I found this lovely Saison from The Exchange Brewery. Absolutely delightful on a warm summers day. A bit of a hefty price tag at 13.50 a bottle. Worth the experiment. I would highly recommend it.
This was one of my favourite drafts in recent memory. It was wild and exciting. Teams were messing everybody’s Mock Drafts left and right. I’m looking at you Chayka. It’s always fun when teams go off the perceived script and that happened quite a lot in this one.
The Coyote in the Room : Let’s get this out of the way first. Hayton going at 5. I was pretty stunned. I don’t think an under a PPG forward from the CHL has ever gone that high. Ryan Johansen in 2010 maybe? Regardless it was a bold pick and clearly they think very highly of Hayton. While we happy few on the interwebs love the idea of trading down and picking “your guy,” in reality I see the reasoning behind just sticking to your guns and getting the guy you think is the best. If you trade down and a different team takes him, then you look like an ass. Look at the Burke taking Kadri video to confirm. Hayton has the tools to be a top-6 centre and in a draft filled with defense and wingers, it makes sense that the Coyotes would go for him. They obviously don’t see Galchenyuk or Keller as centremen going forward. They’ll need to add additional young legs to Stepan-Strome-Dvorak. I think it’s also important to note that Stepan and Strome are both on the slower side of the skating spectrum. Hayton can give them a speed boost and a two-way game that should mesh in theory with Keller’s speed and offensive creativity.
“Character” and Centremen Win the Day : I think if you can sum up the entire message of this draft is that “character” won the day. Hayton (5), Dellandrea (13), Foudy (18) and O’Brien (19) all jumping above their final rankings. I don’t have a huge issue with Hayton at 5 as mentioned above. I also don’t have any issues with the Flyers taking a huge gamble with their second first rounder. It’s a bold move. I do wonder though at the lack of production in the few U18 and USHL games he played. He had just 1 assist in 5 games in the USHL and 1 goal and an assist in 7 games in the USDP (U18). Small sample size to be sure, but you look at Wahlstrom (11th) or Farabee (14th) or even Miller (22nd) who is a defender and their numbers in the same league blow him out of the water. Another comparable is Mittlestadt (8th last year) who played primarily in High School. He had 30 points in 24 games in the USHL in his draft year. I have to think that he probably wasn’t given a ton of prime time in those games being a player committed to his High School program. I’m very interested to see what his development pattern ends up looking like.
The two I don’t really like are Dellandrea and Foudy. Foudy especially as that is a huge hope and a prayer pick. Both though are centremen and teams were willing to go all in on them. The Jackets have been pretty decent drafters, so maybe they’re on to something. Dallas on the other hand is a bit of a mixed bag. Nichushkin is coming back, Dickinson looks like a bust, Honka isn’t doing great, Tufte’s looking more like a bottom-six player and Guryanov had just an okay sophomore AHL season. Miro Heiskanen is a slam dunk so there’s that at least.
I think it goes to show just how valued centremen are…unless your name is Akil Thomas.
International Flavour : This has been one of the worst showings for Canadian hockey in a long time. Only two Canadians were picked in the top-10 this year which is ridiculously rare.
Martin Pospisil, the Slovak trained in Austria went to the Flames. He had 253PIM in the USHL last season.
Liam Kirk became the first British born player to ply his trade in Great Britain to be drafted in the NHL. He went to the Coyotes in the seventh round.
The LA Kings : I really liked what they did at the draft. Signing Kovalchuk is a good move. Kopitar has to be happy that he won’t have a rookie on his line anymore and maybe somebody that can finish. The dollars and term is good for me. I think he’ll be a good fit. Their top-9 is shaping up to be quite good if Brown can maintain last year’s production (unlikely).
Brown-Kopitar-Kovalchuk
Pearson-Carter-Toffoli
Kempe-Vilardi-Rieder
Not world beaters, but pretty decent.
I also liked their first two picks nabbing Kupari and the sliding Thomas. Very shocked Thomas fell down to 51st. I also really like Bulat Shafigullin at 82nd. He was almost a goal a game in the MHL which is very impressive. Scored the most points in the MHL playoffs. Has some size.
I think they had a very good few days.
Just a few thoughts on the draft. Seriously try that beer though, it's delicious.
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