The Athletic Hockey Show - Prospect Series U23 draft

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

Max Bultman, Corey Pronman, Scott Wheeler, and FloHockey’s Chris Peters draft teams of 6 forwards, 4 defensemen, and 1 goalie from a pool of the world’s best under-23 players on this special edition of The Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series.Hosts: Max Bultman and Corey PronmanWith: Scott Wheeler and FloHockey’s Chris PetersExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris Flannery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Hey, everybody. Max Boltman here alongside the athletic Scott Wheeler and Corey Prondman and Flohockey's Chris Peters for another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. We're going to do something a little bit different today. Over the last few weeks, we've talked a lot about Corey's U-23 rankings, the pipeline rankings, all of those features. And we've talked about Corey's opinion on these players. You'll still get a little bit of that today.

But we wanted to shake it up a little bit, have Scott and Chris on and myself. we're going to just do a draft here. We're going to draft roughly half of a roster of U23 players to get a little different take on this group of players, especially as training camps are underway now. And some of these players are making runs at NHL teams. Some of them are staples on NHL teams, frankly. But it's basically going to comprise the same pool, the U23 pool. So the 2020 drafting on, the late 01s through the 06s that just got drafted this year.

I think, as always, we're trying to do some projecting here. So if you take an 18-year-old, obviously that may up your chances of winning down the road more so than in the immediate term. But I think we are still doing that projecting here. We're kind of drafting a six forward, four defensemen, one goalie lineup with a goal of kind of future contention. But I think if you wanted to draft an older lineup, maybe we could give you some near-term points, I suppose. Well, what do you guys think? I mean, I think that what we should do is pick the best players. That's what I think we should do, Max.

All right, Chris. Well, since you're so bullish, you've got the first overall pick. Oh, really? Well, then I guess it comes down. So I knew before we started this that I would have the first pick, thanks to the randomizer for allowing me to have it. And honestly, it was a little bit more involved of a thought process as I figured. It ultimately came down to Connor Bedard versus Macklin Celebrini.

And I think, you know, I've been on record as saying, I think that Celebrini is the more complete player between the two, but you can't discount what Connor Bedard does. And in the end, you know, I think that Connor Bedard's ability to outscore everybody is going to be the thing that carries the day. And, you know, I think back to even just, you know, Chicago Blackhawks fans, remember, you know, the age-old debate of Jonathan Taves versus Patrick Kane, which player ultimately was more valuable. And I think that, you know, at various stages of their career, one was more valuable than the other. And, you know, Kane actually won an MVP award and all those other things. And so I do think that Conrad's scoring is going to be the separating factor.

I think we're looking at one of the great goalscores of the NHL for now and into the future. And so I'm really excited to take Connor Bedard, number one overall. Are you 100% confident that he will be a center for you in this construction here? And I guess do you care whether that's the case? I don't care. I honestly don't care. I think that the center versus wing debate only matters. in the, you know, when we're talking a little bit further down the lineup, obviously a number

one center is important. However, I think that he's just too good of a score where he's going to score no matter which position he plays. All right. That takes the number two pick to Cory Bronman. Yeah. And Chris mentioned the debate between Conradar and Macon-Colabrini. He would probably lean the same way he did in that I think Celebrity is a better all-round player, a better skater, plays harder. All things that Baderd does well, but Baderd's skill and scoring are very special. Both of them were first overall picks,

but I believe if you redid the 2020 draft, even though he didn't go first overall, I believe Tim Stozylough would go first overall in that draft. He's a very special player. You know, it's already at 250 points in his NHL career, and he's still eligible for this very young, age criteria type of exercise.

And, you know, there are things that Celebrini does better than Stutzel for, you know, I think the two-way game he has is very special. But I think Stutzla's skating is better. Even though I think Celebrini is an excellent skater, I think Stutzla skating is dimensional. I think his skill level is just as high.

And I think we're trying to balance Celebrini versus Stutzla, I can see a world where Celebrity becomes a better player. But Stoetsla is already a pretty damn excellent NHL player who I think is going to have a massive NHL season. So I'm taking Stutzla at the second pick and he'll be my number one center for my team. Scott, what do you think of that pick by Corey? I saw some facial expressions.

No, no, I don't have any real strong feelings about it. I would lean Macklin here. Just the youth, the runway, how well-rounded his game is. I think Stutzla, if there is a criticism of his game to this point in the end, NHL, it's been that sort of two-way play. He's not going to be the two-way stud that I think Macklin-Selabrini has the potential to be. And I think ultimately, their ceilings offensively are going to be pretty comparable

through the prime of their careers. So I just think in Celebrini, you're getting a more well-rounded, more well-rounded player. And I can see it happen. I think it's just, for me, it's a guy who's had that role really successful in HL seasons versus a guy who's yet to play a game. I think it's a balance. So, you know, there's balancing factors there. But that's just the way I would lean.

I don't think it's close for the record. Yeah. Listen, I get it. So I think Max, an exceptional special player. Like I said, I think St. Dutson is a special player too. And if you disagree, that'll be more special than the other. That's okay.

He's going to have a tough time in San Jose being special right away. We'll see. Well, I am thrilled to get Celebrity at number three. I've got the third pick here. I agree that I think he's a more well-rounded player. I got a little scared when Corey started talking about the Bedard Celebrating thing that Chris was saying because I thought, I mean, frankly, we all have an advantage here against Corey in that his rankings are just published here. So I'm just looking at his board and anticipating. I thought he was going to throw me a curveball right off the hop.

So grateful that he stuck to his list because I think I come away with the best two-way center of this entire player pool here. You do. And just to expand on what I said, like not thinking it's close. like really, that's not to slag Tim Stutzla. I think it's more of a commentary for me on my belief in McLaughlin-Selabrini, you know, in terms of the players that I've tracked over the years, you know, there's such an excitement factor to his all-around game and the fact that it doesn't, he's never sacrificed offense for the, for the defense that he's able to provide and the physicality that he brings.

And that's going to take a little while for him to mature into in the NHL level. Like, you know, he's not a big guy, but he plays. hard. So, you know, I think, and to Corey's point, yeah, it's going to be tough to be special in San Jose. It's going to be a long journey for that franchise to become more competitive. But, you know, I just think, like, as I'm looking for the building blocks of a franchise, you know, between Celebrini, Baddard, you know, I feel like they are centerpieces in a way that few players can be in the same ways that we, you know, we, you've seen, you know, Crosby and, and Bada and McDavid and, you know, the kind of, those kind of level

of impact. So that's, that's where I see those two in the separation. All right. The number four pick, Scott Wheeler. So coming into this, I kind of expected that the first three names off the board would be these three names off the board. And as a result, there wasn't much of a debate for me in terms of who my fourth pick was going to be, who my first pick of this first round was going to be.

and that's Matt Baimichkov. I just think from a pure skill standpoint, he's got the most juice of anybody on this list. I think he's the only player sort of left who's got a chance to challenge those other three, at least from a points per game, from a production value standpoint. And I think at the top of the draft,

you've got to swing on some of that skill level. You've got to find a premium premium skill guy. So Matt Veemichkov's the first pick. Then it got tricky because I think there were two or three, even four or five centers that had a really, really strong case for that next pick. And ultimately, I've decided I'm going to go with Adam Fantilli. I think the idea of Fantilli, that sort of big, strong, powerful, skating, physical, competitive center with a ton of skill. Obviously, last year impacted by injury, he's healthy now. I expect him to step up and take on a

bigger role for a Columbus Blue Jackets team that really needs him and others to step up this season. and I'm really excited to get Fantilli as my sort of centerman for Matt Bay-Michikov. All right. Corey, what do you think about those two? I think, odd talent. It's reasonable. I think, I mean, it's quibbling. But it's like I probably wouldn't put Mitchcock over Fantilli right now.

I think I probably wouldn't take Mitchcock over Leo Carlson yet either from that draft. But we will see how his first NHL year goes. And it's not unreasonable, I think, that I can get there by the end of the year. I think just with how good Leo looked in the NHL last year, it would be, it would be tough for me, for me to get there at the moment. I fully expect Michkov to have a better rookie season this year than Leo Carlson has as a sophomore. Ooh, that's, that's spicy.

I kind of like that. Yeah, I think it'll be, I think it'll be really interested to see how Mitchcoff's first NHL year goes. I think there's, I think he will be an elite power play guy and the lead to ozone guy. Um, but I could see at even strength him not. be a dominant player right off the hop, but I think he's going to get a lot of points right away. I also wonder when, at what point, how long, when is the countdown begin with the first healthy scratch? Oh, it's coming. It's coming. It's probably coming in October or November, too.

I think it'll come early, and I think it'll be a tone setting kind of thing, but we'll see. All right. So that brings it back to me at the number six pick here. And there's a player I really want to take here. And I think it's a little early, but I think it's a roll of the dice to wait. I think I'm going to try to make that gamble, and I'm going to take Leo Carlson, because I know he's not coming back around. But it's not without a little bit of trepidation here. I think there is a little bit of a ledge after those first four or five picks, depending on the order here. I think I would have taken either of the two Scott took. So I'll take Leo Carlson, get that high hockey sense, high-skill compliment to Macklin-Cellibrini.

And now I'm going to set up pins and needles for the next five minutes. For what it's worth, and I love Leo, but Leo was not the other center that I was debating, taking over Adam Fantilli. Who was that? We're going to wait and see because I'm interested to see whether he'll swing back. Yeah, he needs the strategy now comes into play. And when he goes, Scott will have to tell us who it was. He may go right here.

Yeah. He's not going to because I think the two most important building, locks to building a team is a star first line center and a star number one defenseman. And I think Luke Hughes is that number one defenseman. I think he is an absolute dynamo. I think his skating is elite. He's going to have a ton of offense. This defense isn't amazing, but with that frame and his skating, I think he can get molded

as he ages into being a good enough defender who is just an outstanding transition player, who can run a power play at a high level and could have played massive minutes on a good team. So Luke Hughes is my pick here. Yeah, and that certainly would have been mine as well for the same reasons that you said. I'm next. So, you know, like, I think especially now when you look at, you look at Quinn Hughes, you look at Cal McCar, you look at Adam Fox, and the importance of those players now, you know, of those players so far only Cal McCar has won the Stanley Cup. But, you know, I think that they're all, you know, critical kind of pieces to the future of where we're going in the NHL as far as what defensemen can do.

So I can't argue with that. And now we're going to have to wait and see if, if Scott's center will still be there when I go. But anyway, so we're looking at the board. Max, I don't mean to take over. Are we, are we good to move on? We're good to move on in number eight. Give me a break after your eighth pick so that we can just run everybody through

how everybody started. I think that's what we'll kind of do here. All right. but give me your number eight pick we'll talk about that and then we'll get a refresher all right so this is this is where things start to get a lot more difficult i feel like in terms of you know when we're thinking about structure and different things the benefit is is that i have two picks in a row so i can kind of do whatever i want here um similar to corey i do feel that the that the the importance of uh defensemen in terms of having a guy that you feel can be a number one

defensemen in your in your system is important. And it's for that reason that I'm going a little bit off the board because I feel there's a little bit of a safer number one projection on this player. And that's going to be Jake Sanderson of the Ottawa senators. I very strongly considered Artem Levshanov, who I had very high in the last draft. I do believe that he has has that number one defenseman potential. However, I would say that it's less certain I feel than I do with Jake Sanderson. Do I feel like I may be giving up a little bit offensively?

I do. But I think that I'm going to have a guy that's going to play 28 minutes a game for me in the most important games of the season, a guy that's going to be every matchup, a guy that can be on the power play, a guy that can be on the PK, just give me every. every kind of thing. And that's, I think, of the defensemen that we're talking about now among the most complete among the U-23 players, to me is Jake Sanderson. So that is my pick at number eight and feel free to rip and tear and do whatever you want to do to it. Well, I'm not ripping it because that's who I was considering at six there. I would have taken him as the top

defenseman off the board here because of exactly what you said, the certainty, the all situations factor. I really like Luke as a player, but in a player that I'm building my franchise defense, I want the all-situation ability there. And I think Sanderson's just proven it that much more. So I actually love the pick. And I'm, as you can see by my face while you were making it, very disappointed. I really enjoyed it. I think stylistically, it's not the same thing, but it's almost like Caleb McCarer versus Miro Heskin, which flavor do you want in that draft. And yeah, I think it's perfectly unreasonable there. All right. So our refresher here, Chris starts off with Connor Bedard and Jake Sanderson.

Corey starts off with Tim Stutzler and Luke Hughes. I start out with Macklin Celebrini and Leo Carlson. Scott starts off with Motveh Michkoff and Adam Fantilli. Chris, you may proceed with number nine. Yeah. So again, still, it's difficult. There's a lot of a lot of different players that I would look to here and just kind of trying to figure it all out. I think there's a lot of intrigue, but as I continue to look at a player that I was so wrong about before, and, you know, I think this is also a pick based on, more based on NHL that we've seen so far. And I'm going to, you know, stick with a center here and I'm going to go with Wyatt Johnston. I have great belief in him. I figured that was Scott's guy.

Yeah, I saw the, yeah. And it wasn't, you know, and honestly, like, it's hard for me because I'm such a big believer in Maddie Baneers as well, who is also in the consideration for me at this slot because I think that he does have that dynamic two-way element to him. And that now I have, you know, Johnston and Bedard, you know, like if we're building an actual team, you know, but I still think that I look at what Wyatt Johnson is and how much further I think he's going to go. And I think it's a pick that's both what have you proved. and what kind of upside do you have? And I'm obviously now, you know, especially feeling like I've got Jake Sanderson, I got my anchor on the back end. I want to continue to build out that offensive attack.

And I think Wyatt Johnson helps me do that. It's a heck of a pick. Yep. You roll the dice. I'm going to get you. All right, Corey. Number 10 is to you. No, I think that's a great pick.

Why Johnson is just an absolutely fantastic centerman who's played very well in the NHL playoffs already. And it looks like he's going to be a star in the league. You mentioned Maddie Baneers, and he's a guy who really tempts me here. I mean, we're already two plus rounds into this draft, and we haven't picked a guy who's already wanted Calder Trophy. And I know he took a little bit of a step back offensively last year. It was still a really young player,

and I think he's going to be a really good all-around player in the league. But there's one player that panelizing me a little bit more than Baneers, and it's the star upside. It's the special traits. And he hasn't played a game in the NHL yet. But I think he has star number one defense upside. And I think he's a guy who's going to be a really impactful pro. And that is Artem Lev Shunov, the second overall pick in the most recent draft.

I don't know how much I like my blue line starting with Luke Hughes and Artem Lef Shunov, because those are two guys who like to have the puck a lot. And I don't know how much defending they're actually going to do on my team. But between those two institutes, though, we're going to score a lot of goals, and we might just be winning a lot of game six four. But I lean towards Lev Schoenoff. Like I said, just special trade, 6-2, the skating, the high-end offensive stick, high-end offensive brain. So much room to grow there. And I think he's going to be an excellent pro.

And that's the way I would lean right now, even though I think veneers would be a very close consideration. All right. So, Corey, with two of the first three blue liners off the board here. and I do think that that is the only question is do you have two guys that are two puck dominant to start off but if it was close I would go a different direction but I just think left Junoff's talent is special and it's for that reason that I do something that maybe doesn't look like it's the best balance maybe we're only taking forward a fenceman I have in and I've already taken two having you know the numbers say you should probably take more

forwards here. I think those are two special, special defensemen. And I'm happy building a team around two special defensemen. Yeah. All right. The next picks to me at number 11. And as I said, I wanted to get Jake Sanderson back here, obviously, was not meant to be. And I'm going to have to pivot into what my fear was, was that if I didn't get Jake Sanderson, I was going to be taking a more like, kind of pure offensive defenseman this early in the draft. That's going to be Zev Bouyeh. And much for a lot of the same reasons that Corey just said, I think there's a special quality to Zeev, that he is one of the few players, one of the few prospects on the way up, you can see that real 70-point, you know, Norris Trophy caliber offense from a smaller defenseman. And I think he's another guy

I would have liked to float, but after the way I went with Sanderson, I'm just going to pull the trigger here on Zeev. Yeah, I certainly don't mind that. I mean, I think that that's, that's going to be the, he's going to be one of the most fascinating players to watch post-draft, you know, in terms of where he ends up, you know, the fact that I think if you're the Minnesota Wild and you're looking at Brock Faber and Zee Boeum is your long term one and two, whichever order that ends up being in down the road. You have to be just ecstatic about what that's going to look like down the road. All right, Scott, you're on the clock here at pick 12. Give me a beat. We're going to take a break after your 12th pick here, but give me your 12th pick. My 12th pick is going to be

that last name that Mr. Chris Peters just mentioned there. And I'm going to go and get Zeeve William's future Minnesota Wilde teammate in Brock Faber. A lot of talk about Jake Sanderson in the kind of minutes he can play. Brock Faber played nearly 30 minutes a night in the NHL last year as a rookie in the league. I think he's going to play 25, 30 minutes a night long term for that team. I think he might be the captain of that team someday. He might be the captain of my team here because it's probably not going to be Matt Bay Michakov or Adam Fantilli.

So I'm thrilled to add a right shot D that plays big, big minutes already in his proven himself already in the league. What's at the Fantilly slander? Like that guy's a hyper-competitive big centerman. Yeah, I just think Brocks. Brock's on that path. He's on a path to wearing a seat. Oh, he could be.

I just like the way you said that. I was like, geez. Yeah, what does Scott know that I don't? Yeah. And I, like, honestly, the Brock. Brock Faber was definitely in my next thing of picks. I figured I didn't mind saying him earlier. I didn't think anybody was going to snip him.

But there it is. And I, you know, I'm a huge believer in favor. I think he's got a great shot to be on the U.S. Olympic team. You know, I think there's a lot of things to like about where he's headed right now. And boy, yeah, he was definitely in my next pocket of picks there, but didn't get there. All right. All right.

Let's take a quick break right there. We'll be right back. All right. We're back. And Scott Wheeler, you are on the clock. Your team, just as a refresher, Motvey Mitchcoff, Adam Fantilli, Brock Faber. Who will be next? I am going to take a defenseman of the opposite-handedness and another D who has already played big, big minutes in the NHL.

And with Brock Faber, I am going to pair Owen Power of the Buffalo Sabres, two players that have played 25 plus minutes in the NHL, potential partners for one another. And they're my cornerstone first pairing guys here. Another of the defenseman that I think you can trust in all situations here. And I actually thought I might be able to get him a little later too. So nice snipe there, Scott. All right. So I'm going to go with Yerislavkovsky then at number 14. And he's only the second winger off the board for our group here, which makes me a little nervous.

But I think the power element, you know, speaking of these kind of hard to replace players, I don't know that there's that many players in our pool at this point that are going to be able to bring the skill and power balance that Urii Slavkovsky does. Ideally would have like to see, you know, at least one NHL season where he's done that, like, 70 plus points. routine that I think he will get to, but I'm confident enough he's going to get there to go with Slavkovsky here. Yeah, I think it's a very reasonable pick, and it goes back to me, and I kind of mentioned who my pick was going to be a full round ago. It seemed like nobody had any interest in this player, which is fine by me.

I'll take Maddie Baneers here. I think he is just an outstanding two-way centerman. I think there's going to be real offense there, even though the offense took a step back, as I mentioned from his calder year, this is a guy who's shown he could run a power play in the NHL. He's skilled. He can make plays. He's great skates.

He's super competitive. He has size. You know, I think is he going to be like this 80, 90 point guy consistently? No, but I got Tim Stutzel to score my points as my first line center. I think this guy is going to be a great matchup second line center from my team and provide a lot of offense. And he may be the captain of my team too one day for already naming captains before we named the full roster. So I'm happy taking veneers here. See, I was never on veneers.

started chatting Baneers early, and I'm just not sure this is the kind of range that I'd be comfortable taking him after the season that he had last year. Obviously, great skater, good size, smart kid. But are we sure that Maddie Baneers is going to be a better NHL centerman than even Berkeley-Katten within his own organization, or Logan Cooley in Utah or Quentin Bifield in L.A.? I just think there are other centers on the board here who I think have more upside than where Maddie Baneers is going to land? upside offensively, right? I mean, that's kind of the question.

Is it overall impact on the game here, though, that we're talking about? Corey's talking about using him as a matchup center here. Yeah, do we think Maddie Benares is going to be a Selky guy? Like, is that the belief that you have in him, Corey? I think so. Okay. Yeah, I think that's fair. Like, yeah, that's the thing is, it's all going to come down to that two-way capability.

And because he is, he probably won't outscore many of the guys that are going to go in the next little bit here. All right, Chris. You are on the clock next at pick number 16. Yeah, you know, I think this is this is a spot where I want to bank on some upside and start, you know, continuing on this theme of highly offensive players. And so I'm going to go with Ivan Demadov here right now with where I think, you know, again, it's an upside play. We've obviously seen them have a little bit of success.

We've also seen them get, you know, benched at the KHL level already because that's kind of what we expect will happen all season long. It's going to be ups and downs, depending on who he plays. But I just think that he is a high-end score. Obviously, I want to get, you know, a top-line wing. I think that he has top-line scoring wing upside. You know, it's just going to be a matter of, you know, Sharon Pucks with Connor Bardard, can you do that?

Is that okay? Is that going to be all right with you? And I think it ultimately will be for him. And I am excited about what he's going to be able to bring to the table for me there. All right. So through four rounds, then, what we've got here is Chris Peters has Connor Bedard, Jake Sanderson, Wyatt Johnson, and Ivan Demadov. Corey Pranman has Tim Stutzla, Luke Hughes, Artem Levchenov, and Maddie Beneers. I've got Macklin-Celebris, Z. Boullorson, Z. Bouillon, Yeryslovakov, Adam Fantilli, Brock Faber, and Owen Power. At number 17,

Chris, who's next? Yeah, now I've got to go back to D. You know, I feel like I've got to got to go there. And, you know, the debate for me ended up being between two Russian players on this one. And really what it came down to is ceiling. And to me, the guy that has the ceiling at this point, the guy that I believe will ultimately turn into the better of the two defenders, even though the one that I was debating about is really good right now. I'm going with Anton Salive here, the towering defensemen. I think there's going to be some two-way, value to him. Obviously, I, you know, I've got two guys that I feel can, can handle themselves at both ends of the ice. They might not produce at the same level, but I just really trust where they're heading, you know, defensively and to have a guy with Salia of size, with his reach, with his range.

Those are the things. I just see the upside in him being higher than the other guy that I won't mention because somebody else will probably take him soon. I think you said enough. I think we know who. You know who it is. You know who it is. You know who it is. Worst poker face ever and voice ever. All right, Corey, at number 18, who you got? This is tough here. I think, you know, this is where we'll get to the part of draft where

you're unsure which way to lean. There's a couple of guys who are real close. I do look at my forward group, though, and think I'm lacking some offense there. We mentioned about, you know, I need Maddie Baneers to cover for the myriad of inches that Luke Hughes and Artem Lefschunov are going to make on my team. But I do need a little bit more scoring up front. And this player has been through some ups and downs, but man, did he look good at the end of the year last year, particularly to the NHL playoffs? And there was a reason he was a first overall pick. I'm taking Alexei Lafranier here and adding him to my forward group. Not the most unpredictable pick if you have Corey's list in front of you. But if you don't,

I think there will be some people out there who are surprised to hear him go this early, Chris. Yeah, and I'm certainly one of them. But there's no question that we're starting to see the trajectory kind of readjust a bit on LaFranier. I think that that's the good news is if you're a Rangers fan is that it looked like it was heading in a very dark place right off the hop there and then didn't get better for a little bit. But I think that he's rebounded. I still don't think that he's a great top line option. I don't think that he'll ever really be that kind of player. But at the same time, I think he's shown that there's more to his game than he showed early in his NHL career.

He's had more time to adjust. I think it's heading in a positive direction. I'm not as high on him as Corey is. But at the same time, you know, there's a. at least some evidence that he's heading in a way where this can make sense. If he's the player we saw in the playoffs last year, I think he belongs in this range. Yeah, that's a very fair point. What do you think Demadov does better right now?

Like what would be the reasons you would say Demadov is like, like you said, left for any years in the conversation? How much younger is Demadov? He is? I'm asking you as a player, like stylistically as a player. I mean, you compare the toolkit. his he's better hands for sure um better i think he's got tremendous scoring sense um i think his compete level is comparable i think that his his physical strength is fine you know like you know high end shot yeah i mean i think i think he's he's probably a better skater too so i know i guess i just

look at the two players i think they're both like high end skill sense brain good compete wings who like are know, similar size, like, and I just look at that. The fact that Lefrenier has shown that he can make an impact in the playoffs. And that would be like, I would guess if you prefer Demadov over him, I think it's reasonable. I guess my point is like you think it's not even close. That that be where I would push back. No, I wouldn't. It's not close, but I would say that it.

You just said he's not a top line wink. Yeah. And I said that Demadov is. That doesn't mean that he's not close. I would disagree on that assessment, but okay. What's the difference between a top line wing? at these players the players that we're talking about here, how big of a difference is the top line from the second line

in this particular drafting scenario that we're doing right now? Like if you're talking about like in this dream team scenario, like it's a little different. But actually in the NHL, okay, well, you didn't, you didn't specify that.

So it's like, I got to call you out on that. All right. It's fine. I think I made my point. We're belaboring the point here on a 20th pick, whatever in this draft. So it's,

we can move on. All right. So Chris teased that he was between two Russian defensemen. I actually am too. But I think I'm going to take the one that he left on the table and take Alexander Nikitian. I need a little more size on my blue line to go with Z. Bouillon. And Niketian has actually put up some offense in the KHL. So I'm not saying there's no offense here. But I'm getting them because I need the big body. I need the mobility. And I think he'll bring that. You bet he will. All right. Next pick is on to Scott Wheeler. And then before we sort of break here and run through another recap, I think this ultimately came down to taking another winger. I've got my sort of first-line center, but I'm favoring the wings here over the available centers. And I did consider a D here. But I think ultimately I'll go to the team that Max Bultman covers. And I'll take Lucas Raymond of the Detroit Red Wings, just the smarts, the puck savvy, the ability to make plays on the power play, sneaky good two-way player. I'm high on Lucas. I think Lucas is going to be

a sort of regular 70 to 80 point player in the league now and a sort of top of the lineup guy. And I'm excited to get him at this point in the draft. Lucas is a great player and very talented deserves to go there. But the one issue is I don't think Scott listened when we were doing the show prep because we're not breaking here. So he has to do so he's on the clock right now. Okay. I sort of, I steered off or steered sort of the minute munching types with my first two picks on D and Brock Faber and Owen Power. And I'm going to go and get a Scott Wheeler favorite here in Zane Porek, who I think has amongst the D who are not currently in the NHL, the highest sort of future upside offensively. I think Lane Hudson has has that quality offensively. But Porex right there. I think Porex is going to be a dynamic offensive defenseman in the NHL and the idea of sheltering him behind a knowing power and Brock Faber, I think, is a natural fit for my group here. In terms of roster construction, you know, if you've, you've gotten more that defensive kind of style up top, you know, I think taking the swing on still. Like, I think

correct to me is a little more of a swing here. But at the same time, in terms of pure roster construction, I think if you're an NHL team, you need a defenseman like that. And I think that that's definitely, it makes sense to me to take a swing on that level of skill. I'm going to do what no NHLGM would do here and admit that I just played the board really badly. I thought for sure Lucas Raymond was getting back around to the other side. I need some pure skill here. And I didn't even really realize that Scott was so. And he did take a defenseman. So I guess there was that. But he had more defense pieces there locked in. I probably could have predicted that. So I lose out on Raymond there. But I'm going to go with Will Smith,

who we haven't seen it yet in the NHL, but I'm going to play him on the wing for me. even though I think he can potentially play center. And I'm going to count on him to bring a lot of those high skill, you know, run your power play elements that my team right now does not have. Yeah, I mean, skill is good. You need to have it. And Will Smith has a ton of it. So, you know, and I think he's also got that tremendous vision.

And I also agree with you. When I was looking at this, I was looking at Will as a potential, you know, winger for whatever team I put together. Yeah. All right. Next up is Corey. Yeah, and I think a lot of NHL teams that are highly successful build through the blue line. I've already drafted two blue liners.

I'd prefer to go forward here. But I think if you get high-end impact blue liners, you can't pass up on those. Although I think my coach is going to have a massive headache trying to coach Luke Hughes, Artem Leffsunev and Carter Yakenshuk all at the same time. Somebody is going to need to kill penalties on this team. I'm not sure who it is. We'll worry, we'll worry about that later. Maybe it'll be three forwards.

But I'm going to take Yakim Chuck here and just three absolute dynamos who can, I think I've compared, you know, the way Yakim Chuck plays in part two, Luke Hughes before. And I think those three guys are just going to, I'm just going to have the puck all the time, so I don't need to defend anyways. We'll see how that goes. Corey might run a 3D power play here in the NHL. That's fine. The draft is young.

Maybe he gets to four. Let's see. Either you or the coach are getting fired. I'm not sure who's first. I'm the manager. So it's always going to be the coach. If it doesn't work out, it's because they didn't get the right coach.

Yeah. I think you get three coaches and you're out, right? Isn't that? Is that what it is? So God bless them. All right, Chris, give me your 24th pick. And then we will take the break to recap everyone's rosters.

Yeah. So looking at, looking at mine, you know, obviously I've, I've went so heavy on skill. And I really feel like I need to get some burliness into my life and into my lineup here. And I just really enjoy the way Mason McTavish plays. I know I already have two centers.

I don't care about that. I'm not really looking at forward position at all in terms of, you know, obviously I want to have guys that can play center. So I'll lean center over wings. But, you know, when I look at what I need, I need somebody that can be a masher for me, a guy that can do a little bit of everything and also get under people's skin. That's why I go with Mason McTavish here. Mason can play the wing.

Absolutely. And probably in this scenario, there's also a good chance that one of my other centers moves to the wing because we already talked about the possibility. Maybe Connor Bardard's a wing. We'll see. All right. So through this point in the draft, we've got Chris with Connor Bedard, Jake Sanderson, Wyatt Johnson, Ivan Demadov, Anton Solive, and Mason McTavish.

Corey's got Tim Stutzla, Luke Hughes, Artem Leveschinov, Maddie Beneers, Alexei Lafranier, Carter Yakimchumchuk. I've got Macklin-Selabrini, Leo Carlson, Z. Bouillon, Yerislovsky, Alexander Nikitian and Will Smith. Scott's got Motvei Mitchkoff, Adam Fantilli, Brock Faber, Owen Power, Lucas Raymond, and Zane Perrek. Chris, Chris, back to you, pick number 25. All right, so this is where things, you know, I've got my, I've got everything kind of all in front of me here. So I need to take a goalie. I've got my wings.

I've got my wings. I've got my center. And I am going goalie early because I want to make sure that I have who I feel is going to ultimately be the best goalie, even though the numbers have not necessarily shown that in recent, But I'm a little bearish or more bearish than I was before, but I still believe in the upside. And so, yeah, I'm going off the board here, going goaltender, and I'm going with Yesper Walsh. I think he's the best goalie. Not, you know, in terms of upside, in terms of where I think he's going to go, it's going to be a very interesting situation for Minnesota going forward in terms of how they manage how much playing time he gets, how much more.

time in the HL. He spends all those different things. But I am a very big believer in for Walshstead. I have been for some time. I, you know, I like the goalies in this kind of group, but I think Walshstett to me is the guy that I would bank on at this point. Chris, do you play fantasy football? I don't. And are you going to talk about running backs now? Is that going to be the thing? Or what we did I just take a kicker? You took a defense. You're the guy in the eighth round that's like, oh, I need a defense. when you could have kept loading up on skill position talent.

I don't care. There's a lot more difference. I don't care. Give me the guy. Maybe he thinks this is like going to be the best defense. And it's not even close. But what we see is that it's really hard to predict who the best defense is. It is.

Generally, they kind of even out. And I think that's what's going on with the goalies. I get one goalie. I wanted to make sure I had the best goalie. So all right. Fair enough. I mean, next one's the Corey. you know my team has a lot of talent and particularly they have a lot of size like there's i does not

you know veneers is is a good size player hughes lefshinov yakim chuck are all big boys stutzla and leffernier aren't big but they're decent size and they play hard so i like my team being the position here to take a smaller dynamic player and i was in between taking logan coolly here in berkeley catten both of whom i think are absolutely dynamic uh play driving centerman we've seen what coolly can do the NHL. He looks really special. He looks like a chance to be a really impactful player. But what I saw Berkeley Caton do in Spokane over the last two years, I also think is really special. And I think this guy is going to be a massive offensive producer in the NHL. And with the way he skates and works, I think he can drive play. He can be reliable enough defensively. I even think on my team that I said before may not have penalty killers.

I think this guy can kill penalties in the NHL one day. And I'm going to take Berkeley Caton here. I like the pick. Katten was going to be in the mix for me too. With him gone, I am going to take Seth Jarvis, who I think brings a lot of the same kind of skill, hockey sense elements, but he's got just a ton of jam. And actually Katten really does too.

But that's what I really like about the fit here with Jarvis, is that you're not trading off. Maybe you're trading a little size, but you're not trading any compete for the high skill and high sense that he brings. So I'm taking Seth Jarvis. Scott, over to you at number 28. I was sort of zeroing in on the center.

position here. I've played a lot of fantasy hockey over the years. And one thing I think I've learned in that process is that the center, there are always too many centers and you can always get good centers later. So part of the sort of prioritization of, of Matt Vaymichikov and Lucas Raymond kind of fit into into that idea. But now the centers that I'd circled that I wanted behind Adam Fantilli on my board are starting to dwindle. And so this, this pick comes down to two players in Logan Cooley and Quentin Byfield. The appeal of Fantilly and Byfield and that size down the middle was really, really exciting. But I'm going to lean Logan Cooley here, and I'm going to take Logan Cooley.

I think he gives me something that Adam Fantilly doesn't in terms of just a little bit of a different profile, both very competitive players, both excellent skaters. And I expect Cooley to take a big, big step in Utah to become a premium player in the NHL as early as this year or the following. So Cooley's the guy here and I'll run Fantilly. coolly down the middle. To kick things off out of break here, it's still my pick. I just took Logan coolly. And I'm going to stick it forward and go with a player who I thought made an impact immediately in the NHL on one of the best teams in the NHL last year. And that's the diminutive,

but scrappy and sturdy Logan Stankovin of the Dallas Stars. I like that. I like that. This is a riser here, though. I mean, this is a guy. We've talked about a lot of top 10 picks in this draft yet. Stankovan is as he has been, a disruptor of that coming up as a second rounder here. All right, going back to me now here. I think I need a defenseman here. I think Chris Peters is going to snipe me if I don't do it. And I think I really need to lock in on defensive defensemen particularly. So I'm going to take Dmitri Simashev, the other Russian I was alluding to earlier.

Another guy who, you know, I think ideally would like to have a little bit of North America or certainly NHL track record to make the pick. But it's a high compete, big body. And he's going to make a ton of stops whenever he's. he gets to the NHL. So he's going to be an anchor of my second pair. Yeah, I mean, I think you got to, we're starting to run out of those guys that are on that top, you know, those top tier kind of like top pairing,

maybe certainly top four kind of guys. So it makes a lot of sense. All right. On to Corey at number 31. Beckett Seneca will be the pick here for me. Just big body. You can skate. The skill level is pretty elite.

It's a pretty special toolkit. And I think he's got a lot of potential to be a significant score in the NHL and make a difference at even strength. Anybody else liked the way Corey said that, like he was on the draft stage announcing the pick? Like the cadence was a perfect. Yeah, I liked it. Back at Seneca. Yeah, it's my guy. Yeah, I liked it.

I thought it was good. That was that was almost like, there was Tim Murray back in the day. Jack Eichol. Boom, off the stage. Loved it. Miss that. We need more of that. in the draft. I guess we will never have it anymore. So it doesn't matter.

On to you, Chris, for pick 32. Yeah. So, you know, I think we got another guy, you know, big upside. I think there was a lot of improvement over the last season. And so since Scott decided not to take him, I'm going to go ahead and take Quentin Byfield here. You know, he is playing some center in the preseason here with the Kings. But obviously, you know, I've got, I've got some good some good talent down the middle. I'm going to continue with the theme of guys outside of Demadov with, you know, players that can play both center and wing, keeping him, you know, right there feeling good about that, you know,

feel like in where I'm at. And now I'm going to go a little bit further off the board. Well, hang on. Let's do our roster recap here. Oh, yeah, sure. Of course. With five field in place. All right.

So Chris has five forwards now. Connor Bedard, Wyatt Johnston, Ivan Demand. Mason McTavish, Quinton Byfield. So he's only got one more forward spot left. He's got two defensemen, Jake Sanderson and Anton Salive, and he's the only guy with a goalie, Esper Walshatt. Corey also has five forwards. Stutzla, Benares, Alexei Lafranier, Berkeley, Katten,

Beckett Seneca, and he's got three defensemen, Luke Hughes, Artem Levchenov, Carter, Yakumchuk. Scott's got five forwards as well. Modvey Mitchkov, Adam Fantili, Lucas Raymond, Logan Kooley, Logan Stankovin, and the three defensemen, Faber Power, Perrek. I've also got five and three, five forward, celebrini, Leo Carlson, Uryslevkovsky, Will Smith, Seth Jarvis,

and the defenseman, Ziv Boullium, Alexander Nikitian, Dimachev. Chris, you got a defenseman up your sleeve here? Nope. Oh, I'm staying forward. I'm going to go ahead. I like having what I have at the top of my D, knowing that I only have one forward left. I want to make sure that I get him. I think he's going to be a heart and soul player for me.

I think he's going to be a fantastic goal score. I think I've got a lot of goals in this lineup, and I am going with another rugged guy. I'm taking Ryan Leonard here, and I am going to make sure that I have some jam with my jelly. Like, I got a lot of saw. I like the skill here. But I think, you know, having both a guy like McTavish and Ryan Leonard, it's not, now this is not a big forward group outside of by field. You know, it's not a lot of size, but at the same time, I like that mix that I have right now. And so I had to make sure that if I only had one forward slot left, I wanted to get that heart and soul guy, and that's Ryan Leonard.

I like the pick. Leonard was going to be sort of next on my board here. Leonard's, he's exactly the type of guy you want in this range, I think. It takes us back to Corey. Corey, who you got at pick number 34. Well, I think when you guys are talking about the goaltender pick, Chris made him. What Max had made a lot of sense is that, you know, when the talent range is really significant and you got to go off the talent range to get a position that worries me a little bit. I think now that we're about a round or so later, and I think you start looking at what's

available, and at least in my opinion, maybe you three have your own opinions on the players. I think the talent between a lot of these guys is still very high, but I'm not seeing the big drop-offs after a certain degree of names. So I'm fine trying to plug in a position now and get my goalie. I think I need one forward and one D-Men, and I think I'm going to get a really good player, no matter who you guys take. So I'm going to take my favorite goalie left on the board and take Yaroslav Ascarov. Yep.

And I think that is a little bit of a drop-off too, at the goaltending position for you. I mean, I've got your list in front of me. But you don't have anyone in the tier of Walsstead and Ascarov. So after that, there would be a much bigger drop at that position. And that's the way I view. I think Ascarov is really, really good. And quite frankly, the way, in terms of what he just got traded for, you can argue that at least in terms of how the NHL viewed him,

that he should be higher on my list, at least when you look at what the return was. You know, he's super athletic. He's got a chance to be a legitimate starting goal in the NHL. And there aren't a whole lot of prospects. You can say that about Spencer and I didn't qualify for this list due to the age, but he would be the only one left who I think would be in that conversation. Yeah.

All right, that leaves me with a tough choice here. I think I probably could use like a pure penalty kill type at forward here. But I would have a hard time passing over Dylan Genther at this spot in the draft. He's a guy who just got paid. I think that deal is going to age into one of the best contracts in the NHL when he really hits his stride. And for me, it's another big body. It's another guy who I think will put up a bunch of points, but also translate to playoff hockey. So I'm going to round out my forwards with Dylan.

Genter. And that'll take it to Scott. Oh, well, I, I've got two back to back here as usual. And I'm going to use one to pounce. I'll start by pouncing on a goalie. I had kind of circled three goalies here and just wanted to make sure heading into the draft that I got one of those three guys, with two of them now off the board. I'm not going to sort of take any chances with it coming back to you, Max. And I'm going to take Devin Levi, who was my third ranked goalie and will be my, be my tendi here. All right. And then it's right back to you, as you said, at pick number 37. And yeah, this is where it gets interesting because we're down to two spots here. I'm starting to feel like my forward group as I think a couple of us have forward groups that are a little small here.

But my forward group definitely feels that way outside of Adam Fantilli. It skews sort of got four other players who are sort of five foot nine, five foot 10 here. And I thought about adding to that pile with Ryan Leonard, who isn't the biggest in stature. but with Leonard off the board, I'm going to pass on some of my favorites in Gabe Perot and Zach Benson and T. Jigginla. And I'm going to go to Cutter Gautier, who just gives me a little bit more size than those guys and I think is a comparable player in terms of where they're at as prospects. All right. So that brings it back to me. I'm a little torn here on where I want to go. I suppose I could take my third different Russian defenseman here and take Pavel Minchikov.

but I'm going to take Simon Edvenson, who I think can be that kind of other defensive stopper that I want, big body, great skater, long stick, and I will have him to round out my blue line. You mentioned Minchikov, and he's a name I'm looking at right now, but I think my coach will literally just quit if Mitchikov, Luke Hughes, Lev Shunov, and Yakimchuk are his four defensemen on his blue line. I think he will literally run out the door. So somebody's got to help these guys. Somebody's got to kill penalty. Someone's got to be a two-way player. And I've got to go actually up front here to address that, not on the back end, because why would you want to help your defensive game by picking a defenseman? I'm going to take Shane Wright here, who I know

it's gotten dinged a little bit in recent years, but I thought he was outstanding in the American League last year, really good American League playoffs. I think he's going to start up the year at the Cracken. And he's not the guy we once thought he was, but I think at this point in the draft, He's still a really good all-around centerman. You can skate. He can score. He makes plays. He can play both ways.

And I'm happy to add him at this range. I think he'll make a difference for my team. Are you aware that you have three Seattle Cracken centers down the middle here? And are you at least a little bit worried that one of those guys isn't going to be able to play up in that lineup and give you the kind of value in this kind of a draft? Well, we're not talking about the actual Seattle Cracken. We're talking about our Fantasyland teams right now. So I'm not worried about how that scenario is going to play out. Same question then.

You've got three centers. Well, I think Cadd is probably going to move to the wing in this scenario. And I think that's something that Seattle is actually going to have to balance at some point. Like are all three of those guys going to play centers? Just like when New Jersey had Jack Hughes, Nico Hesha, Dawson, Mercer's like, well, are they all centers or do you move one to the wing? And then lo and behold, Mercer moves to the wing. And maybe down the line, he moved back to the middle, and Jack Hughes moves to the wing. But I think you just take, you know, often the best players are centers.

They just tend to gravitate towards that position. And you just, I'd rather have too many good players than worry about where they're going to play. All right. That takes us to Chris Peters. Chris, I'm going to actually give the roster read before your 40th pick here. Then you'll just take us home to start the last round. So where we stand entering Chris's final two picks and then the last round. Chris has Connor Bedard, Wyatt Johnson, Ivan Demadov, Mason McTavish, Quinton Byfield, Ryan

Leonard it forward. He has done it forward. He's got to take two defensemen here. He's got Jake Sanderson and Anton Zelayaev and in goal. He has Ypres-Walli Walsdet. Corey has Tim Stutz, Lafferinear, Berkney, Lepernier, Berkeley, and Shane Ritek-Ur-Cat. Luke Hughes, Artem Levchenov, Carter Yakumchuk on his run-and-gun-gun defense. Yaroslav Ascarov in net. Scott's got Modvey-Mitchkov, Adam Fantili, Lucas Raymond, Logan Cooley, Logan-Cunkevin, Kutter-Gotei up front. Brock, Fabor, Owen Power, Zane Perrek, on D, Devon Levi in net.

I've got all my skaters filled out. Celebrini, Carlson, Slavkovsky, Will Smith, Seth Jarvis, Dylan Genther, at Forward, Zeev, Alexander, Nikitian, Dmitri Simashev, Simon Edvinson on D, and I'll need a goalie this round. Chris, which two defensemen are you taken? Yeah, well, I'm going to start off and just marvel kind of at the value that I'm getting here in Pablin, and Tukov at this point. You know, I think that he is a really exciting talent.

I think that, you know, there's a lot of excitement about him in Anaheim. And, you know, given the fact that I have two other guys and at the top of my blue line that I feel are strong enough defensively, I want a guy that's got that skill level. And I think that Mintu Kavid brings that, you know, to a large degree. And I'm excited to have a player like him in the mix. Getting to the last defenseman is really tricky because, I mean, there's a lot of guys that I think are really, really good. you know guys that I would be happy to have is a number four um but I'm just going to go and be stupid instead uh because I like being stupid about this and um I just don't think there's anybody that plays like him so I'm going I'm doing it I'm doing it you guys know where I'm

got you already like Scott sees it in my eyes Max doesn't know Max doesn't know Corey probably knows because we had a significant argument about this player uh in the break room at the place. But I'm going way off the board. I don't care. He's fun. Lane Hudson. I don't think it's way off the board at all.

I don't think so either. When you started talking like that, I thought some way crazy. Well, here's the thing, though. Here's the, here's the on, like, let's actually talk about this because like,

with Lane Hudson. I got an argument with you because you said he's way more skilled than Rasmus Dahlene. That was that. And I am still. Hand skills, again, on hand skills,

he is absolutely more skilled than Rasmus Molline. You said way more skilled. And I stand by that. Yeah. So, yeah. All right. That's fine. There's a difference when it's,

but anyway, the reason it is off the board to me is because I do think that when we're talking about building a top four NHL defense, there is an argument to be made that he's not going to be able to play the minutes that you want. I think there is some significant, you know, risk factor in that.

But I also think that there isn't any comparable. to him. I don't think Quinn Hughes is a comp. I don't think, you know, there's similar. There's certain similarities, but I don't think that there's anybody that I've seen. We don't know if Lane Hudson's going to work in the NHO, but I'm taking a big bet here. You don't think Fox is a cop? No. Not at, no.

Not at all. It doesn't play at all similarly to that. So, and I, and the part of it is because I think I do think that Lane Hudson has really good hockey sense, but I think Adam Fox is on another level hockey sense-wise. Lane's so much more involved with his feet too offensively. Right. He's more dynamic. For sure.

Like, you know, I think in terms of pure dynamism, if we want to use it, like, you know, like Quinn Hughes is probably in that tier. But like, I still think that Lane Hudson is Johnny Goodro on defense. You know, like it's just, there's something crazy about him. I don't know if it's going to work. but I don't know if NHL teams are going to figure them out, but I'm excited to see it all, and I'm excited to have them on my team.

All right. That brings us to Corey with your final pick of the draft. Sam Dickinson will be the last defenseman on my team. Just something my team really needs, a guy who can kill a lot of plays. He's a tremendous skating big man. And his first pass is okay. That's all you got to do is make a first pass

because those other guys are going to take it up the ice real quickly. So I'm happy to get to consent with my last pick. All right. And then I've got to take a goalie. I think really the only goalie left in the tier here would be Sebastian Kosa. So I will take him as my goalie. We're slightly regretting the shit I talked about taking a goalie early. Scott.

And then to take us home here, there are two of my favorite young players in the sport, both play D, which is the position I need to fill here. But after drafting Zane Perak, I'm going to pass on young Brant Clark, who we've talked about a lot on this show. And I'm going to go instead to another player that I've spent a lot of time talking about on this show and select Simon Nemech of the New Jersey Devils with my final pick. I just Perak kind of neutralized the need for a Brant Clark. And I think Nemich is a better fit. I love having Nemich, Brock Faber, and Owen Power around Zane Perak. All right. So that's the last pick of the draft.

What I want to do now is I want to read each of you your rosters and get your kind of overall final reflections. What kind of team are you? Why are you going to win? And maybe any thoughts or regrets or whatever on the reflections on the draft we just did. So Chris, we'll start with you. You come away with Connor Bedard, Wyatt Johnston, Ivan Demadov, Mason McTavish, Quinton, Byfield, Ryan Leonard up front. Jake Sanderson, Anton Salive, Pavel Minchikov, Lane Hudson, on D, and Esper Walsstead and goal. I just I like I like the balance that I have you know like I think that I've got the best player so it's it's basically you know you feel you feel good about that and then on top of it you know adding some of the the guys that have a little bit more griminess to their game in the forward group having a defenseman you know I think a true stopper plus a guy that can produce and in Jake Sanderson like I really like where I'm at in center number one center number one defenseman number one

goalie. I feel like that to me is always, you know, really important. And so I, I'm really happy about that. And then like the secondary scoring that you get from guys like Wyatt Johnston and Ryan Leonard, and then, you know, having a bit of a dynamic element in Manchukov and Hudson on the back end. You know, I think, you know, if that's the very top of my lineup, I would obviously still need to bring a lot, you know, in terms of getting some more size in there, getting some more you know, just some more defensive element to the game in that lineup. But aside from that, I mean, if that's the top of what my lineup looks like, I'm really happy. All right, Corey.

How about you? You got Tim Stutzel, Maddie Baneers, Alexei Lafranier, Berkeley, Katten, back at Seneca, Shane Wright, up front. And on D, as you've mentioned, Luke Hughes, Artem Lev Shinov, Carter Yakim, Chuck, Sam Dickinson, Yaroslav Ascarov. Mostly, I'm curious, which of these guys is running your power play? I mean, I say it's a competition. Let's go to camp and see and see who wins the job. Healthy competition is great when you're starting a season.

And the only thing I think about when I look at my team is, and I love my team, I made all the right picks, so that's not really the issue, is that I look at, I have left shoe-off, I have Yakk and Chuck, I have Dickinson, I have Seneca, and I have Katten. Was there a residency bias here? Did I draft too many really young players from the most recent draft, even though I've been on record saying I liked that range of the draft a lot this year. I thought there was some really high-end players in that five to ten range of this past draft.

And my drafts that. But we're drafting for the long term. We're not drafting just to win a game tomorrow. We're trying to build a team here, build a contending franchise. And I like my core. I mean, I compared to Chris's core and he's got a lot of great players. But I feel like my team has more dynamic players. I have more game breakers in my lineup.

I have guys whose tools are going to translate, I think, into becoming elite NHL players. There's not as much safe. There's not much two-way play. I got veneers in there, you know, the Calvert trophy winner. But other than that, it's a lot of skill. It's a lot of guys who are going to take the puck and rush it up. And maybe not all of them work out, but I bet you a lot of them do. And I bet I get a lot of stars out of this lineup.

So I'm very happy with the way it worked out. All right, Scott. You've got Matveh, Mitchkov, Adam Fantilli, Lucas Raymond, Lod. Cooley, Logan Stankovan, Cutter Gautier, Brock Faber Owen Power, Zane Perreck, Simon Nemich, and Devin Levi. Well, first of all, let me just start by saying that I think me and Chris Peters are playing for the Stanley Cup in this scenario. I like those two teams. I love my team. I think on defense, I got the two-d who've played the most significant minutes to date in the NHL in Brock Faber and Owen Power. You've got a future top four defenseman for Team USA. You've got a future top four defenseman for Team Canada. I think behind them

having Zane Perret, who I believe is along with Lane Hudson, the two sort of unicorn offensive talents available in this pool of players. I really like where I'm at on defense up front. Skews a little bit smaller. I've got Adam Fantillion, Cutter Goethe, who adds size, but Logan Coley, Logan, Stancove, Lucas, Raymond, Matt Bay, Michakov, all a little bit smaller. So that would be my qualms with my my forward group if there is one but i think that six is an excellent six i think there are a lot of players who can play together mitchkov and fantili i think are going to be stars in the n hl lucas raymond already is a star logan stankhoven is a dog i really really like the mixture of that group up front as well so uh really happy with the way things turned out on d

in particular though after michkov and fantili i went back to back d there with favor and power And I think that's a separator from my lineup here in terms of the ability to log minutes. I'd like to see Scott's team play Max's team because you're going to have like Zeev boy aside for a second. You're going to have Alexander Nikitian who's 64 super physical and mobile. You have Dimichie Simashev, who's central measure that just recently at 6.5 and a half who's super physical and mobile. You have Simon Evanston who's what, 65, 6, 6.6. Yeah. Yeah.

Who's who's a big boy who can make a lot of. stops and they get to go up against Cooley, Stankov, Raymond, and Mitchcov. Got to catch him though. You got to catch them. Well, Mitchcov, you'll catch. My boys can skate. And Costa's got to stop them. That's true.

That's going to be Max's problem. Yeah. My regret, honestly, was just not taking Sanderson where I wanted to take him in the second round. But I still feel quite good about the team. As Corey said, I think I have a ton of size. on the blue line. I wish I had at least one true right shot in there. I've got four lefties. I think so does Chris. Yeah. But I love my forward makeup with two two-way centers, uh, right down the middle, Celebrini and Carlson. And I can surround them with a power winger,

uh, for each of them, Slavkovsky and Ghenther. And I can surround them with a super skilled play creator in Will Smith and Seth Jarvis. So to Chris's point, I like the balance of my team. I love Zeeb Williams, the power play quarterback. I love the big body, uh, defenders I got. And yeah, I might have I might have jinxed myself by taking a victory lap on Chris's early goalie pick because that is probably the place that I fall behind the rest of the pack here a little bit. Yeah, but you know what? I think COSA, we're still, the one thing I'll say about COSA is he's still the long-term project. Like, it's not like he hasn't necessarily, like I don't think that the progression has been

unexpected. Like I think it is what it is. And I think in five years, COSA will be better than Levi, too. I would definitely disagree with that expectation. If I ended up with the fourth goalie, if you guys ended up sort of pulling those three goalies out, I was going to take Jacob Fowler ahead of Sebastian Cosa. Well, here's what I'll say is that last year,

these goalies were all in the HL together. Levi did have the best safe percentage of the group in the HAL together. But COSA was ahead of both Walsstett and Ascarov last year, very narrowly. We're talking like 0.02 or 0.03 on the safe percentage. Yeah, that's the thing is like Coase's progression has actually looked better at this stage than, um, then Walsett and Escarov, to a certain degree, because I mean, Ascarov, we have a little bit more HL service time to look at. Um, same with, with Wallstet,

but, um, yeah, it's going to be like that's, that'll ultimately be. That could be what decides it. And then we also had that discussion about the rebuilding teams as well last week about goalies and does it matter? Does it even matter who your goalie is anymore? Because it seems like they find them wherever they find them. Which seems to be the mentality that Max has

when it comes to. It was. I mean, it is. I am. Drafting defenses in fantasy football. Yeah, yeah, pretty much. But I do like your decor though, Max. I think that's, especially with Booiam in that mix of the big fellas. So, but anyway.

All right. So those are our rosters. People who are listening to this on Spotify, by the way, can go weigh in and vote on who won if they would like. And actually, people who aren't listening on Spotify can go to Spotify and vote without listening on Spotify. We would love to hear your thoughts. But that's going to do it for us. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect series. You can catch more of Chris over at Flow Hockey and on his podcast talking Hockey Sense. We'll be back with you soon.