2021 NHL Draft

[Sandman]

C Liam Dower Nilsson,6'0"176lbs (Frolunda J20,SWE): 16gp/5g/12a/17pts. Captain of Sweden at the U-18s with 4pts in 7 games, and 31PIMs. Another Swedish prospect who is a great two-way player with underrated offensive upside, much like Stjernborg. Smart, 3 zone center, who gets rave reviews for his transitional play. Earned a call-up to the HockeyEttan, a men's league, and performed admirably with 14pts in 14 games, a big indicator of his upside. He was one of only 2 players with a point per game. He then went on to play 5 games in the SHL, with 25 PIM. Good passer and playmaker, smart positionally, and a hard-worker who never seems to get outplayed. He's a very good skater, but could use some tweaks in certain aspects. Also needs to work on his discipline. Could blossom into a middle-6 NHLer with time on special teams. Rated 96th by THN.

[Sandman]

LW Justin Janicke, 6'0"181lbs (USDP): 43gp/12g/16a/28pts. Tenacious and physical in front of the net, in the corners, and along the boards. Loves to attack, and create offense. He's a high-end skater with great edges and stickhandling to deke around defenders. Furious forechecker. Gritty 2-way player with a high motor. Battles everywhere. Needs to tweak some aspects of his 200-ft game. 3rd or 4th rounder.

[Sandman]

C Jakub Brabenec,6'2"176lbs (HC Kometa Brno, CZE): One of the youngest players in the draft, he drove offense at the U-18s with 4a in 5 games. He's big, and still growing, and a strong skater with good speed, agility, and balance. Showed well in the CZE men's league with his responsible, two-way game. Central Scouting gave him a "B", meaning they expect he will be taken in the 2nd or 3rd round.

[Sandman]

LW Martin Rysavy 6'3"203lbs (HC Prerov, CZE): 3pts in 5 games at the U-18s, and played 6 games in the men's league. Soft hands, with a scorer's touch, and a deft passer. Offensive facilitator-uses his size well to win puck battles down low, or bull his way to the net. Owns a hard, heavy accurate snap-shot. Throws his weight around, and is tenacious and physical on the forecheck. He moves well, and works hard. Skating is ok, needs some work, particularly on his edges, and agility. 3rd/4th round.

[Sandman]

LHD Topias Vilen,6'0"194lbs (Pelicans, Liiga) 35gp/3g/5a/8pts playing 3rd pairing minutes in a men's pro league, with no PP time. A better gauge of his talent would be the U-18s, where wore an "A", and put up 4 pts in 7 games. We aren't really seeing a guy who's able to show off his true talent, as he's playing a little conservatively, and developing his defensive game in the pro league, while playing low minutes. He will get time to develop there in the next few years, and the picture will be a lot clearer. He'll never be too flashy though, he keeps things pretty simple.

Vilen is a good player in all 3 zones. He's a hard worker, and plays with bite-draws a ton of penalties. He's got very good mobility in all directions, and exhibits good gap control. He owns a quick, accurate wrister, and a heavy slapper. Sneaky skill, with good passes, stickhandling, and the ability to jump into the play to create offense. Shows great puck control. He's dependable defensively (although he can be pressured into throwing away the puck under pressure in the Liiga), and plays in his own end with snarl. Good transitional player, with a quality first-pass. Numbers don't yet match up with his ability. Interestingly enough, his numbers this year in the Liiga are very similar to Miro Heiskanen’s in his draft year-though he may not be in the same league.

As stated, Vilen is by no means a finished product-if he was playing in the U20 league, his numbers would most likely be more spectacular. As such, he's playing in the men's league, where he will develop his pro game in the coming year or two. Still needs to get stronger, and work on his offense. This is the kind of player you nab with a mid-to-late pick if he's available. Looks to be a 3rd/ 4th rounder.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

So it's

12.
44.
76.
85.
140.
172.
204.

Correct?

If my math is correct, the Oilers' third rounder will be either the 83rd or 84th pick depending on who wins the Islanders-Bruins series.

Currently, the pick is sitting at 85th, but it's guaranteed to go up at least one because either the Habs or Jets will make it to the final four and move into the bottom 4 spots in the draft order. If the Islanders beat Boston, their pick will also drop into the bottom 4, moving the Oilers' pick up to 83rd.

The teams in the other series all finished ahead of Edmonton, so those results won't affect the Oiler's pick's position.

[getbak]

Wallstedt is an interesting case. A lot of the rankings have him right around the Flames' pick. I know a lot of people are adamant that you don't use your first rounder on a goalie, and given the Flames' history with first round goalies, I can understand the caution.


On the other hand, I was thinking about the teams who are currently still alive in the playoffs this season...

• VGK - Fleury, 1st overall pick by PIT / Lehner 46th overall pick by OTT
• MTL - Price, 5th overall pick by MTL
• TBL - Vasilevskiy, 19th overall pick by TBL
• BOS - Rask, 21st overall pick by TOR
• CAR - Nedeljkovic, 37th overall pick by CAR
• NYI - Sorokin, 78th overall pick by NYI / Varlamov, 23rd overall by WAS
• COL - Grubauer, 122th overall pick by WAS
• WPG - Hellebuyck, 130th overall pick by WPG

Of the 10 goalies who have played at least one game for the 8 remaining teams, 5 were drafted in the first round, and 5 are playing for the team that drafted them.

[1qqaaz]

I don't know if this is fair to Wallstedt, but I keep comparing him to Yaroslav Askarov, who went 11th last year.

It just doesn't seem like Wallstedt is anywhere near as good as Askarov. There aren't a ton of elite Swedish goalies these days. It seem like they're due, but we'll have to see.

[Bingo]

Today's update ...

Up to 11 in the consensus now, really starting to hone in on 5-6 players.

10 Fabian Lysell 10 3 11 27 14 12 9 27 7 7 11 12.55
11 Chaz Lucius 12 16 10 10 16 9 6 15 18 16 12 12.73
12 Mason Mctavish 15 29 9 9 9 11 16 14 5 20 10 13.36
13 Cole Sillinger 13 14 15 13 10 13 14 17 12 14 13 13.45
14 Aatu Raty 19 11 14 20 12 20 12 29 20 8 19 16.73
15 Carson Lambos 22 28 18 14 5 15 39.5 12 30 12 14 19.05

Kent Johnson and Jesper Wallstedt pulling away from the group on the high side. Svechkov and Coronato creeping towards the group from the bottom side.

FC Hockey
Dobber (Ferrari)
Cosentino
Ryan Kennedy
Steve Kournianos
Bob McKenzie
McKeen's
Craig Button
Elite Prospects
Ryan Pike
Forbes - Hockey Writers

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Today's update ...

Up to 11 in the consensus now, really starting to hone in on 5-6 players.

10 Fabian Lysell 10 3 11 27 14 12 9 27 7 7 11 12.55
11 Chaz Lucius 12 16 10 10 16 9 6 15 18 16 12 12.73
12 Mason Mctavish 15 29 9 9 9 11 16 14 5 20 10 13.36
13 Cole Sillinger 13 14 15 13 10 13 14 17 12 14 13 13.45
14 Aatu Raty 19 11 14 20 12 20 12 29 20 8 19 16.73
15 Carson Lambos 22 28 18 14 5 15 39.5 12 30 12 14 19.05

Kent Johnson and Jesper Wallstedt pulling away from the group on the high side. Svechkov and Coronato creeping towards the group from the bottom side.

FC Hockey
Dobber (Ferrari)
Cosentino
Ryan Kennedy
Steve Kournianos
Bob McKenzie
McKeen's
Craig Button
Elite Prospects
Ryan Pike
Forbes - Hockey Writers

If Mactavish somehow fell to 12? Wow. I would be mighty happy!

[Poe969]

For me it's either Mactavish or Jesper Wallstedt. Those are my 2 favourites right now, either a kid with the potential to be an elite C or a great goalie, either of those would be a great IMO.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Poe969

For me it's either Mactavish or Jesper Wallstedt. Those are my 2 favourites right now, either a kid with the potential to be an elite C or a great goalie, either of those would be a great IMO.

I wouldn’t mind Wallstedt. I know my heart wants to bank on Wolf panning out, but it’s probably better to have a bullet in the chamber with a goalie that has elite potential. Would be nice to finally have a permanent fixture in between the pipes for a decade rather than having to sign UFAs.

[SuperMatt18]

I still don't fully understand how Sasha Pastujov isn't ranked higher.

He out produced pretty much every other American on the U-18 or USDP teams, with a good engine, and it isn't like he's tiny. Interesting that people have said skating is an issue in the past in terms of top end speed, but that he can use his edges and turn well to evade defender.

Somebody is going to get a good player. Based on NHLe he's a top 10 talent in the draft.

I'd have no issue if Flames decided to trade back a little bit if they think they could still get Pustajov or Coronato.

[Monahammer]

Here is my top 12 draft list for the flames. Obviously most of these guys are likely to go ahead of our selection, but you keep them ranked on the list in case they fall:

Clarke
Power
Guenther
Beniers
Eklund
Johnson
Sillinger
McTavish
Lucius
Lysell
Raty
Edvinsson

[shutout]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

I can see Treliving moving one of the third rounders at the very least for extra picks with his patented wheeling and dealing. I hope he doesn't give up to Seattle any to take a certain unprotected player in the expansion draft. Let the chips fall where they may and keep the chips!

I hope not.
Third round has some potential center sleepers that might still be available in Helenius, Huckins, Savage, Orr, and Dach.
Would be great if the Flames could grab two of that group.

[dammage79]

I'll be happy with any of:
1. Chaz Lucius
2. Fabian Lysell
3. Mason McTavish
4. Aatu Raty (last name pronounced Ratoo)
5. Cole Sillinger

My preference goes to the RHS. Something this organization direly needs. And this draft in particular gives a top 15 picking a chance to address specific needs. BPA because of the circumstances is a total coin flip.

Either way, I feel strongly the Flames are going to snag a really good prospect and IMO immediately becomes their best prospect in the system.

[the_only_turek_fan]

Originally Posted by Sandman

As much as I love Sillinger, I agree that perhaps the Flames aren’t the right organization to draft him at this time. We already have some mediocre skaters on the big team, in our top-6, and some of our best prospects have skating issues (Zary and Ruzicka). I would also like to see more speed and possibly size in the org. There may be players on the same basic plane of talent that they are looking at, that can skate.

You just sold me on Sillinger and now you are saying this!

[bubbsy]

I don't think I can get behind drafting a goalie at #12. I'd be happy to see the flames draft the top ranked remaining C every first round for the next decade until they find some top 6 Cs.

it's sad that Backlund/Monahan are the most fruitful Center (impactful here, in Calgary for their career) drafted and developed by this org since the 80s.

Until they can draft/develop impactful top 2 centres internally, this franchise won't be going anywhere (as has also been the case since the 80s/early 90s).

[Phaneufenstein]

How does Luke Hughes compare to his brothers in terms of talent?
If you were to rank them.
...and forget for a second who Quinn plays for.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Mason McTavish FTW. Would be happy with a guy with that kind of finish. Already has NHL size. Might drive some of the fans crazy, but he reminds me of Sean Monahan the way he works to open areas and exploits the high slot to get his scoring opportunities.

Other guys that I would be interested in the Flames looking at in the second round and later, Xavier Bourgault (C/RW), Logan Mailloux (RD), Sammy Helenius (C), Kalle Valsanen (RW), Sebastian Cossa (G), Roman Schmidt (RD), Vincent Iorio (RD), Shai Buium (LD), Matvei Averochkin (C), Olivier Nadeau (RW), Oliver Moberg (RW),

Guys I would pick that would make certain heads explode: Cole Huckins (Stanstead College link), Chase Stillman (you can't win with players like Stillman)