Bouchard

Yeah. Not saying he's not good. I prefer Hughes and Boqvist skating in today's NHL.

 

[Aaron Vickers]

Noah Dobson is going to be the 2nd best all rounder of this draft. I personally take him over Hughes and Boqvist and definitely over Bouchard. Mind you I think Boqvist has highest ceiling. Dobson is safer

There's definitely plenty to be excited about in Dobson. Just as there is with Hughes, Boqvist and Smith. Wouldn't shock me to see them go in any particular order, to be honest.

 

[Habs76]

Yeah. Not saying he's not good. I prefer Hughes and Boqvist skating in today's NHL.

Dobson is arguably a better skater than Boqvist

 

[Runner77]

If you have a question, feel free to leave it and I'll relay it back to our group.

Thanks for doing this.

Your take on Jay O'Brien?

Which centers has FC ranked in the 2nd round and how many of those have top 6 potential? If you can't bring up names, can you just indicate how many of them fit the description?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Aaron Vickers]

Thanks for doing this.

Your take on Jay O'Brien?

Which centers has FC ranked in the 2nd round and how many of those have top 6 potential? If you can't bring up names, can you just indicate how many of them fit the description?

Thanks in advance.

Again, I'll preface this as saying I haven't seen him, but have gone back on some notes from one of our guys who has seen him numerous times. He ranked O'Brien as the top USHS prospect, and by a wide margin. Called him one of the top prospects in the New England region, not surprisingly. Also said he wouldn't be surprised if O'Brien snuck into the first round of the draft.

From his Scout Series article in our 2018 NHL Draft Guide (we ran 12 of these in the DG):

There was no player who stood out more than center Jay O’Brien of Thayer Academy. A player that is rising up draft boards...O’Brien brings a lot of quality tools to the table as a prospect. He is a good skater who can chase down loose pucks along with having a good shot. He has strong hockey IQ and excellent puck handling skills and plays a 200-foot-game. ...His ability to elevate his game in clutch situations stands out as well as his playmaking skills to get his line mates involved. He is a player that you can trust in any situation.

In regards to which centers we have ranked, we actually have our Final Top-100 available for free on the website, from each of our rankings this season (we do five...run them every two months). Without getting super specific, as there are a few options at center that have second-line upside, O'Brien would be near the top of that list.

 

[Fantomas]

Regarding Kravtsov at 28 and Schellenberg's comment, I find the aforeposted writeup unpersuasive. Here it is again:

Kravtsov is a technically gifted player that can undress opposing defensemen, no doubt. He has had a fantastic playoff run for Chelyabinsk and really impressed me with his impact he had scoring clutch goals. However, I’d not overrate it and look at his overall season. Playing for the national junior team, he did not always impress me and disappeared over stretches. Kravtsov really needs to add strength in his lower body and legs as he can be separated too easily and loses balance too quickly. His defensive game still needs developing as well as he tries to play his man in his own zone, however, still floats around the defensive zone too many times already thinking of a quick counter attack.

I don’t think he plays a bottom-six type of game for North America and therefore it is either top six or nothing for him. I’m also not sure if he is the type of player that would play AHL and fight his way through into the NHL in case he doesn’t make it to the big league right away.

Nevertheless, he is a gifted player and can be a dangerous offensive catalyst if he lands in the right hands.

So let's run down the claims made here: a) history of inconsistent performances??? (like what?), b) needs to add strength, c) improve his defensive game, d) might be all-or-nothing in North America.

By far the most interesting claim here is a), and something of substance could have been said here. Was Kravtsov so inconsistent that he must fall all the way to the bottom of the top 30? In spite of the massive breakthrough he made late in the season?

The other claims seem altogether conventional for prospects of his age: needing to get stronger and improving one's defensive game. True for a lot of guys, and certainly does not explain the low ranking. Take almost any skilled guy from Russia and tell me how this doesn't apply to them.

And the final point is too speculative and isn't really about scouting. You would drop Kravtsov in the rankings because you project that he won't want to play in the AHL? How do you know? Did you ask him? Is it simply because he is Russian?

 

[Runner77]

Again, I'll preface this as saying I haven't seen him, but have gone back on some notes from one of our guys who has seen him numerous times. He ranked O'Brien as the top USHS prospect, and by a wide margin. Called him one of the top prospects in the New England region, not surprisingly. Also said he wouldn't be surprised if O'Brien snuck into the first round of the draft.

From his Scout Series article in our 2018 NHL Draft Guide (we ran 12 of these in the DG):



In regards to which centers we have ranked, we actually have our Final Top-100 available for free on the website, from each of our rankings this season (we do five...run them every two months). Without getting super specific, as there are a few options at center that have second-line upside, O'Brien would be near the top of that list.

Thanks for the feedback.

Seeing how this draft's strength is not centers and considering that you have 9 of them ranked in the 2nd round, I just figured there wouldn't be too many that have top 6 potential. I was just wondering if there may have been say 2 or 3 out of the 9 who might have that type of ceiling. I don't know if I'd consider O'Brien a second rounder as I agree with your hunch that he's likely to make it to the first round.

 

[Aaron Vickers]

Regarding Kravtsov at 28 and Schellenberg's comment, I find the aforeposted writeup unpersuasive. Here it is again:



So let's run down the claims made here: a) history of inconsistent performances??? (like what?), b) needs to add strength, c) improve his defensive game, d) might be all-or-nothing in North America.

By far the most interesting claim here is a), and something of substance could have been said here. Was Kravtsov so inconsistent that he must fall all the way to the bottom of the top 30? In spite of the massive breakthrough he made late in the season?

The other claims seem altogether conventional for prospects of his age: needing to get stronger and improving one's defensive game. True for a lot of guys, and certainly does not explain the low ranking. Take almost any skilled guy from Russia and tell me how this doesn't apply to them.

And the final point is too speculative and isn't really about scouting. You would drop Kravtsov in the rankings because you project that he won't want to play in the AHL? How do you know? Did you ask him? Is it simply because he is Russian?

I'm not sure if you're implying that the reason for us having Kravtsov in the bottom end of the first round is because we have a bias against Russians. I'd find that weird since we've never shied away from ranking Russians in the upper portion of the first round, when we've found it warranted.

That said, here's Dennis' answer to your follow-up query.

Thanks for challenging and wanting to know more about Kravtsov. I’ll try to answer your questions in the best possible way.

I have seen some inconsistency issues, or to put it another way, he has not always been as dominant as I’d had expected. Especially on the U20 team he did not convince me at all, I would have expected more from him there given that fact that he played primarily in the KHL. It is true that he was amazing in the KHL playoffs for Traktor and he really impressed as he scored clutch goals, showed fancy moves and played like a veteran in a very skilled league. Surely it has impressed me. However, I tend to not overrate those games. He wasn’t nearly as impressive in games prior to the playoffs.

Also, he has kind of steadily risen in our rankings, so I don’t see him as a faller, but rather a climb during the season. I don’t think there’s any reason to be down on ranking him 28th in a decently strong draft class. I have talked to regional scouts that have seen him quite a bit and several of our evaluators do not see Kravtsov higher than we ranked him in the end. There was no real push to have him higher.

His poise with the puck is above average and he is a very skilled player, no doubt. His strength and balance on skates is just not where it should be for a guy that measures in at 6-2. While his talent and skill is undeniable, I am not 100 percent sold that he can play a dominant role in the NHL.

I hope that this answered some of your questions and I am very interested in see where he lands next weekend.

 

[Aaron Vickers]

Thanks for the feedback.

Seeing how this draft's strength is not centers and considering that you have 9 of them ranked in the 2nd round, I just figured there wouldn't be too many that have top 6 potential. I was just wondering if there may have been say 2 or 3 out of the 9 who might have that type of ceiling. I don't know if I'd consider O'Brien a second rounder as I agree with your hunch that he's likely to make it to the first round.

Speaking as a bit of a generality, for the most part I think they project more as middle-six players than having top-six potential. To me, I'd describe top-six as having a chance to develop into top-line potential, and I wouldn't suggest any of those nine could develop into that (otherwise we'd have them higher in our rankings, naturally). That said, guys like O'Brien and Khovanov, and to a lesser extent McShane and Kurashev could fit that second-line mould should they sort out some warts.

 

[ProspectsFanatic]

Thanks for challenging and wanting to know more about Kravtsov. I’ll try to answer your questions in the best possible way.

I have seen some inconsistency issues, or to put it another way, he has not always been as dominant as I’d had expected. Especially on the U20 team he did not convince me at all, I would have expected more from him there given that fact that he played primarily in the KHL. It is true that he was amazing in the KHL playoffs for Traktor and he really impressed as he scored clutch goals, showed fancy moves and played like a veteran in a very skilled league. Surely it has impressed me. However, I tend to not overrate those games. He wasn’t nearly as impressive in games prior to the playoffs.

Also, he has kind of steadily risen in our rankings, so I don’t see him as a faller, but rather a climb during the season. I don’t think there’s any reason to be down on ranking him 28th in a decently strong draft class. I have talked to regional scouts that have seen him quite a bit and several of our evaluators do not see Kravtsov higher than we ranked him in the end. There was no real push to have him higher.

His poise with the puck is above average and he is a very skilled player, no doubt. His strength and balance on skates is just not where it should be for a guy that measures in at 6-2. While his talent and skill is undeniable, I am not 100 percent sold that he can play a dominant role in the NHL.

I hope that this answered some of your questions and I am very interested in see where he lands next weekend.

"inconsistency issues" is the lamest of all weaknesses you can find in a player in my opinion, you can argue that for any player, no one watch every game so no one can really argue against that. Top NHLers all have some periods of slump too. You won't score every night, particularly not in the KHL, and I do not believe that there was any major difference in his compete level from game to game. I just don't buy it, he moves steadily from the VHL to a top line KHL playoff team during this season, you can't do that if you aren't competing each night.

Otherwise, "His strength and balance on skates is just not where it should be for a guy that measures in at 6-2"; this doesn't really seem like a glaring weakness to me, mostly room for physical growth for someone who already has a good stature to start with.

In my opinion, the core problem of your argument is that you are trying to justify something that is incorrect to begin with, which is having Kravtsov that low in your ranking. Bob said yesterday that is in the mix with the other high-end prospects and that at least one of the 10 teams he talks with had him in his top5.

 

[Fantomas]

I'm not sure if you're implying that the reason for us having Kravtsov in the bottom end of the first round is because we have a bias against Russians. I'd find that weird since we've never shied away from ranking Russians in the upper portion of the first round, when we've found it warranted.

No I was referring to the writeup's suggestion that Kravtsov might not play in the AHL. And I asked the question as to whether this claim was based on anything factual, or if you just assumed this because he was Russian (as some Russians have been unwilling to play in the AHL). So I was not being accusatory and simply was wondering if you knew something I did not know.

There have been some recent rumblings that Kravtsov has assured some teams that he will come to North America in the near future, although nothing about the AHL at this point.

Although it is true that some Russians have been unwilling to play or remain in the AHL for very long, there have been many that have done so. Not enough have been said about prospects like Vladislav Kamenev, one example of a guy who has been dutifully toiling in the minor leagues waiting for his chance. And he is probably not as good a prospect as Kravtsov.

That said, here's Dennis' answer to your follow-up query.

First of all, thank you.

I am still confused about Dennis's statements about Kravtsov's "strength and balance" on skates. Is this so big an issue? Wouldn't this be fixable with some strength training? Considering how low you have Kravtsov I would have expected some kind of glaring problem.

Reading between the other lines, it seems Dennis is suggesting that Kravtsov's playoff performance was fluky and not representative of his actual abilities. Is this a fair inference?

Kravtsov is a rising prospect and there have been some rumors that a team might pick him as early as top 10. Among the NHL scouts surveyed by Bob McKenzie, one has him ranked top-5. Although you obviously do not need to agree, I wish the writeup was more clear about Kravtsov's inconsistencies and weaknesses.