2022 NHL Draft Rankings

[Flashsabre]

My issue with Jiricek is that he sounds a lot like Risto. The defining issue with Risto is lack of hockey sense. I don’t know if Jiricek has it, haven’t had enough views of him.

Risto with hockey sense is a heck of a player. Plain ol Risto is a nightmare for a high pick.

 

I think we will be surprised with a couple of the names available when we choose.

I have read multiple NHL scouts have Geekie ranked one or two. They believe that as his core gets stronger his skating will improve and they will have a Kopitar like centre.

This is a draft where your scouting staff is really going to make or break it. The past couple years have seen them uncover some good prospects so I am interested to see who they go after this draft.

[North Buffalo]

Also because of covid, lost games and development scouts will earn their money evaluating talent and potential... I still think the rankings a more of a crap shoot this year than most presenting opportunities to find diamonds in the rough.

Edited April 9, 2022 by North Buffalo

[Flashsabre]

https://www.diebytheblade.com/2022/4/9/23009312/draft-season-is-upon-us-aprils-top-100-2022-draft-rankings-sabres-draft-guide-nhl-hockey

A good read. Done with a Sabres bias for the draft.

[Crusader1969]

On 4/9/2022 at 11:01 AM, Flashsabre said:

My issue with Jiricek is that he sounds a lot like Risto. The defining issue with Risto is lack of hockey sense. I don’t know if Jiricek has it, haven’t had enough views of him.

Risto with hockey sense is a heck of a player. Plain ol Risto is a nightmare for a high pick.

 

I think we will be surprised with a couple of the names available when we choose.

I have read multiple NHL scouts have Geekie ranked one or two. They believe that as his core gets stronger his skating will improve and they will have a Kopitar like centre.

This is a draft where your scouting staff is really going to make or break it. The past couple years have seen them uncover some good prospects so I am interested to see who they go after this draft.

Who know how Risto would have turned out if he was developed properly?  I blame the Sabres more than I blame Risto.  He should have been the the stud RHD man this team is now lacking but they F*cked him up 

[Crusader1969]

On 4/9/2022 at 12:10 PM, Flashsabre said:

https://www.diebytheblade.com/2022/4/9/23009312/draft-season-is-upon-us-aprils-top-100-2022-draft-rankings-sabres-draft-guide-nhl-hockey

A good read. Done with a Sabres bias for the draft.

only thing I don’t like is the inclusion of LHD. Unless they are clearly the BPA, I think the Sabres should look elsewhere in the tier 

 

[Norcal]

On 4/9/2022 at 9:10 AM, Flashsabre said:

https://www.diebytheblade.com/2022/4/9/23009312/draft-season-is-upon-us-aprils-top-100-2022-draft-rankings-sabres-draft-guide-nhl-hockey

A good read. Done with a Sabres bias for the draft.

Why does the writer say this..."and his size is really the only limiting factor in projecting his game to the NHL level" about Cooley as well as mentioning size as a factor with a few others? 

There are players in the league smaller than him who are extremely successful.

Does it come down to desire or is size overrated in hockey? 

I am starting to hate the tier available with Vegas pick. 

Can someone school me up?

[Flashsabre]

1 hour ago, Crusader1969 said:

Who know how Risto would have turned out if he was developed properly?  I blame the Sabres more than I blame Risto.  He should have been the the stud RHD man this team is now lacking but they F*cked him up 

Risto would be Risto regardless. You can’t teach hockey sense. Risto just can’t read or anticipate the play and make the right decisions. 

[Flashsabre]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

 

This report says Savoie’s first couple steps are elite and explosive. A different site yesterday said Savoie’s first couple steps are a weakness in his game and his skating is only OK.

I wonder how qualified some of these people are to be doing this work.

Savoie would be a great pick if he fell a bit to Buffalo’s pick and  Oghren sounds like an interesting forward to keep an eye on. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

I've done my first consensus rankings so far.  This year I 'm doing it a little different and trying to focus on rankings that list at least 40 players, but more often 64 players.  To date I have found 6 "reliable" lists from March and April.  I've used Dobber, THN, Sportsnet, TSN- Button, FC, and one guy from THW.

29 player made all 6 lists and another 7 made 5.  One guy I expect to climb the lists is Gleb Trikozov.  Gleb is only on 4 lists, but is ranked in the middle of the 1st rd on 3 or the 4.  I'm grouping the guys together with very similar average rankings.

There is a clear top 4 - Wright, Cooley, Slafkovsky and Nemec

5-7  - Savoie, Kemell, Jiricek.  My hope is Jiricek slips to us at 8

8-12 - Yurov, Lekkerimaki, Nazar, Gauthier and Mintyukov

13-18 - Mateychuk, Lambert, Geekie, Korchinski, Kasper, McGroarty

19-20 - Ohgren and Mesar

21- 25 - Snuggerud, Pickering, Miroschniichenko (Cancer diagnosis puts this is just speculation at this point), Luneau and Howard

26 - 32 -Firkus, Casey, Nelson, Trikozov, Ostlund, DeBelBelluz, and Gaucher.  This last group could easily see all these guys in the second although the support for the first 5 names seems to be growing.

[Crusader1969]

23 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Risto would be Risto regardless. You can’t teach hockey sense. Risto just can’t read or anticipate the play and make the right decisions. 

They tried to make an offensive minded Dman a short down Dman.  It was never going to work.  
they killed what would have been the good Risto. The same thing wAs happening to Dahlin till Granato took over 

[Flashsabre]

7 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

They tried to make an offensive minded Dman a short down Dman.  It was never going to work.  
they killed what would have been the good Risto. The same thing wAs happening to Dahlin till Granato took over 

Yes but his strength is the offensive zone. He can put up points. His weakness is his own zone. He can’t read the play and rarely covers the right person. He was never a defensive dman.

[Flashsabre]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

He doesn't sound like Risto at all IMPO. Jiricek is known for his strong d zone play and gap control. 

And have you found out about his IQ yet?

[Flashsabre]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't understand the question. My opinion of his hockey iq is that it's good. 

Speaking of Jiricek, he's not going to play in the world's but is playing at the 4 nations u20 later this month. 

When I asked you earlier about his hockey IQ you weren’t sure.

when I read about Nemec I constantly here about high hockey IQ. I don’t hear it mentioned about Jiricek. That is my comparison to Risto: big, physical kid that can skate and hit but questionable IQ.

I only say questionable about Jiricek because I haven’t heard of it is good or not. I haven’t seen him enough to make a decision.

I think it is all mute anyways because I think he goes long before we pick but who lnows in this crazy year.

[Crusader1969]

2 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Yes but his strength is the offensive zone. He can put up points. His weakness is his own zone. He can’t read the play and rarely covers the right person. He was never a defensive dman.

I agree with you.  they took away what he was good at and said concentrate on d.  Rather than let him grow his game organically.  
who knows? he could have still been a disaster but the Sabres gave him zero help

came over too early, never played in AHL and was the #1 Dman on a tank team.   
 

terrible management decisions.  
 

 

[Flashsabre]

7 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

My guess would be we see Wright, Nemec, and Slafkovsky go top 3 and then chaos

1) Geekie 2) chaos 😛

I think you are right but after Wright at one I wouldn’t bet money on who will go next. I think this will be a fit draft and if the number 2 team wants a centre then a Cooley might go there. But I do believe Slafkovsky and Nemec will be in most teams top 5. Nemec putting up big playoff points while Jiricek isn’t playing is probably tipping the scales a bit. I have read that some teams have Chelsey really high, a couple potentially in the top 10.

I think if the Sabres draft 8 or 9 we will be surprised at a couple names on the board there.

[Digger]

Here's a thought.  The NHL goes back to having a draft combine again this year after cancelling 2020 and 2021 for Covid. 

Did the lack of combine results make much a difference to the 2021 draft and is this something that can be evaluated now?

I suppose one of the big hits last season was to have CHL shut down and reduced playing times for many draft prospects so maybe that will always be hard to evaluate.   

[Andrew Amerk]

On 4/11/2022 at 4:06 PM, Flashsabre said:

When I asked you earlier about his hockey IQ you weren’t sure.

when I read about Nemec I constantly here about high hockey IQ. I don’t hear it mentioned about Jiricek. That is my comparison to Risto: big, physical kid that can skate and hit but questionable IQ.

I only say questionable about Jiricek because I haven’t heard of it is good or not. I haven’t seen him enough to make a decision.

I think it is all mute anyways because I think he goes long before we pick but who lnows in this crazy year.

Mute? Or moot?

[JustOneParade]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

In 2023 news

 

@LGR4GM, you follow this stuff more closely than most. Is it a concern that a player that young has too much variability in his remaining development to know what he will become? or is a kid like Bedard simply SO good that you don't worry about what you're going to get?

[dudacek]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

In 2023 news

 

I am troubled that Montreal, Ottawa, Detroit and Philadelphia are very much going to have a shot at this kid.

[Flashsabre]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

I am troubled that Montreal, Ottawa, Detroit and Philadelphia are very much going to have a shot at this kid.

Remember these teams were saying this when we got Eichel in the draft.

[French Collection]

9 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

In 2023 news

 

He is almost 30 points ahead of his next teammate, on one of the worst teams in the league.

He is the real deal.

[steveoath]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

BTW, this is why I want Gleb Trikozov. He's 4 months older than Mitchkov, only 2 months older than Fantelli. Is he on their level? No but being a tier below them and only 4 months younger is intriguing and his 2nd half makes me think he's got that Quinn energy in him. 

He's an intiguing one for sure. Listening to the scouching podcast today and he seems to rate him. Could be got with the Fla pick. 

https://youtu.be/iqQgstOeSSA

Edited April 17, 2022 by steveoath
Add pod link

[Flashsabre]

11 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Just remember it takes more than 1 player and we'll have at least Dahlin and Power on the back end with hopefully Jiricek to add. 

And Devon Levi. 

Do you really think Jiricek will be there between picks 8-10?

it would be awesome if he was but I just don’t see it.

If Jiricek or Savoie fell to that range it would be a great way to start the draft.

[JustOneParade]

Another question for you guys. Based on past statistics, then factoring in the strength of this draft class and the Sabres present scouting/development abilities, is it reasonable to expect 3 of the Sabres' upcoming first four picks to eventually be contributing NHL players? The last of the four would be @ #40 +/- overall I assume? Anyway, too optimistic? Expectations too low?

[steveoath]

I wonder if, due to 3 1sts, KA might take a punt on Miroshnichenko (assuming he slides due to illness).