Quote:
Originally Posted by Royle9
This is accurate.
He's not overly good at one thing, but he's a solid 2 way player where both Buium and Parekh are both offensively gifted.
I don't see any reason to draft him over the 2 above at this point, at least from a Flames perspective.
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From what I have seen of these players, I think it’s a question of floor vs ceiling. Now, obviously the real floor of any prospect is to not be an NHL player at all but let’s work with something a little more optimistic than that for these players.
I would say the floor for Dickinson would be players like Travis Sandheim or Brandon Carlo - guys that are definite top four defencemen who play a solid game at both ends but don’t put up much in terms of points. I would say his ceiling is Noah Dobson who has solidified himself as a #1 defenceman in the league over the last couple seasons. Runs a powerplay and is also great defensively.
For both Buium and Parekh, I would say their floor is Gostisbehere or Barrie and their ceiling is Josi or Fox. All of them are offensively-gifted defencemen but Fox and Josi learned to develop their all-round game into dominating at all ends of the ice while Barrie and Gostisbehere really remained one-dimensional throughout their careers. I would say Buium has a better all-round game at this point than Parekh so he might already be the safer pick to be a more complete player but Parekh might have the highest offensive ceiling of any of the defencemen in the draft.
I see Yakemchuk’s floor being Matt Dumba and his ceiling being Drew Doughty. In their primes, both were good skaters for their size and would bring physicality while playing big minutes. Both have had some great offensive years but neither have put up huge points year after year like other top defencemen (Fox/Hughes/Makar). Doughty has been dominant in big games throughout his career and he does it all over the ice. Doughty has also continued to be a top pairing defencemen throughout his career. Dumba was a top pairing defenceman for at least a couple years but settled into a role as a number 4 defenceman for most of his career.
These are just my opinions on the floors/ceilings of these guys from just videos and prospect profiles. No two players are identical so they will no doubt each be different from these comparables. My opinion is that Dickinson is the most NHL-ready of any of the defencemen in the draft and I believe his floor to be the highest of any of them. He and Iginla are likely the safest picks in the first round besides Cellebrini. That’s not a knock on those players - Iginla is who I really want the flames to get. By “safe” I mean that I think they have a low chance of being a bust of a pick. They could also turn into superstars. That’s a great prospect to get with a top ten pick.