Bob McKenzie Final List - Slafkovsky first overall

Slafkovsky shouldn't even be going first. Weird that on my mock I have him falling.

Its Bob McKenzie...his list is rarely wrong on top few picks.

Very wild, but after reading the article, it's a heck of a lot closer than simply looking at the list.

I tend to agree with @christianyog that Slaf shouldn't be at 1OA. One of the reasons for him being there according to Bobby Margarita was that he had performed well on the biggest stage-well...don't know how you hold that against Wright, but so be it...

I see it as the Dubois vs. Puljujarvi debate from their draft year, but my bet is that 5 years from now everyone is going to be upset that they let Cooley slide...kid is fantastic.

*IF* Columbus gets Jiricek, they're the big winner IMO.

There seems to be a lot of places that see Wright sliding. McKenzie/TSN, Pronman/Athletic, Peters/DailyFaceoff, HockeyProspect (another one I cannot remember).

I don’t think it’s one guy holding something against Wright. I think it’s just the collective opinion coming into view. Wrights been given benefit of doubt since he was CHL exceptional status player. And hasn’t lived up to that standard.

Oh I totally understand that nobody is holding anything against Wright-Bobby's list has a ton of input from scouts, and I really don't have a horse in the game...

I just find some of the reasoning weird-Just going to do a Kakko comp here...One of the main reasons listed was the Olympics...Like yes, great run of 7 goals in 7 games, but Kakko had a very similar WC in his draft year and it still didn't push him past Jack Hughes at the end of the day. It's not like he dominated Liiga this year (16th on the team in scoring vs. Kakko who finished 3rd with almost 4 times the production in his draft year). Obviously just throwing points out there as being the logic is kinda a fools errand, but if it's me, I'm taking the playmaking center who has been extremely good his entire way up.

Difference between 2019 and 2022 is Jack Hughes was a consensus, wire-to-wire #1 pick and had a resume of a generational prospect (but not the size).

Nobody ever really thought Kakko would be a threat to him, but we needed something to talk about.

Maybe it’s more like 2017 with Hischier passing Patrick late.

Fair assessment. You know-I keep looking at this years draft like 2011, but that draft is probably not a bad comp.

He doesn’t even belong in the top 5

All the more reason why I hope the Leafs trade back, unless someone they have high on their board is falling, the value you could get a 25 could very be the same as late 30's/40's. I'd rather seem them try and get two 2nd's this year.

In retrospect, it seems move obvious now that it has probably been Slafkovsky at #1 for a while.

Yeah, wild and wacky. It's a shame there wasn't anyone going crazy to jump up a spot or two to take Wright or Cooley at 2, so that you could take Nemec a couple of picks later, but it's still a really solid pick, IMO. He's going to be very good.

Columbus and Seattle are the biggest winners IMO. Jiricek is exactly what they needed, and a Wright/Benny core at C for the next decade could really help jumpstart them in a couple of years (Not to mention that they could also end up with Bedard or Michkov if they don't see some growth this year.

Curious what everyone's thoughts are for the Ducks draft @salzy @oldnyifan @tz11?

Buffalo had the best first round to me Savoie, Ostlund and Kulich were 3 of my favourites in this class, Preds getting Kemell is huge too, thats who I wanted us to take at 10 when he was still there

Wild had to me a sneaky good round with Yurov and Ohgren

For the Ducks getting Minty (Im going with that nickname and no one can tell me otherwise) at 10 was a good pick, hes a dynamic player and has a ceiling on par with Nemec/Jiricek but not as safe of a pick. I see him alot as he plays junior hockey just about an hour away from me Im very excited we got him even though I saw him as more of a pick at 22 than 10

Gaucher fills a need, we needed a power forward and he is the safest pick in the draft, not a high ceiling but should be a solid 3 C/RW I dont hate the pick but not crazy about it

Yeah, that's pretty much where I was at...I was hoping for best forward available at 10, just because I felt like there was a number of similar dman that'd be available at 22, but I'm ok with it. Kemell or Lekkerimaki would have been fun, but maybe the focus in free agency/trades will be on upgrading the offence? I'll be interested to see if Gaucher can take the next step this year in the Q. A lot of nights he was playing behind Bolduc and Rochette on a very strong Remparts team, and Patty Roy likes his veterans. Could find out pretty quickly if there's a higher ceiling there or not.

Also, I hope you put some money down on that top 5...not a lot of people would have had Wright all the way to 4, but it makes a bit of sense that Arizona would have been 100% on Cooley.

I thought that we had a good draft, although I too wanted Kemell at #10, and I wanted Brad Lambert at #22 once we took the defenseman at #10. But both picks are okay. At least I don't feel like I did last year, when I really really really wanted us to take Luke Hughes at #3.

Nice to see us break the "No Russian!" drunk Bobby scheme though. Kids got a lot of potential. Kind of feeling how I felt about Hampus when we picked him, but that turned out really well.

I'm happy for my Jets. Getting McGroarty and Lambert is a W for my team.

14 Right I think not bad