NHL Draft Tools

[FCAV]

There are a lot of resources available online when it comes to the NHL Draft, so I'm curious as to which resources you'll use/follow along with when it comes to the NHL Draft.

I'm not necessarily talking about Draft Guides and things of that sort, but maybe something a blog has that makes life easier on draft day.

For example, we've put together a sortable NHL Draft Order Chart that can be divided by round or viewed as all 210 picks and sorted alphabetically (or searched by city) for picks. It will be updated throughout the draft with links that point to our Prospect Profiler, which features snipped on scouting reports on over 100 of the top draft eligibles for 2014.

Chris over at The Hockey Writers also has The Next Ones series that's worth keeping tabs on.

What other resources will you be using on Draft Day?

[Robbob]

CalgaryPuck

[nik-]

I've got the sureLoss app.

[N-E-B]

My TV

[Poe969]

I'll play spin the bottle. First I'll drink a bunch of beer, then spin the bottles and yell at the tv for not picking the right guy. When I wake up I'll see what sureLoss says and trust him.

[FanIn80]

The tool I'll probably use the most on Draft Day is the F5 key on my keyboard.

[FBI]

Yup.. CP is also like a DVR, if you end up missing part of the draft day, you can just start at the beginning of the thread and read it through nice and slow..

[cral12]

Not necessarily tools per se, but have say I have now looked at all the top Draft Guides produced this year with the exception of ISS (really priced themselves out of range this season, imo). I can say that FC is the best value out there and I'll throw a few other comments out while I'm at it.

Style and design wise (which really I take note of; shows pride of the work and a desire to display the work exceptionally well) no other guide is even close. While I can't personally comment on all of the scouts outside of the Dub (although do know some of them), I have met most of the WHL scouts and they are exceptionally knowledgable. FC also takes into consideration reader feedback yr to yr. Well done AV and lads! I also like the draft tracker tool Aaron notes above.

HockeyProspect.com: I know some of the lads from there and they put in the work, no doubt. A little pricier, some of the info I can do without (game reports) and could use some refinement design wise.

Red Line Report: Amateurish design. Do they even have editors?? Some unique and interesting insight and they have experience on their side, but don't seem to evolve as time goes on.
I admit I laughed at the first one-liner I read about a prospect they used a bit of humour on. The second time, I was of the ilk "that was kind of lame". The third one was terrible. As it went on, I thought that this was simply unprofessional how they talk about 17-18 yr old hockey lads. Just doesn't sit well with me. I do know a coupe of the staff there, so they have some good lads working there - the super critical lines are likely from the likes of Kyle Woodlief.

McKeens: have it, but mixed opinions. I've heard plenty of negatives about their director of scouting, so not sure what to think about them as a whole, but again know and like some of their staff.

Other Tools

MyNHLDraft has some interesting stuff, but things like Consensus Rankings not up to date yet. Might be waiting for some rankings to come in.
Link: http://www.mynhldraft.com/
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EyeOnThe Sens review some of the guides here as well - definitely some limitations to the analysis, but here it is: http://eyeonthesens.com/2014/06/12/a...raft-guides-2/

That's it for me, for now.
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Thanks for the props to THW, AV. The lads put in some great efforts and often connect with FC scouts for opinions.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

[Flames Draft Watcher]

I bought Redline, ISS (they had a reduced price option if you bought it last year), and FC this year. Like them all for various reasons. Redline last year had both Poirier and Klimchuk ranked right around where we took them and they thought we knocked it out of the park last draft. I think Redline's descriptions are the best. ISS has these nice report cards for each prospect in like 8 different areas.

[dustygoon]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

I bought Redline, ISS (they had a reduced price option if you bought it last year), and FC this year. Like them all for various reasons. Redline last year had both Poirier and Klimchuk ranked right around where we took them and they thought we knocked it out of the park last draft. I think Redline's descriptions are the best. ISS has these nice report cards for each prospect in like 8 different areas.

He is more asking...what will you look at when the draft is live.

[Huntingwhale]

Sureloss is all you need. I'm pretty sure that when Vox mentioned upgrading the server, it was done with Sureloss' needs in mind.

[agulati]

I ended up picking up FC yesterday and I am absolutely loving it so far. Great job guys!

[cral12]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

I bought Redline, ISS (they had a reduced price option if you bought it last year), and FC this year. Like them all for various reasons. Redline last year had both Poirier and Klimchuk ranked right around where we took them and they thought we knocked it out of the park last draft. I think Redline's descriptions are the best. ISS has these nice report cards for each prospect in like 8 different areas.

I like RLR's insight, but often felt they crossed the line when raking prospects over the coals. I do realize in the scouting game, of course, critique is part of the process. Guess different folks go about their business in different ways. Just my 20 pesos.

[squiggs96]

When I read the title, I thought this was going to be a thread about the Oilers.

[FCAV]

Always good to see chatter on comparing the guides. In the end, it helps us all deliver a better product. Thanks again for those who have subscribed.

And again, if anyone has any other tools they'd like to share, jump in!

[cral12]

Not necessarily tools as such, but a couple of other perspective rankings posts which may come in handy on draft day:

1. 2014 NHL Draft Top 100 Prospects based on pure #NHL offensive potential:

In a draft pool that's already very debatable with respect to rankings, ranking the prospects based on offensive upside is sure to create even more debate.

Here's a teaser, the Top 5:

# Player NHLCS THW Team League Pos.
1 Reinhart, Sam 3 2 Kootenay WHL C
2 Nylander, William 11 5 Modo SWE 1 C/RW
3 Ehlers, Nikolaj 16 4 Halifax QMJHL LW
4 Bennett, Samuel 1 3 Kingston OHL C
5 Dal Colle, Michael 5 7 Oshawa OHL C/LW

Check out the Top 100:

2. NHL Central Scouting always segregates their rankings, making it difficult to compare to other rankings out there. THW has combined them:

NHL Draft War Room: NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings Combined

[Iceman90]

The prospect profiles at FiresideChat.ca.

[cral12]

OK - this will qualify as a tool:

2014 NHL Mock Draft: Three Round Final Edition

A full 3 round mock for your perusal; go ahead and mock my mock!

It's in a table/spreadsheet format with commentary on each pick, plus prospect demographics and stats as well as linking to players' Elite Prospect profile:

Link: click here
http://thehockeywriters.com/2014-nhl-mock-draft-three-round-final-edition/

^One of the coolest thing is that an icon in the bottom right corner allows you to download the spreadsheet for your mocking pleasure...

Plus, check out who the Flames land, virtually that is.
Go ahead and mock my mock...

[Eric]

I won't have access to a TV on draft day I will have my laptop and internet though, will there be a live stream anywhere online?

[cral12]

For those who don't feel like clicking the link above to the mock draft:

Round Pick Player Position Comments
1 4 Sam Bennett C Skill, skating, energy, bravado, tenacious 2-way C reminds of Doug Gilmour
2 34 Eric Cornel C A #THW fav; size, skill, hockey IQ, puck possession, upside
2 54 Jack Glover D Great frame; mobile two-way defender; low panic threshold
3 64 Alex Peters D Mobile Rock steady blueliner with desirable size
3 83 Alexandre Goulet C Patrice Bergeron Lite?

With TSN Bobby's rankings in, looks pretty good for Flames perspective. Other readers have question Goulet pick - sub 6' so FLames probably would go in different direction there and still lots of options - just liked FC Hockey's scouting report of him (they had him ranked 77th, FYI)

You can check out link above and see who might be in the Flames wheelhouse at various picks...