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Alexis Lafreniere went 1st overall, Quinton Byfield 2nd, and Tim Stuetzle 3rd!
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Winners so far:
Ottawa - Tim Stuetzle, Jake Sanderson, and Ridly Greig
New Jersey - Alexander Holtz, Dawson Mercer, and Shakir Mukhamadullin
Rangers - Alexis Lafreniere and Braden Schneider
Anaheim - Jamie Drysdale and Jacob Perreault -
Worst pick of the first round goes to Columbus. I'm not sure they even chose the right Yegor.
Yegor Chinakhov - https://www.eliteprospects.com/playe...egor-chinakhov
Yegor Sokolov - https://www.eliteprospects.com/playe.../yegor-sokolov
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I wonder how much the hot start in KHL to the '20/21 had to do with it. Seven points in twelve games. Also three points in two VHL games in '19/20 is pretty nuts. And his MHL p/g was second only to Amirov for U19s. I always respect Kekalainen's decision-making. They think the game a little more openly over in Europe, and he's a visionary to the NHL.
My pick for worst of the first round goes to New York Rangers taking Braden Schneider at 19. Also Lapierre is too much risk at 22. And 25 is a bit high for Barron to me.
I mean, sure Chinakhov at 21 is out there, but I like a little bit of crazy. At least there's big upside. With Schneider you pretty much know exactly what you're gonna get, and it's something like Cody Ceci or Jonathan Ericsson - a guy who can defend well but makes consistently bad decisions with the puck. Save that guy until the second round.Comment
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Well. obviously where they're drafted doesn't determine who they'll be as players, but I feel quite vindicated with some of my evaluations being supported by pro scouts. This was the most games and tape I've ever watched from a draft class, and that's most of the battle right there. Early on all the rankings had Drysdale as the top D and then a cliff of a dropoff. I knew some other defensemen would have to emerge, and I spent most of the fall figuring out who that would be. Early on, with extremely limited viewings, I was thinking Poirier and Nikishin, but Sanderson caught my eye in early viewings, and by the time I saw him at NCAA level I was convinced. By December I had him 12 while most still thought he was a fringe first. I was the first person I saw on HF to have him in the top 10, and after the 5 Nations, I was the first I saw to say he might be better than Drysdale.
I was aware of Mukhamadullin since last year's U18s, but wasn't paying much attention cus I was still watching the 2019 class. He caught my eye at the Hlinkas, but by the time I saw him at WJAC, I was convinced. I think I had him as high as 14 or so; I took a lot of heat for it and I have to admit I wavered at times, but I knew what I saw.
On the flip side, I've had a number of concerns about Perfetti's game, and had him ranked a few spots later than most. Sure enough he fell to ten, which is about exactly where I had him. I know many also had Rossi a little earlier than he went, and I do love the player, but I knew he'd fall because of the size.
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Yeah man, you really nailed a whole bunch of picks and prospects this year, really great work! I'm particularly excited to see how Mukhamadullin and Stranges develop.Comment
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I've completed my analysis of the draft. No surprises here, but I think Ottawa took home the most talent.
The "best draft" in terms of what they did with the picks where they had them goes to Carolina though. Don Waddell and company deserve a lot of credit because they made out like bandits. Two of their picks in particular I consider to be steals - Gunler at 41 and Nybeck at 115.
Toronto, LA, New Jersey, the Rangers, and to a slightly lesser extent Florida all walked away with a ton of promise as well. Montreal had a pair of steals with Mysak at 48 and Farrell at 124. Other possible steals that stand out to me are Poirier (Calgary 72), Tullio (Edmonton 126), Chromiak (Los Angeles 128), Berard (Rangers 134), and McClennon (Philadelphia 178). Minnesota deserves a mention too because they went in with only 5 picks and came out with a pretty great haul. Calgary trading 19 for 22 and 72 and then 22 for 24 and 80 was genius. 19th overall became Connor Zary, Jeremie Poirier, and Jake Boltmann. Shades of the Lind Lightning in our ESPN league 😉
I think Columbus made the worst pick of the draft selecting Yegor Chinakhov 21st overall. He's a good player, but they had much better options available. He was a 3rd round pick on my list and I doubt many teams had him as high as the Blue Jackets took him.
Arizona got nothing of value. I guess this can happen when you're forced to hire a GM from outside the organization three months before the draft. It doesn't help that they had the 49th pick stripped due to violating the pre-combine testing rules, but honestly, I can identify better options that were available with each of the picks they did have. Boston joins Arizona by also extracting a nice pile of nothing with their picks. Tampa Bay and Chicago did quite poorly with the options they had. To a lesser extent, the same can be said for the Islanders, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver.
Finally, the best prospect not selected in the draft was defenseman Ruben Rafkin. Someone needs to offer the kid a tryout. I was also surprised that no one took a flyer on goalie Samuel Hlavaj.Comment
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Hasn't always been the case on these, but I agree with an overwhelming majority of your takes on this year's draft. Rough goes for Boston, Tampa, Arizona and Chicago for sure. I do like both Comesso and Reichel, but both went a ways earlier than I expected (Chicago). I like the Carson Bantle pick for Arizona, but that's about it.
I didn't do a full breakdown like you Josh, but Toronto was the one team I noticed picked a ton of players I liked. Now that you mention it, great haul for Carolina too. Besides the players you mentioned, Pashin in the 7th round is pretty sweet. I mean, yes, he's 5'7, but on skill alone he's a first rounder. That Russian international team was stacked, and a very good argument could be made that he was their best player.
To me, the biggest steals besides the ones already mentioned were Smilanic 74 to Florida, Dylan Peterson 86 to St. Louis, and course my boy Stranges 123 to Dallas.
Also completely agree on Rafkin. Only saw a couple games but I really liked the player. Thought he'd go in the top 90 for sure. That one really baffled me.
I'm not as sold on NYR. I mean, Lafrenniere obviously. But Schneider went a bit too soon. And besides that, I like a few of the players they got, but can't say any of their picks really wowed me.Comment
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I like the Schneider pick where it was (19th OA). I had Amirov, Bourque, Guhle, Holloway, Mercer, Mysak, Perreault, Schneider, and Zary all 14-22. Amirov, Guhle, Holloway, and Mercer were off the board.
I also think Brett Berard at 134th was kind of a steal. I had him in the 50-59 range.Comment
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