2022 NHL Draft Rankings

[Buffalonill]

15 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Boucher was significantly overdrafted. Who cares if he hits everything if the rest of the package is questionable? Boucher is gonna end up a 3rd line guy. 

No we don't. Let's say we pick 5th, which I believe a very likely scenario. It goes Wright, Savoie, Cooley, Lambert... what center are you taking over Nemec? What if it goes Kemell instead of lambert, are you taking Lambert over Nemec?

What you say here, is how you end up with Boucher 15 picks early. 

For the record, he didn't call him a bust. 

What part of his game is questionable? Did you watch Tkachuk in college hes going through the same thing . 

 

 

No we don't. Let's say we pick 5th, which I believe a very likely scenario. It goes Wright, Savoie, Cooley, Lambert... what center are you taking over Nemec? What if it goes Kemell instead of lambert, are you taking Lambert over Nemec?

 

If those guys are gone I'm taking Slafkovsky yes a winger over Nemec 

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, Buffalonill said:

No we don't. Let's say we pick 5th, which I believe a very likely scenario. It goes Wright, Savoie, Cooley, Lambert... what center are you taking over Nemec? What if it goes Kemell instead of lambert, are you taking Lambert over Nemec?

 

If those guys are gone I'm taking Slafkovsky yes a winger over Nemec 

I like Slafkovsky for what it is worth and he is going to be either right in front or right behind Nemec in the end for me. 

[LGR4GM]

18 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

What part of his game is questionable? Did you watch Tkachuk in college hes going through the same thing . 

Tkachuk had 31points in 40games as a freshmen. His USDP ppg is comparable but Boucher played so few games that sample size is really hard to project. In the USDP, you have 1 good game and that gets you half the points Boucher has (5pts in 5 games) or in the U18 he has 12 games and 11 points but again, really small sample size, who was he playing with? which teams did they play?

Now every time a player jumps up a level, they have to readjust. Isak Rosen is a great example of that adjustment not going great, Ville Kouvinen is an example of it going great. Boucher is an example of it going poorly. Could a drop down to the OHL help, yes. If he was not playing at the NCAA level he wasn't developing but that level was clearly over his head. The OHL could give him an opportunity to get back on track but again, if we compare to Tkachuk, Boucher was far less productive at 3 points in 17 games. 

From EP Rinkside (elite prospects)

Quote

Every day, Boucher wakes up and chooses violence. There’s no player more physical in the draft class. Here’s a sample, from a November 22nd game report: “Sometimes, it’s a small nudge, an extra cross-check, or a smart play to cut off the hands. There’s also plenty of bone-crushing hits along the boards. His physical game is insane.”

...

But he’s really limited offensively at the moment. It’s not necessarily because of a lack of tools. He drives wide, but misses teammates in better positioning. Doesn’t manipulate, or even really delay when he’s racing down the wing. He drives plays from down low to the point on his own stick instead of passes. His pace creates space at this level, but his understanding of how to use that space is limited -- the blinders are the main culprit. Overhandling remains a constant problem. Some advanced handling ideas, like hesitation moves to freeze feet and playing the puck inside the defender’s triangle, but his timing and set-ups are off. Over-reliance on body contact/reaching to win races instead of taking the extra stride. He’s always in motion, and he gets into a projectable NHL average posture with a bit of quickness. He’s definitely a pick, probably more in the late-second range. https://www.eliteprospects.com/premium-files/draft-guides/2020/tyler_boucher.pdf

Anyone interested in prospects, drafting, and even current nhl player scouting reports, I highly recommend getting a subscription to EP rinkside which in the last 2 years has greatly improved it's reports and coverage. It also gives you access to EP's advanced searching and filtering features so if you use EP to look up players, there are more options. https://www.eliteprospects.com/eliteprospects-premium-overview

Edited December 31, 2021 by LGR4GM

[Buffalonill]

7 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Tkachuk had 31points in 40games as a freshmen. His USDP ppg is comparable but Boucher played so few games that sample size is really hard to project. In the USDP, you have 1 good game and that gets you half the points Boucher has (5pts in 5 games) or in the U18 he has 12 games and 11 points but again, really small sample size, who was he playing with? which teams did they play?

Now every time a player jumps up a level, they have to readjust. Isak Rosen is a great example of that adjustment not going great, Ville Kouvinen is an example of it going great. Boucher is an example of it going poorly. Could a drop down to the OHL help, yes. If he was not playing at the NCAA level he wasn't developing but that level was clearly over his head. The OHL could give him an oppurtunity to get back on track but again, if we compare to Tkachuk, Boucher was far less productive at 3 points in 17 games. 

He had 5 secondary assist in his first 10 games he didn't get his first real assist till game 11 and he didn't get his first goal till game 14 .

He struggled the same as boucher 

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, Buffalonill said:

He had 5 secondary assist in his first 10 games he didn't get his first real assist till game 11 and he didn't get his first goal till game 14 .

He struggled the same as boucher 

He had more skills than Boucher though. He was projected as a top 10 versus Boucher at 25 for NA skaters on CSS, 45th for EP rinkside, 36th for THN (they had rosen 37th), Hockey Writers 40th (Rosen 16th here), Dobber didn't even rank him in their top 100 (Rosen 16th). Tkachuk was the better player going into college and that showed, Boucher not so much and that has showed. 

 

[LGR4GM]

Ftr, Jiricek is still ahead of Nemec for me because I think Jiricek has more skills overall. We will need to keep an eye on Jiricek's knee injury which I can't find anything else about. There's rumors he tore stuff and rumors it was just a sprain. 

[French Collection]

We will see where Boucher is at after half a season in the OHL. He will be in the top half of the age group for this league. I am spitballing but he may have had a higher opinion of himself than his coach in the NCAA.

I would not call an ‘03 kid a bust. I think he was over drafted as well, but he can develop into an NHLer.

[dudacek]

Is there going to be a centre where we pick who has a better chance of being a #1 centre than Dylan Cozens? I realize stats aren’t everything, but the only player producing clearly better numbers than the centres we already have did is Savoie

Draft year #s

• Cozens WHL: 68 games, 84 points 
• Mitts USHL: 24/30 HS: 25/64
• Krebs WHL: 64/68
• Thompson NCAA: 36/32
• Savoie WHL: 32/52
• Geekie WHL 33/38
• Cooley USDP: 20/30
• Wright OHL: 22/30
• Lambert Liiga: 24/6

Edited December 31, 2021 by dudacek

[LGR4GM]

23 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Is there going to be a centre where we pick who has a better chance of being a #1 centre than Dylan Cozens? I realize stats aren’t everything, but the only player producing clearly better numbers than the centres we already have did is Savoie

Draft year #s

• Cozens WHL: 68 games, 84 points 
• Mitts USHL: 24/30 HS: 25/64
• Krebs WHL: 64/68
• Thompson NCAA: 36/32
• Savoie WHL: 32/52
• Geekie WHL 33/38
• Cooley USDP: 20/30
• Wright OHL: 22/30
• Lambert Liiga: 24/6

I think Savoie actually is producing fewer primary points and fewer es points. 

I'll look at pick 224 later

[LGR4GM]

 

[Thorner]

8 hours ago, dudacek said:

Is there going to be a centre where we pick who has a better chance of being a #1 centre than Dylan Cozens? I realize stats aren’t everything, but the only player producing clearly better numbers than the centres we already have did is Savoie

Draft year #s

• Cozens WHL: 68 games, 84 points 
• Mitts USHL: 24/30 HS: 25/64
• Krebs WHL: 64/68
• Thompson NCAA: 36/32
• Savoie WHL: 32/52
• Geekie WHL 33/38
• Cooley USDP: 20/30
• Wright OHL: 22/30
• Lambert Liiga: 24/6

So we shouldn’t take a centre? 

But regardless, yes Wright is better than centres we have haha

Edited January 1, 2022 by Thorny

[dudacek]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

So we shouldn’t take a centre? 

If he’s the best player available, absolutely.

Expecting him to fill the Eichel-sized hole in the roster, absolutely not.

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, dudacek said:

If he’s the best player available, absolutely.

Expecting him to fill the Eichel-sized hole in the roster, absolutely not.

Is there seriously a large contingent of people who advocate for taking lesser players on purpose? 

[dudacek]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Is there seriously a large contingent of people who advocate for taking lesser players on purpose? 

There are people saying we have to get a centre.

Maybe they mean a centre everything else being equal 🤷

[LGR4GM]

We'll see where we are in June. Cheers!

[LGR4GM]

2023 draft is gonna be insane

[Flashsabre]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

2023 draft is gonna be insane

He is not Gretzky, Crosby or McDavid. He is his own player. I hope these media people lay off all the comparisons and let him carve out his own game.

[LGR4GM]

January is typically when you can start to actually care about rankings but I'd wait until March or April honestly. Things will start to solidify and draft reports will be better. 

[Crusader1969]

On 12/31/2021 at 12:29 PM, dudacek said:

Is there going to be a centre where we pick who has a better chance of being a #1 centre than Dylan Cozens? I realize stats aren’t everything, but the only player producing clearly better numbers than the centres we already have did is Savoie

Draft year #s

• Cozens WHL: 68 games, 84 points 
• Mitts USHL: 24/30 HS: 25/64
• Krebs WHL: 64/68
• Thompson NCAA: 36/32
• Savoie WHL: 32/52
• Geekie WHL 33/38
• Cooley USDP: 20/30
• Wright OHL: 22/30
• Lambert Liiga: 24/6

Id love to see Lambert’s numbers in the CHL.   
my gut feeling drafting between 4 to 8. Will land one of Lambert, Cooley or Savoie.  
of course, it could just be the chilli I ate for dinner 

[LGR4GM]

6' LHD

[LGR4GM]

 

[sabresparaavida]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

6' LHD

We’ve got enough of those

[Brawndo]

Thoughts @LGR4GM? 

Edited January 3, 2022 by Brawndo

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

Thoughts @LGR4GM? 

Not sure how Geekie having a lower sh% is a plus but, what he's saying isn't necessarily wrong but it ignores a huge problem. Geekie has severally flawed skating impacting his speed, quickness, agility, and balance. 

If you believe you can fix his skating, you can get a player who is a better playmaker and 2way player. That skating scares me. 

[LGR4GM]

Savoie not scoring at 5v5 gives me great concern. PP points in juniors can be juiced.