2021 NHL Draft Rankings

[LGR4GM]

The Sabres suck at drafting 

 

[LGR4GM]

Draft a center. Then draft another center. Draft all centers and 1 goaltender. 

[Thorner]

15 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Draft a center. Then draft another center. Draft all centers and 1 goaltender. 

This is where I’m at. Our top 2 guys on that front may be injury prone. Just keep drafting centres and convert them to W if necessary 

[Crusader1969]

Pronman has a new #1 prospect 

Dylan Guenther, RW, Edmonton-WHL

April 10, 2003 | 6-foot-2 | 175 pounds

Games: 6 | Goals: 8 | Points: 15

Previous ranking: 4

Guenther has come out of the gates firing as a leading player on a top CHL team. He’s also grown a bit since we last saw him, shooting up about two inches. He is a forward with a ton of NHL attributes and no real flaw in his game other than he doesn’t play center. He has tremendous skill, while able to make skilled plays through defenders and to teammates at an NHL pace. He can run a power play with his playmaking, while also having the shot to score from a distance. He has a lot of talent, but also works off the puck, forcing turnovers and playing in traffic. He has the best chance of anyone in this draft to become an NHL star.

[Marvin]

4 hours ago, Buffalonill said:

dylan guenther and aatu raty are the best in this draft and This will go down as one of the dumbest mistakes ever when they both don't go 1 and 2 

2005 draft all over again with Kopitar 

 

Why do you say that?

[Flashsabre]

23 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

Pronman has a new #1 prospect 

Dylan Guenther, RW, Edmonton-WHL

April 10, 2003 | 6-foot-2 | 175 pounds

Games: 6 | Goals: 8 | Points: 15

Previous ranking: 4

Guenther has come out of the gates firing as a leading player on a top CHL team. He’s also grown a bit since we last saw him, shooting up about two inches. He is a forward with a ton of NHL attributes and no real flaw in his game other than he doesn’t play center. He has tremendous skill, while able to make skilled plays through defenders and to teammates at an NHL pace. He can run a power play with his playmaking, while also having the shot to score from a distance. He has a lot of talent, but also works off the puck, forcing turnovers and playing in traffic. He has the best chance of anyone in this draft to become an NHL star.

When you watch him play he reminds me exactly of Quinn

 

[LGR4GM]

36 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

Pronman has a new #1 prospect 

Dylan Guenther, RW, Edmonton-WHL

April 10, 2003 | 6-foot-2 | 175 pounds

Games: 6 | Goals: 8 | Points: 15

Previous ranking: 4

Guenther has come out of the gates firing as a leading player on a top CHL team. He’s also grown a bit since we last saw him, shooting up about two inches. He is a forward with a ton of NHL attributes and no real flaw in his game other than he doesn’t play center. He has tremendous skill, while able to make skilled plays through defenders and to teammates at an NHL pace. He can run a power play with his playmaking, while also having the shot to score from a distance. He has a lot of talent, but also works off the puck, forcing turnovers and playing in traffic. He has the best chance of anyone in this draft to become an NHL star.

The 1st overall dark horse.

[LGR4GM]

Keep in mind we won't get a feeling for some guys until they junior seasons start to play out. 

Edited March 30, 2021 by LGR4GM

[Thorner]

Don’t really care about BPA here, can’t go RW in the top 10 twice in a row at the expense of our far more important,  putrid centre depth both on the team and in the system. Both Quinn and Peterka actually, our top 2 picks last year, are RWs

[Thorner]

These are the current centres in the system, as listed on the Sabres official site:

Matteo Costantini

Marcus Davidsson 

Jakub Konecny

Andrew Oglevie

Matej Pekar

Arttu Ruotsalainen

- - - 

That’s it. 

If I’m being honest, I’m not sure there’s an nhl player there, never mind a potential top 6 C. It’s barren. Ruotsalainen I could see in a bottom 6 role but they seem determined for that not to happen. 

And we know how C looks on the roster. 

We have Eichel and Cozens as set/realistic top 6 centres in the entire organization. After that it’s just hoping on Mittelstadt again. 

Our high first this year needs to be used on a centre or converted into one. 

[Marvin]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

Our high first this year needs to be used on a centre or converted into one. 

No.  I want a natural centre -- one who is one now and projects as one in the NHL.  This organisation is in the hole we are seeing in part because of its inability to draft natural centres and nurture their development.  Part of me wishes I could go to the Earth mk II where the team merely rebuilds, the coaches do not undermine the natural leadership of Larsson and Girgensons and lets them try to elevate themselves even though there were centres drafted in 2014 and 2015.

[Thorner]

3 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

No.  I want a natural centre -- one who is one now and projects as one in the NHL.  This organisation is in the hole we are seeing in part because of its inability to draft natural centres and nurture their development.  Part of me wishes I could go to the Earth mk II where the team merely rebuilds, the coaches do not undermine the natural leadership of Larsson and Girgensons and lets them try to elevate themselves even though there were centres drafted in 2014 and 2015.

No like converted as in the pick traded for one

[Marvin]

3 minutes ago, Thorny said:

No like converted as in the pick traded for one

Oh, I see what you mean.  Thanks for the clarification.

[Thorner]

6 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

Oh, I see what you mean.  Thanks for the clarification.

And I agree, I think centre has been the key roster issue since summer 07. 14 years. It's never really been fixed. It's the most important position in hockey (shout out to goaltending here, too) and we've been a 2C wasteland. There's nothing in the system after Cozens. And to top it all off, both Eichel and potentially Cozens have injury concerns going forward. 

I wish it wasn't considered a mediocre/weak draft, but being at the top we should still make sure to come away with a centre. 

Building through the middle is something Rutherford would understand 

Edited March 30, 2021 by Thorny

[Crusader1969]

32 minutes ago, Thorny said:

And I agree, I think centre has been the key roster issue since summer 07. 14 years. It's never really been fixed. It's the most important position in hockey (shout out to goaltending here, too) and we've been a 2C wasteland. There's nothing in the system after Cozens. And to top it all off, both Eichel and potentially Cozens have injury concerns going forward. 

I wish it wasn't considered a mediocre/weak draft, but being at the top we should still make sure to come away with a centre. 

Building through the middle is something Rutherford would understand 

just to play devils advocate. If you have Cozens and Eichel as C1 and C2, would you be better off drafting a 3rd line center over a guy that has potential to be a top line winger? 

I still have Berniers as my number one wish but what if he is gone? who's the 2nd best center in the draft? 

[Thorner]

13 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

just to play devils advocate. If you have Cozens and Eichel as C1 and C2, would you be better off drafting a 3rd line center over a guy that has potential to be a top line winger? 

I still have Berniers as my number one wish but what if he is gone? who's the 2nd best center in the draft? 

Jeez if there’s no centre with a realistic top 6 ceiling available with at worst the 3rd pick of the entire draft it’s the worst draft of all time by a wide margin and I’d have already dealt the pick 

There’s one future top 6 C the entire draft? Haha. 

Also, it’s never a risk to take a centre cause a centre can be shifted to wing. Vice versa doesn’t happen often. 

If Eichel and Cozens are healthy and Cozens solidifies as a strong 2C and we don’t trade Jack, and we draft a player who develops into a top 6 centre? We already know Cozens can shift over. 

If we draft a winger and Cozens isn’t able to solidify at 2C and ends up on W like Reinhart, or someone is hurt, like I said we don’t have anything on the way right now. 

It’s also legal to play a good centre on a third line. 

Edited March 30, 2021 by Thorny

[Crusader1969]

12 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Jeez if there’s no centre with a realistic top 6 ceiling available with at worst the 3rd pick of the entire draft it’s the worst draft of all time by a wide margin and I’d have already dealt the pick 

There’s one future top 6 C the entire draft? Haha. 

Also, it’s never a risk to take a centre cause a centre can be shifted to wing. Vice versa doesn’t happen often 

unless I am missing someone the next two centers after Berniers are:

1) Kent Johnson who played wing at Michigan  as per Pronman "His game can lack pace and he's not that hard to play against"

2) Chaz Lucius -  as per Pronman "His main drawback is skating , which lacks explosiveness "

3) Aatu Raty  - who's stock has dropped significantly this season.

Think im going Eklund or Guenther if they can't land Berniers

[Marvin]

40 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

unless I am missing someone the next two centers after Berniers are:

1) Kent Johnson who played wing at Michigan  as per Pronman "His game can lack pace and he's not that hard to play against"

2) Chaz Lucius -  as per Pronman "His main drawback is skating , which lacks explosiveness "

3) Aatu Raty  - who's stock has dropped significantly this season.

Think im going Eklund or Guenther if they can't land Berniers

Egad.  I would consider trading back and draft multiple centres for more kicks at the can for the value.

[LGR4GM]

59 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

unless I am missing someone the next two centers after Berniers are:

1) Kent Johnson who played wing at Michigan  as per Pronman "His game can lack pace and he's not that hard to play against"

2) Chaz Lucius -  as per Pronman "His main drawback is skating , which lacks explosiveness "

3) Aatu Raty  - who's stock has dropped significantly this season.

Think im going Eklund or Guenther if they can't land Berniers

I would take Eklund or Guenther but we shall see. Really depends on where we pick and how highly valued the defenders are. 

[French Collection]

12 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Draft a center. Then draft another center. Draft all centers and 1 goaltender. 

In the best on best tournaments Canada often fields 8+ centres for the 12 forwards.

The Sabres have some Dmen in the pipeline but picking one up especially if they acquire extra picks would be good too.

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Jeez if there’s no centre with a realistic top 6 ceiling available with at worst the 3rd pick of the entire draft it’s the worst draft of all time by a wide margin and I’d have already dealt the pick 

There’s one future top 6 C the entire draft? Haha. 

Also, it’s never a risk to take a centre cause a centre can be shifted to wing. Vice versa doesn’t happen often. 

If Eichel and Cozens are healthy and Cozens solidifies as a strong 2C and we don’t trade Jack, and we draft a player who develops into a top 6 centre? We already know Cozens can shift over. 

If we draft a winger and Cozens isn’t able to solidify at 2C and ends up on W like Reinhart, or someone is hurt, like I said we don’t have anything on the way right now. 

It’s also legal to play a good centre on a third line. 

There's only 1 top 6 center in this draft and that is Beniers. There may be 2-3 more after the dust settles in 5-6 years but right now it would be hard to project that. I would take the most talented forward we can and then at pick 33 we can look at some of the centers with questions like Cole Sillinger (unlikely he slides) or you can say screw it and take Matt Coronato who is a winger that produces. Other centes for round 2 are Francesco Pinelli, Dylan Duke, Fyodor Svechkov

[LGR4GM]

Always beware of Pronman's rankings. He has a major size fetish and anyone under 6' is small and anyone over 6'4" gets hyped because "size that is intriguing". 

Also Kent Johnson at 5, I don't agree with at all. 

https://theathletic.com/2474681/2021/03/29/nhl-draft-ranking-prospects-guenther/

[Marvin]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

There's only 1 top 6 center in this draft and that is Beniers. There may be 2-3 more after the dust settles in 5-6 years but right now it would be hard to project that. I would take the most talented forward we can and then at pick 33 we can look at some of the centers with questions like Cole Sillinger (unlikely he slides) or you can say screw it and take Matt Coronato who is a winger that produces. Other centes for round 2 are Francesco Pinelli, Dylan Duke, Fyodor Svechkov

If we have #3, Is there an optimal zone in the 1st round to trade back to where we could pick up a centre and a second pick later?

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

If we have #3, Is there an optimal zone in the 1st round to trade back to where we could pick up a centre and a second pick later?

I wouldn't do that. Draft the best player on your board where you pick. 

[Crusader1969]

1 minute ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

If we have #3, Is there an optimal zone in the 1st round to trade back to where we could pick up a centre and a second pick later?

I wouldn't once you get past the top 5 or 6 picks in most drafts, in becomes a crap-shot at best. 

Take the best forward available at 3, IMHO.   Its not like the cupboard is stock full at wing.

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

I wouldn't do that. Draft the best player on your board where you pick. 

what he said!