NHL Entry Draft Thread - 2021

[MadDog2020]

26 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

its true but then... who fvcking knows haha

What's scary is looking at past mock drafts from like... mid-season and see what scouts are thinking when they havent been able to see all the prospects as much

https://www.nhl.com/news/adam-kimelman-2017-nhl-mock-draft/c-285904700

checkout this mock draft. Knowing what we know now. It's insane.

I think we'll look back at this draft the same way in a few years

That mock draft is bonkers 🤣

[Bonginator11]

I know the Devils have 2 games in hand but crazy that Buffalo is now only 1 point back for the worst record in the league. 

[Nicomo]

20 minutes ago, Bonginator11 said:

I know the Devils have 2 games in hand but crazy that Buffalo is now only 1 point back for the worst record in the league. 

It’s really not that surprising though. Between the COVID outbreak, Nico missing most of the season, historically bad PK, the terrible goaltending, trading away Zajac, Palmieri, and Kulikov...

[Bonginator11]

11 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

It’s really not that surprising though. Between the COVID outbreak, Nico missing most of the season, historically bad PK, the terrible goaltending, trading away Zajac, Palmieri, and Kulikov...

True. But just the fact that Buffalo had an 18 game losing streak and are still only 1 pt behind the Devils is kinda nuts

[mfitz804]

5 hours ago, Bonginator11 said:

True. But just the fact that Buffalo had an 18 game losing streak and are still only 1 pt behind the Devils is kinda nuts

Not really. We’ve lost 14 of 16 on our current streak, and had an 11 of 13 streak earlier in the season. That’s why it made no sense when everyone was making fun of them for sh!tting the bed when we were sh!tting the floor next to the bed. 

We’re not much better than they are. Maybe not at all. The only difference right now is our inexplicable success against the Bruins, but for those wins, they’d be slaughtering us. 

And the 11 losses out of 13 games were all before trading away those guys, so that’s certainly not the entire story. 
 

 

[SterioDesign]

8 hours ago, Nicomo said:

It’s really not that surprising though. Between the COVID outbreak, Nico missing most of the season, historically bad PK, the terrible goaltending, trading away Zajac, Palmieri, and Kulikov...

also let's not forget that we actually had a really good backup for this season and that he ditched us with a week to go.

 

 

*giggles*

[SterioDesign]

Something to keep in mind as many fans sees us not making progress or wtv... we have to understand that this is a cycle. While some teams are "ahead" of us now. It's very very clear who's going to be at the bottom in a few years and it won't be us. Just like us many years ago, many teams are a bubble team at best with nooo chance of winning it all, but they hold on to it and will just let their team crash down before they actually do the right thing. Teams like MTL right now, they have soooome young talent but most of the team is made of guys they traded for to win now and old vets. And there's many teams like this. So soon enough it's going to catch up to them if they don't recaliber and make some sacrifices for the future. And if they don't well they'll be the teams at the bottom of the league very soon and by then most of our core will be in their primes and we can be sure we won't be losing most of our games by 1 goal anymore

[mfitz804]

27 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

also let's not forget that we actually had a really good backup for this season and that he ditched us with a week to go.

 

 

*giggles*

Also we have drafted badly for 20 years, Zacha is almost good, and anticipated goals rule all. 

[SterioDesign]

19 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

Also we have drafted badly for 20 years, Zacha is almost good, and anticipated goals rule all. 

Also. I'm pretty sure if the District 5 team went through covid and that Gordon Bombay didn't have any days off to make them practice with all his fancy tricks that they were not winning the championship that season.

Honestly not being able to practice that much between games for such a young team is really not helping

[mfitz804]

On 4/13/2021 at 5:52 PM, nessus said:

Also, what's the harm in having another Jesper in the system?

Only Ken Daneyko’s sanity as he tries to remember which is which and which ones are a “Yesper”. 

[mfitz804]

1 hour ago, SterioDesign said:

Also. I'm pretty sure if the District 5 team went through covid and that Gordon Bombay didn't have any days off to make them practice with all his fancy tricks that they were not winning the championship that season.

Honestly not being able to practice that much between games for such a young team is really not helping

Coach Bombay is probably 80% of the reason our fans think everything is the coach’s fault. If they had Severson lassoing guys at practice, they’d be a way better team. 

[pumpkin cutter]

if we get top 3 pick we should trade down, or get an rfa. 

[MadDog2020]

This kid Bedard is the next ‘generational’ talent. 2023. https://www.si.com/hockey/news/get-used-to-seeing-connor-bedard-wear-canadas-colors?fbclid=IwAR34DiqVkuk4az4twkC8PUiZ3MJokIMAwIDAEvscwQmgETTXRuQgKFyJDe0

Edited April 24, 2021 by MadDog2020

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

4 hours ago, MadDog2020 said:

This kid Bedard is the next ‘generational’ talent. 2023. https://www.si.com/hockey/news/get-used-to-seeing-connor-bedard-wear-canadas-colors?fbclid=IwAR34DiqVkuk4az4twkC8PUiZ3MJokIMAwIDAEvscwQmgETTXRuQgKFyJDe0

Just watched his highlights in the WHL, what a release he has on his shot. And he can pick any corner as well. 

15 games and 28 points as a 15 year old. Insane. 

There is a good chance we will be competing for a top draft spot in 2023.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Chimaira_Devil_#9

[MadDog2020]

1 hour ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Just watched his highlights in the WHL, what a release he has on his shot. And he can pick any corner as well. 

15 games and 28 points as a 15 year old. Insane. 

There is a good chance we will be competing for a top draft spot in 2023.

That’s gonna be a ‘tank’ draft year. That’s a year you absolutely want the #1 overall. That’s gonna be like the McDavid draft in terms of the sh!tty teams firing up the tanks. That is also a year in which no one will be wanting to trade their first rounders before the lottery is drawn (or they’ll most certainly be lottery protected).

Edited April 25, 2021 by MadDog2020

[NJDevils1214]

1 hour ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

Just watched his highlights in the WHL, what a release he has on his shot. And he can pick any corner as well. 

15 games and 28 points as a 15 year old. Insane. 

There is a good chance we will be competing for a top draft spot in 2023.

 

4 minutes ago, MadDog2020 said:

That’s gonna be a ‘tank’ draft year. That’s a year you absolutely want the #1 overall. That’s gonna be like the McDavid draft in terms of the sh!tty teams firing up the tanks. That is also a year in which no one will be wanting to trade their first rounders before the lottery is drawn.

Please don't tell me we'll still be tanking by the 2023 draft. Ugh.

[MadDog2020]

1 minute ago, NJDevils1214 said:

 

Please don't tell me we'll still be tanking by the 2023 draft. Ugh.

I certainly hope not.

[Nicomo]

Aren’t people saying the same thing about Shane Wright? I remember quite a big deal being made about his “exceptional status” in the CHL. 

[nessus]

2023 will be an interesting draft year because Matvei Michkov looks like the best prospect coming out of Russia in years. It could be another really strong top 2, but hopefully it won't concern the Devils.

2022 is a good year to win the lottery, with 3 players all looking like elite-level prospects.

[MadDog2020]

3 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

Aren’t people saying the same thing about Shane Wright? I remember quite a big deal being made about his “exceptional status” in the CHL. 

Yeah I’ve heard about him too. I think he is the 2022 draft, right?

[Nicomo]

1 minute ago, MadDog2020 said:

Yeah I’ve heard about him too. I think he is the 2022 draft, right?

Yep. 

[mfitz804]

Hoping both of these are irrelevant to us, but who know what next year will bring. 

[SterioDesign]

We know damn well we'll be out of reach for these guys. So we'll always be the team who got to pick first overall twice (maybe even 3 times with this year) and be in that gap between true generational talent like McDavid, Matthews and those 2 new guys. 

 

[Nicomo]

1 hour ago, SterioDesign said:

We know damn well we'll be out of reach for these guys. So we'll always be the team who got to pick first overall twice (maybe even 3 times with this year) and be in that gap between true generational talent like McDavid, Matthews and those 2 new guys. 

 

“Generational” is tossed around much too casually in sports these days, imo. To me, there’s Crosby and Ovi, and now McDavid. You can’t keep labeling guys generational every couple years. It’s supposed to mean a talent like that only comes along once or twice in a generation (Gretzky & Mario). 

Nico is probably way closer to a RNH level #1 (and that’s fine he’s a really good player), but I still think Jack’s ceiling is super high. If he turns into a Barzal or Tavares type player (80+ PPG at his best) I’ll be more than happy with that. We all know full well hockey isn’t a sport one or two superstars can carry a team to a championship anyway. Just look at Edmonton and Toronto. What Fitz puts around our best players is going to be more important than if Jack turns out to be a 80 point player vs a 100 point player. 

 

[mfitz804]

10 hours ago, SterioDesign said:

We know damn well we'll be out of reach for these guys. So we'll always be the team who got to pick first overall twice (maybe even 3 times with this year) and be in that gap between true generational talent like McDavid, Matthews and those 2 new guys. 

This is not something I will ever worry about. Even being sh!tty enough doesn’t guarantee those guys, there’s also a lottery involved. I am glad we got to pick first overall twice. I will be glad when it happens again. You can’t exchange one year for the other, so being jealous that we picked first in 2017 and 2019 when this 15 year old kid will not be available until 2023 doesn’t make any sense to me.