2015 Draft Thread

[Jerzey]

Nothing really of substance here but Fire and Ice has and article discussing the draft. No new quotes from Shero or Lou though.

 

http://fireandice.northjersey.com/fire-ice-1.174987/devils-have-a-chance-to-get-an-all-star-player-with-sixth-overall-pick-in-this-year-s-draft-1.1350373

 

The good news is that it appears that anyone they choose from the projected top 10 should turn out to be a very good player. Marr says there's very little difference between them. 

“They call it jelly beans, Marr said of picks 3-10. “You can just throw them up and they'll scatter and take your pick and you'll be happy.”

 

 

Although Strome likely will be gone by the time the Devils pick, they were one of 17 teams to interview him this week. The Devils also interviewed Hanafin, though defense is not a need.

London right wing Mitch Marnier, who had 44 goals and 126 points in 2014-15, is right behind Strome (and ahead of him in some rankings) as far as forwards. After that, comes Kingston left wing Lawson Crouse (29 goals, 22 assists), Sarnia center Pavel Zacha (16 goals, 18 assists), Seattle center Mathew Barzal (12 goals, 45 assists) and Finnish right wing Mikko Rantanen (nine goals, 19 assists playing in Finland).

 

[2ELIAS6]

i hope whoever we end up choosing doesnt turn out to be aonther bust like a couple of space junk players weve ended up with that were projected to be something..teddy cough cough

[caron14]

Strome or marner wont be avalaible at 6... My firt choice is Rantanen, but have to say that Zacha potential is sexy as hell. I will be happy with anyone of them. Barzal would be an ok pick... But everobody i'm not impress by his game.

[nessus]

Strome or marner wont be avalaible at 6... My firt choice is Rantanen, but have to say that Zacha potential is sexy as hell. I will be happy with anyone of them. Barzal would be an ok pick... But everobody i'm not impress by his game.

Is there anything in particular you don't like about Barzal? Seems to me like a great pick. I'm not even sure Strome is a better choice, to be honest.

[TheMazz]

Draft party at Miami Mikes?

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Interesting stuff from the combine. Eichel outperformed McDavid. In the top 10 for 7 of the categories compared to 3 for McDavid.

Defenceman Noah Hanifin, finished in the top 10 for four tests.

Winger Mitchell Marnerfinished well only in the fatigue index, placing second

Marner weighed in at 159.85 Ibs, and measured at 5'11", tying him with Anthony Cirelli and Adam Marsh as the lightest player at the combine. He is going to need to add some serious mass given his height. That would be a massive concern for me.

Prospect Travis Konecny came out with one of the most well-rounded performances, finishing in the top 10 five times.

Prince Albert Raiders defenceman Brendan Guhle was the biggest standout, with nine top 10 finishes, including first in the standing long jump and the peak power output tests.

Edited June 7, 2015 by Chimaira_Devil_#9

[nessus]

I figured Eichel would do really well in the combine after seeing this: 

 

Hopefully Marner's stock drops just a bit after the combine so he has a chance of being there at 6!

[caron14]

Is there anything in particular you don't like about Barzal? Seems to me like a great pick. I'm not even sure Strome is a better choice, to be honest.

Barzal have great asset, bu i just feel we can draft players with similar asset in the second round. I have to give him that he was dominant at the U18. But he was playing against kid. Not a physical players and he sometimes just looking for te pass when he have to shoot. He got speed, but don't use it at the right time. And for me he is not ready for the NHL... Its a 3-4 years project for him. Rantanen is close to be an NHL er. Maybe he can start october in that league. He plays against man and was dominant at the WJC. Great skating, big body, good shot and good visions. He dont have Barzal hands, but he is better in every other area. I really love Rantanen as a player. He remembers me a lot of sasha Barkov. The last one zacha.. Well honestly i never see him plays. I saw highlight and read about him. He seems like a sniper. I saw his devasting one-times and a lot hightlight show his offensive abilities. For some reasons a lot of scout like him. Inthe reading i did they said he was good in every area, but his visions his average. Rick Nash style of player.

So i think at the 6 position, Rantanen and zacha are unique asset we can have... And barzal type of asset can be found in the secound round.

[caron14]

If Marner is still ther at six just take him! The kid was just awesome when i saw him. The only issue is his size. But speed, visions, hand, shooting are all elite.

Edited June 7, 2015 by caron14

[HellOnICE]

He's not a midget. He's 5-11, ZP is 5-11. His point totals for his age group, he's got a bit of Patrick Kane to him.

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

He's not a midget. He's 5-11, ZP is 5-11. His point totals for his age group, he's got a bit of Patrick Kane to him.

The height isn't the problem. It's his weight for his height. Imagine Marner up against Krider. There is like 80lbs difference.

[HellOnICE]

Yea but he's a young man. He can fill out still.

[Beck27]

Kane was listed as weighing 162 his draft year...he's added 20 pounds since that time.  While ~180 is certainly not enormous, no one is saying he's too small / too weak to compete in the NHL.  

 

Avoiding Marner because of his current weight would be way too short sighted. 

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Kane was listed as weighing 162 his draft year...he's added 20 pounds since that time. While ~180 is certainly not enormous, no one is saying he's too small / too weak to compete in the NHL.

Avoiding Marner because of his current weight would be way too short sighted.

Not saying I wouldn't take him. But I would be looking at getting him in a programme to get those extra 20 lbs pretty dam quick.

[devilsrule33]

I can't imagine any combine results sway people with decision making power. These are 18-year-old kids that have yet to come close to developing. In the NFL, the players are 22 and 23 with combine testing that has more to do with their position than anything that the NHL version has to offer.

[Daniel]

I can't imagine any combine results sway people with decision making power. These are 18-year-old kids that have yet to come close to developing. In the NFL, the players are 22 and 23 with combine testing that has more to do with their position than anything that the NHL version has to offer.

To the extent that they do, it's probably just getting a real handle on how tall and heavy a player actually is. Although Triumph has noted that some players at the NHL combine will intentionally appear weaker and slimmer, the idea being that teams will say that a player can still improve a lot as he gets bigger.

The other thing that actually does sway teams sometimes are the interviews, but that's more that a bad interview will cause some players to slip.

That Marner weighs less than 160 at his height might make someone a little nervous, at least to invest a top five pick in him.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[DevsMan84]

Draft party at Miami Mikes?

Not that sh!thole that serves frozen food and run by a jackass bandwagon Rags fan.

Edited June 8, 2015 by DevsMan84

[DevsMan84]

To the extent that they do, it's probably just getting a real handle on how tall and heavy a player actually is. Although Triumph has noted that some players at the NHL combine will intentionally appear weaker and slimmer, the idea being that teams will say that a player can still improve a lot as he gets bigger.

The other thing that actually does sway teams sometimes are the interviews, but that's more that a bad interview will cause some players to slip.

That Marner weighs less than 160 at his height might make someone a little nervous, at least to invest a top five pick in him.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Very true about the interview. I read a book (might be one of chico's) where a potential draft pick was asked a question in the interview "so what would you do with the money you will now be making?" His answer was to buy expensive cars. Basically he failed the interview.

[moustic]

https://twitter.com/TGfireandice/status/607177787753906176

 

Pavel Zacha said his interview with the Devils went well

Edited June 8, 2015 by moustic

[Jerzey]

The Devils clear need right now is young forwards, but both Shero and Conte told me that we should not be surprised if they draft at defenseman at No. 6 because they will pick who they deem the best player available regardless of position.

"I get it," Shero said of the Devils' need for young forwards. "(But) you're taking the best asset. You're thinking three to five years down the road. There's nothing worse than picking a position for the position and then all the sudden you passed on someone pretty special because, oh, you had enough of those."

(I'll have more on that subject as we get closer to the draft.)

I noted on Friday that the Devils interviewed defenseman Noah Hanfiin (No. 3 North American skater in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking) and center Dylan Strome (No. 4 North American skater). If Hanifin somehow fell to No. 6, it would probaly be difficult for the Devils to pass on him.

http://fireandice.northjersey.com/fire-ice-1.174987/combine-just-part-of-devils-draft-equation-don-t-be-surprised-if-they-pick-a-defenseman-at-no-6-1.1351030

There's just no way of telling who's going to pan out at this point. Is there really that big of a difference between Hanifin and Barzal to where drafting for position doesn't make sense? They were both ranked 3rd oa in this draft year at one point.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Jerzey Devil

[devilsrule33]

To the extent that they do, it's probably just getting a real handle on how tall and heavy a player actually is. Although Triumph has noted that some players at the NHL combine will intentionally appear weaker and slimmer, the idea being that teams will say that a player can still improve a lot as he gets bigger.

The other thing that actually does sway teams sometimes are the interviews, but that's more that a bad interview will cause some players to slip.

That Marner weighs less than 160 at his height might make someone a little nervous, at least to invest a top five pick in him.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I wonder how often the interview sways someone. I really can't see it meaning sh!t. Some guys can talk and say all the right things, and others are idiots. Most probably awkward and somewhere in the middle. I'm willing to bet that for every time that an interviewer left thinking that guy really is special after their sit down, and he turned out to have all the extra qualities you want in an NHL player, there were more times that an interviewer left so impressed, and it turned out to mean sh!t in the grand scheme of things.

 

As for an above post about someone saying they'd buy expensive cars, so what? If one guy says I plan to make all these massive purchases, and someone else says they are going to save all their money and live modestly...what does that tell you, even if you can believe both?

 

Scott Gomez said it in his tribune article, he could count on two fingers how many guys he felt were going through the motions, and really didn't work hard enough or take their job seriously in the league. I'd love to know what they get out of these interviews.

[Triumph]

I wonder how often the interview sways someone. I really can't see it meaning sh!t. Some guys can talk and say all the right things, and others are idiots. Most probably awkward and somewhere in the middle. I'm willing to bet that for every time that an interviewer left thinking that guy really is special after their sit down, and he turned out to have all the extra qualities you want in an NHL player, there were more times that an interviewer left so impressed, and it turned out to mean sh!t in the grand scheme of things.

 

As for an above post about someone saying they'd buy expensive cars, so what? If one guy says I plan to make all these massive purchases, and someone else says they are going to save all their money and live modestly...what does that tell you, even if you can believe both?

 

Scott Gomez said it in his tribune article, he could count on two fingers how many guys he felt were going through the motions, and really didn't work hard enough or take their job seriously in the league. I'd love to know what they get out of these interviews.

 

Chico's story sounds apocryphal - but presumably someone who starts buying expensive cars as a rookie doesn't understand that the work doesn't end with landing your first pro contract and pro payday.  There are plenty of people who have money as a motivation but who understand that money must be earned through hard work.  I think even though that story reeks of bullsh!t the lesson of that story is not undertsanding how an answer like that will be perceived - even if it is the player speaking the truth and is fully committed to a life of working hard and driving expensive cars, he should lie.  Now you'd think that that isn't important, but agreed-upon lies seem to be a pretty solid foundation for a sports career - protect your teammates and they'll protect you, the coach is always right, your agent is always looking out for you and not himself, and so on.  

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

Chico's story sounds apocryphal - but presumably someone who starts buying expensive cars as a rookie doesn't understand that the work doesn't end with landing your first pro contract and pro payday.  There are plenty of people who have money as a motivation but who understand that money must be earned through hard work.  I think even though that story reeks of bullsh!t the lesson of that story is not undertsanding how an answer like that will be perceived - even if it is the player speaking the truth and is fully committed to a life of working hard and driving expensive cars, he should lie.  Now you'd think that that isn't important, but agreed-upon lies seem to be a pretty solid foundation for a sports career - protect your teammates and they'll protect you, the coach is always right, your agent is always looking out for you and not himself, and so on.  

For all we know that kid was selanne and he ended up buying tons of expensive cars.

[Daniel]

I wonder how often the interview sways someone. I really can't see it meaning sh!t. Some guys can talk and say all the right things, and others are idiots. Most probably awkward and somewhere in the middle. I'm willing to bet that for every time that an interviewer left thinking that guy really is special after their sit down, and he turned out to have all the extra qualities you want in an NHL player, there were more times that an interviewer left so impressed, and it turned out to mean sh!t in the grand scheme of things.

 

As for an above post about someone saying they'd buy expensive cars, so what? If one guy says I plan to make all these massive purchases, and someone else says they are going to save all their money and live modestly...what does that tell you, even if you can believe both?

 

Scott Gomez said it in his tribune article, he could count on two fingers how many guys he felt were going through the motions, and really didn't work hard enough or take their job seriously in the league. I'd love to know what they get out of these interviews.

 

I seem to recall that Merrill hearing had some bad interviews in addition to the baggage he already had.

 

But otherwise, I think the point is that it's not hard to not shoot yourself in the foot during an interview, and it's a bad sign if you do.   Sort of like how I feel about athletes that get suspended for smoking pot.  For the most part, I don't see anything wrong with smoking pot, but it shows poor impulse control if you're willing to risk at least a six-figures and sometimes seven figures because you really needed to get high. 

 

It's not the be-all, end-all, but it's just one more thing that might help tip the scale between one player or another. 

[Louismydad]

I seem to recall that Merrill hearing had some bad interviews in addition to the baggage he already had.

But otherwise, I think the point is that it's not hard to not shoot yourself in the foot during an interview, and it's a bad sign if you do. Sort of like how I feel about athletes that get suspended for smoking pot. For the most part, I don't see anything wrong with smoking pot, but it shows poor impulse control if you're willing to risk at least a six-figures and sometimes seven figures because you really needed to get high.

It's not the be-all, end-all, but it's just one more thing that might help tip the scale between one player or another.

Whole heartedly agree with this