Draft 2020 Draft & Undrafted Free Agent Thread: Part V

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GoAwayGiannone

Registered User
Feb 2, 2012
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Queens, New York
Gordie Howe
Bobby Orr
Wayne Gretzky
Mario Lemieux
Dominik Hasek
Sidney Crosby
Alex Ovechkin
Connor McDavid


Thats my list, the best of the very best. Possibly missing a few because I've been up for 19 hours so I may be forgetting someone.
 

RangersFan1994

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Aug 20, 2019
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I think the Rangers either led the league or were close to the league lead in fighting majors this year. Bruins had a roster full of tough guys when Marc Savard got domed. Same with Loui Eriksson.

Im all for adding a power forward with bite who doesn't suck though. Josh Anderson, despite the injury, is someone who would interest me as long as the medicals clear.

I wouldn't mind someone like Anderson but rather develop that type of player. Greenway, Virtanen, Carrier, Kunin, , all players id be interested in. all 25 and young and potential with room to grow. can play that type of physical top 9 minutes
 
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nyr2k2

Can't Beat Him
Jul 30, 2005
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While subjective, I don’t think the term is nearly as nuanced as we sometimes make it.

Is a player so much more advanced than his peers that he defines an era. Does he change the way the game is played?

Auston Matthews is not that guy.
Yeah, but even if you can succinctly state some criteria for determining who is and isn't generational, you still run into the whole Potter Stewart block of people who know generational when they see it.

My list of generational talents is more expansive than yours (I know because we've had this same discussion before) but far less broad than what some others come up with.

IDK. I do think it's fairly nuanced--particularly as people now incorporate normalized statistics to compare players from different eras. However I have no idea what started this discussion or why I'm part of it, so I'll leave it there. :laugh:
 
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Cag29

94! I’m ready for more! LGR!
Jul 18, 2018
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1,035
Gordie Howe
Bobby Orr
Wayne Gretzky
Mario Lemieux
Dominik Hasek
Sidney Crosby
Alex Ovechkin
Connor McDavid


Thats my list, the best of the very best. Possibly missing a few because I've been up for 19 hours so I may be forgetting someone.
Messier.
 
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Amazing Kreiderman

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Apr 11, 2011
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I think if people look at other, somewhat comparable forwards who went the college route, Holloway's season, while lacking eye-popping numbers, is pretty good.

Tkachuk was a better prospect and had as many goals for a far more organized team. Kreider only posted 11 goals as a sophomore - when he was nearly a year and a half older.

Holloway played his entire season as an 18 year old - and just barely at that. He was 17 during their preseason.

I think we're really selling this kid short.

Off the top of my head, I cannot name a lot of players who were in their freshman year before being draft eligible. Quinn Hughes, Jack Eichel, Patrick Khodorenko, Paul Kariya. I would have to research to find more. It's not as common as people think
 

Amazing Kreiderman

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Apr 11, 2011
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Rangers should draft their own Tom Wilson in this draft. need to protect Lafreniere although if he has Ovechkin or Messier in him I won't mind a skilled player fight to defend himself or the team.

They tried that a decade ago. Didn't work. You don't target prospects for their physicality.
 
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Thirty One

Safe is safe.
Dec 28, 2003
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Off the top of my head, I cannot name a lot of players who were in their freshman year before being draft eligible. Quinn Hughes, Jack Eichel, Patrick Khodorenko, Paul Kariya. I would have to research to find more. It's not as common as people think
The original King of Facebook Hugh Jessiman.
 
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GeorgeKaplan

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Dec 19, 2011
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Riley Sheahan, PDG, Colin Wilson, Jordan Schroeder.

Of course, Patrick Kane and Auston Matthews would have been on this list as well had they gone the NCAA route. There's probably on average 1 per draft in the 1st round.
Slightly off topic but I think Jack Hughes made a pretty big mistake by not going the NCAA route
 

GoAwayPanarin

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May 27, 2008
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Slightly off topic but I think Jack Hughes made a pretty big mistake by not going the NCAA route

He was in a weird spot.

You're the crown jewel of the most decorated NTDP class of all time and shattered basically every record in the book.

... But you weight a buck 60 and almost got decapitated by a strong sneeze via Matt Niskanen.

This long off season is going to be the best thing that ever happened to him. The size will always be an issue for him though and he gets blown up way too often for my liking.

Anyway, the low number of draft eligible players who play a freshman season prior to being drafted shouldn't be too surprising since they changed the rule after the lockout pt 1. You're dealing with players almost exclusively from North America born within a 2.5 month window and there are other leagues available to these guys (WHL, OHL, QMJHL) who don't want to deal with school.
 
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GeorgeKaplan

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Anyway, the low number of draft eligible players who play a freshman season prior to being drafted shouldn't be too surprising since they changed the rule after the lockout pt 1. You're dealing with players almost exclusively from North America born within a 2.5 month window and there are other leagues available to these guys (WHL, OHL, QMJHL) who don't want to deal with school.
I was under the assumption DOB didn't matter and that kids could go that route if they just fast tracked their high school stuff and finished a year early
 

Joey Bones

***** 2k16
Jul 27, 2012
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And that's where it depends on who is there. Someone like Gunler could be long gone. Or that could be the difference between picking 22nd and picking 24th.

I would probably throw a few caution flags out there though:

1. With re: to Peterson, he's a guy who plays a slightly different style than the other guys we mentioned. But he's also a kid who doesn't quite have a clear direction yet. We don't really know what type of player he's shaping up to be, it's more based off who we hope he might be. He's still trying to figure out his identity.

2. I don't know if as a board we truly have a great handle on roles/results for kids playing in college before we draft them. It's a little bit of a different world from those coming starting college a little older and/or after they've been drafted. And that developmental difference is more prounounced when looking at guys who are still figuring out more of a potential power game.

For example, Brady Tkachuk was a better prospect than Holloway, and he went fourth overall after an 8 goal/31 point season. Chris Kreider posted 15 goals and 23 points as a slightly older player than Holloway, and then actually dropped to 11 goals when he was more than a year older than Holloway is now.

Holloway is coming off an 8 goal/ 17 point season and is being slated as a later pick.

I'm not saying Holloway's upside is on the Tkachuk or Kreider level, but I do think it's worth noting that Holloway's freshman numbers might not be the best gauge of his full offensive potential.

Completely agreed and this does goes for every true freshman. The NCAA is a big leap from juniors.
 

Edge

Kris King's Ghost
Mar 1, 2002
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Three of these numbers will make him look like a boss and pop. The fourth makes him look like a foot note. Just saying. ;)

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3C8F8864-798B-4B8A-AE55-DC642EBE3022.jpeg
BDA3E139-6ECD-4487-9B3B-31BFCA95281C.jpeg
0ABA3122-DF29-466F-8E12-CA4EEB97BDBD.jpeg
 
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EdJovanovski

#RempeForConnSmythe
Apr 26, 2016
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If we’re looking for a powerforward, a really speedy one with draft pedigree is going to be available this offseason in Jake Virtanen. He has really fallen out of favor with Vancouver’s front office, he’s a player who could use a fresh start, seems he’s having maturity issues that come with becoming a young millionaire while still around all his high school friends around Vancouver. Andersson & Pettersson are good friends too. You guys do Andersson for Virtanen?
 

GeorgeKaplan

Registered User
Dec 19, 2011
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If we’re looking for a powerforward, a really speedy one with draft pedigree is going to be available this offseason in Jake Virtanen. He has really fallen out of favor with Vancouver’s front office, he’s a player who could use a fresh start, seems he’s having maturity issues that come with becoming a young millionaire while still around all his high school friends around Vancouver. Andersson & Pettersson are good friends too. You guys do Andersson for Virtanen?
NYC doesn't exactly seem like the best spot for someone with maturity issues
 

EdJovanovski

#RempeForConnSmythe
Apr 26, 2016
29,107
57,903
The Rempire State
NYC doesn't exactly seem like the best spot for someone with maturity issues
We’ve done pretty well with DeAngelo. I grew up in a similar social circle to Virtanen, we have mutual friends and play hockey in the same roller league. I grew up in Surrey (basically the most ghetto place in Canada, place is an absolute dump) and he grew up in Abby which is right next to Surrey and very similar. A lot of his old hometown friends are bad influences and I’m sure they convince him to do stupid shit with them with all the money he has going clubbing and getting into trouble. I think packing up your stuff and moving out to an entire different place on your own forces you to grow up, a lot of players dealt with maturity issues when playing in their hometowns. You have the peer pressure to take out your old buddies and do dumb shit because you have money to blow, whereas if he moved to a new city he’d only be around his teammates and new friends he makes who would be of a much different social class than his hometown friends were.

Could definitely be buying low on him as I apparently his trade value is only a mid round pick. He’s got serious wheels, like we’re talking Kreider fast.
 

Edge

Kris King's Ghost
Mar 1, 2002
34,749
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Virtanen is one of those guys who shows flashes of what he could be, and has been teasing that payoff for a number of years.

Even I can’t help but feel that he has a shot to be someone who provides a really good payoff for his second or third NHL team.
 
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