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-douard 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)
If he doesn't go at 12 or 13 I'd love the Habs to trade up for him.
If the Habs can get Boldy, Caufield or York at 15 that would be awesome.
I like Peyton Krebs too, but man an Achilles tear is scary to me.
Millis, MA kid - one town over from me.
highest goalie pick in a while.
this goalie is legit.
Caufield one pick from the habs. York will be there too.
I'd be cool with Newhook, etc.
even look for a trade partner to move back a couple picks and get a 2nd or 3rd.
David Pagnotta
@TheFourthPeriod
5s5 seconds ago
In addition to Leddy & Hickey, Islanders forward Josh Ho-Sang is very much in play.
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Damn, would have loved him on the Habs.
3 Americans in a row.
Krebs too.
Kaliyev, Newhook, a few other really good players here.
Habs take Caufield!!!!
What a night for USA hockey. 8 of the top 15 from the national program. Wow.
to that young core.
holy shit.
to that young core.
holy shit.
My beer league teammates are gonna be insufferable out here
Quote:
add Byram and Newhook.
to that young core.
holy shit.
My beer league teammates are gonna be insufferable out here
Just be glad they lost the lottery. If they got Hughes or Kakko it would be a lot worse.
I love watching MacKinnon play, glad I don't live there so I have to hate him.
Dual citizen, born in Syracuse, but selected Canadian citizenship.
Puck moving D, they have a solid group of young D.
I still prefer the taller players, but no denying talent.
and I feel better about the size when a team like the Bruins has 4 sub-6-foot defenseman
Not from me scouting him, but just basically all the mocks had him going bottom of the 1st or falling to the 2nd.
but I guess what's the difference between a guy you like a 30 vs 19. this isn't the NFL.
I think he'll be an NHL player, but in a few years.
Bobby Orr Brink playing for the Bruins is sort of poetic, but I'd hate it.
I'm a big Granato fan too.
and Robertson.
Albin Grewe (RW/LC, Sweden, Djurgardens J20)
Ilya Nikolayev (LC, Russia, Loko Yaroslavl MHL)
Robert Mastrosimone (LC, USA, Chicago USHL)
Antti Saarela (LC/LW, Finland, Lukko Liiga)
Shane Pinto (RW, USA, Tri-City USHL)
Maxim Cajkovic (RW/LW, Slovakia, Saint John QMJHL)
Ryder Donovan (RC/RW, USA, Duluth-East U.S. High School)
So it's basically the same as the NFL draft then.
I do, what's your point?
I wonder how many here have actually seen a single Duke football game.
There are many that openly admit that they do not watch college football. It doesn't prevent them from sharing their opinion. I am not going to knock them for that because it's a message board and it's fun to discuss.
against each other in international tournaments or even on their juniors or regular teams.
Almost no one drafted yesterday plays high school hockey (in fact maybe not one player) so your ignorance is on MAJOR display here. So "stay in your lane bro" because this one is not it.
Junior hockey is on multiple channels, professional hockey (KHL (Russia), SM Liga (Finland), SEL (Swedish Elite League), and even the juniors leagues like OHL, WHL, USHL, CHL, QMJHL, etc), are all streamable or even in many cases like the post-season tourneys and the Memorial cup are on TV live. And the USNDTP plays an NCAA schedule they are on TV often, and 9 of the 31 kids taken came from that program.
If you said later rounds sure. There could be high school players drafted and I feel like I know my stuff, but even I only know about into the mid-late second round out of these kids.
but you are away off base with your comment about last night at least.
Doesn't mean people will be right about who they want their team to take last night, there are busts in every sports draft and that is with the people getting paid to make the picks doing it, us fans are bound to be wrong often, but you are way off base with your post.
And also, it's kind of douchy to come on a thread like this for the sole purpose of being a douche.
Link - ( New Window )
I remember when the Rangers drafted Jessiman(oops) I tried to find out about him and there just wasn't much available in terms of video. I believe that was in 2002.
I still want NJ to trade for Subban but I would prefer to keep the 34th pick to grab either Lavoie, Brink, Kaliyev, or Vlasic.