2024 NHL Draft Thread

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Yes, which is why he is going at the top of the draft.

Weird, I know

Taking an injury prone player because he is big is how you go backwards in a rebuild.

Weird

[Flames_F.T.W]

Originally Posted by D as in David

Have you got a link or two to these reads you can share?

https://theathletic.com/5435518/2024...024-nhl-draft/

It's The Athletic so there's a paywall unfortunately

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Taking an injury prone player because he is big is how you go backwards in a rebuild.

Weird

They already did that with Honzek

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Flames_F.T.W

https://theathletic.com/5435518/2024...024-nhl-draft/

It's The Athletic so there's a paywall unfortunately

Fun fact, if you use reader mode on your phone it lets you read some sites

[RedHawk12]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Those players are rare and go right at the top of the draft.

I’d rather spend picks on a Johnny Gaudreau and Adam Fox than junk like Keegan Kanzig and Hunter Smith because they are big.

It’s that type of thinking that holds teams back.

The point of drafting big players like Honzek and Stromgren is that you're hoping they turn into Rantanen or Thompson - ie. Big skilled guys that just need to figure out how to put it all together. They have just as much of a chance to turn out as smaller guys like Gaudreau and Fox, except when they do turn out, they are better players because they have size.

[Sandman]

You can’t ice a team of gnomes, especially in the playoffs- it won’t matter how skilled they are, they will get killed. You can afford to carry a few smaller guys, but you have to surround them with some beef. I’m not necessarily talking about 6’5” and over, either. Hockey is a contact sport, and until that changes- size, strength, and truculence will matter, like it or not. Scouts and GM’s would agree with me, look at every trade deadline.

Skill and speed are obviously the most important, but you can’t sacrifice size.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Sandman

You can’t ice a team of gnomes, especially in the playoffs- it won’t matter how skilled they are, they will get killed. You can afford to carry a few smaller guys, but you have to surround them with some beef. I’m not necessarily talking about 6’5” and over, either. Hockey is a contact sport, and until that changes- size, strength, and truculence will matter, like it or not. Scouts and GM’s would agree with me, look at every trade deadline.

Skill and speed are obviously the most important, but you can’t sacrifice size.

The Flames have sacrificed speed and skill in the name of size.

Honzek is different. He’s big and can move with skill, but injuries are piling up.

The playoffs are not as physical as people say. It’s still about speed. A lot of the game is about gaps, angles and good stick work now and less running people into the boards.

Just look at Winnipeg you get a team over focused on trying to make hits and it plays and a team with blazing speed and skill are overwhelming them.

Tampa and Vegas built big backends with more skill upfront and won. Colorado is harder to replicate as they are a special team with the speed, size and skill.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by RedHawk12

The point of drafting big players like Honzek and Stromgren is that you're hoping they turn into Rantanen or Thompson - ie. Big skilled guys that just need to figure out how to put it all together. They have just as much of a chance to turn out as smaller guys like Gaudreau and Fox, except when they do turn out, they are better players because they have size.

Thompson is on his 3ed team when he figured it out but had a 40 point regression. Rantanen is a top 10 pick.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

The Flames have sacrificed speed and skill in the name of size.

Honzek is different. He’s big and can move with skill, but injuries are piling up.

The playoffs are not as physical as people say. It’s still about speed. A lot of the game is about gaps, angles and good stick work now and less running people into the boards.

Just look at Winnipeg you get a team over focused on trying to make hits and it plays and a team with blazing speed and skill are overwhelming them.

Tampa and Vegas built big backends with more skill upfront and won. Colorado is harder to replicate as they are a special team with the speed, size and skill.

You can’t sacrifice speed and skill. The playoffs are about speed, but there’s still less room out there, and the physicality amps up, along with the 50/50 battles. You still need plenty of size and grit. Like I said, ask any GM in the league.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Sandman

You can’t sacrifice speed and skill. The playoffs are about speed, but there’s still less room out there, and the physicality amps up, along with the 50/50 battles. You still need plenty of size and grit. Like I said, ask any GM in the league.

I’ve tried but they don’t return my calls.

I forgot to add. It’s also a heavy special teams league. We saw first hand what a terrible PP can do to a team.

If we had a half decent PP, this team might be in the playoffs.

I don’t see that changing. Especially with a generation of players idolizing the diving twins up north.