2016 NHL Draft

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by edslunch

If Pittsburgh is the new model then average isn't good enough. Skipping the combine testing due to injury is understandable but is a missed opportunity for evaluation vs his peers.

I'm making a bold prediction that he falls to around 9. Based on not much.

Tkachuk was 4-5 for 9/10 scouts Mackenzie talked to. I can imagine some scenarios where he might fall to 6th but 9th? No way he drops out of the top 6, I'd put money on it.

[dying4acup]

Funny! Most players do a big upsell to try to be #1 overall.

Then, one day, a kid comes along, and pretends he can't do a pull up, and ends up in the playoffs 10 months later!

Why aren't more kids trying to down play themselves?

Some people might sense sarcasm, but I'm being serious. How much extra money is available as an entry level player? If you are a smart player, you are trying to land on a better team, and land a big 2nd contract. Look at Bennett. He might make his 2nd playoff appearance and play a big role, while there's a good chance that Hall, RNH, Yakupov, McDavid, Eichel, Matthews, etc will all negotiate 2nd contracts without playoffs.

Even McKinnon in his one playoff won't have a 2nd playoff to negotiate off of.

Gaudreau, Monahan and Bennett will have 2 rounds of playoff experience (minimum for Bennett) to negotiate in their next contract.

I'm just saying!

[FCAV]

For the late night/early morning crowd, we've released our final ranking for the 2016 NHL Draft over at Future Considerations. The ranking goes 100 prospects deep. For the topical crowd, Tkachuk is fifth, behind Dubois.

You can check out the free 100-prospect ranking HERE.

You can go deeper, and purchase our 2016 NHL Draft Guide (at a discounted CP special rate!) by surfing over to our thread HERE!

For those on CP who have already picked it up, we thank you!

Enjoy!

[FlameZilla]

I'm just not that bothered about Austin Matthews. Much more disappointed to be missing out on the Finnish RWers than missing out on him.

Laine's arrogance annoys me, but that confidence will serve him well in the NHL if he can keep it in check. He has all the makings of a franchise player. FU Jets.

There's a good chance that Chychrun gets picked ahead of 6. If some scouts are drooling over 6'6" Brown too, so here's hoping he rises as well. With any luck Dubois or Tkachuk fall to us at 6. If not I could live with picking Nylander. Sounds like he's very skilled, and his combine results prove he could hang with the big boys despite not being all that big.

This would be my list for the Flames this draft:

Laine
Puljujarvi
Dubois
Tkachuk
Nylander
Chychrun

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Button (Craig) mentioned again that Brown could be "top 5". Taken literally, that would mean Edmo or Van (more likely Van). I doubt he has any kind of specific intel, but he might still be in play for 6 methinks.

[Split98]

I definitely see Brown going top 6

The Flames will take Dubois, Tkachuk or Brown. In that order, depending on who's available.

With VANs recent move, and EDMs repeated lack of intelligence I don't see them picking a defenceman.

Any of those three I'm over the moon with. I can see massive upsides to all of them. 19 more days!

[Samonadreau]

^if we didn't have Monahan, Bennett and Backlund then Brown may be more appealing but with a talent like Nylander I would copy your statement but replace Brown with Nylander. Nylander on the wing is better than Brown on the wing. Just my opinion of course.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

^if we didn't have Monahan, Bennett and Backlund then Brown may be more appealing but with a talent like Nylander I would copy your statement but replace Brown with Nylander. Nylander on the wing is better than Brown on the wing. Just my opinion of course.

Oh, I definitely think he plays wing here. Either him or Bennett anyways

[puckedoff]

Originally Posted by FCAV

For the late night/early morning crowd, we've released our final ranking for the 2016 NHL Draft over at Future Considerations. The ranking goes 100 prospects deep. For the topical crowd, Tkachuk is fifth, behind Dubois.

You can check out the free 100-prospect ranking HERE.

You can go deeper, and purchase our 2016 NHL Draft Guide (at a discounted CP special rate!) by surfing over to our thread HERE!

For those on CP who have already picked it up, we thank you!

Enjoy!

Cool, thanks. Can you tell me why Keller is so highly touted this year and why he is seen as a higher ranked prospect than a guy like Petan?

[The Original FFIV]

Some really good takeaways from sportsnet article on the draft combine.


1. Julien Gauthier is now the standard against which all buff prospects will be compared.

Gauthier weighed in at 230 pounds, almost cleared the landing board in the standing long jump, soared in the force plate and generally crushed physical testing (though maybe he didn’t push the Wingate like we might have suspected).

His skill quotient is, well, average. But with his body and work ethic — it’s not like he just inherited that body — you could probably project him as a third or fourth line banger and anything else would be a bonus.

Size dictates destiny: He will play, if only in a limited role, at the next level. If in the unlikely event there’s more skill there, he might be somewhat more than that. Still, a top 15 or top 20 for a player in that profile would seem like over-spending.



2. I thought Logan Brown might be a climber after the World U18 Championship, and that seems like a majority opinion at the combine.

Said one veteran scout, “There’s a premium for big centres and I think there’s a shot he goes in the top five. He was great at U18s and in the second half of the season. He’s almost 6-foot-7 and he might be that by the end of the summer. In his interview he told us that he doesn’t know if he has stopped growing yet. He was a good interview, funny kid, not really like his father (former NHLer Jeff Brown), who was not the most social guy.”

The younger Brown is “tall” but not “big” at this point. He’d be two full years in junior beyond his draft year. He’ll need to pad his frame and right now it looks like the metabolism to put on 25 pounds is going to take a while.



6. There’s not quite a consensus on the choice between Olli Juolevi and Mikhail Sergachev as the top defenceman in this pool.

One scout who advocates Juolevi: “So smart, so much of what Finland did at the worlds and what London did this season started on his stick. Physically, he doesn’t get the credit that he should but he’s a playmaker and he makes the puck do the work. And he’s bigger than people might think.”

One scout who advocates Sergachev: “He probably helped himself this week. He measured at 220 pounds and over 6-foot-2. You can see him bring a physical component as a pro that you wouldn’t project for Juolevi. I think there’s a chance that he could be the best player in this whole draft eight or ten years from now. We liked him in our interview. He could have opted out of the U18s (after most of the Russian team was suspended for PED use). He told us that he wanted to go and play with underages at the tournament because he’d been an underager the year before and felt like he had a duty to help the Russian kids. ‘My country was always there for me, so I’m there for my country,’ he told us. Which you have to respect.”

7. You might see B.C. defenceman Charlie McAvoy and Sarnia blue liner Jake Chychrun show up in the top ten of a few mock drafts. This seems to be a reach, according to a poll of scouts.

Said one veteran scout who had viewed McAvoy five times on top of the world juniors: “The defencmen with top-pair upside here are Juolevi and Sergachev. Chychrun is at best a No. 3 defenceman [on a winning team] down the line. McAvoy might be a bit more of a wild card. The choice between Chychrun and McAvoy will come down to whether you like McAvoy’s hockey sense or Chychrun’s physical tools. Either way, if they’re not top-pair defencemen, then how do you spend a top ten pick on them?”

8. Said one goaltending coach: “I’m at the combine and I’m in the meetings but I can’t tell my GM that there’s a goalie that we can look at in the first two rounds. Maybe we can’t talk about one until the third or fourth. It’s a very bad year [for goalies].

So gauthier looks like a faller, brown could go top 5, only Juolevi and sergachev are potential top pairing d, chychrun might fall out of top 10 and surprise if a g is taken in the second round.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/1...uting-combine/

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Tkachuk was 4-5 for 9/10 scouts Mackenzie talked to. I can imagine some scenarios where he might fall to 6th but 9th? No way he drops out of the top 6, I'd put money on it.

Yeah, I'd bet against myself too

[Erick Estrada]

I assume the Canucks will go with Brown or Dubois. I don't see the Flames picking Brown (already have a project centre in Jankowski). I think Nylander's showing at the combine has cemented him as a better fit for the Flames if they go forward although if Dubois is available at 6 they may opt for him. I feel if the Flames pick a forward it's going to be Nylander, Dubois, or Tkachuk.

[dissentowner]

Please hockey gods cut us a break and let the Oilers draft a d man at 4 and the Canucks take Brown at 5. At least the Brown one please.

[TornBetween2Pucks]

I would be very surprised if the Canucks take a winger. Their last two drafts have netted them Virtanen and Boeser, both goal-scoring wingers. They need defence and centres. I think it's 50/50 between Juolevi and Brown for them.

[Crumpy-Gunt]

Ive had a change of heart. Id like Chychrun over anyone who is likely to be available at 6. I was thinking of how h3 would make an excellent power forward. He has the 2nd best shot in the draft and is probably the best skater in the entire draft. He plays physical and hes a big boy. The problem is his decision making and hes not good at using his speed and skating defensively. Its the old tale of a dman who skates forward and sideways better than he moves backwards. I also dont know if he can think the game like a top pairing nhl dman. Maybe he can. If he cant im very curious about him as a forward.

He can stickhandle very well. Skates like brody. I could see him being impossible to deal with on a 2nd line. Fast as hell, great hands, fantastic shot and he will be about 6'3 220 by the time he is in the nhl.

So i looked into it and he played forward towards the end of the season for Sarnia.

I really wonder if he could stay there

[Yoho]

Originally Posted by Crumpy-Gunt

Ive had a change of heart. Id like Chychrun over anyone who is likely to be available at 6. I was thinking of how h3 would make an excellent power forward. He has the 2nd best shot in the draft and is probably the best skater in the entire draft. He plays physical and hes a big boy. The problem is his decision making and hes not good at using his speed and skating defensively. Its the old tale of a dman who skates forward and sideways better than he moves backwards. I also dont know if he can think the game like a top pairing nhl dman. Maybe he can. If he cant im very curious about him as a forward.

He can stickhandle very well. Skates like brody. I could see him being impossible to deal with on a 2nd line. Fast as hell, great hands, fantastic shot and he will be about 6'3 220 by the time he is in the nhl.

So i looked into it and he played forward towards the end of the season for Sarnia.

I really wonder if he could stay there

I think turning Nylander into a defenceman an is a better option.

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by The Original FFIV

So gauthier looks like a faller, brown could go top 5, only Juolevi and sergachev are potential top pairing d, chychrun might fall out of top 10 and surprise if a g is taken in the second round.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/1...uting-combine/

Awesome summary, and you saved me a click over to Sportsnet. That's some quality CPing.

[chubeyr1]

Originally Posted by Crumpy-Gunt

Ive had a change of heart. Id like Chychrun over anyone who is likely to be available at 6. I was thinking of how h3 would make an excellent power forward. He has the 2nd best shot in the draft and is probably the best skater in the entire draft. He plays physical and hes a big boy. The problem is his decision making and hes not good at using his speed and skating defensively. Its the old tale of a dman who skates forward and sideways better than he moves backwards. I also dont know if he can think the game like a top pairing nhl dman. Maybe he can. If he cant im very curious about him as a forward.

He can stickhandle very well. Skates like brody. I could see him being impossible to deal with on a 2nd line. Fast as hell, great hands, fantastic shot and he will be about 6'3 220 by the time he is in the nhl.

So i looked into it and he played forward towards the end of the season for Sarnia.

I really wonder if he could stay there

Thats a really bad idea! Not saying the guy could not be effective or infact really good at forward. Yet this is the 6th overall pick where we took Monahan. Not a place where you take such a risk!

Biggest knock on him is hockey IQ. As a forward his hockey IQ is probably worse.

When your picking in the top ten you take a guy without the thought of getting him to change positions.

I mean he is a big guy, maybe he would be a great goalie too? Sorry for the sarcasm but you earned it.

Want to take him as a dman I have no issues but drafting him to convert him to forward is a very very very unwise thing to do.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Clayton Keller is getting more and more and more interesting anytime I hear new information about him. Future Considerations even said they see no reason why he can't become another Gaudreau. He's got all the same tools.

I don't think I'd take him at #6, but he's up there.

[Caged Great]

Even if Keller is 90% of the player that Gaudreau is, he would be amazing on the second line.

Supremely smart players like Johnny are always good additions.

The Flames are the most aware of what they have in Gaudreau of any team. Keller is slightly bigger than Gaudreau is at the same point as well.

Keller is the player I am hoping for, although I am expecting something less shocking with a Nylander pick.