Prospect Info: The 2022 Draft Thread

[Soli]

Third times the charm, one of these threads this picture will be right​

Wanted to get this thread out before Free Agency draws our attention elsewhere. Nothing like 12 months of excitement crescendoing and anticipation building to finally get to draft night and experience sheer and utter disappointment.

Which got me thinking. We're 3 drafts into the Holland & Wright regime. Are we able to glean any insights or patterns into their draft strategy? Here's some very loose threads.

• 1st round mismangement (heh, last shot maybe, it's cathartic)
• A higher propensity to look towards Russians (Konovalov, Denezhkin, Berezkin, Petrov)
• Slightly more procurement out of the QMJHL (Lavoie, Bourgault, camp invite Burns)
• Loosely, I'd say they value goal scoring over other offensive categories amongst their forward selections.

-*-*-*-​

Some storylines going into this draft season...

• How does the pandemic continue to effect leagues and prospects going forward. Are we going to get full seasons and viewings? Backup (bubble) plans? Will this be a more bonkers years than last?
  
  
• World Juniors in Edmonton & Red Deer.
  
  
• Teams are tearing down their rosters to compete in the Shane Wright lottery. Previous combatants Buffalo and Arizona re-engage in an epic losers battle. Does Columbus get in on the battle of the cellar dwellers? Does Montreal embrace holding the Draft and pay the ahem, Price for Wright.
  
  
• Early impressions: Looks like a slight boon year for the USNTDP program, there appears to be a cluster of premium RHD in the first round, and a higher top end than the 2021 Draft.
  
  
• Of interest to Oilers fans, Carter's brother Matthew Savoie is draft eligible. Some early preliminary rankings have him slipping. Maybe if we make up enough slander...
  
  
• I don't know of any high marquee value potential franchise goalie in this draft for the Oilers to ignore.
  
  
• Apparently if your brother plays in the league your soul is already claimed. Conor Geekie & Cruz Lucius, please report to Seattle and Winnipeg respectively.
  
  
• Speaking of legacies, there are definitely more, but I see:
  [-] Twins Hugo Havelid (G) and Mattias Havelid (D)
  [-] Twins Marek Hejduk (F) and David Hejduk (D)
  [-] Joshua Niedermayer (D)
  [-] Konsta Kapanen (F)

Click to read more...

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I didn't pick, but I hope we never stop hearing about it.

 

[ConnorMcMullet]

Passing on Zegras was easily more disappointing for me. I'm not sure how Wallstedt will pan out. With Zegras, it was hard to envision him as anything but a star player in the NHL.

 

[ImmuneEH]

Zegras was a guy I wanted because I felt like he was a potential Nuge replacement while also being more dynamic offensively.

 

[Zaddy]

Almost started this thread a couple of hours ago but couldn't come up with a clever title, and seeing how I was roasted by @Soli for my last draft thread title I abstained

Anyway...this draft looks promising but which draft doesn't a year out? Hopefully the Oilers are competitive and we don't have to think too much about the draft but otherwise Brad Lambert is a guy I'm really interested in. Skilled, dynamic and skates like the wind. Ivan Miroshnichenko is very interesting too, good size with a high-end skating and shot. Right-handed but plays left wing, as is the custom in Russia.

Another left wing of interest is the Slovak Juraj Slafkovsky who is playing in Finland. At 6'4, 220 lbs he's a big body but he also has a ton of skill. He impressed me at the WJC and could conceivably be available late in the 1st round. Skating needs work but this is a guy with high upside. Honestly his performance at the WJC reminds me of Draisaitl when I first saw him in the 12/13 tournament.

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

Regarding the poll, I can understand the reasoning behind passing on Zegras or one of the other forwards for Broberg even if I don't agree with it. Passing on Wallstedt though who fell into the Oilers' lap so that they could trade down and take Bourgault just doesn't make sense. Wallstedt has a high floor for a goalie, he's going to be an NHLer and his runway to the NHL is more along the lines of 3-4 years as opposed to 6ish years for most goalies, it's more just a question of how good you think he's going to be, but he projects to be an above average NHL starter, though is potentially lacking some of the athleticism that would allow him to be an elite goalie. Passing on him for Bourgault, who is a bit of a boom or bust pick in that he has some flaws to his game which may prevent him from being effective at the NHL level (shot power, perimeter game, average speed), and if he pans out he's also likely 3+ years away from being effective at the NHL level given his build and the type of game he plays anyways, and does he even have the speed and battle to be effective in the NHL playoffs because he's faded in the Q playoffs previously.

Who's going to be more valuable in 3-4 years is the question that should be asked and to me the answer would easily be Wallstedt given how the players project. So the risk/reward just seems off to me. If they had passed on Wallstedt for another player then maybe I could get behind it, but Bourgault is a somewhat risky forward pick who they chose at the expense of filling a need in goal with a low risk goalie selection. Also I believe in Konovalov, but that's no reason to look a gift horse in the mouth with Wallstedt either. I get that goalies are hard to project and that makes some people leery to pick them high in the draft but at #20 the Oilers were getting great value in Wallstedt but what need does Bourgault fill on the Oilers roster besides being a right shot?

Anyways, regarding the draft I'm already bracing myself for being underwhelmed by the payer the Oilers trade their 2022 1st rounder for at the deadline. Seems like better top end talent at the top of the draft this year and hopefully with a return to normalcy we get to see more of prospects as per usual.

 

[Canovin]

Passing on Barzal hurts a lot more IMO. Still hurts till this day. I still think the Oilers could have won a few cups already. The league just don't have an answer for McDavid-Drai-Barzal down the middle

 

[Soli]

Almost started this thread a couple of hours ago but couldn't come up with a clever title, and seeing how I was roasted by @Soli for my last draft thread title I abstained

Anyway...this draft looks promising but which draft doesn't a year out? Hopefully the Oilers are competitive and we don't have to think too much about the draft but otherwise Brad Lambert is a guy I'm really interested in. Skilled, dynamic and skates like the wind. Ivan Miroshnichenko is very interesting too, good size with a high-end skating and shot. Right-handed but plays left wing, as is the custom in Russia.

Another left wing of interest is the Slovak Juraj Slafkovsky who is playing in Finland. At 6'4, 220 lbs he's a big body but he also has a ton of skill. He impressed me at the WJC and could conceivably be available late in the 1st round. Skating needs work but this is a guy with high upside. Honestly his performance at the WJC reminds me of Draisaitl when I first saw him in the 12/13 tournament.

I gave you all of Sunday and Monday to pump this thread out! I was curious if it was the abnormal draft year, or cause we had a relatively winning regular season, or what was effecting the number of threads we typically make for the draft. Testing a hypothesis!

I got quite a soft spot for Juraj, would love to add him to the stable.

I didn't pick, but I hope we never stop hearing about it.

lol, I don't want to be bitter about it anymore, but every time I think about it, a lil rage flashes. As Draft weekend approached we get a lot more outside interest and opinions, and I think it'd be cathartic to work through it with this lovely community of draft nerds and prospect geeks.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

lol, I don't want to be bitter about it anymore, but every time I think about it, a lil rage flashes. As Draft weekend approached we get a lot more outside interest and opinions, and I think it'd be cathartic to work through it with this lovely community of draft nerds and prospect geeks.

I mean that's perfectly fair, it's just everyone remembers all these guys that were missed (for reasons at the draft) and not ones where you get Jordan Eberle and everyone else just missed the boat.

Edit: Or Klefa when he was healthy.

 

[MettleMcOiler]

Passing on Wallstedt hurt, but when their was reports (can someone remember the tweet? or source?) there was list of players with character issues and Wallstedt was on it, and I felt after that Holland might have dodged a bullet.

 

[Whyme]

Passing on Wallstedt hurt, but when their was reports (can someone remember the tweet? or source?) there was list of players with character issues and Wallstedt was on it, and I felt after that Holland might have dodged a bullet.

I don't buy these character things too easily. And if a character was the crucial problem I don't think Kiprusoff would've ever played a game in the NHL and I'm not sure about Pekka Rinne either, remembering what kind of a young boy he was at the time of the draft. I do agree with @Zaddy and @Delicious Pancakes and think the Oilers really should've taken Wallstedt.

I hate to say this at this stage as I don't want to seem too negative, but what he's done since 14 (I don't know about the times before that) is pretty amazing. I've seen reports where they say Wallstedt may be ready for the NHL in just two years and while that does sound very early I don't think it's totally impossible for him to make it in 2-3 years. But of course you never know about goalies, but I think Wallstedt is pretty much the safest bet there is.

 

[Zaddy]

Hlinka Gretzky Cup is going on right now with Sweden - USA and Switzerland - Russia coming up in 20 minutes.

2023 phenom Matvey Michkov didn't waste any time in the first game and recorded 2+2.

Juraj Slafkovsky had 1+1.

For the Swedes Liam Öhgren (son of Andreas Öhgren who trains players like Nicklas Bäckström, Jesper Bratt, Alexander Holtz and others) was 2+0. Noah Östlund, a top prospect, had an assist.

 

[Zaddy]

The 2022 NHL Draft top 24 prospects: Shane Wright leads Corey Pronman's list

Corey Pronman's early 2022 list.

Top 10:
1. Shane Wright
2. Ivan Miroshnichenko
3. Danila Yurov
4. Brad Lambert
5. David Jiricek
6. Juraj Slafkovsky
7. Matthew Savoie
8. Conor Geekie
9. Logan Cooley
10. Simon Nemec

Quotes on Slafkovsky and Savoie:

Slafkovsky was quite good in the Finnish junior league, but it was his play at the world juniors and world championships that really stood out. He didn’t record a point at either event, but you can clearly see the top-prospect toolkit in him. He’s 6-foot-4 with a ton of skill and offensive instincts. He’s not an explosive skater, but he skates well for the size and competes well enough to win battles and play reasonable minutes at those major events at such a young age.

Savoie spent the entire season in Dubuque due to the WHL’s delayed start where he scored at a significant clip for a 16-year-old with 21 goals and 38 points in 34 games. With the puck on his stick he stands out. Savoie is full of skill, creativity and has high-end vision. He’s the kind of player you want running a power play due to his vision while also having a mid-range shot threat. The questions on Savoie will be his size and skating. He competes well and can PK, but for his frame he’s a good but not great skater, which will be a question for his pro projection.

 

[Canovin]

Any stud goalie prospect in this year's draft? I don't know anyone in this draft except for Wright and Savoie

 

[Canovin]

In hindsight, the player we shouldn't have passed up wasn't Zegras but Knight. Now he looks like he's going to be stud #1.

 

[MessierII]

I liked caufeild more than Zegras and still do.

 

[McDoused]

Probably in the minority but I wouldn't trade our 1st this year. This sounds like one of the best drafts since McDavids.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Not going to pay much attention with this draft as I think we will drafting well into the bottom half. I’ll check in again in about 11 months or so to see who we should be passing on this time.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

Broberg covers the bet with North American organizational development and Dave Manson finishing school. The future of Oilers 2LD becomes clearer. Objects are closer than they appear.

Oilers trade first round pick for a sub 30 goaltender as a critical weakness in any hope to become a legitimate Cup contender. (??)

SaskaFinn Brad Lambert locks in as a future stud player going 2nd overall.

 

[MettleMcOiler]

I'm going to predict we will be picking a RD next year and Tristan Luneau will be the candidate for our pick.

 

[Soli]

Wright the clear-cut top choice in McKenzie's first 2022 Draft Ranking

 

[Pass the Saitl Sauce]

Passing on zegras hurt more, but having quality D depth is never a bad thing.

2021 draft I wanted Cossa more so than wallstedt so my disappointment was more that he wasn’t available, happy with bourgault.

 

[Pass the Saitl Sauce]

Anyone interested Connor bedard 2023 is about to start on tv CBC

 

[MessierII]

Passing on zegras hurt more, but having quality D depth is never a bad thing.

2021 draft I wanted Cossa more so than wallstedt so my disappointment was more that he wasn’t available, happy with bourgault.

Personally I was more upset we passed on caufeild than zegras

 

[nafrelio]

This is the point in the season where (again) I reluctantly start thinking about the "next one" to distract me from the perpetual failure of this team.

Didn't think it was possible early on this season, but we conceivably can miss the playoffs again this year. Not looking like we'll be drafting in the #32 range. I think EDM will trade their first rounder this year to upgrade in goal and on defense, but if they don't, who should we be looking at? Outside of a significant turn around or a lottery win, I anticipate drafting in the middle of the pack (15-20). Who's in this range that we should target? Looks like our forward prospects are a relative strength. Any good dmen coming up?


About that lottery win...

#hesourboysavoie
#feelswrongbutwegetwright