The Flames are slowly staring to rebuild the RS depth. With Strome, Coronato, and Klapka in the NHL, along with Gross and Wyttenbach as the potential candidates to make the jump soon. Hoskin also remains a very intriguing prospect, and is doing well in the NCAA.
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C remains a priority, but LHD is a sneaky need as well. Hope we spend a couple of 2nds on it in the upcoming draft.
I want McKenna or Stenberg badly because they'll be easy to market and bring some excitement over the next couple of years. And one of them is quite likely going to be the best player out of this draft.
But I think a guy like Smid or Carels may actually be the best pick for the Flames this year, as those players will need three to four years to figure out the NHL and the Flames have a glaring hole on their left side in front of Bahl that will take some time to sort out...
I think if they don't draft that player soon, they'll end up sending a lot of assets out to trade for him. So it's probably better for a more patient and sustainable rebuild they get him this year.
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The Kings have a glaring hole down the middle in their pool and lack a star prospect. But they do have three solid defense prospects (including two giants) and two solid goalie prospects.
Carter Yakemchuk and Logan Hensler give the Senators two legit right-shot D prospects and, in the former, maybe an offensive catalyst if he can put it all together. But a focus on pro-style, pro-built role player types outside of Round 1 over the years has left the rest of Ottawa’s pool with a group of players who could potentially become fourth-liners or depth D — potential bunt singles instead of home runs, if you will.
I'm honestly a little surprised we see Ottawa this early. I was sure either Vegas or Tampa is going to be next. That said after Yak, and Hensler Ottawa has a bunch of goalies and not much else.
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The Golden Knights traded their first-round picks in 2022 and 2025 before the draft, and dealt the two first-rounders they took in 2023 and 2021 after the draft. That leaves Trevor Connelly as the lone first-rounder in their pool. Behind him, they have a couple of solid goalies and some relevant forwards, but the cupboards are completely bare on the back end — none of their 13 ranked prospects here are defensemen following the trade of Abram Wiebe’s rights to Calgary.
C remains a priority, but LHD is a sneaky need as well. Hope we spend a couple of 2nds on it in the upcoming draft.
Bahl and Kuznestov are top 4 LD for many years IMO. Bahl is going to be a Regher with maybe a tad more offence and a few less devastating hits. Kuz will be a minute eater. Both have more offence than they've shown IMO, and will be good at "3th assists" by making great first passes. And they are both young enough to be part of the future.
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I want McKenna or Stenberg badly because they'll be easy to market and bring some excitement over the next couple of years. And one of them is quite likely going to be the best player out of this draft.
But I think a guy like Smid or Carels may actually be the best pick for the Flames this year, as those players will need three to four years to figure out the NHL and the Flames have a glaring hole on their left side in front of Bahl that will take some time to sort out...
I think if they don't draft that player soon, they'll end up sending a lot of assets out to trade for him. So it's probably better for a more patient and sustainable rebuild they get him this year.
With how many quality D there are in this draft, I would be leaning on taking one with Vegas' pick, assuming we have McKenna or Stenberg as our first pick. If not either one of those two, I might actually be leaning for a D with our first pick and then a forward with the other with a high risk/reward kind of ceiling.
Vegas isn't the best prospect pool but or me they do such a solid job finding mid and late picks and fas that turn out to be pretty decent. They have a couple other guys in the A i could see getting games.
The Sens would be higher rated for me for sure though. Their top 2 dmen are gonna be regular nhlers for sure. Also odd to me that he didn't even rate Eliasson their recent 2nd rounder. He's not a skilled player but he is probably the biggest meanest prospect in hockey and he will 100% get nhl games from somebody, even if its just a call up in the middle of some kind of rivalry war. Even if you don't like the player its a bit asinine not even to rank him when you know he will play
It's just me dragging my feet, boosting my post count, farming thanks.
Seriously though, I agree it's taking way too long. I could bump this thread once a week or when the list is done. It doesn't really matter, I'll probably update the original post daily regardless.
Vegas isn't the best prospect pool but or me they do such a solid job finding mid and late picks and fas that turn out to be pretty decent. They have a couple other guys in the A i could see getting games.
The Sens would be higher rated for me for sure though. Their top 2 dmen are gonna be regular nhlers for sure. Also odd to me that he didn't even rate Eliasson their recent 2nd rounder. He's not a skilled player but he is probably the biggest meanest prospect in hockey and he will 100% get nhl games from somebody, even if its just a call up in the middle of some kind of rivalry war. Even if you don't like the player its a bit asinine not even to rank him when you know he will play
They did for a few years - but haven't had anyone who's played more than 27 games in the NHL since 2019 draft.
Could end up getting addressed at the top of the draft if they fall out of the top 3. Injecting a Carels or a Smits into that group would go a long way.
Arguably I'd prefer that then reaching on a centre just because it's another area of need (unless they absolutely love Malholtra or Bjorck I guess). Take a stud LD and then address the centres later in the draft or top of the draft next year.
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Could end up getting addressed at the top of the draft if they fall out of the top 3. Injecting a Carels or a Smits into that group would go a long way.
Arguably I'd prefer that then reaching on a centre just because it's another area of need (unless they absolutely love Malholtra or Bjorck I guess). Take a stud LD and then address the centres later in the draft or top of the draft next year.
There's atucally a pretty good unsigned LD in the KHL right now. Machulin, 23, is 6'4" 200lbs, and he's absolutely nasty to play against. He defends well, he's physical, and is no stranger to dropping the gloves. He's relatively mobile, and has a good hard shot. His biggest downside is that he's a bit prone to making unforced errors when he has the puck on his stick.
I think he's a bottom pairing D for sure, but there's top 4 potential there, especially if his game becomes less of a rollercoaster with the puck on his stick.
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27. Los Angeles Kings
26. Ottawa Senators
25. Vegas Golden Knights
