Looking at the depth rounds of our scouts' prospect draft in this Sunday Ramblings…

 

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For the last few weeks I've been sharing the results of the prospect draft with rosters run by the scouts here at DobberProspects. You can read about Rounds 1-3 here, and Rounds 4-7 here. This week,  I'll be sharing with you our true depth rounds: 8-11. If you're looking to see who our expert scouts think are worthy of late-round picks that could prove to be useful prospects down the road – look no further. These may not be future superstars but our scouts know how to find value as the pickings get slim, and the competitiveness of our team really showed in the form of trades and forum board curses as coveted players got selected. Let us know who you think are the winners and losers so far in the comments section, as debating and justifying picks is half the fun of drafts like this!

 

Round 8

169 Nashville – Tyler Benson, EDM	181 Vancouver – Anton Slepyshev, EDM
170 Minnesota – Jordan Greenway, MIN	182 Edmonton – Vitali Abramov, CBJ
171 Carolina – Oliver Kylington, CAL	183 Pittsburgh – Hunter Shinkaruk, CAL
172 St. Louis – Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, BOS	184 Dallas – Denis Cholowski, DET
173 Toronto – Adam Pelech, NYI	185 Tampa – Spencer Watson, LA
174 Winnipeg (via COL) – Ryan MacInnis, ARI	186 San Jose – Kalle Kossila, ANA
175 Toronto (via OTT) – Mario Lucia, MIN	187 Calgary (via WSH) – Dylan McIlrath, NYR
176 Colorado (via CGY) – Austin Czarnik, BOS	188 Florida – Travis Dermott, TOR
177 Buffalo (via CLB) – Ryan Graves, NYR	189 LA – Lucas Johansen, WAS
178 Chicago – Rourke Chartier, SNJ	190 Winnipeg – Michael Mersch, LA
179 Arizona – Linus Soderstrom, NYI	191 Montreal – Jeremy Bracco, TOR
180 Buffalo – Jake Guentzel, PIT	192 New Jersey – Seth Griffith, BOS

 

As seen by the long run of traded picks in Round 8, owners started reaching for what they thought were forgotten gems in this late round. Many owners still  sought high-upside players still years away (such as Guentzel – who would've been my next pick) who may prove to be key selections in a few years. In terms of an immediate impact, McIlrath and Shinkaruk could take a roster spot this year depending on their usage, but the vast majority of this round composed of gambles with offensive upside. 

 

Round 9

193 New Jersey – Griffin Reinhart, EDM	205 Columbus (via BUF) – Cal Peterson, BUF
194 Montreal – Miles Wood, NJ	206 Arizona – Matt Grzelcyk, BOS
195 Colorado (via WPG) – Adam Erne, TB	207 Chicago – Noah Juulsen, MTL
196 LA – Nic Dowd, LA	208 Columbus – Yakov Trenin, NSH
197 Florida – Ryan Gropp, NYR	209 Calgary – Linus Hultstrom, FLA
198 Washington – Riley Barber, WAS	210 Ottawa – Kristers Gudlevskis, TB
199 San Jose – Frederic Allard, NSH	211 Colorado – Jack Dougherty, NSH
200 Tampa – Juho Lammikko, FLA	212 Ottawa (via TOR) – Nicolas Meloche, COL
201 Dallas – Oscar Lindblom, PHI	213 St. Louis – Austin Poganski, STL
202 Pittsburgh – Dominik Simon, PIT	214 Carolina – Dmytro Timashov, TOR
203 Edmonton – Sam Steel, ANA	215 Minnesota – Kirill Kaprizov, MIN
204 Vancouver – Rinat Valiev, TOR	216 Nashville – Sergei Tolchinsky, CAR

 

Round 9 started looking like you may have expected when I described this article as our "depth rounds". Many names taken here are likely unknown to fans outside their respective organizations, but make no mistake – there is still lots of room here for picks to turn into solid owns down the road. Barber will get a shot in the bottom-six of a strong Washingston lineup within the next two years – and an injury in that lineup could give him the chance to unleash his offensive talents shown in the AHL. D-men Doughertey and Meloche have the potential to turn into all-around contributors if their development continues in the positive directions they have been thisyear. Gudlevskis could turn into the backup on one of the best teams in the league if the Ben Bishop trade rumors come to fruition over the next season. These picks aren't just grasping at straws – these are calculated gambles as we fill out our reserve spots with the most depth we can find.

 

Round 10

216 Nashville – Kale Clague, LAK	228 Vancouver – Gustav Forsling, CHI
217 Minnesota – Sean Day, NYR	229 Edmonton – Cam Dineen, ARI
218 Carolina – Dylan Sadowy, SJS	230 Pittsburgh – Tristan Jarry, PIT
219 St. Louis – Gustav Olofsson, MIN	231 Dallas – Adam Fox, CGY
220 Toronto – Zach Fucale, MTL	232 Tampa – Joe Hicketts, DET
221 Colorado – Zach Hyman, TOR	233 San Jose – Anton Forsberg, CBJ
222 Ottawa – Vincent Hinostroza, CHI	234 Washington – Alan Quine, NYI
223 Calgary – Emile Poirier, CGY	235 Florida – Matt O'Connor, FLA
224 Columbus – Daniel Zaar, CBJ	236 LA – Kevin Gravel, LA
225 Chicago – Tyler Parsons, CGY	237 Winnipeg – Michal Kempny, CHI
226 Arizona – Maxim Letunov, SJS	238 Montreal – AJ Greer, COL
227 Buffalo – Stanislav Galiev, WSH	239 New Jersey – Andrew Nielsen, TOR

 

Many picks in Round 11 were ones that could have been comfortably made in earlier rounds. Poirier's offensive upside is undoubtedly worth the risk of him being too diminuitive for the NHL. Joe Hicketts' strong play in an organization with room for defencemen to earn spots above their pedigree makes him another worthy pick. Despite some trash talk from my fellow owners, I was quite comfotable with my pick of Zach Hyman – who may not have the highest upside but has already proven to be capable of NHL play, making him a lower risk than most players remaining at this stage of the draft.

 

Round 11

240 New Jersey – Alex Khokhlachev, BOS	252 Buffalo – Ryan Dzingel, OTT
241 Colorado (via MTL) – Alex Saarela, CAR	253 Arizona – Brandon Hickey, CGY
242 Winnipeg – Filip Gustavsson, PIT	254 Chicago – Trent Frederic, BOS
243 LA – Daniel Carr, MTL	255 Columbus – Roland McKeown, CAR
244 Florida – Cam Morrison, COL	256 Calgary – Pascal Laberge, PHI
245 Washington – Igor Shesterkin, NYR	257 Ottawa – Matt Puempel, OTT
246 San Jose – Tommy Novak, NSH	258 Buffalo (via COL) – Tobias Lindberg, TOR
247 Tampa – Brandon Carlo, BOS	259 Toronto – Laurent Dauphin, ARI
248 Dallas – Julius Nattinen, ANA	260 St. Louis – Danny O'Regan, SNJ
249 Pittsburgh – Brandon Halverson, NYR	261 Carolina – Jordan Kyrou, STL
250 Edmonton – Jonathan Dahlen, OTT	262 Minnesota – Robert Hagg, PHI
251 Vancouver – Victor Mete, MTL	263 Nashville – Nicolas Kerdiles, ANA

 

Picks got even more interesting and risky in round 11 – my favorite being that of Khokhlachev. Sure there's a very good chance he stays overseas for a long part of his career, but there's also a very good chance that most players taken at this stage never make it to the NHL at all. So swinging for the fences in the form of a talented defecter who already has the talents for an NHL role should he choose to pursue one was a good move in my opinion.

 

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What picks do you think will turn out to be steals or busts? Leave a comment, and our team writers will be happy to defend their picks with all the competitiveness that is making this draft so exciting for everyone involved. We love to hear what other fantasy nuts think, in fact its half the purpose of this website!

 

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As always, thank you for reading and best of luck in your upcoming drafts! 

Hayden Soboleski

@soboleskih