Post by BigTed3 on Jul 25, 2024 0:36:55 GMT
Didn't follow the draft all that much when Ryan was picked. Have to say that I've gotten more into the draft as social media has become more of a thing and you can actually watch clips of prospects and research them... so I feel like I have more opinions about who we choose where now than I did 15-20 years ago. That said, I started becoming more interested in the draft around 2012 when the Habs had a top 3 pick for the first time in a long time. If it had been up to me, this is roughly how I would have used our 1st rounders since then:
- 2012: Galchenyuk was the guy I liked at 3rd overall. Forsberg was my 2nd choice, and the guy I thought was the steal of the draft.
- 2013: hated the McCarron pick, albeit in the end I wouldn't have done much better. I did have Theodore near the top of my list when we came up, along with Ryan Hartman, but the guy I probably would have taken at the time was Adam Erne.
- 2014: I thought Scherbak was as good a pick as any that low in the 1st round. When we came up, my debate was between Scherbak, Ho-Sang, and Barbashev.
- 2015: again near the end of the 1st round with little to choose from, but I liked Beauvillier as a Quebec-born kid back then.
- 2016: Sergachev was the guy I wanted when he slipped to us at 9.
- 2017: I didn't hate the Poehling pick, and he was one of the guys in the mix for me, though I had Klim Kostin at the top of my list at 25 if I recall
- 2018: this was a debate between Kotkaniemi and Zadina. I did like Noah Dobson too and thought he was a great pick for the Isles, but he wasn't seriously in the picture for me at 3rd overall.
- 2019: Caufield all the way. Krebs was the other faller, but with Caufield available, this wasn't really a debate of any sort.
- 2020: Guhle was in the mix, though I liked Braden Schneider just as much as a righty, and Hendrix Lapierre would probably have been the guy I chose as a Quebecer with upside who fell a bit in the draft.
- 2021: would not have drafted Mailloux. Stankoven was the player I liked most here.
- 2022: this was Nemec vs. Wright vs. Cooley for me here, and Nemec would have been my choice. The second 1st rounder would have been Hutson instead of Mesar.
- 2023: I would have taken Michkov at 5. Leonard and Benson were the other two players I would have considered here if there really was intel against picking Michkov.
- 2024: Demidov 100% and Hage as well.
So all in all, a lot of the top 5-10 picks the Habs made were guys I probably would have taken too. The major differences in terms of key picks would have been Beauvillier, Hendrix Lapierre, Stankoven, Nemec, Hutson, and Michkov instead of Juulsen, Guhle, Mailloux, Slafkovsky, Mesar, and Reinbacher. Arguments can probably be made for both sets of players, but at the end of the day, I don't get the feeling the variation I would have had from the team would have made a ton of difference... I've said it many times, but those picks in the latter third of the 1st round have low probabilities of producing stars and ultimately tweaking them slightly still wouldn't have been earth-shattering. My group of picks is IMO a more skilled group overall but also smaller and thus in need of building the line-up around them to complement what they bring.
- 2012: Galchenyuk was the guy I liked at 3rd overall. Forsberg was my 2nd choice, and the guy I thought was the steal of the draft.
- 2013: hated the McCarron pick, albeit in the end I wouldn't have done much better. I did have Theodore near the top of my list when we came up, along with Ryan Hartman, but the guy I probably would have taken at the time was Adam Erne.
- 2014: I thought Scherbak was as good a pick as any that low in the 1st round. When we came up, my debate was between Scherbak, Ho-Sang, and Barbashev.
- 2015: again near the end of the 1st round with little to choose from, but I liked Beauvillier as a Quebec-born kid back then.
- 2016: Sergachev was the guy I wanted when he slipped to us at 9.
- 2017: I didn't hate the Poehling pick, and he was one of the guys in the mix for me, though I had Klim Kostin at the top of my list at 25 if I recall
- 2018: this was a debate between Kotkaniemi and Zadina. I did like Noah Dobson too and thought he was a great pick for the Isles, but he wasn't seriously in the picture for me at 3rd overall.
- 2019: Caufield all the way. Krebs was the other faller, but with Caufield available, this wasn't really a debate of any sort.
- 2020: Guhle was in the mix, though I liked Braden Schneider just as much as a righty, and Hendrix Lapierre would probably have been the guy I chose as a Quebecer with upside who fell a bit in the draft.
- 2021: would not have drafted Mailloux. Stankoven was the player I liked most here.
- 2022: this was Nemec vs. Wright vs. Cooley for me here, and Nemec would have been my choice. The second 1st rounder would have been Hutson instead of Mesar.
- 2023: I would have taken Michkov at 5. Leonard and Benson were the other two players I would have considered here if there really was intel against picking Michkov.
- 2024: Demidov 100% and Hage as well.
So all in all, a lot of the top 5-10 picks the Habs made were guys I probably would have taken too. The major differences in terms of key picks would have been Beauvillier, Hendrix Lapierre, Stankoven, Nemec, Hutson, and Michkov instead of Juulsen, Guhle, Mailloux, Slafkovsky, Mesar, and Reinbacher. Arguments can probably be made for both sets of players, but at the end of the day, I don't get the feeling the variation I would have had from the team would have made a ton of difference... I've said it many times, but those picks in the latter third of the 1st round have low probabilities of producing stars and ultimately tweaking them slightly still wouldn't have been earth-shattering. My group of picks is IMO a more skilled group overall but also smaller and thus in need of building the line-up around them to complement what they bring.