2019 NHL Draft: Notes on the First Round.

Finally, we're here!  Second Christmas!  Better than Halloween!

The Vancouver fans do a great job of booing Gary Bettman into infantile frustration.  Lord, the smarm...

Wet shivering chicken move to use Henrik and Daniel Sedin as human shields, Gary.  How many kids in wheelchairs do you have ready to be deployed, waiting backstage?  Coward.

1)  Jack Hughes goes first.  Look, I'm not saying the kid's going to flop, necessarily...  I'm just saying, if it was my team's turn to pick first overall, I'd be bummed if on offer was a 5'10" shrimp.  The 'New NHL' is still very much a figment.  The league is a sham, the refs are eunuchs, the game is throttled by Gary Bettman's neglect.

In all seriousness about the kid, having not really watched him play, I'm just leery of how he was surrounded by a super-talented team.  I'd feel a lot better picking #1 if it was an Auston Matthews or Connor McDavid-no-brainer year.

2) Kaapo Kakko goes #2 to the Rangers, setting up the comparisons with the Devils' Jack Hughes.  Good for hockey in the States I guess, NBC will have more scheduling options than the Penguins.

3)  Kirby Dach goes 3rd, now more commonly known as the Kotkaniemi draft position.  There's actually lots of similarity with last season, 1 and 2 were locked in pretty much all season long, and then an open field starting at 3.  Although last season there was more agreement, at least initially, about #3, that Filip Zadina was most likely to go there.  Then again, maybe not, seeing him fall to the sixth spot...

Gotta love being able to draft a big huge right-shot centre in that spot.  We need a right-shot at centre in our lineup.  With Nick Suzuki not certain to play centre in the NHL, maybe it's something we can address tonight, with a precipitous fall by Dylan Cozens?

4)  Vancouver fans stealing the show, giving a warm ovation to 'Burnaby' Joe Sakic, which continues as they announce the Vancouver Giants' Bowen Byram.  There was no way Byram was getting by the L.A. Kings if the Avs hadn't picked him.

Do the Leafs regret the Muzzin trade right now?  Gave up their first-round pick for a left-shot d-man who wasn't really what they needed, and it didn't get them out of the first round.  Again.  If they could rewind the tape, would they keep their powder dry, and take another shot at a right-shot d-man now?  P.K. Subban in the Centre of the Universe?

5)  I don't want to visit the sins of the father on the son, but Alex Turcotte was a no-fly-zone for me.  As I wrote before about the 1983 draft:

(...) But no, we ended up with Alfie Turcotte. Alfie. Just the name sounded dumb, and his stats looked underwhelming in La Presse the next day. A small centre who scored 20 goals in the WHL, big whoop. I pronounced him a bust then and there, and wouldn’t you know I was right, like I so often am. Waste of a first-rounder.

Avast to Los Angeles ye be, poxy Turcotte!...

6)  The first surprise of the draft with Steve Yzerman, with no preamble and effusive thanks to the Canucks and city of Vancouver, just announces that Moritz Seider is the Red Wings' pick.

I wrote this about him earlier, when we were punting around if he might be a target for the Canadiens at #15:

The big German kid Moritz Seider screams to me of Luca Sbisa, a big plodder who could play with a shovel or pitchfork, it wouldn't affect his game when handling the puck.  Stay clear.

 And:

Moritz Seider is a righty, so not necessarily an area of need.

I'd steer clear, he played in the German league and only managed 2 goals and 4 assists in 30 games.  Would he have had even one point in Sweden or Finland?   It's so hard to evaluate him since he didn't play against his peers really.  Much easier to scout the CHL kids, compare them against each other.  

But he doesn't seem to have that offensive skill, his numbers don't wow me.  He'll never be a first-pairing defenceman I'm pretty sure, but York, Harley or Broberg definitely have that potential.  Seider is a big kid, but he screams third-pairing guy to me, reminds me of Luca Sbisa.

 7)  The 'Dylan Cozens falling to 15' dream is dead.  Buffalo snags him.  Rats.  I'm ascared he'll be another Ryan Kesler.  We get to play him five times a season now, plus playoffs.  If the Sabres ever make it back to the playoffs.

8)  The stupid Oilers snag Philip Broberg right from under our nose.  I was hoping he'd last to 15.

Who's going to play wing next to Connor McDavid Ken Holland?  Jujhar Khaira?  Uh?...

Pffft...  I hear his hockey IQ isn't all that great, that he's all style and no substance, has all the tools and no toolbox.

I'm not bitter, you're bitter...

9)  Trevor Zegras picked by the Anaheim Ducks' Bob Murray, who can't even pronounce the kid's name, called him "Zuh-Graaah".  We're unaffected by this, he was never expected to be in range for les Canadiens.

The Canucks are next, no trade announced yet.  Come on Jim Benning, send the pick to Nashville for P.K.

10)  The Canucks just go to the podium and nab Vasily Podkolzin.  Jim Benning tells Elliotte Friedman that the two-year contract in St. Petersburg of the KHL is not a worry for his team, that anyone they'd draft at this point would need two years of development.  Makes sense.  They get a big talented winger who some think would be a Top 5 pick without the contract considerations.

11)  The Coyotes take Victor Soderstrom, after trading a mid-second round pick to the Flyers to move up from #14.  He's described a little bit as a contrast to Philip Broberg, high IQ, right shot, not as flashy but really smart and effective.  Brian Burke says he's the best defensive defenceman in this draft.

There was a notion supported by a few mock drafts that the Canadiens would get the 2nd-best defenceman of the draft, or at least their choice of defencemen once Bowen Byram was off the board, that there are so many talented forwards that no one would be picking defencemen in the Top 15.  So there goes that notion.

I wonder if the Canadiens might trade down and take Samuel Poulin?  The only man-crush I have left is Thomas Harley.

12)  Matthew Boldy goes to the Minnesota Wild.  Brian Burke likes the size and skating, says every player on the USNDTP were asking to play on the same line as him.

13)  As expected, the Florida Panthers nab Spencer Knight, who the talking heads talk about as a no-brainer athletic goalie à la Carey Price, who'll solve your team's net issues for ten years.  He wowed the Combine with his athleticism. He mentions to Tara Sloane that he works out with Ben Prentiss, the man who worked with Martin St. Louis and Max Pacioretty among others.

14)  The Flyers take Cam York!  I didn't want him as our pick, so they take him off our hands.

Sigh...  I don't know what my aversion is, aside from his Lilliputian 5'11 1/4" frame.  I never was a big fan of this type of American d-men, I always thought Phil Housley and Bryan Leetch stole the thunder from our defencemen, they got all the Sports Illustrated ink.

I read a good profile of Cam York on RDS, it makes the good point that, as easy as his job might have been amassing points with that stacked roster, he's head and shoulders above the #2 guy.  Even if the other d-men were coasting on Jack Hugues, Cam York was twice as effective at coasting.

He also makes the point that he went head-to-head with all those forwards every day at practice, so he had to pick up his defensive game.

Mmmmff....

Uh-oh, does this mean we get shrimpy shrimp Cole Caulfield?  I never thought we'd have a shot at him, I never worried about this.  Be afraid...

And, what the hell happened with all the blockbuster trades?

15)  Cole Caufield.  Five foot seven inch Cole Caufield.

Okay okay okay, let's look at this logically.  We strengthen our right side, we add offensive talent.  Pure goal-scoring talent, that you can't teach, can never get enough of.

Nope, can't do it.  Doesn't fit.  I don't fit in this deal.  In the playoffs, he'll be crosschecked back to the Stone Age.

The talking heads compare him to Alex DeBrincat, which is fine and good, if you get him with a 40th overall pick or thereabouts.  But noooooo, we had to trade for Andrew Shaw, gift Chicago the 2nd-rounders we could have used to draft DeBrincat...

Sportsnet is flashing a graphic onscreen showing he's one of three shortest players ever drafted in the first round.

16)  'Burnaby' Joe Sakic grabs a player from his home province, the BCHL's Alex Newhook.

I'm in my deflated "Who cares?" mode, as usual after a Canadiens (disappointing) pick.

17) Peyton Krebs, partially-torn Achilles tendon and all, limps on stage to accept a Las Vegas Knights sweater from Kelly McCrimmon.  I kinda thought the Canadiens would pick him when he fell out of the Top Ten, if they didn't grab Thomas Harley.

18)  The Dallas Stars get Thomas Harley.  I hope they choke on him.

19)  The Senators take a player I might have liked, Lassi Thomson, a defenceman who can skate and score.  Now we have to face him five times a season.  I might be tempted to overtly hope the kid busts, but I prefer to reserve my hexes for future Bruins.

20)  It's a run on Finnish defencemen, with the Jets picking Ville Heinola.  Sam Cosentino correctly points out he looks like he's 12 years old.  Playing in the Finnish Liga against men, he had more points in his draft year than Miro Heiskanen.

21) With their first pick in the first round in years, the Penguins grab Samuel Poulin, mildly higher than expected.  I'm jealous, was hoping he might fall, that the run on Americans might push him down into range.

22)  The Kings select Tobias Bjornfot, and we verge into territory where I know nothing about the players.

23)  The Islanders take Simon Holmstrom, who Bob McKenzie had projected as a mid-second rounder.  Craig Button calls him a goal-scorer.

24)  This is the range where the Canadiens 'normally' pick, where we land the Mike McCarrons and the Nikita Scherbaks, from where we trade up to snag a Jarred Tinordi.  The players don't quicken the pulse so much when we get to this range.

In this vein, let me introduce Philip Tomasino of the Nashville Predators.  Point/game player in the OHL, 34 goals.  They can have him.  Leave me alone.  Let me sulk in my corner.

25)  The Capitals draft Connor McMichael.  Big whoop.  Carbon-copy of the guy before, a 36-goal point/game centre from the OHL.  Tainted by association with Dale Hunter.

The guy hosting the show for the NHL Network cracks that some wanted the Oilers to draft him, so they'd have Connor McDavid and Connor McMichael.  That would have broken Bob Cole's brain if he'd had to work that game, good thing he retired before that could happen.

26) Calgary take Jakob Pelletier, the second LHJMQ player taken, and the Raphaël Lavoie Fall Watch has begun.

At least the Canadiens won't get blasted by (sigh...)  JiC Lauzon, by Twitterers, for 'ignoring' him, since plenty of other teams are doing that too.

Oh, who am I kidding, the Canadiens are going to get blasted no matter what.

27)  The Lightning take Nolan Foote, he joins his older brother Cal in Tampa.

28)  Ryan Suzuki looks relieved to get picked in the first round, but I have to wonder how happy he is to go to a nickle-and-dime operation like Carolina.

29)  Brayden Tracey picked by the Ducks, don't know anything about him.  Bob McKenzie says he rose from 73 to 21 in the North American skater rankings from mid-season to the end of the season. Bob says seeing him taken here is no great surprise, he had him at #36 in his scouts poll.

30)  While waiting for the Bruins' pick, Bob McKenzie runs down his best-availables, mentions Lavoie and the director puts up a shot of the kid on-screen, then Arthur Kaliyev, and they show him as well.  Just as he is picking his nose.  Oops...

Bless the Canucks fans for showering the dirty Bruins on the stage with lusty boos.  Cam Neely tries to shoutout Maple Ridge, but that doesn't help.  Well done Vancouver.

They get John Beecher, a USNTDP centre.  May he stall in Providence.

31)  The Sabres close out the first-round with Ryan Johnson, a small skating defenceman.  I hope he caseystaums on them.

* * * * *

For tomorrow, I want oodles of picks, trade down when asked, at the drop of a hat.

Do not trade up, especially for Lavoie.  Only if he falls in our lap.  All the players remaining are all on the same level, the same tier.  We don't need to pick one shlub over another so much that we overpay.  Take the shlubs as they come.

The only player I'd be overjoyed with our seconds would be Brett Leason, 6'4" right-shot right winger, he's a 19-year-old who had a monster breakout season after being passed over in the draft twice.  Had a great tourney at the World Juniors.  There's a chance he could step right into the lineup, or after very little time in Laval.

The other is Matthew Robertson, he plays for the WHL Oil Kings.  6'3" leftie blueliner, was talked about in the same breath as Broberg or Harley at mid-season, although it was acknowledged he was less skilled on offence, but really good at defending, and tough. 

Any two of those guys with our picks tomorrow would be great, but chances are these two will fly off the board early.  Realistically, I'm hoping for Samuel Bolduc or Alex Beaucage in the third, one of Nathan Légaré or Alex Campbell in the second round.  That'd make me happy, as a fanboy who wants local kids on my team and who's done zero scouting all year.  I've never seen these kids play, but I have opinions.