Draft Review

[Eric-Baltimore]

My Favorite Draft Classes

Halifax
Notable picks: Rasmus Dahlin
Huskies had a tiny draft class, but they might’ve gotten the best player at pick 5.

St. Paul
Notable picks: Miro Heiskanen, Michael Rasmussen
The Stars also had a small but impactful class. Heiskanen will contribute right away and some (me) had 2nd round pick Rasmussen projected to go in the mid first round.

Hamilton
Notable picks: Juuso Valimaki, Kristian Vesalainen, Gabe Vilardi
The Tigers grabbed three players in my personal top 20.

Suffolk
Notable picks: Cody Glass, Jake Bean, Ilya Samsonov
The Stampede had one of the largest classes, but didn’t sacrifice quality for quantity. This draft should jumpstart the rebuild.

Johnstown
Notable picks: Andrei Svechnikov, Martin Kaut
Svechnikov has a high ceiling while still able to contribute right away. Several GMs were trying to maneuver into a position to select Kaut.

Picks that made the Baltimore War Room erupt in obscenities
Ilya Samsanov – Potential franchise goalies are hard to find.
Gabe Vilardi – Surprised he slipped into the 2nd.
Taro Hirose – Excelled in limited action last year
Jimmy Schuldt – College FA could see regular action in Vegas.
Otto Koivula – Was hoping he’d fall to the late 3rd.
Kiefer Sherwood – Not a high ceiling player, but great value in the early 4th.
Andrew Shortridge – Sleeper goalie prospect that Baltimore was targeting.

[Dane-Hamilton]

Vilardi has a back injury that could be career threatening. Kings really tight lipped on it but if he can come back and play he's a steal for me in the 2nd. High Risk/High Reward.

[Phil-Cornwall]

We were high on young Ryan Kuffner and would have selected him.

[Scott-New York]

Along with Dahlin falling to 5th, which was obsurd, I felt picks #9, Cosy Glass (Toews 2.0) and #10, Quinn Hughes, were absolute steels for Suffolk and Cincinnati respectively.

[Eric-Baltimore]

Jul 26, 2019 14:33:31 GMT -5 Scott-New York said:

Along with Dahlin falling to 5th, which was obsurd, I felt picks #9, Cosy Glass (Toews 2.0) and #10, Quinn Hughes, were absolute steels for Suffolk and Cincinnati respectively.

Cincy's draft was probably deserving of mention too, but with 7 of the top 40 picks it felt too obvious.

[Owen-Moncton]

I'm absolutely giddy to have scooped Brannstrom at 18

[Jon-Seattle]

A few goalie thoughts:
I was a little upset at all the goalies so early.
I thought Hart was gunna be an early/mid first but at 2 was surprising to me, but totally defendable pick.
Dipietro at 22 seemed a bit early but they’re already questioning whether he’ll beat out Demko (canucks prospect pipeline gets me so frustrated but perhaps that’s a story for another time).
3 goalies to start the second? Damn. To be fair Samsanov and Luukkonen are going to be competing very soon for NHL starts.
Oettinger a few picks later destroyed my chances at getting a top tier goalie prospect and I felt behind the 8-ball the rest of the draft.

Forwards:
How does Svechnikov fall to 6? He was my second rated forward but maybe I’m over valuing more recent picks as...
Zadina I had as high as third. But to fall all the way to 15? Hear me out the Red Wings are notoriously slow with prospects but is already playing up with Detroit. He should be killing it as early as next year.
The talent was deep into the second and even third round and then seemed to fall off a cliff.
Perhaps more thoughts to come

[Matt-Colorado]

Zadina at 15 really pissed me off.