2016 NHL Draft

[calgarygeologist]

I don't typically watch/listen to Leafs Lunch but I saw the show today on TSN and they had a really interesting discussion about the Leafs possibly taking Laine ahead of Matthews. The organization is going to have a really tough decision to make at the draft. I personally think Laine could be the better choice.

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I don't typically watch/listen to Leafs Lunch but I saw the show today on TSN and they had a really interesting discussion about the Leafs possibly taking Laine ahead of Matthews. The organization is going to have a really tough decision to make at the draft. I personally think Laine could be the better choice.

If the Leafs are serious about Stamkos, and if Stamkos is serious about staying at centre, then Laine would be the right fit. Lots of ifs.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Toonage

If the Leafs are serious about Stamkos, and Stamkos is serious about staying at centre, then Laine would be the right fit. Lots of ifs.

Laine and Stamkos fill the exact same niche though.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I don't typically watch/listen to Leafs Lunch but I saw the show today on TSN and they had a really interesting discussion about the Leafs possibly taking Laine ahead of Matthews. The organization is going to have a really tough decision to make at the draft. I personally think Laine could be the better choice.

I do think that Laine will go on to be the bigger 'game breaker', and possibly go on to have the more successful career. However, if I am in charge of the Leafs, I am picking Mathews. I am not convinced that they have enough size, skill and depth at center to become a legitimate contender down the road.

If I am in charge of the Flames, and the Flames had first pick, I would select Laine. Flames already have good depth and skill at center.

I think there will be loads of discussion on Laine vs Mathews up until the draft, but since the Leafs hold the 1st overall pick, I would be surprised if they didn't select Mathews first. I think those two players are relatively close, and I would draft based on organizational need.

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Laine and Stamkos fill the exact same niche though.

I don't disagree. I'm just thinking of a circumstance where the Leafs might favor Laine over Matthews.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Toonage

I don't disagree. I'm just thinking of a circumstance where the Leafs might favor Laine over Matthews.

Well, not just Stamkos, but they were also rumoured to be in on talks for Zajac. If they're happy with Nylander/Zajac/Bozak/Kadri as their center depth, they could just be focused on filling out the wings and defense with Marner, Laine, etc. If they feel strongly that Laine is going to be the best player.

Nylander might just be the real deal at center, and that JVR-Bozak line was actually very good this year now that they weren't facing top pairs. Kadri is a good shutdown guy.

[shutout]

http://flamesnation.ca/2016/5/9/2016...ngs-may-9-2015

seven different top 30 lists from prominent publications - Damien Cox of Sportsnet, Craig Button of TSN, International Scouting Services (ISS), Future Considerations (FC), McKeen's Hockey, Draftbuzz Analytics (DB), and the Draft Analyst (DA)


Point system pretty much shows the top three. Then the three wingers. Then the three defensemen.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by shutout

http://flamesnation.ca/2016/5/9/2016...ngs-may-9-2015

seven different top 30 lists from prominent publications - Damien Cox of Sportsnet, Craig Button of TSN, International Scouting Services (ISS), Future Considerations (FC), McKeen's Hockey, Draftbuzz Analytics (DB), and the Draft Analyst (DA)


Point system pretty much shows the top three. Then the three wingers. Then the three defensemen.

Nylander really does appear to be the ledge at 6 based on those rankings. Not particularly close either.

Brown's range is massive. 7-27.

[Mattman]

Chances the Flames pick a defenseman at #6??

[Flames Draft Watcher]

It's dangerous to look at consensus rankings and assume it tells you where the ledges are for any one particular team. Nylander could as easily be outside the top 8 for the Flames.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Mattman

Chances the Flames pick a defenseman at #6??

Impossible to answer. But I wouldn't rule it out.

My personal opinion is that there's a decent chance we take a dman if Dubois/Tkachuk are gone but that's a guess on my part.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by shutout

http://flamesnation.ca/2016/5/9/2016...ngs-may-9-2015

seven different top 30 lists from prominent publications - Damien Cox of Sportsnet, Craig Button of TSN, International Scouting Services (ISS), Future Considerations (FC), McKeen's Hockey, Draftbuzz Analytics (DB), and the Draft Analyst (DA)

Point system pretty much shows the top three. Then the three wingers. Then the three defensemen.

Might as well put Keller on the same tier with the defensemen based on that.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Even amongst the "experts", there is a good chance that Tkachuk or Dubois is available at #6.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

Even amongst the "experts", there is a good chance that Tkachuk or Dubois is available at #6.

If we actually get Dubois I am predicting he makes the team our of camp and has a 20/20 rookie season

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by shutout

http://flamesnation.ca/2016/5/9/2016...ngs-may-9-2015

seven different top 30 lists from prominent publications - Damien Cox of Sportsnet, Craig Button of TSN, International Scouting Services (ISS), Future Considerations (FC), McKeen's Hockey, Draftbuzz Analytics (DB), and the Draft Analyst (DA)

Point system pretty much shows the top three. Then the three wingers. Then the three defensemen.

Stuff like this can end up misleading fans IMO although it is still interesting. It's just dangerous to read too much into this and to see consensus where there actually is zero consensus. And personally a few of these rankings suffer from a lack of a credibility. If I was doing these I'd be throwing out the Cox rankings and the McKeen's rankings for sure. Pity they can't have Redline in there (because they don't publicly release a top 30, only their top 10). And pity Button doesn't have updated rankings either as I find his lists quite interesting.

Basically Mackenzie's list is a consensus list and he polls actual scouts instead of clowns like Cox to get a wide variety of opinion. So IMO Mackenzie's list is just more useful than this. Especially when he goes into detail about one scout having Chychrun top 4, one scout having Juolevi top 5, one scout having Fabbro top 5, etc. 9/10 scouts having Tkachuk top 5, but only 3-4 out of 10 having Dubois top 5. Gives you a real idea of how much variance there actually is between the teams and scouts.

This draft is going to be really hard to predict after the top 3. It may go similar to these consensus lists but there could easily be shocker after shocker in the top 10-15 this year instead.

There are just so many wildcards. Treliving has talked about how you could talk to 10 scouts and they may all disagree one who the top defensemen in this draft are. Chychrun, Juolevi, Sergachev, Bean, McAvoy, Fabbro all have a chance to go top 10. Most of them have a chance to not go top 10. Who's gonna step up and take big Logan Brown? Where is someone gonna decide that Keller's skill trumps his size? So many interesting stories within the draft this year.

There are probably 8-10 guys who you could argue should be in consideration for the Flames pick at #6 but we know the Flames have narrowed it down quite a bit further than that. Hard for us to do so though. So far the limited information (or misinformation) that we have is that Treliving sees a ledge after 6, then a slight drop after 7 as well. Burke has said he believes their top 8 or so would be competing for jobs until late in camp. Can that rule anybody out? If we can believe Burke then it rules out McAvoy, Fabbro, Jost and Keller because all 4 are college players and thus can't even go to main camp without losing their college eligibility. Is that a safe assumption? Hard to say. Can we rule out Nylander due to his lack of an NHL frame at this point? Maybe, maybe not? I think if Burke is to be believed then you have to think the defensemen who do have NHL frames already (Chychrun, Sergachev) may be in their top 8. Juolevi might be a late cut from camp due to hockey sense especially if he bulks up a bit. Can we rule out Brown because its unlikely he'd survive late into camp given our depth at centre and the fact Jankowski has many years of development on Brown? I dunno. It's a lot of guesswork at this point. Am I reading too much into the Burke interview? Potentially

[SuperMatt18]

Guess when specifically asked about the #4 pick today the Chiarelli mentioned Logan Brown, alongside Tkachuk & Dubois.

Interesting to name an off the "board" guy as a GM when the obvious cliche would be to just name to two guys ranked right there on the mainstream draft boards while keeping your interest in somebody like Brown more quiet.

Unless he's trying to stimulate more calls for trade ups if a team in that 6-8 range is looking to move up and the Oilers could still get Brown.

[yourbestfriend]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I don't typically watch/listen to Leafs Lunch but I saw the show today on TSN and they had a really interesting discussion about the Leafs possibly taking Laine ahead of Matthews. The organization is going to have a really tough decision to make at the draft. I personally think Laine could be the better choice.

I just finished watching the fin/usa wc game and matthews is pretty freaking impressive. IMHO the leafs would be stupid to pick laine ahead of matthews.
I know it's only one game, but i think the gap between matthews and laine is a little bigger than people think.
Even if they gets stamkos, having a 1-2 of matthews and stamkos down the middle, plus marner and nylander on the wing is ridiculous. I'm not a toronto fan by any means, but i'm starting to get a little jelly of what their forward group could become

[burnitdown]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Guess when specifically asked about the #4 pick today the Chiarelli mentioned Logan Brown, alongside Tkachuk & Dubois.

Interesting to name an off the "board" guy as a GM when the obvious cliche would be to just name to two guys ranked right there on the mainstream draft boards while keeping your interest in somebody like Brown more quiet.

Unless he's trying to stimulate more calls for trade ups if a team in that 6-8 range is looking to move up and the Oilers could still get Brown.

Just looked it up and he apparently in the same interview, he says they've already received 4-5 calls about their pick and they're interested in trading down. I'm guessing by adding Brown into the conversation, he's putting pressure on people drafting a little later that are hoping he might slip to them.

Interesting to note he says he's already seen Tkachuk 10 or 11 times and he would be a really good fit.

*source: OilersNow twitter

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Guess when specifically asked about the #4 pick today the Chiarelli mentioned Logan Brown, alongside Tkachuk & Dubois.

Interesting to name an off the "board" guy as a GM when the obvious cliche would be to just name to two guys ranked right there on the mainstream draft boards while keeping your interest in somebody like Brown more quiet.

Unless he's trying to stimulate more calls for trade ups if a team in that 6-8 range is looking to move up and the Oilers could still get Brown.

Do you have a link to that interview? I'm sure I can track it down eventually.

As for Brown I think the cat is out of the bag with Button starting to promote him as a top 5 pick and no sign of that ending. TSN's director of scouting thinks the guy is a top 5 pick and so TSN Radio EDM and VAN are going to be asking Chia and Benning about him.

I wonder if EDM sees Tkachuk, Dubois, Brown as close enough if they'd be comfortable moving down two spots to still take one of them. Just seems like the potential wingers make so much more sense for the Flames but I guess the same could be said of EDM. The real wildcard is if EDM trades the pick because then all bets are off.

God its not even June yet. LOL.

[burnitdown]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Do you have a link to that interview? I'm sure I can track it down eventually.

As for Brown I think the cat is out of the bag with Button starting to promote him as a top 5 pick and no sign of that ending. TSN's director of scouting thinks the guy is a top 5 pick and so TSN Radio EDM and VAN are going to be asking Chia and Benning about him.

I wonder if EDM sees Tkachuk, Dubois, Brown as close enough if they'd be comfortable moving down two spots to still take one of them. Just seems like the potential wingers make so much more sense for the Flames but I guess the same could be said of EDM. The real wildcard is if EDM trades the pick because then all bets are off.

God its not even June yet. LOL.

http://www.630ched.com/oilers-now/ - look under May 9 / Segment 4