The Athletic Hockey Show - NHL rookies: who stays beyond 10 games?, Corey’s latest 2024 NHL Draft ranking, listener questions, and more

Episode Date: November 3, 2023

On a brand new Prospect Series episode of The Athletic Hockey Show, Max and Corey are joined by The Athletic’s own Scott Wheeler to discuss which NHL rookies approaching the 10-game mark are staying for the rest of the season and which aren’t, and whether Shane Wright will head to the World Juniors for Team Canada one more time.Plus, the guys break down Corey’s latest 2024 NHL Draft ranking and answer some listener questions in the return of the mailbag.Subscribe to The Athletic Hockey Show on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@theathletichockeyshowYou’ll be amazed at what you can do with Grammarly. Go to http://grammarly.com/podcast to download for FREE today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Hey, everybody. Max Pultman here alongside Corey Promin and Scott Wheeler for another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show's Prospect Series. Fun show on tap today, but I want to start at guys with some talk on the rookies, which I guess we left off there too. But we're getting close to an important moment on the NHL calendar here right around this 10-game mark where teams have to usually make some decisions on whether they're going to keep a guy around for a little. bit longer at least, or send him back to Junior. It seems like, though, most of the names of intrigue, we're talking your Bedard, Fantilli, Leo Carlson, we're talking the breakout of Matt Poitra, we're talking to Kevin Kortensky.

It seems like there's really not that much of a decision to be made here. It seems like all of these guys are clearing that bar. Right. The only one who really went back was Fraser Minton from Toronto, who played a couple of games, and then they kind of helped you scratch to send him back. but it does seem like for a lot of these rookies, the decision is not the nine-game mark on whether the entry-level deal will begin this season,

but it's more around the 40-game mark, which officially tolls one of their seven years of free agency. And most NHL teams consider the second deadline, the most significant of the two. But I definitely think, I mean, on Bidar and Leo Carlson and Fantilli, I'm not expecting them to be sent back to a non-NHL team anytime soon. But I think when it comes to Kevin Kornchinsky, Matt Poitra, and Zach Benson, who all have World Junior eligibility, I think they are the most fascinating to watch.

Benson notably has the injury. He's actually not at the nine-game mark yet. That one will be interesting to watch. He's played six games out week to week with a lower body injury that apparently is an aggravation of an earlier injury. So that one's going to be interesting. but it is, it does seem to be the case that their play so far has, has warranted keeping them around. Scott, I want to go to you here on this.

I think Poitra's been one of the biggest stories because of what Boston lost, that Poitra steps in and they have not missed a beat. What are you seeing out of this kid that's allowed that to happen? Yeah, it's been fun to watch him because he's just, he's always been a really hardworking kid. Teams in his draft year really like the sort of pro quality to his game and the style of play piece and then the other tools have just come along and progress nicely and he's got decent skill and he can pass the puck and he can chip in on second power play and all of that.

And then on top of that, Pavel Zaka, who I think they'd kind of penciled into be one of those top two centers in the absence of Kreichi and Bergeron hasn't played well. And they've had to move Zaka to the wing to sort of facilitate getting him going. So all of a sudden, he's not just a piece of the puzzle. They need him. I know he's only playing 15, 16 minutes tonight, but he's commonly been centering one of their top two lines. And if they don't feel like Zaka can be a sort of middleman on one of those top two lines and they like him better on the wing, then he, in terms of the world junior conversation, he's in a very sort of weird spot because A, Poitra has never really had a ton of hockey

Canada involvement. And I'm sure that he would love to have that. A lot of these kids because of the pandemic and where they fell in the age bracket, they got shafted, right? Like they didn't get, didn't get to play at U-Aune Worlds and those kinds of things, right? So he's an interesting one that way where this is his last year of eligibility for the World Juniors. Could Boston be established enough in the playoff picture by the time mid-December rolls

around where they can send him there and then still have him back after the break and have it not really hurt them? I think that's an interesting conversation with Poitra, just because I'm sure he'd like to play at the World Juniors. I'm sure he'd like to get that experience and could be a big part of a fairly deep team Canada up front. So that, if anything, is the only thing that's interesting. I think on his play, he looks like he belongs on that team. He looks like he's going to be a top 12 forward for that team all year long.

Looks like they're going to need him. The question is really just going to be, and I'm sure they'll have this with him closer to is, do you want to go and can we afford to lose you for three weeks to a month, which is really what we're talking about. If he goes to selection camp, which sometimes players skip selection camp, just go directly to Sweden in this case. But if he's at selection camp, it's December 10th to January 6th. January 6th is the closing of the World Juniors.

That's a month away from the Bruins. So that's the consideration for them more than whether or not he belongs on the Bruins. I think he's shown that he's an NHL piece for them. I'm not sure he's going to be at the World Juniors too. And I want to kind of see how he progresses over the course of the season, though, also. It was a great opening few weeks, but we'll see how he does through November and through December. Obviously, you know, the hockey sense and the skill and the competitiveness has stood out so far at the NHL level. But we'll see if he can physically keep it up.

But the role he fills on that team is a really important role. Obviously, that's a top six center currently. And that is, you know, there's two things about that division. I know Boston's off to a great start this season, but that's an extremely competitive division. and conference. And if you decide for whatever reason you want to stop leading on this kid so heavily, that's not really a role that's easy to fill externally. The reason he's in that role is there was no other internal solution.

And they kind of need to, they need him right now to win games. So for all those reasons, if he keeps this up over the next month, I don't think they'll even entertain the conversation with Hockey Canada. How about Kortinski? Because he's a guy, you know, there's been some highlight moments or as a pass the other night that certainly made the rounds. But that team is not in the same spot as the Bruins are. And so while Kurchinsky may be playing a real role for them, there's a little more of a to what end and what benefits Kevin Kornski more to that conversation. I agree with that.

And I think, you know, outside of those, you know, the high, high end picks, you know, the top three picks, whether it is, Bidar, Tilly Carlson or guy like Logan Cooley, I think you can argue Kevin Korninski has been one of the most impressive rookies in the NHL so far this season. And he's playing a lot of minutes, playing a lot of minutes in part because, as you said, it's an extremely young team. It's not a good team. But he's had some very positive moments and his skating is clearly NHL caliber. But I tend to agree, I would like to see him in an environment where his team actually has

the puck from most of the game. I'd like to see him in an environment where he is the go-to guy among the best players in his age group. We'll see what Chicago decides, but I don't expect they will be anywhere close to a playoff race this season. And I do think it might benefit Kevin to get away from that for a month and a half to just breathe and get away from the physical demands of the NHL. this team Canada is in an interesting sort of predicament too where the number of returnees could potentially just come down to Kevin Kurchinski Owen Beck and obviously Shane Wright who's a huge huge huge wildcard having participated in multiple world juniors already so if he goes back like he's he's the presumptive number one D on that team he's the driver

of the bus on a on a back end it also looks like it's going to be pretty strong for team Canada this year so that could be a huge huge huge opportunity for him to just sort of continue to build on some momentum that he's had to start the year. I thought in whenever I turned down in Chicago, I thought he's been, looked every bit apart of a 20 minute a night defenseman. I went to that game when he, when they came through Toronto and he was excellent that night. He just, he looks like an NHLer, but yeah, I think to Corey's point, it's, it's about the setting and you get to go and potentially win a gold medal and sort of be the guy for a change. He very much wasn't the guy in his first world juniors last

year he was kind of a six-seventh-e on that team was playing a pretty limited role so uh this would be a bit of a role reversal coming back as a returnee for him and he's another guy who doesn't have to go like he doesn't need to go to the selection camp in oakville on december 10th right like he could report on christmas eve when benson does get healthy what would you do with him if you're buffalo well because of the injury uh they will have some leeway to first make a conditioning assignment with him to Rochester so they can push that decision off by a couple of weeks. And then they will have, you know, another, there's been another week to get him to that nine game mark.

And then I think the biggest question is what happens with Jack Quinn in regards to Benson because Buffalo has a lot of great wingers. And I think if they're fully healthy, I'm not sure if there's a spot for Benson or a spot where they need to play him essentially right now. But there's, it's very possible there will be another injury. their forward group between now and when Quinn comes back. So maybe the decision isn't, it makes it a little bit harder than. If they have reasonable health,

I would probably, you know, keep him around as long as possible, then send him to the World Junior camp and then back to the WHL, presuming he's going to get traded at some point to a contender and then has a deep run. And then the following season, you hope he's a full-timer in the NHL. I've seen really good flashes. from Benson in the NFL so far, but I'm not sure he's moving the needle for a team that has significant playoff aspirations this season. Yeah, I'd concur on all of that. He's the most likely of those three to go back.

It just feels like you take the conditioning stint in the NHL, get him back up to speed. If he plays well in the conditioning state, you bring him back up and sort of inch closer to that 9-10 game mark. And then you've got a decision to make that I think likely results in him going to to play for Canada at the World Juniors as an 18-year-old, which will probably make him one of the younger players on that team outside of a Macklin Celebrini type. And then sort of back to Winachi. Winachi likely trades him at the trade deadline to a team like a Moose Jha where he could play with Braydeniaggar and others from that, and Denton Maitachuk and others from that that team

candidate team in a deep playoff run in the W.HL. That seems like the most logical sort of outcome for him for me. And I guess that leaves us with one of the big ones. You alluded to it earlier, Scott, Shane Wright, as a two-time returnee here is a factor in this conversation as well. So far this season, he's obviously playing in Coachella Valley point per game there. I assume if it's the question is still A.HL or World Junior, you still like World Junior there, even though he's done it before? Cause. I don't know.

I don't know that he, I don't know how up to it he would be. if you recall, he bailed out on the Summer World Juniors in Edmonton, too. So this could have been had he played at those Summer World Juniors, this could have been his fourth, potentially his fourth World Juniors already. So I feel like just in talking to him and in knowing some of the people around him, like he's- And it would have been his fifth camp too because he got cut from the one during the COVID season.

Yeah, yeah. So I don't know, just in talking to him and in talking to people, it seemed like he was very over playing in his age group, sort of late last season in the OHL. And like he wasn't, not that he didn't want to be there or that he had a bad attitude or anything, but he wanted to turn pro and move on.

It's been a long time at the OHL level for him because of exceptional status. It's been a long time playing junior hockey. I think he kind of views himself as a pro at this point. And I do wonder whether he would even be up for it and up for all of the media circus that would come with it. And he would likely be the captain on that team or at least in the conversation.

And it just, it's a, it's a big commitment for him to make when he's in the midst of a pro season and trying to take a step beyond what the world juniors are in theory in his career. And I guess there's less incentive when they won the gold medal. He was a very good player in the gold medal game last year. Like, there's probably not that feeling of, I guess when I said that at first, my thought kind of was he didn't like tear up that tournament last year. Last year, the story of the tournament was the Connor Bedard show. But he did have a very fitting, probably satisfying.

send-off to that, that I guess probably could make it feel like a bookend. I guess my question would be, do you want to go back and dominate that tournament? But I guess if you're a point-per-game player in the HL, maybe that's not the front-end thing in your mind. All right, we are back. Scott has forsaken us for Greener Pastures. But we're still here. We're going to talk about Corey's...

I don't think it's your first list for 2024, but it's your most updated list for the 2024 draft. And at the top, I don't think any surprise here. still is Macklin Celebrini off to a nice start at Boston University. My question, though, Corey, is what's kind of the gap here? Is it Celebrini by a bullet? Is there a horse race developing? Where do things stand here? Well, Celebrini has done nothing between his play last season, the USHL and early on in college hockey to not be the number one guy. He's just looked outstanding at both levels. Obviously, the MVP of the USHL is a 16-year-old, which is unheard of.

And then he goes to college hockey as a young 17-year-old. This is a guy who won't turn 18 until basically right around when the draft happens. And he's the number one center, big minutes guy for a very good team, runs their power play, putting up huge offensive numbers, making impacts in games. You know, he looks like a 17-year-old with his body type, but he competes well. He's good enough defensively. Already at the college level, to go with the offense. just an extremely impressive player.

And if we're just talking about him, like I said, he's done nothing by himself to take him out of that conversation. But then you have these two other players that are having, I think, fantastic starts to the year too. You have, you know, as many has been following, Cole Eisenman with the NTP, who, as we're recording this, has 18 goals in 12 games, and it's just an electric offensive talent.

who has, like celebrating, done nothing to take him out of the conversation at the very top of the draft. And I think if you had them one pick, you have to at least entertain Eisenman's name. But the new name in this conversation has been Anton Zelyev, the defenseman playing with torpedo in the KHL,

not just playing with Torpedo, helping Torpedo. This is a guy who's playing both power play and penalty kill minutes on a team that is fairly high in the KHL standings. He is also 6'7. He also skates well. he is also very physical.

And all those things combined make for a very exciting prospect. You know, you're thinking of a taller, harder Simon Edinson. You're thinking of maybe a slightly less skilled Owen power at the same age. Whatever range of the draft you think he belongs at, it is still very high. And he is a premium pro prospect. Or at least he looks like that after the first few months of his season. He didn't look like this coming into the year. There were people I knew in Europe who thought he could be a top pick, a first round pick,

maybe even a top 15, top 10 pick. I don't think anybody saw the lightning fast start he had to his year this year, whereas point production in the KHL this season, it almost matches what he did in junior the previous season. It actually is double what he, and that's what I was going to ask you. At this rate, it is double what it was last year in the MHL. Where does offense like that even come from? Yeah, I think I was looking at.

it up the other day. I think he was like second or third on his MHL team in terms of like among defensemen in power play time last season on a per game basis. And then all of a sudden the next year that within the same MHL organization, he's now running the second power plate for that same KHL team. So obviously they saw something in camp to make them think, oh, this guy's offense is now all of a sudden legit or maybe not legit. I think that is still a minor question is still alive, is it going to be elite, elite offense? But I think it's still good enough to go with all those other desirable traits that he has. And when you watch him, he looks like he can move. This is not like an admiration or a small sample size thing. He looks like he

could move pox. Again, I'm not saying it's the most elite offensive defensemen you're going to see, but he has good hands. He sees the ice well. He makes good decisions. I think the offense is legit in his game. So what you're saying is, you know, people, the natural comp, you mentioned a couple. People are going to jump to Victor Hedman because of the height and the skating and the offense. Maybe pump the brakes there. But even without that kind of offense, people should understand it's an extremely valuable piece. This player type is almost impossible to find even if it's not like mega, mega offense, even if it's just good offense.

Right. But it's fair to say when you have a gigantic player like him who both skates well and provides offense, your head goes to all those top five picks you've seen in your lifetime. it is power, whether it is headman, whether it is Sedano Chara, or, you know, he wasn't a top of my pick, but he was a great player at that size, or maybe a guy like Chris Pronger. And I'm not sure I would go all the way there. Again, he's only done this for two months, but it's been an extremely impressive two months. And it's impressive enough to where if the draft happened today, you have to have a really serious conversation out.

And I know teams in the IHL talk to scouts and executives who, said they would take him over Celebrini. I thought a majority opinion, but that opinion exists in the league. And it's hard to blame them when you see what the player is. What I think it's kind of funny is that this year coming in, I think if you would have given like

NHL scouting directors a choice, and you tell him, your pop-up prospect, what position is he going to be? I don't know. This was the year they needed to vote for a defenseman, right? I think they're probably asking for another stud center near the top of this draft class, which looks already

so D-heavy in the top 10. Right. And I kind of thought coming into this season, this was a good defense group. And then as a season has gone on, it hasn't been, oh, there's been a lot of these great forwards that have kind of emerged.

It's been, no, it's even been more defensemen who have kind of popped up. I mentioned so alive, but I think even Mockfei Sharavan is playing minutes now with CSCA has looked really good. I think some of those Canadian defensemen

have looked very good this season. It is really a truly impressive year of blue liners following up a year where still at the end of the season we got a couple of high blue line picks and they're very good prospects, Demetri Shimachev and Tom Willander. But I think right now this group looks like has a chance to produce 12, 13, maybe even close to 15 first round picks on defense if some guy's seasons go right and things play out in a certain way at the draft, which would be a significant change. What I think is interesting about the defenseman too is that we knew a couple years out even in some of these cases that there were there was talent on the way, right?

We're thinking of an Aaron Kivie Haru, of a Cole Hudson, of a Zeev Bouillon, of a Zane Perrick out of Saginaw, who are kind of the more classic like smaller puck moving guys. There's some big boys who have really put their names on the map here. You're talking about your Sam Dickinson's, your Carter Yakumchucks, right? Like these guys have come up and they are, it's Charlie Ellick, 6-2, 7. 6-3, Adam Uriacek, David Uriichick's brother. There's some size to this decrope. Everyone I just mentioned, by the way, is in Corey's top 20. So it's a good year to need a defenseman.

And there's more, too, right? You can go E.J. Emery from the program, right? Like, there's a bunch of these guys that have the size. Sure, Ravina is 6-3 as well. I like Dominic Bedinka and the Czech. He's a mobile 6-3 defenseman who's a point for game in the Swedish J-20 league right now. And history tends to show that teams are going to prefer those guys. I don't think Kiffa Haru or Cole Hudson are going to be among the first five or six defensemen picked in this trap.

There are scouts who are not sure either than it will actually be a first round pick when it's all set in debt. I think Kiva Haru will be a little different just because of his track record. But teams will prefer the 6-2, 63 guys who can skate and also provide offense. Yeah. Another thing I thought really stood out on this list is obviously, Every year of the last few years, we've talked about this Russian factor. And it seemed to hit a boil last year with Mitchkov. Maybe this year, I'm curious.

You mentioned Selyev, and you mentioned, I'm spacing on the other D who you just mentioned. Stravan. Is it the Russian factor still a thing here? Because we are seeing it pop up again in some high places on your board. Right. And you also have the two locomotive kids last year in Bhutan Sedgev, who both went to Arizona. No, there's a lot of good. Russians this year. And I think there's good Russians every year. What I think has been different now

in the last two, three drafts specifically is you used to see a lot of top Russians like your Andres Sveshav or Ivan Provarovs or Zadarov or Grigorenko. Those guys would come to North America and play here. So you wouldn't be as worried about the KHL contract variable as much. But since the war has started, they're all just staying home. So now you're a same. So now you're seeing all the top Russian prospects in one place, all with that KHL variable. And, you know, some age groups are better than others. This is a strong age group. This is a very good Russian crop.

We've mentioned so long, we mentioned Sherrobin, but Ivan Demadoff was the MVP of the Russian Junior League, the prior season. He's a dynamic scoring talent up front, one of the few true standout forward prospects in this draft. You have Nikita Artaminov, who is off to an incredible. start in the KAHL, something like 13 points in 25 games or something like that. He's same thing with Salaya on that torpedo team and playing a significant role on that torpedo team.

You have Igor Chernishov, it was a 6-2-4 with legit skill who skates well. These are all legit pro prospects. And as far as I can tell with this draft class, it's going to be hard to avoid the Russian question. You know, I, in the last two drafts, you have seen teams just say, we're either not going to go there or our approach is going to be. If it's close, we're taking the other guy or, you know, we have to be really squeezed to take the Russian. It has to be, you know, the most clear and obvious choice. I'm not sure.

If you don't want to go Russian, that's your approach. You can reach that conclusion however you want. But that second approach, I don't know if teams can afford to do that this season. Because if you take Russians off your board or more or less just say if it's close to taking the other guy, it's like, well, frankly, like a third of the legit players in this draft look like the Russians are Belarusians. You know, with Artem Lefchinov and Michigan State being the Bella Russian. So I'm not sure teams can afford to avoid Russians in this year's draft. Just because from what I can see, this is where the talent is. You know, it's not a great, it's a really bad age group actually for Sweden.

It's just an okay age group for Finland. Czech actually have some decent players, but there's no, unlike the past years, there's no like a ton of these German prospects in there, not a ton of great Swiss or Slovak players. So I think teams really do need to look serious at all of these top Russian prospects. Well, and to that end, my recollection from last year is, I think a bigger point that maybe we gave credit to at some points in the lead-up was it wasn't just like a, well, they might not come.

Part of it was we haven't been there to see them. We haven't scouted them as thoroughly. This year, that almost just feels like you're going to have to find a way to get there and scout them because, like you said, a third of the first round might be over there, right? Yeah, and a lot of teams are okay watching them on video and taking that approach. But for the ones who feel strongly, like we need to see them live, it's like, okay, well, there's games in Belarus. There's going to be games in Ukraine. There are games in Kazakhstan that you can travel to. that are not in Russia.

I think teams are going to have to get more creative because the KHL is mostly in Russia, but they have kind of teams sprinkled in other countries around that part of the world. So I think there's ways to see these players live, but it's going to take a little bit more effort. But it's just going to become an imperative, I think, is the bottom line. Whereas last year it might have been making that effort

for two or three, I guess three real big time guys. This year we might be talking about eight or nine, and I think that tips the scales, I would think. Right, and it's different too because, again, Buddhist Siddish ever playing junior hockey exclusively last season. So they were not traveling like KHL teams do. And Mishkov was just hard to find at ties because he was injured and then he got alone and it was a little bit more difficult. I think these guys are all playing predictable schedules on the unpredictable teams. And there are ways if teams need to see them live, that they can go find a way to do that.

But I think most will take the approach to watch them on video still. Yeah. One last guy I want to hit here. talked about Celebrity and Celaya, we haven't talked about Cole Iserman, who came in as kind of the core challenger to Celebrini. And really, to your point about Celebrini, hasn't cost himself any ground. I don't think Cole Iserman's done anything to cost himself any ground here either. Yeah, I feel like every game is a multi-goal threat. And this is against college teams too. This isn't a great US and TDP team up front. I think they're, they obviously,

James Higgins is a fantastic player. But the strength is more on their blue. line. They have a lot of good forwards. I don't think they have a lot of great forwards outside of Hagen's and Eisenman. Maybe some guys that'll be down the line of help. You guys, maybe some late birthdays like a Shane Van Sagi who could pop at a later date. But, but Eisenman has been really carrying this team's offense, particularly when Hagen's got hurt. And, you know, his shot is as a dimensional threat. He has truly elite skill. I think some people will watch him, especially if they'll see the, you know, he has like a three to one goal to assist ratio. I know there are some scouts who will watch him in a lot and think, can you please pass the puck once in a while? And,

and I, there are some times where he can look a little selfish in his game. But I understand why he would, because he is one of the purest goal scores I've ever seen and with one of the best shots I've ever seen. And I don't blame him sometimes for thinking that he is the best option to score the goal as opposed to trying to make the play. And I think in a lot of drafts, he would be in the number one overall conversation. And I think there's still a path for him to get the number one overall by the end of the season. You know, if we get to the end of the year, and he has something stupid, like 85, 90 goals. I'm not saying he gets that number.

The record is like something around 70 except by Cole Cawfield. But even if he's at 80, 85, let's say by the end of the year, if he's fully healthy, I think you have to think really, really hard about saying no to that player. Yeah, absolutely. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll be back for our mailbag to wrap it up. All right, Corey, let's get into the mailbag here now. It's actually been a while since we did a mailbag.

So looking forward to this one. Started off with Logan Horn, who says, what would Salyev have to do over the course of the year in order for him to go first overall? Which is a great question because, really, it brings up what more could he be doing than what he's done so far? Well, I think kind of combines some of the conversations we had the previous segment together. The Russian variable still exists, especially when you are talking that high in the draft.

You want to make sure that player is actually going to sign with you and be a part of your organization for a long time playing an impact role. So I really think if it's close between Salaya and Selyev and Selyte, even if Salaim and Isman, who I think there is a little bit of a gap there, personally, that's why I have Saliav of Rizier on my list, that I think you will take the other guy. but if Salaya will have to find a way to distinguish himself from Celebrini. And I think the major way that happens is if Celebrini falls off at all of this season, which he could. He's off to an incredible start to his college season, but we'll see what happens when conference play starts, and he starts getting into the real grind of the college season.

And if he's still having a really nice year, but it's not like this Adam Fantili, Jack Eichl-ish type of season in college, and Salaiov is still doing what he's doing in the KHL, still putting up historic offensive numbers for a defenseman while being a really good two-way player at that size, then I think that could set up circumstances for him to go over Celebrini. One tack-on question here from Baderberg-14, really getting to the heart of the issue, I think. If Selyev is the biggest defenseman in this draft and maybe someday the NHL, what is stopping him from simply eating smaller defenseman and absorb? their skill. I guess the first answer would probably be, I think there probably is some kind of law there. Yeah, and I don't think he needs their skill, frankly. I think he's doing fine offensively

on his own thing. He's on a KHL power play. He doesn't need to be a cannibal to do that. That's right. Yeah. So we'll just live and let live there, Baderberg. C.J. Voster says if the Blackhawks draft two to five next year, who's a prospect that might fit their rebuild? I mean, we've mentioned his name, the entire podcast essentially, but I do think a defenseman is one of the main things they are missing right now. Like, I don't think, like, I think anybody keeps back on Celebrity. If they get Celebrity, that'd be great. If they don't get Celebrity,

I think Cole Osmond is a fantastic player. I'm not sure how I love building a team around two smallish guys who always want the puck and always want to shoot the puck in between him and Bedard. So I'm really thinking of can we get Zelayaev or can we get Art Tim Leschunov? Because Leschutov is a great player as a lot. was also playing huge minutes from Michigan State and is looking very good as a draft eligible

freshman in college. I mean, six two, good skater, a ton of skill and creativity. This is a guy who I think would be a PP1 option over Kevin Kortchinsky if they were on the same organization. So I think, you know, they have other, you know, really good defensemen in their system. But I think if you, they, I think they have more premium talent at forward coming up than they do at defense. I think this is more a lot of solid defense prospects and corps.

Orchinsky, I'd like to get a little bit more high-end talent at that position. Avko Cup correctly anticipated the theme of our show today, but he does have a nice little offshoot question here. He says it looks like a D-heavy draft with 16 in your top 33, but it also looks like it's missing center depth. I only count six players you list as centers. How unusual is this sort of ratio for a draft class? Extremely unusual.

I guess we kind of had the opposite last year where it was very forward-heavy, you know, very forward-heavy, not center-heavy, but forward-heavy compared to defense. And now this year it's flipped. I guess that's just more a regression to the mean there in that regards. Even when you look at the guys who are quote unquote listed as centers, it opens the debate on whether they're actually going to be NHL centers when they get there. Because, you know, I think Celebrini is the only one where you kind of pencil it in for sure, top two lines center in the NHL.

You get to Berkeley Caton, who I think has a good chance because he's such a great, he's one of the best skaters in the draft and he competes well, but he is 511. Sides might push him to the wing at some point. I mean, you know, I think it's more 50, 50, 50, but I'd lean to him. He could be at NHL Center. You have Katie Lindstrom, who I love, great player, playing center in junior, but he doesn't have great hockey sense.

And when you kind of, when I've been searching for player comps for him, it's kind of the same thing I did with Charlie Strammel last year, where I think, like, Lindstrom is maybe Strammel with a little bit more natural offensive scoring touch. But I couldn't think of a center in the NHL who looked like Strammel, and I couldn't think of a center in the NHL quite who looks like Lindstrom. You know, so it opens up the possibility that he may be a wing. You get to Consta Heleneas. Kind of same thing with Kenney.

He's 5-11. Not an amazing skater like Cadden. He's more of a good skater. The believers will call him Braiding Point. I'm not so sure I would go that far. So again, possibility he moves to the wing. Stasha Buevaire could be a center. You know, we'll see he's got a chance.

And Adam Jethro, who we have listed as a center, I kind of, I think most scouts do believe he is an NHL winger. So we'll see how the season goes. If a new name or two or three emerges at that position, but right now it does seem extremely light on that position. If you are an organization searching for that top six center of the future, this may not be your draft class. All right.

Liam Nolan says, are you surprised at all at how well Ridley Gregg is doing, currently leading rookies in scoring while also driving play? Is he a long-term top six guy? I mean, a little bit, but not really, too. I do really like Ridley, Greg. I think you got to love how hard he competes. He's a good skater.

He's got really good skill. So it doesn't surprise me that he's having success as a pro, especially given the time he's had since the draft to develop. You know, this is about a time where he should be popping a little bit and starting to help the senators. You know, whether he's going to lead rookies and scoring all season is something that I might push back on a little bit. I don't know if I realistically expect that. but do I think he could be a really nice player top nine top six four for a very long time for Ottawa I do think that I think he's uh you know I think that whole draft with him and and

stutzel and Sanderson it just looks ridiculous for them right now and I think Clevin's going to play too so I think that that that whole age group can can really change uh the Ottawa senator's future which and they need some good news right now because they haven't had a lot of good news in the last week or two uh Dawson mercer comp there a little bit he could kind of be their their version of Dawson Mercer? Yeah, maybe a little small, a little bit better skater. And I should correct with that. I think the actual team has looked good.

There's just been the awful case news. I know. What do you make of that, by the way? We just talked about it on the show yesterday. The team or the off the ice stuff? The fine, the first round, not the fine, the punishment, the forfeiting the first round pick over that. I really hate it.

I do too. I think it's so, I think it's so stupid. I felt the same thing with Arizona when they did that with the combine stuff. The guys who screwed up are Pierre Dorian and John Chaka and their regimes. And they didn't get, you're not, you know, fining them. You're not suspended. You know, Chaka got suspended, but it was more for the contract issues you have with the owner. You know, so I think the penalties should go to the management groups who did something wrong.

By taking away the first round pick, you're punishing the fans, basically. You're making their hockey team worse and they had nothing to do. it. So I think that's BS personally. Yep. I'm right there with you. All right. Out of the next one, Swash Buckler wants to know about Joshua Waugh. Is he a first line NHL player? He read your redraft piece was surprised to surprise to see him as a low first round pick. He looks dynamic in the AHL. This is one of those. I'll let you answer here. Yeah, well, again, fantastic start. He's one of the leading scores in the American League through the first few weekends. and he's got a ton of skill

and his development continues to go very well since his draft, answering a lot of questions on his consistency and his compete and the offense has proven to be there at wherever he's gone now between the Q's and the World Junior's and now into the American League, a ton of skill, ton of hockey since, legit score, not taking that away from him. I think the question

is 6-0, mediocre skater has that transatlith. I'm not so sure he has a lot of skill. He has a lot of skill. I would push back on it being first-line skill, especially with those physical traits. Could you argue him higher? Sure, especially with how good he looked early on in the

HAL, although we'll see how he keeps it up. Yeah. All right. Next one is from the Crushers, who wants to know when you expect to see Lane Hudson to make an impact on the Canadians. All right, so back-to-back Montreal questions here. Yes.

Well, I just saw Lane last week. I was out in Boston, and I do wonder, not his defensive play still for the NHL, I think that would be, and that's not really surprising, given his frame. I think that's always going to be a question until it's not a question. But the offense is definitely an HL

level already. I mean, he's extremely dynamic whenever he gets the puck, and he's going to be a force at the college level this season, probably at the world junior level, maybe even the world championship level again throughout the rest of the season. You know, if you believe he's Adam Fox, which I am not

quite there. Not even saying he's going to be at a fox, but at a fox at the same age. If you think he's that level of prospect, Fox took three years of college, and then he went and did his leap to the NHL. So I'm guessing Lane will have to play either one more year of college as a junior at BU or go to the American League for a full season, and then they have to kind of make some determinations of what they're going to do with

them. Because they also do have quite a few good young defensemen already in the organization. They've got to figure out where my youth fits. They're going to figure out where David Linebacher fits. So it'll be interesting. Andy in place says, have we seen enough to accurately assess the COVID draft? This is the 2020 draft. Was it really the toss-up?

Or maybe it's the 21. I don't know which one is really referring. Probably the 21. Well, that's what I thought when I read this question is, what draft are you talking about? Are you talking about the draft I got cut off midway through the year, which was the 2020 draft? You're talking about the 21 draft? I think it's got to be 21. That's where the mobility was the most limited in terms of scouting because the rest of the question continues.

But are you sure about it? But are you sure about that? Because then you have the 22 draft, which is Matt Poitra's draft, where he didn't get a full 16-year-old season, and that could have affected his development going into the OHL and his director. So which one of these is the COVID season? And when does COVID effect stop, particularly in Canada, where it really impacted the Western League and especially the Ontario League.

Yeah. So I think that, you know, it's like, you know, you look at guys like Y Johnson, that's the easy one he didn't play all season. if he had played all year, when he'd have gone higher. I do think when you look at all these drafts, it doesn't look like there's a ton of misses. There's not like compared to most drafts.

Of course, you're going to have guys who pop here or there. But I think Johnston in 21 and Poitra in 22 are the two most interesting cases because it affects Ontario and how limited hockey they played during the COVID period. I think those are the... But those are two examples, and they would go a lot higher if we did those drafts right now. So I think those are easy to spot up.

I'm not seeing like 10 or 20 examples of players that were significantly mis-evaluated. Yeah, and I would add on to that. Neither of them is like a physical specimen, right? So it adds to that where they're not going to be the guy that you're going to say, well, no matter what, this guy's a 6-3 amazing skater, so we're going to take him in the 20, no matter what, right? Yeah, exactly. I think those are guys that need to play a full season really and score a lot to justify to teams to take them with much higher than they actually went.

Yeah, absolutely. Last one for today. Dan wants to know your thoughts on Quentin Byfield's development this year. Has your opinion on him changed since draft day? Well, it has, but I wouldn't say it's changed massively. At draft day, I thought he was the number two prospect in the draft. and I would not say that or I wouldn't even say he's top five right now, but I don't think he's that far off, five.

And I think he's looked very good. I think the role they have him now in Los Angeles has allowed him to succeed because he doesn't have to be the guy, but he's able to use his size and his speed and his compete, and he makes enough plays to where I think he can have a really significant impact in a lineup. You know, he's got something like six points in nine games right now. Does he keep that up all year?

I don't know. Maybe he's 40, 50, 55. point guy when it's all said and done this season, presumably he stays healthy. But I think if he has that level of offense and he's that big and that fast, I still think you got a heck of a player. Are you getting a superstar?

Is he going to compete with Tim Stozel? Very likely, no. But can he be a really important part of your team for a very long time? I think there's a good chance. But I think the big question with Byfield is, does he ever move back to center or not? We were just talking about some other players early in this segment. Is this 5-11 guy going to be a center?

is this guy, you know, who isn't the smartest player in the world going to be a center, but you have Quentin Byfield who is far better than all of those guys. And he can't find a center spot in the NHL right now. It shows it's not always that easy. Great stuff. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Fletak hockey show Prospect Series. You can follow us on YouTube at YouTube.com slash at the Fletic Hockey Show. We're going to be live streaming at least three episodes a week, plus putting up a bunch of other content.

No show for us next week on Friday. I'll be busy trying to coax Corey onto the dance floor at my wedding. The rest assured, we will talk to you soon.