A Draft Perspective
Jul 24, 2021 15:49:05 GMT -5
Glenn-Philadelphia, Phil-Cornwall, and 6 more like this
Post by Scott-New York on Jul 24, 2021 15:49:05 GMT -5
A Draft Perspective (though the eyes of Amerks GM, Scott Jones)
The New York Americans owned two, yes two, draft picks heading into the off-season. Shortly after the season ended, I decided that while the talent was likely there to make another run, injury issues would almost certainly become a major concern and looming free agents would compound the issue. Petterssen and Ekblad both missed significant time last season in the NHL. Those are two pretty big pieces to have sitting in the press box come playoff time. While not a flashy name by any standards, Calvert also missed much of the season and you just don’t win without one or two of these key penalty killing types in your line-up. Kreider was a pending UFA, Burakovsky would be a free agent after the upcoming season and Backlund, Rust and Josi were all slated for the open market in 2023. The window was closing and I had no picks to restock the cupboards. Thus, the call was made to sell some very talented veterans to bring in young, future stars (hopefully) via the draft. I stocked the cupboards full of picks (10) in what I viewed as the deepest draft in GHL history.
I have no complaints with my 1st selection in the draft, Ty Smith. Smith is already a top 4 D in the NHL and was the highest ranked player left on my draft board when I selected him at #26. I had him ranked #20. Matt Boldy would’ve been my pick here had Cleveland not taken him the pick before me.
With Smith in pocket, I began looking for offense just a few picks later with #35. What played out here, I call “The catastrophe that led to Pius Suter”. Arthur Kaliyev (chosen #28 by PIT), Jack Quinn (#29, SYR), Connor Zary (#33, again by PIT) and Nic Robertson (#32, HAM) respectively, were the targets. If somehow all four of them were gone, I had decided that I would go with another D in either Thomas Harley (#31, SUF) or Braeden Schneider (#34, WAS). I figured with 6 targets on my list and only 8 picks between my two selections, I was good to go. I couldn’t have been more wrong. To make matters worse, Hamilton had taken Victor Soderstrom at #27 and Cleveland had snatched up Shane Pinto at #30, who I probably would’ve viewed as consolation prizes. As I looked down my list, the only other player I had ranked at this selection was Cam York. He would be the only player I might possibly look back at and say, “maybe I should’ve taken him there”, but after taking Smith, who I viewed as a similar player to York, I decided to look down the board at my NHL players and see what was left. I recalled seeing a depth chart on NHL network where they slotted Pius Suter as Chicago’s #1 center with Patrick Kane on his right wing. Even though I had Suter ranked #119, I decided to roll the bones and see where my luck took me. It is likely that Suter will play in my top 6 this season and hopefully NHL network knows what they are talking about. This was my risk/reward pick of the draft.
Pick #55 was a no-brainer for me. Ryan Suzuki was the only player, save Jacob Perreault, that I even considered here. I had him ranked #39, so calling his name at #55 was a slam dunk.
As I started looking toward pick #81, I was thinking goalie. I knew Spencer Knight would go in the top 10. I had him ranked #6, and I can’t even blame Eric for taking him #2. I also figured Sorokin would be gone by the end of the 1st. Swayman going in the 1st was a bit surprising, but when Annunen went at #50 and Dostal went #56, I knew I had to take Wolf if he was there. Edmonton taking Sogaard at #74 was a bit unnerving as I starting thinking we might be looking at a run on goaltending, but in the end, Wolf dropped far enough for me to add him to the roster just slightly ahead of where I had originally ranked him at #90.
The pick I consider my steal of the draft was next up. I passed up Jan Jenik with my previous pick. He surfaced to the top of my draft board when New Jersey selected Dorofeyev at #79, so when my #46 ranked player was still staring me in the face at #95, how could I not take him?
Soon after that pick is when my fellow GM’s starting picking what I call “off the board”. These are players that I did not rank. I ranked 147 players this season, so I just about covered the entire draft. In previous seasons, I’ve ranked as few as 80 and was still selecting players I had ranked in the 5th round. This is a testament to either managers doing a better job scouting players or the depth of this year’s draft. I assume it’s a combination of both. I had Sampo Ranta marked for my next pick at #104 right from the start of the draft. I had ranked him at #103. Matt started making me nervous as the pick approached and he was trying to trade up. I know he’s a Colorado fan and I was relieved when he landed behind me at #107. I was pretty sure he was looking at Ranta as well.
Pick #123 actually came as a surprise to me. I was considering what was left and actually looking at defensemen at this point but when Regula was taken at #112 by Quebec and Chicago took Andersson off the board two picks later, I started going through the players I had left in my rankings and Antonio Stranges jumped off the screen, so I grabbed him. I still had a few defensemen I really liked and three more picks to take them.
I took one of those defensemen with my next pick at #127. Vladislav Kolyachonok. Andersson and Regula coming off the board earlier solidified this pick for me.
With about three more defensemen that I found interesting left on my list, I decided that I’d take one more forward and one more D with my final two selections. To my surprise, both were Sabres prospects. I intended to take Matej Pekar with my next pick at #148 and then I’d grab Oskari Laaksonen with #159 to wrap up my draft. Wouldn’t you know it, Quebec took Laaksonen at #144 and Cornwall, fucking Cornwall, snatched Pekar from right underneath my nose at #147. I had added Jaccob Slavin’s younger brother, Josiah, to my draft board just before the draft started so after running through everyone I had left one more time, I took him.
My final pick, with Laaksonen gone, was down to two defensemen. I opted for Josh Maniscalco and will not be mentioning the other as he was one of 15 players I had ranked who went undrafted and now could end up being a late free agency target. The highest ranked player left on the board was my #104.
This was inspired by an earlier post by Jon-Seattle, where he talked about which GM’s he hated following in the draft. I think we all have similar experiences and I hope everyone finds this an entertaining read and that at few can relate to it on some level.
The New York Americans owned two, yes two, draft picks heading into the off-season. Shortly after the season ended, I decided that while the talent was likely there to make another run, injury issues would almost certainly become a major concern and looming free agents would compound the issue. Petterssen and Ekblad both missed significant time last season in the NHL. Those are two pretty big pieces to have sitting in the press box come playoff time. While not a flashy name by any standards, Calvert also missed much of the season and you just don’t win without one or two of these key penalty killing types in your line-up. Kreider was a pending UFA, Burakovsky would be a free agent after the upcoming season and Backlund, Rust and Josi were all slated for the open market in 2023. The window was closing and I had no picks to restock the cupboards. Thus, the call was made to sell some very talented veterans to bring in young, future stars (hopefully) via the draft. I stocked the cupboards full of picks (10) in what I viewed as the deepest draft in GHL history.
I have no complaints with my 1st selection in the draft, Ty Smith. Smith is already a top 4 D in the NHL and was the highest ranked player left on my draft board when I selected him at #26. I had him ranked #20. Matt Boldy would’ve been my pick here had Cleveland not taken him the pick before me.
With Smith in pocket, I began looking for offense just a few picks later with #35. What played out here, I call “The catastrophe that led to Pius Suter”. Arthur Kaliyev (chosen #28 by PIT), Jack Quinn (#29, SYR), Connor Zary (#33, again by PIT) and Nic Robertson (#32, HAM) respectively, were the targets. If somehow all four of them were gone, I had decided that I would go with another D in either Thomas Harley (#31, SUF) or Braeden Schneider (#34, WAS). I figured with 6 targets on my list and only 8 picks between my two selections, I was good to go. I couldn’t have been more wrong. To make matters worse, Hamilton had taken Victor Soderstrom at #27 and Cleveland had snatched up Shane Pinto at #30, who I probably would’ve viewed as consolation prizes. As I looked down my list, the only other player I had ranked at this selection was Cam York. He would be the only player I might possibly look back at and say, “maybe I should’ve taken him there”, but after taking Smith, who I viewed as a similar player to York, I decided to look down the board at my NHL players and see what was left. I recalled seeing a depth chart on NHL network where they slotted Pius Suter as Chicago’s #1 center with Patrick Kane on his right wing. Even though I had Suter ranked #119, I decided to roll the bones and see where my luck took me. It is likely that Suter will play in my top 6 this season and hopefully NHL network knows what they are talking about. This was my risk/reward pick of the draft.
Pick #55 was a no-brainer for me. Ryan Suzuki was the only player, save Jacob Perreault, that I even considered here. I had him ranked #39, so calling his name at #55 was a slam dunk.
As I started looking toward pick #81, I was thinking goalie. I knew Spencer Knight would go in the top 10. I had him ranked #6, and I can’t even blame Eric for taking him #2. I also figured Sorokin would be gone by the end of the 1st. Swayman going in the 1st was a bit surprising, but when Annunen went at #50 and Dostal went #56, I knew I had to take Wolf if he was there. Edmonton taking Sogaard at #74 was a bit unnerving as I starting thinking we might be looking at a run on goaltending, but in the end, Wolf dropped far enough for me to add him to the roster just slightly ahead of where I had originally ranked him at #90.
The pick I consider my steal of the draft was next up. I passed up Jan Jenik with my previous pick. He surfaced to the top of my draft board when New Jersey selected Dorofeyev at #79, so when my #46 ranked player was still staring me in the face at #95, how could I not take him?
Soon after that pick is when my fellow GM’s starting picking what I call “off the board”. These are players that I did not rank. I ranked 147 players this season, so I just about covered the entire draft. In previous seasons, I’ve ranked as few as 80 and was still selecting players I had ranked in the 5th round. This is a testament to either managers doing a better job scouting players or the depth of this year’s draft. I assume it’s a combination of both. I had Sampo Ranta marked for my next pick at #104 right from the start of the draft. I had ranked him at #103. Matt started making me nervous as the pick approached and he was trying to trade up. I know he’s a Colorado fan and I was relieved when he landed behind me at #107. I was pretty sure he was looking at Ranta as well.
Pick #123 actually came as a surprise to me. I was considering what was left and actually looking at defensemen at this point but when Regula was taken at #112 by Quebec and Chicago took Andersson off the board two picks later, I started going through the players I had left in my rankings and Antonio Stranges jumped off the screen, so I grabbed him. I still had a few defensemen I really liked and three more picks to take them.
I took one of those defensemen with my next pick at #127. Vladislav Kolyachonok. Andersson and Regula coming off the board earlier solidified this pick for me.
With about three more defensemen that I found interesting left on my list, I decided that I’d take one more forward and one more D with my final two selections. To my surprise, both were Sabres prospects. I intended to take Matej Pekar with my next pick at #148 and then I’d grab Oskari Laaksonen with #159 to wrap up my draft. Wouldn’t you know it, Quebec took Laaksonen at #144 and Cornwall, fucking Cornwall, snatched Pekar from right underneath my nose at #147. I had added Jaccob Slavin’s younger brother, Josiah, to my draft board just before the draft started so after running through everyone I had left one more time, I took him.
My final pick, with Laaksonen gone, was down to two defensemen. I opted for Josh Maniscalco and will not be mentioning the other as he was one of 15 players I had ranked who went undrafted and now could end up being a late free agency target. The highest ranked player left on the board was my #104.
This was inspired by an earlier post by Jon-Seattle, where he talked about which GM’s he hated following in the draft. I think we all have similar experiences and I hope everyone finds this an entertaining read and that at few can relate to it on some level.
