The Never-Too-Early 2019 NHL Entry Draft - Were not picking at 31

[WTFMAN99]

My weekly plug for Kaedan Korczak

 

[Kiwi]

Yes, but for instance if we drafted Knight.
He could play the next 3 seasons in the NCAA. In three years time, who knows where Woll/Scott will be (if they are still on our team)

Again, I am not a fan of using a high pick on goalies, most of the time. But Knight/Jones/Wolf are truly high quality goalies that could be deserving of a 1st round choice.

Unless there something really special I wouldn't take one in the first, maybe in the 2nd round if your picking late 50's but not in the first, not this lot anyway

 

[Bloomberg]

Moritz Seider seems interesting

 

[Prodigy MayD]

Moritz Seider seems interesting

He seems like the wild-card. Some people have him as a top 5-10 pick. Others have him as a late first.

I think his defensive game is solid, playing in the DEL as 17yr old is a fairly significant feat.
His offense has been questioned, but after destroyed the WJCu20 d1 you could argue he has a strong offense among peers.

Plus he has that Babcock favourite "6'4 everyday" and another RHD would be mint for the Buds.

 

[WilliamNylander]

Lots of good D will be on our plate at the draft.

Would be nice if Kyle could go back to Sweden again with another D this year. Victor Soderstrom looks like an interesting prospect to keep eyes on.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

He seems like the wild-card. Some people have him as a top 5-10 pick. Others have him as a late first.

I think his defensive game is solid, playing in the DEL as 17yr old is a fairly significant feat.
His offense has been questioned, but after destroyed the WJCu20 d1 you could argue he has a strong offense among peers.

Plus he has that Babcock favourite "6'4 everyday" and another RHD would be mint for the Buds.

The Leafs have spent a lot of high end picks on RD the past few years. That is not to say they will not look to dip in there again, but I doubt they'll value a guy higher because he shoots right given our depth. If anything, they'll want LHD more right now, since right now Sandin and Kral are the only guys who do not look like wild cards. Greenway and O'Connell are a few years away, and Gordeev needs to have a good run with Guelph if he wants to end up anywhere near ELC territory.

 

[Maplebeasts]

I think we should target a C unless a much better player is left on the board. If Turcott stays as low on lists as he is you absolutely move up for him.

 

[93LEAFS]

I think we should target a C unless a much better player is left on the board. If Turcott stays as low on lists as he is you absolutely move up for him.

Only list he's particularly low on is Button's. Pretty much everywhere else he's top 15 or so. Moving from 25 or later to top 15 is almost impossible in a pick based trade.

 

[Prodigy MayD]

I think we should target a C unless a much better player is left on the board. If Turcott stays as low on lists as he is you absolutely move up for him.

Note many Centres available in the end of the first round, except for McMichael

 

[Kiwi]

Only list he's particularly low on is Button's. Pretty much everywhere else he's top 15 or so. Moving from 25 or later to top 15 is almost impossible in a pick based trade.

I like the look of that German kid Seider, his size + skating combo is pretty tantalizing, he's all over the place in some of the mocks I've seen though

 

[93LEAFS]

Note many Centres available in the end of the first round, except for McMichael

Also, a bunch of junior centers end up wingers at the next level.

 

[Prodigy MayD]

Also, a bunch of junior centers end up wingers at the next level.

That is what I was meaning, like McMichael is one of the few "late first" true Centre prospects

 

[WTFMAN99]

A centre would be nice to replace Kadri at some point.

Kaedan Korczak would still be my pick, he would bring some elements we lack on our back end. Kind of get a Weber vibe off him.

 

[MyBudJT]

A little off-topic, but man is it looking like we overrated Mark Hunter and his 'drafting abilities'.

2016:

3	#72	James Greenway (D)
4	#92	Adam Brooks (F)
4	#101	Keaton Middleton (D)
5	#122	Vladimir Bobylyov (F)
6	#152	Jack Walker (F)
6	#179	Nicolas Mattinen (D)
7	#182	Nikolai Chebykin (F)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Could have drafted:
73rd: Joey Anderson
78th: Frederic Allard
85th: Josh Mahura
100th: Victor Mete
133rd: Max Lajoie
162nd: Jesper Bratt
166th: Matthew Phillips
196th: Dmitri Sokolov

 

[SprDaVE]

A little off-topic, but man is it looking like we overrated Mark Hunter and his 'drafting abilities'.

2016:

3	#72	James Greenway (D)
4	#92	Adam Brooks (F)
4	#101	Keaton Middleton (D)
5	#122	Vladimir Bobylyov (F)
6	#152	Jack Walker (F)
6	#179	Nicolas Mattinen (D)
7	#182	Nikolai Chebykin (F)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Could have drafted:
73rd: Joey Anderson
78th: Frederic Allard
85th: Josh Mahura
100th: Victor Mete
133rd: Max Lajoie
162nd: Jesper Bratt
166th: Matthew Phillips
196th: Dmitri Sokolov

Certainly not the draft god people paint him to be but I'd say even the best scouts out there have quite a few duds under their belt, especially in rounds 3 to 7.

 

[A4T1L6]

Im hoping on the Kaedan Korczak train

 

[SprDaVE]

Another one of my favourites. Needs to work on his skating, but probably the best release in the draft. Damn good wrist and slap shot. He also has pretty good hands. I think he'll go in the top 20 quite easily but maybe we get lucky.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

A little off-topic, but man is it looking like we overrated Mark Hunter and his 'drafting abilities'.

2016:

3	#72	James Greenway (D)
4	#92	Adam Brooks (F)
4	#101	Keaton Middleton (D)
5	#122	Vladimir Bobylyov (F)
6	#152	Jack Walker (F)
6	#179	Nicolas Mattinen (D)
7	#182	Nikolai Chebykin (F)

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Could have drafted:
73rd: Joey Anderson
78th: Frederic Allard
85th: Josh Mahura
100th: Victor Mete
133rd: Max Lajoie
162nd: Jesper Bratt
166th: Matthew Phillips
196th: Dmitri Sokolov

Pretty much the only good pick 'he' made was Dermott. The rest were mostly Bergman picks, or really high picks that he should have not messed up.

Let's just say I am not sad he is gone. Dubas did not have a perfect first draft either, but he only had a few weeks of full control. Despite that, at least he made a few good picks and has a much better drafting philosophy.

 

[LeafGrief]

I can't imagine that McMichael will fall to the late first. A goal scoring centre who plays for the London Knights? Kid's got a real shot at the top15.

That said, I would loooooooooooooove to see McMichael in our system. He looked like a smart, smart player when I saw him. Scouts say that he has plus speed too. Even if he ends up as a winger, there's a good player there.

 

[stickty111]

Pretty much the only good pick 'he' made was Dermott. The rest were mostly Bergman picks, or really high picks that he should have not messed up.

Let's just say I am not sad he is gone. Dubas did not have a perfect first draft either, but he only had a few weeks of full control. Despite that, at least he made a few good picks and has a much better drafting philosophy.

Also, he made the Dermott pick after Dubas told him to trade down. He might not even have Dermott if it wasnt for Dubas.
All though Babcock did say they were interested in Aho.

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

3. Philip Tomasino - Forward - Niagara IceDogs

Aggressive ranking jump for Tomasino following a strong last couple of months. I had him pretty high coming into the season, so it's no surprise to see how well he has performed following a promotion to Niagara's top line. Since the beginning of November, Tomasino has 34 points (17 goals, 17 assists) in 23 games. That's some of the best production of any draft eligible player in the CHL during that time period. And sure, it's great to play with two players as talented as Jason Robertson and Akil Thomas. But if you watch him play, Tomasino isn't just along for the ride, he's driving the play with those two. His speed and play with the puck is electric. His pace of attack consistently opens ups scoring lanes for Robertson and Thomas. But he's also not afraid to attack the middle of the ice or the crease. He's excelled by crashing the net as part of that trio, and just seems to have an infectious energy level. It's uncertain as to whether NHL scouts will view him as a winger or as a center (he has played both), but this is one talented young player. I can honestly say that I heavily debated putting Tomasino at #1 on this list. Playing for a Niagara team that could be loading up, he is going to get his time to shine and should sky rocket up draft lists in the second half if he keeps up this rate of production.

 

[Walshy7]

Certainly not the draft god people paint him to be but I'd say even the best scouts out there have quite a few duds under their belt, especially in rounds 3 to 7.

hunter went 7 for 7 in the 2016 draft. dudfest

edit: missed brooks, he isn't a dud yet 6/7

 

[Prodigy MayD]

Pretty much the only good pick 'he' made was Dermott. The rest were mostly Bergman picks, or really high picks that he should have not messed up.

Let's just say I am not sad he is gone. Dubas did not have a perfect first draft either, but he only had a few weeks of full control. Despite that, at least he made a few good picks and has a much better drafting philosophy.

Got to remember the NHL average is 1.5 NHL players (that play over 300 games) per each NHL draft.

If the Leafs can hit on 2-3 that is pretty good drafting

 

[MapleLeafs9]

For those that care:

The condition for the 2019 6th round pick we acquired from Dallas for Carrick has expired. Carrick needed to play in 50 games this season, can only possibly play in 49 now at this point. He's been injured and healthy scratched a lot this season. It's now officially a 2019 7th round pick.

 

[93LEAFS]

Pretty much the only good pick 'he' made was Dermott. The rest were mostly Bergman picks, or really high picks that he should have not messed up.

Let's just say I am not sad he is gone. Dubas did not have a perfect first draft either, but he only had a few weeks of full control. Despite that, at least he made a few good picks and has a much better drafting philosophy.

What good picks did he make outside of Sandin? I wouldn't be optimistic about anyone else from that draft. SDA can't score at a high level in the OHL well, so I don't get why people expect him to develop into an NHL goal scorer. Durzi is permanently injured and wasn't good enough for the Marlies at 20. I really don't see anything outside of Sandin to be excited about.

You have to credit Hunter for at least listening to Bergman. He's the CEO of the draft, he gets credit for all the big and small things. Its not like they just gave Bergman a pick, and told him to take whoever they want. He had to weight Bergman's opinion against other scouts, and decide it was the correct pick. Ian Scott is looking like a good pick. Plus, people over simplify the Marner pick, a bunch of places would have taken Hanifin there.