Pre-Game Talk: 2024 Draft Thread

[Blueston]

l had posted thoughts on sweden's u18 previously, but after rewatching semis wanted to add a few more thoughts:

lsw i just don't see the hype. he reminds me of asp if asp wasn't very good. he is undersized d with some skill but not enough to excite me. i see him as late 2nd/3rd round guy.

freij i've talked about a lot. i think he is guy that could be steal, a top pair d that people wish they hadn't passed on. but he brings some risk. and i find it interesting that he signed with hockeyallvansken team for next year rather than take shot at elite league. if we are sold on him i would be in favor of taking him at 16, but he is guy that could slide into 2nd and it wouldn't be shock. he is bigger and less physical, but i see some vince dunn in his game the way he is so smooth with puck and if he puts it all together..

sweden isn't deep up front, with zetterburg hurt and eklund a '25. berglund looks like he could be a solid bottom 6 c and might be worth late 3rd or 4th. fenrstrom i think has some upside as scoring winger. he is a bit raw but i could see him as a 2nd.

eriksson ingrigues me as middle 6 c. reminds me of edstrom in way he plays, although edstrom is bit bigger and eriksson i think skates better. seems like smart, responsible player who can handle any situation. i don't see huge offense, but i see enough with rest of package that he's worth a pick in 20s.

petterson is guy who i could see as a sebastian aho type. almost every top offensive chance for sweden he was in middle of. he gets to dangerous areas, he seems to have great vision, he is listed as 5'11 and i'm not convinced he is that big, but he is guy who seems to think offensive game at high enough level that i think his skill translates. i could see him as option at 16.

 

[Blueston]

i wanted to put a bow on the u18s. thoughts on usa team up next. hagens was awesome, but the draft eligible forwards were more of a mixed bag. defense was bit thin.

eiserman- i don't like him as player. he obviously has skill, but he just doesn't play like you would want. he doesn't seem to create opportunities for teammates. but dang he can shoot. i could see him going 4 or 20 or anywhere in between. i don't want him. he just gives me too many walhlstrom and bellow vibes. even mike hoffman i see as comp. maybe he is owen tippett and you are glad you took him, but i would rather someone else take that chance.

stiga i liked. gave me some jaden schwartz vibes. always seemed to be around puck, can play with anyone, made things happen. he made biggest impression of draft eligible americans to me. i think he would be reach at 16, but i like him in 20s.

ziemer/humphreys/plante/bednarik- these guys all look like 2nd-4th round picks. i don't think any will be stars, all could be good players, none really excite me. i'd be fine if we took any with 3rd or 4th round pick, albeit not terribly excited, and wouldn't be surprised if 1 or 2 end up as good middle 6 player. but also wouldn't be surprised if they all don't amount to much beyond okay bottom 6er.

the other guy i want to mention for us is van vleet. he was 13th forward for much of tourney, but he has nice physical package and i could see him becoming pretty good bottom 6 guy, perhaps even 3c. i'd look at him around 5th as value pick.

now for the d. again, only focusing on draft eligibles. i thought whipple looked much better than in previous viewings. he has some raw skill, but he hasn't thrived in the program as much as you would have hoped. i'm not super high on him but i could see him as guy you take flyer on in rounds 6-7 and hope he comes out of college a more mature player.

skahan is potentially a joel edmundson type, but he lacks a bit of fluidity as athlete you'd like to see. and i don't love puck skills. i could see him as maybe a late 2nd or 3rd that you hope develops in ncaa. i think he ends up a 5-6 guy, but i think he has decent chance of reaching nhl.

hutson- he isn't really my type of d, as watching krug and peru have biased me against small d. but he isn't as tiny as his brother and obviously has strong puck skills. and maybe he grows another inch or so and ends up almost normal size. i think he goes in 2nd, but hopefully not to us. but i wouldn't be surprised if he ends up good nhl player.

emery is the guy on us d who interest me most (hensler too, but he is '25 eligible). he is skinny but has frame that once he fills out should be a beast. already great strength and skates well for his size. strong defensively. i think he has a bit more o than he has shown this year, but we are looking at brayden schneider/k'andre miller/mattias samuellson level offense, not high end. i see him playing in top 4, either as 2nd to more skilled partner or as part of shutdown 2nd pair. i have him around 20, so he would be a bit of reach at 16 but if he is our guy i'd be good with grabbing him there.

i should note that i didn't include trevor connelly. it was an inadvertent omission, but he is another guy i don't want. it's not due to the infamous swastika incident, which seems like stupid thing teenagers sometimes do and he appears to have done the work to repent. but i am troubled by how many teams he has worn out his welcome on, and general questions about his maturity and intelligence. i have a late 1st/early 2nd grade on him due to that, even though his talent is probably top 20. like eiserman, he's just not my type of player (doesn't play smart, not physical or defensively aware, but high-end skills) and i'd rather someone else take him. at some point in 2nd i suspect i'd pick him bc his talent at some point is just too much to pass on, but i'd rather he go elsewhere. i don't see him as good bottom 6 guy, so he needs to hit in top 6 or he doesn't provide much value, and i'm just not sure i want him in my top 6.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

Here is a new mock with us taking Sennecke

2024 NHL Mock Draft 2.0: Post-Draft Lottery Picks 1-32

With the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery having come and gone, the focus now shifts toward the actual. SportsGrid mocks the 32 teams and their first-round picks.

www.sportsgrid.com

Thats a very interesting mock draft. I really think Surin goes much higher than he averages, just like last year's Russians. Some names I thought too should be way up there. Nice one! Thank you! I didn't see that one.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

i wanted to put a bow on the u18s. thoughts on usa team up next. hagens was awesome, but the draft eligible forwards were more of a mixed bag. defense was bit thin.

eiserman- i don't like him as player. he obviously has skill, but he just doesn't play like you would want. he doesn't seem to create opportunities for teammates. but dang he can shoot. i could see him going 4 or 20 or anywhere in between. i don't want him. he just gives me too many walhlstrom and bellow vibes. even mike hoffman i see as comp. maybe he is owen tippett and you are glad you took him, but i would rather someone else take that chance.

stiga i liked. gave me some jaden schwartz vibes. always seemed to be around puck, can play with anyone, made things happen. he made biggest impression of draft eligible americans to me. i think he would be reach at 16, but i like him in 20s.

ziemer/humphreys/plante/bednarik- these guys all look like 2nd-4th round picks. i don't think any will be stars, all could be good players, none really excite me. i'd be fine if we took any with 3rd or 4th round pick, albeit not terribly excited, and wouldn't be surprised if 1 or 2 end up as good middle 6 player. but also wouldn't be surprised if they all don't amount to much beyond okay bottom 6er.

the other guy i want to mention for us is van vleet. he was 13th forward for much of tourney, but he has nice physical package and i could see him becoming pretty good bottom 6 guy, perhaps even 3c. i'd look at him around 5th as value pick.

now for the d. again, only focusing on draft eligibles. i thought whipple looked much better than in previous viewings. he has some raw skill, but he hasn't thrived in the program as much as you would have hoped. i'm not super high on him but i could see him as guy you take flyer on in rounds 6-7 and hope he comes out of college a more mature player.

skahan is potentially a joel edmundson type, but he lacks a bit of fluidity as athlete you'd like to see. and i don't love puck skills. i could see him as maybe a late 2nd or 3rd that you hope develops in ncaa. i think he ends up a 5-6 guy, but i think he has decent chance of reaching nhl.

hutson- he isn't really my type of d, as watching krug and peru have biased me against small d. but he isn't as tiny as his brother and obviously has strong puck skills. and maybe he grows another inch or so and ends up almost normal size. i think he goes in 2nd, but hopefully not to us. but i wouldn't be surprised if he ends up good nhl player.

emery is the guy on us d who interest me most (hensler too, but he is '25 eligible). he is skinny but has frame that once he fills out should be a beast. already great strength and skates well for his size. strong defensively. i think he has a bit more o than he has shown this year, but we are looking at brayden schneider/k'andre miller/mattias samuellson level offense, not high end. i see him playing in top 4, either as 2nd to more skilled partner or as part of shutdown 2nd pair. i have him around 20, so he would be a bit of reach at 16 but if he is our guy i'd be good with grabbing him there.

My opinion on this group isn't much different. I will say that Bednarik has his days where he looks far better than what he is tabbed. If any of them have more in the tank, then it may be him. Sometimes he looks like a complete number 2 center.....sometimes..... Agree totally on Emery.

 

[Blueston]

My opinion on this group isn't much different. I will say that Bednarik has his days where he looks far better than what he is tabbed. If any of them have more in the tank, then it may be him. Sometimes he looks like a complete number 2 center.....sometimes..... Agree totally on Emery.

i do wonder how much more bednarik would look if separated from eiserman. i could see him having more too, although i don't have much to base that on from my viewings.

 

[stl76]

Totally true. Fan bases/boards can get fixated on particular prospects, us included.

The NJ board picked MBN at 10.
2024 Team Board Mock Draft
It’ll be our turn in 6ish days.

Who should we pick?

I keep coming back to Solberg.

Did you get to watch the game against GB? Got to watch most of the Norway vs Austria game and thought he was fantastic overall. He wasn't perfect and made some mistakes trying things (particularly needs to clean up the chances he takes with the puck on his stick at the offensive blueline). But he was also solid defensively for the most part and showed very good hockey sense on several occasions in the ozone.

His trajectory the past 6 months to a year is just extremely impressive to me. Not sure of his upside, but I'm becoming a believer that he has as good a shot as any dman in this draft to be a top pairing guy.

 

[Blueston]

before i do rundown on canada u18, i think it's worth mentioning that canada was without celebrini, dickinson, sennecke, parekh, and danford, among other draft eligibles that were either still in chl playoffs or for celebrini have aready outgrown u18. plus they passed on couple ushl guys that are potential 1st rounders, just because they felt like it. and this team was still by far the deepest team in the field. nobody can match canada for depth of hockey talent and it's not close, even if us and sweden (and occasionally others) often have enough high-end talent to prevail at events like this. and several of their best players aren't even eligible until 2025 (or 26!). forwards first.

vanacker didn't play much, apparently nursing injury. didn't show his best but is likely 2nd round pick i think based on body of work.

wetsch is nice physical winger, bit of skill, but his physical game is where he brings value, projects as 3rd liner. i have him late 2nd/3rd.

beaudoin- love this player. physical center, great forechecker, played on pk and got some tough matchups. i question whether he has enough offensive instincts to center 2nd line, but if he doesn't he looks to be high end 3c or even 2w. his game reminds me of david backes, but that might be bit ambitious. i have him in 20s, so he would be a bit of reach at our pick, but if we think he has just a bit more offense than i described he could be in discussion at 16. more likely he goes later in 1st.

greentree- had disappointing tourney. game moved a bit fast for him. his feet aren't great, although i think they are better than matthew wood and he went high last year. wood, however, had a much better u18, is bigger, and has more of a nose for net. greentree got stuck too much on perimter where his skills- other than shooting- weren't put to best use. i had visions of him as stud pf who could go as high as 10 but the more i watch the more i feel like he is late 1st. if he can imprrove.. he could be boeser type. 16 is too high, but if we had pick in mid 20s i like him.

masse is guy that looks like player out there, but he didn't do much. i wonder if pace was just much faster than q and he struggled a bit to keep up. i think there is more there and i would look for him to go in 2nd.

luchenko is heckuva player. @STL fan in MN posted nice writeup of him recently, so i will just say his resemblance to nick suzuki as prospect is bit eerie. they are both from london, both played for guelph in draft year, both late birthdays, and about same size. suzuki was more productive in juniors but was on more talented team. i think projecting him as next suzuki (or thomas, who i have heard too) makes sense but that is still optimistic projection. he is more likely to be a solid middle 6 guy than 1st line center, but he is great skater, conscientious player, smart too, lots to like, so even if he is only middle 6 guy he should be good one, i had him in 20s heading into u18 and he only improved his standings there. he isn't my firt choice at 16, but would be nice pick.

ritchie really helped himself. he had up and down season and started a bit slow at u18s, but he got much better as tourney went on. he is late birthday and appeared bigger than he is listed. i think he put himself back into 1st round conversation (not at 16). he looks like he could be versatile top 6 winger with upside. i wasn't expecting to like him as much as i did, but he was quite effective in sems and gold game.

iginal- the biggest takeaway for me is that craig button drafted his dad and really liked him but made a win-win trade to get niewendyk and tij reminds button of his dad. because button kept repeating this everytime he touched puck. but kid is good, top 10 talent, looks to be top 6 winger with chance to be more. but i do sometimes wonder how much lower he would be ranked if his dad weren't a hof player. would he be an option for us at 16? no way to know, bc everyone seems to assume he will follow his dad's trajectory. and he might. but if i thought he was as good as his dad i'd rank him in top 3 and i don't so i have him top 10.

will sum up d in another post.

 

[STL fan in MN]

I keep coming back to Solberg.

Did you get to watch the game against GB? Got to watch most of the Norway vs Austria game and thought he was fantastic overall. He wasn't perfect and made some mistakes trying things (particularly needs to clean up the chances he takes with the puck on his stick at the offensive blueline). But he was also solid defensively for the most part and showed very good hockey sense on several occasions in the ozone.

His trajectory the past 6 months to a year is just extremely impressive to me. Not sure of his upside, but I'm becoming a believer that he has as good a shot as any dman in this draft to be a top pairing guy.

Sort of watched it. It was on in the background as I worked. But if what I’ve seen, he’s looked good in this tourney. In the World Jrs, he didn’t look great and Norway got relegated. There’s some videos out there of his league play where he looks pretty good.

In the end, I just don’t know with this guy. He certainly has the makings of a top-4 NHL d-man (maybe more) but I just don’t have as good of a read on him as I’d like. I think he could be good. There’s just not enough for me to go on so if the Blues end up picking him, I’ll simply trust their judgment and look forward to watching him with Farjestad where it should be easier to measure him against his peers.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

l had posted thoughts on sweden's u18 previously, but after rewatching semis wanted to add a few more thoughts:

lsw i just don't see the hype. he reminds me of asp if asp wasn't very good. he is undersized d with some skill but not enough to excite me. i see him as late 2nd/3rd round guy.

freij i've talked about a lot. i think he is guy that could be steal, a top pair d that people wish they hadn't passed on. but he brings some risk. and i find it interesting that he signed with hockeyallvansken team for next year rather than take shot at elite league. if we are sold on him i would be in favor of taking him at 16, but he is guy that could slide into 2nd and it wouldn't be shock. he is bigger and less physical, but i see some vince dunn in his game the way he is so smooth with puck and if he puts it all together..

sweden isn't deep up front, with zetterburg hurt and eklund a '25. berglund looks like he could be a solid bottom 6 c and might be worth late 3rd or 4th. fenrstrom i think has some upside as scoring winger. he is a bit raw but i could see him as a 2nd.

eriksson ingrigues me as middle 6 c. reminds me of edstrom in way he plays, although edstrom is bit bigger and eriksson i think skates better. seems like smart, responsible player who can handle any situation. i don't see huge offense, but i see enough with rest of package that he's worth a pick in 20s.

petterson is guy who i could see as a sebastian aho type. almost every top offensive chance for sweden he was in middle of. he gets to dangerous areas, he seems to have great vision, he is listed as 5'11 and i'm not convinced he is that big, but he is guy who seems to think offensive game at high enough level that i think his skill translates. i could see him as option at 16.

I’m really disappointed in the team they brought over to compete in the U18s. Did they not pay attention to what worked last year? There is no question Sweden had a down year talent wise, but they were void in some talent they could’ve played. The Swedes have a few big shutdown defenders that could’ve controlled the middle for them in this tournament and didn’t bring them. They should’ve played for a 3-2 game and not a track meet. Guys like Jack Bodin, Loke Johansson, Gustav Sjoqvist, and Max Vilen. Instead they sent the giraffe, and a rather small D core. Did they not look at their competitions rosters? The US and Canada needed to be forced to the perimeter. That’s how Dubuque beat the USNTP team. Just my opinion.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

l had posted thoughts on sweden's u18 previously, but after rewatching semis wanted to add a few more thoughts:

lsw i just don't see the hype. he reminds me of asp if asp wasn't very good. he is undersized d with some skill but not enough to excite me. i see him as late 2nd/3rd round guy.

freij i've talked about a lot. i think he is guy that could be steal, a top pair d that people wish they hadn't passed on. but he brings some risk. and i find it interesting that he signed with hockeyallvansken team for next year rather than take shot at elite league. if we are sold on him i would be in favor of taking him at 16, but he is guy that could slide into 2nd and it wouldn't be shock. he is bigger and less physical, but i see some vince dunn in his game the way he is so smooth with puck and if he puts it all together..

sweden isn't deep up front, with zetterburg hurt and eklund a '25. berglund looks like he could be a solid bottom 6 c and might be worth late 3rd or 4th. fenrstrom i think has some upside as scoring winger. he is a bit raw but i could see him as a 2nd.

eriksson ingrigues me as middle 6 c. reminds me of edstrom in way he plays, although edstrom is bit bigger and eriksson i think skates better. seems like smart, responsible player who can handle any situation. i don't see huge offense, but i see enough with rest of package that he's worth a pick in 20s.

petterson is guy who i could see as a sebastian aho type. almost every top offensive chance for sweden he was in middle of. he gets to dangerous areas, he seems to have great vision, he is listed as 5'11 and i'm not convinced he is that big, but he is guy who seems to think offensive game at high enough level that i think his skill translates. i could see him as option at 16.

I like Ericksson as well if we take a D with our first pick. I think he MAY make it to our second pick.

Struggle to get on board with Fernstrom. I just really think Herman Traff will be a player. 6’3” excellent skater, mean, and can shoot the puck.

 

[Xerloris]

petterson is guy who i could see as a sebastian aho type. almost every top offensive chance for sweden he was in middle of. he gets to dangerous areas, he seems to have great vision, he is listed as 5'11 and i'm not convinced he is that big, but he is guy who seems to think offensive game at high enough level that i think his skill translates. i could see him as option at 16.

Do you think he could be good on a line with Thomas? Shoot first type of player?

 

[Blueston]

Do you think he could be good on a line with Thomas? Shoot first type of player?

I think he would be great on line with dvo.