Kotkaniemi and Hayton in the 2019 draft???

AmericanDream

Thank you Elon!
Oct 24, 2005
36,957
26,266
Chicago Manitoba
Seeing as how many on here felt that most of the first few centers were reaches at the 2018 draft due to the quality of center depth not being as high as recent years...I am curious to see where these two specifically would be ranked in this years upcoming draft. I know, I know we haven't seen enough of the 2019 kids yet, but for a draft that has literally the exact opposite depth at center, where do the top 2 centers taken in 2018 stack up in a deeper 2019 center draft class???

You can rank them just with other centers, or rank these two with all draft eligible 2019 players - just curious to see where some of you would these guys in this upcoming draft????
 
  • Like
Reactions: 99664987

JohnLennon

Registered User
Mar 26, 2011
5,782
1,553
It's really tough to answer a question like this, because I think a lot of value in drafting Kotkaniemi and Hayton was that they were among the youngest players in the 2018 draft, so the thinking was that there was still lots of room to grow off their impressive 2017-18 performances. Their position also being very important.

As you said, it really depends on how these 2019 kids end up playing this year, but I would not be surprised to still see both Kotkaniemi and Hayton in a top 10 just due to their impressive performances (in international play and a men's league for Kotka, and in the OHL and its playoffs for Hayton). Jack Hughes is obviously far and away a consensus number 1 at this point and likely to stay that way. Turcotte also looks great.

It looks like this year will be a stronger draft class, but I don't think that takes away from how teams seem to be valuing centers and defense nowadays. This is all just a guess, as I'm quite ignorant on the 2019 class right now.
 

BondraTime

Registered User
Nov 20, 2005
28,467
23,038
East Coast
Both would go much lower than they did this year, probably be the 5th+ centers off the board at best.

Hughes
Cozens
Dach
Newhook
Turcotte
Suzuki
Murray
Lavoie (Depending on him staying there or not)

Where do they fit in this group (as of now) in a draft scenario?

I'd say lower than Hughes/Dach/Cozens for sure, and then Newhook/Turcotte could be intertwined with Kotkaniemi, then Hayton could figure in somewhere among the other guys.

I'd take all the guys on that list over Hayton, and most over Kotkaniemi.
 

93LEAFS

Registered User
Nov 7, 2009
33,841
20,898
Toronto
I wouldn't be surprised if at least Cozens, Dach, and Turcotte are viewed as better than Kotkaniemi. Hayton would have a few other guys challenging him like Ryan Suzuki and Peyton Krebs. There are some others, but I'm not sure if they will stay at center long-term such as Newhook and Lavoie.

Blake Murray feels like a player similar to Hayton, although he got cut from Hlinka, and plays for a team that tends to be pretty bad.

Although, a lot can change in 10 months. So, who knows where people stand in 10 months, at this point last year Kotkaniemi and Hayton were not in most peoples top 10. So, we may see guys who rise heavily like Beecher and Zegras.
 

Deam78

Registered User
Aug 16, 2017
2,020
1,439
Really hard to say, as some of these players' stocks might really go up or down in a year. Kotkaniemi and Hayton can benefits form their D+1 just like guys like Petterssen and Heiskanen did. Some of the 2019 guys might end up going down in the rankings such as guys that were highly touted a year before the draft.

As of now, I'd say if they were all available in a draft tomorrow that's how I'd put them

Hughes

Cozens/Kotkaniemi/Newhook/Turcotte/Dach

Lavoie/Krebs/Hayton/Edit: forgot to put Zegras
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: HOPE

AmericanDream

Thank you Elon!
Oct 24, 2005
36,957
26,266
Chicago Manitoba
I wouldn't be surprised if at least Cozens, Dach, and Turcotte are viewed as better than Kotkaniemi. Hayton would have a few other guys challenging him like Ryan Suzuki and Peyton Krebs. There are some others, but I'm not sure if they will stay at center long-term such as Newhook and Lavoie.

Blake Murray feels like a player similar to Hayton, although he got cut from Hlinka, and plays for a team that tends to be pretty bad.

Although, a lot can change in 10 months. So, who knows where people stand in 10 months, at this point last year Kotkaniemi and Hayton were not in most peoples top 10. So, we may see guys who rise heavily like Beecher and Zegras.

I think it is just interesting to see these two right now and how they stack up against the 2019 class though a bit more "unknown." As you said a number of these kids will rise and fall, and I am a fan of Zegras to be a higher pick, but if 2 centers that went top 5 in 2018 barely crack, or only 1 cracks the top 10 for 2019, do we say the 2019 draft is much better or that these two kids were just picked too high??

so many variables here, and still early, but from the posts I am seeing, I am agreeing with much of it, both of these guys would not make the top 10 for me if the draft was today for 2019.
 

Frk It

Mo Seider Less Problems
Jul 27, 2010
36,198
14,681
Kotkaniemi would have a lot of buzz going into this year if it was his draft season with the most recent performance for Finland, I would imagine. Hayton was a reach for me, but I would not be that surprised if he took a big step forward this year.

It's really hard to peg where a guy would in a different draft class while using different draft seasons. I do think this 19' class will be very strong at center though. Night and day difference as opposed to last year.
 

AmericanDream

Thank you Elon!
Oct 24, 2005
36,957
26,266
Chicago Manitoba
Kotkaniemi would have a lot of buzz going into this year if it was his draft season with the most recent performance for Finland, I would imagine. Hayton was a reach for me, but I would not be that surprised if he took a big step forward this year.

It's really hard to peg where a guy would in a different draft class while using different draft seasons. I do think this 19' class will be very strong at center though. Night and day difference as opposed to last year.
agreed, and we also view the unknown more positively as the shiny new toy vs what is already known in some cases on here...these kids flaws from 2019 haven't been put under the microscope yet, so they are at an advantage, but you can just look at sheer depth and potential and this draft s clearly ahead at the center position than 2018 was at the same stage..
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mrb1p

G0bias

Registered User
Oct 4, 2007
7,745
5,980
MTL
Right now I don't see how Hayton could crack the top 15 or 20 (was outside the top 15 last year). And this one is loaded with high upside centers/forwards. Kotkaniemi would be in the mix for top 5 but likely behind Kakko and a few of the Cs.

Hughes
Kakko, Turcotte, Newhook, Dach/Cozens, Kotkaniemi, Podkolzin, Byram
Zegras, Krebs, Suzuki, Lavoie, Honka, Cajkovic.
 
Last edited:

Jared Dunn

Registered User
Dec 23, 2013
8,150
2,604
Yellowknife
It's pretty early to tell but I think both will have bigger years. Am I out to lunch or is Frost done with the Soo one way or the other? In that case Hayton will see more meaningful minutes which could be huge for him. (I'm absolutely not proposing he'll ever be as good as him but I do see certain parallels between he and Scheifele at the draft). A big part of both these guys being drafted so high was obviously their position, I think just going by BPA Kotkaniemi would have been 6th and Hayton 10-13, which in a 2019 center heavy draft they wouldn't really see benefit from.

Just basing off their track record going into the 18 draft I'd guess that Kotkaniemi would go somewhere from 7-9 and Hayton around 15. But then again, you're probably going to have some teams in the top 10 that need D and reach to take a guy as I've only seen two projected as top 10 and Broberg will likely be gone by 4.
 
Last edited:

KevSkillz4

Registered User
Apr 11, 2016
6,817
10,945
Just in C's.

Kotkaniemi behind Hughes and Hayton behind Hughes, Hughes, Cozens, Dach, Newhook, Turcotte, Suzuki, Murray, Lavoie.
 

Jared Dunn

Registered User
Dec 23, 2013
8,150
2,604
Yellowknife
Just in C's.

Kotkaniemi behind Hughes and Hayton behind Hughes, Hughes, Cozens, Dach, Newhook, Turcotte, Suzuki, Murray, Lavoie.

Hoooo that seems pretty optimistic to me but I hope you're right. I think Cozens, Newhook, Dach and maybe Turcotte all slot ahead of JK
 

theVladiator

Registered User
May 26, 2018
1,090
1,183
I wonder if the same wouldve been said of Heiskanen last year.

Flawed comparison. If anyone was reached for last year based on position it's Makar, not Heiskanen. Everybody knew Colorado was going to pick D, and most thought it would be Heiskanen. Actually Makar would also be a positive example here, I think he is proving to be an exellent pick, just not as spectacular as Heiskanen.
 

Kevin Musto

Hard for Bedard
Feb 16, 2018
20,746
26,934
Hughes, Suzuki, Newhook, Turcotte, Kakko, Dach, Cozens, and Pelletier are all better than Hayton.
 

Mrb1p

PRICERSTOPDAPUCK
Dec 10, 2011
87,761
53,481
Citizen of the world
Flawed comparison. If anyone was reached for last year based on position it's Makar, not Heiskanen. Everybody knew Colorado was going to pick D, and most thought it would be Heiskanen. Actually Makar would also be a positive example here, I think he is proving to be an exellent pick, just not as spectacular as Heiskanen.
Heiskanen was ranked around 15 in febuary, he was in a similar spot to Kotkaniemi come draft day.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->