After Nemec and Jiricek

Personally I'd say Salomonsson, but I dont think Casey and Luneau are too far behind. I like Nelson as well.

Chesley?

Chesley’s easily the best RD after Nemec/Jiricek imo, he may not put up the most points but you want a well-rounded close to NHL ready D with good upside, Chesley’s your guy

Yeah I like Chesley too. I forgot him but it's a toss up between Salomonsson and Chesley for me

Salomonsson’s much lower than Chesley imo, he has the skills but he just hasn’t proved he can put it together and didn’t really improve/develop this season

Jiricek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's possible, but I think Salomonsson's ceiling is higher as he already has the skills - just needs to use them properly and it's doable with proper development. Very raw and more risky than Chesley though.

Chesley is probably the safest pick to be the next best RHD. He doesn’t have the highest ceiling, but imo he has the highest floor and the most translatable attributes. After him you could go with Salomonsson (all the tools and crazy high upside but has yet to put it together), Casey (good 2-way upside but tiny), Rinzel (big but inconsistent and questionable hockey sense, should be good defensively), Lamoureux (enormous, good defensively, solid enough skater, limited puck-moving), or Luneau (solid puck-moving, limited skating/defensively).

I do think Chesley is probably the 3rd RHD off the board but after him it could be any of these guys and I wouldn’t be too shocked, it basically comes down to what traits your team values and how they plan to develop the player.

Also I think in general, despite the two best D being RHD, this is definitely a year for lefties, the 3rd-7th D off the board could realistically be LHD (wouldn’t surprise me if 5 of Korchinski, Mateychuk, Mintyukov, Bichsel, Pickering, Hutson went before Chesley).

Keep an eye on David Ma in the later rounds too. Kid's phenomenally underrated.

I haven’t heard of him, I’ll have to look into him. Liam Steele and Michael Fisher were a couple guys I was looking at as potential steals in the late rounds. I’m also very interested where the likes of Noah Warren (big, but generally seen as a lower end big guy when compared to Pickering, Bichsel, Lamoureux, Rinzel, etc.), Christian Kyrou (small and mobile enough but without his brother’s explosiveness, but very talented offensively), and Miguel Tourigny (tiny double overager) go, they could be steals because I think they look like candidates to slip.

What would you guys rate the following selections for 11th OA?

Lekki - A pick
Yurov - A- pick
Lambert - B+ pick
Miro - B pick
Gauthier - B pick
Kasper - B- pick
Korchinski - C+ pick
Mateychuk - C+ pick
Geekie - C pick

Is roughly my feelings.
Obviously meaning if you draft Geekie over Yurov - I’m immediately rating it an F as I’m already not high on him being our pick.

Gauthier seems like he’s cracked the consensus top 6 at this point. He’d for sure be an A+ pick if he fell, but Ottawa or Detroit would snap him up if he did fall outside the top 6.

I’d rate Kasper and Korchinski higher, I wouldn’t be shocked if both were gone by the SJS pick, and both would be solid choices for the Sharks.

I’d have Miroshnichenko much lower, I don’t think he’s worth taking a chance on until the mid-20s due to both health and the Russia factor. Guys like Nazar, Kulich, Ostlund, Ohgren, etc. should be off the board before risking it on Miro imo, and those are guys in the late teens, early 20s range. I’d even be hesitant to take him over a guy like Snuggerud at this point tbh.

Yurov I also think is too risky at 11. That would be about where he’d go (maybe a little higher) if all things were equal, but they’re not. So it’s better to get a Lekkerimaki/Savoie/Nazar type if you’re the Sharks. Yurov might go at 12 to Columbus, although I think it’s more likely he goes at 16 to Buffalo if he goes in the teens.

Lambert’s a huge swing at 11. He might be a top 5 player in the draft or he might not be a top 30 player in the draft. At 11 you should be getting a guy you’re confident will be a top 20 guy, so I’d probably have him a bit down on my list at 11. Probably below Yurov tbh, but above Miro.

So for the guys you listed I’d order it Gauthier / Kasper / Lekkerimaki / Korchinski / Mateychuk / Yurov / Lambert / Geekie (I used to be higher on him and still think he’ll go above expected, but I’m adjusting my expectation to be ~18-24) / Miroshnichenko.

I forgot to rank Nazar, he’s an A for me!

“ Gauthier / Kasper / Lekkerimaki / Korchinski / Mateychuk / Yurov / Lambert / Geekie/ Miro “

I feel like that’s quite high on both Cutter and Kasper but I’m a fan of both so I can see it. Tho I think Yurov and Miro have quite high ceilings that’ll keep them in the early teens.

I think I’d go Lekki, Cutter (if we want a “C”), Nazar, Yurov, Kasper in order. With Miro/ Lambert then the two D then Geekie.

I just don’t really want SJ to entertain more OFD - I know a couple of them are kinda “two way” if we count all 3 projected early teen D, but we need scoring and should look at offence not offensive D men.

I include Lambert if Nazar, Lekki, Cutter, Yurov, Kasper are gone because then I’m fine with a swing at Lambert/ Miro - they’re big gambles for sure tho at 11. I’m continuously growing on Yurov tho so honestly I think I’m happiest with Yurov or Lekki despite not necessarily thinking Yurov is the safest pick.

@yikes

Lekki - A- (ranked around that area by most and no major qualms with his game, not my absolute favorite, but solid pick)

Yurov - B+ (haven't seen the most of Yurov, but he seems to be a safe pick; fairly high ceiling and floor which makes it pretty hard to hate the pick. Uncertainty factor knocks it down a tad for me)

Lambert - A+ (In love with this player and his potential, especially at 11. A little development in his shot and a couple other minor kinks to fix and he's one of the best players to come out of this draft, imo)

Miro (as in Miroshnichenko?) - D (Just think you can get him far lower and there are major question marks there)

Gauthier - A (A+ based on the fact that he's rated where he is. I'm not quite that high on him personally, but I'm no scout, so)

Kasper - B (similar to Yurov reasoning, just on a lower level)

Korchinski - C (Not a big fan. Incredibly smooth skater, it makes me want to love him, but has an absolute muffin from what I've seen and is prone to bad decision making on small and large scale)

Mateychuk - B- (A lot to like, but I've seen multiple outlets/independent scouts question the translatability of his game and I sometimes get the vibe that effort is being credited as effectiveness on the defensive end)

Geekie - F+ (Gave the plus on the off chance that he surprises and surpasses what I view to be his ceiling - and I don't even think he'll hit that. Just don't like him at 11 at all.)

Thoughts would depend on who's available at the time of selection obviously, but this would be my general happiness level with each of these guys at 11 heading in blind. You could probably ask me in a week and get a different answer (might be being to harsh on some guys, too high on others) but this is about where I stand at the moment.

Nazar, Mintyukov, and Savoie are guys that I'd probably have in the B+ to A+ range as well

I think the funniest comparison I have seen is Kulich being compared to Guentzel when they dont play the same style

Kulich to me feels more like Anthony Cirelli but with a more wicked one timer

Notable Stars prospects this year:

Wyatt Johnston: top CHL scorer, top scorer for the OHL regular season and playoffs, best P/GP average in the OHL regular season

Logan Stankoven: CHL player of the year, best P/GP in both the WHL regular season and playoffs, top scorer in the WHL playoffs

Mavrik Bourque: QMJHL playoff MVP, top P/GP in the QMJHL regular season

Antonio Stranges: 13th in OHL regular season P/GP, 4th in OHL playoff P/GP

Ty Dellandrea: 50th in AHL points

Other prospects such as Grushnikov, Damiani, Roulette and Martino also had good years, just not as good as these.

Owen Beck for me is the perfect Cirelli comparison, I actually see Kulich as more of Ross Colten.

I’d agree with Kulich and Colton, I’d also argue that’s more or less Kulich’s upside and they play a similar style

Hamilton Bulldogs overager Nathan Staios has been named CHL Defenceman of the Year.

— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) June 28, 2022

Zellweger would've been the better choice imo but congrats to Staios

Matyáš Šapovaliv, Owen Beck, Jagger Firkus and Luca Del Bel Belluz among those who #LeafsForever invited to extended interviews in Toronto after NHL Combine. Does it mean anything? Maybe...

— Jakub Hromada (@JakubHromadaCZ) June 29, 2022

Could mean something or nothing. Feel like all these guys could be had in the 2nd round. Really hope we see the Leafs trade back.

Depends who's on the board for me, but I feel like I'll be leaning toward trading back when we get there.

Cormier would’ve been a better choice than both. Had 30+ goals this year, he had more goals than both combined and had more points than both.

Though him and Zellweger were really close, Staios wasn’t even close and shouldn’t have won it.

Agreed, unless someone they have on their board that’s a top 10 talent for them available at 25, then keep the pick.

But for me the difference between 25 and late 30-50’s is not very far. There could be some serious talent in the early to late 2nd round, I’d rather see them target two players (if possible).

Draft can’t come fast enough

Yeah, there's only a couple of guys that I think I'd be just 'satisfied' to pick at 25. I'm likely going to be either ecstatic to pick somebody that fell, or want to trade back. There's not a lot of middle area.