As with everyone else, would obviously be thrilled with any of Celebrini, Demidov, Catton, Iginla, Yakemchuk, Parekh, Buium, Dickinson or Lindstrom.
Just an uncommon opinion, and not that they would be available at our spot, but I have doubts about a few players in the top 10, particularly Artyom Levshunov. I've really tried hard to see what is so special about Artyom Levshunov, because he's consistently ranked so highly. I mean he skates well and seems to have an impressive build, but that sportsnet article has him ranked 2nd in the draft which is bewildering to me. There's just so many better players (I think anyways
). Offensively, it seems all too often, his passes cause teammates to consistently readjust their positioning, and aren't overly creative or difficult. His shot isn't anything to beholden of either in terms of accuracy or power. Defensively, I've read of his improvements since arriving at Michigan State, but even that shouldn't warrant a 2nd overall selection either. Despite his mobilty, he seems to get beaten to spots in the defensive end, even when he has a headstart to the puck in anticipating where it's going. It just seems like he might be player along the lines of an Eric Brewer or Seth Jones, two other mobile and hulking defencemen, that were/are nice pieces, but lack star ceilings mostly because of their puck skill level. Is he really deserving of 2nd or even 3rd overall? His comparable on some sites is Alex Pietrangelo, but he appears to be much less talented with the puck, which has me leaning towards putting him in the Eric Brewer/Seth Jones tier. Decent, but I have a feeling when its all said and done, there will be quite a few better players from this draft who should have been chosen ahead of him. I just think any selection in the top 5 and perhaps even top 10 will end up being too high for choosing him. Anyways, it'll be interesting to revisit this in the coming years.
