2015 NHL Draft

[azzarish]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

If Button's list is a little influenced by his brother, then Kyle Connor might be a guy that some of the other rankings have lower and the Flames might have a lot higher on their list.

Got a strong feeling that the Flames might seriously be looking at him. Seems to have all the attributes, with size and skill. Really ticks a lot of the boxes for the Flames.

I would take him over Merkely.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by azzarish

Seems to have gone up in many ranking lists of late.

He's been compared a bit to Patrick Kane. I like the look of him.

I envision Marner as Kane, Barzal more as Ondrej Palat. If Barzal falls to us I will foam at the mouth.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by mile

Most scouting reports rave about how Hanifin can quarterback a power play, unlike Bouwmeester. And he projects to be a #1 defenseman. No one is expecting Hickey to be a #1 defenseman, if he ended up being a top 4 guy that would be amazing. A big-minute shutdown defenseman with size like Hanifin is exactly what the Flames need, even if the offense doesn't translate. We have a ton of offensive defenseman anyways.

He would be a steal at 4 or 5. Highly unlikely he falls outside of the top 10, and keep in mind that Button's list isn't a mock draft. Button's lists are always interesting though - it's good to get varying opinions on players.

It's not like the scouting reports of Bouwmeester from his draft year were that he couldn't QB a powerplay.

A lot of people forget or may be too young to recall, but there was huge hype around Bouwmeester in his draft year. Most people had him pegged to go first overall and it was a huge story that he fell to 3rd in the draft. Some even considered him a prodigy at the time.

Here is an old scouting report (acknowledges his lack of physical play though):

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sport...ouwmeester.htm

It is hard to believe that Bouwmeester would be able to improve on his already outstanding skating — the one tool above all others that makes him the odds-on favorite to go No. 1 overall in next June's NHL Entry Draft.
His skating is the first thing that jumps out at anyone who sees him play; not only because of his speed and smooth stride but also his agility and exceptional lateral movement. "He is a great skater. He has such a powerful stride and great mobility. His agility is outstanding, especially for a player his size," said coach Bob Loucks.

Bouwmeester uses his skating ability not only to make offensive forays, but also to recover and get back into defensive position after venturing up ice. "Jay has the ability to not only pick the correct time to join the rush, but also to lead the rush," says Loucks.

He also displays excellent hockey sense and on-ice vision and plays a game mature beyond his years. He has the ability to make a tape-to-tape pass at full speed through traffic, and is smart enough to know when to attempt this type of pass and when to just make the safe play. He's an excellent power play quarterback who can find open teammates and has a hard, accurate shot. "He sees the ice so well that he always knows where his teammates are,"says Carriere. "He's a great transition guy, he can turn the puck up ice in an instant."

One aspect of Bouwmeester's game that could use some improvement is his physical play, something Bouwmeester is aware of. "I could work on my defensive game, but that is natural, you can always improve your game," he said

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by azzarish

Got a strong feeling that the Flames might seriously be looking at him. Seems to have all the attributes, with size and skill. Really ticks a lot of the boxes for the Flames.

I would take him over Merkely.

CLB seems keyed in on the Michigan kid too. They osted a tweet about him winning USHL player of the year today, The only NHL team to do so I think.

[sureLoss]

Zacha says in an interview the Avalanche are really interested in him.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2015...er-says/21456/

In my mocks, I have the Avalanche taking Werenski. If the Avalanche do indeed take Zacha, Werenski could potentially fall out of the top 10.

[dammage79]

Logic says COL should take a D man. They're terribly under stocked in that department.

[Hackey]

..

[sureLoss]

So Conroy thinks there is a clear top 9, and that at 10 things get interesting.

1. McDavid
2. Eichel
3. Marner
4. Strome
5. Hanifin
6. Provorov
7. ? Barzal
8. ? Rantanen
9. ? Werenksi

[herashak]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Logic says COL should take a D man. They're terribly under stocked in that department.

with the emergence of barrie and stastny leaving i think they could use either equally.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

So Conroy thinks there is a clear top 9, and that at 10 things get interesting.

1. McDavid
2. Eichel
3. Marner
4. Strome
5. Hanifin
6. Provorov
7. ? Barzal
8. ? Rantanen
9. ? Werenksi

For me, there's a top 7 and then a small step down for the next 6.

Not in order

McDavid-Eichel-Marner-Crouse-Strome-Hanifin-Provorov

then

Rantanen-Barzal-Werenski-Zacha-Meier-Connor

Then

Svechnikov-Chabot-Zboril-White-Konecky-Roy-Kylington-Sprong-Guryanov-Harkins-Merkley-Eriksson Ek-Beauvillier

[Mattman]

^^
Wow I haven't thought about it like that, but that really does sum it up quite well in terms of levels of players in the first round.

I might put Connor-Merkley-Konecky-Roy-Kylington-Chabot-Svenchnikov-Zboril in that 3rd tier and the rest into a 4th tier (20-30)

[sureLoss]

McKeen's top 30 has been released:
http://www.mckeenshockey.com/prospec...raft-rankings/

Kylington and Carlo fall out of their top 30

[sureLoss]

Early ranking variance chart. Includes ISS, McKeen's, FC, LWOS and Button's rankings.

Vertical lines indicate range of ranking while the triangles are the average rank.



Seems to indicate a clear top 12 of McDavid, Eichel, Strome, Marner, Hanifin, Provorov, Werenski, Crouse, Rantanen, Barzal, Connor and Meieter.

Zacha seems to be a wild card and then from there on it gets a bit crazy.

[David Struch]

It would be very interesting to see the variance rankings from some past drafts, 2003 for instance.

Imagine the Flames getting two of the top 12, it could happen.

[dammage79]

Weird, Harkins isn't up in the 1st round either.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

McKeen's top 30 has been released:
http://www.mckeenshockey.com/prospec...raft-rankings/

Kylington and Carlo fall out of their top 30

I often question how independent these list are from each other though. I wonder if when players fall (or rise) like that, if there isn't a snowball effect from one list to another.

I suppose the only way to know for sure is to see how the draft unfolds.

[H2SO4(aq)]

what would it take to move up for Rantanen? Would love to have him on the Flames.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I often question how independent these list are from each other though. I wonder if when players fall (or rise) like that, if there isn't a snowball effect from one list to another.

I suppose the only way to know for sure is to see how the draft unfolds.

Momentum carries things a lot. Usually though if a guy like Kylington falls this far in the rankings, he's usually picked in the 20's because a team will hope that this year was an exception and that he'll figure things out. Sort of like Angelo Esposito. I could Toronto take him with their 2nd 1st maybe. It would make more sense for a team with multi firsts to take a risk, so the Flyers too?

[cral12]

Vacation and conferences have E-Mac and I behind schedule, but finally back in action:

2015 NHL Draft Rankings: War Room Top 180 May Edition

*Includes NHL Central Scouting's Final Rankings in Combined Format

Also:
- Over 700 prospects highlighted, making this a quintessential draft resource
- commentary on many of the prospects
- links to more details on many of the prospects

ESSENTIAL feature:
*You can download this ultimate spreadsheet and play around with it yourself. Where else can you find such a draft day tool?

Feedback encouraged and welcomed...

LINK

[cral12]

2015 NHL Draft War Room: The Sleeper Quiz

Excerpt:

"The 2015 Sleeper Quiz – The Clues

With Twitter and other social media platforms, there doesn’t seem to be any true sleeper picks anymore, other than the occasional seldom-viewed Euro prospect. However, there are players who become more known as the season progresses due to the elevation in their level of play. Rather than simply listing those players, we thought it would be more interesting to introduce them through a sleeper quiz like last year."

2015 NHL Draft War Room: The Sleeper Quiz

LINK

How did you do in THW’s War Room NHL Draft Sleeper Quiz?

Who are your 2015 NHL draft prospect sleepers?