Speculation: NHL draft - 2014 NHL Draft - Philadelphia - June 27-28, 2014

[Jaded-Fan]

We are barely done with the season, and there is a lot of other news.

That said, the draft is only a little more than 5 weeks away.

It really is not too soon to start this discussion.

And given we have exhausted the other topics on our minds, to the point of speculating on absurdities, this may be a more productive speculation exercise.

I am almost certain that the Pens pick between picks 21 and 22, depending on the outcome of the Kings/Ducks game tomorrow.

The playoffs broke almost perfectly for us draft-wise. We had 109 points, and quite a few teams had more than that, and almost all of them lost. The last is the Ducks who had more points than us (hence pick 21 if they lose tomorrow) and Kings who had less points than us (giving us pick 22).

Are my calculations on the picks right though?

Seeding is determined by regular season record for losers through the second round, then the final four have the final four picks, except that NJ is automatically 30 as their punishment for the Kovy contract.

Here is the TSN draft page:

http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/

Here is the NHL.com draft page:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/newsindex.htm?location=/draft/2014

Click to read more...

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Around that pick I would want this guy:

Ivan Barbashev's Player Profile

Barbeshev is a lanky playmaking winger with a playing style that revolves around his high-end ability to read the ice and maintain possession through good puck protection practices. Handling the puck and setting up teammates originate from strong hockey instincts and helps Barbeshev in his responsible defensive game as well. The Moncton Wildcat forward has been impressive in his board battles and flair for walking off the half-boards wiring a shot on net.










http://www.mynhldraft.com/2014/NHL-Draft-Profiles/Ivan-Barbashev

 

[Waffle Fries]

I was thinking about the draft earlier. The scouting combine is just 10 days away.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Yeah, given all that we have going on it was easy to forget.

Amazing that we may end up with only 4 playoff teams ahead of us in the draft.

Again, if my calculations are right. We kind of lucked out in who lost this year.

 

[Waffle Fries]

Barbashev was someone I thought we should target around there as well. Nikita Scherbak is another. He's a gritty winger with skill. He has good height, but definitely needs to be on close to 30 lbs if he wants the grit in his game to translate successfully at the NHL level.

Really, there should be a lot of forwards with potential around #22.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

This guy is another I would consider with the pick:

Nikolaj Ehlers's Player Profile

"An incredibly skilled forward, Ehlers makes plays at high speeds and doesn’t mind going to the tough areas in order to score. Scouts see him as an excellent complementary player and have even hesitantly brought up teammate Jonathan Drouin as a comparable, as lofty as that sounds. While playing for Biel last year, he even got to practise with locked-out NHL stars Tyler Seguin and Patrick Kane. And along with getting the Mooseheads back to the Memorial Cup for a title defense, Ehlers will be counted on at the world juniors next season with Denmark.

http://www.mynhldraft.com/2014/NHL-Draft-Profiles/Nikolaj-Ehlers



We might have to move up five or so picks to get him, but honestly I would do that. He looks amazing.

 

[Jules Winnfield]

Barbashev was someone I thought we should target around there as well. Nikita Scherbak is another. He's a gritty winger with skill. He has good height, but definitely needs to be on close to 30 lbs if he wants the grit in his game to translate successfully at the NHL level.

Really, there should be a lot of forwards with potential around #22.

I'd rather have Scherbak. He has a bit of Tarasenko's style to his game. You can't teach grit. You either have it or you don't and we're missing it big time.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I'd rather have Scherbak. He has a bit of Tarasenko's style to his game. You can't teach grit. You either have it or you don't and we're missing it big time.

Grit is all well and good, but I want a high speed high skill guy to go on Crosby's wing eventually. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Give me Nikolaj Ehlers even if we have to pay a little bit to move up and get him.

 

[Jules Winnfield]

Grit is all well and good, but I want a high speed high skill guy to go on Crosby's wing eventually. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Give me Nikolaj Ehlers even if we have to pay a little bit to move up and get him.

If you are going to move up with the intent of getting a winger for Sid within the next few seasons, you might as well really move up and grab Ritchie. He's that prototypical Kevin Stevens type winger.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

If you are going to move up with the intent of getting a winger for Sid within the next few seasons, you might as well really move up and grab Ritchie. He's that prototypical Kevin Stevens type winger.

You likely are moving up to just out of a top five pick then. Six through eight maybe.

That is really gonna cost you.

Unless things change you can get Nikolaj Ehlers around 15. That is not going to cost much at all to go from 21 or 22.

And watch the video that I linked, and imagine Ehlers with his speed on Crosby's wing.

 

[Jules Winnfield]

You likely are moving up to just out of a top five pick then. Six through eight maybe.

That is really gonna cost you.

Unless things change you can get Nikolaj Ehlers around 15. That is not going to cost much at all to go from 21 or 22.

And watch the video that I linked, and imagine Ehlers with his speed on Crosby's wing.

Ehlers is currently ranked #11 by ISS and has been moving up every month in the draft. I've seen a few people say he might go around 5-7.

Again, if we are getting a winger for Sid, I want someone who isn't going to let Marc Staal do the **** he did against Crosby this past series. Ehlers isn't that kind of guy but he's got sick skills.

 

[Waffle Fries]

I think Ehlers and Ritchie will both be in the top 10. But if we're talking about moving up, Perlini would be one of my targets. He has great size, but can stand to use it a bit better. It's his skillset that impresses me.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Ehlers is currently ranked #11 by ISS and has been moving up every month in the draft. I've seen a few people say he might go around 5-7.

Again, if we are getting a winger for Sid, I want someone who isn't going to let Marc Staal do the **** he did against Crosby this past series. Ehlers isn't that kind of guy but he's got sick skills.

I don't want to pick Jordan Staal over Phil Kessel again. We do need grit. But Sid deserves a guy on his wing who he can use to bring out the best Sid has. He almost has never had that. I want sick skills.

 

[Jules Winnfield]

I think Ehlers and Ritchie will both be in the top 10.

Agreed. Kassian went like 12 or something because Buffalo fell in love with his grit/size. Someone is going to feel the same way about Ritchie and he's much more skilled than Kassian.

Edit: He was drafted 13th overall but picked several picks higher than he was ranked by TSN/ISS/Redline.

 

[Jules Winnfield]

I don't want to pick Jordan Staal over Phil Kessel again. We do need grit. But Sid deserves a guy on his wing who he can use to bring out the best Sid has. He almost has never had that. I want sick skills.

You call it Jordan Staal vs. Kessel. I'll call it more like Kevin Stevens vs. Marcus Naslund (If I'm judging player similarity).

I'd take Ritchie but that's just my preference. I'm tired of seeing Sid get beat on.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

You call it Jordan Staal vs. Kessel. I'll call it more like Kevin Stevens vs. Marcus Naslund (If I'm judging player similarity).

I'd take Ritchie but that's just my preference. I'm tired of seeing Sid get beat on.

Fair enough.

My only question:

Draft the highly skilled guy, and pick up some dumb ass grinder to go into the corners and do the dirty work, and to pound anyone who looks at Sid funny?

Watching Ehlers just has me salivating at what he and Sid could do on the rush up the ice. So much creativity. It almost wouldn't be fair.

 

[Waffle Fries]

Draft the highly skilled guy, and pick up some dumb ass grinder to go into the corners and do the dirty work, and to pound anyone who looks at Sid funny?

Watching Ehlers just has me salivating at what he and Sid could do on the rush up the ice. So much creativity. It almost wouldn't be fair.

This was my thought. Kind of. Draft a skilled guy in the first round, and in the second go for a Hunter Smith or Connor Chatham type of big bodied player who had some offensive upside, but would be able to carve out a career as a big bottom six guy regardless.

Then I remembered the Murray trade.

Edit:

So we have our 1st, our 4th, Anaheim's 5th, our 6th, and our 7th?

That's not so good.

 

[GFF]

I think Ehlers and Ritchie will both be in the top 10. But if we're talking about moving up, Perlini would be one of my targets. He has great size, but can stand to use it a bit better. It's his skillset that impresses me.

I am with you here, some people have Perlini going at 10, others think he will drop and he had a horrible playoffs so could fall. I think if Perlini is still available when it comes to pick 16/17 then we trade up, wouldn't have to give much to move up those 6/7 places. Definitely worth it!

 

[Jules Winnfield]

Fair enough.

My only question:

Draft the highly skilled guy, and pick up some dumb ass grinder to go into the corners and do the dirty work, and to pound anyone who looks at Sid funny?

Watching Ehlers just has me salivating at what he and Sid could do on the rush up the ice. So much creativity. It almost wouldn't be fair.

You want Sid to play with someone who is skilled and who deserves to be on the first line, not someone who is a dumb ass grinder that probably won't be on Sid's line when he's getting cross-checked in the back of the head as he's sitting on the bench watching.

This was the problem Mario had for years. He had guys like Caufield and McSorely but they weren't always on the ice when the other team was taking advantage of him or doing cheap shots to him. It wasn't until he played with Stevens and especially Stevens and Tocchet, all that **** stopped and he just was able to play his game while those guys beat on anyone that looked at him the wrong way.

Ritchie is a 1st line talent potential winger that has grit, leadership, and toughness. All I'm saying is if you want Sid around and not to take **** like he just took in the playoffs, you have to surround him with his version of Stevens/Tocchet. Guys who are 1st line players who can also **** people up if they cause problems. If I could move up to get Ritchie and trade for Kassian, I would and I'd stick both guys on Sid's line and tell them to truck anyone who gets close to 87.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

You want Sid to play with someone who is skilled and who deserves to be on the first line, not someone who is a dumb ass grinder that probably won't be on Sid's line when he's getting cross-checked in the back of the head as he's sitting on the bench watching.

This was the problem Mario had for years. He had guys like Caufield and McSorely but they weren't always on the ice when the other team was taking advantage of him or doing cheap shots to him. It wasn't until he played with Stevens and especially Stevens and Tocchet, all that **** stopped and he just was able to play his game while those guys beat on anyone that looked at him the wrong way.

Ritchie is a 1st line talent potential winger that has grit, leadership, and toughness. All I'm saying is if you want Sid around and not to take **** like he just took in the playoffs, you have to surround him with his version of Stevens/Tocchet. Guys who are 1st line players who can also **** people up if they cause problems. If I could move up to get Ritchie and trade for Kassian, I would and I'd stick both guys on Sid's line and tell them to truck anyone who gets close to 87.

Oh I get it.

But Christ, just look:



I just had an extremely gay moment watching this guy skate.

 

[cygnus47]

We need people in the organisation that have that drive to win. We've been missing that since the character guys from the cup win started leaving. That and some good wingers.

 

[deakka]

The Draft order seems like it's still up in the air. I've heard all from 21-26. Depending on if division winners pick after the others or if the teams in the divisional finals pick later. Pretty lame if the rags get to pick before us AND go deeper in the playoffs (I know they don't have their 1st, but it was just an example)

Ok. 1st off. We REALLY should aim to grab some more pics in the 2nd/3rd rounds. Fleury, niskanen rights, sutter, Despres, Are a few examples of assets we can use for that.

As of now this Draft are looking pretty boring for us. Chances of us getting a player who will make the NHL with other than our 1st pick are pretty slim.

As of who to pick it depends on who's on the board ofc. But i like scherbak, goldobin, barbashev, vrana, and fiala are players I think may be available and potential steals. Russian factor (even tho they play in the NA) and some of them playing in Europe will keep them from getting picked as high as they should Imo. Not that i trust shero (if he's still here) to pick any if them. ) we will probably pick a US kid with size and 3rd line as highest ceiling. And ofc he has to go the college route.

 

[Farnham4top6]

I want Anton Karlsson


This guy I have played against, Viktor Arvidsson, he should be good enough to make our third line next and he is about as clutch as it gets.
(I am sorry for the disgusting jerseys and the bad music)


Lukas Wallmark, if it wasn't because of his Tanner glass bad skating and a knee injury he has fully recovered from he would have gone in the top 5 last year.

 

[deakka]

Arvidsson are as old as they get in the Draft. That said, he is really good and should be available in the later rounds. I much rather pick him than some ultra project who's years away.

 

[Giskard]

As I worte in another thread, the rules for the draft order might be different with the new divisions ...

I found on wikipedia this NHL link about the new draft order, that is different from the one on TSN:

Entry Draft Order
The order of selection among the Member Clubs in each season shall be determined in the following manner:
A composite of all Member Clubs shall be prepared by placing:
i) First the Clubs which failed to qualify for the preceding playoffs in the order of points earned by each of them in the regular schedule of the preceding season starting with the Club having the lowest points total and followed by the Club having the next lowest points total, and so forth.
ii) The Clubs which participated in the preceding playoffs (but had not been ranked first in their respective Divisions and had not won the Stanley Cup that season) in order of points earned by each of them in the regular schedule of the preceding season starting with the Club having the lowest total points and followed by the Club having the next lowest total points, and so forth.
iii) The Clubs which had been ranked first in their Divisions during the next preceding season (but had not won the Stanley Cup that season) in the order of points earned by each of them in the regular schedule of the preceding season starting with the Club having the lowest total points and followed by the Club having the next lowest total points, and so forth.
iv) The Stanley Cup winner shall select last, thus, positioning all Clubs on the list.

In the event of a tie for any position, such tie shall be resolved by application of the rules governing the determination of final League standings. The resulting list shall constitute the order of selection.

If I understand this correctly, the order should be:
* ANA wins the Stanley Cup
30th NJD
29th ANA
28th BOS
27th COL
26th PIT
* Anyone else wins the Stanley Cup
30th NJD
29th Stanley Cup Winner
28th BOS
27th ANA
26th COL
25th PIT

Anyone can confirm this?