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| ROUND 1 | TEAM | ORIGINAL | PLAYER | DETAILS |
|---|
| 1 |  | - | (7th) Definitely the top guy for me. Drysdale is an excellent, hyper-mobile defender who can dominate the transition game with his smooth passing and skating. I love how he closes gaps on defense and he just plays a high-end, modern game. I do think there’s more questions than most people are letting on though. He needs to make quicker decisions from time to time and he’s not gonna be the Hughes or Makar type offensive dynamo if you’re looking for that. | |
| 2 |  | - | (13th) Even though I was late to the party, he's easily the second best defensemen for me. His defensive ability is great and it's very tough to get around him on the rush. He also is very competitive and has the advantage of having a July birthday which showed considering how he got much better as the season went on . There's puckmoving skill here as well, but I don't know if he's ever going to be an offensive powerplay guy in the NHL. | |
| 3 | |  | (25th) I've definitely grown on him throughout the year and my opinion on him is that he's just solid even though he's not spectacular. He's a great defender who knows how to close gaps and he really improved his offensive game throughout the season as well. The key for him will be knowing when to pick his spots better physically or else he's going to get picked apart by the speed of the NHL game. I think he's a defensive 4 or maybe a 3 in the NHL. | |
| 4 |  | - | (28th) I'm a big fan of Niemela's game and I think he's one of the more underrated guys in this class. He plays a very simple, mature, puck-moving game that I think will translate very well in North America. He defended men decently well in the Liiga and I also think there's legit offensive upside here long term as well. He knows how to support in the offensive zone and also has some great mobility and a sneaky ability to get the puck to the net. I think it'll be a slower burn with him and there's a few more risks than Guhle, but he's very strong. | |
| 5 |  | - | (30th) What I love about Andrae's game is the amount of composure and confidence that he plays with. He's fearless holding the blue-line and has very good instincts when it comes to breaking the puck out as he can do it with his skating or with his passing. He defends well despite his size, but he does need to tone down the aggressiveness with the puck as he will turn it over. I like his skill-set and attitude too much to leave him out of the first round and I think he can be a strong player in the NHL as a 4-6 who can run a powerplay. | |
| 6 |  | - | (34th) Wallinder has a very impressive skill-set, but it's not the type of skill-set that has projected very well to the NHL in the past. He's huge, has incredible skating, and has some guts with the puck which makes him a dangerous transitional defensemen, but I question his decision making. He's very inconsistent and sort of fits the Broberg profile that I was skeptical of last year as well. There's a huge ceiling with him, but I don't know if he will get there. | |
| 7 |  | - | (35th) O'Rourke is just a pretty solid player in both ends of the ice. He is a competitive defense first defender that also takes care of the puck and makes good decisions from what I've seen. I don't know if he's really a great transitional guy and won't always join the rush, but he got nice results this year anyways and has some solid passing ability. He's not a huge contributor offensively, but he does have nice instincts and does a good job of not killing possession. Apparently he's got all the intangibles as well | |
| 8 |  | - | (39th) I dropped Cormier a bit throughout the season because I think for a guy that small he should be a better decision-maker and have better speed. He had success this year as he's very good on his edges and also possesses some solid puck-moving ability, but I don't know if he'll translate to the NHL. His biggest strength and what will get him to the league is his powerplay poise. He has a very sneaky shot and he distributes the puck very very well. I could see him as a 5 or 6 in the NHL who can run a team's PP1. | |
| 9 |  | - | (41st) Grans has the biggest "upward-mobility" of all the defenders in my rankings and he's this low because I've only seen him in the Hlinka which was disastrous for him. I think he's just a solid all-around defender who has size, defends, and can move the puck out of the zone rather well. I don't think the offense is as good and from what I saw, a lot of his points were coming from heaving point shots to the net on the powerplay. It was impressive that he got legit SHL minutes though and he seems pretty projectable as a bottom-four guy in the NHL. | |
| 10 | |  | (43rd) Schenider is somewhat similar to Grans in terms of skill-set, but I see him as high as the top-15 on some lists and I'm shocked. His strength is his defense which is definitely very solid, but at this point (third year WHL player who went to the u18's and has a late birthday) he should be a guy who's really dominating. Most of his points came on the powerplay where he's not gonna be playing on in the NHL and he's a guy who I think is gonna struggle a lot when faced with the pace of pro hockey. He will need to improve his processing ability on the breakouts or else NHL forecheckers are gonna eat him alive. I think he's a safe bet as a 5 or 6, but that's not the profile I want to look at in the first round. | |
| 11 |  | - | (47th) I like a lot of the stuff that Villenueve does on the ice, but I also think there's some concerns with his game. He is a pretty good decision maker who is dangerous in transition and also is a strong but unspectacular driver of offense within the zone. I think the issue with him going forward will be his feet and specifically his ability to make quick pivots and adjustments in the defensive zone. It wasn't nearly as bad as his teammate (Poirier) but he still got eaten alive this season in the defensive zone and that will need to change. | |
| 12 |  | - | (48th) One of the absolute nastiest stick-handlers in this draft class. Poirier is probably the most talented D this year and he has some incredible puck-rushing skills combined with a big shot. The issue with him is that his decision-making is just so damn bad in all three zones. He'll skate into 1-on-4's and lose the puck like its nothing or he'll ice the puck when he could just simply make a pass to teammate. His defensive awareness and attentiveness is bad as well and too many times he loses his man and gets beat for a high-danger chance. I want to like him but he got abused this year. | |
| 13 |  | - | (53rd) Powell sort of has the Niemela profile as a simple puck-mover who makes good decisions at all times and subtly contributes to offense with positioning and composure. He is great on breakouts and has mastered the ability to bank passes off the boards to find teammates with open ice. He's not a flashy offensive player and I would like to see him improve his aggressiveness in the offensive-zone, but he's not hurting his team when he's out there. I think if he develops right he could become a Matt Grzelcyck type player. | |
| 14 |  | - | (57th) Another one of the underrated and under-developed guys who could really be a player if he develops right. He's missed a ton of time to injury, but I think if he was healthy people would consider him about on par with Emil Andrae. His numbers were fantastic in the superelit despite an uneven season and he's got very good passing and offensive skills. Sometimes his decisions are a bit wonky and he's really weak physically, but I think a full healthy season could lead to big things with him. Definitely worth a swing in this area of the draft. | |
| 15 |  | - | (61st) MItchell Miller I think is gonna be a surprise pick who goes really high on draft day. He's a very impressive passer out of the zone and he is very composed when facing forechecking pressure. I think he's very talented, but I also don't have a great grip on his game so far so I'll need to circle back. | |
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