Pre-Game Talk: The 2019 Pre-Draft Discussion Thread

[TheDaysOf 04]

Craig Button's Final Rankings



Some players Button has ranked between 25-30:

25. Victor Soderstrom
D | Brynas (SHL) | 6'0 | 182 lbs. | Feb. 26, 2001 | Last Rank: 20
- Only U-18 player to have regular role in Swedish League this season

26. Moritz Seider
D | Mannheim (DEL) | 6'3 | 208 lbs. | Apr. 6, 2001 | Last Rank: 30
- German Elite League rookie of year played most of season as 17-year-old

27. Tobias Bjornfot
D | Djurgardens (J20) | 6'0 1/4 | 193 lbs. | Apr. 6, 2001 | Last Rank: 23
- Captained Sweden to gold medal performance at 2019 World U-18 Tournament

28. Nicholas Robertson
LW | Peterborough (OHL) | 5'8 3/4 | 162 lbs. | Sept. 11, 2001 | Last Rank: 26
- Point-a-game player voted East Conference’s best stickhandler in OHL Coaches Poll

29. Ryan Suzuki
C | Barrie (OHL) | 6'0 3/4 | 180 lbs. | May 28, 2001 | Last Rank: 28
- 2017 OHL No. 1 pick tied for Hlinka Gretzky Cup lead in assists with 7 in 5 games

30. Brett Leason
RW | Prince Albert (WHL) | 6'4 | 210 lbs. | Apr. 30, 1999 | Last Rank: 31
- 20-year-old with 89 points in 55 games ranks as oldest elite prospect in draft


Samuel Poulin, who had the most votes in the team board mock poll is ranked 52nd by Craig Button

edit: a comparison to ISS, FutureConsiderations, TheHockeyNews, McKeens, and HockeyProspect who have also released their final rankings this week

	Craig Button	FC	ISS	THN	McKeens	HP
25th	Soderstrom	Lavoie	Poulin	McMichael	Johnson	Lavoie
26th	Seider	Dorofeyev	Korczak	Pelletier	Johansson	Suzuki
27th	Bjornfot	McMichael	Bjornfot	Leason	Mastrosimone	Dorofeyev
28th	N. Robertson	Leason	Nikolayev	Hoglander	McMichael	Thomson
29th	Suzuki	Hoglander	Leason	Johnson	M. Robertson	Helleson
30th	Leason	Kaliyev	Rees	Kolyachonok	Beecher	Bjornfot

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

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[ccman68]

https://theprovince.com/sports/hock...t-could-change-top-10-selections-in-nhl-draft

If Krebs drops a bit I would love to trade up to get him. He is very much our type of player.

 

[ccman68]

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

 

[Frank JT]

HI! I'm a Canadiens fan and I'm asking other teams fans what are the first need you have to adress with your first pick. The Canadiens needs to find a winger (powerforward or goal scorer) and secondly, a top4 D. Cheers!

 

[Cmac66]

My ideal pick would be Thomas Harley, however he will be picked around the 15-20 pick. Wouldn’t mind moving Miller for us to get a pick within that range. If not then Tobias bjornfot would be a solid pick up for us.

 

[God King Fudge]

I'd love Seider if we stay at 27, but I don't see him lasting quite that long.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

 

[DistantThunderRep]

I'd love Seider if we stay at 27, but I don't see him lasting quite that long.

I'd be more than willing to make a trade to move up a few spots to try to grab him if he his still available. No chance this trade could go down but imagine someone like Vegas would do

Miller + 27

For

17 + 82

Then then try to move one of the thirds to try to move Cally's contract. All predicated on Seider being there at 17 obviously. I can see him going anywhere from 15-25.

 

[HoseEmDown]

My ideal pick would be Thomas Harley, however he will be picked around the 15-20 pick. Wouldn’t mind moving Miller for us to get a pick within that range. If not then Tobias bjornfot would be a solid pick up for us.

Harley is going top 10. He's the 2nd best defender in this draft to me. No way we can move up enough to grab him. Bjornfot should be there at 27 or close to it see him as a 25-30 pick. I think a sneaky pick for us might be Kolyachonok out of Flint. Fits our drafting style of OHL defenders who have good size, skating and play a solid two way game. He's kinda Koekkoek offensively and Masin defensively.

 

[Rschmitz]

Harley is going top 10. He's the 2nd best defender in this draft to me. No way we can move up enough to grab him. Bjornfot should be there at 27 or close to it see him as a 25-30 pick. I think a sneaky pick for us might be Kolyachonok out of Flint. Fits our drafting style of OHL defenders who have good size, skating and play a solid two way game. He's kinda Koekkoek offensively and Masin defensively.

I've seen most sources projecting Harley to go in the 15-20 range. What makes you think he is going top 10?

 

[Cmac66]

Harley is going top 10. He's the 2nd best defender in this draft to me. No way we can move up enough to grab him. Bjornfot should be there at 27 or close to it see him as a 25-30 pick. I think a sneaky pick for us might be Kolyachonok out of Flint. Fits our drafting style of OHL defenders who have good size, skating and play a solid two way game. He's kinda Koekkoek offensively and Masin defensively.

I will be surprised if Harley goes that quick I have other players going before him. He is one of them players this year were he should go within the 15-20 pick he may sneak in the 10-15 spot but I can’t see him going that high. Kolyachonok I feel would be there in the 2nd round.

 

[HoseEmDown]

I've seen most sources projecting Harley to go in the 15-20 range. What makes you think he is going top 10?

He's 6'3 190 and not even 18 yet. He's a really good skater, very good offensive ability, can QB a PP and is solid defensively. Like most offensive defenders at his age he can improve his defensive play but he isn't a disaster there like some kids can be. As he fills out he should also become more physical which will help him there. He's a Cam Fowler type. A Sergachev with some passion and intensity.

 

[HoseEmDown]

I will be surprised if Harley goes that quick I have other players going before him. He is one of them players this year were he should go within the 15-20 pick he may sneak in the 10-15 spot but I can’t see him going that high. Kolyachonok I feel would be there in the 2nd round.

It just depends on how teams are picking. There's a lot of teams looking for forwards so he could drop because of that. If Byram goes 3rd to Chicago that could also push a team to jump on a D earlier. Colorado could use a LD in the system but won't take him 4th, LA needs everything but 5th is early. Detroit needs a lot but with Larkin and Mantha might look for D because they're thin there. Buffalo just took Dahlin so probably go forward at 7 then maybe D at 31 but Dahlin and Harley would be a killer left side going forward. Edmonton could move the pick for immediate help and the team picking could need a D, if Edmonton picks they probably go forward. Anaheim has some LD but might be looking to move Fowler and Harley would be a great replacement. Vancouver has Hughes and Juolevi but at 10 he might be the BPA.

Where in the 2nd do you see Kolyachonok going? He might fall there but the early 30's only, he won't last to the 40's.

My top 10 D

1. Byram
2. Harley
3. Broberg
4. Seider
5. York
6. Soderstrom
7. Kolyachonok
8. Heinola
9. Bjornfot
10. Johnson

 

[Rschmitz]

He's 6'3 190 and not even 18 yet. He's a really good skater, very good offensive ability, can QB a PP and is solid defensively. Like most offensive defenders at his age he can improve his defensive play but he isn't a disaster there like some kids can be. As he fills out he should also become more physical which will help him there. He's a Cam Fowler type. A Sergachev with some passion and intensity.

Why do you think he will be picked before Broberg?

 

[HoseEmDown]

Why do you think he will be picked before Broberg?

They're similar sized kids with similar skill sets. Broberg has been showcased more internationally while Harley hasn't really yet. Harley put up pretty big numbers in the CHL while Broberg didn't flash as much when against men in Sweden but has in those international tournaments. It's really about preference. Broberg is your typical Swedish D with more skill while Harley is more north American with a bit more physicality. Broberg probably goes first since he is more well known and has been ranked higher leading up to this draft year. I just.like the way Harley is trending.

 

[Cmac66]

It just depends on how teams are picking. There's a lot of teams looking for forwards so he could drop because of that. If Byram goes 3rd to Chicago that could also push a team to jump on a D earlier. Colorado could use a LD in the system but won't take him 4th, LA needs everything but 5th is early. Detroit needs a lot but with Larkin and Mantha might look for D because they're thin there. Buffalo just took Dahlin so probably go forward at 7 then maybe D at 31 but Dahlin and Harley would be a killer left side going forward. Edmonton could move the pick for immediate help and the team picking could need a D, if Edmonton picks they probably go forward. Anaheim has some LD but might be looking to move Fowler and Harley would be a great replacement. Vancouver has Hughes and Juolevi but at 10 he might be the BPA.

Where in the 2nd do you see Kolyachonok going? He might fall there but the early 30's only, he won't last to the 40's.

My top 10 D

1. Byram
2. Harley
3. Broberg
4. Seider
5. York
6. Soderstrom
7. Kolyachonok
8. Heinola
9. Bjornfot
10. Johnson

I think the top 10 kind of speaks for itself may get the odd surprise. I have players like York going within the 10-15 bracket hence why I had Harley going 15-20 I know he was projected to be a late first round pick but he has had a solid season.

As for Kolyachonok I have him going early in the 2nd. Will go around when Foote get chosen should be In the first 10 picks in the 2nd round.

 

[HoseEmDown]

I think the top 10 kind of speaks for itself may get the odd surprise. I have players like York going within the 10-15 bracket hence why I had Harley going 15-20 I know he was projected to be a late first round pick but he has had a solid season.

As for Kolyachonok I have him going early in the 2nd. Will go around when Foote get chosen should be In the first 10 picks in the 2nd round.

I like York but give me the 6'3 kid who can do just about the same offensively with a slightly better defensive game. To me York is Ellis and Harley is Josi. Both really good players but Harley has a bit more upside.

I can see Kolyachonok jumping into the late 1st. There's about 15 forwards who are clumped together in that 25-45 range but just 4-5 D, Bjornfot, Kolyachonok, Robertson, Johnson and Vlasic. So I think the drop-off from those D is bigger than the forwards and you may see a run on D late 1st because of that.

 

[Bandit Keith]

I've watched quite a lot of MHL games this year so here's some guys I could see as being options with our first.

1. Pavel Dorofeyev: Honestly I don't think he should be available with our pick but I've seen him ranked around where we've been picking so I'll talk a little about him. He's a very dynamic player, great shot, great passer, he is pretty decent defensively and he protects the puck fairly well albeit against Junior players. Stylistically he reminds me a bit of Pettersson.
2. Yegor Spiridonov: He's a big right handed centre that does everything very well, it's just a question of how much offensive potential is there, similar to how Brett Howden was viewed. I also think Dorofeyev benefited a lot from having Spiridonov as his Centre as it was Spiridonov doing a lot of the heavy lifting like digging pucks out of corners offensively and defensively, driving to the net, and being the first guy back defensively etc etc. He also seems to really put in the effort when it comes the the little details in the game like face-offs, talking often with his line-mates about plays, and so on.
3. Ilya Nikolayev: Similar player to Spiridonov, but I think Nikolayev has better hands and is a better skater, however he is a couple inches smaller and lacks some of Spiridonov's attention to detail. The point totals are a little misleading with him as his team has much more depth than every team in the league barring SKA so his ice-time is on average 4 minutes less than Spiridonov or Dorofeyev.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Chris Peter's favorite under the radar prospect:

"There's a lot of guys that could kind of fit that bill where I don't know that everybody loves them but I like them a lot. I think one of the guys is Alex Vlasic from the (US) NTDP. He did not have amazing offensive numbers but he's a 6'6" defenseman, plays a NHL style game, very mobile at that size, he skates extremely well, has good vision. He doesn't have dynamic puck skills, but what he does have is the ability to read plays, make a good pass, make good reads defensively and offensively, he's got a really good shot when he lets it go, I'd love for him to shoot more. He's got some tools there, but he hasn't really taped into his full potential yet and that's one of the reasons I think that he's a guy that very well could make a pretty steady jump in the next few years where he develops at Boston University and has an opportunity to round out his game, bring more offensive skill to the table. He's a guy that could go in the first round, maybe second round. He's kind of one of those guys who's up in the air. But when you have that size and that mobility, and just the base of tools he has, hes one of those guys I believe could be a great value pick in the late first round or early second."

 

[Frank JT]

Hi! What do you think is the first need before the next draft?
RW, C, LW, LD, RD, G?

 

[Rschmitz]

Hi! What do you think is the first need before the next draft?
RW, C, LW, LD, RD, G?

BPA

 

[Frank JT]

BPA

You don't need players with grit and size? Are you sure?

 

[Rschmitz]

You don't need players with grit and size? Are you sure?

Not in the minors, no

 

[DFC]

Big thanks to you guys who follow this closely and are posting for those of us not so knowledgeable.