The Athletic Hockey Show - Olympic roster evaluations and expectations, 2022 WJC potentially scheduled for August, answering great listener questions, and more

Episode Date: February 11, 2022

First, Max and Corey talk about IIHF President Luc Tardif’s comments that the 2022 World Junior Championship could take place in August, after the NHL Draft, and how the timing could impact the participation of some top prospects.Next, the guys dive into their Olympic hockey breakdown, with Russia as the favorite to win the tournament, and discuss expectations for Team USA, including Strauss Mann getting an opportunity to prove himself on the world stage in goal, the role Jake Sanderson could play once he joins the team, and more.Then, the guys give their thoughts on Team Canada and discuss Owen Power’s chance to repeat his 2021 WJC performance in Beijing, the potential offensive upside for Mason McTavish if he plays on a line with Eric Staal and Josh Ho-Sang, the odds of Jack McBain signing with an NHL club if he has a nice tournament, plus prospects to watch on Team Russia and Team Slovakia.Plus, to close things out, the guys open up the mailbag and take some great listener questions about why Jonathan Lekkerimäki isn’t more widely considered a top-10 talent, the Boston Bruins plan for Jack Studnicka, Matthew Boldy’s chances of winning the Calder trophy this season, how Corey organizes his prospect scouting reports, why Corey rated Trevor Zegras’ puck skills as “NHL average”, whether the Detroit Red Wings prospect pipeline will make them contenders or not, why the New Jersey Devils passed on Cale Makar at No. 1 in the 2017 NHL Draft, an NHL comp for Jake Sanderson, how the Anaheim Ducks should approach the trade deadline, why Corey kept Lane Hutson out of his top-32 prospects list, if the Minnesota Wild are the real deal or not, how many potential first-line centers are in this year’s draft class, and some of the exciting prospects from non-traditional hockey countries.And, right now, you can sign up for an annual subscription to The Athletic for just $3.99 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 Prondman, back with another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show's prospect series. Going to be talking a lot of Olympics today and then a really good mailbag from you guys. We're going to get to all of that in a minute. But, Corey, first of all, we had a little bit of news this week on the World Junior Front and the potential for an August make-up date for that tournament. Yeah, and while it's not official yet, it got the hockey world talking when a double IHF president, Luke Tarduff, mentioned an interview with Russian news outlet that the double IHF is targeting in August date to rehost the world juniors. That is in line with what I've heard from several people around hockey, that it will be in August in Alberta again. And obviously that would be quite unorthodox.

We usually have, we usually have U-20 camps around that time of year. or usually it's the camps in Plymouth with various nations, which are competitive and fun, but they're not for gold medals. And this would be a rather unique time to be having a major double IHF tournament. Yeah, and it's going to come obviously after the draft. And so I think that's something that'll, you know, it'll be a chance to see your newly drafted prospects if you're a team, probably some of your top prospects if they're at the world juniors. But yeah, yeah, it's at a time that's usually a little bit quieter on the calendar.

depending on when it is. I think I heard kind of the earlier part of August. You know, that's a time when you might expect to be on vacation. So don't make any too big of plans right now. Well, not for me. That's usually when I'm doing like the Holinka and the World Junior's World World Series World Series showcase and that kind of stuff. I think we'll be really interesting with this tournament. Should it actually happen because it's not official by any means?

One, yes, it happens after the draft. So, yeah, I'll be really interested to see how much the public reaction is to that. When you draft a guy in three weeks later, he's having an amazing or not so amazing tournament. That'll be fun. But what will be interesting to me is how many of the top players that we saw at the tournament in December will actually be there in August. The guys who have reasonable chances to make NHL rosters in the fall. You know, I'm thinking of Owen Power, Matthew Baneers, Cole Perfetti, Mason McTavish, William Eklund, and several others who I probably skimmed over.

I do wonder, I could see, you know, just based on, you know, you know, I'm sure by some odds, some will end up going there. But I can see pretty decent odds, too, that some of them don't. Just whether it's their own personal decision or the team that they, the NHL team they play for just says, you know, don't risk it because, you know, hey, HEO and Power, like, we expect you to play 20, 22 minutes tonight for us next season. and we're not risking you getting injured in a junior tournament in August. Yeah, and it also opens up the possibility for someone like Thomas Borlo,

who seemed like he was going to miss this tournament because of COVID, potentially, is he now get a chance to come back and actually get to play in this tournament after it looked like he wasn't going to be able to. Or the poor guy gets to test positive for a third time. Don't, Corey, don't even do that. Don't go there. I'm knocking on wood. Sharks fans, don't worry, I got your back.

But yes, a lot of really interesting. And how do they handle the games that did actually take play? already at the previous world juniors. All these are still open questions. Yeah, they haven't answered that question. One of the big questions is about eligibility because this is an age-specific tournament. They've said that all the same players are eligible for the December tournament will be eligible for this one.

But in terms of the games that took place, especially the games that were forfeited, they have to resolve those questions. Yeah, so those are obviously the remaining questions, as is still, you know, the actual firm date. We don't have that yet. It's not official. But that is the latest. And I'm really regretting, you know, you teed me up for a really perfect transition into our main topic today by talking about Owen Power, who, whether or not he plays in the new world juniors, the rescheduled world juniors, whenever that happens, he is going to play at these Olympic games.

And so we can just transition right now into that conversation. Maybe I should have said Maddie Baneers, because I want to start with Team USA here and kind of the expectations that you have for them in this tournament. Yeah, I mean, I think they're a good team. Obviously, Russia is the favorite going into the tournament. That just because typically for among European nations, the best players, a lot of the best Russians stay in Russia, outside of the guys who clearly play, you know, top nine or so, you know, forward or regular defense shift in the NHL. Whereas for a lot of like good Swedes, good fins, a lot of the guys sometimes will be taxi squad guys in the NHL or, or, or, you know, playing the American League, so on and so forth. Russia has, you know, a very deep roster for this level of tournament.

You know, they were they obviously won four years ago when the NHLers didn't go. You have some players returning from that tournament. You have players who play in the NHL recently, such as Nikita Gusev. And you also have, you know, some pretty good young players, too, that will, you know, are top prospects for the respect to NHL organizations like Columbus's DeBitri Voronkov or Carolina's Alexander DeKishan, you know, other guys who have formerly played in the NHL, like Nestorov, who played for various teams. You know, I just, they seem like the team to beat.

But for the United States, they're the most exciting team when it comes from an NHL perspective. Because I mean, you can easily imagine 10 plus guys from this team playing NHL games. It doesn't mean they're going to have long NHL careers, but I think, you know, never mind. Obviously, they have the lottery guys, like Matthew. Beniers, Jake Sanderson, who are good to have long in the NHL careers. But you've got plenty of mid-round picks on this team, guys who are maybe picked even

higher than that, guys who are looking very good in college and look like they're on the NHL trajectory. You know, you think of like Toronto's Matthew Nyes or when it picks Nathan Smith, who are having excellent years. You know, you look at guys by the Harvard guys like Aberzizi and Farrell. You have guys like Drew Hellison and Brendan Bresson. Noah Cates. No, Noah Cates.

Brock Faber, I was particularly mentioning Helles and Brousson-Faure on Faber, because they were on the last World Junior Gold Medal team. And they played notable roles, all three of them on that team. And in goal, you know, don't have as much flask, but you have Drew Commesso there. Probably not going to play that much Chicago pick. And you have Strauss Mann, who was not signed by an NHL team because as a small goal, and it has been very good in Europe, very good in college. This is an opportunity for him that admires Mark Nicoloccal and potentially to earn NHL contracts.

Well, that's one of the places that I wanted to go was Strauss Mann. So, you know, if he ends up getting a large role here, and let's say that he does pretty well, let's say he's maybe not the very best goal tender in the tournament, but up there and proves that he can handle himself against teams like the Russians, teams like Canada that have some NHL caliber talent up there, how much do you think in an NHL team's eyes is that boost his signability? It does, because, I mean, when you're that, when you're that's, small and you're not like elite elite quickness, a small goalie, the question NHL's evaluators have is how does that translate to the higher levels? How will that translate to the American League, never mind the national hockey league? And if you're playing against players of that

caliber and you're faring well, it at least answers some of those questions. And one doesn't answer it completely because these are not NHL teams. He's playing any games. It's only going to be a couple of games. But I think if he has a really strong tournament, particularly given that he's playing very well in Europe versus men already. It will ease some concerns, but as a small goal, he still will have an uphill battle to actually becoming an NHL player. So you mentioned Jake Sanderson right off the top, and he's not with the team just yet after testing positive for COVID. We do expect and certainly hope that he's going to join them pretty quick here. We expect him to be the number one defenseman on this team. Where does he slot in there? Top pair?

Yeah, I think between him and Camford, but it's to be the top. to you guys. We're recording this a couple of days early, so it's possible by the time this post that he may actually already be with the team. But I think signs are hopeful that he's going to rejoin the team after being put in COVID protocol a couple days ago. Yeah, I think even though he's a teenager, Sanderson's going to play a ton of minutes with this team.

Just because, you know, he skates like a pro. He's big, he's physical. You know, he probably could play with the Ottawa Sanders right now. that's kind of where his game is. So, I mean, they have other good defensemen. Like, I like Faber. I like Helleson. But, I mean, Sanderson's going to have to carry the load here.

I think this is one of the advantages of the team USA has, is they're going to give up a lot in the way of experience. But what they have is guys who, you know, we haven't seen them do it. And obviously, if we had, they wouldn't be here because they'd be in the HL and not going to the Olympics. But multiple guys here. And Canada has a little bit of this, too, just not quite as much. But guys who, you know, you could really say Jake Sanderson, you know, for all we know, he could have come into the NHL this year and been a Calder Trophy candidate.

And that's the kind of player that the kind of talent level at this tournament that I think you get two or three of those guys to hit. It really raises your profile as a team. It really raises what you can do. Yeah. And USA are going to have to rely on these guys. I don't know how much Canada is going to rely on Mason McTavish, for example. Even though I love Mason McTavish, they have just a really, you know, strong veteran roster there. But for the United States, I mean, this is.

a this is a kids roster. It's not like the college rosters we're used to seeing like from like the 80s or 70s. But, you know, this is this is a roster that's built on very young players, players who for a large part are still in college. So whether it is going to be Sanderson or Matthew Baneers or, you know, Drew Hellson and Brock Faber or Brendan Bresson or Matthew Nyes, you know, a lot of these kids are going to be given big roles on this team. and if they don't produce, they're not going to go very far. Absolutely. So, I mean, the lines that I saw, this is from Stephen Weiner from the AP.

Corey, you tell me if you've heard different from this. It looked like in the USA scrimmage, they had baneers with Nyes and Nathan Smith on a line. That, to me, strikes me as maybe the most dangerous line the U.S. will have. Yeah, because you've got a combination of skill and grit there. You know, Nyes is a big, hardworking guy with good hands. Nathan Smith is a really like purely skilled playmaker and then Benir's kind of has like the skill and the speed and the compete elements down the middle. That's a lot of positives there. I wonder with Nyes. I mean, he was obviously drafted just this last year. He's a freshman in

college. He was a late birthday, but he was not an overager per se. Let's say he goes to this tournament and he really holds his own. We've seen Toronto in the past with Nick Robertson, be willing to let a guy kind of come into their lineup and play. Those circumstances are a little different because signing Nick Roberts and didn't take him out of college. You can still go back to the OHL in that circumstance. But timeline-wise, what would a successful tournament here for Matthew Nyes mean for his timeline, I guess, to the NHL? I would still imagine he needs one more year of college. But he's definitely a guy on the rise after being, I think, a late second round pick last year, too.

How good he's been with Minnesota. Probably wouldn't say he's one of them like a top player in college high. which I think is where you want guys to go before you sign them. But he's been very good. We look good with the U20 team, both in the summer and in December. And now, you know, he'll play at this level. I think for NHL, I think you still are kind of hoping. You're probably aren't pencil-living to the Leif's lineup just yet.

But I think if you're a Leif's fan, you're optimistic about his development for sure. Anything else kind of in this roster that you think hasn't gotten the shine? I think people obviously probably not as familiar with Nathan Smith unless you follow college hockey where he's been one of the top players, one of the top scorers all year. Anyone else that you think will maybe put to themselves maybe a little bit more into as a household name in this tournament? Yeah, I mean, household names are, you know, we'll see. I, you know, the Abrazi-Bissi-Bresson-Hensche's line is interesting, especially seeing Bresan playing the middle. We'll see whether that actually sticks or not. I've never actually seen him play the middle consistently.

But that would be a lot of skill. Abra-San-A-Bri-Zizi are highly. skill of Sam Hengis is, you know, competitive forward with good speed. We could kind of get on the forecheck for them. Those are guys who I think other than Bersan for just because he's a first round pick him because of his father, obviously people know about him. But Abrazizi and Sam Hengis would be glad people don't know that much about. Yeah, I'm curious to see Breson how he holds up to the pace of the game as well.

I think everyone knows he's a shooter, but I think that's kind of the question is, can he play as the pace rises? But he's having a great year at Michigan. And I think a big tournament for him too here would go a long way. And obviously, Vegas fans are excited about him no matter what. Yep, I agree. All right. Anything else you want to say on Team USA before we take a quick break and get into Canada

and the rest of the field? I think the only thing on Team USA will be interesting is how much the college free agents get, especially Ben Myers. He's considered the consensus top college free agent. Looks like he'll start on the fourth line right now. Having a very nice year in Minnesota. And I know there's a lot of interest around. the NHL for him.

That interest will maintain whether he has a good tournament or not. But I think for NHL fans, if he plays well, how much kind of that hype machine builds for him over the course of the tournament. Absolutely. Well, it should be a fun tournament for the U.S. Let's take a quick break, and we'll come right back with Canada and the rest of the field. All right, let's dive back in here with Canada. And at the very top, you know, it's a couple of guys that went in the top three of last

year's draft. We don't know that they're going to play at the very top of the lineup, although we do expect Owen Power well. But he and Mason McTavish, probably the two most interesting players on Team Canada. Let's start with Power because the story here is you expect him to play a huge role. You expect him to anchor this blue line. Yeah, I mean, he did that at the World Championships last spring. He didn't start off in that kind of role, but eventually he built his way to that. And now he's a year older. And then this roster isn't as strong as that World Championship roster. I think Power is going to, as play a ton at this tournament in all situations and if can is going to have any success it's going to be because you know he he was excellent and obviously anybody watched those world junior games he was so good at those games which is interesting because i found i'm not sure how much of the michigan games you've watched lately but i haven't like you know i thought he started off really really hot this season and like the last month or so i haven't found like his michigan games to like be like all that like you know he's been really good but you know I went to a couple of them.

I watched them on video. I haven't thought that he's been all that dominant in some recent weeks. But obviously, you get top elite prospect. Guy with who whenever he's played with hockey can now for the last 12 months has been excellent. So I expect he will be one of the top defensemen in the tournament. Yeah. And I think the world championship performance last year is really the telling thing. Right.

I don't know if you consider the overall level of competition here to be. maybe marginally higher or lower than that world championships, but I expect it to be close to the similar level. And if he was one of Canada's best players there, you expect him to be one of the best players in the entire tournament here. Right. If you mind, there were NHL players that went to that tournament. Yeah. It wasn't the usual amount, but there were NHL players of that tournament. Yeah. And so I think, you know, if anything, he could have maybe even a bigger impact now at the Olympic Games. Mason McTavish is an interesting one. I think I said Josh Clipperton of the Canadian press tweeted out a set of lines from a scrimmage that had him on a line with Eric Stahl and Josh Hossang, which if that is how they choose to deploy Mason McTavish, he could score a lot in this tournament.

We'll see whether it actually works out that way. We'll see whether they want to play him in any center. But that's going to be an interesting one. Those are three very different players, too. But a balanced line, right? It's a real defensive conscience, two-way conscience with Eric Stahl. He and Mason McTavish can both score goals and bring some physicality. Josh Hsang has got a whole lot of skill.

skill and speed and it's been interesting to see Hosang's development too whenever I've watched him as a prospect love the skill and the speed decision making always questionable frustrated was frustrating at times and

dominating at other times so I'll be really interested to see how he does here but for Mason McTavish a guy who I expect will be a full-time player with the ducks rather soon and is having an excellent season and I believe this is already I think his sixth team he's playing for this season

between the American League the National Hockey League, two OHL teams, and the World Junior team. Just another week from Basie McTavish, playing on the top, potentially top two lines for Canada. As a very young player, he's either 19 or 18, he's probably on the periphery right now. Probably not expecting him to be dominant at this tournament, a tournament with men, but given that he's a good skater,

he's competitive, he's big, to go with his great skill. I do think he can be, you know, he could definitely help Canada out and be a scoring presence for them. I like the note that you had. You had a really good piece up in your players to watch, and I'd recommend everybody go read that for the Olympic tournament. But I thought you made a good point about his pace, which you liked at the World Juniors. And if he can do that versus men consistently what that would mean for kind of his NHL projection. Because he brings such a strong package. Like if you can do all that at speed, it really raises you even one more level.

Yeah. I was not 100% buying him as a third overall pick when the Ducks made the selection based on what I've seen from in the OHL and at the U18 Worlds. But watching him this season, he looks like a hell of a player. Yeah, absolutely. The other guy on this team in Canada has a couple of obviously high-end young players, but a little maybe more veteran group. But I thought you made the note in your article, Jack McBain, obviously Minnesota Prospect, senior. potential target here for some teams who think they may be able to swoop in there. Yeah, I mean, people I talk to around the NHL think that McBain will eventually sign with the Wilde.

He is a senior of Boston College, having a very good year at Boston College. But if he doesn't sign, you can go to August, become an NHL-free agent. One thing of note that I found interesting, even though people around the NHL I talk to do think McBain will sign with the Wilde is there have been a lot of decision makers, you know, meaning like, you know, NHL executives coming. into watch Boston College in recent months. And people believe one of those reasons, on top of just following their own prospects, is to keep an eye on McBain. So I don't know what his future lies ahead of him for over the next couple of months, but I do know people around the league are watching it.

I mean, you think of Minnesota as a team that for so long has really wanted centers. So the idea of a center is slipping away from them, right, as he makes the Olympic team and all that would kind of be a little bit of a cruel twist, although they have had a little bit of luck. covering a couple pretty strong centers here recently with Eric Sineck and Hartman. But nevertheless, something to watch. Where do you think McVane slots? I know in the lines from the scrimmage that Josh Clipperton tweeted out, it looked like he was skating as an extra,

but if he gets into the lineup, you know, it seems like kind of a bottom six profile. Yeah, just because, you know, probably doesn't have tremendous speed and skill to play that high in the lineup, but big and he's physical. He has at least some touch. So maybe you can seem like a fourth-line penalty kill type. Yeah.

MNUT's, you know, Russia is obviously the favorite of this. tournament because obviously they have this group of veteran talent that plays in the KHL, but there are at least a few prospects here worth watching. You know, toward the top of the list, Arsini Gritsyuk, I want to say that right. Yeah, I mean, so tell us a little bit about him. Yeah, Gritsch, mid-round picked by the Devils a couple of years ago, having a very good year in the KHL, scoring at a pretty significant rate for a 20-year-old, a small player, but very skilled, very intelligent, you can shoot the puck very well. I think his skating is just

okay. When I've seen him over the years for a small guy, some people I've talked to recently think the skating has improved. I personally haven't seen that. The little I've watched this year, but I'll be watching that with him. As he's already, he is skating, I believe, on the second or the third line right now for Russia. So it seems like he'll get a prominent role. The other forward of note would be Dimitri Voronkov, a Columbus draft who had been, you know, excellent with Russia's national team over the last couple of years. He was very good at the World Championships last spring, for example.

Big, powerful forward with good hands. His feet are kind of the big issue for the NHL, but I think here he'll, just like as he usually has the last couple years, I think he'll make an important impact for Russia.

And the last prospect that we want to highlight would be Alexander Nikitian, a defenseman, 20-year-old defense who was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes and is currently skating on the top pair with Nikita Nesterov. Yeah, I see, you know, he's a big mobile defenseman. He's showing some offensive touch this season. It looks like a very intriguing prospect that I know some scouts I've talked to are quite high on as potential NHL player. So it'll be interesting to see how he does.

And if he can maintain that kind of high role as a young defenseman throughout the tournament. Nickycheon, a Carolina prospect third round pick. Carolina has done really quite some kind of job in recent years, finding guys who seemed to pop. Well, he was a unique case because I think everybody knew he was a good player, but he had a medical flag during his draft evaluation process that scared a lot of teams off. And I think Carolina just, Carolina knew about it.

I don't think they had any extra information. I think they just took the risk. And at least so far, it seems to be going. going in a positive direction. I want to touch on the Slovaks before we wrap on the Olympic conversation here because, you know, we don't know exactly how they're going to be at this tournament. We do know they have two potential, I'd even say likely top 10 picks on their roster, and Yerislovsky and Simon Nemitz.

Do you have a feel for what kind of role either of those two is going to play? What would constitute a successful tournament for those two guys? Well, when both of them played the Olympic qualifiers in the summer for Slovakia, they didn't really play big roles. So I'm not expecting them to play high in a lineup top six forward, top four defensemen. That doesn't seem realistic to me right now. But it is a half-season development later for 17-year-olds. That matters a lot.

So we'll see where they are. If they perform well in, if it's limited in minutes, I'm sure they would increase them. Both very talented players on a Slovakian roster, that's not going to be exactly deep and high-end skill. But I think for 17-year-olds, 18-year-olds at the Olympic, I think expectations need to be measured. If they even just do anything of note, have any kind of reasonable impact, I think that would be a success. Any other notes on the rest of the field here before I steer us into the mailbag?

No, I mean, from when I watched through the international tournaments this year for the national teams, I would think among the teams we haven't mentioned, I think the Finland group is quite strong. their national team group in general, I would say, is right. It turns out like the non-Canada-USA contingent. I think they're probably the second best team behind Russia. And Finland, obviously, international tournaments always seems to find a way to, whether it's knock somebody out early just by playing a really tight, clean game, or make a little bit of a run.

They're a threat no matter the tournament, no matter the level. We're going to take a quick break, we're going to come back with what I think is one of our better mailbag segments in a while, so stay tuned for that. All right, Corey, let's get to the mailbag. I think one of the best ones we've had in some time. This one's from John Sebastian G. Which I can only assume is Jaeger.

How you doing, sir? He wants to know why Jonathan Lekaramaki from Your Garden is not more widely considered a top 10 talent based on his production, the SHL and the J20, and for a guy who's got a later birthday. Yeah, no, that's a good question. Lakeramaki, as he said, is having a lot of it. in a very productive year. Seems to score almost every game he plays in, whether it's the pro or the junior level or international level,

highly skilled player, creative, has an elite shot. I would say in terms of the range, there's a couple of factors. One is the size, two, good, not great skater. I would say generally two in the draft that wingers don't get valued as highly, especially if they are not, you know, big, or they are not elite skaters, or they aren't just destroying it statistically. Like, you look at a guy like, you know, Kim Kamel, who has slowed down a little bit of late, but his production, to go with a strong compete level, I'd say higher than Lekaramaki's,

a little bit bigger to maybe like an inch or so, has kept him in the top 10, whereas Lackera Maki is probably more like early teens right now if the draft is being held today. So I think those are the variables working against him. I do know some NHL teams who love this guy, who do think he is in the top 10 mix. I'd say most kind of view him as a teens candidate right now in favor of, you know, centers and defensemen that they would have ahead of him. If he sticks up with this production in the SHL where he's been playing more recently, I mean, he could conceivably get into that top 10, though, by the end of the season, it sounds like.

Yeah, I think the U.S.N. World will be a big variable there. I think his Holicogreski was pretty good. It wasn't amazing. If it goes to the U18 world and is truly a top player there, I think he could start putting himself solidly in that discussion. All right. Next one is from Kyle M, who says Fluto, our colleague, Fluto Shenzawa, from Boston, says Fluto wrote an article about the Bruins seemingly not being very high on Sted Nika. In spite of the team's weak prospect pool, could you see them making a move for a 2C given his struggles? Or do you think they're not? allow Sted Nika to develop and give him a chance with the big club next year. Yeah, so Stenica was a guy that I've written positive reports about, you know, in prior years, especially after that big first pro year where I think he was like nearly a pointed game, looked very good in Providence. Hasn't been so good lately.

I would say just my opinion, and those of NHL scouts I've talked to, are not overly high on him. Maybe he could be a third, fourth line forward, but so-so skater, I think has been the issue with him at the NHL level. So I think in terms of, if you want a center for the playoff run, I don't think it's him. I think you would need to go externally, you know, and the candidates, probably not my area forte, you know, whether it's Claude Giroux or some of the other options out there that could be acquired.

I don't think Stendika would be that guy. Well, and obviously, if you're the Bruins and you're trying to acquire a 2C, it's because you're trying to do something here while you have this, you know, veteran corps together. I don't think it necessarily has to have a huge bearing on what they think of Stenica if they want to do this, right? Like, do you want to go get a Giroux, a Tomash hurdle? Because you think you can, if you get him, you can make a serious push for another Stanley Cup while you still have Patrice Bergeron and, as of recently, Tuka Rask.

Yeah, like that. I just meant like, I think if you're going to add to your team, it's going to be externally, not internally. They probably don't have that player, such as Stenica to come in and have. help the team immediately. Right, in the mold that like an Anton Lindell has for Florida. Yeah, I would say, or to go into the next question, whether a guy, like, say, Matthew Boldy, who could come up in midseason and help your team. An excellent transition. Charles W. wants to know what Boldy has to do to realistically enter the Calder conversation, and if it's

possible that he can. I think it is. He's only played 10, 10, 11 games so far, and that's his, he's starting at a game's disadvantage. But I think it's still possible. Yeah. So I'm a big nerd about this stuff. I will go right to the definition of the Calder Trophy, and nobody ever does, nobody ever listens to me about this point, so I feel like I have, like, a broken record about this, but the Calder Trophy says it is presented to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition. It does not say the most valuable rookie. It does not say who had the most productive season as a rookie. It says the most proficient. So, and you can use, you can say, well, he's only played, whatever,

15 games, and, you know, Raymond and Zegras and Zyder, played this many games, you know, or in Lundell or Jarvis, so on and so forth. And, you know, because they played 50 games or 60 games, that's better evidence for me. He's the most proficient at his position in his first season. But I think, you know, if Boldie's playing a point of game, a year, like 20, 30 games into the year, to me, that would be a strong argument based on how the reading of the Calder Trophy is in terms of what voters are supposed to do. But I know what voters actually do, which is. is they go to NHL.com, they sort the rookies by points, and then they vote in that order.

So I am not very optimistic he will win the Calder trophy. I think that's a little unfair. I think that a little more thought goes into it than that. I do believe a lot of people put more thought into it, but if you look at what the actual results are, for the Norris, for the heart, and for the, and for the Calder, it usually goes that way. I think that's fair, but it's also partly because I think there is, does tend to be a correlation between the rookies who are the most proficient and the most effective and the ones who score a lot.

Like, I don't think it's, I don't think one means the other. I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm going to be defensive here over my writer friends for a minute. But I would imagine that the Calder Trophy will be the top five players ranked in order, barring any kind of goalie votes, such as the Delkevich. And that's another case because he already was a finalist last year, and I do wonder how that factors in for him. What I'll say about Boldie, though, is I agree with you.

I think if he can keep up what he's done so far over the final 40 or so games of the season, he's going to have a really compelling case because it's not just going to be about points. It's going to be as a really complete two-way winger who has a big impact on the game, both on the score sheet and away from the puck. With the Hart Trophy, like, it's not really a great argument in my opinion, but like whether or not they're on a good team usually comes into effect. Like, why not with the Calder Trophy? You have Lundell and him now and Boldie who are playing significant roles on top teams.

I'm trying to trigger your readers too much, but should that matter more than like for Sider or Raymond or Ziegers and Anaheim who are, Anaheim, at least, kind of in a playoff race, Detroit's been a lot better than we expected, but probably not in a playoff race. You know, if Ludendell is playing the way he is and Florida's the best team in the NHL, President's trophy winner by the end, if Boldie's a second or first line forward on a team that ends up being the first,

second, or third best team in the West, you know, is that not a strong argument in there? favor? I think it can be a strong argument. I think you'll also get some people who would tell you they're playing with really good players that they're in a little bit easier environment and that would I mean, I think you could look at it probably both ways. I think you would get people who would tell it to you both ways. You can look at it both ways, but I think the way I looked at it was right. And you usually are. So we will leave with that. But I think Boldie is still very much alive in the conversation. This one was from an email question. And I do want to remind people that this is

an option, although I never have before, so I can't say remind. But we do have an email that we discovered because of this question. So thank you, first of all, to Alex Pobosik, I think it is, maybe Pobichik, for discovering this email for us. And now we can tell all of you that if you want to email a question and dodge the whole Twitter or the athletic real-time way to ask us these questions, you can go to email us at the athletic hockey show at gmail.com. And as we now know, it'll find this way to us. So without dragging that along any further, Alex wants to know.

about how you keep track of your scouting reports. She says, I assume, or he, they say you, they assume you have to keep track of multiple prospects while watching games. So do you just take notes and sort it out later? Do you make individual entries into player profiles? Is there a program you use? How do you do it? That's a good question.

And the answer to that question has evolved over time. I used to very diligently take notes on whatever game I was watching. I usually just, you know, be punching into either a notebook on, on, paper or spreadsheet on my computer, every little note that I was taking over the course of a game and the various games I would watch in a given day. That process has changed for me as technology has changed. I would say when I'm watching a game now, I'm really just watching the game. I take a couple of notes.

The notes I'm taking are usually not on tools or like very specific Sky Report kind of things, is usually things that I need to go back and watch later or things that I thought were very interesting that I need to remember for a later time. But I'm at a point in my life now where I watch just like a shit ton of hockey. And I usually know a lot of players very well, typically in a given game I'm watching.

Obviously, you're watching new players all the time. But like I'm not... Like, if I turn on a US NTP game, I'm not taking notes on these players. I've seen them all dozens of times by now. So, but, but, and you're building off that just every single time you're building off that. There'll be, you know, whether I'm watching full games some days or some days you're just watching shifts on players. So I typically understand these players rather well.

The way I keep it sorted is usually I do have a spreadsheet where I have all the tool grades input it into there for every player. So I can keep track of where I have these players rated based on. on their tool grades. We have a master spreadsheet where I have all the reports in on all the players with all the tool grades as well for varying age groups. That's the best way I could describe it. I would say the process has evolved for me

diligently taking notes every time I watch hockey to understanding players in a more intensive level, even before I go into watching full game. and then using the games to kind of broaden my understanding if that makes sense. Here's my follow-up. If you were talking to someone who was getting started, would you recommend that they still start the way that you did by diligently taking notes or kind of skip that step and go more to what you've been doing now?

I think you want to start taking notes. It helps for me that I can know. I've watched so much hockey at varying levels that I, you know, I'm wrong a lot. But I can, I feel like I can probably watch a game. in game and identify skating skill levels and put grades on guys or, you know, rather routinely. You know, for me, you know, now when I'm watching games, I'm trying to just, you know, focus in on a couple of things, questions on certain players that I have. Like, I'll go into an NTP game.

I'm like, okay, it's Carter Gauthier's sense good or an issue or average or, you know, things that I'll be debating going into the, into the game about certain players. as opposed to trying to understand all these players right away. But yeah, I think if you're starting and you don't really know what good skating is, or I mean you do, but you don't feel comfortable saying that without a shadow of a doubt, I would say writing down your thoughts in general is usually a practice to help remember things. And for someone starting out, the more you do it, the more you're in-rinks, the more you're meeting people, you're also going to run into whether it be scouts or other people who you trust,

who you can bounce these ideas off of at something. And I think for me, the reason why I just don't do that anymore is if you're at a game, I think you want to be focused on the game. I think too often if you're focused on your writing notes, you miss things because the game doesn't stop for you because you need to write something down. And too often, you'll be distracted by your notes or actually be doing it on a computer and you'll miss what's going on all around you and the context of the environment and so on and so forth. Yeah, that's a good point.

All right, moving on to one from Grimlock L who says Zegras has been a highlight reel machine this year, the over-the-net pass, the Michigan in motion, most recently the highlight reel dodgeball goal at the All-Star Skills competition. He said these ex-keging plays I've never seen before and his puck control looks amazing. I appreciate that you at Zegra's ranked fourth in your mid-season U-23 rankings. I'm confused by your NHL average rating on his puck skills. To his eye, seems high end, maybe even pushing elite. Could you speak about your evaluation of Zegras' puck skills?

What are you seeing that he's not? I appreciate this question. It's one I've gotten a lot. And I also appreciate that Grimlock was kind enough to mention that I actually do really like Trevor Zegris. It's apparently become news to me that I don't like Trevor Zegris. That's not been the case for quite some time. So that was news to me But I think his question is fair

I guess the reason why I always felt like When I was watching Zegerson as a junior Junior being when he was in NTDP And then with Boston University And then even that first year in the American League I always found like the skill level was really high But I always found like The way his game generated offense

I was thought he was through his passing And his creativity I thought he's one of the best passes I've ever seen Whereas I think he compared to a guy like Kent Johnson I think is the opposite. I don't think he's a great passer, but his pure hands skill, the way he makes guys miss one-on-one

is really elite. When I've watched Zegris in junior and college, he showed great hands and stick-handling, but I always thought the offensive generator just through his insane vision, improvisation ability. That being said, watching him, particularly in the NHL this season,

he has been creating a lot with his puck hand. to go with the incredible playmaking. So I can concede that I might have been a little harsh on that one. Maybe it should be NHL above average, maybe even high end. And I suspect by the time my next rating comes out, that that aspect will be ranked higher. Another way to kind of put that, I guess, is that is the reason that he pulls off these highlight real plays because he's the only guy you can do them or because he knows the timing of when to do them and kind of where to pull them off, to do them, but he can actually pull them off? Yeah.

I always like, for me, it's great if it looks flashy, but I always find with puck skills, I only give you the highest, highest grades if you actually beat the guy to create the chance while you do it. You know, I found like when I was watching Lucas Raymond, for example, as a junior, he does that so often. Like, he has, he created so many highlight real goals and chances through his stick handling. And that's something I just ever saw as Zegras as a junior. He's not a junior anymore. He is in the NHL of a 20-year-old. And I will probably adjust accordingly. I mean, so like how many players do you think in the league? I would guess a fairly high number are able to pick the puck up in the fashion that he does,

whether it's to do the Michigan or to throw it over the net. But there is a boldness, there's a creativity, there's a smartness to know when you can do it and actually pull it off. That point is very fair. I think a lot of, like I said, a lot of players can do. I don't think everyone could do the Michigan with the timing that is a skill thing to do. Especially in motion. But I think like the Alleyoop thing is less a skill thing and more a brain thing, in my opinion. Yeah.

I think that's a good way to put it. Either way, he is one of the most sensational electrifying players in the league. And Corey thinks so too. Don't worry. That's why he ranked him as highly as he did. Nicholas K. Do you think there's enough talent come to the pipeline for Detroit to become contenders, though certainly not favorites,

without hitting the lottery or getting someone like Savoy Geeky to exceed their draft slot? I don't know if he means to fall in the draft or just like become better than whatever you would get at, wherever you pick those guys. I think he's trying to say they're like pretty like a six or ten guys. And they turn out to be like top five caliber players kind of top three or whatever. whatever yeah. Right. He says, centers of barren wasteland in the Rembings Prospect System. You'd rather have another free fall

into the lottery than spend eight years as a preying of the bubble team. Okay, so now you're leading the witness, Nicholas. But, Corey, what do you think? Yeah, I mean, it's tough for me, I think, to look at the organization as it is right now and say this is a Stanley Cup team. You know, it's just with presuming best case scenarios for all the prospects, Evanston is a tall pair guy,

Raymond continues to develop into a star. you know, Larkin stays and continues to be very good. Verana stays and is very good. Medelkevich stays. Maybe Kosa comes in and is good. I think if all those things happen, you will have a very good team. In terms of a contender,

it's tough for me to imagine them not adding at least, even if it's not another center, another really premium forward into that group. I think you're close. I don't think they're far off. I mean, you look at the years of Sider and Raymond are having it. It's changed the timeline, I think, a lot there. But they probably still do need another premium piece or two.

You know, it could be at Ford or even in net, even though Kosa is not having the best year right now. You know, again, some players, Evan's having a good year. He's not so much. Things can balance out over time. Yeah, I would say they're close, but they're probably still need. another one or two really premium assets to put over the top.

And I will just simply co-siding that. I think you're spot on. I think a center is ideal because center is the most valuable to me. I mean, center and D you can go either way, but I think center is the most valuable position on a roster because of how many you need. Yeah. And they have the 2D in Evanston Insider. Obviously, Evanston is not in the NHL yet,

but they look like at least insider, they have that one. Evanston looks like he's on a strong path to becoming at least a top four defense. I don't want to say for sure being top pair, but it looks like he could be a top four-inchel defenseman. Just given you don't have the young center, I mean, I like Philo. I think he's, I watched one of the Grand Rapids games the other day. I thought he actually was decent in that game. But it's a glaring need, and we've talked about it often on this show for that reason.

Yeah, no, and it's the kind of thing where you're deciding, they signed Pew Souter, who I think is a really good center, but I just don't know on a contender if he can reasonably be two. I think on a contender, you're hoping easier, J.G. Pajo, Yanni G. G. Gorge, Gord type third line center. Sure. But, you know, I think basically the point is if you can get the center, you're doing the center. But if you go and come out of this draft and you were able to come out with whether it's one of the guys that he mentioned, Savoy, Gigi, or if you can get someone like Gereoslovsky to fall to you or something.

Brad Lambert, if you think he's, whether you think he's a center or a wing, if you get a guy like that and they become a top echelon player, your odds are much better. It doesn't have to be a center. Right. So I think some scouts would debate whether any of those guys other than geeky or going to be a HL centers. Correct. Yep. But you can make it, by the same, you can make the pick with confidence because if they're a center, great. And if they're not, that's still okay.

Yeah. Still dynamic players, hopefully. All right. Moving on. Devils Insiders. Why didn't the Devils take McCar at one? I could answer that question in terms of just like, you know, he was a junior A defenseman. And heeshier and Patrick were having excellent CHL seasons.

he sure had the great world junior and all those things um but i think there's more of this questions i think he was referencing as i've seen this guy my mentions before um i think he was referencing the fact that i in my when i was working at espn in summer 2017 i put in my mock draft that i was saying had the devils taking macara one obviously that was wrong and the devil's fans mocked me mercilessly um for right after right after that happened although that less so recently. But, yeah, so I guess he's answering, like, you know, why did I say that they were going to take him, and why didn't they?

So I remember in the spring, summer of that season, the rumors really started percolating when Ray Sherro, then the GM of the Devils, was spotted at an AJHL game watching Bacar. I don't have to, I don't think it's a big observation. that general managers of NHL teams don't pop up at Junior B games in Canada, particularly at the AJHL, you know, BCHL is kind of closer to the where the Canucks play and stuff, stuff like that. So that's when things started really percolate there, and I started hearing from a couple of people that they were, that he was among the players they were considering at one.

And I'm not going to answer this question fully, because I really don't know, precisely what happened at the end that made them go with Heeshire instead of my car. I don't know if somebody got vetoed or something along those lines. I've heard rumors, but I don't want to spread rumors of exactly what happened. But I can't say what I do know is that I do know there was significant interest and just ended up not happening. All right. Sappho's Crushers wants an NHL conference. Jake Sanderson. And he says thanks. We appreciate that.

You're welcome. The one, I had somebody give me this comp a couple weeks ago that I actually like, Jacob Slade and Carolina. Yeah, and I think that's a good one too. The other one who I've thought of for him is maybe a better skating Devon Taves. Yeah, I don't know Tays game well enough for that. I could see maybe even like a slightly bigger like Charlie McAvoy. Yep. All would be great outcomes for Ottawa. I don't think Senators fans are sitting here saying, geez, you're really understanding him.

Yeah, but I think what we're talking about with all of those guys is they're all two-way players who are, you know, can bring offense maybe more through their aggressiveness and their smarts than through like pure skill. But all of them are going to help you on offense. All of them are going to be really good two-way stoppers. And all of them, most importantly, are top pair and most of them number one defensemen. Yep. It's great, you know, great skaters, competitive, all-around guys.

Yeah, absolutely. Ottawa got a good one there. Rebels Anonymous, how does Anaheim thread the needle this deadline between rewarding their guys for a great half of the season and being smart about their upcoming UFAs? I think they're talking about like Hanpus Lindholm, that kind of situation. And Josh Manson. Yes. Yeah. This is a tough question. I think when you talk to people in the actual hockey league, they would say it's more complicated than typically what's publicly portrayed, where it's, you know,

It's just about either you're in it or you're selling everything. Because there is the players that are still going to be left there and the message for them of, like, wow, you guys work so hard. You exceeded expectations. You've made yourself competitive and into a playoff race. And now we're just going to take two great players and ship them away pretty much. And with that our playoff chances. because I think cultures of winning and cultures of losing to NHL people I talk to are big things. That being said, if you're Pat for Beak, you need to look out for the best short-term, but also long-term interests of the organization.

So I think you have to, now that they have the GM in place, you've got to be very real with Manson, and particularly Lindholm, and make your best faith offer to try and. and extend them. You know, not like, come and don't be cheap. Like, you know, make, you know, a reasonable market offer with how you think they should be valued. And if they say they don't want to sign and they got to test the market, then you might be forced into doing what's best for the Anaheim ducks. But, I mean, I also think if you're Hampton-Linholm and Josh Mannington looking at this

team, the team might look different to you than it did six months ago. I mean, you look at the year Trevor Zegers is having. You look at the year Jamie tries to help. is having. He's not in the Calder Trophy race, but he looks like a really good player for a 19-year-old defenseman. You looked at what Mason Metavish looks like, and you'll see him in the Olympics now, and I think there's something exciting going on in Anaheim right now. So I wouldn't be surprised if Lynn Homer Manns and look at the team and said, you know, maybe I would entertain an extension instead of testing the market. Yeah, and I think that's the key, is that if they're not extended

by the deadline, I think if you're Papua-Beak, you have to really strongly consider offers. Really the week of the deadline is when I think the rubber meets the road there. Lindholm in particular is the one who I would be making the best offer that I could right now. Manson at 30, like I think it's a little fairer to, you know, you're not maybe as, you know, hard lines to keep him, although he's been there for so long. But I think if you're in Aynne, you can't pass the deadline without them extended and have them still on your roster. I think that puts you in a really precarious spot going into the off season. Yep, I think I agree.

All right. I think this is a really good one from Alex Ganyan. Lane Hudson is arguably the most dynamic defenseman in this draft. We can debate that or not. But what are the reasons you excluded him from your top 32? Is it just size-related? What are the main concerns you have about his game? Because this is a player who coming out of the U-18 worlds last year, there was a lot of buzz about despite that dreaded 5-8 for a defenseman.

Yeah. And I don't think his claim of him being the most dynamic defenseman is that off. I probably would rephrase it. He's the most purely skilled player in the draft, at least on defense. I mean, his combination of hands and vision are really high-end. Well, that's the issue. I'll get to it. It is the reason why he's not in my first round or most scouts' first round is the 5-8 frame and not an amazing skater for that size.

I don't think he's a bad skater. I think he's a solid skater, but it's not tremendous feat for a guy that's like. He doesn't skate like Eric Brandstrom, for example, who is in and out in the lineup right now for Ottawa. And he's not, and he's actually bigger than Hudson. So I think those are the good starts. I had someone, I was talking to a scout about him a couple of days ago, and I like the line he is.

He said, I love the idea of Lane Hudson more than I like the idea of actually picking him with a high pick. And I think that's, there's just not that many five-eight defensemen in the national hockey. And if you're not like an elite skater, it's like, geez, like, where do you play in our line? If you're definitely not killing any penalties for us, we're going to be scared like shitless if you go out there and there's any good player on the ice against you, you have to be on a power play and use in a very specific way.

You know, just because of the team he plays on the NTP, the Adam Fox comparisons come up often, which I think would obviously are extremely aggressive because, one, there's like a two, inch difference, and Fox is one of the most skilled players in the National Hockey League. But I think there would be a point in the draft for me if I was drafting. Whether it's the second round, probably a little bit later than that, like maybe early second, maybe like once you're going to like the 40 to 50 range or later that he was still there for me, I would start to get rather interested in the gamble, but realizing that there are are very few players in the NHL who look like him.

Can we get on the feet? Because I think I like him more than you do. I think I like the edges. I think he pivots well. I think all this stuff plays up with the sense. Yeah, the edges are very good. His offensive blue line work is very good. He makes all these cute little fakes.

He makes guys miss. He kind of dances the blue line very well. But he doesn't have, I would say, the premium mobility, the premium speed that you would want, whether it's for bringing pucks up the ice or being able to gap control guys. I don't think he's defending as bad at the junior level. I think he's actually decent defender at the junior level. But the question's going to be as he goes to play versus guys who are 6-1, 200 pounds every night. How is that defending an affair?

So it's defeat defending the rush kind of thing because knowing you probably can't out physical somebody more so than walking the line, which I think is where maybe I had tantalized. Yeah, he's, I mean, his power playability is incredible. Yeah. When he's inside the offensive zone, he's a, he's a dynamic player. but feed and transition, size, those are going to be, those are major issues, which is why almost every scout I talk to does not happen in the first round. All right, very fair. Ben Hurdle, do you feel the wilder the real deal this year?

And if so, why don't they get national respect? They don't get national respect. They have Michael Russo covering, though. I think Carrille got a little bit of national respect last year in the form of a pretty heavy statue. Yeah, they get respect. Come on. They're not in the tier of Tampa, Colorado, Florida.

I'll say that, maybe even Carolina. But they're not too far behind that. Were they just like a big nationally broadcast game a couple of weeks ago? Yeah, no, I mean, for sure. But I think his point is like, should the wild be talked about as more of a contender than maybe they're in right now? So we kind of mentioned this with the Detroit conversation. We kind of harken this back. Can you win a Stanley Cup without superstar centers?

It's very rare. History says it's very rare to do if it happens really ever. I mean, Vegas was pretty close a couple years ago. And I think that's probably the concern with Minnesota, in terms of discussing them in the same lights of Carolina, Florida, Florida, Colorado, Tampa Bay is, you know, I think both Joel Erick and Ryan Hartman have exceeded by leaps and bounds any reasonable expectations. they had when they were prospects. They have been both so good for the while this season and look like really good centers. Guys who are major assets definitely could be considered second-line centers, maybe even like low-end first-line centers, depending on your perspective. But can they match up with Nathan McKinnon? Can they match up with Jack Eichol even?

We'll see how Vegas looks when he comes back. You know, those are, that for me would keep them out of that range. Yeah, I think what you have there is kind of, if you look at Tampa, and I know Stamco's one point to center, but he's played a lot of wing for them as well. Guys who are maybe more equivalent to an Anthony Sorrelli than a Braden point. And if I think Minnesota has, you know, the possibility that whether it's trading for somebody or maybe they hope Marco Rossi can stick at center and be that guy for them, but that is the main question with their team.

And maybe a little bit in net still, too, I would say. I was talking with Rousseau actually today about Rossi. I mean, and here's the issue with Rossi thinking about whether he'll be like that one center or something like that is. I was looking at the – I looking this up the other day, you know, there's only – there's really small number of centers in the national hockey league who are that small. I think the amount who are 510 or under are Jack Hughes, Vincent Trocheck, and Braden Point. And I'm not sure I'm forgetting anybody else. In terms of very top of the line guys, I think that's right. You know, so, and he's smaller than all three of them.

So I, so I love Rossi. He's a great prospect, but the odds are against him being a first line center. Especially when he doesn't have those lightning feet. Exactly. Exactly. Could he be a second line center? Sure. Could he be a first line wing?

Sure. But those are the questions. Yeah. D-Corps, though, I mean, D-Corps is up there with some of those contenders that we've talked about, the Carolinas, the Florida's. Yep, very good. Kael and Addison also looked very good, providing depth. They have great depth also in the junior ranks in terms of the defense.

It's a great team. You know, I think they, you know, Kappers-alp, obviously has brought that team to life over the last two years. They're not disputing that they actually are a contender, but whether they're in the top echelon, probably not. All right. How about MVP? How many potential one Cs do you see in this draft? I think this goes right back to the Detroit conversation we were having earlier.

Right. And maybe Cooley. And I think in terms of the Cal, 1C is a broad way to describe things. I think if you talk to any job people, there's a difference between a 1C who's among the top 15 centers in the league and a 1C who's probably among like a 16 to 13 to 3rd. 32nd best centers in the league.

I think Wright in its best years can be among, like, probably not going to be a top five center in the league, but I think he could kind of sit around that 10th to 20th best center in the league. And I think for Cooley, I view him as the guy who could be more like in the 20 to 30th best center in the league. You know, I think of him, you know, he doesn't play the NHL anymore. Do you remember like Thomas Placanek when he was with Montreal? Sure. Like, he reminds me a lot of placanic.

I was like, you know, like he was the first time I was in the center for Montreal, played 20 minutes a night, scored a lot of points, played all situations, but was never considered among the top echelon centers in the league. I can see Cooley being that. In terms of the other options, like I have a hard time putting geeky as a 1C given his scoring this year, even though I love the player. I think he's a top prospect. And Savoy, for the same reason we discussed with Rossi,

I mean, 5-9 guy. hard to stamp him as a 1C despite the incredible year he's having without like special special other dimensions. Yep. I think that's fair. So two, and then you got some guys who, you know,

you can still be really good upper lineup players, whether it's at center or somewhere else. Slokovsky's listed as a center, but he's a wing. Yeah. Yeah, I think you're safe in saying that. All right.

Final one is from Mark Lemke. Any exciting prospects from non-traditional hockey countries? I'm assuming here, I mean, a lot of the you know there's really no country who's like there's like an amazing uh sure i don't know here you know australian prospect in this draft but non non top five or six yeah i mean there's there's a probably three that come to mind obviously marco casper first round potential yeah pick playing with rogo in the shl austrian played the world juniors for austria uh played it from

the last two world juniors actually um with good skating skills size compete um guy i know teams are excited about. Chance to be a top three-line four in the National Hockey League. I do expect he'll go in the first round. Another Austrian, Vinson's Rohrer. I definitely butchered that name. But he plays in Ottawa and the OHL. Also play at the World Juniors among the youngest players in the draft.

A high-skill player, not that big. I would expect he'd be like a mid-round pick if the draft was held today. And the one of the more fascinating prospects, And they're slowly becoming a more of a traditional hockey nation right now, but it is a German. Julian Lutz. Intriguing prosthic because of the talent. He is 6-2. He can skate very well, and he's a very skilled player.

I remember watching him at the U-18 World in Dallas last year, and he looked really intriguing. Scouts were getting kind of excited about him just because of the talent. Comes into the year. It's just okay at the Holinka Gretzky. And then he gets injured, and it's been a significant injury. He has not played all season. Talking to people, there's no idea when he's going to come back. Kind of a little bit of a wild card there.

You got this German, planning Germany, hasn't played at all this season, but really talented. So I think Lutz is going to be a really interesting one to see what happens with him in the draft. I think he's been ranked kind of in like the second, third round race. to what I've seen him. Yeah, I have a hard time personally. I see him going that high, given that he hasn't played at all this season. But I think on talent, he's in that mix for sure.

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