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2018 NHL Entry Draft Thread


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9 minutes ago, Trizzak said:

Obviously we can't determine winners and losers of the draft for 4-5 seasons. 

 

But Detroit is pulling out to an early lead here.

Zadina and Veleno? Wow.

 

Islanders in second thus far in terms of smart picks imo. Obv buffalo and Carolina win with consensus 1 and 2.

 

im still not upset with Kotkaniemi. We have a hell of a draft ahead of us yet. 

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There were so many reaches and picks all over the place. You would think in such a volatile draft picks would be traded left and right but guess not. 

 

Maybe nobody wanted to lose a first without getting one back but watching Veleno fall... he better end up an Angelo Esposito or this ends up worse than 06.

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I don't get it Kotkaniemi was a top five pick so why are they calling him a reach?

 

We addressed a need in this draft which your supposed to do at the draft.

 

We can fill roster holes through trade and free agency.

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Unless the Habs picked Zadina, their pick would be called a reach ... and then Zadina falls. 

 

Round 1 - we didn’t make the splash of Detroit or the Icelanders, but then again, we only had the 1 pick. The pick was early and the Habs played it smart. 

 

Round 2 is the difference making round for us. 

 

Go Habs Go!

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48 minutes ago, sbhatt said:

 

I've watched the stuff on youtube, yes.  Hence my gut feeling....I would have no feeling about him at all if I hadn't.  When I watch a prospect's highlights, I generally ask myself if their best stuff is likely to translate to the NHL; I don't think his best offensive moments will nearly often enough to justify going 3rd overall.

 


not highlights

 

every prospects highlights look good

 

they almost always tell you nothing

 

Have you ever seen him play an actual full game.

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48 minutes ago, Habsfan said:

Any chance he drops to where we can grab him?

Will be several good looking centres and d-men left besides him in the 2nd round and he is dropping for some reason.

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31 minutes ago, Metallica said:

I don't get it Kotkaniemi was a top five pick so why are they calling him a reach?

 

We addressed a need in this draft which your supposed to do at the draft.

 

We can fill roster holes through trade and free agency.

 

I don't think he was a reach but I do think scouts saw something in him I didn't. And maybe I'm wrong. I just feel like an NFL draft where a team will take a QB not because they are best player available but because that is where you usually find the best quarterbacks. I don't know if Montreal and Arizona got the best players available to them. That's not to say he will be a bad player. I just worry like a lot of recent Bergevin moves, we didn't get the best player in the end. 

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34 minutes ago, Commandant said:


not highlights

 

every prospects highlights look good

 

they almost always tell you nothing

 

Have you ever seen him play an actual full game.

 

Yes...the U18 gold medal game.

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1 hour ago, Commandant said:

Best available

 

15 Bode Wilde
20 Akil Thomas
21 Jared McIsaac
25 Jacob Olofsson
#28 Serron Noel
#29 Ryan McLeod
#30 Jesse Ylonen
#33 Jonatan Berggren

out of those, I like Wilde, McIssac and McLeod.

 

I hope we keep our top two 2nd round picks.

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My top 3 wish list would be 

 

Akil Thomas

Jared McIsaac

Serron Noel

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2 hours ago, Commandant said:

 So a game where he got 2 assists and was the probably the best player on the ice?

To me, you’re a voice of reason commandant, even though I know this was a reach off the consensus. But this draft in a very interesting way, way absolutely unpredictable. All you have to do is list the top 10 to be almost floored by the way it turned out.

 

I’ll full on admit I’m more of a highlights fan, not a professional scout believe it or not, so my thoughts are that of an armchair GM. That being said, in Kotkaniemi, the highlights clearly showcase a high skill set in terms of puck handling, passing, accuracy, and to an extent even in the small sample, a high hockey IQ. (He makes a lot of smart unexpected plays). I understand a highlights package is a small sample size. For example Nail Yakupov looked like a perennial 30 goal scorer, so we don’t know what happens yet.

 

But Kotkaniemi, at least to me, looks like he knows both the offensive and defensive side of the game at a young age. Let’s not forget that he isn’t even 18 yet! He is a 17 year old performing well above admirably in a men’s league. Kotkaniemi is someone Montreal’s coaches will trust (even if we think they should have given others a chance too). Say what you want about management, I just think they will love this guy, which bodes well for him even if it’s for questionable reasons.

 

Kotkaniemi will have a good reputation, so he’ll get the ice time and opportunity. He’ll likely top out at about 6’3 and 200. (Malkin  has been <200 his whole career. So not a big deal. If he is kind of lanky.) He is by no means small.

 

A negative is that Kotkaniemi isn’t described as an elite skater, and that’s probably the only reason he wasn’t an obvious top 5.

 

 

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11 hours ago, habscout said:

After hearing Timmins mention the ACL surgery Kotkaniemi had over a year ago, something makes much more sense now.  He had a below average first half of the season, then came on in the second half.  Some draft guides/gurus were questioning his skating ability, but that was probably indicative of the after effects of the surgery, since it takes at least 6-12 months for a full recovery. We've all seen pro players go through that surgery and they always play at less than 100% for the last half of that period.  

 

Its good you brought this up. I read this a while back as well.

 

Towards the end of the year his skating really didn’t seem to be an issue anymore. We might have a gem here guys.

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8 minutes ago, Athlétique.Canadien said:

It's probably against board rules to post an illegal live stream.  So instead I will ask if anyone knows of a legal stream.  Little help?

 

NHL.com will have rounds 2-7. They are just notoriously bad at promoting it, and even making it easy to find. 

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