2019 NHL Draft Thread

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

Nah, I don't think he was clearly behind the Sams. It was a pretty consensus top 4 by the time of the draft. There was speculation the Flames wanted to move up to #2 to pick Draisaitl even.

https://thehockeynews.com/news/artic...fantastic-four

Just one of many talking about the "big four" prior to the draft. Of course surprises happen and teams go "off-the-board" but the big four was pretty established by the draft.

Here's 12 different pre-draft rankings: http://www.mynhldraft.com/2014-nhl-d...pect-rankings/

Only one has Draisaitl in the top-3. 5 had him below 4th.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

McKeens and maybe Mackenzie had him first overall in the 2014 pre-season (i.e. a full season before the draft). He fell throughout the year (or the others rose, depends how you want to look at it) but was sort of in that third tier by the end

The Big Four
Dal Colle
Nylander and some friends.

Fair enough. I almost never look at draft lists that early, so I don't notice that kind of stuff.

[Oling_Roachinen]

The cover of the Hockey News, pretty set top four.

[GioforPM]

In a redraft do you stick with Ekblad or take Larkin or Pasternak? Or Draisaitl if you are of that ilk. Arvidsson and Point would also jump but not that high.

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

The cover of the Hockey News, pretty set top four.

Oof, “You can’t go wrong with anyone out of this quartet!”

Turns out that wasn’t quite true.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

Oof, “You can’t go wrong with anyone out of this quartet!”

Turns out that wasn’t quite true.

Meh, they're all useful players and it's not like 2014 was a deep draft or anything. The Bennett pick wasn't catastrophic or anything, Ehlers and Nylander are fine players and definite upgrades but nothing to really agonize over.

The Tkachuk steal more than made up for it.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by getbak

Here's 12 different pre-draft rankings: http://www.mynhldraft.com/2014-nhl-d...pect-rankings/

Only one has Draisaitl in the top-3. 5 had him below 4th.

If you look at the names though, it's the usual suspects that are contentious while people like Bob Mackenzie had him top four. Not that these guys are that great, but the NHL.com writers all had the same top four (five with Dal Colle) as well.

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-com-dra...round/c-723352

I mean, if Pronman is your reasoning for there not to be a consensus, well he always has some weird choices. Some of those rankings are sometimes just to get click going against the 'established' thoughts.

[sureLoss]

If 2019 Draft grades are your thing, chief scout for North American Central Scouting gave the Flames an A+, the highest on all of the Canadian teams

https://montrealgazette.com/sports/h...5-fefd9d8e7a90

[Calgary4LIfe]

IIRC, Nylander was definitely in another tier than Ekblad and the Sams, and Draisaitl on most of those lists as well somewhere in the 4, but not on every list. Nylander was outside of that group in the next tier (if you had Dal Colle on that tier with him, though Dal Colle was mostly seen as a guy in his own next tier). Nylander was a prospect that a number of publications felt had the most pure offensive upside, but with question marks.



I would have been fine with Nylander in that draft, or even Ehlers (though I didn't prefer Ehlers simply due to his size). I also liked Dal Colle, but has he ever disappointed.


I am fine with Bennett. I still believe there is upside there, but Bennett is also a guy that helps you win, especially in the playoffs, even if he is not putting the puck in the net. He still impacts the game, even if it isn't always the way we all imagined.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

Originally Posted by getbak

No, the 4th rounder was traded for Fantenberg.

What a waste that was. I realize a 4th is nothing special but there was really no need for that trade. Fantenberg is thoroughly mediocre.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

If 2019 Draft grades are your thing, chief scout for North American Central Scouting gave the Flames an A+, the highest on all of the Canadian teams

https://montrealgazette.com/sports/h...5-fefd9d8e7a90

So strange how draft grades can vary so wildly. This guy gives the Canadiens a C+ which is by far the lowest grade for Canadian teams while Pronman gives them an A-. Obviosly I'm going to put more stock into Seidel because he's more plugged in and Pronman seems to get emotionally attached to certain prospects but it's strange to see such a divide on opinions.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

It was definitely 4 players in the top tier that year with Ekbkad, Bennett, Draisaitl and Reinhart. There wasn’t much question that those 4 were going to be the top picks, they were a tier above the rest.

[Steve Bozek]

Duplicate post

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

So strange how draft grades can vary so wildly. This guy gives the Canadiens a C+ which is by far the lowest grade for Canadian teams while Pronman gives them an A-. Obviosly I'm going to put more stock into Seidel because he's more plugged in and Pronman seems to get emotionally attached to certain prospects but it's strange to see such a divide on opinions.

A big factor seems to be whether or not the author is accounting for the number and quality of picks or just assessing what players a team got regardless of that

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Yeah, the top four was always cast in stone, and most people had the Sams 3 and 4. Bennett had been ranked higher but not by the time of the draft. Nylander was never ahead in any list I saw.

ETA: here's a few lists. A couple have Nylander ahead but that's more about Draisaitl being ranked way lower (and the list usually being a longer time in advance):

http://www.mynhldraft.com/2014-nhl-d...pect-rankings/

Agree. By draft day, those were the consensus top 4 - Draisaitl’s stock really rose late in the WHL season. It was no big surprise that he was chosen ahead of Bennett, although most of us thought the Flames were the beneficiaries of a minor mistake by Edmonton.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

A big factor seems to be whether or not the author is accounting for the number and quality of picks or just assessing what players a team got regardless of that

Yeah. My personal preference is to grade teams based on the picks they had to work with. If a team doesn't draft it's first player until the 3rd round they should be graded on what they did with that pick and the picks after. Obviously they aren't getting as many blue chip prospects compared to teams that drafted in the first two rounds but there are still astute picks that can be made in later rounds.

[sureLoss]

Interesting. Nolan Foote, 27th OA to Tampa, is the first 2019 draft pick to be signed to a NHL contract.

Tampa Bay Lightning
@TBLightning
He’s in! ��

We’ve signed 2019 #NHLDraft first rounder Nolan Foote (@foote_nolan) to a three-year, entry-level contract.

[cral12]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Interesting. Nolan Foote, 27th OA to Tampa, is the first 2019 draft pick to be signed to a NHL contract.

Tampa Bay Lightning
@TBLightning
He’s in! ��

We’ve signed 2019 #NHLDraft first rounder Nolan Foote (@foote_nolan) to a three-year, entry-level contract.

Surprising for sure given he was perceived to be a reach at that point in the draft.

[getbak]

His brother, who was drafted 14th overall by the Lightning didn't get signed until the April following his draft.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by cral12

Surprising for sure given he was perceived to be a reach at that point in the draft.

More than anything this actually suggests that TB was very high on him from the start. It makes good sense that they would be eager to sign him if they had him higher ranked than other teams.