Post-Game Talk: Give Benning and Scouts a 2017 Draft Grade (Mod warning post #164)

[bossram]

i said a- before rathbone, would've said b after gunnarsson, but being comfortable picking literally the shortest drafted player is honestly something i really like from a process perspective. i said A, but somewhere between B+ and A. if we're grading on a curve, vegas and LA had clearly superior drafts, but whatever

I'll go with B+. I think Rathbone is a defensible pick. Pronman seems to rate him (saying he was probably the 2nd best USHS defenseman) so there might be something to him.

Even Brassard is defensible if they think he is on a late-bloomer upward trajectory. All the other picks I can't really complain about. I maybe would have picked slightly different (probably Robertson over Lind) but Benning got good value on most of his other picks. Only thing dragging the draft down is Gunnarsson, which was a complete waste.

Overall, easily Benning's best draft by a fair margin.

 

[Rotting Corpse*]

It is amazing how much better a draft can look just by keeping our picks.

Imagine if we had dealt our seconds and so you don't have Lind or Gadjovich in this draft. What grade would you give them in that case?

 

[Pip]

Drafting around consensus early and keeping your picks gets you an A from a lot of people

 

[Hit the post]

It is amazing how much better a draft can look just by keeping our picks.

Imagine if we had dealt our seconds and so you don't have Lind or Gadjovich in this draft. What grade would you give them in that case?

Or imagine THIS...acquire more picks!

 

[I in the Eye]

It is amazing how much better a draft can look just by keeping our picks.

Imagine if we had dealt our seconds and so you don't have Lind or Gadjovich in this draft. What grade would you give them in that case?

... keeping picks, drafting multiple players that look good from an advanced stats perspective, and drafting multiple players whose main weaknesses are things such as weight and skating that have a legitimate chance to be improved - given their body structure and current skating techniques... there were multiple smart picks made, and there is little surprise that this draft is getting lots of support here. They made good, calculated picks, multiple times.

 

[The Drop]

A leaf fan came in to vote F

Obsession much?

 

[TruGr1t]

... keeping picks, drafting multiple players that look good from an advanced stats perspective, and drafting multiple players whose main weaknesses are things such as weight and skating that have a legitimate chance to be improved - given their body structure and current skating techniques... there were multiple smart picks made, and there is little surprise that this draft is getting lots of support here. They made good, calculated picks, multiple times.

This just sounds like a whole wack load of common sense to me, but I don't get the big bucks to run a hockey team.

 

[petrishriekandgo]

... keeping picks, drafting multiple players that look good from an advanced stats perspective, and drafting multiple players whose main weaknesses are things such as weight and skating that have a legitimate chance to be improved - given their body structure and current skating techniques... there were multiple smart picks made, and there is little surprise that this draft is getting lots of support here. They made good, calculated picks, multiple times.

Here, here....

 

[CanaFan]

Or imagine THIS...acquire more picks!

Madness!!

Who does such things?

 

[Jack Burton]

Which is precisely why I've asked said poster to clarify. I don't want to make unwarranted assumptions. He labelled Glass a "franchise" level player after all... my inference is that he thinks Glass is not only the best prospect of the 2017 draft, but also a player who can transform a bottom feeder into a Cup contender.

Pip is correct. I had lots of players I enjoyed watching this year but I also tried to be honest with myself and not let that influence my final rankings. (1) Patrick (2) Hischier (3) Glass... (52) Entwistle.

Entwistle in fact slid down my list as the year went on as I thought he would end up scoring more but still quiet enjoyed his style of game...He would have been the perfect Burrows replacement and the fanbase here would have loved him IMHO.

Wondering where I had Pettersson?... (12)

 

[Jack Burton]

I certainly don't think anyone here plans on riding MrJohnnyCanucks D train any time soon ... :grimace

I guess that sort of came out wrong

 

[Jack Burton]

You better be right. So much ammo.

On this one, I'm hoping I'm totally wrong! Virtanen over Nylander, OJ over Tkachuk and now possibly Pettersson over Glass...This fanbase needs a break from this and this

 

[CanaFan]

I guess that sort of came out wrong

Or exactly as planned :grin:

 

[donut]

A

Huge fan of Pettersson; I had him #3 on my list and strongly believe if he was 180-190lbs, he'd go #1 in the draft. Both Lind and Gadjovich are solid pick-ups in round 2. Both I think will be top 6 wingers in the future, at worst, top 9 players. Dipietro was a steal in the 3rd round IMO. He was phenomenal for Windsor this year and I was very surprised he wasn't taken earlier. With him and Demko in the pipelines, I don't think the Canucks will have to worry about goaltending for the years to come.

Next year is the year we should put more focus on defence. There are a number of quality defenders, especially in the top 15 of next years draft. I'm really hoping we can luck out on Dahlin next year, the kid is a legit future #1 defender.

 

[Uhmkay]

B+

I liked the first 3 picks. There were other players at those spots that I would have been ok with as well. I just didn't want benning to go off the board and screw them up and he didn't.

I was a bit upset that we didn't step up and grab Klim Kostin when he started to fall. I got really excited when he almost slipped out of the first round. Kostin is a player. Lind will be decent. Probably a solid 2nd/3rd liner.

I also reserve making a A or A+ grade for those drafts when the GM really pulls off a heist. Had we traded Tanev and came out with Petterson and either Glass or Vilardi or something else that blew us away... those are the drafts that I would grade an A or A+.

This draft in my opinion he just didn't do something that REALLY screwed up. He literally couldn't screw the 5th pick. There were like 5 players to choose from.

Petterson could become a REAL good player if he puts on 25-30lbs.

 

[Ryp37]

I gave it a B.

Liked

Pettersson. Big fan, said it before but this kid will be as good as anyone from this draft.

Jonan the Manchild
Petrus Palmu.

Dislike
DiPietro. People have different opinions on where to draft goalies etc personally I'm not a fan, liked "guess they don't like winning" quote though.

Gunnarsson. A no offense defensive D that had already been passed over twice.

Meh-
Lind. Not a horrible pick but as others have said there's other guys I liked there.

No opinion-
Rathbone. No idea who he is but sounds like Brackett pushed for this guy so I'll give him the benefit on the doubt

Brackett:“I’ve known Jack, he’s actually played some summer tournaments for me back in the day. I have quite a bit a familiarity with him. A tremendous skater, puck mover, likes to get up in the play, has power-play ability, big shot from the point. Very exciting. The level is the level, but I’m not worried about Jack. He’s a self-starter and a go-getter. I expect him to dominate the way he did this year and continue to push the envelope.”

Brassard. Liked the concept behind the pick, much better than drafting a Stewart.

Brackett:“When you get to that round, he has a clear, defining separating skill – an ability with the puck, generates shots. We identified him early last year but had limited reps in Barrie. When he was traded, it really sparked our interest so we got into Oshawa quite a bit. He’s been a shooter all along.”

Quotes-
https://canucksarmy.com/2017/06/24/judd-bracketts-post-draft-wrap-up/

 

[Captain Bowie]

B or B+. I'll lean towards optimistic and vote B+.

 

[Siludin]

I decided to go with B+

I am happy with the first three rounds, which is important, and there are some nice sleepers. I like Rathbone more than most - I think he will break out with Harvard soon.

 

[oyvey]

I voted B+. Selections seem great. I was pretty set on Glass at 5, but I like the fact this particular management group was able to land on someone like Pettersson. If you broadened the question to "draft-weekend activity" and the kind of things teams usually do there, it was predictable as usual and a bit disappointing.

 

[timw33]

Definitely a solid B+ on first impression. There was no true trash taken in the later rounds, in the realm of the Morgan Clarks, Mackenzie Stewarts, Kyle Petites, Evan Fullers.

Don't like that Gunnarson is already 20 and literally has 2 point in his last TWO seasons combined. In general I really don't like picking guys on their 2nd shot at the entry draft. Just feel that drafting 17/18 year olds gives you so much more upside.

I like the swing with Petrus Palmu, those are the kind of guys you should take flyers on in last 2 rounds over Junior level grinders and meat heads.

I'm totally happy with the Petterson pick, however, as many have mentioned, it was pretty hard to mess up that pick given there were 3 really good centres sitting there. Love love love love love that we went high end skill and that ruled through. Agree with Brackett that he has a wide frame and will definitely put on weight—he won't be a 220 player by any stretch of course, but 185-190 seems doable. Obviously he'll be compared to Vilardi and Glass, but I think given the full information and context of these players, we made a totally good pick at the time. This is not Bourdon/Kopitar, White/Perron,Virtanen/EhlersNylanderRitchie etc. This is a good pick.

Man does it feel good to have multiple second round picks—hell—any second round picks. Lind and Gadjovich is a good haul to come away with. There were some nice D prospects there for sure though. There are always lots of solid prospects in the top half of the round and we have to stop throwing them away given our desperate need to full on rebuild.

We have to pick more than 7 times each draft. 9-11 picks should be our goal for the next 2 drafts.

DiPietro seems like a good pick. Keeps our goalie pipeline nicely staggered with a 95' Demko and now a 99' DiPietro. However, goalies are extremely unpredictable and the market keeps getting flooded with decent options these days that trading a 2nd round pick might get you a decent one.

All in all, I didn't want to punch by computer screen as a result of this draft a la Virtanen debacle and the Juolevi slip.

 

[VanJack]

It's amazing what you can accomplish when you actually keep your draft picks, instead of dealing them away for guys like Vey, Dorsett and Gudbranson.

So the pick that fell into our laps from Columbus for signing Torts, ends up being Jonah Gladjovich; and the fourth-rounder from the Sharks in the Hansen trade, was flipped for a fifth and sixth rounder.

Early returns from some of the 'draft grade' sites are giving the Canucks an 'A'....even some of the skeptical Vancouver media types saying it might be the best draft since 2004.

 

[m9]

Giving this one a B.

I think there was a missed opportunity to move back up into the bottom of the 1st round to grab one of the guys that fell to the end of the round. I hated missing out on those guys by a couple spots.

Really like Gadjovich, and I'm fine with Lind. Would've been nice to grab a blueliner a bit higher but sometimes things don't work out that way.

 

[Jyrki21]

I believe that the crowd-sourced wisdom of regular schmoes on this board has proven to be considerably better than what the Canucks and their team of Professional Scoutsâ„¢ have done in most years, with the individual exceptions of some hard-to-view guys like Edler, Hutton, maybe USHL players or whatever. So if people here are happy, I'm happy.

That said, it's not really fair to judge a recent draft just based on how much you like the sound of the players, versus a past draft where you can chew out the GM for drafting players who busted, since it's apples to oranges. So any grade should really just be on the approach, and for once it sounds like it was sound.

 

[vancityluongo]

So any grade should really just be on the approach, and for once it sounds like it was sound.

Yup.

Would have voted A- if possible, but given that this is a rare high grade, decided to round up instead of down.

 

[orcatown]

Hard to give Benning a high grade if he blew the chance to get a second rounder from Vegas

On picks

Pettersson - swing for the fences. Glass looks safer but Pettersson has better upside. Skill level is simply better and rather see the team go for excellence rather than good. However, there is a question about him having enough strength and that makes pick a gamble. My biggest problem with Pettersson is that he gets knocked down too much. Critical that you can have the balance and leg strength to stay on your feet. This is something Horvat had from the start and you must have it to play at the highest pro level.

Lind - always leery of late first round, high second round centers. So many fizzle out at the pro level. Still Lind has some speed (more than Cassels at the same stage). Saw him a couple of times and while he was noticeable he definitely didn't dominate. Toss up between and Anderson-Dolan and not sure they picked the right guy.

Gadjovich - obvious choice here. Saw him on TV and he reminded me of Maroon. Don't think you can quibble about this choice but skating needs improvement

DePietro - like the choice. See him as fairly ideal back up goalie and team guy. Seems the type that can come in and, in the short term, play outstanding. Hopefully with him and Demko they have good goalie tandem going forward.

Rest of picks I don't have much of a clue about. Would say Gunnersson would seem a bottom tier AHL player.

Palmu is an interesting pick if nothing else. Some of the later round small, skilled Euros have worked out and this isn't the worst way to draft in the later rounds. Far better than drafting no skill guys like Stewart and then hoping somehow they can acquire skill