2023 NHL draft rankings

[LGR4GM]

I'd trade the pick for defensive help at the draft. 

[LGR4GM]

Buffalo is likely to draft between 12 and 15 with 13/14 being the most probable options. My bets on 13th

[kas23]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

I'd trade the pick for defensive help at the draft. 

The problem is this is supposedly a deep draft. There’s going to be some decent defensive UFAs available we could get without surrendering the pick. If there’s some non-UFA KA wants, then I’m all for giving up the 2024 1st rounder. 

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, kas23 said:

The problem is this is supposedly a deep draft. There’s going to be some decent defensive UFAs available we could get without surrendering the pick. If there’s some non-UFA KA wants, then I’m all for giving up the 2024 1st rounder. 

I don't think this draft is particularly deep. I think it is average in terms of depth and in terms of defensive depth, I would say it is slightly below average. Depth in a draft is defined by not only talent dropoffs but by how many NHL players there are in it. Most draft have about 55-65 NHL players. 

Even if you get lucky enough that Reinbacher slides to 13 (I doubt this) you still have 2 years to wait on him, maybe 1 and then his rookie year. If I can package Olofsson and the 2023 1st for a 24ish yr old RHD, that fits in the top 4, I make that trade without a 2nd thought. 

[Flashsabre]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't think this draft is particularly deep. I think it is average in terms of depth and in terms of defensive depth, I would say it is slightly below average. Depth in a draft is defined by not only talent dropoffs but by how many NHL players there are in it. Most draft have about 55-65 NHL players. 

Even if you get lucky enough that Reinbacher slides to 13 (I doubt this) you still have 2 years to wait on him, maybe 1 and then his rookie year. If I can package Olofsson and the 2023 1st for a 24ish yr old RHD, that fits in the top 4, I make that trade without a 2nd thought. 

 VO at 50% retained for the season will have some value.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't think this draft is particularly deep. I think it is average in terms of depth and in terms of defensive depth, I would say it is slightly below average. Depth in a draft is defined by not only talent dropoffs but by how many NHL players there are in it. Most draft have about 55-65 NHL players. 

Even if you get lucky enough that Reinbacher slides to 13 (I doubt this) you still have 2 years to wait on him, maybe 1 and then his rookie year. If I can package Olofsson and the 2023 1st for a 24ish yr old RHD, that fits in the top 4, I make that trade without a 2nd thought. 

Yep.  The team has 2 good value trade chips that wouldn't hurt them at all to move on from - the 2023 #1 and Olofsson.  They have 2 other decent value trade chips that wouldn't hurt them at all to move on from - the 2024 #1 and 1 of Comrie/UPL.

Fully expect the 2 good chips to be used for that #4 D-man.  Expecting the other pieces the Sabres need to come via FA, but those other 2 chips might be used if the return is right.

[French Collection]

Mid round goalie?

Thomas Milic

Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL.

2.08 GAA .928 SV%

He turns 20 this week. 6’1” 175 lbs.

He led Canada to gold at this year’s WJHC.

I still like Suchanek of the Tri City Americans as an option.

[LGR4GM]

Just now, French Collection said:

Mid round goalie?

Thomas Milic

Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL.

2.08 GAA .928 SV%

He turns 20 this week. 6’1” 175 lbs.

He led Canada to gold at this year’s WJHC.

I still like Suchanek of the Tri City Americans as an option.

6th or 7th round pick if they want to add a goalie. Same goes for Suchanek if they wanted to draft him (I think he is eligible again). Most likely both go undrafted again. 

[kas23]

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't think this draft is particularly deep. I think it is average in terms of depth and in terms of defensive depth, I would say it is slightly below average. Depth in a draft is defined by not only talent dropoffs but by how many NHL players there are in it. Most draft have about 55-65 NHL players. 

Even if you get lucky enough that Reinbacher slides to 13 (I doubt this) you still have 2 years to wait on him, maybe 1 and then his rookie year. If I can package Olofsson and the 2023 1st for a 24ish yr old RHD, that fits in the top 4, I make that trade without a 2nd thought. 

I agree with this. The key is we don’t need to pull the trigger until we are on the board. If the guy we’re targeting to improve our defensive within 1-2 is gone, then we flip that pick for a guy that will be. 

[French Collection]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

6th or 7th round pick if they want to add a goalie. Same goes for Suchanek if they wanted to draft him (I think he is eligible again). Most likely both go undrafted again. 

If they both go undrafted the Sabres can sign one for the AHL/ECHL. They will both be 20 years old, this is their last draft.

[JohnC]

4 hours ago, Taro T said:

Yep.  The team has 2 good value trade chips that wouldn't hurt them at all to move on from - the 2023 #1 and Olofsson.  They have 2 other decent value trade chips that wouldn't hurt them at all to move on from - the 2024 #1 and 1 of Comrie/UPL.

Fully expect the 2 good chips to be used for that #4 D-man.  Expecting the other pieces the Sabres need to come via FA, but those other 2 chips might be used if the return is right.

Do you remember if KA offered a first-round pick for the proposed Chycrun deal? If that is the case??? that is an indication that the GM is willing to part with a valuable asset for a second pairing defender. 

[...]

On 3/28/2023 at 10:27 AM, LGR4GM said:

Not that anyone cares but here is Liger's List. This is a preliminary list and nowhere close to final. If I forgot anyone I shouldn't have... uhh idk I will probably catch it before June. 

1. Connor Bedard
2. Adam Fantilli
3. Leo Carlsson
4. Matvei Mitchkov
5. Will Smith
6. Zach Benson
7. Oliver Moore
8. Ryan Leonard (as 1 scout put it, if he loses a puck battle, he takes it personally)
9. Quentin Musty
10. David Reinbacher (Moritz Seider is the name being associated with him)
11. Dmitri Simashev (A lot of scouts love his skills but my question always comes back to why isn't he scoring?)
12. Gracyn Sawchyn (skillz)
13. Matthew Wood (I think I am over-ranking him here to be fair, he will probably drop a bit)
14. Colby Barlow (hardest shot in the class)
15. Dalibor Dvorsky (he reminds me of a poor man's Marco Kasper)
16. Andrew Cristall (a lot of ppl will rank him higher but I just don't love his game)
17. Axel Sandin Pelikka
18. Jayden Perron (smaller yet effective)
19. Brayden Yager
20. Gabe Perrault (if he had better skating he would be much much higher)
21. Eduard Sale
22. Riley Heidt
23. Sam Honzek (he's big and has a long reach)
24. Gavin Brindley
25. Caden Price (I just enjoy watching him play defense)
26. Nate Danielson
27. Oscar Fisker Mølgaard (might be the smartest player in the draft)
28. Mikhail Gulyayev
29. Ethan Gauthier
30. Bradley Nadeau (BCHL hockey is hard to gauge but he's got a lot of the skills you want)
31. Calum Ritchie
32. William Whitelaw (good shot but I think he needs work on his overall game)

Is this the thread where we'll get the updated rankings or will a new one be started? I don't remember.

[Taro T]

8 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Do you remember if KA offered a first-round pick for the proposed Chycrun deal? If that is the case??? that is an indication that the GM is willing to part with a valuable asset for a second pairing defender. 

My understanding is that he essentially offered what the Otters were offering but he wanted to keep the 1st top 12 protected.  He wasn't given an opportunity to match the Otters offer as the Desert Dogs wanted at least one of Savoie or Kulich in the deal and those were deal breakers to Adams.

[JohnC]

12 minutes ago, Taro T said:

My understanding is that he essentially offered what the Otters were offering but he wanted to keep the 1st top 12 protected.  He wasn't given an opportunity to match the Otters offer as the Desert Dogs wanted at least one of Savoie or Kulich in the deal and those were deal breakers to Adams.

Our GM made the right decision. Arizona, wanting one of our top prospects, is an indication that other franchises recognize the quality of players in our system. I'm glad that it worked out as it did. 

[Buffalonill]

10 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Our GM made the right decision. Arizona, wanting one of our top prospects, is an indication that other franchises recognize the quality of players in our system. I'm glad that it worked out as it did. 

Our they still think adams is a rookie  And trying to take advantage of him 

[JohnC]

2 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

Our they still think adams is a rookie  And trying to take advantage of him 

You are getting weird on me. 

[kas23]

2 hours ago, Buffalonill said:

Our they still think adams is a rookie  And trying to take advantage of him 

Or Bill Armstrong didn’t realize Adams has been a GM longer than him because he’s an idiot. 

[Buffalonill]

23 minutes ago, kas23 said:

Or Bill Armstrong didn’t realize Adams has been a GM longer than him because he’s an idiot. 

That also. 

He was Being a child holding his breath  So he would get what he wanted but I'll give Adams credit. 

 I think it's funny that he got so mad that he traded to someone in our division for less assets to prove a point

[French Collection]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/sportsnets-2023-nhl-draft-prospect-rankings-april-edition/

 

[Flashsabre]

56 minutes ago, French Collection said:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/sportsnets-2023-nhl-draft-prospect-rankings-april-edition/

 

Outside the top 10 I am not blown away by this corps. This would be a year to move it for a long term piece

[LGR4GM]

9 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Outside the top 10 I am not blown away by this corps. This would be a year to move it for a long term piece

I agree. At 13/14 you are getting a player 2-4 years away from an nhl debut. Reinbacher I might be willing to wait on but really we need to go outside of the draft and Buffalo to acquire defense help. 13/14 overall is a big piece and we'd still have 2 2nds to add talent. 

[kas23]

13 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Outside the top 10 I am not blown away by this corps. This would be a year to move it for a long term piece

But isn’t this said every year? Especially last year when we plucked Kulich, who will be playing NHL games next year, at the 28th pick. Either way, if the Sabres like the value of who’s available I’m good with letting them pick. If they don’t like what they are seeing, then dump it. 

[French Collection]

52 minutes ago, kas23 said:

But isn’t this said every year? Especially last year when we plucked Kulich, who will be playing NHL games next year, at the 28th pick. Either way, if the Sabres like the value of who’s available I’m good with letting them pick. If they don’t like what they are seeing, then dump it. 

Last year’s first round for Buffalo was great and it should help the team going forward.

It seems like only the top of drafts are sure fire NHLers, others have shown those stats before. If Buffalo values a mid 1st rounder as a great prospect, I trust they will keep the pick. This analytics/scouting group seem to be good at identifying value.

The only way I see them moving this pick before the draft is for a 1G or 3/4 Dman.

The world U18 tournament is coming up so that could move some names around the lists.

I will be keeping an eye on Bob McKenzie’s list because he seems to have a decent track record. He uses 10 actual scouts to compile his draft rankings. It doesn’t mean the list is accurate for eventual development but guys are usually selected near those rankings. I’m curious to see who will be in the 12-16 slot.

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, French Collection said:

Last year’s first round for Buffalo was great and it should help the team going forward.

It seems like only the top of drafts are sure fire NHLers, others have shown those stats before. If Buffalo values a mid 1st rounder as a great prospect, I trust they will keep the pick. This analytics/scouting group seem to be good at identifying value.

The only way I see them moving this pick before the draft is for a 1G or 3/4 Dman.

The world U18 tournament is coming up so that could move some names around the lists.

I will be keeping an eye on Bob McKenzie’s list because he seems to have a decent track record. He uses 10 actual scouts to compile his draft rankings. It doesn’t mean the list is accurate for eventual development but guys are usually selected near those rankings. I’m curious to see who will be in the 12-16 slot.

With Calgary's win yesterday, the only way the Sabres will be drafting 16th is if they win out, Pittsburgh stays at 90 or 91, Nashville stays at 90 or 91, and Calgary wins the lottery.  (Technically, they could also get there by only passing 1 of the Pens or Preds and both 15 and 16 win the lottery.  That last one is NOT happening.)  So, its down to 12-15 for their place prelottery.

[Buffalonill]

Wouldn't mind Ottawa passing buffalo so the pick has more value 

Hell maybe we win the lottery with that extra % lol