The Athletic Hockey Show - NHL Draft first round recap: Habs take Juraj Slafkovsky at No. 1, Blackhawks deal Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach, and more

Episode Date: July 8, 2022

Max and Corey sit down in the stands of the Bell Centre in Montreal immediately following the first round of the NHL Draft and discuss the Montreal Canadiens selecting Juraj Slafkovsky with the No. 1 pick, the Seattle Kraken adding Shane Wright at No. 4, the Chicago Blackhawks acquiring 3 first round picks after trading away Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach in separate deals, why Simon Nemec was picked before David Jiricek, Ivan Miroshnichenko falling to the Washington Capitals at No. 20, and more.And, right now, you can get a 6 month subscription to The Athletic for just $1 a month when you visit http://theathletic.com/hockeyshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey everybody, Max Boltman here alongside Corey Pranman for a draft night episode of the Athletic Hockey Show's prospect series. We just wrapped up the first round here in Montreal, Corey, and I would call it a chaotic wild night, if not for the fact that it actually was pretty close to kind of the chaos scenario that you laid out in your mock this week. Urizzlovakowski goes number one, Logan Cooley 3, Shane Wright 4, with Simon Nemitz being one of the surprises at number 2 to the Devils. Let's just kind of unpack this top four here. How did it unfold this way? It was going to be a domino effect. If you change that first pick, it goes in what would have been considered the more chalkway.

I'm fairly confident. Your eyes, Lefkoski, is going to Devils. Then Logan Cooley or Simon Nemich, I believe, was going to be Arizona's pick. I can't tell you for which one was, but I believe it was Cooley. And then whichever one of those two weren't picked were going to go to Seattle. That's what I believe would have happened. figuring out Montreal was always a dilemma and I was never fully confident

even though I kind of felt that's where the winds were blowing and once that one went then I knew Shane Wright fall watch was on I mean there were scouts I talked to over in the week while I've been here in Montreal who thought if that scenario played out you can you're talking about him going to five six seven obviously that didn't happen and I always thought that was a little

unrealistic just given that this is still an amazing player we're talking about but this was a scenario that I thought could realistically happen if Slavkovsky was the first pick, which she ended up being. It was quite the scene when they made the pick. I mean, you didn't know how the fans here were going to react. I felt like I saw mostly cheers, heard mostly cheers here from this crowd. Yes, listen, I know what the haves faithful wanted.

I saw the online polls where 80, 90% of them wanted to pick right. But yes, once it was clear that this is who the management decided on, The fans got really behind the pick. And even when he was in the crowd before, you know, the fans were going nuts over him. And he's a likable kid too, great player. Listen, everyone has all the odds has their preferences. I have my preferences.

You have your preferences. But it's funny because I think not just between us, in my conversation with people around the league, other media, those doomsday scenarios always play out, oh, there's going to be booze. They're going to riot. People are going to throw beer cans. But for the most part, sanity seemed to prevail.

Never mind, not in the pick, but in terms of how people act as human beings. And they realize this is just a draft pick. And, you know, you have paid professionals who came to a conclusion. And maybe you disagree, maybe you don't. That's how sports always work. By the end of the day, that's who they wanted. And he's going to be a huge part of the Montreal Canadiens for a very long time. So I'm happy to see that they got behind him.

By the time he left the event level, left the draft floor, and he walked up the stairs here, right in between sections 115 and 116. He's high-fiving fans, fist-bumping. I saw a guy right toward the exit tunnel who had a pre-made Slavkovsky Canadians jersey showing. I love it. The guys who had the pre-made right jerseys are, that's an unfortunate sunk cost. But a big win for that guy, right?

Oh, yeah. No, for sure. Like I said, it was... I cover a lot of drafts. There's never usually this level of anxiety around. the first or overall pick. I don't know, you know, if you, and there's sometimes undecided first overall picks, but it was the context. It was the team that was making the pick. It was the home building. It was, you had the exceptional status kid in the mix. What a unique scenario. It was just so

fun to cover. It was stressful at times to cover, but it was really fun to cover. And obviously, this debate is not over. The Shane Wright advocates are not going away anytime soon. But what I like about this for Shane Wright is by going for listen he's an exceptional player great player he was second on my list I maintain you could have easily argued him to number one as the best player in the draft but by

going for he has to be a superstar is gone I think that illusion is gone from most people right now they see what we've been talking about what NHL teams have been talking about for all year they realize this illusion is gone and frankly he doesn't need to be in the NHL next season

He very well could be. I can see him be in the NHL, but fourth overall picks get sent back to junior all the time. And if that's what the Seattle Cracken decide, I just, it takes, there's just some pressure off this kid now from people expecting him to be something he isn't. He's a great player,

but I felt like just because of what he did as a 15-year-old and his exceptional status, I feel like there's a lot of people in the public, particularly, who were talking this guy up like something he is. And it wasn't fair to him. And I really like this outcome for Shane Wright. I like it for Seattle, too, because now you look, they've started their franchise with something that every franchise ultimately wants, two young, exceptional two-way centermen.

You know, what we'll see is either of them going to be a superstar, time will tell. But those are huge pieces. Cornerstones. You know, you look at, like, say, Ryan O'Reilly and Robert Thomas in St. Louis, and you're kind of envisioning a similar dynamic there, right? or either of them premier top 10 centers in the league? No, but the St. Louis Blues won a lot of games last season, and those two guys are a big reason why. And you're getting them at the very start of their career,

so I really like that for Seattle. We'll wrap on the top five soon here, but Simon Nemich to New Jersey, where did this one come from? I know you thought it could be if it was not Slavkovsky, one of the two right shot, D. What do you think ultimately separated Nemich there? I think Nemich, people just love the offense, the hockey sense.

especially when we saw him in those Slovakia extra league of playoffs he was a dynamic he was breaking games open by himself I actually had talked to quite a few people in the closing weeks who thought he was the first or second best player in the draft it was a minority opinion but it existed out there the places other than new jersey and like like i mean it was between him and euricek i thought i mean never just a better skater so i think there was some leave a little bit of concerns there in terms of how he translates to the n hansi and he's And, I mean, now you got him and Luke Hughes now on your blue line in the future. Those are, that's a very nice, for an organization that really needed another top young defenseman, I mean, he's going to be such a helpful part to that franchise.

He's going to get so many pucks to Jack Hughes and Dawson Mercer and Alex Holston and Nico Heeshire. Devils fans should be happy with that selection. One of the craziest storylines of the day started before we even got to the draft. And it was the start of many moves for the Chicago Blackhawks who enter the day without a first round pick. They end up making three. And the first way that they do that is by trading Alex to Brinkett for the seventh overall pick to Ottawa, a couple other picks in there as well. Then by trading away Kirby Doc to start a series of moves that lands on the number 13 pick. And eventually they get number 25 as well.

They come out of that with Kevin Kortinski, Frank Nazar, and Sam Renzell. What do you think of the Blackhawks Day? It's obviously a seismic one in Chicago. Very much seismic. There's a lot to dissect there. Before we even get to the first round picks, I feel like, you know, my opinions don't match Chicago's, and that's fine.

I know NHL scouts who loved all those players they picked and many others. Kirby Doc moving is very interesting to me, because when you're talking about a rebuild, that's a really young player. So when I see that happen, it's not about starting a new era of a rebuild. I get to bring it. He's two years away from being free.

agent. I get that one. But this is a guy you could as young, you could have extended, kept around for that next core. Doc didn't have the best season this year, and I suspect that people watching him in that organization may have been a little

frustrated by his development and his play, even though he's exceptionally talented. That's the only thing that comes to mind because otherwise, I don't know what you think, but it's hard to, I guess, I know they got some really nice picks, and Frank Nasonner's a great player, but is Frank Nazar going to be a better player than Kirby Doc?

I don't know, but he is younger, and it does tell me that, you know, there's a new management team there, one that did not draft Kirby Doc. And they have told their fans in very explicit terms, we're going to suck it, and we're going to suck for a while. And they're hoping to rebuild the right way. Obviously, next year's draft, very loaded at the top with two, arguably three premium prospects. It looks like Chicago is very much in the mix for these guys next year. but if your Rebo doesn't include Kirby Doc, you're talking about a very long and painful process, not dissimilar to the one that you've been covering in Detroit for a very long time.

Well, that was my first reaction to the De Brinket trade, frankly, because he's not an old player. He's 24, but it does tell me that they don't see him. His next deal is going to be significant. It's probably going to be around $9 million a year, and they're probably not going to be able to take advantage of really any of that based on the direction they're going here. I don't think that the Kirby Dock thing,

I don't think it can totally have been age. He's still young enough that it, you know, 21 years old. I think to me that does tell you they weren't sold on the player. They wanted to just retry it with somebody new. But I do think this looks like five years plus of a result. That's tough for a third overall pick three years later, right? No, no doubt. He's had some NHL sex, not a lot, but some NHL success.

Especially early. Yeah, just not this year. I get it. I've heard these frustrations with Kirby before when he was a junior player. I wonder if someone that's leaked into into this, but it's hard for me to say, I'm just speculating. I didn't expect them to be traded today,

so I wasn't really asking around about Kirby Doc. In terms of the players they selected, you know, they all went a little bit higher than they were on my personal list, but I know quite a few scouts that love Kevin Korsinski, that love Frank Nazar, that even have Sam Renzel as a first round pick, a lot of skating and skill that they drafted there.

I think with Renzel, it's going to be a very long wait. He's going back to the, the USHL next season. He's not even going to college, so you're hoping he's the next Blake Wheeler who follows that path. He was the last first round pick to go back to the USHL after being drafted, but it's going to be a long wait for him. Kortinski, I get it.

It's always been the defense that worried me a little bit, but if you think it's not that big an issue, you watch the WHL playoffs, you see the 6-2 skating, highly skilled, playmaking defenseman who's playing big minutes, I get it. I don't think that one's unreasonable. I might be off on that one. And Nazar just, he is what he is. He's an excellent player. The Hyvenham got a little out of control,

but he went where he probably should have. You know, he's an extremely quick, competitive. Their skill there, scored a lot this year. Those are three excellent prospects, but, man, the time frame we're talking about for those three become, you know, important NHL players. Other than, other than Kortinski, you're looking three to five years down the line at a minimum for those guys.

So, you know, I think Chicago fans have their eyes wide open to what's ahead for them. I want to go now to a couple of the players who slipped a little bit, and that would be Jonathan Lekaramaki, who we talked about potentially even threatening the top five earlier this week. He falls to number 15 to Vancouver. Yolkim Kamel, who was pretty much wired a wire top 10 since his hot start in Finland. He gets to the Predators at number 17.

I'll actually like these landing spots for both of these players quite a bit. It might have meant some discomfort getting there and not knowing exactly what was going on. But from your perspective, talking to folks around the league, How did these two guys get to 15 and 17? It's something we've talked about on the podcast a lot is that I think when you look at the history of the NHL draft, presuming Savoy is a winger, Matthew Savoy, the ninth overall picked a buffalo.

How many 5-9, 5-10 wingers go in the top 10 or top 12? These guys are being mocked consistently in that range. I'm mocked consistently. But there was always a part of my brain that was thinking, this doesn't make sense. This is not the reality of how the NHL draft work. And you see that with a big defenseman. Kevin Gwarchinsky, big defenseman, Pavl Mitchikov, big center,

Connor Giki. McGority gets into the top 15. Yeah, you have McGrady in there. So just like stuff like that where, yeah, there were some smaller players mixed in there like Fernandez-Armond, Denton Matechuk, but that was always a concern of mine when I was looking through their projections is that you have Lekar-Maki, tremendous skill, scoring ability, same thing with Kamel, but Lekar-Maki is kind of a perimeter player,

doesn't drive it even strength. Camel good not great skater For someone who we learned just recently is not 511 or 511 and a half But it's closer to 510 That combine measurement I know talking to people around the league did not help his case So that doesn't surprise me too much I thought they go a little bit higher But definitely Camel was the one I started getting cold feet on him

From everybody in the league I was talking to There wasn't a whole lot of I can't wait to draft that guy That I was hearing among the teams that were picking high I think for La Caramaki especially. I know Vancouver, it was all about the right shot D, the right shot D, but he's going to go into a situation there where, you know, we'll see what's going to happen with J.T. Miller. He did not move today. That was one of the big questions of what would happen there. And by the time he's ready to play, you're going to have to have a new Brock Besser contract.

And so I think they just saw a guy who was just so talented. And they said, yes, that's not our immediate depth chart needs, but fuck it. Let's just get the best player. Yeah. All right. Let's go on now to the Russians. That was another one of the big questions coming in here. And, you know, Ivan Marisha Shoshenko actually ends up, other than Minchikov, who goes at 10, but he was played on the OHL, so a little different circumstance. I was very surprised to see Mara Shashenko go ahead of Danila Yorov, but he goes at 20 the Capitals. Great story. For everything that he's been through, to still be a first-round pick, to still be a top 20 pick. That's one of the best moments of this draft.

I agree. And obviously, Washington believes in the medicals. Not everybody I talked to was overly convinced by the medicals in the league, but enough, there was quite a few people who who do did think he's going to recover fine and obviously Washington is one of them and you gotta put Marissachenko in the right context before his play started to dip a little bit in the middle of the season and which I think any reasonable person can conclude it was because of the Hodgkin's lymphoma

he diagnosed this was a guy I was talking about he's second overall he's third overall he's fourth overall this guy is not just a good player he was a monster when he was healthy he dominated the U18 World Championships as an underage player last season in Dallas. You're talking about a guy he's big, powerful,

fast, skilled, has a bullet of a shot that can score from the dots. He has everything you think of in a tie in the lineup forward in the National Hockey League. It was just the passport and the health issues.

I respect this swing by the Washington Capitals. This is the kind of swing you've got to make it for the Washington Capitals because that window is closing fast. You've got the Nicholas Backstream issues going on right now.

He's going to take a couple of years to come. But if he comes and he is what we thought he was a year ago, that's a guy who helps keep the window open a little bit longer. Certainly, you know, differentiating circumstance for him, but is the reason that, you know, a guy like

Minchukov can go 10 and Yorov gets, you know, into the mid-20s there at 24? Is that as simple as one plays in Ontario, one plays in Russia? That's basically it. And I knocked people in the league who thought it was kind of ridiculous people were thinking that way, but there was quite a few people in the league who thought that

because he was playing Ontario, he's not even going back to Russia this off-season. He was such a commitment to avoid those issues that clearly the Anaheim Ducks believe these Russian factor variables did not apply to Mitzikov, like they did Tamir Zanchanko, and especially they did

to Naila Yorov, who falls to 24, despite most people in the league thinking he was the top 10 or 12 talent. There was some cult feed on him a little bit in recent days when I was talking to some scouts, like, about exactly how good he is, how much of a swing would you take on him? Most people in the league think he was a, you know, a high,

first half of the first round type of talent. and I didn't know the exact order, but I started getting a sense on the Russians and Brad Lambert that it wasn't going to happen in the top 20. I was wrong on one of them, which was Minerosa-Chanko. I felt in general there were fewer players at the very end of this first round today that I was going, wow, how was that guy still on the board than in some years? But there are still some big names out there.

As we go on it tomorrow, I'm going to do something that maybe isn't the best podcast practice on a 12-hour shelf life, Corey. but as we sit here on Thursday night, who stands out to you that's left on the board going into tomorrow? You're not really surprised that small defensemen didn't get picked in the first round, even though Denton Matechuk, who I'm very passionate about, did end up going where I think he should have gone on talent.

But I think you're looking at Matthias Havill in Lincooping. I think you're looking at Lane Hudson with a program. Two small defensemen, but both have a ton of offense. I think you're looking at Luca Del Bellalooze, who was one of the, who scored at a really high rate in the Ontario League. I really like both for the USHL kids, Ryan Green, Camelund. I don't think they're going to last long tomorrow. I think you really like Yanni Neiman, the Finnish player.

I think he's going to go very fast tomorrow from just the early buzz I'm hearing right now on him. And I think that's, and Tristan Luno from Gano, I think he's going to go on the second round as well. I think those are guys, and I agree with you. There wasn't a lot of, I don't think it was a really surprising first round to me. It depends on your context on that, obviously, in terms of what you were expecting to happen. But, you know, just we had talked about what Brad Lamber. We thought Brad Lamber. We talked about the Russians. And Brad Lamber, I think, goes really close to where, where,

I had a mocked. I didn't have Lamaru in my last mock or Philip Meshar, but those are always, those are guys who have been in other mock drafts. I think especially Lamor, we've had them in first round mocks before. It was just a matter of if we thought they were going to go or not kind of thing. And I think we actually had a mock to Arizona at one point in one of our mock drafts. So, but just wasn't the most recent one. So yeah, I thought Schaefer and Gosey would go a little bit higher. I get it. They're both maybe not the most flashy offensive types, skating, especially on

Schaefer, skate away some teams. So those were ones I was probably too high on, at least relative to the industry. But they both end up going in the first round. And I think they'll both be important players from both the ducks and oilers, respectively down the line. Let's finish this thing where we started with the team picking first overall, the host team, Montreal. They start this day. Who knows what's going to happen? They come out of it with Yeroslovsky, Kirby Doc, Philip Masar.

What do you make of that? Well, let's talk about Kirby Doc for a second. We already talked about them briefly. If you're expecting Kirby Doc to be the guy you saw in that first, NHL season where it looks like he's on the quick path to start on the 6-4, fast, highly skilled, playmaking centerman, he's so dynamic. If you're expecting that guy, this future star number one center, I think he'd be disappointed. If you're thinking, I think Kirby Duck would be a really good top two-line center for my organization

for a very long time. I think that's perfectly within the realm of expectations. Yes, I know he didn't have the best season. He's a little inconsistent. I get that. But, man, he's talented. I don't think the compete is that bad either. Like, it's just, he's just not a, you know, a true game breaker, but he's got so much NHL assets.

I think he's going to be a really good player. And we go, we talk about Slavkovsky. We talk about him a lot, quite a lot. I have a suspicion. We're not going to stop talking about Slavkovsky and Shane Wright and those guys not much going forward. But, you know, the comparable I always use my articles was Rick Nash. And it might be a corny one to use for a first overall pick, like what was Natch. was who also wasn't the most high profile first overall pick.

But I think this is what Slavkovsky can be. I think this is a guy who has a good chance to be a 30, 35, maybe even 40 goal score at his peak, who can be a legitimate high in the lineup forward, has a chance to be a star. He's not going to, he's not a guy I'm sitting here thinking, oh, he's the Hall of Fame's coming for him in 20 years and something like that. He's not a guy I'm thinking, wow, you know, this is, your rebilts over. you got Slavkovsky and Kirby Dock. The rebuild's over. Good job, Montreal.

We'll see you in the playoffs in three years. But man, he's a hell of a hockey player. And he's going to be a really important part of a good playoff team when it's time to be that in Montreal. I mean, I don't know how you can't watch it. I get the statistics. I get it. His stats sucked this season, especially for first overall. There is no arguing around that fact.

But man, when you watch him, 6'4, he can skate. He's so skilled. He makes plays. He competes hard. He could shoot the puck. Like, I think people were making really mental gymnastics trying to figure out why this guy was in the mix. And it was just, I hate to use the word watch the games

because it's like demeaning sometimes to people. Sure. Especially when they don't watch the, they don't have time to watch these players kind of thing. They look at the stats, I understand it's a reasonable conclusion to jump to. But if you just really just turn on those Olympic games, those World Championship games, his Hilingka games, his World Junior Games from previous season,

the World Championship Games for previous season. So many games you could watch this guy in. And you just really dial in on him. You're like, fuck, he's a good player. He's a really fucking good player. And I think this is a great day if you're a Montreal Canadiens fan. And as of today, they love him here in Montreal. That's going to do it for us today.

Thanks for joining us live from the draft floor from the stands here in Montreal. We back at it soon. We're going to have a ton more great content coming your way. So you can subscribe to the athletic for $1 a month right now. Get on that. I promise. there's a ton of good stuff coming. We'll talk to you again soon.