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HoweFan

2017 Draft

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6 hours ago, krsmith17 said:

Curious, is there any particular reason you're so high on Mittelstadt? Have you seen him play? I don't know a ton about him, but he definitely doesn't stand out as a player I really want, especially if we keep our pick and pick in the top 10. I want one of Patrick, Vilardi, Glass or Tippett, in that order.

My two cents re: Mittelstadt, FWIW...

If we're picking in the back half of the top, I'd be more than ok with selecting Mittelstadt. He's not unlike Athanasiou -- i.e. a hugely skilled offensive centerman who plays with excellent speed and quickness and can consistently make big plays out of nothing. Outstanding puck skills, sometimes even Datsyukian. He's only around 6'0, but he's also around 200 lbs, and those dimensions help him protect the puck exceptionally well in the o-zone, which in turn helps him make some of the bring-you-out-of-your-seat plays that he's becoming known for. Great vision and high hockey IQ (though, his game is definitely weighted towards the offensive half of the ice). So, in terms of pure talent, he's solidly in the top eight of this draft class, IMO. There's a bit of a scouting stigma/bias against the USHL, which could hurt his stock. And, like most high-end forwards his age, he needs to grow his game, i.e. become a better two-way player and show that he can continue to be a force at higher levels. But I can really only say good things about him at this point in time. I feel an argument can absolutely be made for him being the fourth-best centerman in this draft class, behind Patrick, Hischier, Vilardi.

 

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On 4/6/2017 at 11:28 AM, krsmith17 said:

Curious, is there any particular reason you're so high on Mittelstadt? Have you seen him play? I don't know a ton about him, but he definitely doesn't stand out as a player I really want, especially if we keep our pick and pick in the top 10. I want one of Patrick, Vilardi, Glass or Tippett, in that order.

What list are you looking at for this?

I've wanted Mittelstadt for a while now.  He's the best puckhandler in the top 10 outside of Hischier, he's got good wheels and good size.  His stats probably suffer from not playing in the CHL, which is a much more offensive brand of hockey, and as a result his draft ranking suffers as well.  I want someone who can distribute the puck just as well as he scores, which Mittelstadt does.  He's highly creative, and is a really good playmaker.  He can also create scoring chances out of nothing because of his puck skills.  Wingers are a position of strength for us.  Going forward we've likely got AA, Mantha, Svech, and one of Nyquist/Tatar as our wingers in the top six.  We need centers who can control the puck and find them in the offensive zone.  Mittelstadt fits the bill. 

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3 hours ago, kipwinger said:

Wingers are a position of strength for us.  Going forward we've likely got AA, Mantha, Svech, and one of Nyquist/Tatar as our wingers in the top six.  We need centers who can control the puck and find them in the offensive zone.

Agreed.

I'd argue that our struggling offense is largely -- if not mostly -- a playmaking problem.

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2 minutes ago, Dabura said:

Agreed.

I'd argue that our struggling offense is largely -- if not mostly -- a playmaking problem.

I mostly agree.  I mean, you do need a good puck moving defense to generate offense and we don't really have that.  But yeah, we obviously have very capable wingers who can finish off plays.  With a competent powerplay and quality centers Tatar probably scores close to 30 this year, AA and Mantha and maybe Nyquist are all over 20.  That's not too shabby.  If you look at all the really top flight offensive teams they usually have around 4 or 5 guys who score over 20 goals.  And having quality play making centers is a big part of that.  Z was able to elevate the play of his wingers this year, but otherwise we didn't really have a center that could do it, and that's PART of the reason everyone's numbers were way down.

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3 hours ago, Datsyukian-Deke said:

We ended up 6th from dead last. When factoring in Las Vegas we have roughly a 1 in 5 chance of a top 3 pick. 

41 minutes ago, amato said:

6.7% chance at the top pick 

20.9% chance of a top 3 pick

Yep.

If we don't win a top three pick and we don't maneuver via trade, we can select as high as 7th and as low as 10th.

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Surely they've got to like this Cale Makar kid. Offensive, right shooting defenseman (#7 in white). Tim Button from TSN has him going 6th with this to say: “Tim Murray watched Erik Karlsson up close while he was in Ottawa, and Makar conjures up images of Karlsson. He’s a dynamic offensive player.”

I just don't know much about the AJHL.

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23 minutes ago, sputman said:

Surely they've got to like this Cale Makar kid. Offensive, right shooting defenseman (#7 in white). Tim Button from TSN has him going 6th with this to say: “Tim Murray watched Erik Karlsson up close while he was in Ottawa, and Makar conjures up images of Karlsson. He’s a dynamic offensive player.”

I just don't know much about the AJHL.

He has great skill, but he is only 5'10".

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On 4/6/2017 at 11:22 AM, amato said:

Decent amount.. and what should be more hyped up games. Maybe he just gets more double and triple teams there than other places? His stats at world jrs and in the USHL (and obviously also high school) are good and everything I've read about him seems very promising. Obviously stats are only part of the whole story but I imagine teams play defense against him differently in high school. 

 

Like I said, I mostly think he'd be a high upside later top ten pick and also really want us to draft a center.. Time will tell if he can keep elevating his game though. 

Yeah I haven't seen any of his USHL games. He really wasn't being double or triple teamed. Defenders by themselves just seemed to easily knock him off the puck or he just couldn't finish when he got his chances. Ryan Sandelin from Hermantown looked more like a top ten pick type of player. He took control of games when they needed him the most and you noticed when he was out there. Top NHL prospects usually dominate MN high school, like how TJ Oshie (100 pts in 31 games) and Blake Wheeler (100pts - hat trick in the championship) did.

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44 minutes ago, BadgerBob said:

Yeah I haven't seen any of his USHL games. He really wasn't being double or triple teamed. Defenders by themselves just seemed to easily knock him off the puck or he just couldn't finish when he got his chances. Ryan Sandelin from Hermantown looked more like a top ten pick type of player. He took control of games when they needed him the most and you noticed when he was out there. Top NHL prospects usually dominate MN high school, like how TJ Oshie (100 pts in 31 games) and Blake Wheeler (100pts - hat trick in the championship) did.

 

Can't find any ranking on Sandelin anywhere.. says he's draft eligible this year though. Potential late round steal maybe? 

 

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=311758

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22 minutes ago, krsmith17 said:

Scott Reedy and Dylan Samberg are a couple names I like from the mid rounds.

Good ol American boys ;) 

Samberg would be a cool pick up. And he went to the same school as Sandelin. 

Reedy looks like he might go as high as the top-middle of the second round? I'd like a defenseman there personally if they weren't too much of a reach. 

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4 hours ago, amato said:

Well I just so happen to know of a team with several third round picks :innocent: 

Yep. Here's his teammate who also stood out to me as a really good defenseman, which I think I brought up earlier in this thread, will be playing for Sandelin's dad at UMD:

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=201527

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7 minutes ago, BadgerBob said:

Yep. Here's his teammate who also stood out to me as a really good defenseman, which I think I brought up earlier in this thread, will be playing for Sandelin's dad at UMD:

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=201527

Yeah that's one of the players krsmith pointed out. Looks like a good pickup for sure. 

Edited by amato

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22 hours ago, BadgerBob said:

Yeah I haven't seen any of his USHL games. He really wasn't being double or triple teamed. Defenders by themselves just seemed to easily knock him off the puck or he just couldn't finish when he got his chances. Ryan Sandelin from Hermantown looked more like a top ten pick type of player. He took control of games when they needed him the most and you noticed when he was out there. Top NHL prospects usually dominate MN high school, like how TJ Oshie (100 pts in 31 games) and Blake Wheeler (100pts - hat trick in the championship) did.

Yeah, those guys totally suck lol. 

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1 hour ago, kipwinger said:

Yeah, those guys totally suck lol. 

Yeah one of those guys would be nice! But just pointing out if Mittelstadt is going worth a top 10 pick you think he would have put up some more gaudy numbers in high school. I guess players can develop differently.

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