Who should the caps draft this year. I’m guessing we will end up in the 22-32 range of picks so who should we go for. Imo we need an elite winger. Any thoughts

4 Wingers in that range in my rankings:
-Liam Öhgren, LW
-Cutter Gauthier, LW
-Tucker Robertson, RW (/C) (overager)
-Ludwig Persson, LW (/C)

2 that are slightly higher:
-Filip Mesar, all F positions
-Gleb Trikozov, RW

Jonathan Lekkerimaki possibly, though he may not be around by then

Nick Robertson has started skating, says #Marlies head coach, Greg Moore.

— Nick Barden (@nickbarden) January 7, 2022

😊😊😊
Greg Moore said the doctors will reassess Robertson later this month and see how fast/slow he can return.

Hello everyone. What is the likelihood the leafs can get either of Rutger McGroaty or Jack Hughes? I just want those guys because of how much fun those names are lol.

🧐🧐🧐We've got a Dylan Holloway sighting at #Oilers skate.#LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/03SvddUtUR

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 7, 2022

finally some good news, he was a full participate in todays practice, I hope this he will finally start playing AHL games soon, he has been injured since like last spring

McGroarty: Pretty unlikely. He should go in the Top 15 and could even crack the Top 10.

Hughes: Far more likely. He could go anywhere in the 20 to 32 range and he might even fall to the second round.

Thanks, that's kind of what I thought.

If the leafs get Jack Hughes I think we'll hear a lot of jokes about how they have the better Jack Hughes.

I have him at 4 but this draft is really a matter of opinion, so many interchangeable players

Wingers in the 22-32 for me are Ohgren, Jani Nyman, Perevalov, Cutter Gauthier and Trikozov



I have McGroarty at 12 but he has been ranked as high as 8 and as low as not in top 32’s, for Hughes, that’s more likely, I have him at 35 and he has a high of 15 and a low of 57

Tyler Boucher, drafted 10th overall by the Senators, has 3 points in 17 NCAA games

Pretty concerning

He’s transferred to the Ottawa 67’s, he’s probably hoping to rebound, in any case, that was a reach from day 1

How anyone has McGroarty outside of the first round is beyond me. You can't even bring up some classic reasons to bump someone down like skating concerns or work ethic.

McGroarty actually has consistency and acceleration concerns per what I have gathered

If Leafs keep their first Jack Hughes is possible. His upside isnt great but having 3c be the ceiling aint bad

McGroaty could happen in the same scenario but per reports could go higher than expected.

From what I have been hearing though they are scouting a Canadian named Matthew Poitras

Poitras’s pretty good, well rounded, skilled, middle 6 but possibly 2nd line upside

Yeah I went and checked on him. Pretty good, good upside, and fits the criteria of what Dubas likes in a player

And what should make people very happy hes Canadian. As people were getting upset Dubas and his staff were drafting non Canadians for the past 3 years or something in the top 2 rounds

Consistency in regard to what? Haven't heard that till now. His acceleration isn't a strength, but I think his skating mechanics in general could use some improvement. But it's not like with Geekie where the skating concerns could turn out to be a bit more problematic because he relies a lot on his size and strength against a defender. I don't think that will translate well to the NHL and because he isn't a great skater as of now, he should really improve that or he could struggle in the pros. And McGroarty does a bit too much on his own at times. But to me, those aren't concerns that justify having him outside the Top 32.

This is stupid, and this audience should never be pandered to. You draft the best player available, end of discussion. The Leafs's best player is American lmao, and this audience is probably still the type that thinks Tavares is overpaid and mediocre, Rielly is overrated (soon to be overpaid I'm sure), Marner is overpaid and soft which makes him bad, etc.

While is also prefer Canadians, I still would rather have Jack Hughes so people can make jokes about how the leafs have the better Jack Hughes.

Well said

Cause man every draft after round 2 its the same thing

"Why didnt we draft a Canadian"

And those people get worse at the WJC

To me yes a Canadian would be nice but I say whoever is the best kid available go for them. Unless your drafting for need that kind of works to (Rip Benning). As diversity and multiculturalism in hockey is never a bad thing

Still would be nice to quiet down those people from time to time as man do they get annoying lul.

His D consistency ( but let’s be honest, there aren’t many prospects that have no defensive lapses ) and some people find that McGroarty tends to be more of a passenger to the play than the driver but yeah, McGroarty absolutely is a 1st round prospect

I have the exact same concern. But not with McGroarty but with Geekie

The more research I do on this draft, the more I want the Sens to somehow trade for another 1st round pick lol. Like if we could somehow get into the mid-1st and take Lekkerimaki, that would be awesome. The problem is, I think that would probably require trading Connor Brown. For example, we could deal C. Brown half retained to Edmonton for 1st+Lavoie (I think that's a pretty realistic return, using the Coleman trade as a baseline), which would likely get us in that 15-20 range where Lekkerimaki might go (or one of Geekie/McGroarty if they slip a little, maybe Miroshnichenko, those 3 would probably be steals in that range, or maybe a guy like Mesar). Nick Paul might also be a guy that could be a candidate for moving up in the draft, but he'd probably only get us to the late 1st (Paul+Tampa's 2nd or our 3rd for a late 1st from a contender could be a possibility, based on the Goodrow trade). If the Sens come out of this draft with a combination of like, Slafkovsky+Lekkerimaki (ideal assuming we pick at like, 6 and 15 for example), or Kemell+Ohgren/Ostlund (which would be like a pick in the 3-5 range assuming Wright/Savoie are gone and we prefer Kemell over Cooley, and a pick in the 18-22 range), I would be very pleased. Obviously getting Wright or Savoie would be the best case scenario.

Really what we're looking for in this draft imo is wingers for Stutzle. The Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson line is a very good top six line (it's performing like a solid 1st line right now and there's still upside, but obviously Stutzle has the highest ceiling) so Ottawa now needs to build a second top six quality line. Formenton has looked good alongside Stutzle but I think I'd prefer him at 3LW. Pinto would be ideal at 3C but could be a 2RW. Greig could also have 2LW upside but might also be a rover kind of player in the bottom six as I believe he could probably play all 3 forward positions and be a really good 3rd liner (the rule of thumb that is usually pretty solid [2020 was probably an exception though lol] goes that what they play for Canada at the WJC is what they'll be on your NHL team, and he was the 3C this year). Sokolov is a late bloomer so I'm not sure how high to peg his upside yet (I think he'll be an NHLer, but I don't know if he's the next Batherson or just a solid bottom six winger). Jarventie is still a bit of a boom bust prospect imo, he could be a 2LW or he could never make it. My point here is Ottawa could really use at least one more high end forward, as ideally the Stutzle line is the top line, so we need to round out the top 6. A lineup of:

Slafkovsky-Stutzle-Lekkerimaki or Ohgren/Ostlund-Stutzle-Kemell
Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson
Formenton-Pinto-Greig
x-x-Sokolov (x's don't really matter, might be guys like White, Jarventie, Kastelic, Reinhardt, Kelly, etc.)

would be amazing.

How about Connor Brown to Toronto for Nick Ritchie, Travis Dermott and Toronto's 2022 first?

PS. Ottawa is currently 3rd last, meaning if they don't improve mid season they are guaranteed a top 5 pick. In which case they probably don't pick Slafovsky.