2024 NHL Draft Thread

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

All I’m saying is let’s get away from this size bias that comes into their minds and just take BPA. That’s how you miss a Kucherov and Gaudreau in the same draft.

A good start would be to take Zetterberg with our 2nd round pick if he's there.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

A good start would be to take Zetterberg with our 2nd round pick if he's there.

Vegas playoffs turned around whe 5’9 Marchessault came on along with the goalie.

Tampa was carried to 3 finals and 2 cups with Kucherov and the goalie.

Pittsburgh has been carried by Crosby.

Colorado is the outlier. They just lucked into big fast players.

You still need bigger guys no doubt especially on the backend. Just saying the key cogs have not been 6’4 guys.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

They had players like Kucherov on the list and elected to go Tyler Witherspoon.

Wasting picks on Knazig and Hunter Smith.

Passing on Stankoven sucks, that’s a hard one though as we don’t know how they had their list.

Right now it looks terrible, especially since we had a player on the team we drafted a year before.

That’s not actual evidence
Every team takes big players
Do the Flames take more big players than the norm? That would be actual evidence

[Sandman]

A good small player? Aron Kiviharju. He’s 5’10” standing on an apple crate, but he’s an absolute wizard. Doubt he’ll be around for our second pick, but I wouldn’t mind taking him with Vancouver’s pick…

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

That’s not actual evidence
Every team takes big players
Do the Flames take more big players than the norm? That would be actual evidence

I don’t know.

I’m just saying what I’ve seen on the Flames.

I’m not even saying let’s just take small guys either. I agree we need size, I’m just saying let’s not take a Hunter Smith because he’s big and deviate from the list. Because no way that guy was ranked that high with 1 goal.

I think if you stick to the list and you have enough picks your team will end up with the right blend of players.

What we need is picks picks picks and not trade them away. It’s the only way out of this hole.

[Jiri Hrdina]

How do you know they deviated from their list?
And he was drafted as an overages when he had more production

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

How do you know they deviated from their list?
And he was drafted as an overages when he had more production

That’s my guess and I’m going to stay with it.

He was a terrible player and he’s not playing hockey anymore.

Literally wasted a pick.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Easy to draft with hindsight
Maybe the Flames should try that

[Sandman]

Draft Thoughts (The Other Crosby Edition):

Not many draft-eligibles had as much bad luck with injuries this season as RW Logan Crosby of the Halifax Mooseheads. He was playing just his second game back in November from an 11-game absence due to an upper-body injury he suffered in October, when a hit from behind sidelined him until January 20th. Crosby started the season with 8 points in 8 games, but his injury woes limited him to just 33 games, with 22 points. While those numbers prorated equal a respectable 44 points in 66 games just for an example, I have to believe he would have been closer to a point-per-game had he stayed healthier over the course of the season. The 6'2",183lb winger was given a "C" rating at the start of the season, denoting a likely 4th, or 5th-round pick. The Mooseheads traded two picks (27 and 42) to move up in the 2021 QMJHL Draft in order to secure Crosby's rights in the first round, 20th overall.

Crosby plays in all situations for the Mooseheads, and both sides of special teams, despite having no real dynamic qualities or high-end traits. He's the type that does most of the heavy lifting for his line, competing in the hard areas, and winning pucks in the corners and along the wall. He makes a better screen than a window as a net-front presence where he cleans up garbage, pounces on rebounds, and uses his body to cause havok. He has soft hands in-close, and most of his goals come from within 10-feet of the net- he plays in front of the net on the powerplay as well. He owns a hard, accurate shot with a beautiful curl-and-drag release at his disposal, and explodes off the wall to attack the middle for shots, with the help of his wingspan- which helps him protect the puck skillfully. Crosby has a long, powerful stride that puts out above-average speed, and he's quick in a straight line. He could use a better top speed with more explosiveness however, and has to improve his edgework as he is relegated to taking wide turns where he tends to lose speed. He isn't quick enough in small areas, but he manages to move fairly well laterally. There are flashes of high-end vision and creativity, but at the very least he is a skilled distributor, finding seams through traffic, and can make cross-ice passes look effortless. He's capable of dishing in full flight, and faciltates plenty of chances for his teammates. Crosby scans well to get a good knowledge of his surroundings, and uses deceptive feints to open space to move in, and lanes to pass through in the form of fakes, dekes, and look-offs.

Crosby's puckhandling is nothing special- he has some nice 1-on-1 moves, but knows his limitations. In transition, he will dump-and-chase and work the give-and-go's, leaving most of the carrying to his teammates. He is a power-forward with a physical presence and shows intensity on the forecheck as well as in puck-battles, but is very disciplined, with a miniscule 2 penalty-minutes this year, and only 6 penalty-minutes last year. He uses his body as leverage to separate man from puck, and will lean into defenders on his way to the net. He works incredibly hard, stays active, plays aggressive, and has a seemingly never-ending motor. One of the mainstays of his game is his relentless, sustained checking game- he's highly disruptive in all three zones. He will hound puck-carriers in the neutral zone, and kills rushes before they reach the blueline with his brand of hard, heavy defense. The cherry on top is his breakout passes when he wins possession, and he can stretch the ice with some long-bomb passes to streaking teammates. While he's more of a complimentary player at this point, and not really a play-driver, he's able to play up and down the lineup in any situation, and hopefully will make a good two-way, bottom-6 winger in the NHL, with the potential for more. I believe that injuries derailed his season, and that he's better than his stats. I will go with Central Scouting's assessment, and put him in the 4th, or 5th round.

[sch19lks]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

I don’t know.

I’m just saying what I’ve seen on the Flames.

I’m not even saying let’s just take small guys either. I agree we need size, I’m just saying let’s not take a Hunter Smith because he’s big and deviate from the list. Because no way that guy was ranked that high with 1 goal.

I think if you stick to the list and you have enough picks your team will end up with the right blend of players.

What we need is picks picks picks and not trade them away. It’s the only way out of this hole.

I know a really good friend of Hunter Smith’s, and apparently he (Hunter Smith) was completely shocked at how high he was picked. Apparently he knew that he’d never play

[Sandman]

Draft Thoughts (Son Of Satan Edition):

I've been avoiding doing a profile of 6'7",190lb C Miroslav Satan Jr, partly because I wanted to see how he would look in the U-18 Tournament, and also because most who have watched him play say that he probably won't get drafted. Satan Jr. played mainly for HC Slovan Bratislava in Slovakia's U20 league this season, and posted 30 points in 26 games, which was good enough for 28th overall in scoring, and 17th in ppg. It's important to note that Slovakia's main Junior league is a decidedly weaker league than those in other countries. How is his U-18 tournament going? Well, Slovakia lost 9-0 to team USA in the opener, and then were upset by Latvia, 5-3, with Satan playing 11:06 and 9:37 respectively, picking up no points and a -1. That's not necessarily an indictment of Satan as the coaches have been heavily leaning on the team's top players, and giving them the lion's share of the ice-time. It isn't really a good sign though....

First thing I noticed about Satan besides his enormity, is that he has excellent speed for a player his size, even getting his jersey flappin' behind him as he flew up the ice. Though his stride looks slightly awkward, he's seemingly light on his feet, with surprising acceleration and top-speed. He can cover a lot of real estate in a short time. His reach is enormous, and it allows him to protect the puck well. Satan is huge, but doesn't seem to use his size at all, instead relying on his stick and positioning to be disruptive. From reports, he can advance the puck well in transition by carrying, but has the passing skills to push the pace through the neutral zone, and out of the defensive zone. He will go to the net to park himself in front in order to set up a screen and make himself a threat, but I don't see any quality IQ or vision. He looks to have a good one-timer for the Slovak league, but his wrister is weak, and his release is slow. Watching him against the Americans, he showed good positioning on the backcheck, looking to take away the middle, and positions himself deep to be able to support his goalie and his defensemen down low. He is said to be defensively responsible, but seemed to coast a lot, and did a little too much puck-watching.

Satan was drafted in Round #16 of the 2023 USHL Draft, at 242nd overall, by the Chicago Steel- so I hope we can get a good look at him over here in North America. People have been saying that his 2024 NHL draft stock depends alot on his performance in the U-18's, and if so- he's off to a very bad start, as he had no impact on the game against the Americans in the slightest, and was largely invisible despite his size. Don't get me wrong, not many other players on Team Slovakia moved the needle either, but I would say that based on talent and ability, he shouldn't be drafted. Based on size and name recognition however, I could see an NHL team taking a flier on him in the later rounds. Sorry, Satan fans...