Pick #1: D Owen Power (University of Michigan)

[LGR4GM]

33 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I find it hard to believe Owen Power would throw away about $12 million by not signing with the Sabres in 2022.

That's essentially what he'd be giving up by sitting out three more years and going to UFA. It's money he would never get back.

Ryan Johnson on the other hand is one we should be worried about.

He's got Power, Dahlin and possibly Bryson and Samuelsson ahead of him and would essentially "only" be throwing away about  $1 million

It's honestly the worst take on this site. 

[Hoss]

28 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

It's honestly the worst take on this site. 

Thank you for alleviating me of many of my terrible takes 😂 

[Brawndo]

 

[That Aud Smell]

for whatever reason, the use of "human being" made me chuckle.

[That Aud Smell]

also, kevyn adams is heavily reminding me of someone ... a celeb type ... i can't think of who.

[Doohicksie]

Quote

he is a very highly driven, high-character human being that is going to do things his way. He's going to take the path he thinks is best for him.

Sounds like four years of college and free agency for him, then, innit?

Edited August 24, 2021 by Doohickie

[Weave]

18 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Sounds like four years of college and free agency for him, then, innit?

#mostBuffalothingever

[LGR4GM]

If he learns to keep his feet turning instead of doing things at a glide, entire new game dimensions will open up for him. 

[pi2000]

34 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

If he learns to keep his feet turning instead of doing things at a glide, entire new game dimensions will open up for him. 

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

also, kevyn adams is heavily reminding me of someone ... a celeb type ... i can't think of who.

He’s a dead ringer for Coleman Reese in The Dark Knight 

[LGR4GM]

Speaking of Owen Power, there may be a physical element and nastiness to his game that was restrained last year in his first NCAA year. I am curious to see if this is true. 

[SwampD]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

If he learns to keep his feet turning instead of doing things at a glide, entire new game dimensions will open up for him. 

This explains a lot about why you like the players you like. Do you think the same about Jack?

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, SwampD said:

This explains a lot about why you like the players you like. Do you think the same about Jack?

Jack still moves at a high speed while gliding

So I think he’s still given access to those “dimensions”. Perhaps there’d be more if he moved his feet even more, but you’d probably need to re work his whole stride. 

[SwampD]

Just now, Thorny said:

Jack still moves at a high speed while gliding

So does Power. He just looks slow because he's ginormous. I tought all those critcisms of him in those prospect scouting reports were nonsense. If you have hands, a brain and can get to the ice you need to get to, it doesn't matter how many times you chug your feet.

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, SwampD said:

So does Power. He just looks slow because he's ginormous. I tought all those critcisms of him in those prospect scouting reports were nonsense. If you have hands, a brain and can get to the ice you need to get to, it doesn't matter how many times you chug your feet.

But he doesn’t have Eichel’s raw speed or even power (ha). Jack still looked like he wasn’t trying when he outskated everyone at the Fastest Skater comp besides McDavid - he has that “looks slower than he is” thing, too, but Jack has speed among the NHL elite - I don’t see Power as having that at this point 

To your point no I don’t see it as an issue for Power. 

But I could see Liger ignoring this where it comes to Eichel purely because you can’t argue with elite speed no matter how it looks 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Thorny

[SwampD]

14 minutes ago, Thorny said:

But he doesn’t have Eichel’s raw speed or even power (ha). Jack still looked like he wasn’t trying when he outskated everyone at the Fastest Skater comp besides McDavid - he has that “looks slower than he is” thing, too, but Jack has speed among the NHL elite - I don’t see Power as having that at this point 

To your point no I don’t see it as an issue for Power. 

But I could see Liger ignoring this where it comes to Eichel purely because you can’t argue with elite speed no matter how it looks 

I just thought it was funny that someone criticized him for gliding on a 2 on 1, and all I could think of was, shouldn't the headline be that the huge defenseman got behind four of the opposing players to get a 2 on 1?! He was fast enough for that.

Edited August 24, 2021 by SwampD

[Thorner]

7 minutes ago, SwampD said:

I just thought it was funny that someone criticized him for gliding on a 2 on 1, and all I could think of was, shouldn't the headline be that the huge defenseman got behind four of the opposing players to get a 2 on 1?! He was fast enough for that.

Ya I mean for me it’s not close to being/needing to be his calling card so I’m happy to call it a reasonable strength with potential for growth. It’s in exploiting those areas Power goes from solid second pair player to 1st pairing D playing on pair two for a playoff Sabres team. 

[SwampD]

13 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Ya I mean for me it’s not close to being/needing to be his calling card so I’m happy to call it a reasonable strength with potential for growth. It’s in exploiting those areas Power goes from solid second pair player to 1st pairing D playing on pair two for a playoff Sabres team. 

I had to look that word up. TIL.

[Flashsabre]

5 hours ago, Brawndo said:

 

I love at the beginning when Forton starts talking that Adams is looking off in one direction and Karmanos is looking off in another.  Just a funny visual during a meeting.

[Doohicksie]

23 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

I love at the beginning when Forton starts talking that Adams is looking off in one direction and Karmanos is looking off in another.  Just a funny visual during a meeting.

It appears they have a zoom or powerpoint to the right (which Karmanos is looking at) and Adams is looking left at Forton.

Edited August 24, 2021 by Doohickie

[French Collection]

4 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Speaking of Owen Power, there may be a physical element and nastiness to his game that was restrained last year in his first NCAA year. I am curious to see if this is true. 

I would love some Owen Pronger!

[Rasmus_]

I'm fine with him going back to school, just as I was when we let Cozens go back to Lethbridge.  Another year of development is key for him.  In addition, will all the crap going on with this team right now, it's just best to let him develop away from all of this.  Similar to Ryan Johnson.  

[SwampD]

3 hours ago, Thorny said:

But he doesn’t have Eichel’s raw speed or even power (ha). Jack still looked like he wasn’t trying when he outskated everyone at the Fastest Skater comp besides McDavid - he has that “looks slower than he is” thing, too, but Jack has speed among the NHL elite - I don’t see Power as having that at this point 

To your point no I don’t see it as an issue for Power. 

But I could see Liger ignoring this where it comes to Eichel purely because you can’t argue with elite speed no matter how it looks 

I wanted to revisit this because I was at work and couldn’t respond in full.

LGR, I hope you didn’t think my question about Jack was snark. If you think that Power turning his feet will open up different dimensions of the game for him, then why wouldn’t the same be true for Jack.

Thorny said people overlook Jack’s gliding because he has elite speed, but I just don’t think it matters. There are different styles of skating and there is no one style that is better, if it works for the player. It’s just what it is.

 

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, SwampD said:

I wanted to revisit this because I was at work and couldn’t respond in full.

LGR, I hope you didn’t think my question about Jack was snark. If you think that Power turning his feet will open up different dimensions of the game for him, then why wouldn’t the same be true for Jack.

Thorny said people overlook Jack’s gliding because he has elite speed, but I just don’t think it matters. There are different styles of skating and there is no one style that is better, if it works for the player. It’s just what it is.

 

Simple. Jack is quicker. But if Jack did turn his legs more, he'd be more effective, especially in the defensive zone. 

Not sure why Eichel is in this though. I just think Power can be better with additional quickness and doing things at less of a glide.

[dudacek]

Very interesting conversation about Power (and also Dahlin) in the Athletic’s Pronman best Under23 podcast.

https://theathletic.com/podcast/240-the-athletic-hockey-show/?episode=132 (starts around 24 minutes)
 

Pronman ranks Power 9 and the host grilled him on how he could be ahead of Miro Heiskanen (11) given what Heiskanen has already accomplished in the NHL.

The answer, essentially, was his toolbox. Pronman believes that Power can do everything Heiskanen can do - skate and move the puck and think the game - at a similar level, but with all the added advantages of length and strength that a 6’6” frame provides.

He’s not saying Power will be Hedman, but there is a 50 per cent chance he could.

He also said because of Power’s unique toolkit that no one else has, there is a very realistic chance that he is a key piece of a championship team.

He said a lot of NHL people look at history, then look at Power’s tools and conclude there is no way he is not a top pairing defenceman at the minimum, with an upside of being absolutely top echelon.

Interesting take.