Curt

Yeah, I try not to get too crazy about it. I consider 5’11” to 6’1” to be average. 5’10” can start to get small, but only if the guy actually plays small. 5’9” you need to closely examine the player and anything smaller than that you need to really consider if this guy is going to be able to translate.

There are not many players who actually fit that description, I can’t think of any who have been mentioned as available, and I think that most of them are really 2nd line centers. So a guy like Charlie Coyle or Yanni Gourde? For 13 OA?

Yeah, I mean, if a guy doesn’t like Columbus or Winnipeg, how could he be happy living in LA?

Mittelstadt

Per their draft combine measurements, Leonard is 2” taller and 20 lbs heavier than Benson.

Would you trade 13 and the 2024 1st to move up to #6 (for example) to draft him?

I really feel like the top 4 D they bring in needs to be a righty, or a lefty who has played lots of top-4 mins at RD. I don’t want 21 year old Owen Power forced to play on the right side for 23 mins per game.

Personally, I think that the forward options that will be available at 13 are simply more talented than the defensive options. Seems like defensemen in this 1st round are going to get over drafted because of scarcity. Reinbacher seems ok as a top 15 pick, but I’m not sure if any other defensemen are really worthy of that investment.

I don’t think Simishev is anywhere near a lock to go in the top-15. He might, but he could also go like 21st or something.

I like Rykov in the 3rd round.

From the group of Dvorsky, Moore, Pelikka and Reinbacher, I would take any of them at 13 except Pelikka. I think it’s basically a certainty that no more than one of them is available at 13, but I think I’d order them Dvorsky, Reinbacher, Moore. From the 2nd group of Wood, Barlow, Perreault, Danielson, Sale, Simashev, Yager, I would be looking mostly at Wood, Barlow, and Simashev. I have a hard time choosing between them. I actually like Willander, Musty, and Richie from the following groups just as much too. If Michkov, Benson and Dvorsky are all off the board it might not be a bad spot for Sabres to move back a few spots.

Actually, I believe that because there is no formal agreement between the NHL and KHL, teams hold the rights of players drafted out of Russia in perpetuity. If Michkov is drafted by Buffalo, stays in the KHL for 12 years then comes to the NHL when he is 30, Buffalo still holds his rights.

I don’t know for sure, but I would think that even if it’s not threats directly from the government, people affiliated with or supports of the hockey club might take it upon themselves to menace the family a bit. And it would probably mean that he could never go back to Russia. Seems like too much for a kid whose father passed away (was murdered?) less than a year ago.

He’s going to go back. If he tried to ditch his KHL contract it probably would lead to some difficulties for his family.

I would still take Michkov at 13 right now if I could. This is a guy with real potential to be an annual 40-60 goal guy like Matthews.

I believe Marek (or Friedman) also brought up the extremely good point that everyone lies, lol.

This doesn’t really matter. I could be off, but how often do players actually “come up” from the ECHL team to the affiliated AHL team?

As of right now, yes, the Russian army does care about hockey. The pro hockey players are exempted from their military requirements as long as they honor their KHL contracts. Hockey is a propaganda tool of the Russian government and players serve the government better in that capacity. I honestly have a hard time envisioning a scenario where this would change.

I doubt it. I think we are pretty far from full scale collapse of the Russian government. That’s basically where we would need to be before I think star hockey players would be enlisted by force.

Too early to say. It’s interesting and concerning, but I don’t think we can say what the results will be. Can you explain your reasoning for why you are so certain that this will prevent hockey players from coming to the United States?

Smooth segue.

Oh, now I get it! @Buffalonill was just trying to get this thread to the 1K posts mark! Well done sir. Well done.

Both smaller wingers with good but not elite skating. Michkov is a dynamically creative shooter/goal scorer and a pretty good playmaker too. Benson is a really good playmaker who can score goals but just isn’t the same goal scoring talent that Michkov is. Michkov is a cut above.

No. He literally had the entire offseason to rehab. He was healthy. Feels like you are bending over backwards to find a reason to diss Benson just because you don’t think Buffalo should draft another smaller forward. Benson finished only behind Bedard in WHL scoring for draft year guys. You are being kind of weird about this.

I don’t think so. He was rehabbing a shoulder injury over the offseason, but I don’t think he got injured during the season.