2021 NHL Draft Rankings

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, rakish said:

Liger, do you pay Charlie or something?

Idk what this means exactly... but yes

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, rakish said:

Liger, do you pay Charlie or something?

Only in cheese and milk steaks

[LGR4GM]

Oscar Olausson just needs to improve his skating (he skates fine and has good edges) and continue to round out his game. 

Oh yea, Chaz Lucius is also a good pick at 14. He had some effort questions but has all the skills and the effort might have simply been injury recovery Lucius. 

[PerreaultForever]

@LGR4GM, did you post that full ranking list you promised? I was curious. Did I miss it? 

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, PerreaultForever said:

@LGR4GM, did you post that full ranking list you promised? I was curious. Did I miss it? 

You missed it. 

 

On 7/20/2021 at 10:19 AM, LGR4GM said:

Without a full year of stats I don't feel confident as I should in these rankings. No, stats are not the be all or end all but they help you found underrated gems such as Tristen Robins. Anyways without anymore teasing... because Hoss will explode... here is Liger's 2021 NHL Draft List. 

2021_Draft.pdf 157.33 kB · 29 downloads

 

Here you go

[LGR4GM]

Here's the only thing I will say about my rankings, guys that I have going b4 14 are guys who will be there at 14. 

You want a good feel for how things will go Craig's List is usually in the ballpark. 

[LGR4GM]

You know honestly, looking at my rankings, I should have Lucius ahead of Olausson but I already sent them out so too late now. 

[Hoss]

Unless there’s an unexpected drop I’m hoping for Sillinger, Wallstadt or Lucius in that order.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Now with this trade in the books, I'd like to see the following with our first 4 picks

1 - Eklund (or Beniers)

14 -  (13th player) one of Lucius, Sillinger, Svechkov or Raty (or if we get lucky Johnson who I have 9th on my board)

33 - Olausson or Pinelli (if we get lucky) or Samu Toumaala  add L’Heureax.

53 - Jack Peart or Owen Zellweger

 

Edited July 23, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[LGR4GM]

7 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Now with this trade in the books, I'd like to see the following with our first 4 picks

1 - Eklund (or Beniers)

14 -  (13th player) one of Lucius, Sillinger, Svechkov or Raty (or if we get lucky Johnson who I have 9th on my board)

33 - Olausson or Pinelli (if we get lucky) or Samu Toumaala

53 - Jack Peart or Owen Zellweger

 

There is a 0% chance Zellweger makes it to 53 IMPO

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

There is a 0% chance Zellweger makes it to 53 IMPO

This is going to be a crazy draft after the first 14-20 picks.  I have Peart (43) and Zellweger (44), both could go earlier or later.  I'm betting on later.  Another 2 D that some really like are Kirsanov and Olsson. I have them at 50 & 51 respectively but I've seen them as high as 16th for Kirsanov and 21st for Kisakov.  

[GASabresIUFAN]

If we want to be harder to play against, Zach L'Heureux, who I have 30th on my board, would be a real interesting pick at 33 if available.  He could easily become our Marchand.

[Buffalonill]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

You know honestly, looking at my rankings, I should have Lucius ahead of Olausson but I already sent them out so too late now. 

 So 

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

 So 

Raty is at 11. I really feel that after going super deep on him, his issues were he lost his confidence/mojo and it took him awhile to get it back. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

46 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

If we want to be harder to play against, Zach L'Heureux, who I have 30th on my board, would be a real interesting pick at 33 if available.  He could easily become our Marchand.

L'Heureux!!

😎

[LGR4GM]

I changed my mind! 

Chaz Lucius bumps up 1 spot and Olausson drops 1 spot. 

2021_Draft.pdf

[Thorner]

Sam Cosentino thinks Adams will target a goalie at 14. 

And Power at 1. On Tim and Friends right now. 

[LGR4GM]

 

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

You missed it. 

 

Here you go

wow, Power down to 6 behind Clarke. You crazy dude. 

Some of it I agree with though. You've moved McTavish up as well I see. Good to see you've sort of come around on L'Heureux. When we first talked you suggested him for second round. 

Very surprised about Edvinsson who I would put ahead of Clarke, top 10. and Cossa seems low (and maybe Wallstedt a little high). 

So to sum, you really like Eklund, and you like Clarke and Wallstedt higher than most and Power and Edvinsson lower than most. 

Is that about right?

[LGR4GM]

Just now, PerreaultForever said:

wow, Power down to 6 behind Clarke. You crazy dude. 

Some of it I agree with though. You've moved McTavish up as well I see. Good to see you've sort of come around on L'Heureux. When we first talked you suggested him for second round. 

Very surprised about Edvinsson who I would put ahead of Clarke, top 10. and Cossa seems low (and maybe Wallstedt a little high). 

So to sum, you really like Eklund, and you like Clarke and Wallstedt higher than most and Power and Edvinsson lower than most. 

Is that about right?

Roughly. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

37 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

wow, Power down to 6 behind Clarke. You crazy dude. 

Some of it I agree with though. You've moved McTavish up as well I see. Good to see you've sort of come around on L'Heureux. When we first talked you suggested him for second round. 

Very surprised about Edvinsson who I would put ahead of Clarke, top 10. and Cossa seems low (and maybe Wallstedt a little high). 

So to sum, you really like Eklund, and you like Clarke and Wallstedt higher than most and Power and Edvinsson lower than most. 

Is that about right?

On my consensus board I have Power at one, but I would draft Clarke ahead of him as well.  I'd probably put Hughes ahead of him also. 

[LGR4GM]

Meh, mixed bag. I think Carolina drafts far better than Buffalo 

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Meh, mixed bag. I think Carolina drafts far better than Buffalo 

For me the positives are: a high floor defenseman, a lot of high upside wingers, and a couple biases terminated.

The big negatives are also represented by the first two things above. 

Edited July 24, 2021 by Thorny

[LGR4GM]

Sabres

Quote

8. Buffalo Sabres
Day 1 rank: No. 7 (overtime winner)

The Sabres started things off on Day 2 with the 33rd pick and played it a lot like they did at the start of last year when they took John Peterka 34th in selecting a determined, high-energy player with good overall skill in Prokhor Poltapov. Poltapov was my 54th-ranked prospect and I worry a little about his upside offensively, but he can make plays in traffic, he’s sturdy on his feet, and it’s not hard to imagine him becoming a contributing third-line type, even if he’s not going to rack up points or play on a top power play. It’s going to take him some time, though, so patience is a virtue.

I loved the swing on Alexander Kisakov with their second pick in the second round. Kisakov’s one of my favourites in this draft. He’s got incredible hands, with some go-to patterns that regularly beat defenders. And while he’s a bit of a skinny kid who will need to get stronger, he’s also got an extremely accurate shot. In all four of those ways, he resembles Sabres first-rounder Isak Rosen. Those two give the Sabres a good skill injection.

Olivier Nadeau’s availability for the Sabres in the fourth round was a nice get. Had he played better in the QMJHL playoffs than he did, I’m confident he would have been selected a round earlier. Nadeau had an excellent regular season and he’s a heavyset 6-foot-2 winger with legitimate playmaking sense. He can take a stride too long to really get going, which is a concern. But with the 97th pick, that’s what you get (he ranked 65th on my board, for what it’s worth).

And while Remparts pass-first playmaker Viljami Marjala doesn’t have the goal-scoring talent or approach of Kisakov or Rosen, he too fits their mould in other ways as an underdeveloped playmaking who loves to have the puck on his stick.

There were some head-scratchers mixed in. Nikita Novikov and Tyson Kozak are defensible at the back end of the draft. I don’t see what they see in Stiven Sardaryan and Josh Bloom in the third round. https://theathletic.com/2717670/2021/07/24/2021-nhl-draft-winners-and-losers-ranking-every-teams-day-2-picks/

Full draft grades and reports on all the picks we had: https://theathletic.com/2718007/2021/07/24/sabres-2021-nhl-draft-picks-grades-fit-and-full-scouting-reports/

Quote

Nikita Novikov, LHD (No. 188): Novikov didn’t get a lot of responsibility as one of the youngest players on the MHL’s best team, but he had good flashes. I also liked his U18 worlds, where his responsibility kept going up as it went on. Novikov is a big defenseman who is a decent skater for a guy his size, even if he’s not overly quick. He can pass pucks up the ice well and has some blue line poise. Defensively he’s solid enough due to his reach and physicality. The lack of pace in his game hurts him in transition both ways. Novikov has a chance to play in the NHL due to his size and sense but needs more pace in his game.

 

[LGR4GM]

Other than passing on Autu Raty at 33 (which I think is a major mistake) the Sabres appear to have targeted the Russian MHL as somewhere where there is a market inefficiency. Drafting is all about exploiting value and making sure you get value at each pick. This is why I say the should have drafted Raty over Poltapov because Raty represented more value. That all said looking at their draft they really went after MHL's top guys and came away with 2 of the 3. I think they see the MHL as a place where they can get good players at a value spot in the draft. Maybe I am wrong though and they just watched the U18's and really liked the Russian kids. Still they went out of their way to add 4 Russians when Buffalo almost never drafts them.