Post-draft Report Cards (Franchises N)
Nov 26, 2016 21:06:57 GMT -5
bjernagris (PHI) and Seb Gue (MTL) like this
Post by brentdog on Nov 26, 2016 21:06:57 GMT -5
NASHVILLE PREDATORS
What can you have but praise for the champs, who came into the draft with Lord Stanley in one hand and their first rounder clutched in the other? Nashville GM Seb Gue has shown the formula that others should aspire to when it comes to gaining success, namely making the occasional big addition around an already solid core, as opposed to continually making large numbers of often counter-productive moves.
As for his picks, Gue got off to an excellent start by snagging Patrick Giles (30th) with the final selection of the first round. A standout performer for the USNTDP, Giles possesses a heavy two-way game and should fit the Preds playing style like a glove.
For an organisation known for their ability to develop blueliners, it was perhaps a little surprising that Nasvhille ony drafted the two defensemen in Christian Krygier (90th) and Kaleb Bulych (121st). Both are solid defense-first prospects and decent enough picks, but Shea Weber won’t be around to offer his mentoring forever and if there was ever a draft to load up on defensive prospects it was this one.
Of their forward selections, overager Oliver Kinnunen (99th) is a speedy and agile sniper who undoubtedly needs to add more muscle before he will be iNHL ready, particularly when playing for a fairly physical franchise like Nashville. Bryan Lockner (184th) and Max Ellis (210th) strike us as more ‘typical’ Preds players – strong two-way types who play a responsible game and contribute at both ends of the ice.
Rounding out the Nashville picks was Jacob Ingham (120th), a big OHL goalie with excellent reflexes who sadly remains in need of significant work on his rebound control. With Pekka Rinne up for renewal at the end of this season, selecting just the one goalie implies a significant amount of faith being placed in Evan’s Sarthou and Smith becoming iNHL calibre starters. Only time will tell whether just picking the one netminder in Philly was yet another shrewd move by Gue, but if either Smith or Sarthou struggle to kick on next year the smart money is on the Preds loading up on netminding talent in the 2019 draft.
Summary: A couple of missteps but you have to give the Stanley Cup winners props for coming to this draft with a first round pick when many of their would-be rivals didn’t - B
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Having finally conceded that his ‘veteran first’ approach was ultimately a law of diminishing returns, Devils GM Jon Bold went into rebuild mode this past year and came to Philly armed with two top 10 picks courtesy of his trading acumen.
Of those two top-10 picks, the Devils probably felt like they were gifted stud center Jake Wise (3rd) when the Coyotes passed him over to select Mattias Samuelsson second overall. Wise seems to have no discernible weaknesses and reminds us very much of a young Jonathan Toews in terms of his overall game. All-action defenceman Bode Wilde (8th) meanwhile has the hands, size and mobility to become a serious two-way threat in the none too distant future, particularly if he can improve his hockey-sense under the auspices of the NJD coaching staff.
The Devils then complemented the selection of the right-handed Wilde by making Quinton Hughes (47th), a diminutive left-handed blueliner who excels in the transition game, their sole second round pick.
But where New Jersey really fell down is with their latter picks. GM Bold is firmly of the belief that there isn’t any value to be had in the lower reaches of the draft and it seems that this opinion permeated through to his scouting staff given the selections of big Finnish goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (98th), grinding two-way forward Pekka Suhonen (114th), energy-winger Jack Randl (124th) and smooth-passing blueliner Jakob Brahaney (158th).
Pick of the bunch is undoubtedly Luukkonen, a kid we felt should have been drafted last year and promptly went and posted an impressive .911% in his debut SM Liiga season. For a big guy he covers the bottom of his net really well and has a very solid blocker, so if he rounds out the rest of his game he could potentially be a long-term successor to Robin Lehner for the devils.
Summary: It was difficult for the Devils to mess up their high picks in a draft as deep as this one, so GM Bold probably won’t care that their mid-to-late round selections were pretty unspectacular – B
NEW YORK ISLANDERS
Having come agonisingly close to Stanley Cup success – and spending significant treasure in the process – the 2018 draft represented a valuable chance for the Islanders to re-stock their prospect pool and ensure they can continue to supplement their already outstanding young core.
GM Dan Thompson made several bold moves in trading up in the draft to select Ryan Merkley (4th) and it’s difficult to fault that decision - if Merkley turns into the predicted Hampus Lindholm-type player for the Islanders then the rest of their draft is like playing with house money.
Undersized USNTDP winger Jonah Gold (80th) was worth a gamble in the third as he can fill the role of both playmaker and sniper, whilst we’re big fans of Luke Moncada (89th), a stocky winger who plays an in-your-face style and can even make a highlight reel play or two.
Speedy energy-winger Riley Stotts (119th) and blueliner Seth Bafaro (177th) both performed well in the WHL, with Bafaro in particular displaying good skating skills and hockey sense for the Tri-City Americans. Double-overager Jack Hanley (179th) recovered from a sophomore slump to post decent numbers in his third OHL season, although he still strikes us as something of a limited prospect in terms of his overall potential.
The Islanders raided Eastern Europe with consecutive picks late in the seventh round, taking two overagers in the shape of Yevgeni Ostrovsky (208th) and Nikita Anokhovsky (209th). Ostrovsky is a Belarussian winger with size and good skating ability, whilst Anokhovsky is typical of the type of Russian forward teams often gamble on in the latter reaches of a draft – lots of offensive sizzle but currently lacking the compete level you would like to see in comparable prospects.
Summary: Again something of a mixed bag, but Ryan Merkley could solidify the Islanders blueline for years to come – B+
NEW YORK RANGERS
After actually picking in the first round last year in Chicago (for the first time since 2012!), the Rangers reverted to type in Philly, having only a single selection in the first
three rounds of the draft. But where they didn't have quality NYR management did, at least, have quantity, with seven picks from the fourth round onwards.
Of interesting note is that with all these picks in their pocket the Rangers only took a flyer on one player outside of North America in mobile Finnish blueliner Samuel Kemppainen (134th). This represents something of a rarity for NYR, who possess good scouting networks and have often had success with European prospects in the latter stages of drafts as a result – think Lundvqist, Hagelin, Fast, Bernhardt etc.
Of course, there could have been an additional Euro selection on the part of the Rangers, were it not for the previously mentioned ‘Sandin situation’ which so consumed the Bruins with their pick immediately prior. Perhaps the confusion spread to the Rangers scouting staff, because there’s no doubt in our mind that the Swede is a superior prospect to the man they ultimately selected, namely Texan blueliner Jace Foskey (61st). Although with this said, it’s easy to see how they might have been beguiled by the combination of size and two-way defensive ability that Foskey brings to the table over the more offensively minded Sandin.
Of the Rangers remaining six picks five of them went on forwards: skilled center Allan McShane (93rd), one of the few highlights on a poor Flint team; dynamic winger Luka Burzan (103rd), a kid we were much higher on and mocked going early in the third round; hard-working Eric Guest (104th), an all-around team player and the type of character any coach should want on his team; the limited but game Cameron Lockard (194th); and finally speedy winger Baker Shore (204th), a player who can certainly pick a pass but hovers a bit too much on the perimeter of the play for our liking.
This made Peter Stratis (118th) the only other defenseman picked by NYR and it’s always worth taking a punt on a strong blueliner who can skate well.
Finally one should point out that the Rangers didn’t select a single goalie this year in Philly. Yes, I know they have Halverson, Middendorf and Oettinger in their system; and yes, I know they could ultimately trade for a long term replacement for Halak if they needed to; but prospect development is never straightforward and this is all the more so with goalies, so to our mind it never makes sense to neglect this most critical of positions in any given draft.
Summary: Given their lack of high picks in a loaded draft the Rangers were always facing a struggle here, but they didn’t help their case by missing out on Sandin and not selecting a single goalie – C-
What can you have but praise for the champs, who came into the draft with Lord Stanley in one hand and their first rounder clutched in the other? Nashville GM Seb Gue has shown the formula that others should aspire to when it comes to gaining success, namely making the occasional big addition around an already solid core, as opposed to continually making large numbers of often counter-productive moves.
As for his picks, Gue got off to an excellent start by snagging Patrick Giles (30th) with the final selection of the first round. A standout performer for the USNTDP, Giles possesses a heavy two-way game and should fit the Preds playing style like a glove.
For an organisation known for their ability to develop blueliners, it was perhaps a little surprising that Nasvhille ony drafted the two defensemen in Christian Krygier (90th) and Kaleb Bulych (121st). Both are solid defense-first prospects and decent enough picks, but Shea Weber won’t be around to offer his mentoring forever and if there was ever a draft to load up on defensive prospects it was this one.
Of their forward selections, overager Oliver Kinnunen (99th) is a speedy and agile sniper who undoubtedly needs to add more muscle before he will be iNHL ready, particularly when playing for a fairly physical franchise like Nashville. Bryan Lockner (184th) and Max Ellis (210th) strike us as more ‘typical’ Preds players – strong two-way types who play a responsible game and contribute at both ends of the ice.
Rounding out the Nashville picks was Jacob Ingham (120th), a big OHL goalie with excellent reflexes who sadly remains in need of significant work on his rebound control. With Pekka Rinne up for renewal at the end of this season, selecting just the one goalie implies a significant amount of faith being placed in Evan’s Sarthou and Smith becoming iNHL calibre starters. Only time will tell whether just picking the one netminder in Philly was yet another shrewd move by Gue, but if either Smith or Sarthou struggle to kick on next year the smart money is on the Preds loading up on netminding talent in the 2019 draft.
Summary: A couple of missteps but you have to give the Stanley Cup winners props for coming to this draft with a first round pick when many of their would-be rivals didn’t - B
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Having finally conceded that his ‘veteran first’ approach was ultimately a law of diminishing returns, Devils GM Jon Bold went into rebuild mode this past year and came to Philly armed with two top 10 picks courtesy of his trading acumen.
Of those two top-10 picks, the Devils probably felt like they were gifted stud center Jake Wise (3rd) when the Coyotes passed him over to select Mattias Samuelsson second overall. Wise seems to have no discernible weaknesses and reminds us very much of a young Jonathan Toews in terms of his overall game. All-action defenceman Bode Wilde (8th) meanwhile has the hands, size and mobility to become a serious two-way threat in the none too distant future, particularly if he can improve his hockey-sense under the auspices of the NJD coaching staff.
The Devils then complemented the selection of the right-handed Wilde by making Quinton Hughes (47th), a diminutive left-handed blueliner who excels in the transition game, their sole second round pick.
But where New Jersey really fell down is with their latter picks. GM Bold is firmly of the belief that there isn’t any value to be had in the lower reaches of the draft and it seems that this opinion permeated through to his scouting staff given the selections of big Finnish goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (98th), grinding two-way forward Pekka Suhonen (114th), energy-winger Jack Randl (124th) and smooth-passing blueliner Jakob Brahaney (158th).
Pick of the bunch is undoubtedly Luukkonen, a kid we felt should have been drafted last year and promptly went and posted an impressive .911% in his debut SM Liiga season. For a big guy he covers the bottom of his net really well and has a very solid blocker, so if he rounds out the rest of his game he could potentially be a long-term successor to Robin Lehner for the devils.
Summary: It was difficult for the Devils to mess up their high picks in a draft as deep as this one, so GM Bold probably won’t care that their mid-to-late round selections were pretty unspectacular – B
NEW YORK ISLANDERS
Having come agonisingly close to Stanley Cup success – and spending significant treasure in the process – the 2018 draft represented a valuable chance for the Islanders to re-stock their prospect pool and ensure they can continue to supplement their already outstanding young core.
GM Dan Thompson made several bold moves in trading up in the draft to select Ryan Merkley (4th) and it’s difficult to fault that decision - if Merkley turns into the predicted Hampus Lindholm-type player for the Islanders then the rest of their draft is like playing with house money.
Undersized USNTDP winger Jonah Gold (80th) was worth a gamble in the third as he can fill the role of both playmaker and sniper, whilst we’re big fans of Luke Moncada (89th), a stocky winger who plays an in-your-face style and can even make a highlight reel play or two.
Speedy energy-winger Riley Stotts (119th) and blueliner Seth Bafaro (177th) both performed well in the WHL, with Bafaro in particular displaying good skating skills and hockey sense for the Tri-City Americans. Double-overager Jack Hanley (179th) recovered from a sophomore slump to post decent numbers in his third OHL season, although he still strikes us as something of a limited prospect in terms of his overall potential.
The Islanders raided Eastern Europe with consecutive picks late in the seventh round, taking two overagers in the shape of Yevgeni Ostrovsky (208th) and Nikita Anokhovsky (209th). Ostrovsky is a Belarussian winger with size and good skating ability, whilst Anokhovsky is typical of the type of Russian forward teams often gamble on in the latter reaches of a draft – lots of offensive sizzle but currently lacking the compete level you would like to see in comparable prospects.
Summary: Again something of a mixed bag, but Ryan Merkley could solidify the Islanders blueline for years to come – B+
NEW YORK RANGERS
After actually picking in the first round last year in Chicago (for the first time since 2012!), the Rangers reverted to type in Philly, having only a single selection in the first
three rounds of the draft. But where they didn't have quality NYR management did, at least, have quantity, with seven picks from the fourth round onwards.
Of interesting note is that with all these picks in their pocket the Rangers only took a flyer on one player outside of North America in mobile Finnish blueliner Samuel Kemppainen (134th). This represents something of a rarity for NYR, who possess good scouting networks and have often had success with European prospects in the latter stages of drafts as a result – think Lundvqist, Hagelin, Fast, Bernhardt etc.
Of course, there could have been an additional Euro selection on the part of the Rangers, were it not for the previously mentioned ‘Sandin situation’ which so consumed the Bruins with their pick immediately prior. Perhaps the confusion spread to the Rangers scouting staff, because there’s no doubt in our mind that the Swede is a superior prospect to the man they ultimately selected, namely Texan blueliner Jace Foskey (61st). Although with this said, it’s easy to see how they might have been beguiled by the combination of size and two-way defensive ability that Foskey brings to the table over the more offensively minded Sandin.
Of the Rangers remaining six picks five of them went on forwards: skilled center Allan McShane (93rd), one of the few highlights on a poor Flint team; dynamic winger Luka Burzan (103rd), a kid we were much higher on and mocked going early in the third round; hard-working Eric Guest (104th), an all-around team player and the type of character any coach should want on his team; the limited but game Cameron Lockard (194th); and finally speedy winger Baker Shore (204th), a player who can certainly pick a pass but hovers a bit too much on the perimeter of the play for our liking.
This made Peter Stratis (118th) the only other defenseman picked by NYR and it’s always worth taking a punt on a strong blueliner who can skate well.
Finally one should point out that the Rangers didn’t select a single goalie this year in Philly. Yes, I know they have Halverson, Middendorf and Oettinger in their system; and yes, I know they could ultimately trade for a long term replacement for Halak if they needed to; but prospect development is never straightforward and this is all the more so with goalies, so to our mind it never makes sense to neglect this most critical of positions in any given draft.
Summary: Given their lack of high picks in a loaded draft the Rangers were always facing a struggle here, but they didn’t help their case by missing out on Sandin and not selecting a single goalie – C-