2022 NHL Draft Rankings

[Flashsabre]

https://hockeyprospect.com/2022-nhl-draft-top-32-ranking-hockeyprospect-com-december-26-2021/

These rankings are ...uh.... interesting.

[LGR4GM]

35 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

https://hockeyprospect.com/2022-nhl-draft-top-32-ranking-hockeyprospect-com-december-26-2021/

These rankings are ...uh.... interesting.

Pickering 15 spots higher than Nemec is... something. Not anything good, but something. Owen Pickering has a 0.1667 ev/p1 per game. He is basically getting everything on the pp and isn't even that good defensively. I am not sure I would take him in the first let alone in the top 5. Pickering is like 35th for defenders in ev/p1 and is still like 15th in simply p1/pg so I really don't understand this or how he gets this high. If he was some defensive rock, I could see it but he really isn't. 

Geekie at 2, that's a choice based on revamping his skating completely. He doesn't have the agility, balance, or quickness to survive the nhl currently. 

Edited December 28, 2021 by LGR4GM

[dudacek]

20 hours ago, Brawndo said:

 

Interesting. Can’t say I watched any of them particularly closely, but I did notice a few in the games I’ve watched.

Slafkovsky’s skill was notable against Sweden, but he’s not a pace-pusher. Wright looked like a good hockey player, but not a game changer. Mesar didn’t stand out. Really liked what I saw from Nemec.

Edited December 28, 2021 by dudacek

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Interesting. Can’t say I watched any of them particularly closely, but I did notice a few in the games I’ve watched.

Slafkovsky’s skill was notable against Sweden, but he’s not a pace-pusher. Wright looked like a good hockey player, but not a game changer. Mesar didn’t stand out. Really liked what I saw from Nimec. 

Depending on what Jiricek's injury is, he might wind up being a target if the lottery balls don't fall their way.

[LGR4GM]

17 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Depending on what Jiricek's injury is, he might wind up being a target if the lottery balls don't fall their way.

Supposedly avoided serious injury to his knee but is out 4 weeks. Missing the WJC20 will probably get him to fall a few spots. 

Quote

He has a ligament injury in the left knee. Yesterday's preliminary diagnosis by the medical examiner was confirmed by today's magnetic resonance imaging. David was informed in detail about his health condition, tomorrow he will fly back to the Czech Republic.

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by LGR4GM

[LGR4GM]

Simon Nemec is going to be a beast in the NHL and he is very very good defensively. 

 

[LGR4GM]

Poor player development is always a concern. Lambert is a great example of that as he has all the skills but has not been developed well enough yet to deploy those skills at the men's level. Nemec is the opposite, with some skills but a thorough understanding of how to deploy them. 

Given the choice, knowing Lambert has a 1st line ceiling, I take Nemec. It isn't because I'm risk adverse, it's because I think you take your risks further back in the draft. Devon Levi or Dustin Wolf are examples of risk with high upside (they should not have sat until round 7) 

[Thorner]

On 12/27/2021 at 3:48 PM, LGR4GM said:

All rw, rhd, or centers... so stuff we need. 

Adams has used a lot of recent high picks on wingers and guys like Peterka play both sides - I'm not opposed to a winger up high obviously but I can't see the prospect system being as in need of that position right now as much as it's in need of high-level Cs and RHD. 

Adams has made 6 picks in the first or second round since coming aboard, the positional breakdown:

LHD - 1

LW - 3

RW - 2

C - 0

RHD - 0

Our system is *stacked* with wingers. IMO It'll be easier for a left-shot wing to play on the right than it is to transition a W to C if we need help there. (Indeed, someone like Poltapov is listed on eliteprospects as playing LW and RW)

Edited December 29, 2021 by Thorny

[Buffalonill]

On 12/28/2021 at 11:52 AM, LGR4GM said:

Simon Nemec is going to be a beast in the NHL and he is very very good defensively. 

 

 We have zero center depth im sorry we can not  draft a D I'm sorry

[Thorner]

10 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

 We have zero center depth im sorry we can not  draft a D I'm sorry

I think we've started to accumulate depth, with the additions of Krebs and, really, Thompson, but one only needs to look at a ranking of our prospect system itself to see the actual pipeline (not including current pros (Cozens, Thompson, Mittelstadt, Krebs)) is barren for top level C talent and really just C talent in general (NHL long-shot Bloom is probably our highest ranked C "prospect", depending on where you count Krebs). A ranking of our prospects would see a list dominated by wingers, goalies, and left-shot D. 

Because, as mentioned, we've started to accumulate some promising NHL depth at C (Cozens, Mittelstadt, Thompson) the situation is looking much better now IMO - not only does it look quite solid if we add at C-blue chipper this year, I'd wager there may be enough NHL depth where simply adding a couple "good" C prospects to the pipeline really serves to balance things out -

Basically I just don't want to avoid the position entirely, in the first 2 rounds, for 3 drafts - that'd be a mistake. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Thorny

[LGR4GM]

8 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

 We have zero center depth im sorry we can not  draft a D I'm sorry

We have 3 first round picks. Yes we can draft a rhd.

[LGR4GM]

Kasper, Mesar, Ostlund, Zhilikin, Lekkerimaki, McGroarty, Hughes, Persson, 

All centers (some might be considered wingers) but all back half of 1st round guys.

Edited December 29, 2021 by LGR4GM

[dudacek]

In the 1st 2 rounds, we don’t pass on a more highly ranked player because of position.

For example, if our top tier is Wright, Savoie, Kemmel, Nemec and Cooley, and Kemmel is there where we pick at 8, we don’t go for Geekie over Kemmel.

All things being equal you take the centre and avoid the LHD, but the need is overstated. The Sabres have 4 1st-round centres from the past 6 drafts - more than pretty much any NHL team.

Given the fact we will likely have 4 top 40 picks, I would be surprised if we don’t emerge with 1 or 2 centres this year but you have to take what the draft gives you. 

[LGR4GM]

11 minutes ago, dudacek said:

In the 1st 2 rounds, we don’t pass on a more highly ranked player because of position.

For example, if our top tier is Wright, Savoie, Kemmel, Nemec and Cooley, and Kemmel is there where we pick at 8, we don’t go for Geekie over Kemmel.

All things being equal you take the centre and avoid the LHD, but the need is overstated. The Sabres have 4 1st-round centres from the past 6 drafts - more than pretty much any NHL team.

Given the fact we will likely have 4 top 40 picks, I would be surprised if we don’t emerge with 1 or 2 centres this year but you have to take what the draft gives you. 

I doubt there will be a lhd in the top 10 of I'm being honest. 

[Thorner]

We knew we were weak at C when we had Eichel, and we already had Cozens, Mittelstadt, and Thompson at the time. We’ve swapped out a franchise C for a player who likely ends up a 3C, in Krebs. Now we are ok at C? Why, because expectations are non-existent? It’s about filling the ranks (or increasing the likelihood of doing so) with players who are *good* in those roles relative to the league, not merely filling the 4 spots with adequate NHL players. 

The need at C is still huge in terms of the pipeline(and the roster) relative to the other positions, it’s not overstated at all IMO and I’m not going to minimize it because some of our prospects look good. I’ve seen nothing from Casey and Peyton to make me think they have a better than, or equal to, 50/50 shot at becoming 2C, and while I think Thompson is a serviceable 2C I don’t see that as the case on a good team. 

We need a couple Cs to increase/stabilize the odds here or I’d wager we’ll be weak at C down the road, unless development comes up aces

Edited December 29, 2021 by Thorny

[LGR4GM]

6 minutes ago, Thorny said:

We knew we were weak at C when we had Eichel, and we already had Cozens, Mittelstadt, and Thompson at the time. We’ve swapped out a franchise C for a player who likely ends up a 3C, in Krebs. Now we are ok at C? Why, because expectations are non-existent? It’s about filling the ranks (or increasing the likelihood of doing so) with players who are *good* in those roles relative to the league, not merely filling the 4 spots with adequate NHL players. 

The need at C is still huge in terms of the pipeline(and the roster) relative to the other positions, it’s not overstated at all IMO and I’m not going to minimize it because some of our prospects look good. I’ve seen nothing from Casey and Peyton to make me think they have a better than, or equal to, 50/50 shot at becoming 2C, and while I think Thompson is a serviceable 2C I don’t see that as the case on a good team. 

We need a couple Cs to increase/stabilize the odds here or I’d wager we’ll be weak at C down the road, unless development comes up aces

Depends how the board falls and where we draft. There will be centers to draft in the 1st outside the top 10.

[Eleven]

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

We knew we were weak at C when we had Eichel, and we already had Cozens, Mittelstadt, and Thompson at the time. We’ve swapped out a franchise C for a player who likely ends up a 3C, in Krebs. Now we are ok at C? Why, because expectations are non-existent? It’s about filling the ranks (or increasing the likelihood of doing so) with players who are *good* in those roles relative to the league, not merely filling the 4 spots with adequate NHL players. 

The need at C is still huge in terms of the pipeline(and the roster) relative to the other positions, it’s not overstated at all IMO and I’m not going to minimize it because some of our prospects look good. I’ve seen nothing from Casey and Peyton to make me think they have a better than, or equal to, 50/50 shot at becoming 2C, and while I think Thompson is a serviceable 2C I don’t see that as the case on a good team. 

We need a couple Cs to increase/stabilize the odds here or I’d wager we’ll be weak at C down the road, unless development comes up aces

I think I said this in my UPL thread, but after being distracted by years of posts about how the team needs a strong "spine," I'm back to the old philosophy of building from the back.  G (which the Sabres may already have), D (which needs a little more attention even with Power in the system), C, and then W.  Cs take longer to develop than Ws, at least in my mind, and it might be better to pursue them via trade or free agency than through the draft.  

[LGR4GM]

I don't think Krebs will be a 3c, he's better than that. 

[Thorner]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Depends how the board falls and where we draft. There will be centers to draft in the 1st outside the top 10.

Agree - it’s just that to me “BPA” has an expiration point. You can’t be a slave to the randomness indefinitely - it’s not logical. You shouldn’t, for example, go 10 straight years without drafting a C in the first round because you unluckily fell in a spot where incremental differences resulted in other positions being “the guy” each time. At some point having system balance and versatility offsets the small perceived, merely *projectional* differences in talent for 18 year olds. 

Where that line is will vary for everyone. For me *personally*, going 3 straight drafts without a C in the top rounds would be a mistake. 

There are plenty who see the merit in taking a goalie every year (regardless of BPA, no?) Considering every team needs 4 Cs, and the projection of such is far less murky than goaltenders, wanting to take a C with legit top-6 upside *at least* every couple years seems reasonable to me. 

Also, the presence of Thompson Cozens Mittelstadt and Krebs doesn’t mean that it’s ok there are probably, literally, no NHL centres in the entire prospect group after those players. 

[Thorner]

17 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't think Krebs will be a 3c, he's better than that. 

Quite possible, but I wouldn’t think the *most likely* result for him is top 6 C. As in, I think it’s more likely he does NOT become a 1 or 2 C, than does. It’s not a small possibility imo that he becomes a top 6 C, just a lower possibility than 50%, if I had to guess 

[Thorner]

21 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I think I said this in my UPL thread, but after being distracted by years of posts about how the team needs a strong "spine," I'm back to the old philosophy of building from the back.  G (which the Sabres may already have), D (which needs a little more attention even with Power in the system), C, and then W.  Cs take longer to develop than Ws, at least in my mind, and it might be better to pursue them via trade or free agency than through the draft.  

I think trade is the least likely route, unless it’s Krebs. Why? Isn’t Krebs the best C we’ve traded for in a decade? What’s his likely result, mid 6 C? 

Sweet, we only had to trade a *checks notes*...franchise C to get him 

[LGR4GM]

15 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I think trade is the least likely route, unless it’s Krebs. Why? Isn’t Krebs the best C we’ve traded for in a decade? What’s his likely result, mid 6 C? 

Sweet, we only had to trade a *checks notes*...franchise C to get him 

I guess I am confused as to what you want. This conversation started around possibly drafting Nemec with our high first (say pick 6), not sure how we got here though. We have 2 other first round picks to use on a center plus our 2nd round pick to use on a center. 

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

I guess I am confused as to what you want.

If the Notebook has taught me anything I don’t need to answer this until you ask me at least 7 more times 

[LGR4GM]

8 minutes ago, Thorny said:

If the Notebook has taught me anything I don’t need to answer this until you ask me at least 7 more times 

[jsb]

18 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I guess I am confused as to what you want. This conversation started around possibly drafting Nemec with our high first (say pick 6), not sure how we got here though. We have 2 other first round picks to use on a center plus our 2nd round pick to use on a center. 

 

7 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

You've been awfully nice, patient and funny lately, your Scrooge reputation has been tarnished. Did you get visited by 3 different ghosts this Holiday Season??