HF Habs: 2024 NHL Draft Thread

[Jaynki]

And none are forwards over 200 pounds (even if stamkos was available. He wasn’t).

Another good argument that talent should be the priority, tho. Thanks.

Yes but they still had big teams when they won.

So when looking at a player singularly, size is just another attributes.

But its important in a team building concept.

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

For the record, obviously you go Celebrini, Demidov and Lindstrom over Catton. If someone tells me they like Tij more than Catton, I got no issues with that.

Beyond that though, there's not many arguments against Catton. If you prefer the one elite trait in Eiserman's shot, sure, but you can't use height and weight against Catton in that argument, since Eiserman is the softest most perimeter player in the top 10. Catton wipes the floor with him in those departments.

If you prefer the floor of Helenius and the projectability because he played in the Liiga, sure, but then you can't use offensive upside against Catton because tool for tool, I can't think of one that Helenius is better at.

So those other arguments that come up trying to discredit Catton as a potential pick of the Habs if the other options are gone, they're just weak.

Long story short, there's no way they are completely discrediting Catton as an option dependent on the board. Where he fits in relation to the other forwards on their board, we don't know right now and may never know. But he's there and he's not discredited. Meetings don't mean much but you don't spend time meeting a guy who is completely off your board.

I'd say the obviously on Lindstrom over Catton is in dispute since we don't know the extent of his back issues

 

[Ozmodiar]

David Pastrnak went from 6'0 167 at the 2014 combine to a listed 6'0 196.

It’s funny … Pasta was undersized and had a back injury in his draft year.

The primary concerns for catton and Lindstrom, respectively.

 

[Locks]

No because look at the Leafs. Their talent is soft as shit and they keep losing. I’d rather pick someone that has talent and grit, like Iginla.

But sure if we had a 6’6 HOF defenceman, a HOF goalie, a 6’1 HOF goal scoring centre, a HOF 140 point winger, then we could add Catton to be Point. But we have zero of that.

The Leafs biggest problem was not a lack of grit overall, they had gritty players like Hyman and Simmonds. Their main problem is that their star players are not money players who can elevate their game in the PO.

And as you pointed out above, Tampa added grit to complement their smaller star forwards and it is important to point out that those guys - Coleman, Goodrowe and Marun - are third and fourth-liners. Yes, these three guys contributed as expected for role players but Tampa did not win the cup back-to-back because of these three guys. They won because their top players like Kuch, Point and Palat delivered the goods when it counted, unlike the Toronto top guns.
And the Habs have already an advantage in its roster construction - two of the top 6 forwards are 6-4, one of them being a legit power forward who is already physically dominant. Then there are interesting grit candidates for the bottom six roles already in the organization: Heinenman, Tuch and Florian X.
This management has done a great job in improving the balance of size and skill going forward and there is no reason to obsess over size.

But if they think Tij is the best prospect at that position, I have no problem with it, he brings some great qualities to the table. The only thing I don't get is why MBN is not, at least on the surface, in the conversation.

 

[Ozmodiar]

Yes but they still had big teams when they won.

So when looking at a player singularly, size is just another attributes.

But its important in a team building concept.

Their top 6 wasn’t big. That’s what we’re looking at with this pick. The Habs top 6 will have enough size with Catton there.

The big team can be built around them. Like the lightning did.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Charlie Elick.

Read a bit more and he's a guy with a lot of tools, has trouble putting them together consistently and has, not terrible, but not desirable puck moving skills. He had an edge and likely would look good as a partner with an offensive dman.

That's just what I've read from people who've watched him, not my take.

The sounds of that and being a RHD might be who the Habs look at with the Jets pick, assuming they don't pick a d with their first pick.

 

[Jaynki]

Their top 6 wasn’t big. That’s what we’re looking at with this pick. The Habs top 6 will have enough size with Catton there.

The big team can be built around them. Like the lightning did.

Agree

 

[le_sean]

The Leafs biggest problem was not a lack of grit overall, they had gritty players like Hyman and Simmonds. Their main problem is that their star players are not money players who can elevate their game in the PO.

And as you pointed out above, Tampa added grit to complement their smaller star forwards and it is important to point out that those guys - Coleman, Goodrowe and Marun - are third and fourth-liners. Yes, these three guys contributed as expected for role players but Tampa did not win the cup back-to-back because of these three guys. They won because their top players like Kuch, Point and Palat delivered the goods when it counted, unlike the Toronto top guns.
And the Habs have already an advantage in its roster construction - two of the top 6 forwards are 6-4, one of them being a legit power forward who is already physically dominant. Then there are interesting grit candidates for the bottom six roles already in the organization: Heinenman, Tuch and Florian X.
This management has done a great job in improving the balance of size and skill going forward and there is no reason to obsess over size.

But if they think Tij is the best prospect at that position, I have no problem with it, he brings some great qualities to the table. The only thing I don't get is why MBN is not, at least on the surface, in the conversation.

Well then why would we draft a player that brought nothing of substance to the lowly WHL playoffs if we want players that bring it in the NHL playoffs.

And I think MBN will be higher on NHL lists than amateur scouting sites. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see him go Top 10.

 

[le_sean]

Their top 6 wasn’t big. That’s what we’re looking at with this pick. The Habs top 6 will have enough size with Catton there.

The big team can be built around them. Like the lightning did.

Who is big in the Habs future top 6? Slafkovsky and Dach? Dach can’t even play an entire season without getting hurt, so before saying we have enough size, he needs to show he has enough grit because freak injuries or not, it always happens.

 

[Team_Spirit]

Watching Catton clips it's easy to imagine him and Beck being an absolute fire duo.

I have no issue having Caufield/Roy/Catton as smaller guys split on 3 lines in the top 9.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Their top 6 wasn’t big. That’s what we’re looking at with this pick. The Habs top 6 will have enough size with Catton there.

The big team can be built around them. Like the lightning did.

That is true however it should be pointed out that they had the best dman and the best goaltender in the league in Hedman and Vasilevskiy as the foundation of that team. They don't win any cups if either of these two guys are not there. We have all witnessed the quick exits without Hedman and there is no debating how important Vasilevskiy was to those teams.

Size definitely wins in the playoffs and even without the point that I just brought up, those Lightning teams were an outlier with regards to size in the top 6.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Oskar Vuollet at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Oskar Vuollet, 2005-12-03 Skellefteå, SWE Sweden. Most recently in the SHL with Skellefteå AIK. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Just looking at stats and this players stats are kind of interesting for a later round pick.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

It’s funny … Pasta was undersized and had a back injury in his draft year.

The primary concerns for catton and Lindstrom, respectively.

Pasta was never considered undersized for a skilled player. That was just the narrative used on these boards to justify those who liked Scherbak better.

 

[Goldenhands]

 

[Gustave]

Watching Catton clips it's easy to imagine him and Beck being an absolute fire duo.

I have no issue having Caufield/Roy/Catton as smaller guys split on 3 lines in the top 9.

I felt Roy wasn’t hindered at all by his size and already had interesting strength on the boards.

Needless to say, I was impressed by his stint.

 

[Locks]

Well then why would we draft a player that brought nothing of substance to the lowly WHL playoffs if we want players that bring it in the NHL playoffs.

And I think MBN will be higher on NHL lists than amateur scouting sites. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see him go Top 10.

WHL is arguably the best junior league in the world this year, at least one of two, it is quite far from being lowly. I have seen no reports that Catton brought "nothing of substance" to the PO. It is stated in several scouting reports that Spokane is pretty much a one-man team and that is what happens when the other far better team builds their entire game around covering that one man.
Catton was the Hlinka MVP and was great at the prospects game so it is hard to paint him as the one who disappears in big games.

There were clear reports two years ago that Shane Wright was brutally outplayed and outscored in the PO but many here wanted him anyway with the first OA pick.

Yes, I too wouldn't be surprised if MBN goes higher than on many lists, he is a sure value.

 

[le_sean]

His idea of pressuring an opposing puck carrier is just an idea it seems.

 

[Mrb1p]

WHL is arguably the best junior league in the world this year, at least one of two, it is quite far from being lowly. I have seen no reports that Catton brought "nothing of substance" to the PO. It is stated in several scouting reports that Spokane is pretty much a one-man team and that is what happens when the other far better team builds their entire game around covering that one man.
Catton was the Hlinka MVP and was great at the prospects game so it is hard to paint him as the one who disappears in big games.

There were clear reports two years ago that Shane Wright was brutally outplayed and outscored in the PO but many here wanted him anyway with the first OA pick.

Yes, I too wouldn't be surprised if MBN goes higher than on many lists, he is a sure value.

The W is the worst league in Canada this year.

 

[Locks]

The W is the worst league in Canada this year.

Maybe, it is still one of the best junior leagues in the world.

 

[Locks]

I felt Roy wasn’t hindered at all by his size and already had interesting strength on the boards.

Needless to say, I was impressed by his stint.

I was impressed too. One thing I don't get is that somehow Roy is bunched together with the smaller prospects like Farrel, Mesar and RHP. Roy is 6 and 190lb. That's about Mike Ryder and Tyler Toffoli size and nobody considered them small. The only issue I see with Roy is his skating just like the two scorers mentioned. But he has time to improve and the two former habs did pretty well despite that subpar skating.

 

[morhilane]

I felt Roy wasn’t hindered at all by his size and already had interesting strength on the boards.

Needless to say, I was impressed by his stint.

Roy is 6'0 and 190 lbs. He's not small, he's league average.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

What you’re saying is that they can add Catton to the mix as long as they surround him with size.

The 2020 lightning won a Cup with a top 6 where only 3/6 were at least 6”. None were 200+ pounds.

The Habs with Catton would have a much bigger top 6 than TBL had.

Their recipe worked:
- add talent first
- surround talent as needed (size, role players, depth)

Not even just that, they also traded one of their smaller sized top prospect for Sergachev. I am always trying to draft the most talented player/best asset. In the case of Catton is draft rank will be lower because of the risk team associate with a player of his profile. It does not make him a bad prospect or less talented than others. I am not a hockey team and I base my list purely on talent and upside. I am not scared to 'overdraft' a player if he has the potential to be a superstar player.

 

[Goldenhands]

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Thanks for the video, I will say from the get go that it is funny to watch him do quite well when he is on the ice but the score line getting worse and worse every time, re-affirming even more that his team stink and that his team has no depth. He was playing against the best team in the WHL also that has to be taken in consideration. It also seem pretty to clear that he is a winger and not center, not that he was very bad defensively, not just dominant and clearly his skating and hands would be of better usage on the wing with less defensive duties.

 

[Lockin17]

Gezzzz who do we pick between Catton and Iginla ??