Prospect Info: With the #196 pick, Minnesota selects Dmitry Sokolov

[Saga of the Elk]

I meant to post this the other day, not sure if anyone else mentioned it but Sokolov won a few accolades in the annual OHL Coaches' Poll.

3rd in Hardest Shot (Eastern Conference), 3rd in Best Shot (EC), 3rd in Most Dangerous in Goal Area (EC). So some nice recognition for him.

And again he is not eligible for the AHL next season.

 

[Nharris31]

OHL sats for Sokolov

He comes in second for goals,second for power play goals,second in first goals,
Here's the link for OHL stats
http://ontariohockeyleague.com/stats Also the guy ahead of him in those categories his Blackhawks draft pick.

 

[Minnesota]

OHL sats for Sokolov

He comes in second for goals,second for power play goals,second in first goals,
Here's the link for OHL stats
http://ontariohockeyleague.com/stats Also the guy ahead of him in those categories his Blackhawks draft pick.

Yeah, DeBrincat looks good... Damn Chicago.

 

[DANOZ28]

sokolov 64gms 48G 24A 72points is a terrific rebound year. debrincat is an example of what you can do with a 2nd rnd pick if you have any.

 

[Sharppi]

Sokolov and Kaprizov are examples what you can do with 5th and 7th rounders.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

Sokolov and Kaprizov are examples what you can do with 5th and 7th rounders.

Yup. An under-appreciated aspect of the Hanzal trade is that (besides adding another veteran forward in White) he got a pick back. More lottery tickets = more chances for NHL talent.

"Weak" draft or no, it would be nice to have another pick in case a player with Sokolov's upside remains available later in the 2017 Draft.

 

[DANOZ28]

Sokolov and Kaprizov are examples what you can do with 5th and 7th rounders.

everybody in the hockey world knows its much more rare to pick an nhl player from a late round than the 2nd rnd. less picks means less chances to get lucky! (true or false?) kaprizov was a lotto ticket , sokolov was a gift from all 29 other teams.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

everybody in the hockey world knows its much more rare to pick an nhl player from a late round than the 2nd rnd. less picks means less chances to get lucky! (true or false?) kaprizov was a lotto ticket , sokolov was a gift from all 29 other teams.

Check this article out. Past the first round the difference is almost negligible. http://www.tsn.ca/playing-the-percentages-in-the-nhl-draft-1.206144

Kaprizov and Sokolov were both much more highly rated than where the Wild took them, true. And if they'd known Kaprizov had this kind of skill, obviously Ales Stezka wouldn't have gone in the fourth round. That said, they had a plan in 2015 and it has worked out so far.

 

[DANOZ28]

my point of view is A. when your draft / scouting team is hot you ride the hot hand & give them all the picks they can get. B. always one eye on the future. hope & a prayer trading away picks to go 4 it now rarely works. see gaborik in LA yes it did once. ps if i were a great scout on a team that gave away all their picks i'd take my talent elsewhere.

 

[TwiztedHeat]

Guess we could select another Zack Phillips with our late 1st OR we can have a very solid 3C to massively help shutdown Toews in the 2nd rnd. I'll take my chances with latter. We can sign Neal Pionk this year and he'll basically be a 1st round pick.

 

[keppel146]

Guess we could select another Zack Phillips with our late 1st OR we can have a very solid 3C to massively help shutdown Toews in the 2nd rnd. I'll take my chances with latter. We can sign Neal Pionk this year and he'll basically be a 1st round pick.

I like this, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

 

[grN1g]

I like this, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Agreed, but i like our chances to sign him. Decent portion of the udfa's we have signed have made the team or have been given a few games at least, that's going to be a great selling point.

add in the fact that more than likely at some point in the next few years we will probably have to move 1 of Dumba/Folin/Spurgy and besides maybe belpeido he would probably be at the very top of our RHD depth chart.

 

[gphr513]

my point of view is A. when your draft / scouting team is hot you ride the hot hand & give them all the picks they can get. B. always one eye on the future. hope & a prayer trading away picks to go 4 it now rarely works. see gaborik in LA yes it did once. ps if i were a great scout on a team that gave away all their picks i'd take my talent elsewhere.

I think one could almost argue that having a great scouting team is almost more incentive to trade away picks. Theoretically a great scout team needs less chances to "get it right" and hit on picks.

There are certainly some Fletch deals that I've disagreed with like the Bergenheim and Moulson trades (I was probably ok with them at the time because I'm an eternal optimist, lol). But as a rule, I don't mind giving away potential for proven ability when you think you're close. There will be plenty of time for stockpiling draft picks when we suck again, down the road when this wave of young talent is gone.

Such is the nature of American sports. Get good, go for it, fail or succeed, get bad, then start preparing to go for it again. A good front office is able to minimize the bad times and sustain the good times. Hopefully Fletch and co. can do that.

 

[DANOZ28]

while your points are valid i look at it as our gm decided to go for it maybe to save his job. my counter point would be why mess with a well oiled machine that was on a roll? notice how after the trade we've been off our game? i just cant picture hanzal going into beast mode & winning games for us. i've seen enough hockey to watch some teams go through years & years of bottom of the basement hockey. the wings may have been good in the mid to late 90's but i watched them in the 80's as the dead wings! toronto may look good now but they've been rebuilding since 1967! i hope you (&others) can see my point. cheers!

 

[Saga of the Elk]

while your points are valid i look at it as our gm decided to go for it maybe to save his job. my counter point would be why mess with a well oiled machine that was on a roll? notice how after the trade we've been off our game? i just cant picture hanzal going into beast mode & winning games for us. i've seen enough hockey to watch some teams go through years & years of bottom of the basement hockey. the wings may have been good in the mid to late 90's but i watched them in the 80's as the dead wings! toronto may look good now but they've been rebuilding since 1967! i hope you (&others) can see my point. cheers!

this is a team built to win the Cup this season. Next season the chances probably aren't as good as the core gets a year older. This is not a particularly strong draft class. The Wild are definitely in the playoffs and have a reasonable expectation of winning a round, maybe a few. Thus that first for Hanzal doesn't amount to much. He's a good player who can play a shutdown role and score a few points. But even beyond that he's insurance. If Staal gets hurts, if Koivu gets hurt..next up is Hanzal, not Tyler Graovac. It's a huge difference. He also added a legit checking guy in Ryan White, a guy who brings an important aspect to the ice that Jordan Schroeder doesn't. He also added a pick to offset the payment. It's a great trade for what this team is today. The team has drafted well in later rounds as long as it's been in existence. But furthermore the emergence of JEE and Kaprizov and Tuch as legit pros gives the team some assurance that there won't be a development gap. Add to that some decent looking players in Greenway and Kunin (maybe even Sokolov) coming up and there's not as big a need to restock the pantry this year.

And yes, signing a guy like Pionk would be huge to help the blueline depth (they have a ton of contract slots and burning a year to get him to sign probably isn't even that big of a deal).

I hope they sign Sokolov too.

 

[57special]

Yeah, DeBrincat looks good... Damn Chicago.

He's scoring a TON of points in junior, but he is such a smurf! Can he translate even a part of that production to the NHL?

Who would you rather have as a prospect, Debrincat or Sokolov?

 

[Nharris31]

He's scoring a TON of points in junior, but he is such a smurf! Can he translate even a part of that production to the NHL?

Who would you rather have as a prospect, Debrincat or Sokolov?

It hasn't affected Kane or Gaudreau. It's 2017.

 

[Minnesota]

He's scoring a TON of points in junior, but he is such a smurf! Can he translate even a part of that production to the NHL?

Who would you rather have as a prospect, Debrincat or Sokolov?

DeBrinkat has 55 points in 1 less game (63) which is ridiculous... It's gotta be him, despite being undersized.

 

[AKL]

It hasn't affected Kane or Gaudreau. It's 2017.

Debrincat is 5'7. That's not an insignificant difference from 5'9/5'10.

 

[NotYou]

Check this article out. Past the first round the difference is almost negligible. http://www.tsn.ca/playing-the-percentages-in-the-nhl-draft-1.206144

Kaprizov and Sokolov were both much more highly rated than where the Wild took them, true. And if they'd known Kaprizov had this kind of skill, obviously Ales Stezka wouldn't have gone in the fourth round. That said, they had a plan in 2015 and it has worked out so far.

Thanks for the link.
I wouldn't call that almost negligible. Hard to tell a whole lot with data that doesn't have SD and CI included but it looks like a classic exponentially increasing graph as x axis approaches the first round (reverse the x axis). That article links to one that breaks down the first 120 picks in much smaller ranges http://www2.tsn.ca/fantasy_news/story/?id=455673, which supports that (although 5th overall is more valuable than 4th using their methodology).

44% of 2nd rounders vs 30% of 3rd rounders become "low level" nhl regulars. That's just under a 50% increase in probability by upgrading from 3rd to 2nd. I don't love considering a 4th liner and a Datsuyk being counted similarly.
The link above shows odds of a guy taken between 31-50 OA being at least top6/top4 at ~11.5%. 61-80OA is 7.5%. That's just over 50% more likely to hit that standard. It drops off to 3% begining in the 3rd round. Those are big differences.

Still totally agree that an extra pick in the hanzal trade is nice. Lotto balls should be picked up if they're on the streed

 

[Saga of the Elk]

I was kind of kidding about the difference being negligible. Except for this: the Wild have picked first-rounders like Gillies (KHL 3rd-liner) and Phillips (Allsvenksan 1st-liner) and Cuma (middle-pairing Austrian leaguer) while finding Haula, Kuemper and Graovac late in the game.

Obviously the Wild's success rate for 1st rounders is higher than in other rounds and you can't rely on luck all the time, but Sokolov might just be another pick in that latter group.

Maybe in 2020 this team will make all its picks.

 

[Eye Floater]

Not sure how legit this is...

 

[tomgilbertfan]

Not sure how legit this is...

If it's only for a year or two that would be great for his development. Don't think the CHL would help him next season and don't think he's NHL ready.

 

[DANOZ28]

i'd like to see sokolov in the ohl go from 2nd in goals & maybe 20th in scoring to #1 in goals and maybe 10th in points (or better).

 

[Fremitus Borealis]

i'd like to see sokolov in the ohl go from 2nd in goals & maybe 20th in scoring to #1 in goals and maybe 10th in points (or better).

Unfortunately, he'd need to be on a better team for that to happen, most likely.