Official 2019 Draft Thread

[Adam Warlock]

How does the rest of the draft look after hughes? Is the drop off extreme?

 

[Appleyard]

How does the rest of the draft look after hughes? Is the drop off extreme?

Kakko is also very, very good at #2.

 

[Dicky Dangles]

While I really like Farabee, it would have been pretty cool to potentially be looking at two top 5 picks in the next draft. That would have made the second half of this season much more interesting. Come to think of it, I already mentioned how Ottawa fans must be miserable about the upcoming draft, but what about St. Louis? Sure they have Schenn (who they're apparently already shopping) and O'Reilly, but they have to watch Frost, Farabee, and this upcoming top 5 pick potentially become stars.

 

[Phillyfan28]

Is the Blues pick unprotected?

 

[RANKKA]

Is the Blues pick unprotected?

no

 

[Tripod]

While I really like Farabee, it would have been pretty cool to potentially be looking at two top 5 picks in the next draft. That would have made the second half of this season much more interesting. Come to think of it, I already mentioned how Ottawa fans must be miserable about the upcoming draft, but what about St. Louis? Sure they have Schenn (who they're apparently already shopping) and O'Reilly, but they have to watch Frost, Farabee, and this upcoming top 5 pick potentially become stars.

Is the Blues pick unprotected?

no

Yes....the pick is top 10 Protected. Edit...and I just now realize thet Rankka said that. Darn double negative did me in.

Buffalo Sabres Patrik Berglund Vladimír Sobotka Tage Thompson 2019 conditional 1st round pick* (STL) 2021 2nd round pick (STL) *Conditions: If St. Louis' 2019 1st round pick ends up being a top 10 pick, the Blues have the option to keep the 2019 1st round pick and send Buffalo their 2020 1st round pick instead.

St. Louis Blues Ryan O'Reilly

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[Dicky Dangles]

Well then, just sucks to be Ottawa, haha.

 

[Appleyard]

Ivan Rogov is a strange one for me... lefty Dman from Russia.

Watched a bit of him this year and he has talent in all three zones. Makes some amazing passes and sometimes his hands are silky. But just makes weird plays way too often. Really nice production (albeit inflated by being on best team in MHL) and was fine at WJAC-19.

If his skating was a bit better for his size I would be less shaky on him. Ok skater, but nothing special.

But it would not shock me for him to go undrafted and then in 5 years time be a solid KHL dman who NHL teams start looking at. It would also not shock me to see him just be a "meh" KHL dman either. The next couple of years will decide I think.

 

[Appleyard]

I guess people remember me talking about him as a sleeper at the time... I mean, he probably only has bottom pair NHL upside, but if drafted he could step into AHL straight away and do a job, and in future will v.v.likely be able to "hold own" in NHL at worst.

If he was there in the 6th-7th I would think about it for sure depending on who was there.

 

[Magua]

As of today, I have commenced my first draft prospect watching since summer.

How does the rest of the draft look after hughes? Is the drop off extreme?

Hughes is a very high end #1, and Kakko is certainly an above average #2, with some chance to even stick at center. They're legit.

After them it gets dicey. Like there's no strong consensus or players that jump out at you -- or me, anyway. I think the buzz is scouts aren't wildly impressed either. The good news and bad news for the Flyers is I think they'll either get 1-3 (win a lottery pick) or 7-10. In which case, they might get a similar player as any after Hughes/Kakko.

Some people are partial to Cozens, and he's a high IQ physical beast, but there's just something about his puck skills that doesn't scream 1C to me. Dach is the other big WHL center, and if he could skate like Cozens, he might be a lock for #3. He really has high end puck skills and vision at his size, but he moves like Couturier. I think Zegras has the most pure skill of anyone, but even he is rather slight (a worker though) and his speed isn't "great" -- though his agility and edge work is. Turcotte is in the running, but he's been injured. Podkolzin/Boldy strike me as nice wingman goal scorers+. Defense is pretty weak on high end ones. There feels like there will be a lot of choice, hopefully a riser

 

[BigToe]

As of today, I have commenced my first draft prospect watching since summer.

Hughes is a very high end #1, and Kakko is certainly an above average #2, with some chance to even stick at center. They're legit.

After them it gets dicey. Like there's no strong consensus or players that jump out at you -- or me, anyway. I think the buzz is scouts aren't wildly impressed either. The good news and bad news for the Flyers is I think they'll either get 1-3 (win a lottery pick) or 7-10. In which case, they might get a similar player as any after Hughes/Kakko.

Some people are partial to Cozens, and he's a high IQ physical beast, but there's just something about his puck skills that doesn't scream 1C to me. Dach is the other big WHL center, and if he could skate like Cozens, he might be a lock for #3. He really has high end puck skills and vision at his size, but he moves like Couturier. I think Zegras has the most pure skill of anyone, but even he is rather slight (a worker though) and his speed isn't "great" -- though his agility and edge work is. Turcotte is in the running, but he's been injured. Podkolzin/Boldy strike me as nice wingman goal scorers+. Defense is pretty weak on high end ones. There feels like there will be a lot of choice, hopefully a riser

Watched a game of Cozens earlier. He took most of his shifts at wing. Are teams looking to draft him as a center or something?

 

[dats81]

That draft should be fun.

They either get incredibly lucky and end up with Hughes/Kakko which equals winning a jackpot or they pick 5-10ish where it should be easy to pick a nice complementary winger, preferably a shooter.
We are good at center with Couts, Patrick and Frost coming up and the defense could be tweaked enough to serve them well.

 

[Outlaw Samurai]

Excited about the draft. Hoping for a scoring winger if we don't get Hughes or Kakko.

I'll pay more attention to Boldy as I've been intrigued by Podkolzin and haven't paid close attention.

 

[Outlaw Samurai]

I missed the US/Russia game with work and visitors when I got home.

Anybody have a comment on how Podkolzin looked in the game?

 

[Appleyard]

As of today, I have commenced my first draft prospect watching since summer.

Hughes is a very high end #1, and Kakko is certainly an above average #2, with some chance to even stick at center. They're legit.

After them it gets dicey. Like there's no strong consensus or players that jump out at you -- or me, anyway. I think the buzz is scouts aren't wildly impressed either. The good news and bad news for the Flyers is I think they'll either get 1-3 (win a lottery pick) or 7-10. In which case, they might get a similar player as any after Hughes/Kakko.

Some people are partial to Cozens, and he's a high IQ physical beast, but there's just something about his puck skills that doesn't scream 1C to me. Dach is the other big WHL center, and if he could skate like Cozens, he might be a lock for #3. He really has high end puck skills and vision at his size, but he moves like Couturier. I think Zegras has the most pure skill of anyone, but even he is rather slight (a worker though) and his speed isn't "great" -- though his agility and edge work is. Turcotte is in the running, but he's been injured. Podkolzin/Boldy strike me as nice wingman goal scorers+. Defense is pretty weak on high end ones. There feels like there will be a lot of choice, hopefully a riser

You seen much of Krebs?

I like a lot of what I have seen. Good skater, nice release, some silly passes, seemingly good hockey IQ... and plays all three forward positions. Which is weird/rare for a North American at age 17, but I like.

He also has very little to work with around him in regards to the team, yet still is always dangerous.

I guess he goes in the 6-10 range and tbh that is where I think the Flyer may end up drafting.

 

[RANKKA]

LEGGOO

 

[Striiker]

As of today, I have commenced my first draft prospect watching since summer.

Hughes is a very high end #1, and Kakko is certainly an above average #2, with some chance to even stick at center. They're legit.

After them it gets dicey. Like there's no strong consensus or players that jump out at you -- or me, anyway. I think the buzz is scouts aren't wildly impressed either. The good news and bad news for the Flyers is I think they'll either get 1-3 (win a lottery pick) or 7-10. In which case, they might get a similar player as any after Hughes/Kakko.

Some people are partial to Cozens, and he's a high IQ physical beast, but there's just something about his puck skills that doesn't scream 1C to me. Dach is the other big WHL center, and if he could skate like Cozens, he might be a lock for #3. He really has high end puck skills and vision at his size, but he moves like Couturier. I think Zegras has the most pure skill of anyone, but even he is rather slight (a worker though) and his speed isn't "great" -- though his agility and edge work is. Turcotte is in the running, but he's been injured. Podkolzin/Boldy strike me as nice wingman goal scorers+. Defense is pretty weak on high end ones. There feels like there will be a lot of choice, hopefully a riser

So what I’m hearing here is that this is either the best year for us to be bad or the worst year for us to be bad, completely depending on if we win a top 2 lottery spot or not.

And if we don’t win a top 2 spot, I really hope Pryor and Hextall being gone doesn’t f*** us.

 

[Magua]

You seen much of Krebs?

I like a lot of what I have seen. Good skater, nice release, some silly passes, seemingly good hockey IQ... and plays all three forward positions. Which is weird/rare for a North American at age 17, but I like.

He also has very little to work with around him in regards to the team, yet still is always dangerous.

I guess he goes in the 6-10 range and tbh that is where I think the Flyer may end up drafting.

Krebs is a tough one for me. I'm upfront saying I've slacked in my prospect watching for the first 3 months of the season. I feel a bit outdated in my information, with most of my opinions formed last season and over the summer. But I did watch a recent Krebs game, and I already had my own thoughts pre-season. Truth be told, I thought he was overrated then. He really didn't look any different to me now. But I will keep watching of course.

That's not to say I don't like him for reasons you listed. He's a "nice" player. The Kootenay issue isn't irrelevant, but in looking at what I perceive are his baseline skills, if he's a top 10 pick this draft (and he was even top 5 in pre-season polls, when things are rosier), I think that's a statement more on the lacking quality of this draft. I view him more as a late teens-early 20s type in a vacuum, although drafts aren't in a vacuum of course. But I feel confident saying I can still find others who excite me this draft, which is an encapsulation of my issue: Krebs leaves me rather indifferent. He's not someone I feel a compulsion towards as a high pick or future high end NHLer.

Krebs is indeed versatile in his skill-set and position at that level (though I'd project him quite strongly as a wing); he's an engaged, hard working player; I see little issue projecting his floor to the NHL. But my main issue is.....is there enough there? Respective to his draft stock, I'm not sure at what he truly excels. He hustles, but I think at his size there's a flatness to his skating in quickness, top gear, and edge work. Even his puck skills feel more above average than great, where -- without the requisite dynamism I'd like projecting NHL scoring tools -- I wonder if he's not more a future middle 6 player.

Perhaps I can make out the faint shape of a stylistic comparison to Jaden Schwartz -- someone whose whole is more than the sum of his parts, with average physical tools -- but I'm skeptical he'll live up to that. Even Krebs' IQ feels "ok," but I'm not looking at him like a Farabee type either. Again, pinpointing actual high end strengths and not average-above average ones has been a difficulty of mine.

 

[Outlaw Samurai]

I feel we have a Kakko in our future. 2nd overall as history repeats.

G/Coots/Kakko
Lindblom/Patrick/TK
JVR/Frost/V

Pretty nice top 9.

 

[TheKingPin]

Kakko is also very, very good at #2.

I’d love Hughes but I’m excited at a high end Fin player. At the very least he’d have more Finnish than this team has...

 

[sa cyred]

100% good with Hughes but just thinking of the potential of

Farabee-Frost-Kakko

Or if we move Frost to wing on a line with Hughes and Farabee...

 

[Rebels57]

Kakkos name is atrocious. Pass.

 

[Embiid]

I think this draft is more like last year. Not to slight Svechnikov & Kakko but I think this is another one player draft at the top. The interesting with Hughes though is he’s still a baby.

Sigh....why can't we suck in a good draft year

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

Kakkos name is atrocious. Pass.

The nickname committee will be in disarray. Kaks? Kaps? Kakker? Kapper? Personally I'm leaning towards Kap'n Crunch but I know the nickname overlords will not be on board.

 

[FLYguy3911]

Sigh....why can't we suck in a good draft year

Well the guy at the top is worth sucking for.

Btw, how great is it to be a fan of the Avalanche this season?