Jesperi Kotkaniemi is the best C from the 2018 draft.

[ffh]

I hate seeing people complain about this pick especially Habs fans. Sure Tkachuck and Hughes are probably better picks for now but Kotkaniemi is certainly the best C from the draft. What do you guys think

Isn't the idea to pick best player available. So what if he's the best centre so far

 

[Love]

Wow. Gotta be the worst draft of all time for centres.

 

[Canada4Gold]

Still pretty early so I wouldn't be shocked if it turned out to be someone out of left field with the weak center crop up top. Is Kurashev still a center? Maybe Emilio Pettersen or somewhere else nowhere near the radar.

KK is the clear front runner now though.

 

[Svechhammer]

Here is the VERY long list of players from that draft, who have played in the NHL. 28 players Shaping up to be another great draft for the D but bad for all other positions

1	2	Carolina	Andrei Svechnikov	R	Barrie Colts [OHL]	173	52	65	117	136	2020-21
1	4	Ottawa	Brady Tkachuk	L	Boston University [H-East]	168	52	54	106	215	2020-21
1	1	Buffalo	Rasmus Dahlin	D	Frolunda HC [SweHL]	162	14	79	93	78	2020-21
1	7	Vancouver	Quinn Hughes	D	U. of Michigan [Big-10]	100	10	68	78	32	2020-21
1	3	Montreal	Jesperi Kotkaniemi	C	Assat Pori [SM-liiga]	137	19	33	52	55	2020-21
1	14	Philadelphia	Joel Farabee	L	U.S. National Under-18 Team [USHL]	71	18	22	40	49	2020-21
1	6	Detroit	Filip Zadina	R	Halifax Mooseheads [QMJHL]	56	12	14	26	2	2020-21
1	8	Chicago	Adam Boqvist	D	Brynas IF Gavle [SweHL]	55	5	18	23	16	2020-21
1	12	NY Islanders	Noah Dobson	D	Acadie-Bathurst Titan [QMJHL]	57	3	13	16	12	2020-21
1	23	Anaheim	Isac Lundestrom	C	Lulea HF [SweHL]	47	5	6	11	8	2020-21
1	17	New Jersey	Ty Smith	D	Spokane Chiefs [WHL]	19	2	9	11	10	2020-21
4	120	Chicago	Philipp Kurashev	C	Quebec Remparts [QMJHL]	24	5	4	9	6	2020-21
1	29	Toronto	Rasmus Sandin	D	Soo Greyhounds [OHL]	29	1	8	9	10	2020-21
1	11	NY Islanders	Oliver Wahlstrom	R	U.S. National Under-18 Team [USHL]	25	4	4	8	8	2020-21
1	5	Arizona	Barrett Hayton	C	Soo Greyhounds [OHL]	34	3	4	7	14	2020-21
6	182	San Jose	John Leonard	L	UMass-Amherst [H-East]	16	3	3	6	2	2020-21
5	141	New Jersey	Yegor Sharangovich	C	Minsk Dynamo [KHL]	17	3	2	5	0	2020-21
2	38	Montreal	Alexander Romanov	D	CSKA-2 (Russia Jrs.)	21	1	4	5	8	2020-21
1	27	Chicago	Nicolas Beaudin	D	Drummondville Voltigeurs [QMJHL]	12	2	3	5	2	2020-21
1	22	NY Rangers	K'Andre Miller	D	U.S. National Under-18 Team [USHL]	18	1	4	5	6	2020-21
1	10	Edmonton	Evan Bouchard	D	London Knights [OHL]	19	2	3	5	4	2020-21
1	18	Columbus	Liam Foudy	C	London Knights [OHL]	14	0	4	4	2	2020-21
1	16	Colorado	Martin Kaut	R	Pardubice HC [Czech]	10	2	1	3	4	2020-21
1	13	Dallas	Ty Dellandrea	C	Flint Firebirds [OHL]	11	1	1	2	10	2020-21
2	60	Winnipeg	David Gustafsson	C	HV71 Jonkoping [SweHL]	26	1	0	1	0	2020-21
2	46	Washington	Martin Fehervary	D	Oskarshamn IK [Swe-1]	6	0	1	1	6	2019-20

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Man how much did the lottery change the course of the Canes franchise by moving them up from 12th to 2nd? The selections around when their original pick was supposed to be are... Rough

 

[Mergatroidskittle]

I hate seeing people complain about this pick especially Habs fans. Sure Tkachuck and Hughes are probably better picks for now but Kotkaniemi is certainly the best C from the draft. What do you guys think

I’ll use your logic which you apparently didn’t apply to you player... sure he’s the best for now..

 

[sansabri]

Well I certainly hope so... he was taken so damn high and the center depth was pretty weak...

there are quite a few deadly players that were taken after him tho that aren't centers that would have looked good on the Habs right now

Kinda seems like an odd thread to make.

I know Habs needed a center man real bad but I wish they woulda drafted the BPA and not positional need

BPA was Zadina and i'm happy we passed on him

 

[Leafs87]

Give it a year for this post, but I take Barret Hayton

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

Yup pretty rare to not see more impact players. We have Romanov might be the best D in the draft some day

I think he already is.

 

[JoemAvs]

Everyone knew pre-draft that it was a beyond awful draft for a center and an amazingly strong draft for D...
And that is exactly what happened.
That on the dumbass GMs that forced picking a center instead of dipping into the great pool of defenseman aka on Bergevin and Chayka.
I get forcing a center pick over a winger given how much more important centers are than wingers.
But if its D vs C, you usually should take advantage of the respective drafts. MTL and ARI didn't.
Now they have Barrett Hayton and Kotkaniemi instead of a Hughes, Boqvist or Dobson and have to live with it...

 

[CanadienShark]

And Alex Galchenyuk was the best center from the 2012 draft.

...that doesn't necessarily make them good players.

No he isn't. Hertl is better and pretty much always has been since they've both been NHLers.

But I agree with your overall point.

 

[nturn06]

I hate seeing people complain about this pick especially Habs fans. Sure Tkachuck and Hughes are probably better picks for now but Kotkaniemi is certainly the best C from the draft. What do you guys think

As it was posted few times before that draft was weak at C, being the best C from that draft means very little.

IMO, if the Canadiens wanted him they could had traded few spots down, get another asset and still pick him.

 

[zar]

Congrats, I guess.

Might be a bit early but, honestly, all that is really saying is it was a crappy draft year and most especially for Dmen.

This is the reason I say that you should never limit the number of #1OA picks... every draft year is not the same.

I will point you to the 2012 entry draft as a prime example.

 

[sansabri]

Everyone knew pre-draft that it was a beyond awful draft for a center and an amazingly strong draft for D...
And that is exactly what happened.
That on the dumbass GMs that forced picking a center instead of dipping into the great pool of defenseman aka on Bergevin and Chayka.
I get forcing a center pick over a winger given how much more important centers are than wingers.
But if its D vs C, you usually should take advantage of the respective drafts. MTL and ARI didn't.
Now they have Barrett Hayton and Kotkaniemi instead of a Hughes, Boqvist or Dobson and have to live with it...

woe is us. all we have to show for it is Romanov

 

[Jumptheshark]

bad draft year. Lots of good D one or two good FWD but not many to write home about

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I’ll never understand why they reached and passed on Tkachuk.

Seemed like a case of drafting for need rather than BPA.

 

[Steven Toast]

Its way too early to say which C will be best from that draft. In 5 years time we will have a better idea.

 

[Voight]

Never agreed with the hype. He simply isn’t that good. Habs do a terrible job developing their young guys. He should have been in Laval all of last year.

He was rushed to the NHL. Fan pressure probably had a part in that.

 

[FractionTwo]

I think he already is.

nah, bouchard and dobson are the best ones. romanov got a lot of time to do before he becomes the best defenseman out of an incredibly heavy defenseman draft

 

[IceKitties]

This thread did NOT go as the OP was hoping lol

 

[canuckking1]

He has 5 points in 17 games against teams not named Vancouver. This guy is barely an NHLer if we're being honest.

 

[canuckking1]

Yup pretty rare to not see more impact players. We have Romanov might be the best D in the draft some day

Dahlin
Hughes
Smith
Dobson
Boqvist
Miller

so far have all been better than Romanov. I seriously doubt he becomes the best D in the draft might not even be top 5.

 

[CallMeShaft]

Still pretty early so I wouldn't be shocked if it turned out to be someone out of left field with the weak center crop up top. Is Kurashev still a center? Maybe Emilio Pettersen or somewhere else nowhere near the radar.

KK is the clear front runner now though.

Kurashev has played about half the games as a center this season. The other times he's been at wing just because he moves to wing better than some other guys.

 

[SenzZen]

This is the reason you take bpa.

Came here to post this.

That way you don’t need to come up with these qualifiers.

 

[Karl Eriksson]

That’s like a restaurant bragging that they have the best poutine in Morocco.

 

[ICanMotteBelieveIt]

K'Andre Miller has been amazing so far. Crazy to think he was picked so late. Him and Romanov both look amazing.