The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 300: We Are Proud to Select...

Episode Date: June 22, 2019

Cam Robinson and Uffe Bodin join the show to help mock draft the lottery picks of Friday evening’s first round. We discuss who each team picking high should be targeting, who each team most likely will wind up taking, and all of the possible scenarios that could play out depending on how the various dominos may fall.3:00 Jack Hughes’ NHL readiness in Year 110:30 Adding Kaapo Kakko to the Rangers' young nucleus14:10 Byram vs. Turcotte vs. Dach23:50 Could Zegras be the third best player in the class?29:20 Player trait preferences: shooters vs. playmakers32:40 The Broberg Buzz48:00 The landmines laid out in front of the Canucks51:00 Quality of competition and teammates for prospects55:20 Draft and stash with Peyton Krebs1:02:00 How far does Podkolzin drop?1:05:30 How high does Spencer Knight rise?1:10:10 Wild card names that could sneak into lotterySee acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 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.

Are you ready for the most ridiculous internet sports show you have ever seen? Welcome to React, home of the most outrageous and hilarious videos the web has to offer. So join me, Rocky Theos, and my co-host, Raiders Pro Bowl defensive end, Max Crosby, as we invite your favorite athletes, celebrities, influencers, entertainers in for an episode of games, laughs, and, of course, the funniest reactions to the wildest web clips out there. Catch React on YouTube, and that is React. R-E-A-X-X. Don't miss it. This podcast episode is brought to you by Coors Light.

These days, everything is go, go, go. It's non-stop hustle all the time. Work, friends, family. Expect you to be on 24-7? Well, sometimes you just need to reach for a Coors Light because it's made to chill. Coors Light is cold-loggered, cold-filtered, and cold-packaged.

It's as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies. It is literally made to chill. Coors Light is the one I choose when I need to unwind. So when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that's made to chill. Get Coors Light and the new look delivered straight to your door with Drisley or Instacart. Celebrate responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden Colorado. With your host, Dimitri Filipovich.

Welcome to the Hockey-Dio cast. My name is Dimitri Filipovich. Joining me sitting across from me at this table in my apartment is my good buddy, Cam Robinson. Cam, what's going on then? Not too much. Just jumped off. a float plane. I brought my luggage and my suit here. Only your 213th podcast appearance of the week. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, a widely veteran by this point now. We've got a live studio audience of Ufebodein

flew in all the way from Sweden just for this. He's actually flying out before the draft. He just came here just for this podcast. He's not even going to stick around for the event. Ufa, do you want to say hi to the audience? Hi, audience. Yeah, there we go. That's authentic Swedish right there. You can't, you can't fake that on my end. We are drinking some delicious. just raspberry weed alels brought to us by phillips not even a sponsor the podcast i'm just i just enjoy enjoy the beverage so much i'm going to give them a shout out yeah and uh we're going to talk about the uh the nachel draft today we're going to do i thought it'd be fun for you and i to do something resembling a mock draft uh we discussed it off air we're not necessarily it's not going to be your prototypical mock draft just

because i don't think it's as fun for like me to take one pick and then you and then us alternating i think we're just going to go one through 15 we'll do the lottery for today and we're going to focus on on each of those picks, we're going to look at, do you want to do you want to do want to do do want to do it more from the perspective of what we think should happen or what we think will happen? Because it's always it's always tricky trying to like get yourself in the headspace of some of these GMs. Yeah, for sure. I've definitely had my head wrapped around it that we're going to be picking the way it might go, um, which is chaos, right? Who knows how it's actually going to go. I'm down. I go either way. We could, we could do it the way if we're running all the teams or, uh,

well, I think we can, I think we can, we can point out. We can like, we can be like, all right, at this pick, this guy makes a lot of sense, either stylistically or what team needs, but I don't know, maybe they're going to go with this guy because of their past draft history or whatever. I mean, also, I was looking at some of the stuff and some of these teams are really all over the place in terms of like trying to figure out what they're going to do and what their tendencies are. It's almost like there's no coherent long-term plan. It's almost like they're changing it on a year-to-year, find to fly by the seat of their pants basis. Oh, man. What GM in their right mind would do something like that, especially on, you know,

with not too many years left on their contract. But no, I'm definitely down for that. I might have to slide in a few wow moments just to just to be fun because that's the way the draft usually goes. That's exciting. Yeah. I mean, at any point, if we want to maybe one time each, we have the right to just randomly trade the pick to someone else and just throw a wrinkle into the draft. I don't want us to be trading every pick because I'll get a bit too crazy. But all right, let's start with the Devils. And here's where I'm at with this, because I know there was a lot of Hughes v. Caco, I had Ryan Beach on a couple weeks ago now when we'd disgusted and it was kind of like fresh off of the world championships where caco was really making a push there for the first overall pick and it was hard not to be impressed with sort of the NHL readiness but also like how projectable his talents are and we're seeing him play against current present-day NHL defensemen and him treating Ryan Suter like he's his younger brother and so it's some of that stuff you're just like okay like if I'm a GM this is pretty exciting that I know I can plug this guy into my roster from day one and he'll probably be a top six winger and maybe even better right out of the gate but as I've thought about

and more, and as we distance ourselves from it, and as I've watched more tape and read more stuff, and just kind of tried to wrap my head around this, like, Hughes is, his campaign is sort of unassailable. I'm not even worried about him being a center versus Kako being a winger or the NHL readiness. I just think, like, if you look at where we're headed in today's game and kind of what drives the bus and what skills you really need from your impact players, his just sort of combination of creativity and skating and how the tempo he's going to be able to play at like you put all that together and it seems like if you don't pick him you're probably going to spend the next whatever however many years you're you're still running a team in the NHL being like man

maybe to maybe to your last day on the spine you're going to be like I really wish I got Jack Keyes yeah absolutely you're right and you're right the way that he can play the game and the way he can impact it with his feet with his hands with his mind too just you know he's at his best when he has the puck on his stick. And, you know, we, it's difficult because I'm, I'm a big fan at Capocaco. And I did actually flip him on my board there for, for several weeks. And, you know, we'd just stay up late at night thinking about it. When do, when do I, you know? And I'm not a trendy guy. Like, I usually be like, ah, you know, we'll just stay away from that kind of stuff. But he legitimately with his play, especially in the second half, I thought he really elevated his game, you know, going back to the league after the World Junior Championships where, you know, I was begging him to use a shot a lot more. And he went back and he did that. He stopped deferring to his, his more. mature pro teammates and he started taking matters into his own hands and scoring big goals and that led

through the playoffs and obviously into the world championships. And, you know, he's a great player. And when we see that, you know, the playoffs just wrapped up here is that, you know, those big, impactful guys, he's a winger, but the play runs through him. It will at the NHL level. And, you know, he will step into the NHL next season and be an impactful player. But at the end of the day, you know, I've got Jack Hughes number one on my board because he can just play that, that next level. He can hit that next year and do things that not everybody can do. And, you know, I think KACO can do everything very, very well, but maybe not truly elite at any one aspect.

And when you add that kind of dash of elite skating in the brain that Hughes has, it just, it puts them at the top spot. I mean, I feel pretty comfortable saying, like, both guys are as close to sort of a sure thing, whatever that means as you can get. Because, like, just based on their individual skill sets, you never know what will happen, obviously over time. But I just feel like they'll have some sort of a successful NHL career. Maybe they might not be superstars or might have injuries or what have you.

But just based on what we. know right now with the present information, but just kind of as like a big picture sort of methodology, theoretical exercise for you, if you're running a team and you're picking this high in the draft, what kind of factors are you weighing from the perspective of like you want to obviously hit a home run because if you're picking this high, you don't ideally want to be picking here again in the next couple years. And this might be your one chance to land sort of a foundational generational star like this. But at the same time, sometimes these two things don't necessarily go hand in hand with,

like, the guy who has the higher floor sort of in terms of, like, you know for a fact that he's going to be a very good NHL. And it might not necessarily apply to this debate because we like both players, obviously. But later on, as we get into the third and fourth overall picks and you start talking about guys like Byron and Turricot, it's sort of like, what are you prioritizing from, are you just swinging for the fences and going, man, if I nail this pick, I'm going to be the GM of this team for the next decade. And if I'm not, if I don't, well, I'm going to be out of this job anyways.

or are you just like trying to make sure you get something from that pick? Yeah, I'm a gambler for sure. But at the same time, when you're picking this high, I think you're going to do your homework and you're going to probably make sure that whatever you're doing here is. And, you know, in a situation like this where you can't really go wrong at one, two, but as we move through it and basically at pick three, that's where things kind of get hazy.

And for me, you know, I value processing speed, how they see the game, you know, the little decisions that happen all over the ice. Can they read that happening, you know, a split second earlier than the competition and then skating ability. And so those two things kind of supersede a great shot or great puck skills or a two-way player.

Those things are excellent. You want those things as well, but at the end of the day, skating and processing. And then, you know, when you're splitting hairs on these kids, like you're going to have to trust the scouts. You're going to have to hopefully glean some information when you interview these kids and when the scouts have been talking to them all year

to find out the character, you know, do they have the desire, the burn, you know, to be the best sort of thing. Yeah. No, I think that makes sense. And, you know, I think I'm actually higher on Hughes's day one ability in terms of, like, my projection for what he's going to do in 2019, 2020. If I was going to say 2018, 19, I can't believe we're going to heading into the 2020s here. But I just think if you look at assuming the devils do go and make that pick and how he's going to fit in there, the fact that they already do have a guy like his year who might not necessarily be your kind of traditional number one center who you build your entire team around.

but like having them as at least like a 1A, 1B punch out of the gate. And the way this team is constructed, what they do have is a ton of shoot first wingers who really like to shoot a ton. I mean, obviously, Hall throughout his career, Palmieri the past couple of years when he's really broken out in New Jersey. I mean, even this year, Blake Coleman and Miles Wood were like top 10 in terms of shot attempts per 60 at 515. And so just in terms of the skill set and the fit kind of on paper on that depth chart,

I like him jumping in right away and being able to like transition. the puck and get the puck to those guys in advantageous positions. So I'm not obviously the physicality and maybe the wear and tear. And I'm sure there's going to be an adjustment, just like most young guys. I mean, I think Kako's the exception there. But I'm pretty high on what Hughes is going to do right out of the gate. Yeah, he's a tremendous player. And I think I've been saying this for a while, too, that I think he's a better fit in

New Jersey. And I think Kako is a better fit for the Rangers. And I think it makes a lot of sense for both those squads. The other thing is that, you know, Hughes can slide in as a winger. And he can still set up these players for, you know, as shoot first guys. and dictate the pace of play in that regard. And so I think that it will be an adjustment form. No players ever stepped out of the program

and gone straight into the NHL. So he'll be the first. I know some people are whispering that, you know, they think that he needs an extra year. And I don't have time for that. I think he's, you know, it's disappointing that, you know, what he did for the U-18s last year was so good that it's just like, what could he do next?

Yeah. You know, so there was the hope that he could finish up school early and maybe go to Michigan and play with his brother. That didn't happen. Labor laws prevented him from going over to Europe and playing because he wasn't. yet. And so, you know, it was either the OHL or stay there with the program and he did it. And so we start to nitpick players a little bit when you see that. And I just think that his game will,

despite being a little bit undersized, he's so elusive out there. You know, Patrick Kane did the same thing and he came in and he put 60 odd points up. And I wouldn't blink an eye if Jack does that next year. Yeah, it doesn't matter if you might be slight a frame or not have the physical physicality day one if no one can lay the body on you, right? If you're just skating laps around them. So all right, well, let's transition to that second overall pick is obviously. I mean, we don't need to build the anticipation and drama here. It's going to be Kako. But when you talk about that fit and how you think he actually makes more sense

if you're picking the dream landing spot for him here for the Rangers, man, what a run they're on right now. I mean, this is why we always kind of preach this idea of asset accumulation and get as many traffic as you can. You don't necessarily even make them yourself, but what they're going to get, obviously, the luxury of winning the lottery for their first overall pick. They're going to get Capo Kako at second. And then what they use their second on Adam Fox.

they used the other first that they got in the Kevin Hayes trade to flip it back to Winnipeg and they get Jacob Truba. They're going to have Crabtsov and Anshisdorke and I believe both coming overseas this year. We'll see what role they play in. But you look at that and then the combination of Hedel and Leah Sanderson and all the picks they made over the past couple years, I think it's a pretty exciting time to be a Rangers fan. Oh, is it ever, you know?

And Jeff Gordon went out, what was it, 18 months ago maybe that he came out in public, he said, we're going to rebuild. And, you know, they could legitimately be contending for a playoff spot this year. with the way the metro is going, which is trending down, like they have a fairly clear path to doing some deep runs here in the next, you know, four or five years. And like you said, just the infusion of talent that they're bringing in,

it's going to be really, really impressive. And, you know, to get Jacob Truro for basically a rental is nuts, right? Like the way they flip that around for Kevin Hayes. And so, no, I think Capocaco and Philip Heidel should be a pair in my estimation for a long time.

And that could be a scary kind of dynamic on that. What will be a first line. then you got Mika Zabinajad kind of anchoring the next offensive set of things in, probably leading the charge a bit for the next couple of years before Heidel takes over, but it's going to be a lot of fun in New York, and I bet you they're going to back up the Brinks truck for Tammy Panarin here a couple days too. Yeah, well, that's the thing, too. They also have the Capspace right now to deal with while all these guys still are on their

entry-level deals, and they get creative with that, and you're right. I mean, I think last year makes sense with a young player. They were kind of reluctant, I think, to take the training wheels fully off Heidel and just play them down the middle at all times. I believe he was playing on the wing quite a bit, but I think we both agree he probably projects as a full-time center. I think they need that because if you look at that depth chart beyond Zabinajad, it's a lot of question marks.

It's a lot of, like, Brett Howden, a lot of whatever's left of Ryan Strom and so on and so forth. And so, like, if you're just looking at this, we know what Kreider and Zbinajad are going to give you as a one-two punch on that de facto first line. All of a sudden, if you're surrounding some of these elite young wingerers with Hedel, and he can really step into that, I think all of a sudden this becomes a team that, I don't know how much it's going to translate onto on ice success and wins next year, but I know it's going to be a team that's going to be like probably top five for me on the watchability rankings.

Yeah, without it out there. They're going to be must-see TV here. If it's not next year, it'll be the year after that. And, you know, we're not even talking about Vitalikrafsov all that much because he's a high-end player as well. And I think the transition will be a little bit more for him. He might struggle a bit out of the gate.

But, you know, towards the end of the season and next season that he's going to be another guy that's going to be a force playing in that top six, too. So we'll see what kind of moves they have to make if they want to clear out some more space to go and go grab a Panarin or something like that or if they wait and make that push in a couple years. But yeah, there'll be a lot of players on the fantasy squads and a lot of ratings for MSG there. Is there anything else on Kako or this fit or stuff that we should bring up with him? With these top two guys, it's just like, we kind of, they've been so on the radar and such kind of high notoriety that everyone kind of, we've already nitpicked their games, we already know

everything, what they do, kind of the differences in and the styles and so on and so. forth. Like, is there anything else with Kako that we need to point out here? Should we just get to, like, the real start of this draft at third overall? Yeah, it's a lay up for New York. Yeah. Let's get to three. Yeah. All right. So this is, this is going to be where it gets exciting because I think, and I know you wrote this in your preview as well, it does feel like it's kind of cementing itself into a bit of a tier here with Byron and Turcott and then kind of everyone else after that. What's interesting with the Blackhawks is I don't really know. I don't have a great feel for which way they're going to go.

And obviously the way they go here is going to, I think, influence some of our later picks coming up. I don't know. If you were Stan Bowman here, acknowledging that you've spent a lot of your, I guess, past draft capital over the past couple years on defensemen, not that should necessarily really influence your decision if you think about Byram's a therapist prospect in this class. But how are you approaching this?

And do you think there is sort of a more obvious pick here in between Turcotte, Byram, or boxy, I don't know, who the other guy would even be. Yeah, there is another guy, too, for sure. But, you know, if it's me... It's too early for Alex Neu-Hook. I know you want to do it. You want to pull the trigger on it, but we've got to be real here. Yeah, I would not pull the trigger at this spot.

But, you know, if it's me, I'm going up there and I'm grabbing the local Illinois kid at Alex Turcott. You know, he models his game after Jonathan Taves and to have him kind of mentor underneath him and learn that style. And I think that he's a ready-made player, too. so he'll go to Wisconsin next season. I can almost assure that. And then he's a one and done candidate.

And he can step in and, you know, take over third line rule sort of thing in 2020. I think he has the high end upside to go with the two-way play. That for me, he's the most complete player outside of these next two by a decent margin. You know, maybe you're leaving a little bit pure ceiling offensive upside with him just because he does play such a strong two-way game.

You know, you do the same thing with produce Berser on. And it's okay, you know, you still manage. But, you know, the guy to keep an eye on, I think is Kirby Doc. I've heard some whispers. Oh boy. Yeah, for sure. And, you know, there are a few teams out there that love this kid.

And it's not necessarily from what he's doing today and what he did this past season, which was, you know, he did a lot of good things. But what he could be. And, you know, scouts, Ryan Getslaff. And they see the potential for that big, powerful all-around top line center. And so, you know, if we're going to hear a little ooze and Oz, I think it might be Kirby DAC at three. I am worried about that pick.

I think at some point, obviously, he becomes a good value just because of that tantalizing skill set, and you can sort of like squint and envision a scenario where he does become something like that. I think if you're going with that projection, though, it's just concerning with where the game is headed. We just spent like 10 minutes talking about how we love Hughes because he's able to play at this kind of like Nathan McKinnon-ish, Connor McDavid, like, level, like making decisions at the highest possible gear. and with the way the game's headed, I think it's still possible, obviously, to kind of exert your will in the offensive zone

and use size and reach to create for others. But with the third overall pick, and even I'd say top five, just with some of the other names that are available, I think it is a bit rich for me, and I know he's got his camp of supporters, and I know it does feel like he's sort of been the biggest riser as this process has gone on over the past couple weeks,

where there was like a period there where it felt like he might even, like, fall towards the back half of the top 10, and now he's third or fourth and a lot of them. mock drafts. Yeah, and we saw that with Yersperi Kockeniyami last year too. You know, he was coming out of May and still hanging around that 9-7 mark, you know,

in and around that. And then as the week or two let up, it's just, the priority to get centers is so huge. And especially last year, so it wasn't such a big surprise at Cockneyami jumped up a little more so the Baird-Haten, but in this class there's a lot of good centers. And like I said, I think it's Turcod is the best

one sitting there, but like I've got Doc 10 on my board. I'm just, I'm just cautioning people. I mean, I honestly, I think, He's my third favorite WHL Center. Yeah. He's mine too. Yeah. I mean, it's close.

I'm not saying, I'd be outraged, but it does feel like it's a bit of, wow, this guy's six four. Look at him. He looks like an NHL air as opposed to like. Yeah,

he's got some skills for sure. He can get blown up. He can get his head down and, you know, he can do some things out there. I'd love him to see with more pace, as we've said, you know,

so that's what I'm worried about watching some of these, like, highlight tapes and reading about them. I'm like, I don't not necessarily worried about like the straight line point eight to point B's B but it's more like the acceleration in the offensive zone which I guess if you're able to just like fend off defenders with your reach and your size and

have the vision and Ryan gets lavish playmaking like that's another way to be successful in NHL but it's very risky I could definitely see that being a pick that's like you wind up regretting it pretty quickly yeah for sure it could definitely turn out that way yeah so I have I mean I have byram at the third overall pick um I don't know I just I just felt like for whatever reason. I think maybe, and this might be a wrong way to approach it. I was just like I like Turcotte, but I also like a couple of other guys.

Whereas with Byron, I'm like, I feel very confident that he's the best defenseman in this class and also that he's like the perfect defenseman for today's game. And I feel very confident about what he's going to look like at this level. And I just, it feels like a sure pick while also having the upside of like him being a franchise changing defenseman for you, which I don't think they necessarily.

necessarily have yet as much as I like Joki Hargey and Bochrist and Bowden and Mitchell and all these guys they've drafted like those guys are nice pieces but I still think like this is like a different caliber of prospect in terms of defensemen no I think you're right too for sure and those guys you mentioned there they're they're more secondary pieces you know Boyquist he's got the high end offensive skill but he's going to need a partner with him that can play everything and so you know boom byrman of that spot is you really can't go wrong because he is unique in this class because he's the only one that can truly project as a top pairing player you know there are are a couple of flaws to his game that we'll still need ironing out.

And I think that if he does go to Chicago or if he does go to Colorado, that he'll be back in Vancouver playing for the Giants next year and working on those things and then he'll transition up. If he slides down the board a little bit more, I could see him starting in the NHL and making a push that way. But yeah, Chicago, I think that they're in a spot unless they do get crazy and go after a dock or slide back even further or go even Pogholes in it and just take a little more risk, is that if they sit with Turcotte or Byram is that, you know, they're going to do well.

They're going to feel okay about their pick. Yeah, I had in my notes, I was like, if you were Stan Bowman, what would it be a fair trade where you're packaging this pick with Brent Cibro's contract? Like, what would you have to get back in return? But I think that might be a bit too crazy of a discussion for us to venture into right now. Who knows? I mean, that contract is so bad. So, okay, so let's say, let's play out both scenarios here. If you're the avalanche, let's say the Blackhawks take Turkot at third overall in your scenario.

What are you doing at that fourth slot there? Yeah, if I'm the aviose. Yeah, I'm taking Byram. Yeah. Yeah, I'll take Byron there. And so the inverse, if Byram's off the board, you're just taking Jerkot? I mean, I am. Yeah, I'm doing that for sure.

Again, I think, and, you know, just a minute. Wait, who else? Who else is making that? The other Gets? Yeah, I guess, I guess. Yeah, yeah. You know, if we're picking what could happen. Right.

But I will say that I think that both three and four are somewhat in play. Right. I think Chicago's interested in taking another quick swing and trying to go on a run here with their aging core. So if someone offers them a ready made impact player, that they'll be listening for sure. And I think Colorado with found money. For sure. And especially having 16th overall as well. I think they're probably more interested in moving 16 and holding on to four. But if the right offer came across their desk for Josaki there, I think that that's another

one that you could justify moving to. I mean, if you're the abs, you can't really go wrong here because I could see, like, from both perspectives, if Byram falls into your lap here and Turk got off the board at three, like the idea of pairing him with McCar and Gerard and I assume Barry. probably will not be around anymore by then, but not to make him sound like he's going to pass away or anything in terms of trade or whatever. But all of a sudden, like that becomes a very fascinating, like just foundation of a defensive nucleus. But at the same time, I'd love to see them get a second young center to pair up with McKinnon and give that one-two punch, someone to grow with. I think

we were hoping Tyson Joe would be that guy. And I'm still not ready to close the book entirely on him, but obviously his first couple years haven't necessarily. He hasn't, I don't think he's shown enough yet for for anyone to say comfortably, like, yeah, he's going to be their second line center of the future. So that door is still open. And obviously, them getting this pick considering how their season when and how we think we think they're going to project moving forward, it's like a rare luxury and it's obviously all gravy for Joe Sackick. So if they can land a guy, if you think Turcotte is going to be that center of the future for them, that is also a very, very enticing route to for them to take.

Oh, without a doubt. And, you know, how perfect would that fit be? Because, you know, Turkot doesn't have to be the number one guy. He can sit there kind of in the shadows a little bit behind McKinnon and just impact play and drive play. And, you know, they have some good young wingers too that he could come up and bring along with him as well. And so, you know, I was saying that it makes a lot of sense for Chicago to go Turkot there to model his game under Taze. But, you know, in a couple of years, he'd have to be the guy and going to Colorado and sliding into that spot. And I think, you know, you never say anyone's a sure bet when they're 17, 18 years old.

But, you know, Alex Kirkod has all the boxes checked to be a player that could step into that second line role, you know, sooner than most, too. so for an avalanche squad that's looking to contend right quick here. You know, another thing is I think they'll take a good long look at Joe Pavelsky as maybe a short-term second-line center as well, too, that could kind of bridge the gap there. It would make a lot of sense. So whoever's sitting there, Byram or Turcotte, I think that they should just walk up and grab up. I guess we're in agreement. I think those four guys that we've listed so far with Hughes-Cock and Byram and Turcotte

in some order, this is where it gets really interesting at five with the Kings because this is my first real dilemma of who I would take first, who I think is going to go. Because I don't know, this is a hot take, but my third favorite prospect in this year's class is Trevor Zegrois. Yeah. I love this guy's game,

and I think I can very easily see what he's going to be in the NHL, and I think that's going to be a very, very, very good player. There's no way in hell the Kings are taking Trevor Zagoras 5, assuming that top four goes the way it is. Yeah, I think you're right. I have Zer's as number five on my board. Oh, really? You do.

Oh, yeah, I do. Nice. And, you know, if it was me, then that's who I'd be, that's who I'd be taking. If I was thinking, I'm with you there. I don't, you know, they need skill. They need some high-end skill. I think that he projects more as a left-winger as well.

I don't think he'll play the middle of the ice. You know, to me, he's a lot more Clayton Keller than, you know, Sonny Milano that some of these people are, he gets comparisons to because he doesn't have the gaudy point totals with the program there. But, you know, he's so creative. He's the most, he's the purest passer in this crop. And that's saying something with, you know, Hughes out there. And, you know, many nights when I was watching that club is that, you know,

you'd think that he was Hughes. On some shifts, you'd have to take a double look at the number. And so, you know, I'm with you on that page, but I also agree that I don't think he's going L.A. I think the concerns about him potentially being more of a left-wing and a center are a bit overblown. I've seen that cited as, like, why he should fall and why other guys should go ahead of him,

because this is a pretty, you know, natural center-rich class. But if you're just talking about a guy with that sort of, like, upside but also projectable skill set and the speed he's going to play at and the tenacity and I think the full way, well-rounded game and the playmaking. Like I'm not worried about it. Just like similar like what we said with Gaco, like I think when he gets on an NHL ice,

the puck will be finding his stick quite a bit, regardless of whether he's moving up the middle or whether he's coming down the left wing. No, you're absolutely right. I was going to say the same thing is the play will still run through him regardless of what position he's playing because that's just the type of player he is. He's very cerebral. He's very smart.

He's one of these guys that knows how to find the soft spots in the ice. And the puck falls him around and that's a funny compliment that we give to players. And I think that that's a nice representation of, you know, it's difficult to really define, what hockey IQ is. There's a million definitions. Yeah, it's such a nebulous. Is it ever?

But, you know, the one of the things is that like, oh, the puck seems to just follow him around the ice. And you just saw, you just see that from some players. And it's because they know where to go. And he's one of those guys. So if he's in the middle, you know, great. I think he's probably just a little shy on the, on the size to do that and play it in a number one role.

But, you know, it would be a top left winger that can still drive play and still move that. You know, all you got to do is teach his kid that he doesn't always have to do a 360 backhand pass or an aerial. Sometimes he can just make a straight up pass. and he'll be good to go. Well, the thing is with a lot of these teams, like the abs are kind of the rare exception here,

but it's like whether it's a left winger or a center or a defenseman, you really should just worry about getting as much talent as you can because chances are if you're picking this high in the draft, you have quite a few holes in your roster. So it's like, it's not like any teams like, oh, we're so loaded at left wing that I don't think he fits into our plan. So we're going to take a worse center just to knock that off our board. But while I say that I can't see the Kings doing that

because I just think like the Kirby Doc and some of these other sets, centers are going to be too enticing for them, assuming the top four goes the way we have it. They have drafted pretty decently, I think, the past couple years in terms of this is obviously a team that had their cup run and really committed to that and now is going to go through a pretty nasty tear down. And most of their roster is still a bunch of old, overpaid guys who are past their prime. But, you know, obviously with the muzzan trade, it helps getting another first and getting Carl Grunstrom, who had a nice little cameo towards the end of the year there.

last year you know they got uh kill thomas in the second round who i like quite a bit they got rasmus cupari pretty late like they're actually like getting a slow but steady talent infusion mostly on the forward ranks for them here so pretty much any player that's available whether it is egress or whoever else like it'll come in handy but i do like some of the stuff that's coming together for them obviously it'll take a while for it to translate into n-achal's success but no i i think you hit the nail right and my boy my boy boulat shafiguin oh of course yes who i definitely had i think I think I had him in my top 100 last year, something crazy like that too. But no, for sure.

I love the Rasmus Kapari pick there at around 20 or whatever it was. He's a nice player. And him and Hepponimi, they had some fun over there in the league of this season. And I think he's going to be a player. And I think that that really takes a sting off what's happening with Gabe Bellardi and he's just suffered so much with the back issues. And the career is definitely in question. And to lose the top 10 pick so quickly after that,

that can be devastating for a franchise for sure. And so, you know, maybe they'll surprise us. And maybe they'll just take the most talented player on the board. And for me, that's Trevor Zegroes as well. You know, maybe they get crazy and they look at a defenseman. I love that. Like, that wasn't even like a sarcastic. Like, maybe they'll just take the most talented player left. Like, and we're both like, yeah, maybe. Yeah. Who are we kidding? Who are we kidding? Yeah, that's a, that is a shame. Oh, man, if they took a defenseman this

high, I mean, we'll get into it a bit here in the next couple picks, but it feels like we're primed for someone taking a defenseman at least like four or five picks too high. And I was she's being like, oh, my, why. Oh, yeah, there's going to be a couple. There's, there's going to be three in the top ten here with Byram. It's going to get crazy. All right, well, let's get to it. Let's keep going, then.

Red Wings at six? I think they go Zegris. Yeah, that does seem like a logical fit. Yeah, do like that. Yeah. Wait, so for the, so for the kings, are we giving them doc, or? I mean, I think they could, I think, you know, even Dylan Cousins is a real, a real, a real, a real look there for them at five.

It's, yeah, well, I guess we have to. to give them someone if we're going to keep moving along here. Okay, so here's a thought exercise for you. Let's say two prospects are relatively equal in terms of build, you know, awareness, skating, everything. Well, one guy is a more natural playmaker, another guy is a more natural finisher slash shooter. Which skill set are you prioritizing or gravitating towards everything else being equal? So you're just, those are the only two identifiable traits that are different. Yeah, I'll pay for goals.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, just by a hair. And I love guys that can impact the game as distributors. but at the end of the day, putting the puck in the net is a more unique skill set. So with that being said, would you consider Cole Cawfield here? I think L.A. will. And I think a lot of teams, if he's still sitting there at the picks after will as well. And I hate to say it because this is not how I assess.

But if he wasn't 5'7, I think that he'd get a lot more juice at this spot. And it's because he's 5'7 and he's not a burner. and he's not overly elusive. And so the way he can score in a variety of ways is impressive. And I think that he's going to be able to score goals in the NHL. It's just that when he's not scoring goals, he's not really impacting the game in a positive way. And so, yeah, I think they could look at that and they could be like,

you know, here's our next 30 goal score. And we need one of those. But to be honest with you, I think that every one of these teams is going to take a good long look at them and they're probably going to decide that there's an option that's just maybe slightly more. safer and that he could be sitting there at 12. Yeah. Yeah, no, that is fair.

I mean, and it is, it is such a loaded kind of top end of the draft here. If you do have any of those concerns, it's not like, you can, you can just go somewhere else with a player that might have similar upside, but a fewer of those concerns. And it's going to be really fascinating with these teams here, with the Red Wings, with the Sabres, especially, because I was trying to figure out, like, which way they're going to go or what they're looking for. And, I mean, both teams do really need, like, a little bit of everything. So I wouldn't be surprised in any direction.

they went in but you're right obviously if Zegress falls here to the red wings i think that's a no-brainer otherwise um yeah i i i don't know it's it's tough there's there's other names here that i like here we're going to get into the new hooks we're going to get into crabs we're going to get it even to put calls and i just don't see them going this high so it's that that's why we're not we should point that out because i'm sure there's listeners at home that are like why aren't they talking about these guys like don't they love them like they've been talking about them on twitter or whatever and it's like i just don't realistically see a plausible scenario where one of those guys goes this high.

So it's just kind of, we can just talk about it, but it's kind of like we're just, it's an echo chamber because it's not actually going to happen in reality. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think if we're being completely realistic here, it's, it's going to be Doc, it's going to be cousins. Maybe it's Coughfield. You know, I think that, I think that it's not going to be Zegress.

I think he'll be the kind of layup for Stevie Y back in Detroit. You know, that's a great pick for them. Yeah, and they're building something nice in Detroit. They are arguably the winners of last year's draft, and they've been building nicely. Can you imagine the pace, like him and, if he is on the wing, him and Larkin would be playing at together? Like, that would be, that would be something to watch. Yeah, for sure. Amatha or Zedina floating on the other side.

Not bad. All right. So, yeah, so do we have anything else on the Sabres? It's going to be like one of these guys. I don't even know which way they'd necessarily be leaning. Is this where we start considering some of these defensemen? Yeah. And I think Buffalo will, too.

I think they're going to take a good long look at Bromis. And I think the real surprise will be is that their right side is not so great. And they might be moving or still lining here and it might be more insider. And you know, the kid is just, he's his transition this last, this whole entire season, but the way he's really gone up and his developmental arc is just shot through the roof. And he had the great world championships and he had a nice playoffs in the DEL. And once the training wheels were off and it sucked, I went in to try to watch them early in the season. And as I was getting these German scouts were saying, how come you're not talking about this kid?

And I was like, I got to see him. Like I don't get a chance to see him. then I'd go in and you'd either get healthy scratch fruits playing three minutes. And then by the end of the year, he was an impactful go-to player for that team in a pro league. And, you know, he's a little raw there. But I really think Buffalo is going to take a good long look at this kid. I'll be taking a good look at him. I mean, yeah, Mo cider.

I'll be drinking some Mo cider this summer for sure at the beach. Yeah. And I mean, I think he's been rising quite a bit on this. I think if he went that high, I would be a bit surprised. But at the same time, the Sabres do feel like a bit of a wild card there. and I think if a guy like Caulfield's available, I could see them going for him for sure, but if he goes off the board,

either with the Kings or the Red Wings, all of a sudden that opens the door there, and they are a prime candidate for a wacky pick, and as are the Oilers. Oh, yeah. See, I think if one of those centers with cousins or docs available, I feel like they're probably going to take him, which is why I'm hoping both guys go off the board

so we can open the hilarious scenario. Here are my notes I have, the Philip Broberg buzz for this pick is legit funny. That's my take on this. I think that would be so funny if the Oilers took a defenseman because they feel the need that they need NHL defensemen right now. Oh, yeah. I think it's legitimate, too.

I don't think it's a smokescreen. I think they love... We're going to get Oofa here to come and give us a little Philip Broberg's scouting report and how he feels about this, because notably he's the first Swedish player we've mentioned in this year's class, which I feel like is a large departure. So, Ufeo, how are you feeling about Philip Broberg? You've spent some time in Edmonton covering the Oilers.

If they go and take him eighth overall, what do you think the reaction of that is going to be? And what are you going to think of that pick? It's obviously a player with a really high ceiling, but I see him as a high-risk, high-work kind of player. I don't really know what he is at this point in terms of what he can produce offensive. if you can be a player who runs your power player or not. So there's a lot of question marks there, but there's also a lot of like, I mean, the size, the skating, that combination is pretty unique.

And today's hockey, you have a defenseman that big with that kind of skating ability. So I'm intrigued about him, but I'm not convinced he's going to be like an NHL star. Well, okay, how are you feeling about it? And after you get this, Cam, you can kind of carry on from this. but how do you feel about comparing him versus Soderstrom his prospects? And in terms of, especially this high in the draft where if you are going for a home run pick,

you don't necessarily want to like, you want to get something out of it. You don't want to look back three years from now and be like, oh, another top 10 pick for us that isn't playing in NHL anymore. Shout out to Jesse Pooley-Rbee. But at the same time, you also don't want to be getting

a third pairing defenseman eighth overall either if that is what we think. So I don't want to, for an 18-year-old, just chalk him up. But in terms of the upside, I feel like we all agree that Soter's necessarily doesn't have as high of it as cider or Broberg or some of these other defensemen no he's what i would consider a safe pick he's probably going to be uh maybe a top

four defenseman in best case scenario but he could also be maybe a little less he could be your yonos brardine or something like that i think he's definitely going to play in the nchel but uh as you mentioned like the ceiling on broberg is much higher if he can get all his uh his stuff and together and and be the kind of player that he's shown flashes of. But it would probably be a safer pick and, I guess, more boring pick to pick Sölerstrom instead. Okay, well, here's my question for you, Cam, and I know where you can answer this as well. But obviously there's certain things that even with the best training or the best coaching staff, you just can't teach a prospect.

And they're usually like physical traits. I mean, we can improve skating and whatnot. But like there's certain stuff where just no matter how much you work at it, you're not going to get tangibly better. With some of these defensemen, and that's why it would be really funny if the Sabres took him after the whole Rasmuserser Saladin experience, but this idea of a guy with physical tools

who doesn't have that nebulous hockey sense, like you don't know what it is, but then when you watch him play, you're like, he just doesn't seem to understand where the puck is going to go next since he's always in the wrong place at the wrong time and kind of chasing it. And whereas some guys, the puck's always following them.

And so you don't want to necessarily be like, oh, this 18-year-old is never going to be able to figure out this part of the game, but at the same time, at this point, if it's still such an obvious concern, like, is that something that you're seriously weighing as, like, we've got a question if it's ever going to come? I absolutely do. I honestly believe that the most difficult thing to teach a player at 17, 18, 19 years old is how to think the game at a high level.

And so, you know, you can have all the physical tools. But if you don't have the toolbox, it's not going to work out well for you. And so the thing with Brod's the thing with Brodard's, Roberg for me is that, you know, I watched him all season long and, you know, his very best was against his peer group. So at the U-18s, at the Ivan Hulinka, he was, you know, borderline dominant. And it's because of those physical tools. He could rush the puck and you couldn't stop him. I mean, his skating is very impressive. It's, you know, the power he can generate off of a, you know, a stride length is. It's something to marvel at. And I think that scouts fall in love of that, too, and they see what he does in international competitions against his peers. You know, put him against the U-20 level and he's not doing the same things. You know, move him up to the old's and I granted I thought his play improved throughout the season but at the same time it's just I saw him making the same mistakes over and over and for me if I was his coach it'd be so frustrating because you know he just seems to he just jumps at the wrong time and and you know if he was truly truly dynamic with his hands as well and and he was he was making these rushes count and

and he didn't find himself in the corner or throwing a blind pass in the middle and then having to get himself back if he was converting on these and setting him up and you'd be like well you know he took a chance there and it worked out and if you did that more often than not, then sure, you know, this kid's got top 10 upside. For me, he's more down around the 20 mark because you take a swing at that chance that maybe everything is going to come together and he's going to be the one in a thousand that they can learn how to think the game at a higher level as a teenager or as in his 20s. But, you know, it's probably likely that he's going to be a complimentary guy on your bottom pair. And so for me in the top 10, that that's a huge risk. Yeah, it's tough. It's not necessarily

like as aggressive as like, you know, a baseball hitter having a recognize which pitch is coming at them that fast, but the game does happen so fast that you can have the best coaching the world and you can go through the practice reps of like, okay, when this happens or you're watching tape in the video room, like, when this happens, you need to be here, where this happens, you need to go over there. But then like with 20,000 fans roaring at you and all this stress and intensity and it happening so fast all of a sudden, like you need, it's weird because like you don't really want to be thinking about it. You sort of intuitively need to be just gravitating to those spaces. And when this is a concern at this point of a guy's career,

considering he has been, you know, playing very competitive hockey to get to this stage of his NHL draft, like that is alarming to me. No, for sure. And, and you can go all the way back to, you know, pee hockey. And like, you see guys and they just were thinking, you're like, how did they know when to go to that spot? Like, they just knew. They knew when to jump. They knew when to not. And these tiny little micro decisions all over the rank everywhere, especially for a defenseman, too, with your gap coverage and your control and where your pace is going to be playing at and do I go into the corner and take this guy do I stay in the middle it's it's everywhere there's little decisions that need to be made and you know for me he just makes the wrong

decision too often and and so I've kind of been a I've championed against him I should say just because I don't feel the same way as many scouts do and and to be honest with you though talking with guys in Sweden who watch them more than I do that a lot of them have the same concerns too but it's just become that if you love a player if someone loves a player and they're getting you know knocked up as you know maybe a top five a top eight pick and I don't see the opposite I have to kind of go against him So I don't think he's a bad player, and I think the physical tools are all there, similar to a few years ago we were talking about the dreaded Jake Bertan

draft, is that he had all the physical tools. And he's a player, he's a player that can help a team, especially in a couple of years probably when he can chip in 15, 20 goals and hopefully he can use that speed. But you're wasting a pick. But then you missed out on Nick Eler. Exactly. You're sacrificing a lot of upside, right?

When you do that, and so, hey, you know, if you want to take a chance and he's going to be that guy who can make it all, put it all together. I'm not betting on it, though. It does seem, almost a guarantee that either the oilers or the Canucks are taking him at eight or ten, which is amazing because it's like two of the worst run organizations over the past how are many years. And we're having this full conversation. And it's like, I feel pretty

confident one of them is just going to be like, I see what you're saying. I understand the risk. But have you seen this guy's physical tools? Oh, man. I think you're, I think you're right. And it's it shouldn't be surprising. It's not surprising that I'm just hoping, right, as we're here in Vancouver and cover the Canucks. It's like, let's just hope that. Edmonton grabs them. Yeah. Oh, my, can you imagine like the panic in the Canucks draft room?

Edmonton takes Philip Rohberg and the Canucks like, what do we do now? We haven't even scouted anyone past that. What do we do? I'm guessing Judd Brackett will probably have a little, a little fist punt. Trade the pick. Maybe we can get a third liner. For the Oilers, you know, we mentioned some of the centers that might still be available a defenseman.

What do you think about a fit with a guy like, we haven't really mentioned Matthew Boldie yet as sort of like kind of just like, kind of just like, like, I don't even know. It's just like a slick winger. Like I, I think you actually use that word as well, but like, it's very, very smooth. He is smooth. He's buttery smooth for sure. And another one of these guys like, you know, I don't know how many times I've said it is that realistically, five through 12 is you throw them into a hat, pull a name out. And so I could see any one of these players working for for any one of these clubs. And Matt Boldie is a really nice player. The way he plays a power forward game, he's really worked at hard at improving his defensive play so much so

that when he played on the U-17s, I would say that it was a slight negative on his, on his resume, and now it's a real plus. He's become kind of the everything man for that, that U-18 team this year. And, you know, the coach would move him up and down the lineup. He put him on the penalty kill. He'd move them off to the second power unit to try to get them going. He was everything for them. And if he had better two-step quickness and his top gear was just a little bit higher,

I think, you know, we'd be saying, you know, does Chicago go boldie here at three? Because he's that good. He can impact the game in a lot of ways. The thing I really like about him, too, is that he can kind of be the chameleon on whatever line, whatever they need from him. So if they need him to be a distributor, he's got great vision, he's got a nice soft touch. You know, he did that at the U-17 level, and then he moved up and he wasn't playing with Cole Cofield anymore.

And so he's like, well, I guess I'll be the shooter. And he's got a great shot. And so he can do a lot of things. He's one of these guys that I safely project to, you know, be a 25 goal, 50-point guy. And that's kind of like the medium range part. In my mock here, I had the ducks taking him at 9 just purely because I do think of them. And to be fair, it is mostly with defensemen, I think, in the past. but, you know, they took a guy like Isaac Lundstrom,

and they've taken some forward, certainly, over the past couple years as well, that aren't necessarily as flashy as the defensemen, but there's one of those teams that, like, just makes, I just feel like they make good picks. They just draft well, I don't know what they're doing. Or it might just be a developmental thing on their part as well, but, like, Bolley's one of those names.

I think there certainly are certain segments of the internet that do you view him as a sexy pick and are interested in him, and I think a lot of Kodaksh fans would like that pick, but there's so many other names there that he could, it strikes me as a guy who could kind of fly under the radar a little bit and then you just walk away from it and you look back and you're like oh the ducks got I'm a nine like that's that's just a smart pick yeah I think you're right and you know we might be saying

the same thing you know oh the panthers got him at 13 like that's a really nice pick and and I can take a little bit of the credit or the blame I guess for the Canucks fans being hyped up about my boldy I put my kind of my stake in the ground a couple months ago and said I think this is the the pick for them because I think he makes a ton of sense for them you know the winger depth in the nchel and in the in the prospect pipeline for Vancouver is it's pretty void outside of Brock Besser obviously and so uh No, for sure. I think Anaheim, that that would be another nice fit, another organization that needs everything.

And so, you know, if they wanted to grab the American kid, that he's going to be a player. Yeah. I wonder if they would, I mean, it would kind of go against what I just said about them drafting smart, but I wonder if there's like, there's a bit of like a hubris or a bravado that comes, like if you nail so many picks on a certain positional group,

and it's like, all right, we're just killing it with evaluating a drafting defenseman. And you hear all this stuff about, let's say the Oilers don't take Broberg at 8, and then all of a sudden if you're Bob Murray and the Ducks, like, I don't know, we just put them in our system. Look at, look at what we've done. Turn these guys' physical tools into a star and just watch us do it. And then I could, I could see a little bit of that sort of hubris as well, just kind of them feeling themselves and a little bit of a flex on their part. I'd like that too. I could be okay with that.

Not from who I would do it for, but as a cannot quote-unquote. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, well, let's take a break here. We're going to hear from a sponsor and then we're going to do 10 through 15 and then some honorable mentions. Sponsoring today's episode of the Hockey P.D.O.cast is Seek. out to an event, whether it is a sporting event, a concert, a stand-up comedy, a play. It's supposed to be a fun night out. You're supposed to get away from your daily problems. You're supposed to just kind of turn your brain off and enjoy a fun night out with your friends or your loved ones. But actually getting there can sometimes be a big issue because it feels like some of these ticketing

websites can make it awfully difficult and kind of go out of their way to make sure you're not getting to enjoy that stress-free experience because they make you jump through all these hoops just to get the tickets in the first place. such a hassle and such an ordeal that you feel like you're better off just staying home and doing your regular thing as opposed to actually putting yourself out there and going to having a fun night out. But we're going to change that because Seekek is changing the full game. They really do all the work for you. They're trying to save you time, money, and effort by pulling together millions of tickets from all over the web into one place, rating each of those tickets that are available as a deal based on a scale of one to ten, and then finally displaying all those seats that are available on an

interactive seat map, breaking down the deals for you with actually. details, making it easy for you to just spot the green dots, which indicates a good deal, and then stay away from the red dots, which indicate overpriced ones. Plus, every purchase with Cickeek is fully guaranteed, so you can do your shopping for tickets with full confidence knowing that what you're paying for is what you're going to get. I've got the Ciki gap on my phone, and even though now hockey season is done, and after the draft and free agency, we're going to be taking some time off from live hockey. There's still so much good stuff going on this summer. I'll be going to be going to go and watching tennis. They've really got it all.

If you can think of anything, any sort of live event, CKeekeek probably has tickets for it, so you may as well just go check it out. And sometimes I like to just open it up and click my location and just look what's going on in Vancouver or if I'm traveling in the city. I'm in that night, and sometimes something captures my interest, and I'm just going to go and just go for it. So you can do all that. You can plan it out far in advance.

You can do it the night out. Ckeeks really got it all. And if you're still kind of, you know, wavering and not sure if you should give it a shot, as my listener today, CKKK's going to give you $10 off your first purchase with them. All you need to do is use our promo code and let them know that we send you. So just download the Siki Cap today and enter the promo code PDO for $10 off your first purchase. That's promo code PDO for $10 off your first purchase. Now let's get back to the mock draft with Cam Robinson and Uffi Bodeen.

All right. So we're here at Word to Cucks at 10 overall. I mean, I feel like I knew this was going to happen. As we go through this mock, we're like just throwing so many names out there. I don't even know who's off the board at this point. But let's go walk through some of the possible scenarios. here for the Canucks. We already talked about Broberg and why that would be an issue. And I think the thing that bugs me with that pick, and it would bug me with any defensemen they took. And I think

there's guys like more excited. There's Cam, York, even so does from Harley. Like there's interesting defense prospects in this class beyond Bowen Byram. Just I hate the rationale of we need more defensemen in our system. Therefore, we're going to draft an 18 year old now that we might not have anything to show for for two, three, four years. Like, that's how you get a, how you get a into the whole O'EU Levy situation. That's just how, like, you make mistakes when you're a team like the Canucksian needs a little bit of everything. And you're just trying to, like, do, like, 4D chess and be, like, time everything out

and get a little bit of everything. And it's like, just focus on getting the most talented player. And also just, like, make your pick based on who you think the best player available is not getting cheers from your home crowd on Friday night. Like, there's just, there's such a recipe for disaster here with all the Luchit rumblings, all the talks about them potentially moving this. pick, the brobrook groomers, like everything. I'm just like, of all the possible scenarios, very few of them are like favorable. Like, oh, that was a nice, smart pick by them. Yeah, I will be

surprised if all it is is Jim and Judd walking up there and we select a 10th over all the best forward available. And that's it. I think they desperately want to make some noise at this draft to give the fans a show. I think that's coming from top down. You know, and Benning, he's a lame duck GM. He's got a single year left on his contract. He's, he only has a couple more opportunities to really make an imprint and, you know, earn his next contract. And so the draft and then free agency. And that's, that's scary. Because, you know, from all, from all rumors out there is that, you know, 10th overall is definitely in play that, you know, they're willing to move that pick to get a now player. They're willing to, you know, really push to move up. You know, I heard today that, you know,

they're actively, not just, you know, kind of checking the waters, testing the waters. They're actively looking to move up in this draft. And, you know, they're looking as high as six. And so if they're looking at six, I have a hope that they like a forward and that they want to go ahead and go get Trevor Zegris at six. That would be commendable. Right? Absolutely. It depends on, you know, because of acquisition. But, you know, if they really wanted a defenseman and they were like, we need another blue liner in our crop, just go ahead and trade back.

You can slide to that 13 to 17, 18 range and grab the best of the rest. You know, it's going to be Camiarc, Billy Hainola, you know, Thomas Harley really young for this crop. he's got a lot of upside as a transitional D man who can put up some points too. And so if that's what you want to do, go get an extra second round pick. And those are the type of, you know, 40 chess moves I'd like to see them make. You know, we don't know who's on the board in this little mock draft that we're doing anymore. But, you know, I have a feeling that they really want to get a speed-driven player, which, you know, lends us to their loving a Broberg.

But, you know, I think Alex Newhook is a kid that they're high on for sure. He's got plus speed right now. He'll be a bit of a weight. I think he'll be a couple of years there. at BC and then he'll come out. But he's a really nice player who plays a two-way game and he has that kind of wow pop to his offensive game with his one-on-one skills.

And I think that they like Alex Neuick a lot. Based on those skills and like I know you're not necessarily very worried about just because of what he's shown at other tournaments and whatnot that his competition, like you're not too concerned about that and how it translates in terms of some of these other prospects. I do wonder like because he, I think Halifax had his rights

and then he chose not to go there because he wanted to keep his eligibility for BC, right? Like, imagine if he went there, and especially with the fact that, you know, they were hosting the Memorial Cup, and we imagine he probably would have been their best, most dynamic player. Like, if he had a monster season for them,

just how different this dialogue would be and whether it would be talking about him as a potential third overall pick there with Byron Turcott first. Now, it's clear that as much as people like him, like he's in that tier below here where we start getting into like the 8 to 12 range where he really starts coming into the mix.

For sure. And, you know, it's justifiable to look at it. You know, he's playing tier two junior hockey in the BC there. It's becoming a better league. But, you know, we talked about Tyson Yost earlier in the show is that, you know, Yost put up massive numbers in the BC and he went ninth overall or something to Colorado. And he hasn't really taken that next step in the NHL. But so there, there are some red flags in that regard historically, but you're absolutely right. And I respect what he did. He wanted to go to college. And he could have taken the easy route and gone to Halifax

and had the big stage in the Memorial Cup and played in a proven league and just, you know, solidified himself or had the opportunity to anyway. Imagine being a guy that talented playing in that league like just such a free for all you're just like banking three three four points a night casually having fun yeah for sure and he had a you know i have the rabbit ears off a slow start you when he got cut from the ivan halinka that bled into his season i think he was disappointed he didn't show up at camp and they cut him which was a huge surprise because you know coming into the season he was arguably a top five pick for on many boards um and so that bled in where he was only getting about a point per game in junior a and and you know towards the end of the season or the back two thirds even

he was putting up two points a game and you know and then internationally he did what i wanted him to do at the World Junior A under 19s there. He was one of the best players, him Bobby Brink. And then, you know, he was, him and Peyton Krebs were the best players for the Canadians at the U-18s. And I think he was one of the better players of the tournament. And he outshine, I should say, Dylan Cousins. And so I love the speed.

I think he's, you know, he uses that on the forecheck, he uses it on the penalty kill. He's defensively. And then I think that the upside offensively is a lot higher than people give him credit for just because, you know, he's doing it against junior A players. And so he's stuck a little bit between a rock and a hard place because if you don't put up massive totals, it's like, what's wrong with you? Right. And then if you do, it's like, yeah, well, you should have. And so you can't really

and there's also sort of like, whether it's a psychological or whether it's just like a physical like limit to how much production you could even possibly put up, right? Like, it's like, at the end he's not going to be doing like three points a night or whatever. So it's like, what do you have? He had 102 and 53 and that's great. And it's like you don't really know what that means. But his closest teammate, and I know you even like Alex Campbell has 67 points. And I think the same number of games, it's like, yeah. When a guy's outpacing, like if you, if you, he was playing either on like a loaded team and it's like a bunch of guys have just a bunch of points and you're like, all right, like what's happening here? Who's carrying who or or what or a completely

inverse scenario? But in this case, it's like, I feel pretty confident that like Alex U-Hook's doing quite a bit of the play driving here. He was driving some play. Yeah, for sure. You know, and there were many nights where you check in and him and Campbell were line mates and you're like, I like this this Campbell kid too. Like he was making plays happen and it didn't necessarily translate to a ton of points for him and that's why he's going to be a steal later on the draft. But no, you know, it might be Campbell doing some nice plays. You're like, oh, that was a nice play, those nice play. And then it was New Hook, you know, kind of dancing a couple of guys and then cutting back and then sniping one. And so his production was real. Well, it's interesting because we mentioned New Hook's

sort of unique circumstances are kind of the caveats with his production with Peyton Krebs, who you mentioned there as well. Like, what a, what a bizarre case, both obviously in terms of his unfortunate injury here recently, but also just like, I was looking at his team. And my goodness, like what? I don't, I don't even know. what was going on there but it was tough times in Kootenie and and and uh you know they're going to winnipeg and so the the hope remains and uh you know they they got the first overall pick in the ban of draft and so you know there there is hope for him but what he did everything for that team and he didn't it's difficult when it's just wave after wave of offense coming at you and and

you never have the puck and it's just you're always trying to retrieve it and so you know i i think he did he was admirable the job he did with that club and you know you look at the minus 50 if you want and and be like oh he was getting lit up but he was he was a play driver and you know he had far more first assist and he did second assist playing with guys that you know can't put the puck in the net and so it was splitting hairs for me at new hook and crebs at six seven there i kind of went back and forth i just gave new hook a slightly higher offensive ceiling that upside but i think crebs is a fantastic player with a very high floor um i think he can be kind of that locked in second line center that can give you 60 points and

impact the game and he's a heart and soul type of guy you know he's a captain he's a warrior out there and you know, his team's down two, three goals. I check in on those games. I really like to see how a player, you know, how they can still compete. And he's in that situation all the time. And he's still out there lifting sticks in the neutral zone, causing turnovers on the forecheck. I think Peyton Trebbs is going to be a great pick. And, you know, the Achilles injury, maybe that gives a team a gift outside of the top

10 because they don't want a draft a kid who's coming up on staging crutches. And I think that he's not long for the NHL either, or the WHL. I think he's one of these guys that's going to be closer than most. So doesn't his situation remind you of what Mark Sheifley went through? Like, I think it was 2011. He played with the Barry Colts and they were completely a train wreck, basically. So this situation is so much like that. I'm not saying that Peyton Krebs is the new Mark Schifley,

but there's absolutely some similarities. And kind of the opposite is a lot of these guys who are playing for the U.S. developmental program. It's like it is such a loaded team that, it always is very difficult to sort of separate those two things and really kind of hone in on like if we take this guy and put them in a different scenario whether it's a worse linemate situation or a better one in Krebs' situation what's going to happen to their production and how much are they going to take off

and how much? I talk about this a lot with young defensemen at this level where it's like if you have a great breakout pass but you're playing with scrubs and you're just constantly breaking out and then the other team is going on a two-on-one and they're not scoring and you're not getting any points for it. obviously your offensive production isn't going to necessarily look great. And all of a sudden you start playing with good players on an NHL level. And it's like, wow, this guy's offensive game is flourishing because people are actually making use of his passes.

So I think a lot of that stuff is, it seems to certainly doing their homework and whatnot. But for us, that's why it goes beyond just looking at a guy's pure offensive production and going like, oh, like 68 points and 62 games. That's not that impressive. It's like, okay, well, what went into that? Yeah, definitely. You know, he was the first overall pick in the band of draft for a reason. And that, you know, that doesn't always mean everything because a couple of years development at 15. But, you know, he's a highly skilled player.

And you're absolutely right. He was out there setting up plays that were just dying on other people's sticks or not even getting a chance because the team was, it just wasn't set up to succeed. And there's a team in, you know, in each CHL league, you know, we see it over in Europe, too, is that there are just, there's some bottom feeders out there and these guys are stuck, you know, players playing in Flint in the OHL. It's like, what are you going to do? Like, you get 15 wins in a season and it's just, it's tough.

It's really, really difficult. And then conversely, like you said, playing with the program is that, you know, watching these 0-1s for the last two years, even a 17. year olds like they were running through the ush-l like the u-17 team never made the playoffs in you in the ush-l and then they went ahead and did it last year and then they've gone up and just crushed the competition and so you can't really take their total points as really a metric of what each player is and so you want to see them against the higher competition you want to see them against ncdbola you want to see them in international tournaments when it gets to the medal rounds and things like that so you definitely

have to take it all into into consideration i do love the pangraves minus 50 in 64 games it's like i mean listen it's a pedo cast we're not citing that is like that is a good good or a bad thing. It's just a fun fact. I was like, wow. That is impressive. Nuts. Yeah.

Actually, I'm going the other way. I'm so impressed with that that I'm like, wow, that's the fact that he didn't murder his teammates. I'm giving Payton Krebs credit here because that is just wild. But you know, you're right. I mean, the one thing of like trotting him out there as your, let's say he is a top 10 or a lottery pick, he will be, I think. And he's like coming out there on crutches and you have nothing really to show for it out

of the gate. Not that most of these guys that they are going to college or whatever, you're not, you know, having them play. wearing your jersey every night right out of the gate anyways but it's like when a guy's just i don't know how long he'll be out for i imagine at least a couple months to start the season it's like it is kind of like a psychological thing as well but if you're a gm and you're feeling confident in your place with organization and this is why a gm who is on the last year of their deal or is worried about getting fired will probably not be taking paid and crebs in this year's draft um i don't i can't think of any

gms that fit that bill but this is a long-term play where you're right the talent speaks for itself and realistically if you're not going to get anything from most of these guys anyways for a year it doesn't really matter i don't think we're necessarily too concerned about this stunting his development it is it is tricky because it is an important year in the development especially with a lot of these guys that go off the college we're like we want to see them take that next step playing against tougher competition but at the same time if he falls here and he gets into like the back half of the lottery like that is just at some point it's just such a good value that you just have to roll the dice no for sure and and i think that the

injury it's going to affect some teams when they look at it and if they're splitting hairs on a player and they're like you know this guy's going to lose six months of training at a major crucial point of his development that you know maybe we go with the other guy I think the team and you alluded to that that it probably is going to affect the most and then we knew that the Canucks like crebs too there's no agent of any saying it's just at home too right if it was at a different rink I think that that would and that's unfair and that's not the way it should go but at the end of the day like this is an entertainment industry and I believe they selected JJ Danae like you you know, 100 years ago, and he came up on crutches, too,

and that pick worked out splendidly for them. So there's a little history there, too, and that, yeah, it's too bad for Krebs, because I think that he deserves to go in the top 10, and I think that there's a strong likelihood that he's probably going to be sitting there in the early teens. You can as any chance Chuck Fletcher goes off the board here and takes Brett Leeson at 11, citing his veteran leadership.

He'll fit right in with our core of Matt Niskin and Justin Braun and Kevin Hayes for the years to come. Fantastic, yeah. No, I don't think they'd get that one. No, they've drafted pretty well. I mean, last year was last year the Jay O'Brien, Joel Farabee year. Yeah. Yeah, I would have liked to see them do more with those picks,

but I think historically, especially with like later picks in the first round, they've done pretty well, though I guess that was a different time, different management group, so we'll see what they do. But I don't know. I guess at this point, it's silly to ask, who do you think the fly was going to take? Because we don't even know who the ducks or the Canucks or any of these. I think I know who they're going to take if he's there. And I will just, they'll just mention.

love Joel Farabee. I think that was a great pick. Jay O'Brien. Jay O'Brien was kind of weird. Not so much. I think it's a facility pod Colson, if he's there. He plays Philly Branda Hockey, you can trademark it. The guy is, he's a bit of a dick. Like he plays over the edge. He's confrontational. He's got great speed. And he's one of these guys, too, that if you want to swing on upside, he's got a lot of it as a player that can impact the game in a unique way from the wing. You know, he can create offense with his feet, with his hands and himself with a shot. And then on the defensive side of things, like he is hard. to play against. He's difficult in the corner. He's on the back check. He's a guy that sometimes

I feel that he leans a little too much on his defensive side. And I'd like to see him cheat a little more offensively. But, you know, if he's there at 11, I think that he's a nice fit for Philadelphia. And, you know, I have no idea what teams are actually concerned about the, the quote unquote, Russian factor. And, you know, he's got two years left on his deal and he's going to be playing for a good team there. And yeah, maybe he's going to have success and they're going to offer him a ton of money to stick around. You know, he said he's going to play two years and he come over. He'll take him at his word. The caps had to wait four years for getting Cousnets off, you know, that didn't hurt them too much.

Yeah. No, you're right. I think if you're betting on the towel and it'll be worth waiting around for, like I had him, I had Prokosen going at 13 to the Panthers. Just, I just thought it made sense from like, I think they always go kind of high ceiling in the first as the sirens go in the background. You know, they went Borgstrom in 16, they'd tip it in 17, followed by Hepunami with the second round pick.

Denisenko last year. So like, I think the track record is there for them. and with some of the draft people they have, I don't see them being worried and kind of off put by some of those concerns, but I guess what you're saying is he probably won't be available, right? Because I think either the flyers of the wild

will probably snap them up. Yeah, I think I'm not sure about the wild that maybe they've got a little more of the fear because of Capuzov. Again, it shouldn't come into play totally different circumstances for what was he, a fifth round pick. You guys see these sirens, but this is a nice neighborhood, right?

Can you guys tell the listeners, I always get grief from people like, what are you hanging out in Detroit? What are you doing? Like, this is like a nice, safe in Kouber neighborhood. I fear for my life in this neighborhood right now. We're on the 13th floor.

We're comfortable. We're drinking beers or hanging. There's no fear. No. No, I don't know about the wild. I do think that the slide, if you want to think so, will stop at Fili of Podkoulton is still there though. It's interesting though, because I mean like a lot of these guys,

if we do think Brober is going to go higher than we'd recommend, then that's going to leave the new hooks, the crebs of the world, dropping into the teens here. all of a sudden it's like but but every year we do see some of these guys there's going to be one guy that just drops way too far yeah like is cofield still there like we don't even know we we yeah no you're right he could but i do i do think like the right room's other sabers will probably take them but you're right i mean it's it's interesting so we've got the flyers we got the wild we got the panthers the coyotes i had no i mean if you thought you knew what the coyotes going to do

after the brett brad had a barred hayden scenario last year like what i don't know what they're going to do now. Yeah. You know, I, I said this on Proswick Central there is that I could see them going like something like Victor Soderstrom and then being like, you know what, we got ourselves our center. We got Barrett Hayton last year. We'll go safe now and we'll grab Victor Storstrom when they could have just gone Quinn Hughes. Yeah. And then, oh, let's just take the best of Krebs or new hook right here. You know, like give me, give me that option. And so, you know, like we talked about that's when you get yourself in trouble is selecting for positional needs. But at 12 there, I think the Wilder are a sneaky team to watch out for for Spencer.

Knight and that's been whispers for a while. 12th on, I was talking about this Louver earlier, 12th on Bob McKenzie's list. And he's usually, I mean, he's not mocking in terms of what the team needs, but just in terms of the range of where scouts see the value, when I saw that, I was like, hmm. Yeah, I think that the Wild and the Panthers are both interested in Spencer Knight. I think the Panthers are hoping that they're going to get to lay out seven years for

Bogowski, and that would kind of make squads out of it. I want to see video of them coming to Cam Lawrence and Reese Jessup. and going and Joshua Weesbach and going, we're going to take Spencer Knight at 13, and I want to see their faces. I want to get that, right? Yeah.

Yeah. No, I mean, he's going to, Spencer Knight is going to go higher than people are, feel comfortable with. Like, it's going to happen, right? Like, I was talking myself into, like, low 20s. I was like, all right, 21, 22.

Okay. It's going to happen. I don't agree with what's going to happen. But now it's like, the buzz is there where it's going to go in the teens, right? And what's the last goalie we saw? Was it Vaselowski was the last? Samsonoff. Was he?

No. 20s? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, so then probably that's. Yeah, Samsonov and Odinger were the last couple guys in the 20s, but it's been pretty, I mean, you've had like the Mason McDonald's in the 30s and like random guys like that. So, I mean, it was last year, Olaf, Olaf Lindblom was in the 30s and that was the first

goal he taken. The first one off, yeah, for sure. And honestly, like normally you see that quick run in day two, on day two around the 35 mark. And someone's like, oh, we've got a goal. It's like, okay, I can take one out. Totally. People can't make fun. I mean, like, for sure.

And often you can see like some goalies where you'd be like, you know what? They're maybe like borderline first round talents. Like maybe you can take him 27. You're like, no, no, no. I'm going to take him at 32, and it's going to be fine because it's not my first round pick. And everybody kind of agreed on that. And now we're starting to see guys sneak in.

You know, I like Spencer Knight. It's difficult to scout goaltenders, regardless of what's going on. But to put him on such a dominant team, it doesn't make it any easier. So he's got the size. He's got the athleticism. And I really like that he's not, he doesn't get shaken by a bad goal or a bad game. But, yeah, for me to, I think he will go a lot higher than I have them on my board. And it'll be, it'll be fun when it happens.

Well, I mean, we talk about how it's going to take a, GM very secure with their position in their organization to take Peyton Krebs, like to take a goalie this high, like, when are you realistically getting 50 NHL games in a season out of Spence your night? Yeah, I mean, in the mid-2020s, like, it's going to be a while. I mean, maybe, yeah, maybe they'll point at the board and be like, no, look at Carter Hart. I understand it's, I understand. He's a star, right?

That is true. I'm not saying that's the case here, but I'm sure that that might play into some teams that do love this kid and that don't have a goaltender of the future or that, or the near future, and then they're kind of buoyed in that position. Because, you know, after that, it's slim pickings a little bit. You fall into, you know, you're looking at Dustin Wolf maybe in the 90s or something like that. I had. A kid who's six foot. You shouldn't be looking to fill your goalie position in the 2019 draft.

But these guys, they have a big old board that's like the size of a wall. And they're looking at that goalie and they're like, we got nothing. I love that you have like an NHL GM just like hanging out with this is scouting staff. And they're just like, now can I take them? And the team's like, no, wait for another GM to take a goalie first. Now can I take them? With every pick. Yeah.

That's a good old fashioned cat and mouse game. Yeah, the coyotes are kind of, I do have Victor Sodans from here. I could see that kind of strikes me as a coyotesish pick, but I'm just purely making that up. But I do think the Canadians have been rumored to take a defenseman, and I think that organizationally they feel the need to do so. And I think I like Cam York a lot there. I think if Morris Sider is available still, he's also very interesting.

But one of those two guys, I really like them quite a bit for the Canadians. That's 15. Yeah, and there's whispers out there that they like Cam York. too. And he's one of these guys that's kind of fallen under the radar a little bit because he, again, playing on such a great team. He's the most prolific defenseman score ever at the U18 level, though, for the Americans. And so he earned those stripes. And he's just another guy who's really good at everything. I like the way he skates. I like the way he sees the play. He's got a great first pass. You know, he can run a power play. He doesn't have a can of a shot, but, you know, it's good

enough. I don't project him to be a top power play guy, you know, maybe on a bad team, but more of a secondary offensive guy that can contribute in all situations. He's not the biggest player. I think another safe pick that you're probably going to get yourself a transitional mobile defenseman that can play around four or five in maybe two or three or four years. Yeah. Well, good thing by then. They'll still be paying Shea Weber a lot of money to run the powerplay. So that's not a concern for them.

Yeah, no, I like that a lot. Okay, let's get into some of the honorable mentions. Is there any names through this first 15? I feel like we went through the 15. we didn't necessarily assign a name to a team, but we talked about some possible scenarios, and we also talked about the names that you're going to see in this range.

Is there anyone on your list or anyone that you think we should be considering, whether it's in the top 15 or right here on the next couple of teams that we haven't even talked about yet? Yeah, for sure. I think there's a couple of wildcards out there. We've seen it in several years here in a row that teams are vying to get themselves a quality center,

and I think Phil Tomasino is going to be a guy that, that you know if someone jumps on him in the top 10 i'm not really going to be that surprised because he's another player who's young for this crop uh he's got decent size but he's speedy he's got a nice puck skills he's smart he can play the wing as well but i do think he's a centerman and he he's shown brightly on a very nice oh hl club as a 17 year old which isn't an easy feat often these guys are stuck down the lineup and they're one of those guys that you you get value on later in the draft because they played such a depleted role and then they go back as 18 19 year olds and they're all of a sudden they're playing on the first line they put up a ton of points and everyone's

like, oh, how'd this guy end up there? But he was up the lineup for most of the season. And I like Philip Thomasino. I like his game a lot. And so he's someone that I think that teams are going to look at another OHL or is Thomas Harley. It's a weak OHL crop this year. But there's a couple really interesting guys.

And I keep talking about it, is when they're almost a year younger than some of these guys like Raphael Lavoie, who, you know, guys have around this Mark 2,15, that they're a full year older than Thomas Harley or Philip Tomasino. It means a lot. And so for Harley, he's a guy that a big season playing with Mississauga, the puck falls him around. He's smart. He likes to draw kind of those four checkers in before making that play and setting up with numbers going up the ice. And I really love that. He can, you know, he plays with a cigarette in his mouth a little bit. You could, you could stand to see a little more

intensity to him, a little more, you know, it would be a little more assertive. But another player that you could, I know Mitch Brown tracked him manually and really liked, he, he kind of put his, the bullet that this is the kid that if anyone's going to be a top-airing guy than Byron, then it's going to be Harley. And I, I tend to agree there too. I think he's got nice upside. we made it through 70 minutes of a draft preview podcast without mentioning the name Arthur Calli of it just about did but I was talking for a long time I was trying to tease you into it I mean there isn't anything really new to say it's like the ultimate it's like the most classic like NHL like skill over's will discussion and it's like I don't know like but I think

the hate in some circles definitely goes too far we'll see if it does in NHL circles with actual teams that are making the picks. But if he drops, like, there's going to be a certain range or it's like, okay, you can like hate this guy's character and his hustle and his effort and how much he wants it. But like, you're going to take someone who's significantly worse at hockey than him right now. So maybe just draft him and then try to incentivize

and I was telling him as a beach, whether it's financially or with some sort of gifts or what, just be like, yeah, man, you need to start playing. And I think he probably will start playing. I mean, because his team suck, right? Yeah, they weren't the worst. Right, yeah, but he was the best player as a draft eligible kid, and, you know, he scored 50 goals and a hundred points. So, you know, that's not overly surprising.

But no, he's, I don't have the list in front of me for the entire draft order, but I think when it comes Pittsburgh's pick there at whatever, 20 or 21, that's kind of the range where it's like, we have to take him. Especially for the penguins who have no talent in their entire organization. But all it takes is one. So another kid that's a dark horse that, you know, we might see him, you know, if he goes to Buffalo at seven, you know, if he goes to L.A. five would like it'd be wild right but we'd be like yeah i could see him getting crazy like this and i can see the panthers at 13 yeah we just like it goes high outside and and sort of from a numbers perspective like what this guy's comparables are like yeah for sure and you know what he did this year was very impressive but man can he frustrate you you you watch him it's like i hate watching him sometimes

and then he just goes and burns one cheese and i'm like oh that was a nice shot and so you know what he does out there it's it's unique and it's difficult to teach and you know there's not a lot of it out there, especially in this draft, that one-shot goals-going ability. And so maybe if you can plug him around some players that are going to go work the corners and get him the puck in that soft spot, and he's going to make hay. Right. But you, to be clear, you view that as more of an effort thing than a hockey sense thing. I do.

I do it. Like he knows what to do. He just doesn't want to do it. Yeah. Which is kind of weird. It's more frustrating for sure. But at the same time, it's like, I guess that might be more fixable or teachable from a inspiration.

perspective, I guess. Because if a guy sucks, you can inspire him all you want, but there's only so much you can physically do. Yeah. In this case, it's like, please do this. Yeah, like literally, like, maybe you got to do like a hostage situation, like, take some collateral. Like, I don't know, but it's, it definitely is.

I think that he can see the play and he knows what to do. And especially offensively, he knows what to do. And it just, he'll lose the puck and he'll, you know, look up to the sky or he'll just go for a big loop. And, you know, it's like, you know, you got to engage. And so I'd love to, you know, I like to talk guys down when they got too much fire in the belly. Albin Grieva and, you know, Vasilipa

Coals and these guys were like, easy, does it there, Tiger, rather than trying to light a fire under somebody. But, you know, granted, I'd rather try to light a fire than try to teach someone how to play the game and how to understand the game. And I think he does, especially offensively. And, you know, not every player needs to be a two-way beast. Right.

You know, they don't always have to be on the rights of the puck if they can score goals and they can click on it. And so, you know, around the late teens, that's when I would feel comfortable, you know, maybe early 20s to take a swing on a player like this because I think there's some guys out there that, that are not just safe. but also have some good upsides too and that can fill some holes and some roles.

But no, he's going to be a fun one to watch on draft A. Okay, here's one of my favorite, I think, perceived values because I think he's probably going to go either in the late 20s or might even be a day two guy, Neal's Hoglander. I'm going to let you talk about him a little bit and then again, Wiffa to jump in here and give us his thoughts on him as well. For sure. I like him.

I think you're right that there's a decent chance that he's going to be there on day two. I like him in the 20s. He's a kid that plays bigger than he is. You know, he played in the SHL in kind of a bottom six role, and he used the energy. And, you know, he still flashed some nice offensive upside, too, in that role. To be clear, he couldn't physically play smaller than he is, right? He could.

You know, he's not a cool call field. But, you know, he's in there. He's feisty. I think he's got that fire, and I think he's got some offensive upside, too. And, you know, it's sometimes people look at the stats in the SHL for these draft eligible kids. and like, oh, you got like eight points. Like that's, that's not so great. And it's like, you got to look at the situation,

you know, how many minutes is he getting? And he wasn't getting a ton of minutes often. He's a player that I've had in my first round for a long time. I'm not sure if it was the entirety of the season. But, but no, I think he's a good player that if he is there on day two, he's going to provide really nice value. I mean, if you're an 18-year-old kid and you score a lacrosse goal in the S-H-L, the top Swedish level, you got some guts.

I mean, it takes, it takes a lot of courage and self-confidence to pull off. something like that and it tells you something about him. I spoke to a scout, I think it was probably late summer, early fall last year, and he likened him to Kevin Fiala. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, but it tells you something about what he is as a player. I mean, people who listen to Pidiokas, no, that's a great thing. That's probably the best thing you could ever say about a player, but I guess the way Kevin Fiala's NHL career has turned out so far maybe damning with faint praise. But no, I like him a lot.

And I think it's pretty clear. You mentioned, like, with Caulfield, if he was a bit taller, how we'd be talking about him and whether he'd be in discussion for the third overall pick. Like, this guy, like, it's clear, even if evaluators,

um, think that they've moved past this when you see a guy who's 5'9, I think, like, you, like, even subconsciously sometimes just dock him a little bit. And when we get into that range of the late 20s, early 30s, like a guy that's already producing, at any level and just playing like literally physically existing as a physical entity in a pro league you need to give him a look just because like that speaks to an impressive sort of developmental

arc for them yeah no without it out and you know he's he's he's built like a fire hydrant out there so he's difficult to move off the puck he can protect it well guys have bounced off him too in in the shal and you know oofe's right you know to pull off the michigan and it's that that that takes a lot of courage and so that's he he's flashed more skill than just that too you know he's had some nice rushes in that in that league where you know they didn't always finish but but he flashed that and I think that he'll go back and he's going to get you know a whole heck of a lot more points next season. I was kind of surprised when I saw your top hundred or or how many guys you rank that you didn't have a on along a similar vein Samuel Fogamo I know he's a bit a bit older he missed uh I mean he got

skipped over last year I guess in the draft but just based on sort of the similar criteria of like playing in a pro league and being pretty productive I think what he had 14 goals and 42 games for full end of the season. I mean, uh, well, you had him in, I think in the 50s,

right? Yeah. Which is like reasonable, but I just, I, I see him as a value as well. Considering some of the names they're going to take in there,

like at least I've seen him at a pro level and do stuff. Yeah, my big kind of question mark on him is the skating. Um, and so, you know, he does have a really nice shot. Um,

and I expected him to come to the, to the world juniors and really kind of put on a bit of a show. Yeah. Um, and he was pretty disappointing. And I was watching him closely at the Victoria Games. I was front row center. and he looked sluggish and that kind of reaffirmed what I saw at the top level there in Sweden

too. And so, you know, I had him on my draft board last year. I thought he should have been drafted. I think I'm pretty sure I had him in the top 100 last year. And, you know, what he's done this year, he's come back. And he's had a great year. And so that's, you know, now he's in my top 60. And I think that that's earned and that's justifiable at that point. I think that he can be a pro. It's just, I don't know if I see a ton of upside. Yeah. That's fair. That's fair. I mean, when you get into that range of the second third round, it's like how many, how much upside does a lot of these guys really have. Is there anyone else that we haven't, that we haven't mentioned yet that you wanted to talk about either of you guys? I could talk about literally this entire list. Give me a couple

names of guys you like to keep an eye on in terms of maybe you guys you've noticed you like them more than the consensus in the industry or guys you think might go higher than people are expecting or inverse maybe. Let's keep it mostly optimistic, but I mean, there might be some guys that you like dislike more than others. I'm a positive guy. So I'm good with that. Yeah, for sure. A kid that I've liked him championed a lot for is Nick Robertson. I'll say it one more time. Very, very young for this class. I think he's five days away from being eligible for the 2020 crop and you know, nearly put up a point per game in the OHL and he's got great acceleration. He's quick. He's elusive. He's darting in and out sort of thing. He's got nice puck skills. Another kid that really

sees the play really nicely. His shot is accurate, but a bit of a muffin at this point. I don't have it in front of me, but I think he scored 30 goals with it still. And so he's one of these guys that I expect him to go back to the O next year and put out big, big numbers. And and another player that I'm fully expecting to be there on day two. And if he goes 45 or something like this, like that, it's just going to be ludicrous to me. But someone's going to get themselves a great pick. And my buddy, Steve Laudea, at that over there,

he said it at the beginning of the season, he's like, Tampa's going to win the cup, and then they're going to get Nick Robertson at 31. So they didn't win the cop, but I could definitely see them going with Robertson because they've done that. Maybe Steve Eisen has gone now. So we've Detroit to look at him in day two.

Yeah, and I like that call a lot, Oofé, you got any parting words here? give people a shout out in terms of like what you're doing where they can find you what's going on with you i'm just hanging around here having fun drinking beer no uh i'm doing a bit of work for ep ring site which is elite prospect site uh i jump in there every now and then but i mostly do work for hokiesvalli dot s e which is our swedish website so yeah that's what i'm doing i like that just hanging around and drinking beer that's that's inspirational i want to i'm aspiring to do that I just hope my bosses aren't released to me.

No, I don't know. I remember like an hour and 20 in here. There's no one listening anymore. It's just us. Cam, plug some stuff. I know you let out a full rankings list and you've been doing a bunch of podcasts where can people check you out. Yeah, for sure.

So obviously on Twitter, hockey underscore Robinson. You can check my work out. I'm running a Dauber Prospects these days. We just released the fancy prospect guide. So that's great. It's got like 500 profiles, 100 draft eligibles. Rankings are out there on Twitter on Dauber Prospects. Hosting in Prospect Central on Sportscent,

650 contributing to next-gen hockey which is beacher there and Jeremy Davis a great site that they've just opened up it's behind a paywall and it's totally worth your money and I've said that before I even started working there I even subscribed before I started working with them too so I should get my money back but you should yeah really should yeah I know right I'll have to call Ryan out well this was a blast I'm glad we did this hopefully uh you know people had fun with us people enjoy the ride people weren't too upset with the fact that we quickly went off the rails and stopped naming players and teams and just talking about random uh pie in the sky stuff but it was a blast and I'm looking forward to this it does feel

like we say this every year, but a lot of fireworks could happen at this draft, and hopefully we'll see some picks being moved and some teams getting creative and feisty. And yeah, it's going to be a fun night. It's cool that everyone's here in Vancouver for it. And I'm looking forward to it. So thanks both of you guys for hanging out on chat and hockey and enjoy the show on Friday. Thanks a lot for having me, man. The Hockey P.DioCast with Dim Filipovich.

Follow on Twitter at Dim Philipovich and on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com slash hockey pdf. You know,