2024 NHL Draft Thread

[Fan69]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

The Liiga would be a step below the AHL. Even the top guys in that league were only low-end AHL players during their time in NA Pro.

Still incredibly impressive though for Helenius to be doing what he is against men in a pro league, though.

To me its two steps from minors to nhl. Playing against men. Then playing against the best men.

Helenius has proven he can play against men.

[HitterD]

Originally Posted by Fan69

To me its two steps from minors to nhl. Playing against men. Then playing against the best men.

Helenius has proven he can play against men.

Well..... I play against Men, so i'm glad I completed step 1 as well

just waiting for my opportunity to play against the best men, but I think i can handle it.

jokes aside, personally I'm extremely torn on this draft from 8-14 where the Flames are likely to be picking.

Lidstrom - C with size and speed
Helenius - C showing he can handle pro/mens game already
Catton - C with best production out of the group, and plays both ends well

Demidov - so much skill but lesser competition, russian factor may be less in calgary than it used to

Iginla - "It factor" like his dad? just really hard to pass on a potential Iggy, if the drive is there like his dad had.

Eiserman - mentioned less for the Flame's pick but certainly the best pure goal scorer in the draft, worth considering even with the defensive issues

and of course any of the top 5-6 D-men that fall to the flames pick would be almost impossible to pass on

I think no matter what, because this draft shows a pretty clear top 14-15 then a drop off, it makes it really hard to ensure we get the best player of the group available to us the higher up in the draft the Flames move. But at least there should be a very good player there to pick regardless. I'd still prefer to try to get a second pick in the top 15 in this draft, as Im starting to really like a lot of these kids.

[FlamesAddiction]

I'll admit that I have no first hand knowledge of any of these draft eligible prospects other than reading what other people say and a few highlight videos for some of them, so I am going to go with the lazy approach and use the Tankathon aggregate ranking for players ranked 10-14 (I personally don't believe we have a real shot at drafting higher than 10).

10. Helenius (C/RW)
11. Parekh (RD)
12. Yakemchuk (RD)
13. Iginla (F)
14. Greentree (RW)

Barring an "off the board" pick, I think we end up with one of these 5 guys. Having said that, I think this draft could see a lot of "off the board" kind of picks after the top 10. Someone like Basha or Parascak for example could surprise I think.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I'll admit that I have no first hand knowledge of any of these draft eligible prospects other than reading what other people say and a few highlight videos for some of them, so I am going to go with the lazy approach and use the Tankathon aggregate ranking for players ranked 10-14 (I personally don't believe we have a real shot at drafting higher than 10).

10. Helenius (C/RW)
11. Parekh (RD)
12. Yakemchuk (RD)
13. Iginla (F)
14. Greentree (RW)

Barring an "off the board" pick, I think we end up with one of these 5 guys. Having said that, I think this draft could see a lot of "off the board" kind of picks after the top 10. Someone like Basha or Parascak for example could surprise I think.

No Greentree please. Bad skater.

[1qqaaz]

Greentree would sound great playing in the Climate Pledge Arena. Makes a lot of sense to me. Might be the purest power forward that is projected to go in the first round.

Hadi Kalakeche - Dobber Prospects - November 18th: "His playmaking shows up in flashes which follow his inconsistent scanning, and the skating holds him back from being able to jump into offensive zone transitions consistently, but the upside as a middle-six scoring winger with power-forward elements will likely see him go higher on draft day than we have him."

[Sandman]

FWIW, Helenius had the the 4th most points by a U-18 player this season in Liiga history, with the 6th-most games played, at 51.

The players with more points? Barkov, Granlund, and Kakko. Hmmmmm

Still quite impressive.

[SuperMatt18]

Part of me wants the Flames to take Iginla...part of me wants another team to take him before the Flames pick to avoid the years of "What If's" if the Flames don't take him and he goes somewhere else.

Plus the Flames never drafted Iggy...he was traded for. So we need another team to draft him, so then we can trade for him.

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by Sandman

FWIW, Helenius had the the 4th most points by a U-18 player this season in Liiga history, with the 6th-most games played, at 51.

The players with more points? Barkov, Granlund, and Kakko. Hmmmmm

Still quite impressive.

I haven't even seen him play, but I did notice that his team has 7 of the leagues top-50 scorers, in a 15-team (correct me if I'm wrong) league. That worries me a bit, that he's just on an offensive juggernaut of a squad.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

I haven't even seen him play, but I did notice that his team has 7 of the leagues top-50 scorers, in a 15-team (correct me if I'm wrong) league. That worries me a bit, that he's just on an offensive juggernaut of a squad.

Excellent point.

[The Fonz]

He's actually 7th among forwards in scoring on his own team.

Again, I haven't seen him play, but clearly everyone in that forward group is racking up points.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I'll admit that I have no first hand knowledge of any of these draft eligible prospects other than reading what other people say and a few highlight videos for some of them, so I am going to go with the lazy approach and use the Tankathon aggregate ranking for players ranked 10-14 (I personally don't believe we have a real shot at drafting higher than 10).

10. Helenius (C/RW)
11. Parekh (RD)
12. Yakemchuk (RD)
13. Iginla (F)
14. Greentree (RW)

Barring an "off the board" pick, I think we end up with one of these 5 guys. Having said that, I think this draft could see a lot of "off the board" kind of picks after the top 10. Someone like Basha or Parascak for example could surprise I think.

Calgary is 3 points out of drafting 8th, so I wouldn’t assume that.

[Fan69]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I'll admit that I have no first hand knowledge of any of these draft eligible prospects other than reading what other people say and a few highlight videos for some of them, so I am going to go with the lazy approach and use the Tankathon aggregate ranking for players ranked 10-14 (I personally don't believe we have a real shot at drafting higher than 10).

10. Helenius (C/RW)
11. Parekh (RD)
12. Yakemchuk (RD)
13. Iginla (F)
14. Greentree (RW)

Barring an "off the board" pick, I think we end up with one of these 5 guys. Having said that, I think this draft could see a lot of "off the board" kind of picks after the top 10. Someone like Basha or Parascak for example could surprise I think.

Wouldnt surprise me if parekh, iggy jr, or both went in the top ten. Iggy jr has pedigree and parekh is setting records so hard to ignore. Question is is who would drop?

To me total crapshoot after the first pick but as long as were in the top fifteen we walk away with a pretty good prospect. Walking out with helenius or parekh would be a huge add.

Still hoping for Catton, to me lindstrom has more high end question marks but i have no doubt he carves out a career.

[Sandman]

Draft Thoughts (Don't Call Him Pee-Wee Edition):

If there was a three-horse race for who will turn out to be the best European power-forward between Jack Berglund, Karl Sterner, and Herman Traff, many think that it's Traff who be the true thoroughbred. Traff measures 6'3",203lbs, and plays both wings for HV71's J20 team, posting 13 goals and 21 points in 26 games, to go with 73 penalty-minutes. His efforts in the J20 earned him 10 games in the SHL, but he was unable to record a point. Traff was also loaned to Vasteras' Allsvenskan team (Sweden's second-highest men's league), where he posted 3 points in 8 games, and participated in the 5 Nations for Team Sweden, picking up 3 points in 4 games.

Traff is a toolsy player, just brimming with potential, but still a bit raw. He skates very well for a big man, with a long, powerful stride, and can cover a lot of space in a short time. To augment his speed, he keeps his legs pumping, and pushes the pace with quick hands and smooth stickhandling. He can beat oncoming checkers with his 1-on-1 moves, and plays well in small spaces, as his long wingspan and strength help him to protect the puck. Traff reads the ice well, and has untapped playmaking ability; he doesn't often throw the puck away, opting instead to hold on to the puck to wait for the right play to unfold, and is capable of making some high-end passes. Right now though, he leans heavily towards goal-scoring, and has a blistering shot with a quick release, and he will shoot from anywhere, but is comfortable driving the middle. He's good around the net, and down low, and will park himself in front of the goalie to set up the screen, or cash in on rebounds. Traff has a goal-scorer's mentality, with the ability to find open space, and sneak into high-danger areas. He plays with an edge, and uses his body well to separate man from puck. He forechecks hard, and is aggressive and physical- he will lay hits, and generally bully his way around.

Traff is good in defensive situations, and reads the game well without the puck. Though he may not be known as a stalwart, he backchecks as hard as he forechecks. If he can't make it as a middle-6, scoring power-forward, then he might be able to earn a spot as a bottom-6, physical energy player. He needs time, but has potential. I think 3rd, or 4th round.

[cral12]

Caught up again...

Sandman's profiles are easily found at Upside Hockey (along with our exclusive rankings in super-detailed mega spreadsheet format)

Alphabetical with a hyperlinked table of contents at the top...

https://bit.ly/2024nhldraftprofiles

We have One Hundred and Effen Five of profiles completed thus far.
(reminder: it's March!)
#mindblown

[Oh, I''l get Traff in with next update probably on Monday]

[1qqaaz]

Originally Posted by Sandman

FWIW, Helenius had the the 4th most points by a U-18 player this season in Liiga history, with the 6th-most games played, at 51.

The players with more points? Barkov, Granlund, and Kakko. Hmmmmm

Still quite impressive.

For whatever reason, Finnish players tend to be very risky when taken in the top 10.

Laine, 2nd OA, has 9 points (in 18 games) this year
Puljujarvi, 4th OA, has 0 points
Juolevi, 5th OA, 0 points
Kotkaniemi, 3rd OA, has 24 points
Kaapo Kakko, 2nd OA, has 14 points

But then some are great
Rantanen, 10th OA, has 93 points
Heiskanen, 3rd, OA, has 45 points
Barkov, 2nd OA, has 66 points (but is he ethnically Russian?)

Maybe something about the Liiga makes it difficult to transfer over to North America.
But I have definitely noticed that Liiga and the QMJHL tend to have a lot of busts.

[devo22]

to be fair, "Laine has 9 points this year" is a bit misleading, given that he's only played 18 games. He's wildly frustrating as a player and has had injury problems, but he was close to a PPG clip the last two seasons.

Juolevi was also drafted out of the OHL, so while an incredible bust, he doesn't really deserve to be on this list. He first played in Liiga two years after being drafted.

[1qqaaz]

Other non-top-10 first round Finns aren't much better:

Julius Honka 14th
Kasperi Kapannen 22nd
Henrik Borgstrom 23rd
Valimaki 16th
Vaakanainen 18th
Vesalainen 24th
Jokiharju 29th
Tolvanen 30th
Kupari 20th
Lassi Thomson 19th
Heinola 20th
Lundell 12th

All these players (with possibly the exception of Lundell, although he’s also regressed) are either busts, depth players, or inconsistent players. That’s a concerning track record for a national program as a whole.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

All these players (with possibly the exception of Lundell, although he’s also regressed) are either busts, depth players, or inconsistent players. That’s a concerning track record for a national program as a whole.

It's even more concerning for the NHL scouting staffs that persisted in picking these players so early in the draft.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Right now the Flames are in line to draft 11th.

I think they get as high as 9th at best, and as low as 13th.

So the team should be in that Helenius, Catton, Iginla, Parekh, Yakemchuk territory.

There's something to really like about all of those players. BPA should be the approach of course, but BPA might not be crystal clear either. In the case that there isn't a clear BPA, I'd look at C --> D --> W (Iggy)

But the fan heart in me would secretly want the opposite pecking order.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Fan69

Not picking a fight here but this is where i sometimes disagree with a lot if consensus.

Yes demidov has a huge skillset but right now its against kids. Helenius is a kid playing with men and is being successful. A lot if the flashy stuff demidov is doing is against equals and lesser competitors two steps below the nhl. Helenius has already crossed to equal or better than the ahl and is looking impressive doing so.

I probably take helenius if both are available.

I don't want the Flames drafting Helenius at all and certainly not over Demidov. Helenius screams 3rd line C at best to me.