Thought I'd start a thread for general NHL Draft discussion.
Date: 6/21
Where: Vancouver
The story of the draft so far is that American players are set to dominate the early portion of the draft.
Besides projected #1 Jack Hughes, I've seen as many as 6 of the top 10 projected as American players.
Who are they?
Hughes (C) projected #1, everyone knows him
Cole Caufield has been routinely called the "best goal scorer" in the draft. and he helped himself out in a major way at the U18's in April. I'm still leery of a 5' 7" NHL player, but Alex Debrincat (who Caufield is often compared to) maybe helped dissuade those concerns with his 40 G/76P season as a 21-year old.
Alex Turcotte, another American C, does everything IMO, he can score, play defensively, and is a good skater.
Trevor Zegras, has played W and C, not sure what he is in the NHL, oozes skill and manages to combine it with a hard nose style and good hockey IQ
Matthew Boldy, a LW, he might be my favorite non-Hughes American draftee, I see him as a Ryan O'Reilly type with how he approaches the game, so smart, so skilled, just not a C.
Spencer Knight, #1 rated goalie and if he goes this high would be a rarity, the NHL has moved away from 1st round goalies as a norm
other US notables:
Cam York (beast D, in the McAvoy mold)
Bobby Orr Brink (no shit that's his name) - maybe the sleeper of the bunch, loved his play at the U18's
Arthur Kaliyev, goal scorer? check. Not a great skater though. How then does he join Tavares, Stamkos, Skinner, and Debrincat as the only players to score 50 goals in the OHL in their 17/18 year old seasons? Can't argue with the stats, but he's a guy I'd really want to evaluate at the combone.
Alex Vlasic - a massive kid at 6' 6" at 18 years old and cousin to Marc-Édouard Vlasic, reminds me a little of the Samuelsson's last year (Ulf and Kjell's kids), need some work, but with that size it's not hard to envision.
Draft order, post Trouba trade:
2019 NHL DRAFT FIRST-ROUND ORDER
1. New Jersey Devils
2. New York Rangers
3. Chicago Blackhawks
4. Colorado Avalanche (from Ottawa Senators)
5. Los Angeles Kings
6. Detroit Red Wings
7. Buffalo Sabres
8. Edmonton Oilers
9. Anaheim Ducks
10. Vancouver Canucks
11. Philadelphia Flyers
12. Minnesota Wild
13. Florida Panthers
14. Arizona Coyotes
15. Montreal Canadiens
16. Colorado Avalanche
17. Vegas Golden Knights
18. Dallas Stars
19. Ottawa Senators (from Columbus Blue Jackets)
20. Winnipeg Jets (from New York Rangers)
21. Pittsburgh Penguins
22. Los Angeles Kings (from Toronto Maple Leafs)
23. New York Islanders
24. Nashville Predators
25. Washington Capitals
26. Calgary Flames
27. Tampa Bay Lightning
28. Carolina Hurricanes
29. Anaheim Ducks [or Buffalo Sabres] (from San Jose Sharks)
30. Boston Bruins
31. Buffalo Sabres [or Anaheim Ducks] (from St. Louis Blues)
I agree, it's not a spectator event IMO, but that place looks packed.
Sedins were always boring stars.
They have shown a bunch of Hughes highlights leading up to the pick.
Room for Improvement: None
sounds good lol
they looked like the exact same sizes, the Devils was outside. they maybe even had more people.
Huh? Give it a rest. I'll never argue the fan bases are anywhere close in size but from those angles they seemed pretty similiar.
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That's just sad, man
they looked like the exact same sizes, the Devils was outside. they maybe even had more people.
Are you serious? The Devils party looked like it had 200 people. The whole half of MSG was PACKED.
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That's just sad, man
Huh? Give it a rest. I'll never argue the fan bases are anywhere close in size but from those angles they seemed pretty similiar.
Ranger fan here and I agree and don't get trying to one up the other teams fan base, it's dumb. The Devils and Rangers are the winners of the draft tonight with these 2 phenomenal players.
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In comment 14479616 Anakim said:
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That's just sad, man
they looked like the exact same sizes, the Devils was outside. they maybe even had more people.
Are you serious? The Devils party looked like it had 200 people. The whole half of MSG was PACKED.
After they announced the Hughes pick they showed the Devils party reaction and it looked like the same size crowds.
I don't care anyway.
If you believe the Hockey Writers, the Rangers really like Dylan Cozens
Expect Turcotte.
Love this kid, maybe my favorite player in the draft.
Love this kid, maybe my favorite player in the draft.
He's no Kaapo Kakko
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announced to Kings.
Love this kid, maybe my favorite player in the draft.
He's no Kaapo Kakko
I didn't say best player, I said my favorite.
I like the gritty players, someone who has skill, but can play physical - like a Forsberg (Peter).
It's an homage to the scouts. I mean the scouts travel across North America and across Europe to find players. It's more of an international sport than either basketball or football.
I just love the idea of having a big, mean, nasty German on your team. Haha
every year I feel like they're building a good young squad.
and every year they suck.
I read a few teams may look to get back into the 1st.
but like last year I don't know that player trades will have to happen today.
Pacioretty wasn't traded until September last year.
See my Buffalo comment.
I guess Caufield, Boldy, York and Knight may fall out of top 10. Well I expect they could go in the next couple picks (two of them)
CT kid - mentioned above.
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That's just sad, man
Huh? Give it a rest. I'll never argue the fan bases are anywhere close in size but from those angles they seemed pretty similiar.
When your team hasn't won a Cup in a quarter of a century, I guess some people need to grasp onto something, like draft party crowd sizes. You know, the important stuff.
2 years left in KHL
you asked, you shall receive.
Coyotes on the clock.
11 for 14 and 45.