Looking at that, I can see us falling as low as #6. I think the Ducks will pass us personally, but Buffalo and Toronto have chances to pass us also. I don't think we pick lower than #10 this year. I guess if we're not making the playoffs, I'd rather see us drafting higher and letting Flahr and his team do work. The problem that sucks is that TB has our 2nd rounder so that would be awesome to have that #36 overall, but at least we got one of those picks back. We could always see a trade up in the 2nd. Fletch seems to like trade up at the end of the 2nd round.
Looking at that, I can see us falling as low as #6. I think the Ducks will pass us personally, but Buffalo and Toronto have chances to pass us also. I don't think we pick lower than #10 this year. I guess if we're not making the playoffs, I'd rather see us drafting higher and letting Flahr and his team do work. The problem that sucks is that TB has our 2nd rounder so that would be awesome to have that #36 overall, but at least we got one of those picks back. We could always see a trade up in the 2nd. Fletch seems to like trade up at the end of the 2nd round.
Washington's 2nd rounder might be 14th right now, but in the past 6 games they managed to lose to Tampa, Carolina, and Ottawa by a combined score of 12-3. They lost 5-0 to Carolina. If they finish out the season playing how they have been, they will likely end up picking around 11th. There won't be much difference between our lost 2nd rounder and the one we picked up.
Washington's 2nd rounder might be 14th right now, but in the past 6 games they managed to lose to Tampa, Carolina, and Ottawa by a combined score of 12-3. They lost 5-0 to Carolina. If they finish out the season playing how they have been, they will likely end up picking around 11th. There won't be much difference between our lost 2nd rounder and the one we picked up.
Solid point. The 2nd back in the Zids trade was huge to get the pick back from the Burns trade. The draft is the best part about this year. I'd love to see us get lucky and win the lottery.
Trying to put together some quick hits on these defensemen:
Ryan Murray, WHL - 6' 185
37gp 8g 25pts great skater, agile and slippery, very polished, NHL ready
NHL comparison - Scott Niedermayer
Matt Dumba, WHL - 6' 166
60gp 17g 46pts makes huge hits but sometimes gets out of position, big shot
NHL comparison - Dion Phaneuf
Morgan Rielly, WHL - 6' 190
18gp 3g 18pts great skater, great hands, needs to get stronger on the puck
NHL comparison - Duncan Keith
Griffin Reinhart, WHL - 6'3 190
50gp 12g 31pts big and strong, skates well, still raw
NHL comparison - Shea Weber
Jacob Trouba - USHL, 6'1 183
14gp 3g 12pts great skater, hard shot, plays with an edge NHL comparison - Cam Fowler
i dont see this, trouba is much better on D but i dont think he has as much offense. i think trouba is similar to niklas kronwall, hard hitting with a solid all around game
Strengths: A mobile defenceman with length, strength and range. Plays a physical game and not afraid to take a run at an opponent. Has some offensive skills, is a good passer with vision and a hard point shot. Weaknesses: there are some questions about his overall hockey sense, needs to learn to rein in the physical play at times and play with composure. NHL upside: Has the physical package to be a top two defenceman in the NHL if he learns the finer points of playing defence.
So, he has some offensive upside - great shot from the point, good passer, etc. Needs to improve on defense to become a 1st pairing defender.
Also, I'm pretty sure Dumba weighs more than 166lbs. That seems pretty scrawny. I've seen him listed around 180lbs.
I know he plays on a pretty loaded team, but Ceci's offensive output is intriguing, along with the fact that he is already 6'2'' 200 lbs, and is right-hand shot. He's 2nd in the OHL in points behind Hamilton, and ahead of the likes of Ryan Murphy (who's played fewer games).
Don't know much about his defensive accumen, but he seems like a great compliment to a guy like Brodin, and will probably be available at 7-10.
So, he has some offensive upside - great shot from the point, good passer, etc. Needs to improve on defense to become a 1st pairing defender.
Also, I'm pretty sure Dumba weighs more than 166lbs. That seems pretty scrawny. I've seen him listed around 180lbs.
I feel like all the 1-3 round picks under GMCF have all had great hockey sense, so if it's really a point of concern with Trouba I'm not sure if we pick him.
Does anybody know which of Rielly, Trouba, Ceci and Reinhart are righties, and play extensively on the right side?
For handedness according to Elite Prospects:
Rielly - L
Trouba - R
Ceci - R
Reinhart - R
I don't know which side any of them play. Usually righties play the right and lefties play either side depending upon need. Under team control next season we have Prosser, Kampfer, Spurgeon, and Gilbert on the right side though. Of the names off the top of my head, only Lorenz is a righty otherwise.
I feel like all the 1-3 round picks under GMCF have all had great hockey sense, so if it's really a point of concern with Trouba I'm not sure if we pick him.
It might be a result of where we've picked, but it seems to me that Flahr likes to grab first rounders with a big flaw that makes other teams shy away, but ultimately concern is diminished about it. Granlund had size concerns. Phillips has skating issues. Brodin has offensive question marks. Obviously, all prospects are going to have flaws, so maybe I'm just chasing ghosts, but it seems like we like to grab the guys some other teams try to dodge.
As much as I dislike some of his game, it seems that Dumba would be a perfect partner for Brodin. Huge shot from the point, both are great passers, Dumba is overly physical while Brodin is overly non-physical. Dumba steps out of position to take big risks, Brodin stays positionally perfect to avoid being caught unprepared. They sound like they would compliment each others' game perfectly.
It might be a result of where we've picked, but it seems to me that Flahr likes to grab first rounders with a big flaw that makes other teams shy away, but ultimately concern is diminished about it. Granlund had size concerns. Phillips has skating issues. Brodin has offensive question marks. Obviously, all prospects are going to have flaws, so maybe I'm just chasing ghosts, but it seems like we like to grab the guys some other teams try to dodge.
As much as I dislike some of his game, it seems that Dumba would be a perfect partner for Brodin. Huge shot from the point, both are great passers, Dumba is overly physical while Brodin is overly non-physical. Dumba steps out of position to take big risks, Brodin stays positionally perfect to avoid being caught unprepared. They sound like they would compliment each others' game perfectly.
Granlund was known to have great vision and sense to create great assists, Phillips was considered to be a good finisher with a good sense around the net. Brodin had great defensive instincts that were considered by some to be second only to Larsson. I think all those positives go under "hockey sense".
Most of those picks had some physical flaws, but they were all considered to be smart hockey players.
Granlund was known to have great vision and sense to create great assists, Phillips was considered to be a good finisher with a good sense around the net. Brodin had great defensive instincts that were considered by some to be second only to Larsson. I think all those positives go under "hockey sense".
Most of those picks had some physical flaws, but they were all considered to be smart hockey players.
If you look back to Flahr's time in Ottawa, it doesn't seem he emphasized hockey sense so much. Specifically, the Jared Cowen selection indicated the sort of direction I've looked at this with. There were minor concerns about Cowen's hockey sense, and his strengths were as a shutdown defenseman. More related to my comments though, he had a serious knee injury that was turning other teams off from him as a selection. Karlsson was renowned for his hockey sense, but he was also coming off of a draft year where he had 1 point in 13 SEL games (6 RS + 7 PO).
It could be a lot of things that tie the picks together, or it could be nothing.
I think it's very smart for us to focus on hockey sense, because it's something that can't really be trained. One can improve his skating a lot (Chara being a prime example), one can shoot and shoot and shoot to improve his shot, passing drills to improve passing or simply do shootouts to improve puck handling and deking. It's even possible to do physical drills in order to improve strength, balance and even hitting. But how do you train one's hockey sense? Play a lot of NHL 12? No, it's something that comes with experience, and if one has a good hockey sense in draft age, it's one hell of a bonus because you can focus on his flaws in development and you can rest assured that he will be a good hockey player... Unless he gets injured, of course (Kim Johnsson, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Guilllaume Latendresse etc).
Either way, I like our picks so far. I hope we draft Dumba or Trouba, because - as others have stated - they would compliment Brodin's game, in similar fashion to the Scandella/Spurgeon pairing. The obvious problem in this equation is Tom Gilbert, who would ironically be a very good pairing with Nick Schultz, now that I think of it. I think Justin Falk is going to play with Gilbert, since they'd be a good DD/PMD left-right pairing. That leaves us with Foster/Kampfer as the 7D.
Overall, despite all the difficulties, I like how our defense is forming in 2-3 years.
Hockey sense and work ethic, two very important pieces. Skill and size are sweet and all, but those two are huge as well. Otherwise you end up with Pouliots and Sheppards.
