The Hockey PDOcast - 2024 Mock Draft: Part 1

Episode Date: June 20, 2024

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Cam Robinson and Chris Peters to take part in their annual mock draft of this year's top 15 picks. In Part 1 they break down their process, what they're looking for, and the relative quality of this year's class, before getting into the top four picks. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Regressing to the mean since 2015, it's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEDEOCast. My name's Dmitri Filipovich. And joining me is my good buddy Cam Robinson, Cam. What's going on, man? Not too much, buddy. It's excited to be doing this for our six years? Yeah, it's the best time of year.

Yes, we were talking about it before we went on. I think the first one you and I did was in 2019 in my living room. you came into town for the draft here locally in MacCouver. Our pal Uffibodin also made a slightly longer trip from Sweden. And the jet lag hit him at once while we were recording. I believe he jumped in for a Philip Broberg take, which is aging well now since his contributions in this year Stanley Cup final. But then he immediately fell asleep.

And it wasn't, I hope, because of the quality of our mock. It was because of the jet lag. But we've been doing it since then. We've done it every year. We did it last year, you and I did. we were missing our third member that typically joins us for this because he was big-timing us, schmoozing in Nashville already, I think, shaking hands, kissing babies. I don't know what he was doing at the time.

But, you know, in his defense, we did save it till way too late in the game. I think we recorded it only a couple days before the draft. So this year we decided we're going to do it much earlier, get ourselves more runway. And so joining us this year to complete the triumvirate, the three-man mock here is our good pal, Chris Peters. C.P. What's going on, man? Oh, Dimitri, it's great to be back. if this feels like home.

It just does. And yes, I was big time in you last year. I apologize for it. It was uncalled for. But it is what we have to do sometimes. Sometimes the draft takes precedence over mock drafts.

But not really. Well, maybe for you. Not if readers are concerned. Yes, not here on the PDOC, certainly. Yeah. So yeah, we've been doing this for years. I think the last time the three of us got together was two years ago. I always love when we do this.

It's one of my favorite things to do. I feel pretty confident saying it's one of the favorite shows for the listeners as well because every time this time of year, I start getting messages from listeners asking us if we're going to be doing the mock, when we're going to be doing it, if it's going to be the three of us getting together again. And so yes, to answer all those questions. If you're listening to this, yes, we are going to do it. The three of us are doing it today.

So here's the plan. We're going to run through our mock draft of the top 15 picks in the 20, 24-entry draft. I think it's more fun for our purposes to do it through the lens of what. what we would do with each pick, rather than sort of making educated guesses of what we think will happen. You can find that stuff on other outlets. We can't allow stuff to seep in

in terms of what we've been hearing from people in conversations along the way to sort of at least give you a sort of peek behind the curtain or an insight on what might happen with them. Cam and I did so last year when we were talking about how we would take Fantilia, we were the ducks, but there was a strong leaning towards Leo Carlson

at the time, and that obviously wound up happening. So we're going to get into all that. I'll start here, though, Cam. Let's give the listeners a bit of sort of methodology or process here in terms of how we're putting together these lists, what you're looking for, how we've evolved over the years in terms of what you value, or kind of what you're looking for when you're scouting and when you're putting together these lists. We've been doing this for years now, so it's been kind of fun to see that progression. Along the way, I imagine you're sort of adding little tricks of the trade each time you go along. But where are we at now in 2024? maybe that's a little different than even last year.

Oh, man, ever, ever evolving. And that's the only way to get better and to stay relevant. So, you know, as far as my method goes, like I continue to place an immense value on processing speed. So I love a player that can think the game steps ahead of everyone else, especially at the junior level and even better if they can do it at the, you know, NCAA or the pro level. So processing speed, being able to recognize situations in front of you, unfolding, be able to to break down those defensive schemes or to adjust yourself to create little pockets of space

for yourself or your mates. I love some physical attributes. They're great, you know, size, skating, shot, hands. They all come together. But, you know, some are translatable. Some are not. Some can be improved quickly. Some cannot.

So it's kind of like you've got to take it on a case-by-case basis. Skating, though, is the one kind of defining factor. So if you have a brain and you have feet, you can make a lot of things happen for you over the course of your development. You know, something that's changed, and we were talking about it a little bit off air, is that it seems like I was maybe a little too hard on some of these big, toolsy defensemen that maybe I didn't give so much credit to their intelligence, because it seems like in this day and age, if you're big and you can skate,

you've got some tools and you can work hard, maybe you don't have to be a big brain. You can get through and you can become a top four asset on the blue line without that, and maybe it comes along later. So that's something that's kind of bled into my rankings a little bit this here. C.P. What about you? Because you come at this from a slightly different lens. I love that. That's what makes these conversations so fun, especially when the three of us get together. What's kind of that process been like, especially with, I think, the prevalence of the echo chamber of social media in 2024, right? Not necessarily a new thing. But I think everyone now, it seems like, is putting out their own lists and rankings and as takes and you're seeing a bunch of mixtapes. And you can almost make anyone look good if you just pull a few select clicks. And then there's obviously other stuff that you're leaving on the cutting room floor that might also be just as important, but isn't sort of going along with that agenda. How do you sort of weigh all that stuff and put together your list these days? Yeah, you know, I think it's been it's been an evolving process for me too.

And when I was doing this at ESPN and doing it differently, you know, I think I was I was weighing the opinions of scouts a lot more because they're valuable. I think, you know, and I think as I've gotten more experience and kind of have an idea of what NHL teams are looking for and kind of what leads to success at the NHL level, I think that I've been able to kind of, I try to avoid some of those opinions until after the fact. Like, I'm talking to a lot of scouts now, finding out how they feel about certain guys. But I think when I put my list together, it's with minimal input and trying to provide my, you know, my clearest take. And I think there are certainly picks that I make now or placement of players that I make now that I think is much different than I did then, you know, where I have a better understanding of which smaller players are probably going to work and which ones aren't. You know, I think that that was probably the thing that I learned

early on is that, hey, this guy is super skilled and he's exciting. But boy, there's just not enough there, whether it's skating ability or it's, you know, know, the competitiveness, but I put a stronger emphasis on the compete, on the work ethic, on things like that, because I do think that that can be an equalizing trait. Just like Cam, the most important thing to me is hockey sense. And if you don't have it, you can't play at the NHL level. There are guys that make a lot of bad decisions that doesn't necessarily mean that they have bad hockey sense.

It just means that they're trying things that aren't working and they have to learn the hard way sometimes. And I think if the idea is good, sometimes you have to put some emphasis on that. The other thing that I think I've done more as time has gone on is I've certainly put emphasis into examining historical context statistically, not just like from an NHLE standpoint, but more from just like when we see Aziv Boullium and what he's done is unprecedented in the college game, you know, how do I weigh that against what I saw from Quinn Hughes and Kail McCarr at the same, you know, at the same stage of their development. So those are the types of things that come into play now more. And hopefully in the end, it you a little bit of a different flavor than what's out there. But I think, you know, in the end, a class like this, we all see these, these big defensemen and the excitement they bring. You know, so I think we've seen, you know, at least in terms of the top 15, it's pretty consensus. And then, or maybe top 14. And then after that, it kind of, you know, the order can change, but I think a lot

of the same lists are going to have the same 14 players. But, you know, in the end, I think you just continue to tweak here and there. And I feel like I've gotten to a place of great comfort of, you know, how I make my decisions. It's interesting in terms of the relative quality of this year's class, dating back even a calendar year now, but maybe even more. We've heard a lot of talk about how teams around the league don't feel as strongly about this year's class, right? We saw it at the trade headline where teams were sort of deferring, acquiring first round picks this year because they just weren't nearly as interested as they were in years past. They were either taking

prospects already or seconds or futures instead and we're kind of prioritizing those. That sort of got sort of framed, I guess, as this year's class being weak. I think what it means is that there's a bit more uncertainty, right? Because CP sort of mentions how the top 15 or so is sort of uniform for the most part. I've seen a lot of variability within that top 15 though, right? Once you get pretty much from second to even 10 or so, it's all about sort of subjective taste and there's much more, I think, moving around there. and I think we'll see that on the day of the draft.

I don't actually, I like a lot of the players in this class, though. Like there is certainly a drop off once you get into that back out of the first round, my opinion, in terms of legitimate intrigue, especially in the short term. But I do think with some of these defensemen involved, when you get into all of them here today, the class, like the strength of it is actually pretty high. Maybe it's just kind of reflective of the uncertainty, though, of which of those guys is actually going to turn out good. But I do think when we look back, whatever, five, 10 years from now, we're going to look back

of this class and we're going to see that there were there was like a regular amount of talent i think it just might not have necessarily been the guys we thought heading in no i i think that's that's pretty well spot on um i've been asked this a lot that you know is this a down year and i think it's you know a down year in comparison to last year simply because of you know the insane talent at the top and then then obviously there was some some really exciting pieces but generally like you know you could make an argument that this class is as good or better than 22 21, 20. You know, there's pieces that have shone from some of those older ones that we know and are sure things now at this point.

But there's a lot of upside in this group, I think, for sure. And there's a lot of interesting players. And like you said, is it's going to be such a blender starting at number two. Like we, everyone's list is going to look different. Everyone's mocks are going to look different. And then on draft day, it's going to be different. There's so many combination of picks that are going to play out here. All it takes is one team to get a little spicy.

And then everything behind them for the next four or five picks are going to be equally kind of blended up. So that's what makes it so much fun. And I think it's exciting for most of the teams that are picking in that, you know, in that range too, because they have their list ready. And I'm sure they have their favorites. But it's, it's going to see who falls to them and when. CP, what do you feel about this year's class and kind of the framing of it by people as it being relatively weak compared to even last year, let's say, and then actually putting

the work together, putting the list together and how you feel about, especially the top, let's say 15 that we're going to be talking about here today. Yeah. You know, to me, as I was starting to look at this class more, I feel like like there's a lot of boom bust potential. There are guys that have a lot of just tremendous upside, but then you're also like, there's enough risk there that I'm not sure that they're going to be legit. Like they're not there. They're going to, they're going to hit that ceiling. I think we see that even among those 15 guys that we've talked about or 14 players that we've

talked about as as the top tier of this draft. And there's lots of questions about them. In the end, you know, I, I think like this, this class really looks similar to most where you've got a pretty strong top end, a fair to midland middle, and you know, like the bottom end is what it always, always looks like to me, you know, where it's just a lot of guys that, hey, maybe, yeah, you know, and that's basically every draft ever. So I think, you know, for me, this draft is a class that has grown on me over the course of the year at the beginning of the year. I did not like it at all. I was a little bit down on the, on the, on the group. But as we see throughout every year ever, players develop, things change. We see guys like

a Beckett Seneca come out of nowhere and really just continue to grow and have a big second half. We see it go the opposite way where, hey, we've got a Cole Eisenman and he's really special at the goal scoring talent. But boy, we've now had a chance to get two years of data on him. And it's like, I don't know. You know, I don't know if that's going to, if that's going to translate as much. So, you know, but I think with the strength of the D core at the top and really, I think even the second tier of D in this class are going to be enticing the teams. You know, I feel like we're

talking about a class that's closer to average. In some areas, I think it's an above average D class, but beyond that, you know, it's kind of like a normal draft. Well, and that's what makes it a relatively actually intriguing class for me, obviously, especially with defensemen, I think, with their projections

in their development, there is going to be more of that boom-bust element. But like, the way I view the draft is it's your opportunity for an organization to not only get like young, cheap cost control talent, but get players away from the open market, right? Because a lot of these defensemen, particularly the right shots, we see every year that either at the deadline or in free agency, they're just so hard to find. And so they wind up typically being overpaid or you just have to pay through your nose to acquire them. And so in this case, it actually provides an opportunity for

some of these teams to take a shot on some of these guys and provides a certain level of intrigue for me that might not necessarily be as flashy when there's just like a bunch of high end forward talent of the top of a class, but still does provide a unique opportunity for teams to get better for years down the road. So I'm intrigued by this. The more I've been looking into it, the more it's been growing on me. But I feel like that's probably the case every year, right? Where it's like at the trade deadline, oh, we don't care about any of these picks. This isn't that strong of a class. And then by the time you get the June, everyone wants to make picks. All these guys become much more interesting in the proximity to it, I think all adds a certain

layer of intrigue and infatuation with it. All right, let's take a break here. And then when we come back, we're going to be done with all the preamble and we're going to jump right into the mock and we're going to get into the top 15 and we're going to have a lot of fun with it for the next hour and a half or so. So looking forward to that, you're listening to the Hockey Peelecast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network. All right, we're back here in the Hockeypedo cast joined today by Chris Peters, Cam Robinson we're doing our annual mock draft. Let's get it going. Let's start with the first pick. I'm on the clock here for the San Jose Sharks. I don't know how I got the

first pick here. Generally, I give it to you one of you guys because, you know, I'm a gracious host and I want to give my guests the honor of the first pick. But in this case, I'm going to go first this year. And I'm obviously going to take Macklin Celebrity. I don't think there's any real doubt here. I think what's more interesting for me in terms of the immediate impact is just going to be this conversation of kind of how we rate him, not even compared to the rest of this class, but previous number one picks, right, in terms of how foundational his impact is going to be. how transformative it's going to be for the San Jose Sharks organization. And listen, certainly compared to Bajar or even a couple other names in the past that have

gone number one, it's going to be an uphill battle for him to get there. But the more that I dug into his tape and kind of everything, a bit of research that I did, I just couldn't help but become more infatuated with this player and everything he brings to the table. Obviously, the goal scoring he put on display last year is one thing, and that's going to capture a lot of the attention. But I just think a lot of the details to his game, and in particular the work ethic and how he seems to keep getting better. I just feel like the sky really is the limit here for him.

And so when you're kind of talking about what impact he's going to have on the Sharks organization, it might not necessarily be from day one, right? They're going to have a lot of work to do. You just look at their NHL roster. They have so much open space, so many roster spots to fill. It was essentially a shell team last year.

It was like William Eklund and then pretty much nothing else. And yet now with him coming in, with Will Smith coming in, I just feel like it might not be from day one, but eventually, and in a pretty short order, it's going to change the trajectory of this organization. And so for me, I actually do think he is a franchise player in that way because it's going to make that type of an impact for them. CP, what do you think about that and what do you think about Celebrini? Not only is the top prospect in this year's class, but compared to his peers at top of draft boards in the past five, ten years or whatever.

Yeah, you know, I think Mac is really unique in the variety of things he's good at, which is essentially. everything. You know, I mean, defensively, he's committed. He's physical. You know, the really only thing he isn't is six foot three. And instead, he's just short, just shy of six feet. So is Sidney Crosby. But, you know, I mean, that's the, that's the thing is for me, he's one of the most complete players that I've done, since I've been doing this, you know, you can look at recency bias, but I look back at all these different guys that I put number one. And I'm like, There's just, there isn't a player that I think does as much well as him. There's there, there are as few flaws with him as anybody.

High end hockey sense, elite competitive drive, you know, really good hands, scoring ability, all these things. And I, I agree with you. I think, you know, we're talking to me, I don't think the gap between him and Bidard is, is gigantic. They are going to impact the game in different ways. Obviously, Badard with the higher scoring, you know, he'll probably always put up better numbers. But I think that Celebrini is the kind of guy that is going to give you strength down the

middle. He's going to be able to play in all situations. He is, you know, the fact that he's going to San Jose, where he's got some familial ties, his mom and dad are living, you know, not far away from from where he's going to be playing. You know, he's about as close as you can get to a native son, even though, but I'm not stealing him from you, Vancouver. I promise. I'm not stealing him. but and I just think that that is he is going to make a difference. I agree with you. I think it's going to take time not because of him, but because of how bad that shark's team is.

And I really can't emphasize enough how bad that shark's team is. It's real bad. So, so that's, and probably will be for a little bit. But you say, okay, well, we got Macklin Celebrity this year. I think they're going to probably have to get some more defense into their system. and they're going to have to, you know, get more players. They're going to pick high again next year. And they'll build their core.

And they are going to have to insulate Celebrini and Will Smith and all these guys. But to me, as I've watched him, I have been blown away. I do think, you know, we're talking. You guys probably remember how high I was on Jack Hughes. I feel like we're talking about a player that's at a cut above that and trending towards that kind of badard. level, which I don't think that Macklin has gotten enough credit for how good he really is in that way. Well, that's well said, but don't be trying to take him from the North Shore Winter Club pipeline,

R. I'm sorry. I know. You guys keep getting all of them. And then we got Chloe Permerano coming up on the women's side, too. It's like everybody that is good at hockey is from Vancouver. I don't get it, man. Yeah. West Coast, best coast, baby.

Yeah. The math checks out. Cam, the goal scoring last year, 32 goals and 38, NCAA. Boy games at BU considering his age as well when you account for that, taking home the Hopi Baker. I think in watching it, it's like one thing to score the goals. The way he scored them, I think does translate very well to the next level where it's not just a guy kind of scoring a bunch of goals against inferior goalies from deep.

And you're like, all right, well, this looks great here. But in the NHL, how many of these is really going to be scoring? I think there's a diversity of skills in ways he's going to be able to attack the defensive work, how he keeps kind of through that work ethic. talked about stacking together all these skills just seems like one of those players that we're going to see him already succeed individually at least from day one. But he's going to be one of those guys that every year comes back adding new stuff to his game and getting better as the organization around him improves as well. And that bodes well. That that's the type of player I think

you need here where they're going to be able to turn potentially immediate failure into future success, right, as opposed to just kind of getting drowned out and overwhelmed by everything around him, I think he's going to use that to get better. And that's going to start in the defensive zone where I imagine he's probably going to spend a lot of time early in his career because the team's going to be bad and they're not going to have the puck much, but that's going to allow them to then work their way up the ice. And so you put all that together.

And I just can't wait to watch this guy at the NHL level. I think that it's just an incredibly exciting talent. And there's just very few holes I can find in his game. Like maybe that high end in terms of pure dynamism isn't there with the Bidar. But I feel like the limitations are just so few. far between because he's already shown us so much this early in his career. I mean, I'm not sure how much more I can say to add to this conversation. You guys have been spot on.

He is a true power pivot. And like Chris said, he's not six with three, but it doesn't impact how he plays. You know, the youngest player in college hockey was one of the most physically dominant players in college hockey. Like he had defenders with the head on a swivel as he came in on a forecheck. He could catch guys in open ice with like these thunderous hits.

He can beat you from distance. He can be in tight so he's not afraid to get to those hard areas. You know, we, if you check out the EP draft guys, you know, we gave him shades of Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Tapes. Now, obviously, you know, Sydney Crosby is one of a kind. But, you know, a hybrid somewhere in between of those two players because he is so responsible defensively too, which is like at an incredible level at his age, you know, to be so young and to be so detail-oriented in his own end, positionally and matching up against people.

You know, I look back at 10 drafts and the players I would pick ahead of him, you know, it's Connor McDavid, Austin Matthews, and then let's talk about him versus Jack Hughes. And then it's Connor Bernard. So there's three guys that you would really take over him in the last 10 drafts. And then maybe you could talk about Jack Hughes making that four. He is a true first overall pick that will change the complexion of the franchise for San Jose. It's the type of guy that you could build a cup winner around. And that's really all you can ask for at one, right?

You can't ask for anything more than that. And so I love the kid. I think he's going to be a special player. And like Chris said, you know, he won't probably ever win a scoring race, but he's the type of guy that you win in the playoffs with. That he's someone that can play all three zones, you know, all situations and just step up his game and things kind of get tight and physical too. Love it.

All right. Well, that was an easy pick. Now this is where things immediately start to get interesting because Chris Peters is on the clock with the Chicago Blackhawks pick at second overall CP. I'll give you the floor. Yeah, thank you very much. And with the second pick, you know, so this is how I think it's going to go and it's also how I have it as well. The number two guy on my board is Artem Lefshinaw from Michigan State. And I think that the reason that he's the top guy, you know, I look at Demadov. I'm fascinated by the skill. I think there's a ton of risk still there in terms of some of the deficiencies in his game and then also

So just, you know, whatever risk you want to put on him with the KHL, which I think is minimized to some extent because he's on a one-year contract. But talk to NHL teams and they say, I don't know if I'm so comfortable with that in the end. But the reason Lev Shanov goes number two here is I think that he profiles the most to me like a number one defenseman in the NHL, size, physicality, skating ability, poised with the puck. defending is probably average, but at the same time, I think that he's going to have the puck a lot. Makes really good decisions. You know, I've been watching him for two years, too, so I've seen the progression of the player. And with that, there's just this athletic profile and also just his general presence on the ice. You know, I saw Owen Power, who went number one, play in the USHL and in college hockey at the same age.

and I saw Artem Levschenov destroy what Owen Power was as a freshman. We were so impressed. Now, if Z. Bouillon didn't exist, we'd be talking about Artem Levsinov having one of the greatest draft eligible seasons by any collegiate defensemen with the point totals that he had and everything else. And not only that, he was a number one defenseman on a title contending team, a team that was one of the top teams in the country in his first year in college hockey and was fantastic. in the Big Ten Championship, you know, played decently well in the national tournament, didn't play as well as he did in the Big Ten Championship there. But I just think to me, if you are picking, you're searching for a foundational piece. And of the players remaining, I feel that Artem Levschenab has the best potential to be a

foundational defenseman, to be a number one or top pairing defenseman for Chicago long term, play in a variety of situations, eat minutes. so Artem left Shaddaugh for me That's interesting I had him third on my board I will have someone else Second that we're going to get into shortly But I like the pick

I mean the tool certainly makes sense right This is something teams covet very dearly It's like a six foot two right shot defenseman Who moves the way he does Cam and watching his tape You can sort of see it And in our draft guide we're focusing a lot on it The activation game right

Whether it's as a primary puck carrier Or getting involved in the rush jumping into the play. Once he goes from that glide to sprint, it's genuinely impressive and he can cover so much ground. My one concern, and I'm not sure how much of this is something

that can get fixed with more reps, right? This is a player who has been playing against Tom composition or competition for a very short period of time. Pretty much the past two years. And so it makes sense that in this spot he's in as a freshman D in the NCAA eating up big minutes, just more exposure and more experience and more reps is going to give him different looks.

and he's going to adapt to it. I'm willing to bet on that certainly. But I always get concerned when I see a player like this and the one knock on them is sort of a lack of urgency or kind of like a malaise to their game at times because I think that's, I think in some sense, you either play with a high motor all the time or you don't. It's a really difficult thing, I think, to pick up over time.

It's kind of like innate to who you are as a person as a player. So that's one of my, if I'm nitpicking purely here as a top three to five guy, That's one thing I have a little bit of concern with, but I'm also willing to buy the fact that it's not that big of a concern because as soon as next year, that could be something that he immediately improves on. And at that point, it's a slam down prospect. Yeah. And actually that, you know, that kind of skating around the ice with a cigarette in his mouth, that doesn't bother me so much. I actually, I kind of like those guys that are, they got ice water in their veins a little bit too, right? Especially on the blue line. You know, someone who's maybe up front like that. I like to see a little more urgency, especially from like someone who plays 25, 30 minutes a game. It's like you almost need to play like that. You can't go to the wall every shift all the time. So I do think, and we see it with his rush activation, that he can get up and go and he can get some urgency to his game for sure.

You know, catch this kid on a good night. And you could be convinced that like he's one of the best defensive prospects to come around in, you know, 10 years. Like it's especially early on in the season, I had some viewings at him where I was like, good Lord, like this guy, he has massive potential. And I think that that like kind of leveled out a little bit as the season more along. But there, he's the number one D on my board too. I think like Chris said, he, he's the one that I don't think he's a slam dunk one D in the NHL. I think he's probably a top

pair. Like maybe he's a complimentary guy or maybe he's running the second pair and, you know, running his own pair and doing things on a really good team behind another stalwart guy. But offensively, I think he's going to get there, you know, not not Kele Makar, but he's going to be someone who could regularly chip in 40 plus points. Defensively, I think he's going to get there. you know, the, the, if we're nitpicking, the retrievals, you know, he can get a little flustered with some speed against it and, and kind of rush the outlet pass. You know, he will, he will have a tendency to kind of bomb passes, you know, five, six, eight feet away from where it's intended target are. But it's, you know, again, super young defenseman, a big level jump. And, and he handled it very, very well. And he produced. And I think he's going to be a very good player. And I do think that if we were setting odds on it right now, that he probably is the guy who goes it to because Chicago's made. obviously a clear mandate to target smaller, highly skilled, speed driven forwards. Obviously, Connor Bardard, you know, they went out and they were very excited to get all over more.

You know, we heard that they were trying to move up a ton of times to try to get him and then he just fell into their lap. You know, they got to Petrka, they got, or Reichel, I should say, they've got that kind of style. So, you know, to look at Demadoff, I'm sure the temptation to put him next to Baddard is going to be strong, but you do want a pillar on your blue line. And you need to get those core pieces down. the middle through the back end too.

So they do need a player like this in their system. So it makes a lot of sense. Yeah, especially that recoverability once he gets going, right? And the ability to kind of kill plays, like, I think it's very impressive. So I'm really intrigued to watch him develop more. And I think it makes a lot of sense here. Cam, you're back. You're on the clock here now.

You've got the wraparound picks here at number three and number four. Make a first pick for the Anaheim Ducks and number three. Okay. So I have to take into consideration the prospect pool, what's on the line, you know, what's on the roster right now and not just go strictly off my own rankings here. And so I'm going to go Ivan Demadoff. And I think that I don't think it would be all that shocking if this is how it played out either because we know that Pat Verbeeking and the gang there in Anaheim, they marched to the beat of

their own drum, right? We saw them take McAvish earlier than most people expected. You know, they went Carlson over Fantilli. And, you know, we did hear that there was a lot of buzz that maybe it was going to be Mishkoff last year at two, too, that they had, you know, they looked long and hard at him as well. So I don't think they're afraid to do something a little, not outside the box, but something that maybe has a little more risk attached to it, considering what the public world thinks.

But when it comes to Demidov, he's the most electric offensive player in the class. And I don't think that's up for debate, really, maybe to ever really play in the MHL full time like that. Like obviously, Mishkoff is his own kind of animal out there and perhaps a better overall prospect. But what Demadoff can do with the puck on his stick, the skating isn't electric, but he makes everything else electric with his terrific hands. His vision, his playmaking is very, very high. And at the MHL level, like sometimes too high, the guys weren't ready for it. Like some of these spinning backhand passes to the slot that the guys weren't even ready for.

They couldn't handle it. He can beat you in tight with those quick hands and blow through holes. He can beat you with a downhill wrister on the power play. He was even doing it in the KHL preseason. You know, I talked to an NHL GM there yesterday, the day before, and he was basically saying like it's it's not his fault he was trapped in the mhl and wasn't challenged for two seasons you know no international play you you airlift him into the oh hl and he's putting up well over 100 points last year and then and you know we'd have a look at you know we wouldn't

have to wait until june 18th to find out he's actually 6 1 and looks like he's he's built nice and thick that we had no idea um so he's the upside is as high as anybody's in this class offensively um And so for Anaheim, which is a system that is just bursting with centers, young, impactful potential centers. And then they have a ton on the blue line as well coming both offensively and two-way to get an elite winger at this spot. I think is something that they would be very pleased to do. Yeah, he was second on my board. I think the talent is just way too intriguing to pass up. CP, you mentioned a lot of the concerns there.

And I think some of them have certainly been alleviated by the intrepid reporting. boots on the ground by our colleague, Sean Shapiro there, who made sure to note that he's looking like he's a good six foot here, speaking English, making it very clear that after one year he intends to come over to the NHL. I think all of that checks out. I guess the one sort of unproven thing or unknown there is just what we make of that production in the league he played in, right?

Because you look at it and it's like historically, it was a historic season from a production perspective, but there's a level of survivorship bias there because most top prospects of this ilk simply don't spend the entirety of the year playing in that league, right? And so it's kind of tough to know that's not necessarily a knock against him because we know that that's not like, it wasn't like a personal choice or something, right? Or like an inability to play in the other league. It's just kind of like the politics at times.

So I don't want to hold that too far against him. I do just think that while you're kind of scaling it up and it is a bit more of an uncertain projection because we haven't seen it full time, the level of hockey sense and the way you see him kind of like setting up defenders and what he's trying to accomplish and how he thinks the game is also. stuff that even in a tougher league where it speeds up and you're playing against better players translates, right? Like I think we know that that stuff just works in terms of what he's trying to accomplish. And so we still have to see it, I think. And it would be a slam dunk if we had

seen it already. That's what makes this a bit of a projection. But man, I'm just so intrigued by everything we saw on tape. And I think there's a hundred percent chance that regardless of when it happens, when he's in the league, I will be making an immediate mixtape of this guy because his plays are absolutely outrageous. They are. And And, you know, as Cam said, it isn't, it isn't his fault that he was in the MHL, but it is a problem. Yeah. It is a problem. And it is, because of the things that, you know, talking to NHL teams also, I, you know,

I read Sean's as well from my understanding, NHL teams are still a little skeptical about the whole, you know, certainty of the KHL situation. If it wasn't Sky, I think people would be like, you know, whatever. he'll be here but you never know i think he'll come you know i don't think he wants to be in the n hl there's no question about that but the reason that the mhl thing is a bit of a problem is that the the things that we know he's really good at are easy to easy to kind of accomplish there what we don't know is when the time and space is is is less when the physicality ramps up when the you know the opportunities to impact the game are fewer what's he going to do

because he can dominate no problem. No one had any doubt about that. I mean, the thing we look at between him and Mitchcov, and they're different players. I just want to make that very clear, very different players. And I think one of the things I love about Demodov is he's just got a great motor and compete level that, you know, because he's three on my board.

And so I have no issue with this pick. The issue is that there is the risk factor of the unknown. Now, we go back and you say, okay, well, the MHL comparatively, and I was having a conversation with Corey Pranman about this. He brought up this point. I was like, gosh, that's a good point about, you know, Kail McCar played in the AJHL. And, you know, probably in terms of the difficulty of that league relative to the MHL, it's comparable. And he was a number four pick. He's the best player from his draft class.

you know, all these, all these different things are true. But, you know, so I just think that you are taking a certain level of risk. And I think when you have the layer of whatever uncertainty there is, like the thing that I wonder, because he's only under contract for one year, okay, so he plays next year, let's say he plays at least 50, 50 KHL. I would hope he's playing in the KHL next year. If he's not, then there's just, it's malpractice on the point of SKA just to, you know, to do what they're doing. I thought it was this year too. But where does he go from there?

Would he be willing to play in the AHL? Would he be willing to take some time? Because if he's playing MHL next year for any extended period of time, the leap from that to the NHL is so gigantic that I don't know that no one's ever done it, really. I mean, not no one. And so he'd have, you look at Kuchrov came up. over played in the QMJHL, played AHL for a period of time. You know, so if that's the path that he's willing to take, that's great. If he's not willing to take that, then maybe it does behoove him to resign in the KHL.

And then all of a sudden you're talking about a whole difference. So there are just, the one thing about Demadov is notice that none of the things I talked about were about his skill level. It's all about these outside factors. But those are the things that you have to take into consideration when you're picking this high. I think the ducks in particular are a team that are insulated a bit because they have so much coming on the way. But it is still, I feel like it's an incredibly high reward

and there is some, some significant risk in the pick still. No, I just look at it like, oh, sorry. No, I just can say is, go for it. Is that I look at it and I can't, you know, I have to agree with all those things. And if you want to consider like worst case scenarios, you know, a worst case scenario is that they lock them in the MHL again next year. And, you know, they have I can't even see that being realistic, but like let's say that happens. Right. And then and then so then they convince them to sign like we'll dangle a contract in front of them to get them up into the KHL, something like that. Right. We know they offered podcoles in a five year deal before he got drafted. You know, they're not above that scott

to try to kind of play dirty using that ice time and that opportunity to get to leverage a contract extension. So maybe he signs like a two or three year extension on that. So now you're looking at bringing over what essentially will be Kiro Kapparza. off at 21 and with that KHL experience. And then you're going to, you're going to drop them into that lineup with McTavish and Cattergoche and all these great defensive prospects. And it's like,

I think that they could probably handle that, especially like you said, they are insulated enough, you know, the executive brass, they have enough commitment from ownership that their jobs are safe. They have so much talent coming that you could just slip in this like electric, potential two way heavy winger.

that sounds okay to me too, I think. So even worst case scenario, you're probably going to come out pretty well. Yeah, I see the Caprizo Comp because of that 10 to 2 skating technique in particular, right, and how he creates deception off of it and accelerates through that. I know this is going to sound sacrilegious

because he's just such like an all-time player. But in watching the tape and then in particular reading our game reports in the EP draft guide, you may as well if you just switch names and you made it at NHL game reports, you could have fooled me it was Nikita Kutrov write-ups because when our scouts were frustrated with him, it was like, well, he's overhandling the puck.

He's a bit wasteful. He's giving up on like races for loose pucks. He sometimes seems like he's just kind of blindly turning the puck over and throwing it away. And that's all stuff you see with Kutrov on his off nights in the NHL, right? And it's like when he's bad, he looks really bad because he's spinning around and flinging the puck into the slot and it just gets turned over and goes back the other way he's not doesn't look like he's really competing and it doesn't matter at all because what he creates otherwise is just so irreplaceable right and the way he like sets up defenders and drags guys into space with him attacks crowds all that stuff he does bringing the puck off the wall they're just traits that are so hard to find in today's game and make such a big difference offensively it's just difficult to really know i i'm willing to give him a bit of leniency for some of that stuff too because I imagine like when you're just so over talented or overqualified for the league

you're playing in it's tough to like fake that stimulation either right like he's just like I imagine against tougher competition he probably will be a bit more efficient and streamline some of his choices because he's going to have to right and he's actually going to be challenged to do so in this case he was just kind of like freewheeling and trying crazy stuff because he can get away with it and so I obviously want to see him do that against higher competition but man I just feel like that skill set is just so difficult to find. And when we talk about opportunity cost, like you can't really find these types of players that can make such a fundamental difference for your offense elsewhere. You almost kind of need to draft them this high end of the draft.

And there's risk involved. But the upside just outweighs it so far, in my opinion, that especially for this Ducks team with what they already have in place in terms of the defense talent and down the middle, like this is the type of luxury item that I feel like you can very easily talk yourself into because even if it's not next year or two years down the line, this is the exact type of player. I think you need to put you over the top. So, I love that fit for him. Cam, you're on the clock here with number four for the Columbus Blue Jackets. And I get to take my favorite player in the draft at number four here.

And it's Caden Lindstrom. I think it makes a lot of sense for Columbus. I think they're very interested in them. So in real world situations here that I think he would be a decent bet to lay some cash on too. But this kid's a Mack truck. You know, he's six four. He's already playing 215, 220. He runs guys over.

He guys bounce off of him. He drives the net. He has one of the best releases. I think his shot is somehow underrated. Like he almost clicked at a goal per game in the dub before, you know, injury obviously took that out. He can be from distance. He can get to the net front. He has wicked hands.

The hockey sense is high. And the skating, like we gave him a 6.5 on skating, which is like, you know, definitely a top six skater, not an elite skater. but he has so much power out of his stride and it is not lengthened enough. Like someone's going to get a hold of him. There's going to be a skills coach, a skating coach, a development guy who's going to get a hold of him and lengthen out that stride and get him, he's going to look like Quentin Byfield out there in a minute. Like if he can jam a little more onto that, onto his feet, which are already good.

Like he blows wide on guys. He can cut inside. He can take off from a dime sort of thing too already with just the sheer strength of his lower half, that if they can really kind of refine his. skating stride. Like I think I think the upside here is massive. It's a it's a two-way matchup center with high-end offense and physicality. These are the type of guys that you're just like if you can stack one or two of them down the middle like you if you can run him in Fantilli down the middle long term like good luck right. Like so many teams are going to run into that and just have no

answer to it on the for their second line. So for me I love him. I you know he's a great kid just like a sweetheart kid too that everybody has nothing but glowing things to say about him and his personality and his work ethic and still so raw like he hasn't had ages of elite level hockey training so i think we're just scratching the surface i think it might end up being a situation where you take him at this spot and then you end up waiting until he's 21 before he puts up his first 50 plus point season and so you know maybe fans they'll get a little they'll get a little antsy to see the reward the juice kind of squeezed from it but then you know 23 24, 25, like he has the potential to be a top five center in the game. And obviously, that's a lot

to say about a player. But I think that's the potential. And if it doesn't hit that high, you still have all those other assets that he brings to the table. And maybe the offense isn't electric and elite enough to post these 90-point seasons. Maybe he's a 65, 70-point guy who I still think would be a very useful and like highly useful player for an organization. So he's number two on my board. I love swinging on upside on these type of players. Yeah, big, big fan of King Lindstrom. So he's going to 4 here. Yes, I'm a fan as well.

I've got him at 4 CP. I guess the one concern is the back injury in particular, the herniated disc and kind of like how that sort of what that means for his future. A guy at that size at this age already having back issues is alarming. I think this goes above our pay grade in terms of like discussing the medicals here. So we have to note that certainly. But I do think the skill set for two reasons is deeply intriguing. me beyond the obvious sort of fit pairing him up with Ventilli there down the middle and having those guys run wild as a size speed combo down the middle. One, it's one thing to be big,

but it's another thing to sort of actively leverage it and use it the way he does. And I saw a lot of him making like high skill level plays within contact and sort of just keeping his feet moving and embracing that physical element as opposed to just being a big guy who sort of goes around people, going it out, taking it out wide. And the other thing is using, that sort of range that he has with his size and his reach and his skating to disrupt defensively and cover big ground, especially down the middle, put those two together. And it's just such an intriguing package for a player along with the shot and the goal scoring and playmaking and all of that that I feel like especially once you get to this point

of the draft for Columbus, that would be really difficult for me to overlook the potential of that. CP, I think you're muted there. Sorry about that. Yeah, I've just to have a barking dog and we got the old garbage day going on. So, but anyway, the upside is certainly notable. And I think if you're, if you're Columbus, you know, having that one two punch with the Fantillion Lindstrom guys that can play physical, that can get involved with a power game that have hands, that have speed, all good things.

As you noted, the back situation is something that teams are considering. I feel like some people came out of the combine feeling it's not that big of a deal. Like, it'll be okay. Others, this is more late later in the process, and who knows if this is the smoke to try to get somebody to slip, you know, like you never know. There's, you know, at least some teams that have said it's still a concern. And the reason it's a concern is partially because this is a bigger player, a back injury, very unpredictable, very, it can be a recurring thing. it's hard to determine if that's going to be a recurring thing in a young player like that. It could go away with no issue lingering or it could become a problem.

It also is a problem when a player is a more physical player going to put themselves in more positions to potentially injure themselves or get injured. You know, we have seen this just to use like these are different players, different stratosphere of skill. But looking back at Ottawa, if they picked. Ty Boucher in the top 10, despite missing almost the entire season with injury, and he has still not had a healthy season since he was drafted. And I don't think this is the same situation.

I think the risk with Lindstrom is worth it. I think it's not as huge of a concern that it's going to be a recurring issue. I also think at this stage on the boards, particularly for Columbus, it's too good a fit for what they're going to be. be. And if you get him at his top end, you're talking about a long-term one-two punch that would be the envy of most teams in the league, given the size, physicality, scoring ability of those players. So, fascinated to see. But yeah, I mean, I like the player an awful lot, too. I think there's some reasonable concern about, you know, the lack of games this year. You know, the fact that, you know,

in some certain settings, guys like Berkeley Caton outplayed him in, you know, if you go back to I think Gratzky, it's a long time ago. I don't think it's great info, but those are some of the things that you hear, you know, when there's when there's talk about Lindstra. But I like the player a lot. I think it's a good spot for him. Awesome. Okay. Let's take our break here.

And then we're going to switch over to part two. And we're going to keep going with the draft. We're going to go with the fifth pick and roll all the way through 15. So we'll do that after this break. You're listening to the Hockey Kast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network.