2023 NHL draft rankings

[JohnC]

49 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Wheeler has the Sabres taking ASP. 
 

The 5-foot-11 Sandin Pellikka could be a great foil to the size of Owen Power, Mattias Samuelsson and Rasmus Dahlin(though there’s only so much power play time to go around) and Simashev would add more of a good thing with his length and skating, plus they’re among the teams that have shown no aversion to drafting Russians and getting them over here. A combine interview with Pellikka and more certainty around getting him over here won out, but it could go either way for me.

 

An interview with Simashev and His Interview posted up thread, diminishes the concerns IMHO 

Kris Baker gushed over Pellikka when he was recently on WGR. He also touted Oliver Moore, whom he considered to be one of the fastest players in the draft. He felt that Moore was an excellent fit for how this roster is being built. The bottom line is the Sabres should come away with a talented prospect if the pick is kept, as I expect. 

[Thorny]

1 hour ago, Dr. Who said:

What I learned over the past few weeks is that Big Macs are super expensive in Winnipeg and that there may be some correlation between how much you pay for a hamburger and how much anxiety you have over balancing handedness on your blueline.  

Whatevs. 

It’s yous thread.

[LGR4GM]

24 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Kris Baker gushed over Pellikka when he was recently on WGR. He also touted Oliver Moore, whom he considered to be one of the fastest players in the draft. He felt that Moore was an excellent fit for how this roster is being built. The bottom line is the Sabres should come away with a talented prospect if the pick is kept, as I expect. 

I'll say this, I can't think of a faster skater than Moore. 

[French Collection]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

2 left shots on the right side would be *mandatory* to get the proper value out of said pick. Not only is that asking for trouble, the data broke down quite clearly that not only was Adams aware it was harder to play your off hand (thus sheltering the younger players from having to do it), Dahlin, who is a unicorn in being able to handle it, had his numbers *suffer* relative to his output on the left. They are going to be willfully handcuffing 2 (exceptionally important) players, as a rule, if they take Simashev

He’s still under contract in Russia for two more years.

Lots of time to get Pesce and make some playoff runs before you need to make a decision.

[FrenchConnection44]

4 hours ago, dudacek said:

A team that had Thompson Mittelstadt Cozens and Krebs on their roster already, went out invested 3 first round picks on centres last year.

I was perfectly fine with that - partly because I believe the more options you have the better, but mostly because I believe they were all good players and good value for the pick.

Pick the best player and it will all sort itself out.

Imo at this point you have to go BPA over positional need at 13 given it could be a year or two to get to the club. We can always add RHD in free agency or trade. For immediate help. But if they think a D is the best player on the board, well fine. 
 

Players that seem to be trending are Simashev, Pellikka, Moore, and Perrault. Baker mentioned all but Simashev as serious targets. I would be happy with whomever they think is the best player. I see positives in all. That Moore has size, speed, and can be a two way guy is an exciting prospect. Pellikka is small but a righty. And Baker compared him to Cal Maker. link to article below has a really good breakdown on him and one pundit rated him the fifth best overall. Vancouver appears to be interested. 
 

https://twitter.com/sportsmde/status/1673885117532569602?s=46&t=EB7RmKnqTQzD3e9c8TXAGg

 

 

Edited June 28, 2023 by FrenchConnection44

[Randall Flagg]

If Michkov actually falls a few spots I would jump thru hoops to get him

[LGR4GM]

 

[Curt]

8 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

If Michkov actually falls a few spots I would jump thru hoops to get him

Would you trade 13 and the 2024 1st to move up to #6 (for example) to draft him?

[LGR4GM]

52 minutes ago, Curt said:

Would you trade 13 and the 2024 1st to move up to #6 (for example) to draft him?

Nope. But that's me. 

[LGR4GM]

There's like a 2% chance that Ryan Leonard is available at 13. There's probably a 15% chance Benson is. The difference? 1inch...

[Curt]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

There's like a 2% chance that Ryan Leonard is available at 13. There's probably a 15% chance Benson is. The difference? 1inch...

Per their draft combine measurements, Leonard is 2” taller and 20 lbs heavier than Benson.

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, Curt said:

Per their draft combine measurements, Leonard is 2” taller and 20 lbs heavier than Benson.

2" but similar games. The 20lbs will get closer in time. It is just really interesting to me how much value teams put on height. Obviously and especially for defenders it has advantages but I think that in the 5'10"-6'1" range it is all basically the same. 5'9" and smaller is an issue and once you start getting into the 6'3" range I can see where it comes as a benefit... until about 6'6" where limbs start to become to big with a few exceptions (Owen Power). 

[LGR4GM]

Pronman releases his final mock draft:

Sabres take Gabe Perrault. Reinbacher, Willander, and Simashev were all taken before Buffalo's pick. Matthew Wood also drafted already. 

[FrenchConnection44]

Good piece here on the Sabres scouting process. 
 

 

[LGR4GM]

I changed my percentages, I think there is a 35% chance that Benson is available at #13 for Buffalo. 

[Curt]

47 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

2" but similar games. The 20lbs will get closer in time. It is just really interesting to me how much value teams put on height. Obviously and especially for defenders it has advantages but I think that in the 5'10"-6'1" range it is all basically the same. 5'9" and smaller is an issue and once you start getting into the 6'3" range I can see where it comes as a benefit... until about 6'6" where limbs start to become to big with a few exceptions (Owen Power). 

Yeah, I try not to get too crazy about it.  I consider 5’11” to 6’1” to be average.  5’10” can start to get small, but only if the guy actually plays small.  5’9” you need to closely examine the player and anything smaller than that you need to really consider if this guy is going to be able to translate.

[French Collection]

37 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I changed my percentages, I think there is a 35% chance that Benson is available at #13 for Buffalo. 

I find it hard to believe but a few mocks I listened to yesterday had him in the teens.

[French Collection]

18 hours ago, Thorny said:

At this point I think my biggest thing is I hope they don’t draft Simashev at 13. There’s BPA, there’s drafting guys who have flexibility in playing both sides, and then there’s using your highest value selection on a LHD when when your probably two best future players are LHD and we also have Samuelsson, all of which are very young. Which mitigates the need to replenish the “system” at left D.

Again, positional flexibility is one thing, but investing such an extreme amount of capital in LHD essentially pigeonholes us into *necessarily* needing to play two players on their offhand in the top 4. It wouldn’t be an option, it would be strictly necessary to maximize the value of those selections 

BPA is fine in concept but the Sabres seeking to be the extreme outlier there, as they so often seem to do, in other ways, would be a mistake imo. You start to hedge the value of your own guys if you just keep stocking the same position.

If they do get Simashev, he’s not stepping into the lineup for at least 2 years. A lot can change by then. 
Imagine a top seven that looks like:

Dahlin, Power, Hanifin, Samuelsson, Simashev, Johnson, Novikov,. All LHD but very solid.

I still prefer Simashev to ASP, handedness be damned. I also prefer Pesce to Hanifin mostly for playing style and being a RHD.

The Soviets iced some pretty good teams in the 70s and 80s that were pretty much all left handed. The odd right handed players stood out like sore thumbs.

The formidable green unit of Fetisov, Kasatonov, Larionov, Makarov and Krutov were all lefties.

I’m not advocating going this way but I just want to point out it can be done at a high level

[steveoath]

Headsup: viaplay is showing the draft over here in euro land for anyone who wants to stay up.

[Brawndo]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Pronman releases his final mock draft:

Sabres take Gabe Perrault. Reinbacher, Willander, and Simashev were all taken before Buffalo's pick. Matthew Wood also drafted already. 

With Moore on the board still, I would not be happy with this pick 

[Brawndo]

 

[Eleven]

Just now, Brawndo said:

 

Great all the other teams are in Nashville and the Sabres went to the casino.

[Curt]

28 minutes ago, French Collection said:

If they do get Simashev, he’s not stepping into the lineup for at least 2 years. A lot can change by then. 
Imagine a top seven that looks like:

Dahlin, Power, Hanifin, Samuelsson, Simashev, Johnson, Novikov,. All LHD but very solid.

I still prefer Simashev to ASP, handedness be damned. I also prefer Pesce to Hanifin mostly for playing style and being a RHD.

The Soviets iced some pretty good teams in the 70s and 80s that were pretty much all left handed. The odd right handed players stood out like sore thumbs.

The formidable green unit of Fetisov, Kasatonov, Larionov, Makarov and Krutov were all lefties.

I’m not advocating going this way but I just want to point out it can be done at a high level

It’s not so much an issue of being left or right handed, it’s a matter of whether that guy can play the position.  If you take a left handed player at 12 years old and have him play nothing but RD, yeah, he will get good at it.  But taking a 28 year old lefty who has played LD almost exclusively his whole life and just sticking him at RD might not go so well.

[Flashsabre]

On another board a poster said Adams did a radio interview today and said he was going to be aggressive in trying to move up. I wonder who they are locked in on?

[Brawndo]

Just now, Flashsabre said:

On another board a poster said Adams did a radio interview today and said he was going to be aggressive in trying to move up. I wonder who they are locked in on?

Michkov 

Here is the interview