The Hockey PDOcast - Episode 446: Mock Draft 2022, Part 1

Episode Date: July 1, 2022

Cam Robinson and Chris Peters join the show to do a mock draft of this year's 16 lottery picks. In Part 1 of the show, topics discussed include: 2:00 - Methodology, process, and how we evaluate prospects 25:00 - Shane Wright 35:00 - Juraj Slafkovsky 45:30 - Logan Cooley 53:00 - David Jiricek 58:00 - Simon Nemec If you haven't done so yet, please take a minute to leave a rating and review for the show. Smash that 5-star button. If you're feeling extra generous, you can also leave a little note about why you recommend people check the PDOcast out. Thanks for the help, each one is much appreciated! 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.

On a beautiful run through the park, on a pleasant day, you can easily get lost. No, no, no. She didn't kill him. Huh? In your true crime podcast. It was the pool guy. So obvious. Whatever motivates you works for us. It's all about letting your run be your run. And Brooks is here for every runner.

Doing the research and sweating the details to create gear that works for you. It's your run. Brooks, run happy. progressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey P.D.O.cast with your host, Dmitri. Welcome to the Hockey P.D.O.Cast. My name's Dmitri, Filippovich. And joining me for the third annual Hockey PEOCast mock draft. It's my good buddy, Chris Peters. Chris, what's going on?

Dimitri, not a lot. I'm excited. I mean, the draft is happening. So I guess a lot. But yeah, yeah, it's great to be with you. Great to do this again with Cam and yourself. And yeah, I look forward to it every year. Yeah, I know a lot of the listeners do as well. I've gotten a lot of a lot of DMs over the past couple weeks wondering when this was going to drop. So we're recording this. It is Canada Day. It is morning time here in Vancouver on the Friday.

We're going to post it as soon as you recorded so people can listen to it over the long weekend and get ready for next week's draft. So I'm looking forward to it. Cam, you're also joining us as Chris alluded to. Of course, we wouldn't do this without you. We're the three musketeers. the three best friends that anyone's ever had. Cam, how's it going?

Yeah, doing well. Doing well, excited. This is probably like the calm before the storm before we're all trapped in airports trying to get to Montreal and then the funnel really began. All right. Well, as usual, we're going to draft the lottery. So I guess the top 16 picks in this year's class. And I've randomized the order.

We're going to do a snake draft format. Before we get into that, though, let's do a little bit of a little bit of kind of pre-eastern, gamble to get us started here just to just so we're not jumping in completely cold, just so people know kind of what our process was or what we're looking for. Chris, I'll let you go first. I ask you this every year we've done this. I'm going to ask you again, reflecting on your process. How do you think things have changed? Have you noticed anything, especially over this past year of scouting and watching all the tape and combining and putting

together your lists of stuff you find yourself gravitating towards or stuff that you think that as you've done this more often, you've done it for an extended period of time that you've really found yourself kind of leaning towards or steering away from. You can take that any direction you want. Yeah, sure. So I mean, I think with the process and just working off a video more and having more video available than ever before through, you know, things like Instat is, is huge. So that that just allows a more comprehensive look at every player. And it just allows you to, to tackle more of the class. And so I would say so that has been helpful.

But then as far as my process and the things that matter to me, you know, I think as I've learned, you usually don't learn those lessons until you see those guys matriculate to the NHL. And, you know, what did I miss on player X or player Y? And like Jason Robertson is an example I point to you often as a guy where I was so hyper-focused on the skating that I missed just how great has hockey sense and his offensive sense and his scoring ability was, even though I knew the numbers were there, I said, will those numbers translate because, you know, lost a lot of puck races would,

you know, but those different things like, you know, he's an elite finisher. So I'd say that, you know, I still think skating is very important and with the guy that I put number one on my, my board this year, that that clearly is, you know, an element, you know, and it's, it's why, you know, guys that might have other red flags, I say, oh, well, you know, I really like this element to their game. So skating still matters, but it doesn't, it isn't the end all be all and it doesn't force me. Like I'll never write off a player for skating ability anymore. It's just more, you know, I might move them down the board, but it's, that's probably the biggest thing is that I've got to. And it also, sorry to ramble, but the other thing that is, is, that I think about with that is is on video.

Like, I mean, skating is a little bit more difficult for me to evaluate off a video than live. And so that's another thing that I'm starting. to get better at it, but it's definitely one of those things where I just, it helps me so much more if I'm able to see the player. And because I still put a fair amount of value on it. It's just not the end all be all. Yeah, I know that, you know, kind of sorting through in preparation for this deep diving, the immaculate draft guide that we put out at elite prospects this this year. There was a lot of emphasis, especially kind of identifying skating technique in particular in terms of like the actual mechanics they go into. it, whether that indicates that there's room for improvement or ability to kind of add on different layers to it in terms of cutbacks and crossovers and all of those kind of terms. I completely agree

with Chris from the perspective of, for me, I used to be just so intoxicated by seeing someone move incredibly fast. Like when I first started in this industry, I'd watch like Andreas Athen to see you play on the Red Wings. And I was like, this guy is a superstar. Like, he can go from point A to point B so quickly and it's like a one man fast break. And then you watch hockey and especially the NHL level, you realize that the number of times you can realistically execute that one scale is pretty limited because there's just not nearly enough room available. Like teams are so good defensively. There's so little space available to you that the number of times you're going to be able to just completely unmitigated, just go coast to coast unless you're Connor McDavid, I guess,

is is is very infrequent and even him like he's incredibly fast and a straight line but his ability to accelerate and explode is what separates him beyond just that that quick speed that athens see you and cap and then kind of those burners have that are otherwise rather ineffectual and so for me i've i've totally changed my approach in that regard where i'm like looking for much more sort of explosion in in small areas as opposed to just being able to like fluke skate incredibly fast, like the length of the ice, if you know what I mean. Yeah, it's, it's interesting because, you know, once upon a time I was like that too, right? You see someone who can burn around the ice and you're going to be, you're going to be enthralled by it.

You can see what maybe could they do with that speed. But over the years, I've really just continued to place a higher and higher value on processing speed, on awareness on the ice, on seeing plays develop, knowing, you know, timing your entry into open space, finding those pockets, that that has like superseded everything else. So if you can think the game at a higher level, I believe that you can, with hard work, you can get your skills to a level that you can be more effective than someone who is just gifted all these physical tools that can skate fast, that can shoot hard, that can stick handle well. If they don't, if they don't know how to use them properly, they might be really effective at the junior level,

but they won't be able to translate up and still bring those packages, those skills with them. So for me, awareness, which is such a complex term and something so difficult to identify and can be identified in so many different ways with the puck, without the puck in all three zones. It's this innate ability that really can't be taught. And through repetition that players can, you know, they see things happen. They're in a scenario multiple times and they can get better at it because they've learned from lessons. But that that kind of innate ability to understand where the play is going, what you need to do, how to draw that coverage. where to slide a seam. That I believe that it's just one of those things that you either have or you don't

and it doesn't really grow through time. So for me, I place just like such a huge value on that. And so you know, you'll see my draft rankings are going to look a lot different than other people's. And that's a big cause of it too. So those players that do have that just electric speed and maybe have great hands to go with it, they don't fall as high on my board if they can't put it all together into the into the intelligence part of it as well, too.

So we talk about players with physical tools or just a toolsy player in general. In general, part of that, I think, is that awareness is a huge tool. And if you don't have that, you know, you have the physical tools, but you don't have the mental ones to go with it. So for me, that's kind of continued to blossom and kind of taken a more center stage in my assessment. I've joked on this podcast in the past, how I've become such a everything I used to hate as a hockey guy in terms of just becoming an eye test guy from the perspective.

of I find myself gravitating so much more towards appreciating motor as a real skill and a real attribute that matters quite a bit. And, you know, we're going to talk about that obviously about one player in particular here during our mock that I'm incredibly infatuated with as a prospect because of that. But yeah, that ability to just keep playing with intensity is very important more so than just being able to like go out every once in a while and just skate incredibly fast. Chris, here's kind of an abstract question for you. Your personal preference, would you, and obviously he's never necessarily as kind of cut and dried as this, but let's say like theoretically,

would you prefer a prospect have one elite easily definable skill that you can kind of build around or would you prefer a player that might not necessarily stand out in any one particular degree, you're never, it's going to be ranked at top his class at like shooting or skating or passing or or anything like that. But is pretty good, like above average in all of them and also has that hockey sense and plays well. And then you feel like you can kind of, you know, if you bring them into your NHL team during this developmental arc over there is get them working with your skills coach, get them in the gym, you can like ramp up those individual defined skills and maybe get them to an even more elite level

than they are right now. Like which of those do you kind of find yourself gravitating towards? or kind of preferring in your evaluations. I think it kind of depends on the class. Like this year, I feel like there's a lot of guys that have that one or two traits where you're just like, whoa, okay, there's something there. But then you do have guys like a Shane Wright

where it's like, well, there's an entire complement of skills, but I wouldn't, you know, maybe in, I think hockey sense is probably the thing that I've ranked among the highest of his. And in that very, you know, I know it's a catch-all term, but I mean, you just think about processing speed, awareness, anticipation, vision, all these different things that kind of come into hockey sense, which is why if that's the one trait that they're amazing at, that still allows them to be an elite, a potentially elite player.

But I think this year in particular, I started honing in on the guys that did have that one or two elite traits that I felt, you know, clear NHL upside in those traits. and maybe the hockey sense wasn't all the way there. I think if I grade your hockey sense as poor and your awareness or your vision or anything is poor, it's very unlikely that I'm going to have you very high on a list. I might still have you if you're a great skater, if you have higher end skill, if you have shown a proclivity for making plays at your own level. But, you know, so I would say that really,

but it has to be like that one specific thing. And the hockey sense is the catch-all. So it kind of collects a bunch of different tools that are involved. But I mean, if we're just at its most basic level, if that's the one elite trade, I can get on board with that. But I definitely, I think you prefer the most well-rounded players. Like if a guy has skill,

but he also has that motor that you mentioned and that there's a competitiveness to them and that there's even a physicality or a meanness to their game, game or or something like that where it's just, you know, there's a physicality and a toughness that's not laying big hits and all these other things. It's getting in, you know, getting in on the forecheck and making all these plays on the boards and in open ice. Then I'm, you know, I feel like that's, that's a guy that I'm going to put bump way up. So, yeah, so I think in this year's class, you have to focus on the positives on a lot of these guys in order to really like them. And, you know, which is what you should do any, like you start with the positives and then you

move to the stuff you don't like. And, you know, if you start with the positive, sometimes those will outweigh the other things. So, so I think it's, if it's one trait, I think it's probably not enough. If it's two, then maybe we got a chance, you know, like that. That's so, so I guess to answer your question a little more directly. But yeah, I mean, I think this year's class, it's hard to find those guys where you love everything about them. Yeah. Well, Kim, you know, tying on to that, it certainly, I feel like the quality, especially the top of this year's class for a long time was kind of dried it, especially when comparing it to the one that's coming the following year. And, you know, I agree in the sense that especially it's not necessarily

top heavy where the top, you're not going like, all right, we have one, two, three, however many like bonafide, can't miss superstars. Everyone, as Chris said, has certain flaws or certain kind of question marks about how this is going to translate or what the you know, if the baseline is really high, then what's the actual upside and kind of vice versa. At the same time, though, and maybe this kind of just falls in line with talking yourself into it, Chris, as you're talking about, like where like the proximity to the class almost gets you talking yourself into it. But I feel like the more work that I did on this, and obviously you guys are covering this all year. And I'm kind of just like parachuting in for for a week and just absorbing as much

information as I can and, you know, following the people that I trust and then trying to kind of form my own opinions on it. But I did find myself putting together my list, kind of talking myself into especially like that middle range of the first round being like, oh, there's quite a few interesting players here where obviously there's risk and they might not turn into anything. But I feel like I genuinely do believe that we're going to look back in this class and be relatively impressed by like the volume of good players that come from it may not necessarily be the mind-blowing superstar talent. But there are going to be good players, of course,

like with every year. And so I finally found myself talking myself into it, the more and more work I did and as the draft actually approaches. Yeah, there's going to be stars. There always is a couple, right? Even in the worst drafts, we'll find a couple of stars at the end of the day.

Now they might not be going first or second. You know, they might be going in the fifth or six. But there are going to be guys. And I did the same thing is that, you know, there's some guys that I do really like. Granted, you can still spot the flaws in their game and the issues that they're going to run into and they're going to have to overcome those hurdles. But when you get in kind of the middle of the first round, it's like, yeah, you know, there's a guy right here that could be like he's a safe depth defenseman. You know, maybe he's a five, you know, are you going to put him at 16?

Are you going to take a swing on a kid like Jagger Fergus who, you know, has electric skills, an electric shot, but he's whisper thin. And it's like he already plays in the middle of the ice and junior and he gets slaughtered from time to time. how's that going to go in the NHL? If he can make it happen, is this guy going to be a first lander who's going to score 30, 35. If it doesn't, you know, is the Lexi Hepburn and Niami and he's going to end up in the HL for a while and probably back to Europe. So, you know, if it's a lot easier to do it from the comfort of home,

rather than being in the GM seat and have your job on the line where you're trying to pull an asset out of the first round, you might be more inclined to take the safer pick. But, you know, if it's, if it's me and I'm sitting there, it's like, you know, why not swing on someone who has the high upside? And so that's kind of where we're at. in this class is that you're going to have to do a little you're going to have to have some stuff some hoops there to uh to swing on some guys if you're going to want to pull those stars out too

i mean people are so hard to please these days like we've got elias peterson and jack hughes in this class and people are are not satisfied with that i mean come on because that's two elite talents right there um totally the same players yes exactly chris i'll actually let either of you jump in on this one last kind of theoretical question or um methodology part before we move into the actual draft, I promise. You know, obviously it's good in 2022 that so much as information is available, everyone can kind of compare notes and generally, you know, like improve our knowledge and all these players just based on what's available to us.

At the same time, do you think there is a group think element to it where with so many mock drafts out there, it feels? like everyone's is relatively similar for the most part. Like certainly there's like some, you know, movement here and there. But for the most part, like every player falls within a certain range for most lists. I wonder if that wasn't available, if none of us had access to any of this. If you were, if Chris, you were putting together your own list just like pen and paper and then walking, coming to the draft and then releasing it, same with you cam. Do you think that we'd all actually come around to the same idea or do you think,

just the fact that everything's kind of publicly available and we're starting with this general framework and then dinkering around it. Like, do you think that's the right way to do this? Yeah. Well, to answer it, like, there is 100% group thinking. And the thing is, the thing about it is, you try to limit it as much as you can. I try not to read as many of the things. But I mean, every time you go to elite prospects, you're going to see, you know, where those guys are ranked if you're searching for his stats, you know, so there you go. Free plug for you guys. but, you know, like that's and that's, you know, so it is hard to ignore that. And then, you know, you also have things like central scouting.

But the other thing is, I know for sure that team boards never really look like our boards. And they really, you know, that's partially because they are, you know, they've got that collection of talent of the people that go out and they're in their own regions. Now, if you give me or Cam one region to focus on, I'm sure that we would probably do our jobs a lot better. But because we have to do the entire class and we have to do it on our own, sometimes you end up just saying, I don't know what to do with this guy. And then you start looking around. It's like, you know, people that you respect, people that you like, you might ask, you might ask some scouts. You might ask a few, you know, a few people.

I try to ask, the people that I try to ask are people at the least to gain from a player doing well. Um, you know, so I, I used to do a lot of coach interviews and I found that less valuable as time went on. And, uh, but, you know, so in this year, I actually did something a little different than I have normally done. Now, I, every year that I've done a ranking, I have talked to scouts throughout the year and, and say, hey, what do you think of this guy? What do you think of that guy? And to some, to some level that is that, I mean, it's helpful. It does help you do the job, but I wanted to try to do something where it was just completely my own thing. But you still, that creeps in because you're like, you know, this guy, where do I put this guy?

I mean, there are a few guys on my list that are, you know, guys that Central didn't rank. There are a few guys on my list that are, you know, just that I happen to be at the right game at the right time and saw and really liked and then started doing some video work on them and liked them even more. So those are the ways that I've kind of changed the job, changed the way that I do the job. Now, I'm waiting to see, like this is more of an experiment. year to do that. And I, you know, I want to see what the, what the end result looks like on the actual draft board, but then also how these players progress. I think next year I probably will go back to speaking with scouts a little bit more and just getting just to just to challenge my own opinions a bit more. I felt that I missed that at the end of the season this year. And so,

you know, just when I'm trying to debate everything, but there's no question that, you know, we are influenced by each other into some degree. And that when we, like, it's building a list itself is a huge challenge. And we're all still, I think, learning. And we don't build it the same way that NHL teams do because it's a collection of it. They have their crossover people. They have their scouting director. They have their assistant gentleman.

There are so many more people involved in the process. And you have competing biases and all those other. When we do it, like when I do it, And I know, you know, I read Cam's own, his list that came out, you know, where it's just us. It's just our opinion away from a staff or anything like that. You know, things are going to be wildly different. So, yeah, so it's going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Cam, how do you feel about that?

Yeah, I think Chris nailed a lot of the points there is that over the years, I have tried to separate myself more and more from that group think because he's right. You can't help but have it sneak in. And I too also love to chat with team side scouts and executives and just kind of pick their brain a little bit and not to say that they're infallible, right? Like if they were, right, the draft list, whoever went drafted, those will be the best players. So, you know, you don't fall into that, you know, authority figures that they know everything. But it is nice to have those perspectives and if they'll give you a clean answer on things or send

a certain way and it can allow me to look a little deeper into a player or look for something that maybe I was missing. You know, the group that we have at EP Ringsside, too, constant discussions on players. And we're not always seeing eye to either. And that's good. I want to be challenged on things. If you're seeing something I'm not,

tell me about it so I can go back and look because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter, you know, it matters about being right, not being right, six months early. You want to be right in six years, right? So I want to get as much information as I can. But at the same time, you know, I, in years past, I used to when it came down to putting the list together,

putting out that final board, you know, you would, you'd be like, you know, I have a feeling about someone, but, you know, the consensus is this or the scout I talked to is feeling this. And so, you know, maybe it was a little imposter syndrome where you're like, they, they probably know better than I do. I'll bump him up just at a given that to them. And so I've really tried to pull back over the years. You know, I ended up putting, quitting by field number one on my list. And that was kind of like a big sticking point for me where I always regretted not dropping Nolan Patrick further down when I think I had him at three that one year where I was like, I felt like, I felt like, he probably should have been eight or nine or ten.

And I didn't do it. And I just kind of deferred to the consensus. And so I've kept going. And consequently, you know, I'll get called out for people to be like, oh, it's just hot takes. It's just looking for clicks sort of thing. And it's like, no, it's like, you know, I might be wrong at the end of the day. Like we might look back in 10 years and, hey, the consensus was right and I was wrong.

But, you know, at the end, it's, this is my list. This is how I see things. When we get together at our group meetings for EP ringside, that's when I got to take a backseat when I can only bang the table so much. for a certain player, but this, this is my list. This is how I'm going to be reflected on it. And so I might as well be true to myself into what I personally see. And like Chris says, you know, sometimes you're at the right game where you're

watching the right tape and you see something that other people aren't seen because, you know, especially when we're doing this and we're trying to scout all entire classes, that you don't get to have 50 views on a player if you're just a regional scout where you can really know them inside and out and you get an opportunity to see their good games, their bad games and everything in between is that you might catch something really good. And then you dive in deeper. and you might like the player a lot more because of that. And we all have, like we talked about it early,

we all have kind of our own set of criteria. And so for me, that hockey awareness is that when you see something, when you can see a player make those decisions consistently for me, I'm like, I think that they're going to translate easier. I'm going to put them up my board, you know, I think they're going to have a better time translating. And so a kid like Jason Robertson, like you mentioned earlier, Chris, is that he was a player that I should have had higher too, right?

He was at the very beginning of my second round, but like he was so, so smart. We're like, can't move out there very well. Well, not everyone has to. If you can read the play, you don't need to have your feet going 100 miles an hour. So yeah, it's kind of being true to yourself. And then at the end of the day, you know, you're putting your flag into a player or six or 10 or 50 or whatever it is. And then we'll look back and we'll see.

I love it. All right. Well, we are, I'm going to put you, Cam, on the clock here because we've randomized a draft order. You are picking first. Just to clarify, as always, the purpose of this exercise and how we're a problem. approaching it is, yes, it's a mock draft, but I don't think we're necessarily picking for what we think the team will do. We're not trying to get in their headspace. We can acknowledge sort of where they're at organizationally, maybe what they've done in past drafts, what the potential

fit would be. But I think we're drafting based on who we think the best players are at that given slot that are available because I think that's more interesting of an exercise. So we're going to do that. We're going to take a quick break here while Cam gets his two minutes on the clock. and then once we come back, we're going to mark draft the top 16. Recognized employees with Custom Ink. Show customer appreciation with Customink. Outfit your teams with Custom Ink. Easily add your logo to your favorite products and brands at customink.com. Make Custom Ink your custom gear partner with great customer service, quality products, and all in pricing, along with personalized help when you need it and an easy-to-use

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platform powering millions of businesses down the street and around the globe. Sign up for a free trial at Shopify.com slash bluewire, all lowercase. Go to Shopify.com slash bluewire to start selling online today. Shopify.com slash bluewire. All right, Cam, I pick it. in who are you picking at first overall? You know, this is a hard one for me. I needed all two minutes.

I didn't. It's Shane Wright for me. And he led my board from tip to tail. I think that it's pretty awesome that the habs are picking first overall. They're hosts in the draft. It's going to be a party. The opportunity to select a guy that's going to be matching up next to Nick Suzuki down the middle for the next decade plus is just,

it's just too good an opportunity to pass up. And, you know, there's a guy Logan Kulu who also plays in middle of the ice that would maybe bring a different element where Suzuki and Wright are similar style of players with that really cerebral game. But I have, I've had, I've had chain right at the top. I think he's so, so intelligent. I think he has across the board plus skills. I love his funky release, how he kind of has this instead of the downward force, he has this kind of angular release that he can get a lot of power off it in or hurry. You know, I think that people kind of underestimated his, the loss of the draft minus one season. and how it took a little bit to get going.

But at the end of the day, he was the top CHL performer for draft eligibles by a country mile. Plus, he has that nuance, kind of a deft, two-way ability to do his game. I think there's a lot more offense coming. He might not be putting up 100 points every season or any season, but I think he's going to be an excellent pro and a very real shot at being a top line center for a long time. And, you know, hard to pass that out. Yeah, I've got him first on my board. I think, you know, I understand.

the concerns about the offensive upside. I do think you're right. You have to acknowledge that while everyone in the OHL, for the most part, missed that one year, like it matters here for his purposes. And I think it makes sense that he kind of started the year slow and then picked up offensively as the year went along.

And his production kind of, especially in that second half, became more in line with what you'd expect from the first overall pick. I imagine that, whether he goes to Montreal or whoever he goes to, especially, I guess he's the first overall pick to Montreal. I wonder how they're going to manage those expectations, though. Like, it feels like a guy like Nico Hissier, for example, is an awesome NHL player, does so many things well, you know, excellent possession numbers, draws a ton of penalties, has legitimate skill,

but isn't necessarily that ideal of what you expect from the first overall pick. And then sometimes he gets kind of taken for granted or dissed as a result of that. And I, I, I, I wonder if that's going to happen here a little bit with write. And it's obviously very unfortunate, but it kind of feels like the writing is on the wall for that a little bit. I think that that's true just mostly because of the market that he's going to be going. If he does end up in Montreal, that that's a hotbed, right? And they're a team and a fan base that wants to get better and they want it in a hurry. And they're going to have high expectations.

But I also think that they're a pretty smart fan base, too, that they're going to recognize that this isn't Austin Matthews. This isn't even Jack Hughes. It's a different type of player. but someone like you said, and Nico Hischer isn't a terrible comparison, but I also think that Shane Wright has a higher upside than that too, that he can be that do everything, maybe not get noticed for it,

but do everything so, so well, but also be able to pop as well. So, you know, there's, there's going to be some people that expect them to come out the door and put up Crosby like 100 point season as a rookie

and they're going to be let down. But if you look at it from the vantage point of like, we have something here that we can build around for a long time, and that can be that player for us down the middle and handle heavy minutes and still, you know, someone that can step up their game in the playoffs and really be a driver of offense and defense. That it's just,

I think that the more intelligent fans will appreciate him and that'll hopefully take some of that, take some of that pressure off of him. And I think he's a really smart player too. And he understands that he's not that player either, despite being an exceptional status kid, despite putting up, you know, similar numbers as McDavid did as a 15 year old is that.

I think he knows he has more offense to give to. But he's going to be realistic. and he's going to be looking to come into camp and step in in a bottom six rule in all likelihood if he does make the team. And so with that, you know, minutes are going to play a big part and power play deployment and everything like that. And once he comes and once he hits, then the payoff will really come. Yeah, I believe he had 1.63 points per game from December onwards. I love this line that we had on him in the guide. It says this year's premier play connector, an on-ice administrator through which his team's offense and defensive sequences float through.

you know, those expectations and pressure and kind of the higher standard he's held to is going to be nothing new for him, if anything, like he's already kind of gone through that a little bit. So I think he'll be well suited to handle that. Chris, I think it also helps here in this regard that even if you're a bit concerned about what the potential kind of ceiling is, the HABs also do have 26 and 33 in this year's draft. And I think that opens up a lot of doors for them to take some kind of, you know, higher upside gambles later on in the first round and the first round start of the second round as well and potentially take some kind of wild home run swings where you might not even get an NHL player

with one of those picks but if he pops it could be a legitimate star for you and so even if you're a bit underwhelmed about the upside of right here they have a couple kicks of the can as well so I think that makes it an interesting from from Montreal's perspective as well so I I I appreciate everything you guys just said because it was you know there's there's a lot to it if Shane right's not the best player from this draft, he will be vilified in Montreal. Yeah. I mean, like, that's, that's not vilified, but he will be, the pressure will mount. I don't think he's going to be the best player in this draft. That's just my personal opinion. And so that's the thing is that once that they're, they're going to need to insulate him from that pressure somehow. Um, you know, and I think

part of it, you know, I don't necessarily know if the right move is to play for the Canadians next year. Do I think he's NHL ready? I do. But I just, I think that he hasn't taken that step to be that dominant guy yet. And he didn't take games over on, just nothing that a first overall pick typically does in a draft season. And that's,

and I want to be clear about this, nobody's done that this year. Nobody has done that this year where they took over. And I think it's a coin flip. I've got my tier is coolly right, Slavkovsky. So I've got right number two. You flip a,

I'm not going to even, I am not going to criticize them for picking Shane Wright because he still has a chance to be the best player in this draft. My concern is as if he's not, then you're in big trouble. Here's the thing, Chris. I agree with you, but I think we kind of need to square away two separate ideas. You're not necessarily picking, like, yeah, he might not be the best player. I think you can make a very fair argument that he is the best chance to be the best player of this year's class. and that's a totally different sentiment, right? Like if you're saying like Shane Wright versus the field,

well, yeah, out of every other player that could be drafted, yeah, I'm sure what of him could realistically have a better career than him. But I still think because of the baseline and because of the upside to potentially add a different dynamic to his game, there's a lot to work with there. It's not, I don't, it's being portrayed as kind of the safe pick just because he's been in our lives for this long and been at the top of the board. So I think that's why people are portraying it, whereas if he had kind of come out of nowhere, he'd be deemed the sexy pick, right? And I think that's what frustrates me a little bit.

Like the, I know we all hate player comps here, but like seeing the Bergeron stuff just drove me crazy this season because I hated it so much. It also made me realize that people don't understand what an all-time great Patrice Bergeron is because it was being framed through the lens of, listen, this guy's not going to wow you. He's not going to be a superstar. But he's got a Patrice Bergeron. It's like Patrice Bergeron is on the best.

players that's ever played. Like, what are you talking about? Like, it's just an unfair standard to hold anyone to. Yeah, and while he is a good two-way center, he's, he's not even the best defensive forward in this draft. I mean, like, you know, I just, it's, it's, it's tough, it's tough, you know, but, but, but, and I think, Demetri, you're right. And the other thing is the reason that I think Shane Wright is the safe pick isn't because

he was the exceptional player or anything like that. It is because he has the largest collection of skills. of any player probably where he does have that defensive element. He has the highest end hockey sense of anybody. He makes great plays. Cam mentioned his shot completely. He has a goal score or shot, no question about it. It can score from distance.

There is a lot to like about him. And I just like, that's the thing. Like for me, I'm like last year Cam took the swing with Byfield on upside. And like for what for this year, I feel like the risk level of Shane Wright be not being the best player from this draft, emboldened me to feel like I could take a swing on a higher upside player in Logan Cooley. But again, it's not, like I said, it's not a significant gap between Cooley and Wright for me. And I think that if the Habs do make the selection that I, like, I believe I'm with Cam. Like, I think this is, this is what they're going to do.

That, you know, that they're going to be happy with it. And the fans will too. I just, you know, I think it's going to be, I hope that they are smart, a smart cam where like you mentioned and have faith in them that, that you're going to have to have a little bit of patience because he did miss that year of development. He did not dominate outright this year. He did improve in the second half. But if you do, you know, like in his playoffs,

if you include his playoff production as well with the rest of his stats, you know, basically the two halves of his season are almost even in points for game. So that's, that's the interesting thing. about him too is that he did have that really good pop after the world juniors and then it kind of leveled out after that. Yeah. Yeah, I think, I think his the roadmap for ways that he can contribute is, um, is the most interesting to me of anyone in this class. So that's why I would have him first overall. But Chris, you're picking second here for the New Jersey Devils. So I'll just let you, let you go for it. Yeah. So I mean, since, since it is the Devils and since he sure and Jack Hughes are

there. I do feel like the best option for them at this point is to go with your I, Slavkovsky to get the big power winger, the scoring complimentary player. Obviously, I have Cooley very high. You could move him to the wing if you wanted to. Maybe he would one day supplant a he sure or Hughes. I don't, you know, I don't necessarily think so. You know, outright, it would take him a while to get there. But, you know, I think that that Slavkovsky is, if it's a team need there, I think there's been some rumblings about, you know, how the how the devils may have to consider trading up if the abs are really considering Slopkowski as I do believe they, they're considering all three players. As far as I can tell, I'm probably one of the defensemen as well. And so, so that's, but for me, Slavkovsky alongside a Jack Hughes or a Nico Heeshire being a top six scoring winger.

They have Alexander Holtz. I think Slopovsky is a better project. I think he's going to be a better player than Holtz will be. I think he's going to be a more consistent player at both ends of the ice. I like his ability to, you know, to drive the net and also the competence that he has offensively that we saw unless, you know, he didn't get a chance to showcase the full complement of his skills in league of this year. And no question the production throughout the season is concerning.

But, you know, one of the interesting things that was pointed out to me was, you know, to look at Anjé Kopitar's draft season and to see how most of it was, most of of his production came from the U-20 level. He didn't really produce at all at the S-HL level. And then, you know, he had a big world championship. And, you know, like, definitely, I would say Slavkovsky is the eye test guy of the draft because you're basing it off of these pops of talent. But I think if the devils, if it's not, like, I just don't think that Shane,

that either Shane Wright or Logan Cooley would be a fit for the devils. I think that they have those guys and you don't, you know, you would normally take best player available, but I think that Slavkovsky is good enough to say, okay, well, we'll take the big scoring winger because he provides an element that we don't have and he fits within kind of where we're going as an organization.

Oh, I don't know if I can get there with you on that. Like, if you believe Svkovsky is the second best prospect or even the first best prospect and he's just class and you're the devils and he's there at number two, you take them. I, if you love coolly, which I know you do, and I like him quite a bit as well, I love Shane, right? If either of those guys is available, I think you almost have to take them because this idea that having, just because you have Hughes and his year already in place, it's like, yeah, having a lot of awesome centers is an incredible luxury. I think if you get Coolly and he

winds up popping and then you have three awesome centers there, that's, yeah, that's a good problem to have. You can figure out the minutes. You can move one of them through the wing. Injuries happen. You can always trade one of them. They're going to be an immensely valuable asset that you can get a bunch back in return for. I think you can get yourself really into trouble trying to draft a winger because you feel like you need to. So that would give me a pause. Yeah. And I would just say it would be different if I thought there was a big enough separation between Slavkovsky and the other guys. Like that, I wouldn't, I normally wouldn't do that. But just looking at, you know, the, the one-two punch of Heesh or Hughes down the road. And I think, I think that, you know,

all of a sudden, Cooley becomes a little bit more redundant. And then again, it's, it's just, there isn't a ton of separation among the top three guys on my list. I don't think any single player this year raised their hand and said, I am the best player in this draft. You know, those three guys came the closest, I feel like. Certainly Simon Nemich had a great season. Eurecheck has this upside factor. There's all these different guys. But, but, you know, I still think that for me, if I'm them, I just, it's a hard, it's a hard thing to pass up because I do think he's going to be a top line. He has the best potential to be a top line score among those three guys, I feel like. Cam, okay, let's do, let's, let's break this down kind of stats versus

versus I test here. So he led the Olympics and goals, right? He had the seven and seven. He had nine points in eight world championship games for Slovakia. Now, he had five goals and 10 points in his 31 club games playing in league. I, correct me if I'm wrong, I do believe that the two, those two big tournaments that he excelled at were played on NHL size rinks though, right? Yeah. Okay. So that's, that's encouraging first and foremost.

How do we break that down? Because I think my natural reaction is to be wary of putting too much stock, whether it's in world juniors, whether it's in world championships, whether it's in any of these tournaments into a seven game sprint where a guy gets hot and scores a bunch of goals, even if you looks good doing so and it's not purely just, you know, shooting 40% or whatever, as opposed to that extended view of the 31 club games where the production wasn't necessarily commensurate with what you'd expect from the first or second overall pick. How do we weigh those two kind of discrepancies between the statistical profiles?

Well, I think for one thing, excuse me here, is that when he was playing internationally, he was the guy. And, you know, he was 17, 18, and he was still, he was getting fed. top line minutes, top power play minutes, and he was, you know, he was literally the guy. Even Tomas Tatar was up there and then he was still running around and he was, the play ran through him. In the Liga, he was seeing middle six minutes. He wasn't getting the same opportunities at the legal level. But at the same time, for me, kind of what really emboldened in me to get him up into my top three is just how he developed throughout the year.

And namely the skating. So I broke his game down in depth with a film room there earlier on in the season. I think it was January or February. And I had a lot of concerns about foot speed, especially looking at tape early on in the season. Upright stance, short extension. You know, I'd have a heel kick when he was trying to accelerate through the neutral zone. I had a lot of concerns about that and his ability to get a shot off.

He needed time and space. There isn't a lot of time and space in the NHL. But as he went on, like we saw at the Olympics, we saw it the world. He was getting that shot off with no time. Like he was making a little cut, a little move, and he getting it off. He was lengthening his stride. He was getting lower. And to make those adjustments in season,

I think that that shows some intelligence that, you know, what he needed to work on and that he was putting in the work to get there too. Now, you know, when he has so many great international games, it's a little easier to kind of put those in versus like literally one tournament where he pops for five or six games. When it's, you know, when you're pushing into 18, 20 games, it's like that that's a decent sample size, especially on a big stage when the pressure's on.

So I think we do have to put those in. I like him. I think that he has the potential to be a unicorn. One of these players that we don't see come around very often with the size, skill combination. But I think that there is a very wide range of outcomes for him. I think he could be like a very impactful first line winger who has soft hands, a great release, can draw a bunch of coverage and still make the play to his center to the other winger.

But he also could be Joel Armea, you know, the very similar profiles as draft. eligibles that look like they could be something and then they're like, well, you know, they're a good bottom six guy. So I think that there is risk attached to him more so than a lot of other guys in and around that spot. But I think for New Jersey, like Chris mentioned, is that organizationally, they're in a perfect spot to take them because of what they have down the middle, because, you know, they have a player like Holtz coming up, who's a pure shooter, but he's not going to play

anywhere near that style of game. Jasper Bratz, the smaller ring or two. So they could take a chance on him in a draft spot that they want. So they, you know, it's already kind of found money to be in that spot. That they are, they have a, they have just kind of a little more leeway to take a swing on on him breaking right. And so I've, I've forever kind of seen that. As soon as they, one second overall, I was like, he's a natural pick if he's there for them.

Even if they liked, you know, a Simo Nemich or a Logan Cooley, they think that it's a safer maybe skill bet. But organization, I think it makes a ton of sense for them. And, you know, like, he's a really fun player too, right? Like if he can add a taste of nasty into his game too, like at his size, six, four, two, twenty, like he can be hurting people out there. The guys will bounce off him even in the NHL. So if he can add that element too.

So it's, it's a lot of fun watching him. I'm watching him develop throughout this year and add those pieces to his game. And so I think it makes a lot of sense for New Jersey. Yeah. It's the most intangible of intangibles, but he's got an unbelievable level of swag already, I find. And I think, I think that sort of confidence from Oxy or. you want to you want to categorize it is going to serve them well yeah i mean like the listen like

the frame is understandably it's intoxicating right there's like six four or 220 already at this point as an 18 year old um and i think importantly from what i've seen in the video that i have watched of him he uses it well right like it's one thing to be big but it's another to be functionally use that frame and like his puck protection along the wall his ability to bring it out and do something with it and play make off of that is a very valuable skill um from what I gather, he does project to be a good forechecker as well. Like we just watched Valerie

and Etruchkin destroy the Tampa Bay Lightning with that kind of, that frame of his, with the reach and then a combination of also the tenacity and the puck pursuit as well. And so if he can do those things, even if he's not necessarily going to be like the most dynamic

player, there's not to score a ton of goals or have a lot of points, if he's able to just do those things and use his frame in that regard, that's going to serve him incredibly well in NHL. And it would give me a lot more confidence that he is going to pan out to be a legitimate difference maker, which is what you're banking on if you're taking him second overall. How do you feel about that, Chris? Yeah, you like that?

Agreed. Yeah. It's like, yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. So, yeah, sorry, sorry for the delayed response. No, I like it. I mean, we got to keep moving here. All right, I'm picking third for the coyotes. And I will take Logan Cooley here.

I wasn't expecting him. You know what? I was like, you know what? I'm not even going to prep a, thing on coolly because i know that chris is going to take him and all of a sudden you throw a curbaugh for me there um what i do i think where this might seem like a silly thing to say because it's literally applicable for every single prospect but i think where coolie ultimately lands is going to be very instrumental for how he develops and whether he's able to reach whatever ceiling

he does have um like what i find so appealing about his game is obviously that that offensive playmaking of And it's kind of the blessing and the curse, right? Because every sort of counter argument that I've seen against him is like, well, he kind of does a little too much sometimes, right? Like he makes unnecessary turnovers. He kind of forces it. How well does he use his teammates? Sometimes he can kind of get into too many one-on-one scenarios and get himself into trouble. And for me, reading that and seeing that on video, I have no issue with that.

Like, I think if you are as good as Logan Cooley clearly is, I want to see that at that level. I don't need him to be gaining the red line and dumping the puck in and keeping it simple. I want to see him testing the outer boundaries of what he can get away with, what's possible. Now, obviously, what that entails is going to be significantly different at the NHL level than the competition he was playing this past season. And there's going to be an adjustment there.

And it is a fair question to wonder how much of what he's doing right now is going to work against NHL defenders and NHL teams. But I think the infrastructure is there in place. in his game and the skill level is there that I'm very enticed by what is capable of. So when you had him first on your board there, like I know you took some flag for it. I totally understand it because I think that his ceiling, if he's able to actually parlay that into the next level is as high as anything you can imagine in this year's class. So I yeah, if you're getting him third overall, especially in this year's class,

I'm all about that. Yeah. I feel like the coyotes here could get a foundational piece for their, for their franchise and a guy, and you're right, there is development to go. Like, we're projecting Cooley out a little bit. And the thing that he does so well, I mean, there's the speed and he just gets in, you know, backs down to defenders. He's got the hands where you have to, you know, respect what he's going to do. And he's really deceptive. He's not always, you know, sometimes you look like he's going to cut to the net and all of a sudden it's a little quick pass to the slot and there's somebody on the receiving end of it.

you look at the guys that he finds in space and traffic and he can do it all. I think he's going to be a guy that you want carrying pucks in the zone a lot and getting, you know, he can't becoming dangerous as soon as he goes across the blue line. So, you know, I think that for Arizona, they need so many things right now. They're going to be a long-term rebuild. There's a lot there. If you can get a guy that plays with his speed and plays with his, his, you know, he's also very competitive. Like, you know, he's fine defensive.

Like he gets, he gets into it. He has a motor. He has, he has competitiveness. It needs to get a little more consistent from time to time. But really, you know, for him, as I've watched him this last few years, just watching his growth and the refinement in his game. There was a lot of circling the zone two years ago, a lot of like, I can use my speed to get around guys.

This year he was attacking way more. Like it was, it was actively attacking as opposed to just skating around guys. So I think I've, you know, obviously it's hard for me to pass them up as the number one guy that I had. But I also am glad that you took him here because I do think that if this is the pick for the coyotes, there is at least a chance that they are getting the best player in this draft with the with the upside. It's just you have to project that he's going to hit it. And if you are confident he's going to hit it, then you do have a foundational piece here. Cam, I mean, I was reading one of the reports.

I forgot who wrote it for us on Cooley and the Guide. And it says, Cooley continues to make poor choices. Hard to hold useless feints and one-on-one skill tricks against him, though, because they're up 9-0 halfway through the game. And it's like, yes, I imagine that that might be from a motivation perspective. it might throw off what you're trying to do in terms of the risk reward department. So how do we kind of grade that then? Because I think it is very enticing to see the plays he's able to make off of the move and off the rush,

considering what an essential part of today's game it is, at the same time acknowledging that he is making these mistakes and you're wondering how that's going to look in the NHL level. Like how do we sort of weigh those two things in terms of the risk reward of a young play? they're making those mistakes, but at least showing the creativity and the willingness to actually do it, whereas a lot of guys just simply like don't have that in their bag to even try certain things that he's doing. Yeah,

I was happy to see him in the second half start to try more things and sometimes try too much. And that's okay because it's, this is the time to do it, right? When you're playing junior, when you're playing against USHL teams where you are up nine, nothing, you have a little more leeway to get creative out there.

What I thought was really interesting is that like, Frankie Nazar and Logan Cooley kind of flipped roles halfway through the season. So Nazar was all about that one-on-one skill, beat a guy, beat another guy, and then let's go, where Cooley was playing more of a distribution gaming and playing a smarter, straight-up style. And then, you know, they both kind of recognize that they needed to fill in the game. And so for Cooley, that meant, you know, let's show off the hands. Let's, you know, let's make a move. Let's do a cutback. Let's draw coverage and then let's move it or let's go hard to the net.

And Nazar started to play a little more straight up, wanted to work on, you know, hey, I'm not a big center. I got a lot of skill, but I need to, I need to improve my passing game here. I need to prove that I can move the puck around. So he started to play a little more straight up. And I really thought that that was interesting. But I want to see these players trying things and,

and, you know, learning from their mistakes. And, you know, I'm not sure he learned all the time from trying too many things, but he's going to. He's going to as he moves up to college and then he goes to the NHL, is that you're not going to be able to beat guys one on one all the time. You're going to be able to catch him. You're going to, he has good hands. He has those feints and things like that.

that and I think he'll clean them up. So far, this has gone one, two, three on my, on how I think the draft is actually going to go to. So, so I kind of echo what you guys are saying is that I think Logan Cooley, it makes a ton of sense for Arizona. He could be a foundational front line center for them and a player that they could have and build around with that speed, spill, skill. And he's got intelligence too. So he's kind of the whole package as well. Well, the coyotes have three, 27, 32, 34, 36, 434, 45. Now, if the rest of their organization wasn't in complete shambles, I would say there's a lot to be excited about here.

But if they do get Logan Cooley, at least that's a good building block for them. Yeah, sure. Okay. Number four for me as well, since we're doing this in sneak format, I'm picking for the Seattle Crack. And now I think they would take a different defenseman if they go this route. But for my board, the next player that I have is David Yerechek. And I know, Ken, that you disagree. seen your top 75 and I'm leaving him for you to take later on if you want for me what I've

seen with your chicks game is is too enticing to pass up on the combination of the size but also being able to move as fluidly as he does the canon of a shot that he boasts I think there's a lot to build around there I think for me when I'm looking for NHL defenders in today's modern game you have to be an elite rush defender. I don't, in zone defense is fine. And obviously it's important that you're not completely getting lost and blowing assignments and not knowing how to box out and do all of that. But if you're not able to gap up, poke check puck pucks away, prevent kit entries,

turn the puck over and quickly lead it to transition opportunities for your forwards. If you can't do that, you're not going to be successful as a defender in today's game. All the best ones, all my favorite ones that I'd pick to build my team around. do that and do that exceptionally well. You know, we just saw someone. I know we hate, we hate comps, different players. We just saw Mo Cider step into the NHL with like a similar sort of frame and use that reach of his to just dismantle forwards whenever they tried to carry it in against him.

And so that as a building block for me is much more interesting than what Simon Emick can do. But that's my personal preference. So what do you guys think about that? And what do you think about your egregatech as a prospect? I'm going to leave this one to Cam because I can't wait to hear what he has to say. Yeah, all right. I'll take it. No problem.

I like David Yorpe. I do. You know, I've kind of moved him around throughout the year. I see what you guys all see as well. I think that he is potentially a really smart defender. I think he does have some really good IQ. I think he knows when to step up and defend the line.

He doesn't, you know, he has pretty good four-way mobility. I don't like his skating as much as other people. And that's what kind of pushed him down closer to 10 for me is I didn't, I didn't love his skating before the injury. And I definitely didn't like it post injury. And so now, you know, granted, he came back fairly quickly from an injury that it was supposed to take him up for four or five months.

So I'm going to give him some grace on that too and assume that as time goes on that and he's going to heal up more and he's going to be able to get lower in his stance and be able to explode a little bit more. But that did concern me a little bit. He did not look the same. He wasn't as mobile. he wasn't as shifty side to side. He couldn't turn as well.

That's a little bit concerning for me. But yes, the size, the right shot. He's got, you know, he has a good shot from the point and he can get it through. He can defend the rush. I think he's going to add some physicality to his game. So I think he's a really safe player that could end up being like, you know, a number two in the NHL. And that's big time. And, you know, if he doesn't, maybe he's a four.

And I think that that's great too. And I think it makes a ton of sense for Seattle to start building now on the blue line to do. He's not the guy I'd be taken if I'm the cracking, but I've got no problem. with him in that spot because I think he's right around that that same level. Well, I don't think he is the guy they're going to take. But yeah, you're right, that that mobility and how, you know, what his medicals are like and how that, what kind of shape that knee is in and what the recovery is going to look like, obviously factors in and that's something that I'm not privy to.

So that's an important thing to note, Chris, what were you going to say? I was just going to say, I like him a lot. I have them, you know, I think these two defensemen, they're just different enough. where, you know, you, you know, I think they both have really good upside. I think your check's just a little bit more overall detailed in terms of his overall game, including defensively. And, you know, I thought the injury was was a tough break. And maybe it actually ended up helping him because he played so well for me at the

beginning of the season that I had no, you know, he was, he was pretty high on my list for a while. I did get the chance to see him live last year at the World Under 18s, which was, he was a revelation there. I thought that that was really where he showed. As soon as he got hurt, they just had no chance. Like they went from having very little chance to having no chance without him. And, you know, he's just continued to grow on me since then. So I think it's a good pick.

I think it's a possibility. I wouldn't say it's out of the question that they take your check there. I do think that it's more likely than not they'll take a defenseman. And if you look at the track record of the Cracken, or not the Cracketron Francis, Overall, and Robert Kron, they like big guys. So wouldn't shock me there. He's the two-inch difference to matter. Yeah, them and 31 other NHL teams.

Yeah, exactly. Okay, well, we've got five minutes here before we can take another break. So, Chris, I'll let you pick five for the flyers. Give me a rapid one here. Oh, man. So, yeah, I mean, I was hoping your check was going to be there for them. Yeah, but I mean, I'll just like I think I think if it were in this situation, I think the flyers would probably take Gochay, oddly enough.

But if it were me at this particular time, I would take Nemich. He's a little bit redundant to what they have with Cam York, but I think that Nemich probably has a little bit more to give offensively. I like the way that he moves the puck. I think the skating is fine. He's really good distributor of the numbers that he's. put up this year obviously unprecedented. I think there's a lot of upside there for him to reach. He does need to, you know, he's a little bit all over the place too. You've got to kind of,

and that's not a bad thing, but he will have to be rained in a little bit and hopefully not to the point where it's going to really impact the way that he moves pucks and gets up the ice. But I think that his offensive skill set as a whole, he plays the style that you need to play in the NHL right now. You need to move pucks quickly. You need to be a transitional team. need to be able to do all those things. Now, I, I would, I have a hard time seeing the flyers making that pick personally. But at the same time, I, I like the player enough to say, I think he's the next best player available. I think, you know, having a right shot defenseman with his offensive skill set. And then also with, like, he needs to be shaped some still. There's, there's room to

develop him. And I think the hockey sense is good enough that he's going to be able to take that coaching and, you know, refine his game a little bit more and add a little bit more detail to it. So that would be my pick. Yeah, the offensive skill set is obviously very appealing. And we just saw in the Stanley Cup final, I know I keep referencing it, but I think that is a good litmus test for how you should be building your team. Those were the two best teams and it was playing hockey at the highest level. Like the lightning were just completely done in by the fact that another defenseman could take the puck and break it out by themselves.

Like they were too relying on their forward. and it wound up, you know, they just couldn't handle Colorado's forecheck. And that's what makes a player like Mennick here very appealing. Cam, reading the game reports on him, you could feel Mitch Brown's angst about watching him play. The video that I watched defensively, he's a young player, so I'm not going to hold it too much against him. I saw some incredibly alarming technique defensively in terms of the gaps he was maintaining, but also Morgan Riley-esque shambolic rush defense where he would literally turn. turn his back to the buck carrier and give them the heels and essentially at that point is game

over. And when you're getting burned like that by Slovakian League forwards, I shudder to think what that is going to look like against NHL level talent. So that would give me pause. Now he's an 18-year-old defender. He's going to learn. You can bring him in. You can mold that. The skill, the physical skill set is obviously intriguing enough that I think he's going to get better in that regard. But if you're taking a guy top five there, I understand offense is the name of the game. But I have my concerns in that regard. Yeah, there is no doubt that he can get it turns out. Guys can burn him wide with a little cross-up and then go around.

And that happened. And, you know, it happened more regularly earlier on in the season. So there was a couple of things that I was really looking for because I could see the potential in this player right away. And, you know, going back into a 16-year-old season two is that like there was a ton of upside here. But I wanted to see a couple things. I wanted to see him gap up better.

I wanted to see him be able to, you know, mirror footwork and be able to, you know, be able to turn at the right time and not get worked over like that. And I wanted to see him get a lot more shifty, a lot more elusive at the top of the umbrella on the power play. And then, you know, when he's jumping into the rush, is that, which he loves to do, is to support the play in a more intelligent way if he's not going to be the one leading it. And for me, he hit all those boxes later in the season and in through the playoffs is that, you know, when the, when Nitro was going deep, he was a big, big part of it. And he was playing some really excellent rush defense in zone defense. The, the work at the top of the umbrella on the power play.

Like he was getting so much more mobile and elusive up there, creative. You know, he had one goal in the regular season. And people were like, can this guy even shoot the puck? It's like, he's got to rock it. He just wasn't getting unlucky. And then we see in the playoffs, like he dumped five or six in the playoff run. So for me, yes, there are some things that need to be ironed out defensively. But it, like you said, like he's, he's one of these guys that fits the new age paradigm,

that, you know, you need to be mobile. You need to get pocket touches. You need to be smart out there. And he does all those things. he's going to break up defensive schemes. He's going to be able to shake pressure on the four check really, really effectively. He's not Quinn Hughes. He's not Kyle McCar at that level of skating, but he does have really good puck retrieble,

shifty move and then can outlet with either the feet or the pass. And then keep going, right? And then join it and beat that fourth option, that third high option and make a play or finish a play. So I agree with Chris. So is that I don't think if he's there at five, I probably don't see him being the pick. I think it is probably cut or go chay. but I've got him number two on my board so he'd be the guy I pick at this spot too.

Okay, well, let's take a break here and then we're going to pick it back up with a six pick with Cam. All right, so here's the deal. I don't want you to worry. The podcast isn't over by any means. We decided to actually split this recording of the mock draft into two separate files. So there's going to be a part one and part two, just to keep the file length at a reasonable, reasonable length that I wanted to be dropping a two plus hour podcast onto your feed. instead we're splitting it up into two parts you just listen to part one uh you should find part two in

the feed as well where we're going to do the the remainder of the uh of the mock draft and get to the rest of the top 16 picks and then highlight and outline some other names that uh you should keep in mind or or that we're interested in and that are notable so hopefully you're enjoying it so far uh hopefully uh you're enjoying it enough to go check out part two uh if you have been liking it uh please consider hitting us up with a five star review thank you for listening to us thank you for supporting us and we'll be back with more. So enjoy Bartu. The Hockey P.DOCAST with Dmitri Filipovich.

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