Is It Just Me Or Is This A Really Good Draft for Defenceman?

[Hedberg]

This draft seems very deep in terms of defense prospects: Jack Johnson, Luc Bourdon, Marc Staal, Ryan Parent, Brian Lee, Jakub Kindl, Matt Lashoff, Brendan Mikkelson, Scott Jackson, Michael Sauer, Matt Niskanen, Adam McQuaid, Kris Letang, Marc-Andre Gragnani, Dustin Kohn, Danny Syvret, Chad Denny, Oskars Bartulins, Mark Fraser, Jonathen Sigalet, Nate Hagemo, Devereaux Hesmetpour, Slava Buravchikov, Jakub Vojta, Teemu Laakso, Tomas Kudelka, Vitali Anikeyenko, Risto Korhonen, and Niklas Hjarlmarsson. Is this draft very good or is it just normal and overhyped for defence prospects?

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[Jason MacIsaac]

I have been saying this for weeks now. Very deep for defensmen, you may see a guy like Kindl drop to the third round because of depth.

 

[monster_bertuzzi]

Dont forget about a couple of Prince Albert Raiders - Mike Gauthier and Jeff may, who are sleepers to go in the 2nd round as well.

 

[Garp]

And a bunch of good dman coming from the Q : Letang, Gragnani, Paquet, This guy from Lewiston...

 

[kruezer]

Don't forget Joe Finley either, I'm hoping the Flames take a flyer on him.

 

[nomorekids]

it's a nice draft for GOOD to AVERAGE defensemen...but it lacks the high end of a year like 2003. Johnson is the only guy that I think has first pairing potential...and guys like Staal, Bourdon, Parent are on the next level down.

 

[NYR469]

there is a lot of depth among dmen but i question how many future top pair guys they are...lots of 2nd and 3rd pair guys would still be depth

 

[turnbuckle*]

Ssshh!!

I've been tryin' to keep it secret. It's not like the Habs couldn't use a defensive prospect or two.

Nice list.

 

[TRask]

Wheres Hagemo expected to go in this draft? I was pretty impressed with him at the wjc. Him and Suter seemed to be the only decent dmen on the US blueline. I know Lee is gonna probably still go ahead of him, cuase of potential and whatnot, but i liked what i saw of Hagemo...Seemed to me like him and Suter were the only two that werent a liability out there

 

[Brock]

it's a nice draft for GOOD to AVERAGE defensemen...but it lacks the high end of a year like 2003. Johnson is the only guy that I think has first pairing potential...and guys like Staal, Bourdon, Parent are on the next level down.

That's pretty much the way I see it. I wouldn't personally touch another defenseman in the top 10 besides Johnson. That's not to say that I don't like some of the available players as prospects, but just that I feel that, as you said, they are good to average defensive prospects.

For depth its a great defensive draft. For high end potential defenseman its a horrible draft IMO.

 

[Legionnaire]

Agree with NMK and Brock. Saw this thread earlier and was going to post pretty much the same thing. There are some guys that could turn out to be gems(and they won't be taken very early), but as far as most of the ones projected to go in the first round, it's just kinda meh.

 

[ZombieMatt]

And a bunch of good dman coming from the Q : Letang, Gragnani, Paquet, This guy from Lewiston...

I assume you mean Chad Denny .

Another who COUld blossom into a solid two-way D if he builds up his strength is Oskars Bartulis