conundrumed

There are quite a few options. I don't envy NHL scouts. I wouldn't hate taking Fischer for the purely selfish reasons of seeing him all the time. The Sting are, "rebuilding", shall we call it? Blew their load in the 22-23 season. Traded Martone for Del Mastro for starters. Gonna be a young team next year. Picked 2oa in the draft, so that might be fun. Fischer's likely as good a pick as anyone from 60-75. But there are C's there that I like, if we've already taken 2-3 dmen. Or maybe we should have a pretty full-on Dman draft? I'm not sure. I'd really like Misa with the Van pick. He's close to Catton, imho. US-Finland becoming a game after the US went up 4-0. 4-2 now and Helenius just drilled the post. Oops, Stiga with his 4th goal. 5-2. Damn.

His linemate is the leading scorer. lol A kid by the name of Calum Ritchie...

@The_People1 Am I going to regret telling you to check the OHL playoff scoring leaders? That guy sure isn't hurting Sennecke's draft-stock, either. I'm OHL-centric due to live viewing, so I was championing Musty, then this guy... I still like the Honzek pick. There just really isn't much that separates 15-50 in most drafts, let alone 15-30. I highly recommend watching the OHL semis and Finals, alongside the same from the dub. Stoopid dub start times. But what, am I supposed to watch the Oilers/Van? I don't gaf about those teams. lol

Lousy team, he's still the shortest in his fam by a few inches. Freij and Mews are both borderline 1st rders, Fischer will be in the late 2nd - early 3rd, so not the same range. Dallas pick to our 3rd. Someone will be getting great potential with Fischer. Too funny if it's Detroit. "Sorry son, you were next on our list, honestly".

A nice camera pan to Conny and Iggy at the Swiss vs Sweden u18 game. They pointed out how fitting it is that Iggy's sitting on Conroy's right. lol I wonder if Tanguay is sitting on Yzerman's left?

Way more interested in Wings kids. lol Especially when they're the youngest in the draft, not the oldest: https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/692910/lukas-fischer

It's what we do. lol Hard to not be over-excitable when we have picks for a change! And we're trending towards actually utilizing draft picks as more than trade fodder. What a concept!!

While true, I think it gets a bit over-emphasized. Quinn Hughes has the best skating in the world. He probably laughs at Jack, who is an elite skater. So that comparison is a bit much to live up to. So while Buium is a great skater and can create time and space due to his skating and IQ/vision, he's still a world away from Hughes. He's closer to Luke than he is Quinn, and I think Luke is a great player. Quinn's unreal skating puts him in the rarified air of Makar-level dman. Extremely rare. I think only Levshunov has a chance to be a top 5 dman in the world in this class. Dude is a specimen, near all muscle. Not to say 6th to 20th best in time is anything to scoff at.

My dream of Calgary vs Grand Rapids lives to see another day.

Those called back goals against Tampa...oof. I don't know....pretty mild. Same calls IN Tampa? Gotta wonder. Stamkos to Detroit. lol

Herein lies the problem. I've watched a lot of Dickinson, quite a bit of Buium, Levshunov and Parekh. I've watched about half a game that Silayev played in. Just haven't seen enough of him to offer anything tangible. I watched more of the K last year, but the early morn starts just didn't work for me this year. Would Silayev come over and been as clearly dominant as Levshunov? I just don't know. Maybe he's the 2nd D taken? They have eyes over there and undoubtedly access to endless film. We get all the high-end snippets that percolate all the positives. We're going to find out, for sure. Saginaw took it to London tonight, 6-2 to make the series 2-1 London. Saginaw hosts the Memorial Cup this year. Both teams are loaded. Parekh with 2 assists tonight, primary and secondary. Could be a great series. Lots of prospects and draft eligibles.

And there it is. lol So hard to distinguish between leagues. The NCAA was always kinda, yeah, whatever, but now it's going through amazing growth. I'd likely stick with Dickinson, simply due to where he is and how much hockey he's playing, but I have zero against Buium. I assume both are still growing physically also, so that's a wash. Dickinson is just so refined defensively, and I expect his O game to march forward, pretty much like an afterthought. Buium is slick, fast and always a step ahead. Dickinson is more nuts and bolts, he could play that way, I assume. Buium came from very specific "role" upbringings with the programs (Shattuck/USNTDP) he's been in, Dickinson has been more rounded out to do a bit of everything, regardless of situation. Honestly, it's pretty much a saw off. So I'll err on the side of the Dman with better D mechanics that I'm certain will D vs the other team's best without being overwhelmed.

I doubt Dickinson is really behind anyone in that regard. Bear in mind, London wants Bonk to be their offensive d-man catalyst, which is fine and the right call. He's D+1 and a 1st rd pick. Dickinson plays the all-roles D-first guy. Bonk will graduate next year, Dickinson will be their 1D. His numbers will go way up offensively. He's a pretty finished product. The skating is exceptional. All 4 directions. The D play is top shelf, he rarely gets caught out of position. It seems people complain about his offence. They shouldn't. He's just doing as he's told. If they're down a goal and 'ol Dale cuts him loose, he's a very big problem. He could maybe work on his shot some, but he's still maturing physically. Kind of like, "well sure, every kid needs to". The mental and IQ part, he is a significant player. Dale will put him into PP QB next year, expect more O. I say, look out. This guy is near the perfect package of D play, skating, puck-moving and creativity. He's drawing Pietrangelo comps for good reason. He's really solid at everything.

I kind of wonder how far Pulkkinen can fall as an overager. If you take a dman first, I might be inclined to take Misa with the Van pick. Or Beaudoin if there's enough noise there. I have little doubt we'll be in on Michael Misa next year. Maybe buy the set. lol At our 2nd rder @ 41, there are going to still be some pretty promising dmen. It would be near impossible to not consider Wallenius, Freij or Mews at mid-to-late 20's though. That's going to be a really difficult pick to decide on. BPA is good and well, but there are 6 positions on the ice. So a best C and a best D are not the same category. So it's kind of a cop-out. I think you pretty much have to have some form of projection for next year also. Like, what strengths do this year's draft have vs 2025 and vice versa. Let's face it, we need everything, so it won't get solved in one draft. All I know is, it's just nice to have these conversations, because we haven't traded our picks away. Such a breath of fresh air.

Should also add that I'm watching a lot of Dickinson and O'Reilly. The Knights are up 2-0 in the Conference Final. Oliver Bonk QBs London's PP. Next year, Dickinson will. Just more graduating stuff. Dickinson and O'Reilly will likely explode next year as the other guys graduate. The other guys are mainly 1st and 2nd rders, so the Hunter's run a pretty tight grad process. Rarely a year the Knights aren't solid. It's annoying. lol Dickinson pretty much never makes D-mistakes. Always in position and head on a swivel. The comp he's drawing is Pietrangelo. O'Reilly's pulling jacknife duty at C, occasionally RW. PK C, 2nd PP unit. Bouncing between lines 2 and 3. Plays hard every shift. I'd put Beaudoin ahead of him currently. But if that's the type of C you want in your system from rd 2 or 3, I'd say you can't go wrong with either as a mid C with a chance of untapped potential. I really like that both already understand the 200' game really well. For me, that can be the hardest one to teach: create offence from defence. The best teams are doing exactly that. The downfall of the Leafs imho.

I think that it is more that they like to give the older players the seat, knowing the younger ones will have more opportunities. I would say the US also operates this way. Only a Bedard changes that.

Just read a mock-up with Levshunov going 4th, then the D run starts at 6th and ends at 9th with us taking Dickinson. That would be fantastic. Tij goes to NJ next at 10th... Outside of Levshunov, I have little doubt Dickinson will become the 2nd best D in this class. He's been the best CDN dman in his age group for a couple of years now. They honestly should have taken him to the WJC this year. Another year in London, then if he has reached physical maturity, he could foreseeably make the Flames/be a call-up as a 20yo. edit Also thinking that maybe the Flames should be attempting to use 2 of their first 3 picks at D. I really don't want to hear, "high risk, high reward in their first 5 picks". That saying is so askew. More accurately: "High Risk, No Reward". Letourneau and Parascak come to mind. I just don't get the reasoning. If you have so many deficiencies in your game or competition level is so low, that is a lot more than "high risk". There is a point where a moderate risk (Eiserman, Hemming) increases to "impossible odds". So if we take a C not named Celebrini or Helenius, I really hope that it's Beaudoin or O'Reilly. Both are solid all-around players with upside. Not, "boy, if this guy puts it all together". They generally don't. Having to play the right way will usually negate what made you enticing. We've had prospects like that. They get angry and stamp their feet, if I recall correctly.

It's McKenna setting everyone up and driving play. Tij's been okay. I wouldn't say great. Ritchie's been really good. Aitcheson has looked pretty solid. Martone is a giant pita. lol Ex-Sting, traded last year for their big disappointing run.

That's why Reaves was out slack-assing on the 1st and 3rd goals. lol Do they even watch hockey?

The Wings have some really great prospects. The wait is painful. Only Seider and Raymond barged right in within 2 years. Anticipation kinda sucks. Danielson looked fantastic in camp last year. Piques the enthusiasm. Then in 2 yrs, it'll be, "Satoshi Nakamoto, I forgot we had him". lol

Dallas has cost control on a developing prospect, vs a 3rd liner at $5.8. Can't see it working out. @cross16 likely correct. Mangiapane has become a salary dump. Painful, but probably true. Also murmurs of his unhappiness, as ironic as that sounds. Some days, my hopes exceed reality. Hate to see so much time invested turn into such promise and then come crashing down. At the end of the day, we have...hmmm, let's see, do the math...carry the 1 over....okay. Zero large, physical wingers. Coleman the only one that's close. Leading scorer...imagine that! Maybe $5.8 can buy one? edit Okay, Pospisil. He's making inroads being one. He's kinda proving what we lack.

I'm glad they stayed with Swayman. He is clearly in the Leafs heads, and has been all year. I kinda wonder if it wouldn't have been a sweep already. Boston may need Ullmark at some point, but that point isn't now. Still impressed as heck with Boston's 3rd line. They're a handful for any team, I think. Leafs continue to play Reaves, Brodie on LD. Wow. Coach much?

He's coming along, I think. I feel like he's our most under-rated. He was drafted on potential. He really hasn't had compelling ice-time for a few years. Only 21 in a few months. It seems sometimes that people are mad at him. lol Hey, I'll take a solid mid-line LW all day in the 2nd rd. Knowing I'm waiting 5 years. I think he's going through growth atm. He has the size and ability, just have to wait out the maturity, like most prospects. Mind you, I really liked Ronni too and saw him live a few times. Ouch.

I have not watched Russians this year, so my opinion is virtually zero. Whereas last year I watched a fair few with Michkov and Simashev. Just in reading, I don't think the top 2 this year are as good as the top 2 last year. Artamonov seems like a total wildcard for where he might land. As far as the Flames, I'd say they have 5 really solid bullets in the chamber. They should come away with a nice mix of skill and potential. Potential is definitely the most under-rated quality, as your trying to project guys 3-4 yrs out. Jiri Fischer's kid, Lukas, comes to mind. Plays for the Sting. He's an honest 6'3" right now, but is likely not done growing. Chances are better than avg that he'll top out at least 6'5". That would change the dynamic of his ranking right now. So they say he's raw. He has great skills, but it's expected that he's still growing. He likely won't be around at the Dallas pick, but I'd give him heavy consideration if he was. Because there is a lot of potential there, and lineage, of course plays into it. Jiri's like 6'6" and his older bro is 6'7" if I remember correctly. So it's pretty fickle between what a kid is now vs @ 23yo. I don't envy NHL scouts, it's such a fine line. For the record, I still think Kerins and Stromgren are our best prospects. People tend to write things off way too early. I also think Sam Morton is a sneaky good add. Older, but hey, if he wants to be a bottom 6 C at 26-27, I'm all for it. You can't just have 4 top 2 dmen in a cap world, or you better be deciding which ones to trade to boost other areas that will undoubtedly be weaknesses. Look no further than the Leafs and Oilers. You can be very O-centic if you like, but you're going to have big problems with D-centric teams and stellar goalies. A big problem. Kind of obvious, I know. You need to account for more than potential stars when drafting.

Celebrini, of course. Helenius, Levshunov, Buium and Dickinson are virtually nails for me. Helenius should be a 1C, Levshunov a 1D, Dickinson and Buium at least top 2. Levshunov is on another planet, honestly. I can't speak for the Russians at all, I've seen so little of them. I'd just be the internet echo chamber. I've liked Helenius for a long time now. Aho-potential for me. Elite IQ and very good everything else. Gotta be a 2C floor. I'd love us to take him, if not a dman. He takes virtually zero time to be noticeable in good ways. I think Levshunov is the most NHL-ready. He is built like a brick Satoshi Nakamotohouse. I could see him with Anaheim next year. 2 years in NA. The guy's a frigging freak of nature. USHL was nothing, NCAA was nothing. This cat, I doubt anyone even knows his ceiling. It's wild that he arrived from Belarus and just took over in virtually no time. Are we sure this guy's only 18? lol