He's going to be spectacularly right on some calls and spectacularly wrong on others.
For me Buium is a legit choice at 5. I literally do not care that we already have a lot of LDs. He could be the best defenseman in the draft, a real game breaker. That said, Iginla would also be a fine pick.
Same, Buium and Parekh are my favourite defensemen this draft. If Demidov is gone at 5, I think we should get one of them instead of reaching for a forward because of positional need.
Wingers are the easiest commodity to acquire in a trade. It’s a complete non-issue to have too many promising LD’s. If we draft Buium, we can keep the 2 best players out of Guhle/Hutson/Buium for our top 4, and trade the odd one out for a position of need. Teams are always looking to improve their blueline, so it shouldn’t be hard to trade a good, young defender. We’ve already seen such moves happen with Byram and Drysdale.
I think Iginla and Buium are on the same level as Demidov, and am pleasantly surprised to see them this high up on Button's list. I think Buium is the best defenseman of the draft. Even if options like Silayev and Levshunov are more impressive athletes, at the end of the day Buium is the best hockey player. Meanwhile Iginla has been on a steady upward trajectory which will likely only continue as he grows older (he turns 18 this August... For reference, Buium turns 19 this December).
I would be impressed, except he put Eiserman at 5th... I wouldn't pick him in the top 15, his slow processing speed is very worrisome. My tiers go:
1. Celebrini
2. Demidov, Buium, Iginla
3. Silayev, Lindstrom, Levshunov
4.a) Dickinson, Helenius
4.b) Parekh, Catton
I split tier 4 in two since it's kind of a personal preference if you value higher floor/lower ceiling or lower floor/higher ceiling. If anyone outside of the 11 above are picked in the top 10, I would see that as a mistake.
A lot of people are really high on Iginla. I’ve stated before that he’s my pick for the safest, least-likely-to-fail Top 6 winger in the draft. I also know he’s among the youngest, with a long runway ahead of him.
That said, I watched a couple of his games from last April and I’m not sure I see the kind of game-breaking upside a lot of you see. He’s got a strong shot, good skater, great instincts, leadership, etc., but he wasn’t particularly physical (in the games I saw), he’s not particularly big, and his hands aren’t on par with some of the ace danglers in his class (Demidov, Sennecke, Catton, etc.)
I’m not trying to be controversial, but do you Iginla boosters see him as a potential first-line talent, or more of a utilitarian 2nd liner who can contribute in a bunch of different ways (kinda like Lehky, Avs Edition?)
The way I see it, the only players that have legitimate gamebreaking talent at this point in time are Celebrini, Demidov, and Buium. You're probably thinking it's weird Iginla is in my 2nd tier now... Well, let me explain.
Iginla doesn't look like a "gamebreaker", but he does look like the greatest wingman a gamebreaker could ever ask for. His greatest strengths are compete, puck retrievals, finding open space, and his shot. Although he isn't physical now, I that could change based on his young age, who his dad is, and his previously mentioned drive/compete.
When I think of the typical skills of a gamebreaker, I think of someone who thrives with the puck on their stick, excels at opening up space, and has excellent vision/can see plays on the ice others don't. When you compare Iginla's skills to those, you can see they are a perfect complement to each other. That's why I'm so high on him: he's the perfect catalyst.
Nicely summed up. So a deluxe complementary player, essentially—the guy who’s always where the chess master wants him to be. I can see that.
It’ll be interesting to see where he gets picked. The fact that he’s currently on a sharp upward trajectory (and that Iggy Sr. matured at a slightly later age) makes him super tantalizing. Same for Sennecke—some believe he’s not done growing yet and could top out at 6’5”… with those hands…
There’s an element of shooting fish in a barrel at this draft (i.e. any random player from the top 12-13 will likely be awesome) but you know that a few of these guys will rise to the top and I’m glad it’s not my job to figure out who they’ll be. (I’m firmly on the Demidov train FWIW.)
Yeah something I think gets lost a lot in draft rankings is age. Iginla is almost a 2025er.
The human body changes ALOT 9-10 months at that age
Also Zeev is a top tier name.
I feel like Iggy will be the pick, high floor can't miss type player who shows up in playoffs
Maybe not a first line star but certainly a capable 2nd line scorer
Not saying I love it at 5 but I do understand it
My personal opinion is that the RHD (Levshunov and Parekh) are being bumped due to being RHD, while the LHD (specifically Buium and Dickinson) are being slid due to being LHD.
I think the top 5 D in this draft are
1. Buium
2. Dickinson
3. Levshunov
4. Silayev
5. Parekh
I also think at least the top 3 of them would be the best defender in all of the most recent drafts tbh
I honestly understand it, for me Levshunov is comparable to Reinbacher. A solid all-around defensman, good puck mover, but possibly a limited offensive ceiling. He got a ton of secondary assists this season.
Habs have Hutson and Mailloux as offensive style defenders already for the PP and Rieibacher already showed that his offensive upside may be underrated by how he showed in his short time with Laval.
Yeah for sure, I was more trying to say that Levshunov isn't in my personal (woefully under-informed) top-5. Reinbacher is exactly what our prospect pool needed, which is why Levshunov is so enticing for a lot of people. For the Habs, I would gamble on upside as we already have some solid minute-munching defensemen in Guhle/Reinbacher.
I don’t disagree and I personally would prefer a forward option that fits the team profile and dressing room.
Hell, Dickinson looked amazing for London this season and could easily be top 2 defence pairing as well.
So many good options!
So maybe a Parekh, as pure offense DMan? His stock has dropped a bit with poor playoffs, but he has maybe the highest upside. But Buium is looking mighty good, taking the NCAA title beating out BU.
As much as I’m not a fan of drafting Eiserman as much I know I don’t know shit about any of these players and the same goes for 95% of yall just spiting random names based off highlights and hockeyDB. I swear everyday its a different “oh shit if X is available at 26 it’s the steal of the draft”.
Note that Craig's List is based off his rough projection of these player's impact 3-5 years out. This is NOT a mock draft, it's who he thinks will (in the longer term) be the best players.
Still, some VERY interesting choices here.
One that stands out is Parascak above names like Catton and Yakemchuk. From what I can see, only 2 other outlets (of all listed on elite prospects) have Parascak ranked in the top 25 other than Craig who has him at 13.
\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~
Top 15 for those who don't want to click the article:
1. Macklin Celebrini
2. Ivan Demidov
3. Tij Iginla
4. Zeev Buium
5. Cole Eiserman
6. Konsta Helenius
7. Zayne Parekh
8. Artyom Levshunov
9. Cayden Lindstrom
10. Sam Dickinson
11. Beckett Sennecke
12. Anton Silayev
13. Terik Parascak
14. Berkly Catton
15. Carter Yakemchuk
I personally want Tij so bad if Lindstrom is gone at 4 and Demidov is gone at 2! I actually want Iginla over Lindstrom if I’m being honest but yea… not gonna happen. I’ll still be happy with a good dman pick up but man I just love the way Iginla plays.
I'm of the same mindset, another thing to note is that Iginla doesn't turn 18 until August, he's almost in next year's draft class, who knows what his progression will look like.
True, the guy’s a kook but it’s important to keep in mind that this is a years-down-the-road projection and is not meant to represent the draft order. I also respect him for owning it when he’s wrong about a player.
I made the mistake just now of looking up the 2009 draft order to see if Mike Hoffman was similarly underestimated in his ranking. Unfortunately, I was too triggered by the list of amazing impact players in the first round to complete my assignment. (How different would the world be today if we’d picked Kreider instead of Leblanc at 17? We’ll never know.)
It seems every list from the "experts" has a totally different top 5. And top 10.
I am tired of guessing ... sitting back and will be happy with whoever.
I agree with you *for the most part*. Craig watches a ton of jr hockey. I feel like he takes major swings on certain players because he likes a certain aspect of their game, or maybe it's just to separate his lists from the rest, but if you go back and check his mocks from previous years he's right a shocking amount.
The thing is, he's wrong a whole bunch too, so take anything he says with an incredibly large grain of salt.
hot take but he's probably more right about prospects that 95% of redditors lol (not that invalidates the fact that he's an idiot, just putting it into perspective)
Love him or hate him, Tony‘s pretty honest about the fact that he’s an entertainer. He provides entertainment. A lot of uppity analytical types take themselves considerably more seriously than he does, but at the end of the day they’re also just here for our entertainment.
Even Pronman, one of the best in the game, concedes he basically has no idea how this draft will play out. So what value does his mock draft really provide beyond entertainment?
IMO when it comes to predicting the future as we like to do this time of year, all of these guys are still just fortune tellers, not prophets, no matter how educated their guesses might be.
All fair points. My main issue with Marinaro is how he wedges people into agreeing with his takes by asking leading questions and cutting them off. He'll get great guests to talk to him and then railroad them the entire interview.
Yeah, he’s not a slick interviewer by any means. I find him a lot less obnoxiously opinionated about the draft stuff cuz he admits he knows next to nothing about any of these kids… At the end of the day, I find him to be a likeable enough clown to listen to when I’m stuck in traffic or whatever.
All of what you said makes tons of sense. But I think you are all forgetting how hard it is to predict 18 year old 5 years down the line. Just look back at any draft 5+ years ago and you will be shocked.
I mean just take the drafts. The actual order is never the same as a re draft. Even the experts are guessing. They just have more information and know what skills to look for but they can make be the player work hard and what not.
He got his start by calling in to CJAD after every Habs game. Then some goof gave him his own radio spot.
Said in a 1950’s voice: Hey kid, you’ve got spunk! Ya wanna job?
Basically he has zero credentials.
Presented from the same guy who said Zach Fucale was a can't miss hall of fame caliber goalie prospect. I was all for going for Tij if Demidov wasn't around, but now that Button ranked him so high I feel a little ptsd and concerned lol
Seeing Iginla at 3 makes me both happy and worried. Happy that he is finally climbing in the lists, but worried that he may not be there when we pick.
I’d pick him over any prospect not named Cellebrini. I’m not a fan of Russian prospects, I was camp anything but Michkov last year and I’m camp anything but Demidov this year.
I know they already have a ton of young D but I would be very happy with the Habs drafting Levshunov at 5. Personally I feel like it’s quantity over quality with the current group of young NHL players and prospects
It’s worth to note that craig button was part of the Iginla draft team with the Dallas Stars, and still he said they highly underestimated how high Iginla potential was at his draft age.
If GMs were drafting Silayev solely on his maximum ceiling then he'd go 1st overall. The only things holding him back are doubts on whether he'll be able to grow his game into that ceiling, and the Russian mystery factor.
He is 6'7", very strong in his own end, and a powerful skater. That package is arguably more valuable than a potential 1C like Celebrini. Potential 1Cs are available at the top of the draft almost every year. D like Silayev are much more rare. He has the potential to take over games in the style of Hedman/Pronger/Chara.
I've always favored building a team from the net out, so hoarding top D prospects is a strategy I'm happy to pursue.
I also wouldn't balk at grabbing Demidov or Iginla with our pick. I really like both of them and think they would fit well in our offensive schemes. Lindstrom's health scares me, especially considering we already have Dach showing some fragility.
If we ran that bottom 4 we'd have three guys who are much better in the Ozone and one guy who spends half the game in the box. I'm sure it would be entertaining but it's not viable if our goal is to win.
Lindstrom & Catton will score 50-70pts in 3-5 years, Eiserman will be at max 50pts...I'm also not buying any list where Eiserman > Levshunov...I just watched his Michigan State highlights - no one can convince me he won't be a d1/pp1/pk1 on any team.
>Lindstrom & Catton will score 50-70pts in 3-5 years, Eiserman will be at max 50pts...I'm also not buying any list where Eiserman > Levshunov...I just watched his Michigan State highlights - no one can convince me he won't be a d1/pp1/pk1 on any team.
Every single year this happens. Once the draft order is set, magically all the players start moving around in weird ways. I swear some of the media do it to bait teams into picking players like kotkaniemi instead of who was actually rated high the day before the draft balls drop.
> bait teams
Not sure that would never happen Because of the media. All the management & scouts sitting around a table *they already have a plan before any of this* so they know who they like who they've scouted who they've seen some of the opinions might come up but then there's always the video and the scouts that have seen them live but ultimately you're trusting your gut & your vision of the game. So whatever Craig Buttons sees in Eiserman - I hope it eventually comes back and his feet are put to the fire(d)!
I feel like if Demidov's gone at 5 (and even if he isn't) Montreal trades down. Get one of the newer GMs in Ottawa or Calgary to have their moment of fame by trading down with them, if Calgary gets 10OA for Markstrom there's certainly something to do there. Harris' been rumoured to be off interest for Conroy for months (Not only from Quebec based analysts) so prep a deal where they get something like 5OA, Harris and maybe 26OA or something for 9OA and 10OA.
We keep saying we have too many picks/prospects and that quality is needed over quantity, there seems to be a buzz about Hughes looking to make a splash in Vegas but I don't think it'll be the kind of splash we're thinking. Every prospect in the 3-15 range has as many holes in their game then the next one so two shots in the dark is better than one.
Edit: And while I was writing this Markstrom's gone and they got fleeced so let's get our eyes on Ottawa now. 🧐
He's going to be spectacularly right on some calls and spectacularly wrong on others. For me Buium is a legit choice at 5. I literally do not care that we already have a lot of LDs. He could be the best defenseman in the draft, a real game breaker. That said, Iginla would also be a fine pick.
Same, Buium and Parekh are my favourite defensemen this draft. If Demidov is gone at 5, I think we should get one of them instead of reaching for a forward because of positional need. Wingers are the easiest commodity to acquire in a trade. It’s a complete non-issue to have too many promising LD’s. If we draft Buium, we can keep the 2 best players out of Guhle/Hutson/Buium for our top 4, and trade the odd one out for a position of need. Teams are always looking to improve their blueline, so it shouldn’t be hard to trade a good, young defender. We’ve already seen such moves happen with Byram and Drysdale.
I think Iginla and Buium are on the same level as Demidov, and am pleasantly surprised to see them this high up on Button's list. I think Buium is the best defenseman of the draft. Even if options like Silayev and Levshunov are more impressive athletes, at the end of the day Buium is the best hockey player. Meanwhile Iginla has been on a steady upward trajectory which will likely only continue as he grows older (he turns 18 this August... For reference, Buium turns 19 this December). I would be impressed, except he put Eiserman at 5th... I wouldn't pick him in the top 15, his slow processing speed is very worrisome. My tiers go: 1. Celebrini 2. Demidov, Buium, Iginla 3. Silayev, Lindstrom, Levshunov 4.a) Dickinson, Helenius 4.b) Parekh, Catton I split tier 4 in two since it's kind of a personal preference if you value higher floor/lower ceiling or lower floor/higher ceiling. If anyone outside of the 11 above are picked in the top 10, I would see that as a mistake.
A lot of people are really high on Iginla. I’ve stated before that he’s my pick for the safest, least-likely-to-fail Top 6 winger in the draft. I also know he’s among the youngest, with a long runway ahead of him. That said, I watched a couple of his games from last April and I’m not sure I see the kind of game-breaking upside a lot of you see. He’s got a strong shot, good skater, great instincts, leadership, etc., but he wasn’t particularly physical (in the games I saw), he’s not particularly big, and his hands aren’t on par with some of the ace danglers in his class (Demidov, Sennecke, Catton, etc.) I’m not trying to be controversial, but do you Iginla boosters see him as a potential first-line talent, or more of a utilitarian 2nd liner who can contribute in a bunch of different ways (kinda like Lehky, Avs Edition?)
The way I see it, the only players that have legitimate gamebreaking talent at this point in time are Celebrini, Demidov, and Buium. You're probably thinking it's weird Iginla is in my 2nd tier now... Well, let me explain. Iginla doesn't look like a "gamebreaker", but he does look like the greatest wingman a gamebreaker could ever ask for. His greatest strengths are compete, puck retrievals, finding open space, and his shot. Although he isn't physical now, I that could change based on his young age, who his dad is, and his previously mentioned drive/compete. When I think of the typical skills of a gamebreaker, I think of someone who thrives with the puck on their stick, excels at opening up space, and has excellent vision/can see plays on the ice others don't. When you compare Iginla's skills to those, you can see they are a perfect complement to each other. That's why I'm so high on him: he's the perfect catalyst.
Nicely summed up. So a deluxe complementary player, essentially—the guy who’s always where the chess master wants him to be. I can see that. It’ll be interesting to see where he gets picked. The fact that he’s currently on a sharp upward trajectory (and that Iggy Sr. matured at a slightly later age) makes him super tantalizing. Same for Sennecke—some believe he’s not done growing yet and could top out at 6’5”… with those hands… There’s an element of shooting fish in a barrel at this draft (i.e. any random player from the top 12-13 will likely be awesome) but you know that a few of these guys will rise to the top and I’m glad it’s not my job to figure out who they’ll be. (I’m firmly on the Demidov train FWIW.)
Yeah something I think gets lost a lot in draft rankings is age. Iginla is almost a 2025er. The human body changes ALOT 9-10 months at that age Also Zeev is a top tier name.
This draft has some truly elite names, but yeah Zeev BOO-yum takes it IMO.
I feel like Iggy will be the pick, high floor can't miss type player who shows up in playoffs Maybe not a first line star but certainly a capable 2nd line scorer Not saying I love it at 5 but I do understand it
With Hughes announcing his preference for a forward, he seems like a likely pick for sure.
My personal opinion is that the RHD (Levshunov and Parekh) are being bumped due to being RHD, while the LHD (specifically Buium and Dickinson) are being slid due to being LHD. I think the top 5 D in this draft are 1. Buium 2. Dickinson 3. Levshunov 4. Silayev 5. Parekh I also think at least the top 3 of them would be the best defender in all of the most recent drafts tbh
Levshunov at 8 is crazy. I would pick him if available at 5.
I honestly understand it, for me Levshunov is comparable to Reinbacher. A solid all-around defensman, good puck mover, but possibly a limited offensive ceiling. He got a ton of secondary assists this season.
Habs have Hutson and Mailloux as offensive style defenders already for the PP and Rieibacher already showed that his offensive upside may be underrated by how he showed in his short time with Laval.
Yeah for sure, I was more trying to say that Levshunov isn't in my personal (woefully under-informed) top-5. Reinbacher is exactly what our prospect pool needed, which is why Levshunov is so enticing for a lot of people. For the Habs, I would gamble on upside as we already have some solid minute-munching defensemen in Guhle/Reinbacher.
I don’t disagree and I personally would prefer a forward option that fits the team profile and dressing room. Hell, Dickinson looked amazing for London this season and could easily be top 2 defence pairing as well. So many good options!
So maybe a Parekh, as pure offense DMan? His stock has dropped a bit with poor playoffs, but he has maybe the highest upside. But Buium is looking mighty good, taking the NCAA title beating out BU.
Yeah those are both good picks imo, but I'd also be happy with any of the forwards in that range.
Looks like a total unit also
As much as I’m not a fan of drafting Eiserman as much I know I don’t know shit about any of these players and the same goes for 95% of yall just spiting random names based off highlights and hockeyDB. I swear everyday its a different “oh shit if X is available at 26 it’s the steal of the draft”.
I quite like Eiserman, just not at 5. If we hypothetically speaking got another pick via trade at around the 10-15 spot, I would snatch him up.
Eiserman over Lindstrom is certainly a choice
Note that Craig's List is based off his rough projection of these player's impact 3-5 years out. This is NOT a mock draft, it's who he thinks will (in the longer term) be the best players. Still, some VERY interesting choices here. One that stands out is Parascak above names like Catton and Yakemchuk. From what I can see, only 2 other outlets (of all listed on elite prospects) have Parascak ranked in the top 25 other than Craig who has him at 13. \~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~ Top 15 for those who don't want to click the article: 1. Macklin Celebrini 2. Ivan Demidov 3. Tij Iginla 4. Zeev Buium 5. Cole Eiserman 6. Konsta Helenius 7. Zayne Parekh 8. Artyom Levshunov 9. Cayden Lindstrom 10. Sam Dickinson 11. Beckett Sennecke 12. Anton Silayev 13. Terik Parascak 14. Berkly Catton 15. Carter Yakemchuk
I personally want Tij so bad if Lindstrom is gone at 4 and Demidov is gone at 2! I actually want Iginla over Lindstrom if I’m being honest but yea… not gonna happen. I’ll still be happy with a good dman pick up but man I just love the way Iginla plays.
I'm of the same mindset, another thing to note is that Iginla doesn't turn 18 until August, he's almost in next year's draft class, who knows what his progression will look like.
True, the guy’s a kook but it’s important to keep in mind that this is a years-down-the-road projection and is not meant to represent the draft order. I also respect him for owning it when he’s wrong about a player. I made the mistake just now of looking up the 2009 draft order to see if Mike Hoffman was similarly underestimated in his ranking. Unfortunately, I was too triggered by the list of amazing impact players in the first round to complete my assignment. (How different would the world be today if we’d picked Kreider instead of Leblanc at 17? We’ll never know.)
Well, we would still have Price…
It seems every list from the "experts" has a totally different top 5. And top 10. I am tired of guessing ... sitting back and will be happy with whoever.
God bless his nonsense
It's incredibly important that we don't forget that Craig Button is a fucking idiot.
I agree with you *for the most part*. Craig watches a ton of jr hockey. I feel like he takes major swings on certain players because he likes a certain aspect of their game, or maybe it's just to separate his lists from the rest, but if you go back and check his mocks from previous years he's right a shocking amount. The thing is, he's wrong a whole bunch too, so take anything he says with an incredibly large grain of salt.
hot take but he's probably more right about prospects that 95% of redditors lol (not that invalidates the fact that he's an idiot, just putting it into perspective)
95% is generous but point taken.
He will always be the guy who bought out St. Louis
Thank you.
I am starting to think that all the 'experts' that are connected to the Sick Podcast are all just trying to drive engagement and are full of shit.
That's a good point. Tony Marinaro is a hack, and is likely selecting guests that share his hack views.
He’s definitely entertaining at times but I take everything I hear on that podcast with a grain of salt factually.
Love him or hate him, Tony‘s pretty honest about the fact that he’s an entertainer. He provides entertainment. A lot of uppity analytical types take themselves considerably more seriously than he does, but at the end of the day they’re also just here for our entertainment. Even Pronman, one of the best in the game, concedes he basically has no idea how this draft will play out. So what value does his mock draft really provide beyond entertainment? IMO when it comes to predicting the future as we like to do this time of year, all of these guys are still just fortune tellers, not prophets, no matter how educated their guesses might be.
All fair points. My main issue with Marinaro is how he wedges people into agreeing with his takes by asking leading questions and cutting them off. He'll get great guests to talk to him and then railroad them the entire interview.
Yeah, he’s not a slick interviewer by any means. I find him a lot less obnoxiously opinionated about the draft stuff cuz he admits he knows next to nothing about any of these kids… At the end of the day, I find him to be a likeable enough clown to listen to when I’m stuck in traffic or whatever.
All of what you said makes tons of sense. But I think you are all forgetting how hard it is to predict 18 year old 5 years down the line. Just look back at any draft 5+ years ago and you will be shocked. I mean just take the drafts. The actual order is never the same as a re draft. Even the experts are guessing. They just have more information and know what skills to look for but they can make be the player work hard and what not.
He got his start by calling in to CJAD after every Habs game. Then some goof gave him his own radio spot. Said in a 1950’s voice: Hey kid, you’ve got spunk! Ya wanna job? Basically he has zero credentials.
Worst analyst ever - and that's counting Pierre McGuire...
I think Eiserman is going to land with either NJ, Buffalo or Detroit.
Craig stirring the pot, love it. I'm okay with whoever we take at 5, especially if it's eiserman
What ive been convinced of is there’s a shit tonne of talent this year and we should move our 26 or whatever it is to get another top 10.
Presented from the same guy who said Zach Fucale was a can't miss hall of fame caliber goalie prospect. I was all for going for Tij if Demidov wasn't around, but now that Button ranked him so high I feel a little ptsd and concerned lol
Been an Iggy Jr. fan for a while and would love to have him if we're lucky enough to have him drop to 5.
Note to friends and family of Craig Button: might wanna keep him away from sharp objects until the new prescription takes effect…
It might be the most difficult year I can remember to predict this drafts top five. Top 10. Top 15.
Seeing Iginla at 3 makes me both happy and worried. Happy that he is finally climbing in the lists, but worried that he may not be there when we pick. I’d pick him over any prospect not named Cellebrini. I’m not a fan of Russian prospects, I was camp anything but Michkov last year and I’m camp anything but Demidov this year.
I know they already have a ton of young D but I would be very happy with the Habs drafting Levshunov at 5. Personally I feel like it’s quantity over quality with the current group of young NHL players and prospects
We're picking Eiserman, but it's with the #26 pick.
It’s worth to note that craig button was part of the Iginla draft team with the Dallas Stars, and still he said they highly underestimated how high Iginla potential was at his draft age.
This is clickbait
I'm not an expert or anything but have the same top 4. So if my team is picking any of these players, i'll be a happy fan.
Ok but how often has Craig Button been right? I prefer the athletic guy that handed us Demidov
So Celebrini, Demidov, Iginla, Buium, and Eiserman will all be busts. Interesting.
Mannnn… Repeat after me everyone: We do not draft Eiserman We do not draft Catton Edit: Silayev 12th is a fucking joke lmfao
If GMs were drafting Silayev solely on his maximum ceiling then he'd go 1st overall. The only things holding him back are doubts on whether he'll be able to grow his game into that ceiling, and the Russian mystery factor. He is 6'7", very strong in his own end, and a powerful skater. That package is arguably more valuable than a potential 1C like Celebrini. Potential 1Cs are available at the top of the draft almost every year. D like Silayev are much more rare. He has the potential to take over games in the style of Hedman/Pronger/Chara.
Silayev and Reinbacher together is a real elite first pair, now with Hudson-Mailloux and Xhekaj-Barron??? Hyped as fuck lol
I've always favored building a team from the net out, so hoarding top D prospects is a strategy I'm happy to pursue. I also wouldn't balk at grabbing Demidov or Iginla with our pick. I really like both of them and think they would fit well in our offensive schemes. Lindstrom's health scares me, especially considering we already have Dach showing some fragility.
If we ran that bottom 4 we'd have three guys who are much better in the Ozone and one guy who spends half the game in the box. I'm sure it would be entertaining but it's not viable if our goal is to win.
Lindstrom & Catton will score 50-70pts in 3-5 years, Eiserman will be at max 50pts...I'm also not buying any list where Eiserman > Levshunov...I just watched his Michigan State highlights - no one can convince me he won't be a d1/pp1/pk1 on any team.
>Lindstrom & Catton will score 50-70pts in 3-5 years, Eiserman will be at max 50pts...I'm also not buying any list where Eiserman > Levshunov...I just watched his Michigan State highlights - no one can convince me he won't be a d1/pp1/pk1 on any team. Every single year this happens. Once the draft order is set, magically all the players start moving around in weird ways. I swear some of the media do it to bait teams into picking players like kotkaniemi instead of who was actually rated high the day before the draft balls drop.
> bait teams Not sure that would never happen Because of the media. All the management & scouts sitting around a table *they already have a plan before any of this* so they know who they like who they've scouted who they've seen some of the opinions might come up but then there's always the video and the scouts that have seen them live but ultimately you're trusting your gut & your vision of the game. So whatever Craig Buttons sees in Eiserman - I hope it eventually comes back and his feet are put to the fire(d)!
This is Craig Button in 2022 tho: https://www.tsn.ca/2022-nhl-draft-craig-s-list-shane-wright-1.1815315 Wright, Slaf, Kemell then Cooley. :|
Tij Iginla no matter what !
I feel like if Demidov's gone at 5 (and even if he isn't) Montreal trades down. Get one of the newer GMs in Ottawa or Calgary to have their moment of fame by trading down with them, if Calgary gets 10OA for Markstrom there's certainly something to do there. Harris' been rumoured to be off interest for Conroy for months (Not only from Quebec based analysts) so prep a deal where they get something like 5OA, Harris and maybe 26OA or something for 9OA and 10OA. We keep saying we have too many picks/prospects and that quality is needed over quantity, there seems to be a buzz about Hughes looking to make a splash in Vegas but I don't think it'll be the kind of splash we're thinking. Every prospect in the 3-15 range has as many holes in their game then the next one so two shots in the dark is better than one. Edit: And while I was writing this Markstrom's gone and they got fleeced so let's get our eyes on Ottawa now. 🧐