2018 NHL Draft Thread

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

Seeing that every team in the Metro is better than us, now would be a perfect time to start planning for next season. 4 of the top 5 fit massive needs, Dahlin, Svechnikov, Hughes and Merkley.

[nessus]

Looks like a pretty good draft class. If Hall brings that lottery ball luck again this year, Dahlin would really help make this team quite competitive soon. I'm secretly hoping that a lot of these other guys have amazing draft years so that Dahlin has a shot of falling to wherever the Devils are picking. That guy is the real deal. 

In addition to the players you listed, another prospect that I really like is Filip Zadina. As a LW, he doesn't exactly fill a need, but I have seen him playing on the right side in a few videos, IIRC. Maybe he can eventually play RW. We'll get a better idea of what he has to offer when he comes to the QMJHL this year to play (Halifax Mooseheads!). I'm all about BPA, so if Dahlin's off the table, Zadina may be worth taking over one of the other D.

As it has been said here before, Adam Boqvist (brother of Jesper) looks like a first round player. He's a flashy defenseman with lots of offense to his game that may be of interest to the Devils. 

You can get an idea of how dominant (and complete) of a player Dahlin can be here:

He wears #26 in some of these clips, so that would have to change if he comes to NJ! 

[Marshall]

12 hours ago, nessus said:

He wears #26 in some of these clips, so that would have to change if he comes to NJ! 

It was given to him, I really don't know what his preferred number is. 8 with U20 national team, 18 in J20, 26 in SHL. 

He's the realest of all the real deals that ever were real. Can't say enough good things about him.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Not so sure the Devils are going to be so awful.  The kids on D will have another year under their belts, and Cory is definitely very capable of stopping 92% or more of the pucks coming his way.  They also tanked pretty hard at the end of the season (not on purpose of course, I just think they fell apart)...they were 25-23-10 before everything went to sh!t...nothing special of course, but I just don't see another 3-15-4 stretch happening for the 2017-18 Devils...or another 70-point finish. 

[mfitz804]

Here's to hoping we don't finish low enough to need to worry.

[Derlique]

If the Devils take Svechnikov, I'll jump for joy but man does this team ever need some stud dmen

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

NJ needs a fluke development on defense. Something like Chainey putting up a PPG on defense out of nowhere. Jeremy Davies may fit the bill with a strong year.

Edited July 31, 2017 by Jas0nMacIsaac

[Daniel]

On D, Severson's a given, Greene could at least play on most teams and maybe Mueller will be better than people expect.  Maybe somehow they get Rykov here next year.  If the forwards develop better than expected, it may bring the team back to respectability. 

So far as the draft, it's obviously a long ways away, but on the few mocks that are out there, Merkeley is 10 or lower, which is surprising for someone of his pedigree. So maybe we won't have to be god awful to land him.  

[Jerzey]

Personally I think we finish around the same spot as this past year. It's not that I don't think we'll improve and that a lot of our team under-performed last year but someone in our division is going to have to be pretty injury plagued for us to be worse than them. Really in the conference I can only see Detroit and maybe Florida being worse. You never know what's going to happen though. We could end up a bubble team if some of the teams in our conference just don't click as expected (worst case scenario IMO). I think one more year of finishing bottom 10 and we'll be ready to seriously think about the playoffs for the 2018/19 season. Our young guys will be much more matured by then and a lot of the teams around us should start to show their age even more so than they are now. I'm being very patient with this process.

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

Adam Boqvist, Jesper's brother, is having a tremendous Ivan Hlinka tournament. 8 points in 5 games so far. He is an undersized right handed defensmen that stickhandles like a small offensive winger. NJ is lucky to have such a defense heavy draft this season.

[Daniel]

Button's first set of 2018 draft rankings.

http://www.tsn.ca/craig-s-list-defenceman-dahlin-leads-draft-class-1.847739

Not suprisingly, Dahlin is number 1.  A little bit of a shocker that Boqvist is number 2 and Svechinov is number 3.

Interesting that Merkley is so low (number 18).  Put up a ton of points, and is pretty young (August birthday). 

[nessus]

Interesting list. Lots will change, as they do every year, but the top 3 are looking amazing right now. It would be nice if the Devils got some Lottery Ball Hall luck again. I would not be surprised if Svechnikov is looking like the number 1 next summer. Really hoping the Devils have a shot at Adam Boqvist, but it will likely require him to fall quite a bit. I'm looking at guys like Zadina and Veleno to rise quickly in the rankings, once the CHL gets going. Some of the North American D are likely to challenge Boqvist, and maybe even Dahlin, as well.

If the Devils had a chance to grab Svechnikov, it would be a treat to see him playing on Nico's wing for years to come.  The guy looks like Patrick Kane playing against a bunch of kids.

 

[CommonDreads]

TSN's Preseason Top 20 is out, the prospect write-ups are very brief but worth a look through

http://www.tsn.ca/mckenzie-s-preseason-ranking-the-year-of-swedish-defencemen-1.852963

[LittleBallofHate]

Bob McKenzie‏Verified account @TSNBobMcKenzie

Top NHL draft prospect Andrei Svechnikov suffered broken hand this week playing for BAR (OHL). Will undergo surgery Tues. Likely out 8 weeks.

3:17 PM - 20 Oct 2017

[CommonDreads]

Sucks for Svech to be missing so much time, still don't see how he falls past 2nd though, 3rd at the most with Boqvist looking so good in the early going. Svechnikov is just such a dynamic player, can't miss prospect for sure.

Just speaking of the Draft, coincidentally I updated my preseason draft rankings over this past week and posted my first mock draft of the year, check it out if you'd like

https://ridingpinehockey.com/draftrankings/2018-2/
https://ridingpinehockey.com/2017/10/20/2018-nhl-mock-draft-october-20th/

Nice to see the Devils picking at 29th right now.

[Lateralous]

2 hours ago, LittleBallofHate said:

Bob McKenzie‏Verified account @TSNBobMcKenzie

Top NHL draft prospect Andrei Svechnikov suffered broken hand this week playing for BAR (OHL). Will undergo surgery Tues. Likely out 8 weeks.

3:17 PM - 20 Oct 2017

Is this enough for him to fall all the way to our 31st overall pick?  

[Devilsfan118]

Feels weird to potentially be picking outside of the top-10.

It's a long season though, who knows.

[nessus]

McKenzie's midseason rankings: https://www.tsn.ca/welcome-to-the-rasmus-dahlin-draft-1.979722

Dahlin seems to have separated himself from the rest of the group for now, but I expect some of these other guys will close the gap a bit.

Heading into the season, I thought we would have another bad year, so I was hoping for Zadina or Boqvist in this draft. That's not looking very likely anymore, unless the Devils totally blow it for the rest of the season and Taylor Hall works his lottery ball magic. 

There's a ton of talent in this year's draft, so we should be able to get a really good player in the first round. Some of these defensemen like Dobson, Bouchard, and Merkley (and a few others) might still be available when the Devils make their pick, and they look to have really high potential.

Mikey's brother, Ryan McLeod is ranked as a mid first rounder too, although I'm not sure that's who we want to be taking.

 

EDIT I just went back and read my other two posts in this thread. I should really give the "Taylor Hall lottery luck" thing a rest, jeez.

Edited January 27, 2018 by nessus

[SterioDesign]

lots of prospects this year that i'm able to watch play live when they play around here, i'm driving distance from 4 QMJHL cities, so that's pretty sweet

[CommonDreads]

We're very fortunate that this is a defenseman's draft, say we make the playoffs and end up with around 17th or 18th pick that would probably give us a chance at getting someone like Ryan Merkley (he's the player I realistically want the most out of this draft for the Devils), Ty Smith, Jared McIsaac, or Jett Woo

[mfitz804]

We need a guy named Jett Woo. Every team does. 

[LittleBallofHate]

Love the name Jett Woo.

I dunno about Merkley though - this is taken from the article nessus posted - he sounds more like a NYR prospect (head case?): 

One other intriguing storyline this year is that of No. 11 ranked Ryan Merkley of the Guelph Storm. The first-overall pick in his OHL draft year, Merkley is easily one of the most skilled, dynamic and talented players available in this draft. Top five in natural ability.  A pure offensive defenceman who plays a high-risk, high-reward style, Merkley has, however, been flagged by NHL scouts as temperamental and a potential problem child with a questionable attitude. Either that or he’s the draft’s most misunderstood prospect.

Merkley’s stock has plummeted on a number of scouting service listings and rankings - NHL Central Scouting Bureau slotted him way down at No. 21 on the North American list - but his relatively strong showing at No. 11 on the European-North American composite TSN list is more a reflection of the scouts we surveyed ranking him, for now, on ability over attitude.

“We’ll all drill down on that other stuff as we get closer to the draft,” one scout said. “Talented kid, no doubting that.”

[Derlique]

I wouldnt hesitate taking Merkley. 

1. He's a right handed dman and we all know how highly they're coveted.

2. He's outscoring the next closest guy on his team by 11. That is absurd.

3. He's one of the youngest in the draft

4. Attitude issues are often overblown. Guys usually grow out of it on their own or through tough love when they turn pro.

[CommonDreads]

1 hour ago, Derlique said:

4. Attitude issues are often overblown. Guys usually grow out of it on their own or through tough love when they turn pro.

This, similar things were said about Anthony Mantha in his draft year, who wouldn't take Mantha on the Devils right now? This was the biggest reason Daniel Sprong wasn't drafted in the 1st round in 2015, and he looks like a real promising prospect for the Pens, I'd say *most* of the time kids get it together when they make it to the pros and they have to put their ego aside.

[mfitz804]

1 hour ago, Derlique said:

I wouldnt hesitate taking Merkley. 

1. He's a right handed dman and we all know how highly they're coveted.

2. He's outscoring the next closest guy on his team by 11. That is absurd.

3. He's one of the youngest in the draft

4. Attitude issues are often overblown. Guys usually grow out of it on their own or through tough love when they turn pro.

Yeah, I would take him. To me, if you have the 10th or 11th pick and a guy who they say has the most talent but he's dropping because of "attitude", you take that guy and see what you can develop. I mean, after all, maybe his "attitude" relates to a problem he's having with his present team and once he comes over to ours, he'll be happy as a pig in sh!t and no we've gotten a very talented guy for a 10th or 11th pick. Definitely worth the risk.