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2018 NHL draft

Crusader1969

By Crusader1969
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Derrico First Liner

Derrico

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This is one of the first times I'm looking at the draft. I'm on board with Liger and would be very happy with Wahlstrom. He reminds me of Mittlestadt last year and Keller the year before. Has enormous skill yet seems to be projected to go anywhere from 4th to 10th overall.

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LGR4GM Hall of Famer

LGR4GM

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Never a good thing. I have a hard time considering him any sort of Clayton Keller if that's an issue. Or a Mittelstadt for that matter, Casey only has one gear, and that's on.

It might be just what I see in the defensive zone. He gets a little lost at times.
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Crusader1969 First Liner

Crusader1969

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ISS Rankings for April

 

 

https://www.isshockey.com/iss-hockey-releases-iss-top-31-april-rankings-top-prospects-2018-nhl-draft/

 

 

My Top Six

 

1. Dahlin

2. Svechnikov

3. Zadina

4. Wahlstrom

5. Bouchard

6. Boqvist

 

Will be watching Hughes closely over the weekend at the Frozen 4. He has a chance to move up the rankings now that Bouchard's season is done.  Bouchard won't get to play in the u18s as he is a 99 born.

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Winston Third Liner

Winston

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Had to get off mobile to see it. Isn't censorship kinda like a thing on message boards? ###### ###### ######. See?

 

You've gotta put your ######s in a little more context. Otherwise I can decide what word is bleeped, and therefore I can decide whether or not I am offended ;) 

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Brawndo Hall of Famer

Brawndo

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Will be watching Hughes closely over the weekend at the Frozen 4. He has a chance to move up the rankings now that Bouchard's season is done. Bouchard won't get to play in the u18s as he is a 99 born.

Hughes speed, skating and offensive skill are elite, his size and defensive skill scare me.

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Rasmus_ Second Liner

Rasmus_

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Hughes speed, skating and offensive skill are elite, his size and defensive skill scare me.

 

I just keep seeing Derrick Pouliot.  Yes, I know he's more dynamic, but he's a tease play.  He's got a questionable shot and his defensive game is a major liability. 

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Brawndo Hall of Famer

Brawndo

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Pronman with some thoughts on other prospects.

 

Vitaly Kravtsov, RW, Chelyabinsk-KHL

 

There’s no prospect creating more of a buzz the past few weeks than Kravtsov in the KHL playoffs. As of this writing, Kravtsov is third in scoring and second in shots on goal for his KHL team in the postseason, with the team now in the third round. He’s getting ice time on the second power play unit and regular even strength. He’s a first year draft-eligible player. He’s spent all season between his KHL team and the second division pro league in Russia.

 

Outside of the pro level, he played a couple of games in a U20 international tournament in November in Russia, and was mediocre in the games he played and a healthy scratched in another. He was then brought over for Russia’s U20 team in December, getting into one World Junior pre-tournament game where he wasn’t too noticeable and was subsequently cut.

 

In October, I watched one of his KHL games. I thought he looked decent, not amazing, and marked him down as a guy to watch. I watched his U20 games in November and downgraded him. I watched him in December and further downgraded him. When I went back to some of his junior games last season, I thought he looked pretty good but not amazing.

 

 

 

He showed nice skills and speed for his size, but has a very straight line style without a ton of plays. I watched his one junior game this season and didn’t see a blow you away guy there despite three points. At that point, I had watched him about 10 times and had him as a second-round prospect.

 

Then all of a sudden, he starts lighting the world on fire, his goals spreading across the hockey community. I’ve now watched each of Traktor’s playoff games in the past two rounds, plus I've gone back and watched even more of his junior games. I’ve bumped him up to a mid first-rounder, he’s smarter than I thought he was, but I’m not the only one going through this whirlwind.

 

Several NHL executives The Athletic has reached out to responded with a shrug when asked for their Kravtsov thoughts. Given he’s never played in an IIHF tournament, didn’t play in any international games up until November 2017, his non-KHL time has been limited this season and, up until March, he barely played in those KHL games, he’s a bit of a mystery to the clubs that haven’t focused in on him, particularly to the top evaluators who are based in North America. The clubs that have watched him, from what I’ve heard, love him. It’s possible due to this massive recent spike and lack of exposure he could be top 15 on some boards, and below the top 45 on others.

 

Ryan McLeod, C, Mississauga-OHL

 

McLeod was the former No. 2 pick in his OHL draft; a 6-foot-2 center with great speed and good skills draws immediate attention. I’ve seen games from him where he looks dominant and looks like a top 10 pick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, the debate over him is based not on what he does some games, but what he looks like over a season, which has been less impressive. Among U19 players in the OHL, he ranked 15th in scoring. He wasn’t much of a better scorer than Matthew Strome, who was a fourth-round pick last June, and whom McLeod is two-and-a-half months younger than. There’s a combination of reasons for this in my opinion. First, Mississauga deployed him heavily but oddly. They were against forming power lines, and he was often never with Owen Tippett or his brother, Michael, at even strength for lengthy periods, and he was on the second power play unit for a good chunk of games. However, he also played a ton of minutes and was invisible for a good portion of games. Due to his size, skills and speed, he’s an elite zone entry artist, which is why I see value in his game, but too often he seems passive, fades into the background and doesn’t create chances. He’s a low first/high second-rounder for me at the moment.

 

Joel Farabee, LW, USA Under-18 Team-USHL/Mattias Samuelsson, D, USA Under-18 Team-USHL

 

Farabee and Samuelsson are two of the names getting significant draft buzz as we head to June. Farabee is currently a projected top 20 pick, and Samuelsson is a probable first-round pick. Farabee’s numbers have been fantastic this season. I’ve seen probably one-third of the USA U18 games this season between live and video views (and that number might be low) and I’ve never left a game loving either of them. That’s not to say I think they are bad players; both are quite good and are on my draft board. There are fierce advocates of both in the scouting community, for the draft slots I mentioned if not higher, as well as some skeptics. Farabee is a very intelligent two-way forward who sees the ice well and competes hard. Samuelsson is a 6-foot-4 defenseman with solid mobility, good intelligence and shuts guys down so well. However, on a skills level, I don’t see Farabee showing consistent top-six level ability. Samuelsson can also be quite basic handling the puck, which makes me wonder if he can be a power play guy as a pro. So, despite watching both players dozens of times this season, they’re under my microscope as we head into the IIHF Under-18’s for another handful of games. As of now, Joel is a second-round pick and Mattias a third-round pick for me.

 

Liam Foudy, C, London-OHL

 

Foudy has been a massive riser in the second half. After London made trades at the deadline, he was getting ice time on the first power play unit and made the most of his primetime ice time going on a goal-scoring tear. He’s one of the best skaters in the draft class. As of now, I expect he’ll be a top 60 pick. However, for so long he looked like a very basic north-south type of player without the creativity to be a top-six forward in the NHL. Toward the end of the season, he started showing more confidence making plays, and it’s those flashes, however brief they were, that will likely cause fierce debate in draft rooms since he brings truly elite speed. I have my skepticisms on his upside and don’t have him as a top 60 guy right now, but it’s a tough call and I go back and forth.

 

Nils Lundkvist, D, Lulea-SHL/David Gustafsson, C, HV71-SHL

 

These two players have been great lately at the pro level. Gustafsson has the 13th most points ever by a U18 player in the SHL, and Lundkvist’s numbers in the SHL are comparable to Erik Brannstrom and Sebastian Aho at the same age. So naturally, these two are elite prospects, right? Well, not so fast. I’m not convinced on Gustafsson to start. I see a slow skater with decent hands who makes a few plays but overall doesn’t show me much offensive upside. He seems like a player whose benefited from being 6-foot-1, 200 pounds and good defensively, so his ice time is ahead of where players his age usually are due to those factors, not due to elite talent. He’s a bubble draft pick for me.

 

Lundkvist is a bit of a different story. He has ability. It’s not high-end ability, but he skates well and has a good head for the game as a passer and defender. Lundkvist was recently even named the top defenseman in J20 SuperElit, ahead of Adam Boqvist. Lundkvist’s small and doesn’t have great hands, but he can make a play and is trending well right now. He's reasonable as a pick in the top three rounds, possibly even in the second round, but I don't see upside for higher right now.

 

Luka Burzan, C, Brandon-WHL

 

Prospect diehards may know of Burzan for several years. He was considered one of the top talents in his age group for years. It wasn’t that long ago he led Canada in scoring at the Youth Olympic Games, playing alongside many other names you’ll see picked high this June. In his draft season, he’s been so-so in the WHL. The reason he remains of interest is his toolkit. He’s a dynamic skater and has a fair amount of skill. The questions scouts have are about his hockey sense, as he’s struggled to show he can make plays at the faster paces such as the WHL or the Ivan Hlinka U18 tournament. It’s possible he could slide to the late rounds, but he’s one of the more interesting players due to his talent base and pedigree. I’m still debating whether or not he’s a draft pick for me.

 

Serron Noel, RW, Oshawa-OHL

 

There’s been a lot of buzz for Noel this season for this draft. Some fans who haven’t seen him, might Google him quickly and see fine but not great stats in the OHL and think this is a classic case of overvaluing size because he is 6-foot-5. That might be true to some extent, but Noel has some real ability.

 

He has good puck skills, skates decent and can create offense; and with his frame, he is one of the best forwards around the net and on the boards in this class. The questions going forward are just how skilled is he and whether he’s smart enough to make plays at an NHL pace. I go back and forth on him. Some nights he looks like a first-round pick, but I struggle to place him in that range and he’s outside there for me right now, being more of a second-round pick.

 

Brady Tkachuk, LW, Boston University-Hockey East

 

There are few players I’ve watched closer in the second half than Tkachuk. I saw him live about 15 times this season and went through most of BU’s game in the new calendar year on tape. I’ve talked to his current and former coaches, and scouts who’ve seen him at different levels over the years to try and get a real feel for what he is as a player.

 

I’ve come off my position somewhat on Tkachuk, instead of having him as a top 15 prospect in this year’s class, I’ve bumped him up to top 10. I’m convinced his skill level is higher than I previously pegged it as, and he skates fine, especially for a guy his size. One thing that’s been convincing has been his play in the second half at BU. He became the driver of that team’s offense and the primary playmaker from the sidewall on their top power play unit. I’m skeptical he’s at the same tier as guys like Filip Zadina, Quinn Hughes and Andrei Svechnikov, but I see a more reasonable argument to Tkachuk being a top 5-7 pick due to his elite physical game combined with a pretty good, albeit not as elite, skills.

 

Rasmus Kupari, C, Karpat-Liiga

 

Kupari is one of the biggest question marks for me heading into the draft. No matter what, he’ll be in my first round, but he’s been so tough to evaluate. He hasn’t played much outside the pro level this season, and given his Liiga team Karpat is the best team in the league, he doesn’t get much ice time. At the November U20 tournament, he was fine; at the world juniors, he barely played; and his club team didn’t let him go for the February U18 nations in Michigan. He’s been playing a little more lately for his club team, and his fantastic Ivan Hlinka, as well as other international performances over the years, will stick in scouts' minds. He’s a dynamic skater and puck handler. But how smart is he? Can he make plays at as high-end a level, or is it more average? Those are the questions evaluators I’ve been talking to are debating. Chances are he won’t play at the IIHF Under-18’s due to how good his pro team is and the fact he’s their third-line center. But like former Karpat star Aho, who scored the golden goal in the Liiga playoffs as a 17-year-old only to get on a plane and fly to North Dakota for the gold medal game that they won, maybe Kupari gets a brief appearance toward the end of the tournament.

 

During his best games, he looks like a top 10 pick, but there are reasonable questions on whether he should actually be slotted in that range.

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