Prospect Ramblings – Team Draft Grades Part 2

 

Welcome to the Thursday ramblings where I will give grades to NHL teams based on my opinion of their drafts and highlight what I liked and did not, or what I found interesting. Basically just my thoughts. The scale will be letter grade ratings because I am boring occasionally

 

But first here is my good tweet of the week:

 

{source} <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Maybe this is the conspiracy theorist in me but I wonder if this offer sheet was only made to make it seem like offer sheets CAN happen. Reasons:<br>- Below market value for Aho<br>- Carolina has loads of cap room<br>- Tampa and Toronto are MUCH BETTER targets</p>&mdash; PQsFantasyHockey (@FHPQuinn) <a href=”https://twitter.com/FHPQuinn/status/1145873681345732608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 2, 2019</a></blockquote>{/source}

 

Montreal: B

• Well any time a player like Cole Caufield falls to you at 15^th that is a win
• Montreal did have 10 picks in the draft with four picks in the first three rounds, and they only reached on a few picks while the rest seemed to fit the draft slot
• Half of the picks they used on defensemen, and one pick was on Frederik Dichow Nissen out of Denmark who has skill but not many games played

 

 

Nashville: A

• I really enjoyed the Preds’ first three picks:
  • Philip Tomasino fell to 24^th somehow as he has a lot of skill
  • Egor Afanasyev fell to 45^th SOMEHOW – He is a first round talent
  • Alexander Campbell went early in round three but could have been a second round pick
• No one else really jumped off for me out of the teams seven picks, but I did like the round four picks of Marc Del Gaizo and Semyon Chystyakov

 

New Jersey: A+

• Jack Hughes, Jack Hughes, and Jack Hughes
• Do I need to write any more after getting him first overall
• The Devils did have 11 picks in the draft with five picks in the first three rounds, even after trading two seconds for PK Subban
• I liked the Graeme Clarke and Daniil Misyul selections the most (aside from Jack Hughes)

 

New York Islanders: D+

• The team had five picks in the draft, two in the first four rounds, and not a lot of skill in the NHL ranks (yes I think they overachieved in 2018-2019 plus Trotz is a top three coach)
• I thought the Islanders reached for Simon Holmstrom at 23 as there were better players on board, plus the injury history would lead me to take him in the second round

 

New York Rangers: A+

• The Rangers have already won 2019 getting Trouba in a trade, and getting Shestyorkin, Kravtsov and Rykov to come to North America
• Kakko at number two is an easy win and I have no idea what kind of monkey’s paw the Rangers have used
• Using a late second on Karl Henriksson was smart, and a fifth round flyer on Leevi Aaltonen was nice as well
• Might as well sign Panarin to be a scary team in 2019-2020 and beyond

 

Ottawa: C-

• The Senators seemingly drafted every 19 year old player available to them
• Lassi Thomson and Shane Pinto are fine older player picks, but I felt like the Senators could have taken better players with higher upside using these picks
• Mads Sogaard was likely the next best goalie available and it was a great pick to grab him where they did as he was not going to last until the next pick they had
• The Sens really should have had more than six picks in the draft as the team is a mess

 

Philadelphia: B

• Cam York is a great pick but I do not understand how you pass on Caufield Newhook, and Krebs
• The Flyers immediately made up for this picking Bobby Brink at 34
• I was not overly impressed or disappointed with the next five picks the team made

 

Pittsburgh: C

• I feel like Rutherford is destroying this team in an effort to make quick fixes to push for playoffs
• The Penguins had five picks, with the final two coming at #203 and #211
• For a team that needs to build a cupboard Samuel Poulin was a weird pick at 21

 

San Jose: B-

• The Sharks only had picks in the even rounds at the draft which is interesting/neat
• I really liked San Jose’s first pick of Artemi Kniazev in round two
• The Sharks got a fourth round steal with Yegor Spiridonov as he could have went much higher

 

St. Louis: B

• The Blues with a B is just because they won the cup so any picks in 2019 are just gravy
• Realistically they should be a D at best
• Selecting Nikita Alexandrov at 62 was a savvy choice as they did not reach for that pick

 

 Tampa Bay: B-

• So Yzerman leaves and the Bolts really reach for Nolan Foote at 27. Just joking, the Lightning had a majority of the same scouts and still made a not great pick
• Hugo Alnefelt was not the best goalie to go at 71 when Konovalov was there, but Tampa Bay did make up for it at 89 with Maxim Cajkovic from the Saint John Sea Dogs
• Tampa also took a seventh round flyer on Mikhail Shalagin, who absolutely dominated the MHL with 48 goals in 43 games, reminiscent of a late round pick they took on think Nikita Gusev player back in 2012

 

Toronto: C+

• Picking Nick Robertson at 53 could provide huge dividends for the Leafs
• I did not care for the rest of the picks Toronto had, but the skill Mikhail Abramov brings to his game is great and to get him at 115 is very good value

 

Vancouver: B

• Vasili Podkolzin at 10 and Nils Hoglander at 40 were fantastic picks
• The Canucks did have nine picks in the draft but only two in the first three rounds, where a team that is rebuilding (or who knows what they are doing) should have many picks
• I also liked Jack Malone late in the sixth round

 

Vegas: A

• Peyton Krebs fell to Vegas at 17 and they knew he has fallen much farther than he did, but this was likely due to the Achilles injury he sustained prior to the draft
• Pavel Dorofeyev was somehow there in the third round, I cannot say it was super smart as the Knights did pass up on him with the team’s second round pick
• The Knights had eight picks and are in salary cap hell coming in to the team’s third NHL season, it is pretty amazing

 

Washington: C-

• I originally had the Caps at a D but Connor McMichael has grown on me, even though I wish the Capitals instead too Arthur Kaliyev at #25
• My problems with this Caps draft (like the past two drafts they have had) is that they are drafting potential bottom like forwards or middle six defensemen they are not swinging for the fences with skill like they should, and they continued that here
• Brett Leason at 56… well someone was going to take him in the first two rounds even though he finally started to score in his third WHL season when he has grown more in to his enormous frame. He is a power forward but I doubt his NHL scoring skill
• Aliaksei Protas in the third round is a good gamble and Martin Hugo Has was a great gamble in the end of round five

 

Winnipeg: D

• The Jets had five picks in the draft and I honestly was not a fan of any of them where they were picked, but with Winnipeg’s draft history I do not think I can really complain about them

 

That is all for this week, tune in next week where I will go over hopefully my two keeper drafts but it may instead just be one. We shall see

 

Thanks for reading and follow my twitter: @FHPQuinn