2023 NHL draft rankings

[Buffalonill]

25 minutes ago, kas23 said:

Nothing said in there is going to give any NHL GM a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Maybe he’s just biting his tongue though.

I coud see him dropping after those comments. 

What GM in the top 5 is willing to risk there high draft choice on a kid that might come over in 2 years .

Buffalo seems like the only team   with patience towards Russians and waiting 

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by Buffalonill

[Curt]

14 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

I coud see him dropping after those comments. 

What GM in the top 5 is willing to risk there high draft choice on a kid that might come over in 2 years .

Buffalo seems like the only team   with patience towards Russians and waiting 

 

Mitchkov is almost definitely not going to come to the NHL until the 2026-27 season when he is 21.  He has a KHL contract until then and there has been legal consequences for players trying to leave without honoring their KHL contracts.

However, I don’t see any reason for concern that he might not come over at that point.

[Buffalonill]

20 minutes ago, Curt said:

Mitchkov is almost definitely not going to come to the NHL until the 2026-27 season when he is 21.  He has a KHL contract until then and there has been legal consequences for players trying to leave without honoring their KHL contracts.

However, I don’t see any reason for concern that he might not come over at that point.

Holy hell thats going to be a tough decision for a bottom team to risk.

The gm might not have that much time

[Curt]

14 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

Holy hell thats going to be a tough decision for a bottom team to risk.

The gm might not have that much time

Yeah, it’s a concern, but honestly a lot of guys, even top 5 picks who go straight to the NHL, are not real contributors until their 3rd or 4th season post draft anyway.

For example, look at Jack Hughes.  A player of comparable size and talent to Mitchkov.  A great player now and a #1 overall pick.  He jumped straight to the NHL, but wasn’t really a difference maker until his 3rd season.

[French Collection]

1 hour ago, Buffalonill said:

I coud see him dropping after those comments. 

What GM in the top 5 is willing to risk there high draft choice on a kid that might come over in 2 years .

Buffalo seems like the only team   with patience towards Russians and waiting 

 

He’s towing the Russian line, bidding his time. I’m sure he would like to come over ASAP but can’t so he is saying how much he loves it there, wants to help his team, develop his game and so on.

Too bad he signed such a long contract. Offering $$$ to a sixteen year old would probably get him to sign anything. I wonder what his father thought.

[LGR4GM]

As I have started my draft board, Mitchkov remains top 4. 

[kas23]

On 5/20/2023 at 2:41 PM, French Collection said:

 

Too bad he signed such a long contract. Offering $$$ to a sixteen year old would probably get him to sign anything. I wonder what his father thought.

Unfortunately his father is dead now, so we’ll never know. I wonder what else is keeping him there. 

[LGR4GM]

 

[LGR4GM]

8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

 

The Sabres take: 

13: Gabe Perrault LW, this pick makes sense and I would bet money the analytics like Perrault. He has some deficiencies in his skating that strength and some coaching should fix. The question is how much of his production was linemate dependent? The other concern here is this is another highly skilled yet undersized winger much in the same vein as Östlund and Rosen. I would argue the big difference is the latter are excellent skaters and Perrault has more tools to play with. Still, not a bad option at 13 although there are some others I like a little better like Barlow and Musty but I haven't finished looking over stuff so that might just be my preliminary reaction. 

39: Tanner Molendyk LHD, this pick doesn't make much sense to me with the RHD still available and how Buffalo basically has the top 3 defenders on this team as LHD that are all 22 or younger. Molendyk isn't particularly big, he's pretty average skill wise, not some physical wrecking ball. He just doesn't add anything to the pool we already have and if I were Buffalo I would look elsewhere. Hunter Brzustewicz is bigger and better and a RHD, Andrew Gibson is much bigger and also a RHD but I wouldn't say he is better yet, Beau Akey also a RHD who I would rank over Molendyk. Basically there were RHD options that were better or at least different than Molendyk who is basically like a poor man's Owen Power, good skating, fine defensively, 5'11" defender with a good shot. 

45: Carson Rehkopf LW, again this doesn't really help our prospect pool and there are better options available. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't freak out at this pick as much as Molendyk, but I think we could add something better. Gracyn Sawchyn is still there and he is better IMPO, or Nick Landis who I think is a underrated guy. That said, I wouldn't complain much at all with Rehkopf. 

[Flashsabre]

11 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

The Sabres take: 

13: Gabe Perrault LW, this pick makes sense and I would bet money the analytics like Perrault. He has some deficiencies in his skating that strength and some coaching should fix. The question is how much of his production was linemate dependent? The other concern here is this is another highly skilled yet undersized winger much in the same vein as Östlund and Rosen. I would argue the big difference is the latter are excellent skaters and Perrault has more tools to play with. Still, not a bad option at 13 although there are some others I like a little better like Barlow and Musty but I haven't finished looking over stuff so that might just be my preliminary reaction. 

39: Tanner Molendyk LHD, this pick doesn't make much sense to me with the RHD still available and how Buffalo basically has the top 3 defenders on this team as LHD that are all 22 or younger. Molendyk isn't particularly big, he's pretty average skill wise, not some physical wrecking ball. He just doesn't add anything to the pool we already have and if I were Buffalo I would look elsewhere. Hunter Brzustewicz is bigger and better and a RHD, Andrew Gibson is much bigger and also a RHD but I wouldn't say he is better yet, Beau Akey also a RHD who I would rank over Molendyk. Basically there were RHD options that were better or at least different than Molendyk who is basically like a poor man's Owen Power, good skating, fine defensively, 5'11" defender with a good shot. 

45: Carson Rehkopf LW, again this doesn't really help our prospect pool and there are better options available. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't freak out at this pick as much as Molendyk, but I think we could add something better. Gracyn Sawchyn is still there and he is better IMPO, or Nick Landis who I think is a underrated guy. That said, I wouldn't complain much at all with Rehkopf. 

I don’t like any of those for Buffalo. Perrault is a talent but is too much of the same type as what the Sabres have in abundance. I mentioned earlier and you mentioned here, his numbers haven’t popped any other year like this one while he was with Smith and Leonard.

I don’t get too worked up about these mocks because these guys don’t know what each team has in their system and what fits would be best for each team.

[LGR4GM]

 

[Flashsabre]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

 

The other things that have hurt Canadian goaltending is the ridiculous move to height bias. How many good young goalies stopped playing when they realized they wouldn’t get looked at because they weren’t over 6’2.

Now with  Saros, Sorokin, Shesterkin, Levi, Wolf, Thomas Milic, Daniel Hauser we are seeing a trend towards top goaltenders being closer to that 6 foot range again.

Also, Canadian teams have used the 2 goalie system in all their development leagues and goalies aren’t getting the reps they used to.

[Flashsabre]

https://gabrielfoley.substack.com/p/2023-nhl-mock-draft?utm_source=direct&r=l9s4r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Yes Please x1000 😁

[Brawndo]

15 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

https://gabrielfoley.substack.com/p/2023-nhl-mock-draft?utm_source=direct&r=l9s4r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Yes Please x1000 😁

I doubt he gets by Washington, but I would love it 

[Brawndo]

 

[JohnC]

On 5/23/2023 at 1:20 PM, LGR4GM said:

As I have started my draft board, Mitchkov remains top 4. 

If Ryan Johnson were in this year's draft, where would you rate him on your board? 

[Brawndo]

 

[SDBillsfan]

I'm really starting to warm to the idea of drafting Simashev with our #1 pick. Excellent defender (our biggest need, as opposed to a smaller puck mover like Sandin Pellika), and I've seen recently more than one analyst say that he is the best available defenseman in this draft. From the video I've seen, I'd agree, I think he looks extremely impressive. And, thanks to the drafting of several top Russian prospects the past two years, there'd probably be a level of comfort to him joining our organization. Thoughts?

[LabattBlue]

8 minutes ago, SDBillsfan said:

I'm really starting to warm to the idea of drafting Simashev with our #1 pick. Excellent defender (our biggest need, as opposed to a smaller puck mover like Sandin Pellika), and I've seen recently more than one analyst say that he is the best available defenseman in this draft. From the video I've seen, I'd agree, I think he looks extremely impressive. And, thanks to the drafting of several top Russian prospects the past two years, there'd probably be a level of comfort to him joining our organization. Thoughts?

I would be happy with Reinbacher ot Simashev at 13…are either of then RD?

[French Collection]

19 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

I would be happy with Reinbacher ot Simashev at 13…are either of then RD?

Reinbacher is a RHD.

[French Collection]

4 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

https://gabrielfoley.substack.com/p/2023-nhl-mock-draft?utm_source=direct&r=l9s4r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Yes Please x1000 😁

Michkov at 13, wow!

He also has the Sabres trading Joki, pick #39 and a 2024 3rd rounder to the Blues for #25. They pick Simashev with that one.

A few people have the Sabres interested in Simashev. McKeen’s has him at 9 while Smaht has him at 10.

Edited May 29, 2023 by French Collection

[Crusader1969]

3 hours ago, SDBillsfan said:

I'm really starting to warm to the idea of drafting Simashev with our #1 pick. Excellent defender (our biggest need, as opposed to a smaller puck mover like Sandin Pellika), and I've seen recently more than one analyst say that he is the best available defenseman in this draft. From the video I've seen, I'd agree, I think he looks extremely impressive. And, thanks to the drafting of several top Russian prospects the past two years, there'd probably be a level of comfort to him joining our organization. Thoughts?

I’m with you. Hope they do!

[thewookie1]

I actually don’t have any issues in taking Mitchkov if he makes it to 13, sure we’d have to wait a while but we actually have a solid base to build on now and barring Reinbacher being there too, he’d be a perfect guy to just draft and forget. In 3 years or so when he can come over; we’ll have a Top 5 pick talent at 21/22 years old on an ELC just in time for a potential set of Cup runs

Edited May 29, 2023 by thewookie1

[steveoath]

I just don't see Michkov falling that far. If he makes it to the flyers,  I'd be giving them a call for Trade. 

[Crusader1969]

The more I think about it -  The mock that had the Sabres trading Joker for a first rounder around pick 20 seems like a really good idea for the Sabres.  Especially if it nets them Simashev 

Im assuming they sign someone in the UFA market to play with Power that would  relegate Joker to bottom pair or to 7th Dman , making him expendable