RD Noah Dobson - Acadie-Bathurst Titan, QMJHL (2018, 12th, NYI)

[TT1]

Been saying for a while from a Habs POV I don't mind taking him at 3 or trading down to around 6 and picking him and if he isn't available I'd take Hughes or Kotkaniemi

We need to focus on D and Centers and nothing more. Unless Svenchnikov lands on our lap then you take him because he's a franchise player. I have my doubts about Zadina, Wahlstrom and Tkachuk

Everyone knows how much i love Dobson but at the end of the day he's a RD and we have Weber/Petry. That said you should always draft BPA.. i personally still have Zadina at 3 and Dobson at 4 (Dobson plays a more important position tho).

I could see us picking Dobson tho and i wouldn't be mad at all.

 

[tooji]

This kid will be a stud. Kind of sad we're picking at 3 because if we were picking at 4 or 5 it would be a no brainer taking him.

 

[McKappa]

Really wish the Oilers didn't win those last couple games, it really diminished our chances to get this guy

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Dobson with the primary assist on the OT winner vs Swift Current He pinched in on the right side and back handed a pass to a scrum in the crease as he was going behind the net. The puck bounced around and was put in by Murphy

 

[AppsSyl]

I love Dobson's game. Obviously he is not Dahlin, but he is my favourite D in the draft. I think he is going to turn into a beast in the NHL down the road. Big, mobile, high end, two way RHD are tough to find.

 

[BondraTime]

He's going to be a 6-3, 215 lb, smooth skating 25+ minute a game 2-way D. Someone will be walking away with a cornerstone.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

First time getting to watch Dobson today other than highlights on youtube. Here's what I thought

Things he does well:
- Skate. For a big man he has excellent skating abilities in every aspect. Speed, agility, acceleration. Very impressive for a guy his size
- Read the play. Has excellent hockey IQ. Reads the play and easily predicts where the puck is going to make plays on it. Makes it hard to the opposing team to make plays through the neutral zone as he is always in the right position. Also was very good at pinching at the right times and not getting out of position. Showed while he is quite aggressive offensively he never put himself out of position
- Defense. 1 v 1, zone play or board battles he was excellent. Only saw a couple times that guys tried to take him on 1v1 and it wasn't even close. He easily used his speed and size to nullify the attack

Things he was OK at:
-Offense. I wasn't that impressed with his play with the puck. A little clumsy with the puck, didn't always make the best play and his shot didn't make it to the net very often.
- Break outs - Pretty good, used his speed well through the neutral zone but I wouldn't say it was a strong point of his. Pretty good breakout passes, nothing exceptional and a fair amount missed their mark

All in all I'd say he is a great prospect with a very high floor. At the worst his offense won't translate to the NHL but with his speed, size and IQ he'll still be a very valuable top 4 defensman. If he can develop his offensive game and become better with his puck play and decision making he'll be a legit #1 40+ point elite defenseman

 

[Marc the Habs Fan]

Looks very good again so far. Goal and an assist.

 

[Habs76]

This guy is proving just how good he is to the rest of Canada. Plays for such a small market, not many people get to see him, this tournament will do wonders for his draft stock and reputation.

 

[snipes]

He's such a good player.

Looks very polished and a sure fire top 4 Dman.

 

[Habs76]

Everyone knows how much i love Dobson but at the end of the day he's a RD and we have Weber/Petry. That said you should always draft BPA.. i personally still have Zadina at 3 and Dobson at 4 (Dobson plays a more important position tho).

I could see us picking Dobson tho and i wouldn't be mad at all.

I kinda hope we do pick Dobson. Zadina doesn't have enough dimensions to his game, I think that if they both hit their max potential Dobson will be the far more valuable player (as will most defenseman). I also can't get over how "safe" he is, while still having the elite potential of the other top picks. One of the more underrated players in the draft.

 

[CanaFan]

This guy is proving just how good he is to the rest of Canada. Plays for such a small market, not many people get to see him, this tournament will do wonders for his draft stock and reputation.

For fans, yes. For NHL scouts, it probably doesn’t change much. They’ve been aware and seen him plenty all season. It’s a bigger deal here because suddenly everyone can watch him play and it’s on a big stage to boot.

 

[Habs76]

For fans, yes. For NHL scouts, it probably doesn’t change much. They’ve been aware and seen him plenty all season. It’s a bigger deal here because suddenly everyone can watch him play and it’s on a big stage to boot.

Yeah that's what I was getting at

 

[le_sean]

Why is it everytime someone says something negative about Evan Bouchard that his apologists chime in and say “well he was tired and played a lot” yet here is Dobson playing a lot more than Bouchard did this year and he looks even stronger than the beginning of the season?

This kid is a stud and a team that actually ranks Bouchard ahead of him is idiotic.

 

[Habs76]

Why is it everytime someone says something negative about Evan Bouchard that his apologists chime in and say “well he was tired and played a lot” yet here is Dobson playing a lot more than Bouchard did this year and he looks even stronger than the beginning of the season?

This kid is a stud and a team that actually ranks Bouchard ahead of him is idiotic.

I agree with your view on the two players, but Bouchard plays more in one game, Dobson has probably played more in total but fatigue will have a larger effect on a player playing 30+mins/night for 71 games than it is to play ~24mins/night in 87 games.

I see fatigue mostly as a game-by-game thing, though it can have a similar effect when a player plays a lot of games in a short span

 

[LarrysMustache]

His fundamentals are just off the chart. As solid as Hischier's were last draft.

 

[Love]

This kid will be a stud. Kind of sad we're picking at 3 because if we were picking at 4 or 5 it would be a no brainer taking him.

I don’t see why your team wouldn’t just pick him at 3rd overall if they like him a lot. Who says Zadina will be more valuable than Dobson? It’s really not that crazy to take ND 3rd.

 

[Habs76]

I don’t see why your team wouldn’t just pick him at 3rd overall if they like him a lot. Who says Zadina will be more valuable than Dobson? It’s really not that crazy to take ND 3rd.

It's more that they won't, and we'll end up with yet another one-dimensional winger rather than the stud two-way dman.

 

[Hughes Hefner]

He's such a good player.

Looks very polished and a sure fire top 4 Dman.

The mem cup has been my first chance to watch him live and he's impressive. He kinda of reminds me of Tyler Meyers

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Everyone knows how much i love Dobson but at the end of the day he's a RD and we have Weber/Petry. That said you should always draft BPA.. i personally still have Zadina at 3 and Dobson at 4 (Dobson plays a more important position tho).

I could see us picking Dobson tho and i wouldn't be mad at all.

I don’t think having Petry should be taken in consideration for anything draft-related lol.

 

[DownGoesMcDavid]

He's such a good player.

Looks very polished and a sure fire top 4 Dman.

Disagree...

In fact Marek and Sportsnet were saying how RAW dobson still is and his ceiling is the sky and he hasnt even scratched his potential. They were commenting on scary good he will be when he becomes polished in 2 yrs.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Why is it everytime someone says something negative about Evan Bouchard that his apologists chime in and say “well he was tired and played a lot” yet here is Dobson playing a lot more than Bouchard did this year and he looks even stronger than the beginning of the season?

This kid is a stud and a team that actually ranks Bouchard ahead of him is idiotic.

Bouchard was over 30 minutes probably every game of the year. (The claim I saw somewhere was that Bouchard averaged 34 min per game this season.) Is Dobson really playing even more than that? That's crazy, if so.

 

[Orthodox Caveman]

Any chance the Wings take him? He seems to garner the least interest from Wings fans and it looks like Wings are higher on Hughes and Bouchard.

 

[derriko]

Out of the (3 game sample size or so I saw + YouTube + scouting reports) I see a very raw player with a ton of physical gifts and his primary asset...hockey IQ. I disagree with everyone saying he is a polished asset.

He makes a lot of bad, rolling, and fumbling passes to his forwards, but the key is he is making the right pass at the right time. He has a very solid frame, is a good skater per his said size, and plays a great 200’ game reading the play seconds ahead of where it is.

I think some more polish, and he becomes an elite #2 defenseman that is a top pair guy on almost any team in the league outside of the likes of Nashville, etc.

I think Bouchard has the sexy #1 PP QB upside that you want, but Dobson is just the guy you flat out win with. I (loosely) compare it to a Ryan Suter vs. Kevin Shattenkirk scenario. One guy puts up gaudy stats like 60 points a year, but the other one is doing absolutely anything and everything to crank out that W.

After considerable thought, Dobson > Bouchard.

 

[Thebesthockey]

Dobson
Hughes
Bovquist
Bochard