If your team comes away with any two of Firkus/Miro/Hutson/Casey/Trikosov/Sykora that’s an A draft

Yeah, the Coyotes have a MASSIVE opportunity here. Really intrigued to see what they do with it.

It’s the coyotes so my expectations aren’t that high

Seeing a massive whiff would be fine by me lol

I’d feel bad for the coyotes fan though

Miro is more likely to drop that far because he's not just Russian but also because of his health status and the concerns some scouts have expressed about his Hockey IQ and toolkit.

I cannot see how Trikozov falls out of the second round. That would mean he's the #1 steal of the draft candidate. He shouldn't even fall out of the 1st imo.

Yeah, it'd suck for him, but he's used to it by now.

I was thinking something around Mitts(potential 2C, but mostly a 3C right now), and Johnson who is a solid LD prospect who played all year with Faber. Maybe add 42 or our 3rd.

Hey I agree lol, but that’s just what I’ve heard. Iirc Pronman mentioned that lots of people around the league have been saying that about the Coyotes in his 7-round mock draft article, and then had them take Schaefer+Rinzel with their 2 late 1sts, and then Mesar, Nyman, Sapovaliv, M. Fisher, and Brennan and other than Mesar (who they loved at the combine) I think every single other player there is 6’2”+ lol

Goalies are weird this draft, not many good ones, no clear top guy, and the order isn’t as established as past years. Imo there’s three tiers:

Best available: Topias Leinonen, Tyler Brennan

For the record: Wheeler views these as the likely top two goalies taken but personally likes Havelid more and wouldn’t take any goalie in the top 100. These two are the only goalies mentioned in THN’s top 100, Pronman’s top 118 (he had 4 more in the 119-127 range), and Bob McKenzie’s top 90 + HMs (so basically top 100).

“Bigger” guys with some upside, except all are only 6’2”-6’3” except the 6’5” Beaupit and the 6’4” Kochendorfer (who is probably not a lock to get selected, he’s mentioned in the THN Draft Preview but Ryan Kennedy seems to love the best draft-eligible NAHL goalie, probably because of Bishop/Hellebuyck, but they don’t get taken that often, see: him liking Bartoszkiewicz a lot last year, and neither Kochendorfer nor Bartoszkiewicz had close to the DY season in the NAHL that Bishop and especially Hellebuyck did) so not even THAT big, and I’d say this is typically minimum size for an NHL goalie: Mason Beaupit, Niklas Kokko, Andrew Oke, Ty Young, Axel Mangbo, Ivan Zhigalov, Ian Blomquist, Nick Malik, Tyler Muszelik, Chase Coward, Reid Dyck, Owen Millward, Croix Kochendorfer, Simon Wolf

Smaller guys (I think one or two of these guys is 6’1”, the rest are shorter) with skill and arguably more upside in some cases, but emphasis on small, which doesn’t usually translate to the NHL: Hugo Havelid, Brett Brochu, Dylan Silverstein, Sergei Ivanov, Thomas Milic, Luca Di Pasquo, Simon Latkoczy, Cameron Whitehead, Vincent Filion, Michael Schnattinger, Lukas Swedin, Maxim Arefyev, Braden Holt

This is just a sorting of every guy I’ve heard about from various sources, but the main thing is that there isn’t really tiers this year. Like last year you had Cossa/Wallstedt as 1sts, then Gaudreau/Lennox around the 3rd, then Boyko as like a 4th, then whoever you like imo. In 2020 you had Askarov as a 1st, then Blomqvist/Clang/Daws/Commesso as 2nd-3rds, then Bednar/Garand as the next best probably going in the 4th, before the field opened up. And I’m talking pre-draft, obviously a couple other guys snuck in because a certain team really liked them, but this was the pre-draft consensus expectation. This year you have just Leinonen/Brennan in that Gaudreau/Lennox tier of guys you’d like to take in the 3rd, then maybe Beaupit in the Boyko tier (basically just comes down to biggest goalie of the rest, and 6’7”>6’5”) as more of a 4th rounder, and then more small goalies than usual as the next best (at least subjectively). For the record I only really like the first two goalies I listed in each tier plus Milic/Silverstein, but only those 8 goalies would be guys I use a non-7th round pick on, and only the top 2 + Beaupit and maybe Havelid would I take before the 5th honestly. Weak class overall imo, anyone else have any thoughts?

I argue this is probs the weakest goalie class seen in a while. Some potential good candidates to be late surprises but nothing really standouts as man last year there were some good options to take

Now one guy to watch is Havelid as if he can grow a tad more and if he can adapt to adult SHL hockey we could be in for something special

And then there is the 7th round safe pick in Malik but thats really it

2023 will probs be when we see a goalie get drafted in the first round again

Can’t beat this, well said.

It is a very weak class for goalies, especially going from years past. You touched on a lot of good goalies. Two I like are:

Maxim Mayorov - June birthday so a bit on the young side (6’6 190), has strong numbers (.931 sv% in 32 games) despite not being on one the better programs in the MHL.

Austin McNicholas - (6’1 173) finished the season with a 1.78 GAA and a .926 Save % with Salisbury.

Yeah, all the late round candidates are pretty much in the Dustin Wolf/Devon Levi tier of maybe there's some skill there but they're so tiny. I do like Havelid a lot. And while Hockey Canada is a terrible organization, there's definitely a reason they keep going back to Brochu for international tournaments, so I'd take a risk on him even though he's an overager now. I don't know about the 2023 goalie crop (I barely know this one lol, it's hardly worth learning about), but there doesn't have to be a goalie drafted in the 1st every year. We had four in the last three 1st rounds, but 2011, 2013-14, 2016, and 2018 had none, and no other year in recent memory except last year had more than one. Goalies in the 1st aren't that common. There might be a high end young goalie for next year, but most of the guys I've heard about for next year's class are centres.

Thanks! I haven't heard of Mayorov, but that frame is intriguing. Big enough to have dominant upside, but not overly heavy (that's a concern with Leinonen, who is 6'5" but already like 230 lbs, which is heavier than all but like 3 goalies that played in the NHL last year, and he projects to gain more weight given that he's only 18, so he'll have to work with a nutritionist to bring that down). Mayorov can afford to add 20 lbs of lean muscle and hopefully maintain quickness if that's a strength of his (the only site I could find that is clearly poorly translated said he had good movement and "his body makes it easy to close the gate with himself" lmfao), and obviously that frame is worth taking a chance on. He might be worth a 7th, although the Russia factor might mean he slides to next year when there's more clarity on the real life situation (I wouldn't be surprised if Sergei Ivanov is the only Russian goalie drafted tbh).

I haven't heard of McNicholas, but looking at his EP page, he's a weird one. He's not that big, he played in high school this year, and he's committed to the BCHL next year from what I've found. That's not a path that generally leads to the NHL, guys that play in the BCHL in their draft year barely ever get drafted and rarely goalies, because most in Canada are playing in the CHL, and most in the USA are at LEAST in the NAHL if not the USHL/NCAA. But then again playing in the Belarusian 2nd league in your draft year isn't exactly a typical route to the NHL and Klimovich was the 40th guy off the board last year, plus goalies develop weird, so who knows lmao.

A few days away from the draft and I’m now set.

If Kasper is available at 11; I want him in teal.
Followed by Lekki, Nazar, Yurov.

My ideal Sens draft would be taking one of the guys mentioned below, who I project as some of the best players available around the Sens picks. Obviously if a guy I mentioned earlier is available later then I’d like them later even more. Also if some other guys fall a lot I’m sure I wouldn’t mind them.

7: Any of the presumptive top 6 (Wright, Cooley, Slafkovsky, Nemec, Jiricek, Gauthier) if they fall should be the guy. If not, then one of Savoie or Kemell should be taken. I wouldn’t be a big fan of the pick, but I’d be willing to accept Kasper or Lekkerimaki. Pretty much anyone else would be a mediocre pick at best this high in the draft.

39: Miroshnichenko, Rinzel, Lamoureux, Salomonsson, Luneau, Mesar, Lutz, Firkus, Nyman, Bystedt

64/72: Warren, M. Havelid, Sparkes, Dumais, Rohrer, Leinonen, Brennan, Neuchev, Trikozov, Ingram, Lindgren

87: Beaupit, Petrovsky, Duda, Moldenhauer

104: George, Milne, Knuble, Dolzhenkov, Sapovaliv

Nice for Toronto and this is all depending on the RFA's and all that

25th OA = Pickering, Mataychuk, Kulich, Belluz, Ostlund

78th OA = Bryce McConnell-Barker

217 OA = Nick Malik

Now there is a chance we see more depending on what happens with Kerfoot and Holl but for now this is what I see

I thought Nazar would go as high as 6 a few months ago but all these mock drafts/insiders have him outside of the top 10.

Dont know what he did but apparently hes been dropping and now is rarely considered in the top 10-15 on most mock drafts now

Weird

I think as time has passed, more NHL scouts/execs have talked to guys from the public sphere, and it seems like in the NHL circles they aren’t as fond of him, his upside is projected as small 3C who is maybe a 2C, and you really want a lock for a top 6 forward in the top 10. He’s still high on the draft boards of guys that love their small, skilled players (Chris Peters had him at 7 and Scott Wheeler had him at 11) but I think it’s more realistic to expect him to go somewhere in the teens, as NHL teams want either a guy who is closer to NHL ready, or a guy that is more likely to play at some point (like Nazar has high upside, but guys like Geekie or Kasper are more likely to at least make the NHL in some capacity). I could maybe see the Jets take him at 14, and would be surprised if he slipped past the Wild at 19 (especially if Geekie is off the board first, which I think will inevitably happen) so that’s probably a realistic range for him.

From @CraigJButton’s Mock Draft:Gauthier a fit for Sens - https://t.co/iTl0kTLHLQGeekie, Mateychuk to Jets - https://t.co/wMPeKOGdxJCanucks get Pickering - https://t.co/XftTnVNkPHOhgren to Leafs - https://t.co/qOajQ6fEHaSchaefer to Oilers - https://t.co/jcQmFsLLj3 pic.twitter.com/j7CVNuqI7W

— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) July 5, 2022

Every GM that sleeps on Nazar will regret it for years. For me, he is the best offensive weapon in this draft, size be damned.

I don’t think Nazar’s size is an issue , he’ll likely play in the NHL at 5’10 per 5’11 185-190 lbs. He also has a non stop motor and arguably a top 5 two way forward in the draft.

If the isles pass on him at 13 I’ll lose it

And he’s also good defensively. I don’t really see any weaknesses in his game and he has elite upside

He is the total package, hands down my favourite prospect. He is the most dynamic player in this draft, his skill set is very translatable to the NHL level. He is easily the most effective rush attacker in this class, he creates almost all of his offence off the rush. He won’t need to be helped by anyone, he will be able to drive a line and makes those around him better. There is not much that separates him and Cooley. He has excellent speed and edge work that seems to be effortless. He uses his skating to his advantage over all 200 feet of the ice. He can keep pace, and get into defensively strong positions quickly. He uses this skill to make him a dangerous weapon in transition.