Blackhawks to Pick 11th

[GRADEN]

What a unique year, a year that will see GMs throwing darts at a board after pick 40/45ish.

Surely my top 3 guys are going to be to be good and I am confident in that top tier of guys…. But after that it’s very much a guessing game or judgements on small sample sizes. Projections will be all over the map in terms of rounds from one team to the next. I could easily see a team taking a player at 50 that another team had at 150. I expect little movement in that top 19-21 but after that players in the next 2 tiers are pretty even… GMs could be moving up and down that 20-50 selection range a lot.

Goalies: there are 4 very very intriguing goalies. Wallstedt and Cossa are 1st rounders and Gaudreau and Kolosov should be 2nd rounders. Wallstedt is calm, consistent, and projects as a true work horse. Cossa is massive and very sound post to post. He has had an amazing start to his WHL career.

Forwards: This is the true guessing game here; Guenther will be a solid top 6 wing for a decade. A true gritty results based player. I could see him as a Marchisault type. Eklund and Lysell are playing up with men and showing well. They project as quicker to develop top 6 wings. Beniers is a nice 2 way center with a high IQ. Big scorer? Not likely, but he’ll be a plus minus wizard. After that it’s darts at the board.

Defense: The true value of these draft is the top level blue liners…. Power skates well and hits and really has a plus in all areas… he isn’t Hedman, not by a mile but he could be an Ekblad or Jones type. Clarke is smooth and shows a willingness to learn. He looks like a solid top 4. The crown jewel is Hughes. He skates better than anyone. Has great size over his brothers too. He is likely the best player in this draft. There are big questions past the first 2 tiers of Dmen though so you better grab one early.

Here are my tiers and top 64. Again, I go on my opinion and not any site or others rankings.




1. D Owen Power - Elite MED
2. C Matt Beniers - Elite LOW
3. D Luke Hughes - Elite MED
4. LW William Eklund - Top 6 HIGH
5. RW Dylan Guenther - Top 6 HIGH
6. D Simon Edvinsson - Top 4 HIGH
7. D Brandt Clarke - Top 4 HIGH
———————————————
8. C-RW Matt Coronato - Top 6 MED
9. RW Fabian Lysell - Top 6 MED
10. G Jesper Wallstedt - Elite LOW
11. C-LW Kent Johnson - Top 9 HIGH
12. C-RW Mason McTavish - Top 9 MED
13. D Corson Ceulemans - Top 4 LOW
14. RW Sasha Pastujov - Top 9 MED
15. LW Zachary L’Heureax - Top 9 MED
16. C Chaz Lucious - Top 9 MED
17. C Cole Sillinger - Top 9 MED
18. G Sebastian Cossa - Starter HIGH
19. RW Nikita Chibrikov - Top 9 MED
20. LW Aatu Raty - Top 9 LOW
21. D Carson Lambos - Top 4 LOW
———————————————
22. D Danil Chayka - Top 4 LOW
23. C Zachary Bolduc - Top 9 LOW
24. LW Oskar Olausson - Top 9 LOW
25. RW Isak Rosen - Top 9 LOW
26. RW Simon Robertson - Top 9 LOW
27. C Fedor Svechkov - Top 9 LOW
28. C Xavier Bourgault - Top 9 LOW
29. RW Chase Stillman - Top 9 LOW
30. RW Tyler Boucher - Top 9 LOW
31. LW Aleksander Kisakov - Top 9 LOW
32. D Sean Behrens - 3rd Pair MED

——————————————————————-
33. C Fransico Pinelli
34. LW Brennan Othmann
35. C-RW Logan Stankoven
36. C Justin Robidas
37. C Samu Salminen
38. G Ben Gaudreau
39. C-RW Sam Helenius
40. RW Mackie Samoskevich
——————————————————————-
41. LW Matthew Knies
42. LW Ayrton Martino
43. G Aleksei Kolosov
44. C Tristian Broz
45. C-RW Ryder Korczak
46. RW Josh Roy
47. C-LW Trevor Wong
48. D Luke Mittelstadt
49. RW Olivier Nadeau
50. C Wyatt Johnson
51. RW Colton Dach
52. RW Samu Tuomaala
53. RW Ville Koivunen
54. D Topias Vilen
55. C Zach Dean
56. LW Dylan Duke
57. D Shia Buium
58. D Scott Morrow
59. C Brett Harrison
60. D Stanislav Svozil
61. D Jack Peart
62. D Guillaume Richard
63. C Riley Kidney
64. RW Josh Doan

[GRADEN]

1. Sabres - D Power
2. Kraken - C Beniers
3. Ducks - D Hughes
4. Devils - RW Guenther
5. Jackets - D Edvinsson
6. Red Wings - RW Lysell
7. Sharks - LW Eklund
8. Kings - D Clarke
9. Canucks - G Wallstedt
10. Senators - D Ceulemans
11. Blackhawks - C Johnson
12. Flames - C McTavish
13. Flyers - C Sillinger
14. Stars - RW Pastujov
15. Rangers - C Corronato

[GRADEN]

Had a thought… I did a deep dive into the draft class and also Bowmans trends and likes…. And I now firmly believe that unless a Brandt Clarke or Dylan Guenther slide to 11 by a miracle that the Hawks will select:

C Feydor Svechkov

He is a 6ft 180lb 2 way center…. Leaning more on the defensive side of that 2 way. He will playing for skaP in KHL and likely be a top rookie in KHL

Currently projected 15-25 range and thusly at 11 isn’t a huge reach

You watch… this is the guy

[GRADEN]

McTavish, Svechkov at the top of my want list right now

Brandt Clarke from what I’ve researched may be the second best D prospect actually

Guenther a very safe pick… ceiling not superstar but a lock for top 6

[GRADEN]

Coronato
Ceulemans
Olausson

Maybe moving down due to long term project status to me

This is whom we will take: a forward that is the frame of being ready in 12-18months tops

That’s McTavish, Svechkov, Johnson, and Sillinger likely 2 years out.

The more I look at it, I feel McTavish / Svechkov / Sillinger in that order is what we will do

[TNBT]

I would have loved Svechkov. I’m really not liking the Jones trade more as time goes on. It’s not that I think that Jones isn’t a good player, because he is. He’s one of the top blue liners going around. My problem is that I feel we have up way too much to get him, and then signed him to too many years at too much per season. I mean we’ve just got out from under some horrific long-term contracts like Seabrook’s and had an opportunity for a fresh slate, but then we go and put ourselves right back into salary cap hell. I think Jones will be a great player and an impact player for us for the next however many years, but he’s not worth what we paid him, and those last few years are going to be absolutely brutal as his production starts to decline and his overpayment will become more and more obvious.

Like I said, I really like him as a player, but we gave up too much in terms or the trade and salary, as well as tied ourselves to him for too many years. I would have hoped that Bowman had learnt from past mistakes, but obviously not.