Post-Draft breeze shooting: How do you grade the draft?

[DonkeyOT]

Mazur was coached in minor hockey by Draper and Savage is BFF's with Keinan Draper.

Kris Draper has got to go.

 

[Redwing66]

Not going to pretend to know any of these guys. Never seen any of them play. I listen to a lot of so called experts and all of you. Stoked for the way the team went for the guys they wanted and didn’t mess around.

 

[Frk It]

Mazur was coached in minor hockey by Draper and Savage is BFF's with Keinan Draper.

Kris Draper has got to go.

Does Steve Yzerman seem like the kind of guy to you that would employ a Director of Amateur Scouting that makes buddy-buddy picks not based on merit?

 

[Dotter]

Does Steve Yzerman seem like the kind of guy to you that would employ a Director of Amateur Scouting that makes buddy-buddy picks not based on merit?

Yes or No

He seems like a guy that values players like Erne 33rd overall. Mazur was 70th overall. All checks out.

 

[Coach Reggie Dunlop]

I was a big advocate for eklund, edvinsson and Mctavish so I was happy as we got one of them and we did. Then I legit wanted to trade up for cossa, said it a couple times here on these boards and we did that. Then buuium was on of the second rounders I wanted to snag and we did. I wasn’t thrilled about not getting pinelli but we had great value picks in the later rounds with savage who should be a very solid bottom 6 type player and LDN. I give us a B+ To A-. That mazur pick is a head scratcher tho

 

[Ishad]

Like the use of draft capital to get Leddy/Ned. Don’t love edvinsson, but I don’t Rasmussen tier hate it. Loved trading up to get a goalie . The rest meh.

B+

 

[MVPete96]

Well folks, here's our haul for the year.

Simon Edvinsson - D
Some guy not named Wallstedt - G
Shai Buium - D
Carter Mazur - W
Red Savage - C/W
Liam Dower-Nilsson - C/W
Some guy whose name is too close to Cholowski - D
Pasquale Zito - W

How do you think we did?
Last year our prospect pool was ranked top 5 by many publications after the 2020 draft. Do you think we still belong there? Or have other organizations stolen enough good prospects to move us out of that spot?

We also moved a lot of picks to move up and grab guys. Necessary or not? What would you have done?

I liked day 1 but I just can’t stop thinking about how we could have had eklund and wallestadt instead and how hard id be fist pumping if we did. Stevie and drapes know better than me though so I hope it works out

 

[Electric Eric]

Wheres all this talk about Edvinsson being a project coming from? Haven't read that anywhere. (admittedly I have read to many paywalled articles)

 

[MBH]

I think that BPA as a philosophy is the right one to follow but it's also easy to twist.

Do I need player x who plays position Y? Yes. We have an organizational hole there in position Y.
Is he the best player available? Yes. Because he fills our organizational need.
.

If you listen to Draper's answers, he basically said exactly this at one point.
This BPA argument is nuts.

Like, how the f*** do you measure if a 28 goal winger is more valuable than 24-minute a night defenseman?
That's a f***ing argument when they reach their peak.
Now, how the f*** do you measure BPA when they are 17-18?

GTFO.
You can't tell that.

For me it came down to this. Unless you're a potential franchise winger, I'm taking the potential 24-minute a night defenseman.
And I just don't see franchise winger in Eklund. How many 5'10 franchise wingers are there in hockey? Not many. You can't always know if they'll be a franchise type winger. But it's pretty clear to me that Eklund was not the same kind of talent Kane was, for example, at the same age. If he was, I think Eklund might have went 1st overall.

So I'm pretty comfortable drafting Ds and Cs - all things being equal- as long as we're in the top 10.
Because if you hit on them, you can trade them for immense amounts in return.

 

[MVPete96]

Wheres all this talk about Edvinsson being a project coming from? Haven't read that anywhere. (admittedly I have read to many paywalled articles)

that’s what all the scouts have said. guy has all the tools but is pretty raw. Seems like his floor is still high though top 4 d man

 

[Dotter]

that’s what all the scouts have said. guy has all the tools but is pretty raw. Seems like his floor is still high though top 4 d man

Source?

 

[Roy S]

The next two drafts need to be heavy on forwards and, especially on centers. I guess I'd look at this draft and the past 2 drafts together to see the direction everything is going. Assuming they picked well, defenseman and goaltending should be set now. We've taken 8 defenseman in the top 3 rounds in the past 3 drafts and only 5 forwards. But, we haven't taken a center in the top 3 rounds in Yzerman's first 3 drafts. That really needs to change in 2022 and 2023. It should be at least 2 to 1 in favor of forwards over defenseman in the next few drafts. We are also taking too many wingers that have little chance at making a substantial impact, and that also continued a trend from the previous 2 drafts. I'd like to see our whole approach to drafting forwards revamped and to focus a lot more on high end skill going forward and more centers. Beyond that, we just need to get lucky in the lottery next year.

 

[cjm502]

I don’t hate the actual picks per se, I more so hate what we passed on.

I also think Edvinsson has the biggest bust potential out of anyone in the Top 15.

C

Almost my thoughts exactly, C+ from me.

 

[Leadzedder]

I’ll go B +

 

[Henkka]

I think B.

Those 1st round picks were great and they have more influence than all low round picks together at any draft.

 

[jaster]

Wheres all this talk about Edvinsson being a project coming from? Haven't read that anywhere. (admittedly I have read to many paywalled articles)

He's part project. It's in his profile. He's already a pretty solid defensive defenseman. Great skating, good gap, willing to staple guys on the boards. Even shows a little bit of sandpaper. Defending appears to be his bread and butter. His floor is based on that side of the game.

Possessing the puck? Yikes. Highly inconsistent. Offensively, he's a project. The puck is often a hand grenade for him. He often makes terrible passes. His offensive IQ is in question. But he shows flashes. So the hope is that maybe he's more a systems guy, offensively. In the right setting, with the right coaching, he can improve his consistency and flourish offensively. Not a natural, offensively, but perhaps that can be harnessed with the right development path. I don't buy it yet, but I hope he proves me wrong.

 

[Henkka]

He's part project.

Possessing the puck? Yikes. Highly inconsistent. Offensively, he's a project. The puck is often a hand grenade for him. He often makes terrible passes. His offensive IQ is in question. But he shows flashes. So the hope is that maybe he's more a systems guy, offensively. In the right setting, with the right coaching, he can improve his consistency and flourish offensively. Not a natural, offensively, but perhaps that can be harnessed with the right development path. I don't buy it yet, but I hope he proves me wrong.

Agree with this, there has been some skill concerns.

What was very interesting, how Yzerman talked in the presser about Edvinsson's room to develop his skills. If they see this room in him he could be another "German Andreas Lilja" for us. Disappointed people at draft time, because the selected guy is not 100% product, but totally surprised after few years.

Many people didn't see this "skill room" in Seider, and he has turned to tremendous defenceman. I'm quite sure Yzerman and corps see these "development room" things better than anybody in here.

 

[Coach Reggie Dunlop]

On the note of edvinsson, he is a project based on his shooting and cross ice passing (which needs work on decision making as well). His skating, stick handling and defense are already great if not elite for his age/size. He is a project based upon his cieling but don’t get it twisted he is as close to a safe for sure NHL defenseman as you can get.

 

[Coach Reggie Dunlop]

I think cossa will end up being the second best pick to moe sieder when it’s all said and done. There isn’t many players with his size and athletic ability to go along with his confidence and work ethic. To me he’s a perfect goalie prospect.

 

[KJoe88]

A for Cossa alone.

Big fan of the that pick. Edvinsson is smart despite passing on Eklund. I mean, if he and Seider end up being stars our defensive group is set for the next 15-20 years.

Buium is interesting. And if he pans out - that’s just gravy.

 

[Killerjas]

I give it a C-. Weird picks with Mazur going before Simon Robertsson. Red Savage is fine, Buium okay. Dower-Nilsson okay. Plandowski I had not ranked. At 6 I wanted Eklund. Trading up for Cossa is fine I guess, but I wanted Wallstedt more

Zito before Gilmartin, Gabrielson and Bryce Montgemory is just crazy.

As always, the Scandinavian picks are so much better than the North American ones.

 

[HisNoodliness]

Overall: B
Day 1: A

Edvinsson was my #2 rated prospect and a true home-run in my books. Great skater, great size, great at defending and great at carrying the puck.

At 15 I think we could have done better than taking Cossa, but I don't hate it either. We certainly lacked that high end goalie prospect and now we have him so hopefully we can pencil him into the starting role of the future.

Day 2: C-
I don't like the Buium or Mazar picks. I don't know much about the players but their scouting reports read like players In not super interested in. There were some really good players left too and I think with ideal selections we could have set our prospect pool up with some really high end talent at these picks.

Savage and Nilsson are great picks for where we got them. Honestly I like these players about as much as Mazar and Buium but with those picks we left stove good players on the table... At these spots I don't think we could have done any better.

The rest of them, meh, I didn't really have anyone I knew/wanted left. The players sound fine in their scouting report but I can't really get too excited or be too disappointed with these picks. Hopefully one of them surprises.

 

[r0bert8841]

I love it. Day 1 was great and day 2 I can’t complain about. Give it an A

I think some of us need to change our day 2 expectations. Holland used to go for home runs with these picks while Stevie seems to go after grinders and role players. That doesn’t mean they are bad picks, any day 2 player that makes the NHL is a win even if it’s just a 4th liner. I just think the organizational philosophy for day 2 has changed.

 

[FabricDetails]

Pornman gave the Wings a B. FWIW.

Likes Cossa. Is fine with Edvindsson. Thinks Buium has a chance. And that's it.

 

[Killerjas]

I love it. Day 1 was great and day 2 I can’t complain about. Give it an A

....while Stevie seems to go after grinders and role players. That doesn’t mean they are bad picks, any day 2 player that makes the NHL is a win even if it’s just a 4th liner. I just think the organizational philosophy for day 2 has changed.

It is quite clear that we are drafting BIG guys who can skate well. Wallinder, Edvinsson and Plandowski OR guys that are captains with Mazur and Dower Nilsson. Not bad, much better than the pre-2017 strategies (Big guys with character).