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2018 NHL Draft Preliminary Thread

CanadaCanes said:
From Bob McKenzie's draft piece today on TSN.ca:

“If you want to know the truth,” one scout said, “Svechnikov may be closer to Dahlin for No. 1 than the rest of the field is to Svechnikov.”

The point is, outside of Dahlin, Svechnikov has separated himself from the rest of the field.

Svechnikov has size, speed and skill. He can play a power game or a finesse game, make plays or score goals any way they can be scored - off the rush, one timers from far out, getting his nose dirty in front of the net or off the cycle.

As Russians go, Svechnikov is well acclimated to the North American game and life, having lived with his mother in Muskegon and Barrie for the past two years. He’s not absolutely fluent in speaking or understanding English but he more than gets by.
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I think I've seen three separate articles in the last couple of days basically classifying Dahlen and Svechnikov as 1A and 1B. I'm not complaining. It just makes the Canes case for taking their shot at the big Russian all the more clear. And hey ... if Buffalo passes on the Swedish kid, you laugh and take him. Twice, if allowed. He's the truth.
 
CarolinaPen said:
Am I the only one that is nervous the Canes can bungle this somehow? I fear the more the consensus continues to point to Svechnikov as a no-brainer at #2 the more tempting it is for the Canes to do something else!
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Yeah the past history certainly justifies the nerves, but this is a beach ball size strike right down the heart of the plate and even Waddell will find a way to hit a home run this time around.
 
In hindsight, our past history hasn't been stellar, but I don't think we've made a bunch of bonehead moves - at least not in the first round - have we? I tend to forget bad experiences a little.
 
I'm not saying we didn't make a bunch of bad picks, but which of those guys were head scratchers at the time?
 
This draft reminds me a lot of 2003. If only it contains half the talent. I dobt think many people right now would take anyone above Svech at #2. Seems like the consensus best overall, behind Dhalin.
 
TheBigKahuna said:
This draft reminds me a lot of 2003. If only it contains half the talent. I dobt think many people right now would take anyone above Svech at #2. Seems like the consensus best overall, behind Dhalin.
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Hopefully it is more 2004 where the top two picks are sure fire hall of famers!
 
cmon3 said:
I'm not saying we didn't make a bunch of bad picks, but which of those guys were head scratchers at the time?
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Boychuk and Murphy were chosen about where they were ranked. I don’t know about the rest, I didn’t follow the draft that closely. But Paradis and Knyazev never played in the NHL, Heerema was the quintesstual AAAA player, great in the minors, 4 goals in 32 NHL games. Tselios played 2 NHL games.
 
andyt said:
We draft a dman.
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I don’t know. If SV goes first should the canes trade the pick for a good wing/center plus a high draft choice? Trade Hanifin and or Faulk or both for offensive help? Keep Skinner? IMHO drafting the highly rated D man raises all sorts of possibilities.
 
dwind said:
I don’t know. If SV goes first should the canes trade the pick for a good wing/center plus a high draft choice? Trade Hanifin and or Faulk or both for offensive help? Keep Skinner? IMHO drafting the highly rated D man raises all sorts of possibilities.
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You don't get many shots at players like either of the top 2 picks. So unless the return was just too good to pass up, I'd hate to not end up with one of them. I'd pick the D and trade Hanifin and or Faulk for offensive help and keep Skinner. I don't think that's going to happen though.
 
andyt said:
Zach Boychuk, Ryan Murphy, Phillipe Paradis, Igor Knyazev, David Tanabe, Jeff Heerema, Nikos Tselios say hello.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00005154.html
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Seems a bit unfair to lump Tanabe in with the rest of those busts, even though he peaked in his sophomore season, (00-01) scoring two playoff goals against the Devils in that first round disaster. He either had a concussion or broke something in the '02 playoffs, playing his last NHL postseason game at 21 years old.

Dave was a better pick at #16 than Pavel Brendl was at #4 that same year, and his career stats aren't that much different from Nick Boynton who was re-drafted at #21 and Mike Commodore at #42.
 
Punzil said:
Seems a bit unfair to lump Tanabe in with the rest of those busts, even though he peaked in his sophomore season, (00-01) scoring two playoff goals against the Devils in that first round disaster. He either had a concussion or broke something in the '02 playoffs, playing his last NHL postseason game at 21 years old.

Dave was a better pick at #16 than Pavel Brendl was at #4 that same year, and his career stats aren't that much different from Nick Boynton who was re-drafted at #21 and Mike Commodore at #42.
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That’s fair. Relative to his draft position, he was a disappointment. And his career ended when he was 27. That entire draft was...not great. The Sedins at 2 and 3 skew the stats for that draft, but on average, the players who made the NHL played 249 games. And it kicked off with one of the all time #1 busts, Patrik Stefan.

There is also a straight line between Snuggles (and Igor Knyazev) and the 2006 Cup. They were traded to the Coyotes for Danny Markov in June 2003. In January 2004, Markov was traded to the Flyers for Justin Williams.
 
dwind said:
I don’t know. If SV goes first should the canes trade the pick for a good wing/center plus a high draft choice? Trade Hanifin and or Faulk or both for offensive help? Keep Skinner? IMHO drafting the highly rated D man raises all sorts of possibilities.
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If you draft Dahlin, you can go ahead and trade Hanifin without hesitation and he's probably good enough to carry Faulk in a pairing, which might just let Faulk regain some of his mojo. I don't think I've seen a more mature defender at the World Juniors. He's like Hedman was at that age, but with much better hands. I think that kid is a generational defenseman.

I honestly think the only risk Carolina could possibly take in this draft is trading the pick. You get Dahlen or Svechnikov and you go happily on with life.
 
Punzil said:
Seems a bit unfair to lump Tanabe in with the rest of those busts, even though he peaked in his sophomore season, (00-01) scoring two playoff goals against the Devils in that first round disaster. He either had a concussion or broke something in the '02 playoffs, playing his last NHL postseason game at 21 years old.

Dave was a better pick at #16 than Pavel Brendl was at #4 that same year, and his career stats aren't that much different from Nick Boynton who was re-drafted at #21 and Mike Commodore at #42.
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Honestly, I don't think Tanabe was a bust at all. I think the Canes completely and utterly failed that kid. They threw him into the fire out of desperation and without regard to how it would effect his development ... and then proceeded to be disappointed with him when he proved to be young and immature. That's not on David ... that's on Rutherford. David Tanabe had first round talent, but the Canes broke him.
 
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