2019 Draft

[Dabura 12,207]

3 hours ago, kipwinger said:

It's not that I don't like Turcotte, it's that I like Zegras a lot.  Turcotte is a two-way guy that coaches love, and I presume he gets a lot of minutes as a result.  With Larkin and Veleno already in the fold I don't want another two way guy. His coach has already called Zegras a "one and half way player", insinuating he doesn't play a two-way game yet, and looks primarily for offense.  That's what I want.  I'd prefer the high end offensive guy, let him develop his defensive game along the way.  Zegras is putting up REALLY good offensive numbers on a team with Hughes. On any other team he'd likely be the top line center and score even more than he already does.  As a matter of fact, with Hughes out of the lineup during the WJC and with Turcotte injured Zegras was promoted to the top line center position and scored like a madman. At one point he had the same PPG as Hughes did until Jack returned and got the lion's share of the offense back. 

I'd probably rank Turcotte right after Krebs in my list above, though I view the two of them as being largely interchangeable. 

Turcotte does remind me a lot of Larkin and Veleno. Elite skater. Not necessarily super-dynamic but works really hard and gets the job done. I feel Turcotte is more of a true two-way centerman than Larkin and Veleno were at his age, but yeah -- if we're looking for something we feel we don't already have in the system, we could do much worse than Zegras.

Zegras thrives in shadow of Hughes ahead of 2019 NHL Draft [NHL.com] (January 17th, 2019)

Quote

Coach John Wroblewski said Zegras has grown from a good and talented player to "a player who is now determined to be one of the best on the planet, and he's on that path.

"It's a credit to him. Sometimes you get up against competition and all of a sudden you fall to the wayside. Or, like Trevor has done, you can get right in the ring and start swinging with those guys. He's such a dynamic part of the equation on this team."

Zegras' patience with the puck and on-ice vision makes him lethal on the power play, maybe even better than Hughes in that area.

"(Trevor) deals with the competition and playing second fiddle to Jack very well," Wroblewski said. "When it's time to make a choice for who's playing where on the power play between him and Jack and which guys get to go out next, he makes a very strong argument for being the best power player on the team. His ability to navigate the half-wall on either side and pick apart the opposition is as good as I've ever seen. He finds the seams. He knows when to shoot. He's got deception to his game and there's fearlessness to him that he's not scared to make mistakes -- and he doesn't make many of them. He's just been an unbelievable player to watch."

Quote

"He's a first-line player in college hockey right now," Wroblewski said. "He'll step in and I'm sure if (Philadelphia Flyers prospect) Joel Farabee is still there, that's probably a combo you will see right out the gate. Trevor will be a first-line center for them and the go-to power play guy as a freshman, no doubt in my mind."

That's good stuff, and it lines up with what I've seen of him. I'm not sure if he's The Next Elias Pettersson, but I do think he's a bit of a sleeper who might explode into a bona fide gamebreaker if everything goes right in his development.

[Neomaxizoomdweebie 3,083]

Whoever we draft will have "fallen into our laps" and therefore Holland will still be an idiot and whoever we draft will be a bust.

[kickazz 5,459]

3 hours ago, Dabura said:

Zegras thrives in shadow of Hughes ahead of 2019 NHL Draft [NHL.com] (January 17th, 2019)

For a second I thought your link said "Zagina thrives in the shadow" 

[Dominator2005 558]

For me it's either Hughes, Kakko or Broberg. 

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

5 hours ago, Dominator2005 said:

For me it's either Hughes, Kakko or Broberg. 

Anybody got an opinion on Byram v. Broberg?

[nyqvististhefuture 1,002]

15 minutes ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

Anybody got an opinion on Byram v. Broberg?

Byram is higher ranked , I personally like broberg better. Probably biased due to all the Swedes we’ve had in our past so always got an eye out for Swedes , I also like his size and how he plays with the puck offensively 

also very high on soderstrom at d though which is why I’m disappointed we didn’t land another first rounder, and if we don’t get a top 3 pick I’m personally hoping we draft a d cause this team has seriously been lacking an elite dman since we lost lidstrom

Edited March 2, 2019 by nyqvististhefuture

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

6 minutes ago, nyqvististhefuture said:

Byram is higher ranked , I personally like broberg better. Probably biased due to all the Swedes we’ve had in our past so always got an eye out for Swedes , I also like his size and how he plays with the puck offensively 

also very high on soderstrom at d though which is why I’m disappointed we didn’t land another first rounder, and if we don’t get a top 3 pick I’m personally hoping we draft a d cause this team has seriously been lacking an elite dman since we lost lidstrom

What are Byram's strengths/weaknesses? I really don't know anything on him

[Dabura 12,207]

16 minutes ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

Anybody got an opinion on Byram v. Broberg?

I don't really have anything negative to say about Byram; he's an outstanding defense prospect, exactly the kind of defenseman a team like ours wants in the pipeline. Broberg is maybe a bit more boom/bust; he has great size, he's a great skater, and he has great offensive instincts, but he's kind of a work in progress overall. I'd say Byram is the more complete player at this time but Broberg could become a Brent Burns type gamebreaker.

3 minutes ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

What are Byram's strengths/weaknesses? I really don't know anything on him

Prospect Deep Dive: Bowen Byram [DobberProspects]

[Dabura 12,207]

 

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

2 minutes ago, Dabura said:

 

Do you have an English version?

[Dabura 12,207]

3 minutes ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

Do you have an English version?

It's not his fault you don't speak Spanish, bigot.

[nyqvististhefuture 1,002]

34 minutes ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

What are Byram's strengths/weaknesses? I really don't know anything on him

No clue to be honest haven’t really followed him but Dabura sent a good video ... that YouTube uploaded had good videos last season for the prospects I think last I checked he didn’t have many for this year yet but seems like he’s uploaded some now , definetly worth a watch

[nyqvististhefuture 1,002]

https://thehockeywriters.com/2019-nhl-draft-rankings-overagers/

 

Haven’t checked up on most of the list yet but I like #5 and #46 but I was hoping to maybe land fagemo with the 3rd, might even be worth to take a gamble with a late second ... seems to be having a pretty good first season in the shl 

 

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/288459/samuel-fagemo

[ChristopherReevesLegs 7,022]

check out the hands on this Kakko kid

[Dabura 12,207]

6 hours ago, ChristopherReevesLegs said:

check out the hands on this Kakko kid

He's going to be a beauty.

[kipwinger 8,524]

Don't look now but Bowen Byram is having one heck of a season.  Kid has all the tools to be a top defender in the league.  Hard not to think about a trade back scenario here.  I still think I want Zegras at 3, given that I think he's going to be that damn good, but depending on how the lottery shakes out there's potential here to get a really good player and another higher end pick. 

[krsmith17 7,191]

I'm all for a trade back, depending on the return, and I agree, Byram looks like he could be the real deal. He looks like he could be a Morgan Rielly type defenseman in a few years.

[kipwinger 8,524]

I'd be targeting Buffalo and Colorado in a trade back.  If we get a little lucky, and the lottery doesn't turn out as well for one of them as they'd like, we might be in a position to offer our higher first and one of our 2nds for both of their firsts.  We would need luck on our side, but it's not that much of a stretch. 

[Dabura 12,207]

7 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

Don't look now but Bowen Byram is having one heck of a season.  Kid has all the tools to be a top defender in the league.  Hard not to think about a trade back scenario here.  I still think I want Zegras at 3, given that I think he's going to be that damn good, but depending on how the lottery shakes out there's potential here to get a really good player and another higher end pick. 

1 minute ago, krsmith17 said:

I'm all for a trade back, depending on the return, and I agree, Byram looks like he could be the real deal. He looks like he could be a Morgan Rielly type defenseman in a few years.

Byram's third or fourth on my want list. He's a stud.

Wouldn't be surprised if he's the guy the Wings end up targeting if they don't get one of the top two picks. All we ever hear about is how you can only get Bowen Byrams in the draft. Well, here's a Bowen Byram.

Byram-Hronek could be a hell of a pairing. In theory.

[kipwinger 8,524]

I'll admit I've been sleeping on the kid because I want a center, but he's pretty impressive.  Definitely a big fan of his tool kit.  Has a little of the Doughty or Keith in him in the sense that he's really good offensively but also is pretty mean and feisty. 

[Dabura 12,207]

Just now, kipwinger said:

I'll admit I've been sleeping on the kid because I want a center, but he's pretty impressive.  Definitely a big fan of his tool kit.  Has a little of the Doughty or Keith in him in the sense that he's really good offensively but also is pretty mean and feisty. 

Kind of reminds me of OEL. From what I've seen of him, there really isn't much piss and vinegar to his game, but I've only watched him a few times.

I'd say we picked a pretty good year to be really bad.

[kipwinger 8,524]

Imagine, with a little luck on UFA day in a couple years you could have this defense:

Byram-Trouba

McIsaac-Hronek

Cholo-Lindstrom

[Dabura 12,207]

Just now, kipwinger said:

Imagine, with a little luck on UFA day in a couple years you could have this defense:

Byram-Trouba

McIsaac-Hronek

Cholo-Lindstrom

This is the kind of stuff that keeps me going. We are bad, but we just need a little luck here and there.

[kipwinger 8,524]

1 minute ago, Dabura said:

This is the kind of stuff that keeps me going. We are bad, but we just need a little luck here and there.

Same here.  I spend so much time imagining how things COULD be with just the tiniest bit of luck.  Trouble is, if you draft a Byram you HAVE to find another center somewhere.  Go hard for Duchene or hope you get lucky later in the draft.  Otherwise your center depth is still trash. 

 

Bert-Larkin-Zadina

Ras-Duchene-AA

Svech-Veleno-Mantha

Abby-Glen-Nielsen

 

Byram-Trouba

McIsaac-Hronek

Cholo-Lindstrom. 

[Dabura 12,207]

Just now, kipwinger said:

Same here.  I spend so much time imagining how things COULD be with just the tiniest bit of luck.  Trouble is, if you draft a Byram you HAVE to find another center somewhere.  Go hard for Duchene or hope you get lucky later in the draft.  Otherwise your center depth is still trash. 

 

Bert-Larkin-Zadina

Ras-Duchene-AA

Svech-Veleno-Mantha

Abby-Glen-Nielsen

 

Byram-Trouba

McIsaac-Hronek

Cholo-Lindstrom. 

Yeah, I'm really not sure what to do about the center depth, specifically that 2C spot. Veleno should be able to fill that hole at some point, but I'm assuming it'll be a couple of years. Same with any centerman we might take with our top pick in the upcoming draft (with the possible exception of Hughes). It'd be really great if AA or Rasmussen could own that spot, but I'm not holding my breath.

So maybe throwing money at Duchene makes sense. And maybe it makes that much more sense if we add a guy like Kakko (suddenly we'd have great winger depth and no center depth to complement it). I don't know that drafting Byram would make me want Duchene more, because Byram probably wouldn't be NHL-ready before Veleno is ready, so the urgency wouldn't necessarily be there. But, point is, I'm open to stuff.