NHL 2019 Draft
NHL 2019 Draft

Simon St-Laurent 2019 NHL Draft Ranking

For the 3rd year in a row, I’m gonna share my ranking with you guys. The format’s gonna be the same as last year’s, so: My top 31 for this year draft with scouting report on every players, justification as to why one above the other, comparison with prospects from past years to put things in perspective and parallels makes from the actual NHL.

Along with this, I’m gonna share a list of around 10 players that I like for the latter round (as early as the beginning of the 2nd round and other players that may be available in the 5th-6th round) and also justification on why I didn’t included some popular candidates to the first round.

More on that latter, but to set the record straight, I would invite people to take a look at drafts from 5-10 years ago. When we dive into them with retrospect, we can see that the actual order from the draft doesn’t mean anything now, that’s why it drives me nut when people get thrown under the bus for having different opinions.

Before going into further analysis, I just wanted to point out that I’m not by any mean a scout, I’m simply another dude that happens to be a fanatic about hockey prospects. With time, I’ve made my fair share of bold statement about the development path of certain players and I like to share my point of view with the great community that we have on Twitter and DLB. 

People that speak French could go back to the Podcast we recorded earlier this winter to know more about the way I scout players. For those who don’t, I would say it’s on a case by case basis, I take a look at a bunch of things and sometimes, it makes me contradict myself a bit, that’s why I believe that at the end of the day you gotta trust your gut, if you’re wrong, so what ???

Quick words on the 2019 class: Funny enough, I have the same evaluation than basically everybody on the overall status of this crop. I believe that most drafts are sensibly similar in strength and most of the times, the strength -or the lack of – a draft is overblown. Everybody was saying that the 2013 draft was going to be as good as the 2003’s one, nobody predicted that the 2015 was going to be THIS strong. Everybody was saying that the 2017’s wasn’t very strong at the top, 2 years later and we may have a future candidate to the Selke in Hischier, a future candidate for the Hart in Pettersson and two future candidates to the Norris trophy in Makar and Heiskanen, ALL IN THE TOP 5.  But for this year, I have the same names as everybody in the top 12 (in a different order), no surprise as last year (Denisenko, Kupari and Veleno in the top 10). For the rest, you may see different names but yet again, at every years people says that from the 20-45 range, it basically comes down to personal preferences but we always sees the same name in mock draft and various ranking. I would say that the depth of this year draft is pretty underwhelming past the mid-mark of the first round. One funny thing about this year is that I went cold on basically every players I was enthusiastic on at the start of the year and felt in love with many players that didn’t make a strong first impressions on me.

  1. Jack Hughes:  To be honest, his spot at the top never were in jeopardy even if I like Kakko as much as the next guy. Yes Kakko did phenomenal things against men this year in the Liiga but we gotta remember that Hughes played against strong NCAA competition as a 16 years old and he trashed them. I’m a little bit less enthusiastic that I was on him at the start of the year, claiming he was better than both Matthews and Dahlin. One of the hardest thing there is in the scouting field is to settle between high-end centers and high-end defensemen, but when I see a guy like Hughes carring the puck out of his zone and being responsible for basically every zone entries of his team when he is on the ice, I gotta go with him. I’ve rarely seen a player that the collective play of his team went so much through him. Seeing Brayden Point being one of the league’s finest center under 6feet, I don’t have concerns regarding Hughes’ size. For a more in-depth analysis, people can take a look at what I have to say about him at the start of the year, here on DLB.
  1. Kappo Kakko:  Even if I had Hughes at the top spot all year long, it isn’t far fetched to have Kakko ahead and I 100% respect people who does. Kakko is one of those players that I call ‘a center disguise in winger’ similar players that I gave that etiquette in the past; Jaromir Jagr, Alexei Kovalev, Alexander Radulov, Patrick Kane.  Even as a winger, he controls the puck and dictate the play the vast majority of the time when he is on the ice. He played at center and did pretty well this year in the Liiga but I still prefer him at wing since his play along the boards end behind the net is one of his strongest asset. I even think Kakko is gonna be better than Andrei Svechnikov and I said last year that Svechnikov would have been 1st overall almost 1 year out of 2.
  1. Bowen Byram: Clearly the best player available at that spot for me. The funny thing is that it took me around 10 games to truly appreciate Byram. I think it is due that I first saw him at the U-18 in 2018 and at this year Hlinka-Gretzky and I think he didn’t have the green light from his coaches to jump into the rush as much as he would have like. He’s not as dynamic as the defensemen I had in the top 5 the last few years (Makar, Heiskanen, Dahlin, Hughes) but he has supremely smooth hands and his IQ is easily on par with them if not higher. And even then, his skating easily compares with Dahlin’s, as he’s able to beat forwards that press him at the offensive blue line with quick change of direction and pace. I don’t see much of improvement left to learn in his own zone as I saw him as a very responsible D-man. I see a number one defenseman that can log 30 minutes a night. Reminds me of Morgan Rielly.
  1. Kirby Dach:  Just like Byram, Dach was a player that I was colder on than most at the start of the year, even then I couldn’t drop him past 7th or 8th in my ranking. His skills were obvious and I saw a tendency to play in the corner and in front of the net that would make him a sure thing to play on an NHL top 6 but he seemed to lack something that make me doubt he would be one of the core piece a franchise would like to build around. Saw him more like a Jeff Carter for Team Canada, let’s say. Every games that I saw I could see the sublime hands, the high-end vision, the skating ability for a 6ft4 guy, the accurate shot but I was left wanted more. And then come the playoffs, everything that I blamed Dach for, went away. He was dominant shift in, shift out, he was playing with an edge that I never saw in him. He was targeted every single shift by his opponent and responded in many ways. People are saying that the 3-10 range is pretty close and you could basically interchange every one of them and it would still be fine, but I’m yet to see Dach that high on people’s list. Last year the trend of the draft, for me, seemed to be that the quality of the defensemen available were overrated, this year trend’s is that there are many centers at the top-end of this draft that I’m still not convinced whether they are center or winger. Like I said earlier, Dach has a tendency to play in front of the net and in the corner that may make him a valuable winger but I prefer him carrying the puck as a center.
  1. Alex Turcotte:  Best 200ft center in this year draft, unlike Dach, I’m 100% certain Turcotte’s gonna be a center at the next level.  One of the fastest skaters in this draft, Turcotte is also the hardest player on the ice in EVERY game he plays. His offensive abilities are often overlooked. Many have Zegras near the top 5 but the biggest difference between the two of them is that Turcotte attacks the net way more.
  1. Alex Newhook: Very similar to Peyton Krebs who is ranked higher on almost every list. Newhook is even more dynamic offensively. His speed may be his biggest asset as he’s one of the fastest player along Turcotte. He like to dangle a lot, many times at his own expense, a little bit like Jonathan Drouin, those plays can end up in the corner and then die or he simply get strips away of the puck. Boast a good wrist shot but he need space to utilize it. His play in the defensive zone is grossly overlook, he’s very responsible and even if I’m not sure if he’s gonna be a center in the NHL, he projects well. The concern I had with Newhook was that he had to prove himself against tougher competition and he didn’t looked dominant at the WJAC, in fact, Dylan Holloway, who is a 2020 draft eligible, was better than him. But Newhook was awesome at the U-18 and my doubts disappeared. 
  1. Peyton Krebs:  One of my early favorites, I don’t know if putting him 7th on my list make justice to how much I like him, but I couldn’t rank him any higher. To me, it’s actually pretty clear that Krebs will be a better winger than a center in the NHL. He does have defensive awareness, but I’ve seen him many times quite lost in the D-zone as a center. At the Hlinka, he was playing wings and it suits him better. His speed is one of his biggest assets and it gave him the opportunity to be a relentless forechecker, often creating turnover, be it by putting pressure on the puck carrier or by nullifying an outlet pass with his speed and anticipation. His other predominant qualities would be his offensive creativity, especially his playmaking. He ranks higher than Turcotte in that area. They’re also quite different, Turcotte will bulldoze his way to the net and leave the puck near the crease, Krebs will instead use the full width of the ice to find his teammates. I don’t want to put too much stock into intangibles but it is easy to envision him as a guy you would build a winning culture around. I see a lot of Jaden Schwartz in him.
  1. Cole Caufield:  When I first saw Caufield two years ago, I immediately said that he was better than Debrincat but after that he scored 40 goals as a 19-20 years old in the NHL, I had no other choices but to tempter my comments on Caufield. What didn’t help was that the USNTDP was stacked and it’s often quite tough to properly evaluates if a player benefits too much from his teammates. At the end of the day, I ranked him that high cause he’s a tremendous hockey player. And no, I didn’t said tremendous goal scorer, he’s more than that. Even if I would be shocked if he plays PK in the NHL, he was more than fine at the USHL level. He has a pretty good vision himself to find his open teammate and he has high-end hands that allows him to make room for himself. If we compares him with another prolific goal scorer of this draft, Arthur Kaliyev, one of the biggest difference to me would be the way Caufield gets open. He’s way more active, he fights for every inch on the ice and his feet are constantly in motion, Kaliyev finds opening in a way more passive way, where he makes himself forgotten. I’m not afraid of his lack of size and here’s a reason why; I mentioned in the first podcast that I really take into account the way today’s NHL playoffs games are played and who/what kinds of players are able to have success in those games. Here’s an example at how much people are so caught up in short-terms in hockey. Johnny Gaudreau, Viktor Arvidsson and Brayden Point had bad playoffs but people don’t even take into account that Johhny Gaudreau was very good in his first playoffs against Anaheim. Brayden Point was by far Tampa’s best players in 2018’s playoffs. Tyler Johnson was CLUTCH in Tampa’s run in 2016. Brad Marchand had very good playoffs this year also and the list goes on-and-on.
  1. Dylan Cozens:  Cozens would be kinda the antagonist to Dach, in a way that he isn’t as skilled as Dach but you notice him every shifts on the ice. Cozens entered the year in the 3rd spot for me. It’s tough not to drool over a 6ft3 center that seems poised to occupy the number 1 spot for a team and that can skate like he can.  He has great wheels and he’s good at opening his hips which makes almost impossible to pick the puck out of him thanks to his size and reach and also his speed that he uses so effectively to create separation between him and his shadow anywhere on the ice. He controls the play a lot and he is as good East-West that he is playing North-South. He like to skate toward the blue line in the offensive zone, facing away the play, to cut inside the middle after. The reason I went colder on him is that I doubt his hands -even if he has the confidence to try dangle- and the release on his shot aren’t at the level you would like from a player in the top 5 and he’s not the most creative player on the ice. One thing for sure tough, is that he will be way more effective as a center than a winger.
  1. 10.Matt Boldy:  I always have like to compare him with Podkolzin since they were the two highest ranked wingers for most of the year. I much prefer the finesse and east-west style of play of Boldy to the raw game of strength and power of Podkolzin who will rather bulldoze his way to the net. Boldy needs to work on his first few steps and his acceleration but it has been pointed by his head coach that he had a burst of growth in a short span that may be the cause of that. Other than that he has a fine top speed and he’s able to dangle at that speed, which is a pretty uncommon trait and a desirable one to boast. He has one of the best sets of hands in the draft, he has makes moves that I’ve never seen before. He’s a dual threat in more way than once, he’s an adept playmaker and a great finisher and he’s as good on his backhand than he is on his forehand. His creativity and his craftiness around the net reminds me of James Van Riemsdyk. If that wouldn’t be enough, he has a very strong 200ft game, Steve Kourianos often calls him a future Selke nominee and with Mark Stone as the first winger in recent memory being nominated this year, it isn’t too far fetched at all.
  1. 11.Trevor Zegras:  I’m kinda surprise myself not to have Zegras higher since I tend to fall in love a little too much with flashy players. He’s a unique player, many people are arguing to know if he may not have the best vision and playmaking abilities of the whole draft, that may be the case. He has a very underrated shot too. He played mostly on the wing this year but looked very fine when suiting–up at C when Hughes was injured. He’s a bit weak physically and tend to shy away when the play gets tougher, that’s one of the few knocks on him. The only reason I have him out of the top 10 was simply cause I like the other players more, he could go 5th or 6th and I wouldn’t condemn that choice at all.
  1. Vasili Podkolzin:  Podkolzin is one of the reason I hate when people divide the scouting community by the ‘Eye-test’ guys and the ‘Nerds’ (no I’m kidding) ‘Stats’ guys. Podkolzin entered the year as a top 5 player in almost every ranking but stats guys were saying that it was solely based upon his Hlinka and that by his stats record in Russia he shouldn’t have been ranked that high. I consider myself an ‘Eye-test’ guy and I never saw Podkolzin as a top 10 player. Goal scorer can be tricky to rank because they need the surrounding cast and the coaches’ trust to perform but Podkolzin has that. ‘Gimme-the-puck-and-let-me-handle-business’’ attitude that I like in a prospect. Oliver Whalstrom showed flashes of that last year. That’s what makes Podkolzin such an appealing prospect ‘cause he don’t rely on other player to have a scoring chance. On the other hand, he plays his head down way too much and the way he splits D pairs and makes his way to the net really makes me doubtful that he’ll be able to do the same at the NHL level. But if we look at that more in-depth, he’s one of the strongest players that I’ve seen on his stick and he seems to have the smart to put puck in an area that defensemen can’t reach. Plus, it’s no coincidence when a player is always where the puck is. He’s not overly creative, he prefers to shield the puck with his body and driving the net ferociously, but he does have some nice dangles. I think he’ll gain his coach’s trust rather quickly being a good 200ft player.
  1. Phil Tomasino: Like I said earlier, surprisingly enough, I had basically the same top 12 as everybody, it’s at this point of the draft that things will change. After the big top 12, Tomasino is the clear best player in my mind, he’s a dynamic center with a good set of hands, creativity and a good shot. He has a lot of growth left in him. If he would have been in last year draft, he would have been ranked lower though (somewhere in the 17-20th range, if you take a look at my ranking from last year).
  1. Vladislav Kolyachonok: Here’s our first big hot take of my ranking but to me Kolyachonok is the 2nd best defenseman of this draft. Physical specimen. Excellent skater, very mobile, agile, possess a very long stride. Always ready to jump into the play, be it to support offensively or to aggressively pinch his opponent to strip them of the puck at their blue line or in the neutral zone. He’s the best defensemen of this draft and one of the very best that I’ve ever seen with this particular skill. His timing is A+ and he isn’t scared of getting caught which rarely occurs, as you may know by now, I do grant a lot of importance when a player is able to consistently makes play that his peers can’t.   As the season went along he starts getting more PP time and looks more comfortably offensively. By the end of the year, I was convinced he can run a PP (2nd pair) in the NHL one day, I saw him make very difficult and brilliant passes and he has a sneaky low quick shot. The progression of a player throughout the year is very important and Kolyachonok looked better each and every time I saw him. I see him as an upgraded version of Niklas Hjlamarsson, a defenseman that will compliment a number one D-man and that will play 30 minutes a night and in the most crucial moments.
  1. Samuel Poulin: Not only Poulin is my first player from the Q on my list, he’s the only one that I have in the first. I think he’s being criminally underrated, he’s a thick 6ft2 body that can crush his competition, he works very hard on the ice without the puck, he’s responsible defensively, he has pretty deceptive mitts, an excellent hockey IQ and a heavy shot. 15th may seems early in a lot of people’s mind but I have the feeling that Poulin’s body, smart, underrated skills and two-way game will earn him a NHL’s coach trust to benefits from nice minutes. I see him becoming a complement on a top-6. He reminds me a lot of Timo Meier. The two knocks that people have on Poulin come together; he already plays in a NHL body and his skating needs some work. Those are very legitimate concerns but there’s another way to look at it: He can only become stronger within that body and clean his strides and becomes use to it and learn to generate more power. That’s what makes scouting subjective, I wouldn’t have looked at that the same way for every player. 

Here we are at a point in the draft that a player’s rank doesn’t mean that I would draft him at that particular spot. We must take into consideration that Tomasino, Kolyachonok and Poulin will be available in the latter half on the first round so it’s kind of futile who I have after. Some safe picks, some swing-for-the-fences and also a whole bunch of preferences, remember, every year we heard that the 20-45 range is pretty thin, why not go with players you have a feel on?

  1. Nick Robertson:   Despite having really different body type, it’s pretty funny to watch how similar he looks to his brother Jason on the ice, the way they handle the puck, their hands placement on the stick and the release on their shots. The game is growing faster and faster every year that goes by and Robertson’s top speed is okay but he has the rare ability to slow down the pace. It is pretty tough to explain but very few players has the ability to do it and I think it require special talent to do it effectively, Leon Draisaitl is the epitome of that that comes to mind.  With that feat and his hands, Robertson opens up allot of options for himself and his teammates on the ice, he’s a very good playmaker and I talked earlier that his shot is similar to his brother, which is a huge compliment.   I had his brother top 15 in 2017, it was pretty bold back then but it looks pretty good right now *cough cough* humble brag  *cough cough*   Was without a doubt head and shoulder better than Kaliyev at the Hlinka-Gretzky.   Still have some concerns with his size. Hands, creativity and wrist shot ranks very high amongst his peers.  I think his shot isn’t that far off from Caufield’s and he has a deeper bag of tricks. He doesn’t fight as much as Caufield though. He’s also 4 days away of being a 2020 draft eligible, making him one of the youngest, if not the youngest, player of this draft. Being that young and the fact that his brother is 6ft2, I wonder if he can still grows a inch or two. I think the real test to see if NHL’s scouts doesn’t matter about size anymore won’t be Caufield but Robertson. Even though I really like him, I remain skeptic cause of his size but I had no other choice to rank him that high.
  1. Cam York: York never was my favorite, in fact, he even enters the year without being considered for the first round in my mind. I didn’t like his play at the 2018’s U-18 even if he ended the tourney with 8 assists as an underage defenseman, he was playing PP with Hughes, Wahlstrom and Farabee, that was to expect. I may repeat myself but players from this year’s USNTDP are kinda hard to evaluate because it’s not that easy to see who benefits from who. If we look at York, a lot of zone exits and entries are make by Hughes, Zegras and Turcotte and when it’s him that does it, we have to take into consideration that the other teams closely shadows the NTDP forward so that leaves ice to York. But York showed very reliable plays in his own-end that we don’t often hear about in his case and his mobility is too hard to pass on. He also boast a really heavy shot, especially for his size and his puck distribution ability remains quite high amongst this year defensemen. I wouldn’t expect much than a 2nd pair defenseman in his case but at this point of the draft, it remains a very good value pick. I almost had him a bit lower but I’ll explain in Matthew Robertson’s report why I had York ahead.
  1. Jamieson Rees: One of the best dangler in the draft. Just like Barrett Hayton last year, Rees is an expert at changing the angle on his shot by toe-dragging the puck. If he can stay away from injuries, he’ll be a fan-favorite for a NHL’s team one day. He’s a real igniter for his team every single shift and plays much bigger than his actual size. I have him at that spot cause his floor is higher than Tracey even if the latter has a higher ceiling, and I have higher than McMichael cause his ceiling may be higher. The order could have changed with some more viewings.
  1. Brayden Tracey: A late riser, Tracey is a very good goal scorer that can beat goalies in multiple ways. The release on his wrist shot gives him the rare feat of beating goaltender clean from distance, he can play through the opponent’s box on the PP and he also crashes the net relentlessly when he carries the puck. He was still playing midget hockey a year ago and ended the year with 36 goals and 81 pts as a rookie in the WHL. His skating needs improvement in the first few steps department but he has a low BMI at 176 lbs on a 6ft1 frame. I see some Jamie Benn in him. Really tough to choose between him and Rees but what really matters is that they both are in my top-20.
  1. Connor McMichael: McMichael is on the safer side of things when it comes to evaluate a prospect. He reminds me of a Dollar’s Club Bo Horvat. He’s a pretty fast skater that plays hard on both side of the ice and plays a pro game already. He doesn’t make too much fancy stuffs. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t possess a nice upside. McMichael’s can make very hard passes off the rush and he has a very accurate wrist shot; that may be his best offensive weapon. I think he projects safely as a 3rd line center, and hopefully a 2nd.
  1. Matthew Robertson: Surprisingly good hands for a defenseman his size, like to join the rush and support his forwards deep in the offensive zone. Skates well for his size and has an offensive flair but he’s not K’Andre Miller either. Not as good as Broberg to rush the puck but he may be better when it comes to the offensive zone. I almost had him at York’s spot but what makes me change my mind is that even though I see Robertson as a nice complement and as a defenseman able to play big minutes, I can’t envision him on a first pair like I do with Kolyachonok. So, I’d rather take a flyer on a guy that’ll bring more offense on a 2nd pair.
  1. Antonni Honka: Another player that I wouldn’t necessarily draft at the spot that I have him ranked for the sole reason that I’m almost 100% confident that he’ll be able at the 2nd day of the draft. Honka’s knock come from his late DOB and his occasional brain cramps. He’s a great skater but seems to have difficulties to defend against speed. He also seems easy to play against in the D zone, he rarely engage physically, rather playing with his stick. He get caught off guards a lot when a winger cut to the inside. With all that being said it seems rather a given to pass on him in the first, and like I said, many players I have ahead will be there at the tail-end of the first so he would have to drop but I like his offensive too much not to rank him in my top 31.  His hands and vision are more translatable than the rushes of Broberg. Honka like to dangle through the center of the ice rather than the outside like Broberg does. I also much prefer the way he thinks once in the offensive zone of going deep like a 4th forward instead of waiting on the blue-line. He also has quite a good shot, his is better than Byram’s.
  1. Philip Broberg: Wasn’t a fan at the Hlinka, didn’t like his selection of plays, thought most of his eye-oppening rushes were overrated, basically only skating on the outside and didn’t results in much concrete. As the season went along his selection of play and his timing to when rush the puck improved dramatically. His hands looked more fluids too, seeing dekes that I didn’t saw from him before. Still think he’s overrated offensively, he won’t sneak in down low like Byram or Honka, he doesn’t have a big shot for a guy that stays at the blue-line in the offensive zone and he’s not the most seasoned playmaker either. He does suffer a little bit from what I call the Darnell-Nurse-Syndrom, that is when a defenseman skates like the wind but doesn’t know jack shit of what to do in the offensive zone, Jakob Chycrun suffers from that a bit also. I wouldn’t expect too much out of him, a good transition defenseman with good upside in his own end but I don’t see the tools offensively, a guy like Jakub Chycrun was a better prospect in my eyes. I always has preferred Bjornfot over him but I would bet on Broberg before.
  1. Ryan Suzuki: Suzuki can be tough to project because he thinks the game at a very high-level and he does, to an extent, make people around him better. He can become a top-6 complement if he develops properly and in the worst scenario, he has the IQ and the speed to play in a bottom-6 role. His skating looked more explosive this year and he improved his shot quite a bit, just that is sufficient to boast his upside because now, teams will have to worry where he’s on the ice. I’ve also seen him try move that he didn’t before. The problem with Suzuki is that he’s very soft and he plays on the perimeter too much. I’ve always preferred his brother Nick over him.
  1. Samuel Fagemo: One of my sleepers last year that went undrafted. If I would work for an NHL team, I would bring a list with only around 20-40 names on it and Fagemo would have been on it last year. I don’t see any knock on his game and he did put his tools together to produce quite nicely in the SHL, that’s worth a 1st round pick in my mind.
  1. John Beecher: A last minute addition in the first round. Beecher is usually penciled as a safe pick. He’s a big centerman that skate really well and that loves the physical play. If we look back at most NHL draft many years after, we come to the conclusion that the only fact of being able to establish himself in the NHL is worthy of being picked in the first round. I think Beecher’s ability to attack the net and his heavy shot can be overlooked. He does process the game at a high-speed; his brain matches his feet. Ilya Nikolaev is a center that also plays that rugged style of play and brings a little bit more skills but I think Beecher is gonna be a pain in the ass to play against and his IQ ranks way higher than people would think amongst his peers.
  1. Albin Grewe: One of my early favorites that drop as the season went. He’s patient with the puck and like to hung to it. He’s deceptive for the opposing defensemen often outwaiting them, he isn’t scare of attacking the center ice or the net, he also boast a good shot that doesn’t need a whole lot of windup. He’s a bit too individual on the ice and he will need to use his teammate better but I like his bold style of play. Just like his countryman Isaac Lundestrom last year, Grewe lack a little bit of peripheric vision. At the end of the day, Grewe isn’t as skilled as I first thought but he does play like a T-Rex when he is on the ice as his coach in the SHL like to say, he will hunt you down to lay the big hit on you. He projects a little more as a grinder but he does have the skills to chip in for some goals. He was amongst, if not the, best player in Sweden’s U-20 so I hope he can develops on that. Swedish winger Nils Hoglander does have more raw skills but Grewe’s younger, bigger and faster and could atleast plays a bottom-6 role.
  1. John Farinacci: My ‘Tyler-Weiss-Pick’ of the year. Which is, a player that I think will take 4-5 years to develop quietly in the NCAA (going to Harvard) and will make some noises later on. Remember, at this point in the draft, no players is a guarantee and you shouldn’t look at who are the 31 best players actually but at who will become the best down the road. I first saw him at the Hlinka-Gretzky where I compared him to Yegor Spiridonov, seen at the time as a top two round pick. Farinacci is a five-tools player, he does everything on the ice, take important faceoffs, plays on the PK, plays on the point on the PP. He does bring a lot more skills than people gives him credits for. He has nice hands and take good selection of shots.  Speed is the main reason I had him ahead Hoglander.
  1. Graeme Clarke: Just like Farinacci, Clarke is a player that I have a feeling on. I was probably the only one who thought he was a better prospect than Josh Williams and Sasha Mutala after the Hlinka (two other right-handed shooting winger). Clarke has one of the best release and set of hands in the whole draft. I see him having a Brett Connolly type of career where he’ll play on a 3rd line and will be a secondary scoring threat for a team.
  1. Nils Hoglander: ELITE set of hands. Little pitbull, creates soring chances on the ice, move the puck well, decent creativity for a guy I envision as an energy guy in the NHL, Skating concerns me a bit. The fact that he’s a late DOB doesn’t bother me much since his production in the SHL would have been fine for a D+1 player.
  1. Marshall Warren: I hesitated a bit between him and Bjornfot but I think the upside is higher with Warren. A fantastic skater that has a good offensive flair and makes heads up play all over the ice. A guy like Harley could easily have been there too since he does have similar strength. He has a lot of things going in his favor (played on a bad team, is very young) but he didn’t impressed me much and I guess that at that point of the draft he would already been gone so why not put Warren there to make a statement ?

The forgotten

I feel like I should start with them instead of my sleepers cause some omissions might have infuriate some of you.

Arthur Kaliyev:  The most polarizing player of the draft, even more so than Podkolzin and Broberg. 4 out of the 10 NHL scouts that Bob McKenzie interviewed had him outside the top 40! How can that be possible when you just scored 51 goals and 102 pts as a 17 years old in the OHL? Obviously, he has a cannon shot but his hockey sense is okay at best, he’s very inconsistent and has a poor work ethic. I saw many games of him where he would end up with 3pts but you wouldn’t notice him at all. If we take a look at team’s assets on a powerplay, it’s all players that does plays a lot at 5on5 too, there’s no such thing as a PP-Specialist and furthermore, if we look at the league’s top 15 goal scorer, there is only Ovechkin, Stamkos and Debrincat that fits the criteria of a pure sniper.

Raphael Lavoie:  Fast skater for his size and a great shot and knack for the net. It’s entirely possible that he can makes his way through a team 3rd line and have a nice career there. I just think his hockey sense isn’t quite there and his 5on5 production is very underwhelming for a late birthday. I didn’t watch too many games where he was able to blend all his attributes together, that’s why I would much rather go with a guy like Beecher instead.

Moritz Seider: We’re gonna make it quick with Seider, the only reason I don’t have him it’s because I didn’t saw him play. I didn’t want to watch his games in the DEL since I’m not familiar with that league and I didn’t had the time to watch his games at the World Championship.

Victor Sodestrom: Sodestrom will be picked in the first round and he deserves to go there. Even if I don’t see the upside, he’s one of the 3 best defenseman in his own zone along Byram and Kolyachonok. He defends very well, flawless positioning, great awareness on who to keep an eye on when there are permutations on the ice. Avoid forechecker’s pressure effectively with quick turns and composure. The only reason I didn’t put him there it’s because I didn’t saw enough of him since he injured himself at the Hlinka and the U-18. He will probably go way before I would start considering him (would have been a late first for me) so I didn’t feel the need to rank him there.

Ville Heinola: I saw Heinola plenty of times and he never impressed me. He’s a smart defenseman that move the puck quietly but effectively up the ice. Other than that, nothing pops out in his game. He’s not particularly a good skater, he doesn’t play with dynamism, a pretty bland player in my books.

Bobby Brink: Brink made a very strong first impression on me. I can definitively see the skills that he possesses. He has very good hands, he’s creative offensively, he’s a threat on the PP, he has a good shot -and also good shots selection- and moves the puck like a QB. His skating needs a lot of work however and he cheats offensively at 5on5, maybe because of the lack of speed. Very short skating stride, position himself too high for the breakout pass from his defensemen, seeing him on the ice you wouldn’t think he’s a league best scorer or tournament MVP (highest Points per game ratio of the whole USHL/ WJAC). At least a guy like Rees can become a nice 3rd liner, and a guy like Traceyd have a lot of growth left with his low BMI. 

Thomas Harley: Will probably go high and there’s some reasons why. Harley is one of the youngest players of this year draft and he’s a 6ft3 defenseman that skates incredibly well. He has nice hands to go along that but I didn’t saw too much high-end offensive flashes when I saw him. I probably went too much with my preferences in my top 31 but, to me, I don’t see the top 15-20 pick that people are talking when it comes to Harley.

Pavel Dorofeyev: very crafty with the puck, strong upper body, lack explosiveness in his lower body which results in a just average skating speed. The problem with Dorofeyev is that, as a older DOB, I have never saw him in International Events and even if it’s kind of the cool thing to do (to bash on Int. Events to scout guys) at least you can compare him with a similar level of competition there. Dorofeyev looked good when I saw him in the MHL but I don’t know close to enough of that league. I didn’t know at all at the times what kind  of competition he was playing against (good team, older player, guys with pro upside, etc.)  yes he was at the 2018 U-18 but I don’t remember his outing there.

Spencer Knight:  I’ll never rank a goalie for the sole reason that I don’t think I have the tools necessary to evaluate them. I do have some train of thought for them, like I’ll always prefers a cerebral goaltender over an athletic one. I also think that the puck-handling of the goaltenders are vastly overrated and that if it wouldn’t be for a few exceptions, there wouldn’t be a big margin between NHL goalies. This year we had Jordan Binnington, Martin Jones and Petr Mrazek in the semi-finals for the cup. 

Sleepers

The players mentioned below are guys that aren’t in my top 31, some of them would be ideal target for early second round pick an others for the latter rounds (that will be mentioned in their respective profiles).  Those players are the one that I personally prefer. Often, the guys picked in the latter round that end-up like late bloomers/steal are the one That we didn’t see coming. There is also a plethora of flawed but skilled junior players that are valid contender for that category but there is no fun if we just name a boatload of players that MAY have a chance to become something. often those players lack something to be an NHL player I’ll take for example Cole Fonstadt (Habs 4th or 5th round pick in 2018) I thought that he had better offensive instinct than Liam Foudy that I had as a first rounder, however there were many other reasons why I wasn’t high on Fonstad.   HOWEVER, those are the guys that you DO draft in the latter round, starting the 3rd one it is NEVER a bad idea to bet on skills. It always make me laugh when people are talking about a guy that they ranked 171th in their ranking and that now the guy is a good player in the NHL. Why didn’t you ranked him higher then ????  That’s why I’ll keep that list rather short.

So it’s all for me, I’m very happy to share my work with you guys and I’ll be available to answer every questions.

✕
DansLaBande

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