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Well folks, it's the When is it taking place and where can I watch it? The 2021 NHL Draft is being held roughly a month later this year due to the delayed start to the season and will once again be over Zoom. The first round takes place on Friday, July 23, 2021 and rounds 2-7 take place the following day Saturday, July 24, 2021. It will be aired on Sportsnet in Canada. It is widely expected that ESPN will air the draft as part of its new NHL TV deal, but the league has not officially announced the channels or timing. Who's eligible this year? Ice hockey players born between January 1, 2001, and September 15, 2003,* are eligible for selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Additionally, un-drafted, non-North American players born in 2000 are eligible for the draft; and those players who were drafted in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, but not signed by an NHL team and who were born after June 30, 2001, are also eligible to re-enter the draft. *For context: Shake Ya Tail Feather by Nellie and P. Diddy was the #1 single in the world on this date Who are the top prospects? In short: no one but here's some of the highest ranked guys. It's a bad year with no standout or even consensus #1. This is in large part due to the fact that a lot of top prospects were forced to play limited minutes in professional leagues overseas as the CHL seasons were either very short (QMJHL and WHL) or did not happen at all (OHL). Owen Power - LD - 6'5" 215lbs - Shoots Left  Matthew Beniers - C - 6'1" 185lbs - Shoots Left  (Also a nerd) Pronounced "Bin-ears," Matty Beniers was a teammate of Owen Power this year and is generally regarded as the best forward available. He's an up tempo, two way guy that has (not unfairly perhaps) been compared to UND product Jonanthan Toews in his two-way ability. He's not a flashy player, but he's always on the move and loves to have the puck on his stick. He'll relentlessly hassle guys on the backcheck and has the dexterity and stick lifting ability to steal the puck and quickly turn the play in the opposite direction. He'd probably benefit from being a better distributor and carrying the puck a lot less in the pros, but he's one of the few guys in this draft that could step into an NHL lineup next next season given his 2002 birth year and polished play. It's unfair to expect any dynamite offensive seasons from him, but it's safe to assume he'll top out somewhere in the Ryan O'Reilly/Derick Brassard range. Brandt Clarke - RD - 6'1" 180lbs - Shoots Right  A smooth skating right shooting defender, Clarke spent the year in Slovakia due to the OHL not holding a season and acquitted himself very well against professionals. His strength is first and foremost his skating, especially off the rush. He's a quick defender with an all out offensive mindset who can pivot and sidestep equally well forwards and backwards. He loves to join the rush and step in from the point, and in the NHL will likely end up a powerplay specialist. He has a good shot and is a slick passer who can run the cycle from the blueline or down low because he loves to play in front of the net in the attacking zone and sorta forgets to get back in position. He's basically a fourth forward. Defensively... well he's never going to be a guy you rely on at any level. He's a wind 'em up and let him go sorta guy while you let a partner cover for the inevitable mistakes and turnovers. Think Tyson Barrie or a (hopefully) less racist Tony DeAngelo. Luke Hughes - LD - 6'2" 180lbs - Shoots Left  (The one on the right) The third and final Hughes brother is very much cut from the same cloth as his sibling, but with the added benefit of being 6" taller. Like Jack and Quinn, he was coached by his mother into being a world class skater. Like his brothers, he's a smooth and effortless skater with a penchant for quick pivots and spins away from forecheckers to find open space. He walks the line well and relies on being elusive and quick thinking over any sort of exemplary physical attributes. Unlike Quinn, he's less inclined to lead the rush or carry the puck below the goal line. He takes a safer mindset, but is certainly no slouch in the offensive zone. He's a work in progress and committed to Michigan next year, so he's likely 2-3 seasons away from the NHL but projects to be a regular top pairing guy down the line. Late season foot surgery has raised questions about his recovery timeframe and how it'll affect his skating, but those are probably just looking to find a problem with a guy who's been a consensus top 10 pick since he was 14. Buffalo needs to take him 1st overall so they can have Jack Quinn and Luke Hughes. William Eklund - LW/C - 5'10" 170lbs - Shoots Left  A smaller winger, it's quite possible he'll move to centre at the NHL level given his two-way play and unique skillset. He's probably the most naturally gifted forward in this draft, and the one with perhaps the highest likelihood of being a top level NHL scorer (although don't get too excited about that). He's a flashy forward in the modern Swedish style with great skating ability, terrific vision and a bullet one-timer combined with a high level of defensive awareness. With that said, he's smaller and doesn't have a great top end speed. He could certainly stand to gain some weight and work on his positioning in all zones, but he's pretty close to a finished product already. He'll likely return to Djugardens for another season and be relied on to be a top offensive threat, but should move over to the NHL in 2022/23. He gets compared to Zetterberg and Pettersson a lot (stylistically at least if not from a high end skill level), but I see a lot of Pavol Demitra in his game. He could be the pick of the draft in 3-4 years IMO. What about the rest? That's roughly the consensus top 5 at the moment, but this draft is really all over the place so the top-9 could go in pretty much any order based on team needs/priorities. Guys like Dylan Geunther could easily go as high as #2 overall. Here's some current rankings to give you an idea of how all over the map things are. https://www.tsn.ca/owen-power-the-unanimous-no-1-in-tsn-s-mid-season-draft-rankings-1.1626057 https://www.tsn.ca/craig-s-list-defencemen-dominate-top-of-nhl-draft-prospect-rankings-1.1638404 http://www.nhl.com/ice/draftprospectbrowse.htm https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/sportsnets-2021-nhl-draft-prospect-rankings-may-edition/ Draft Order 1. Buffalo Sabres 2. Seattle Kraken 3. Anaheim Ducks 4. New Jersey Devils 5. Columbus Blue Jackets 6. Detroit Red Wings 7. San Jose Sharks 8. Los Angeles Kings 9. Vancouver Canucks 10. Ottawa Senators 11. Chicago Blackhawks 12. Calgary Flames 13. Philadelphia Flyers 14. Dallas Stars 15. New York Rangers Now, let's all come back to this in 5 years and laugh at how wrong I/you were about these kids. ThinkTank fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Jun 10, 2021 |
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Jun 10, 2021 17:12
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 16:27 |
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Yeah the USA took Matty Beniers too but he was used pretty sparingly (although apparently acquitted himself nicely). It's becoming somewhat commonplace that the top guys in the draft get taken to the WCs by USA and Canada. It's mostly a last chance at scouting to see how they do against NHL leclr competition and the guys get pretty limited minutes. It's notable when they're given a more substantial role like Power this year and Quinn Hughes back in 2018 (in retrospect it's insane he fell to 7th as he already had the full trust of the USA Hockey in the WCs which should've been a huge hint to teams he was more complete defensively than they assumed).
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Jun 10, 2021 20:19
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We're just over two weeks away from someone getting to draft the 34 year old teenager! https://twitter.com/wyshynski/status/1412521590680600578?s=19 Also lol https://twitter.com/ChrisFaber39/status/1412524921507389445?s=19
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Jul 7, 2021 14:40
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Mr. Kite posted:How is a big, not very mobile, defensive defenseman the consensus for #1? Hope that clears things up for you
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Jul 7, 2021 15:17
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Ginette Reno posted:I'm sure teams are watching him and drooling at the thought of him being the next Hedman or Pronger. Eh, I think he's viewed as more of a McDonaugh/Suter lite type. Team Canada was fine with him playing a 20 minute a night shutdown role at the World Championships so it's safe to assume his defensive game is already low end NHL quality. He might never emerge as any sort of offensive threat, but really at worst you're looking at a steady as she goes second pairing guy who's not going to hurt you. That might not be too exciting and probably isn't worth a 1st overall, but he's a solid double in a draft full of bunts and singles.
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Jul 7, 2021 18:02
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Hand Knit posted:It's worth noting that the consensus is not very unanimous, and you will find serious (or at least as serious as hockey prospecteering gets) rankings with Beniers at 1-1. I think I've seen a mock with someone else there too. With Power saying he's probably going back to college and the seeming lack of interest in him from Buffalo, I think the Sabres want someone who'll step into the lineup straight away and will pass on him and take Beniers (especially if they trade Eichel).
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Jul 7, 2021 19:53
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That all tracks pretty well with my "William Eklund is the only worthwhile prospect in this draft class" theory.
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Jul 13, 2021 18:47
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https://twitter.com/loganmailloux_/status/1417454073582850048?s=19
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Jul 20, 2021 13:36
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T-Bone posted:Luke Hughes looks pretty good in the videos I've watched and seems toolsy as gently caress but I fully anticipate being disappointed that he sucks or disappointed that like the Ducks take him or something. Hughes is an incredible skater. He's not his brothers though and his mindset is less all out offence than them with the drawback that he's a serious work in progress defensively. As you say he's toolsy, a 6'2 defender who skates like Mat Barzal is a rare thing. If he adds a mean steak you're looking at a player who is basically unprecedented in league history. However, he's at least two years away from the NHL and coming off a serious foot injury. He loves to jump in from the point but his timing can be off and he's not a physical presence or a down low defender. These are all teachable things imo and I think he'll be the best of the bunch, but he's not a sure thing. Clarke is just an all out offence yee haw wild West bang bang pistols fired into the sky type. If he puts it together you've got a Mike Greenesque goal scoring defenceman who can lead a rush and turn a game around. He is quite opportunistic and exciting. I'm not sure it'll work in the NHL but boy it would be neat if it did! Edvinsson is a big two way Swedish defenceman where scouts dance around ways to describe his skating as something other than "underwhelming." He's a great passer and can move the puck but I think if he was a 6'1 Czech kid people would picture Victor Hedman a lot less and be a little more realistic on him. All three are guys that if they put it all together they'll be excellent but none are at all polished in any way. I like Hughes the most, but really it's so hard to say from the limited playing time they all had. So long as you're not thinking any are at all likely to turn into a franchise D you can't go seriously wrong with any of them.
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Jul 20, 2021 15:20
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rex rabidorum vires posted:This sounds a ton like Letang tbh though if Hughes is a better skater then woah boy that would be fun. I say Ryan Whitney or a more opportunistic Dan Hamhuis as a stylistic comparison. He's not a lead the rush type usually but he likes to activate off the point and can skate himself in and out of trouble. I don't expect he'll be a huge point totals guy in the NHL, but 30-40pts a season at his peak is probably fair? Some scouts have talked about him maybe being the best of the brothers but I'm definitely not sold on that. He's way less eager to just throw caution to the wind and hold onto the puck like Quinn and he's not the dangler Jack is. He seems way more cautious and wanting to retreat back to the point in the attacking zone when he's unsure unlike Quinn who'll hold up behind the net even without the puck. I think his defence will come around as he matures but it's pretty unlikely he'll ever be a shutdown guy. If he does boy he could be special though because no defenceman his size I can think of skates quite as nimbly as he does (although I'd say he's the weakest of his brothers in that regard due to his higher centre of gravity and uptight skating stride).
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Jul 20, 2021 15:44
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Ginette Reno posted:Where the slam dunks at The next two drafts which have three out of the box franchise players in them including the best prospect since McDavid in Connor Bedard (2023).
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Jul 20, 2021 15:57
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Wright's highlights are from his age 15 season where he scored at a slightly better rate than McDavid at the same age. It's a shame he didn't get to play this year because I think a jump to 80-90pts wouldn't have been unreasonable to expect. Bedard is the big one. He was 2ppg in the WHL and he just turned 16 this week. He's young for his draft class and still putting up numbers miles ahead of McDavid at the same age (and a July birthday versus January for McDavid). His big test will be his first full season with Regina this upcoming season and that'll be the first real metric we'll have to compare him and McDavid (who had 99 pts aged 16). If Bedard puts up something around that the hype train will seriously begin. Matvei Michkov is similarly well regarded in the 2023 draft. He's a late 04 birthday so a fair bit older than Bedard but 35g in 50 games in the MHL is crazy good. He had 70g 109pts in 26 games (not a typo) in the U16 league. It's quite likely he'll be a full time KHLer in his age 16 season next year. He's signed through 2026 with SKA so he'll take a long time to get to the NHL so I doubt he'll supplant Bedard but he's basically Kucherov+ and that's saying something. The next two drafts are really good. ThinkTank fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Jul 20, 2021 |
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Jul 20, 2021 16:38
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It's not rocket science, just take BPA. You can never have too many prospects in any one position because they never work out as well or as frequently as people believe. You'd have to have literally a dozen or more solid forward prospects to be statistically sure you even had two top line quality players. Even if things did work out perfectly, you can always trade from a position of strength. This isn't the NFL where you're drafting to fill a roster need tomorrow. You're selecting guys who likely won't make an appreciable impact for 4-6 years.
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Jul 20, 2021 19:33
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https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1417925497560911872?s=19 TSN have snagged the CHL TV rights from sportsnet. Pierre McGuire must be crushed.
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Jul 21, 2021 20:19
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It's draft day for the least anticipated draft ever!
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Jul 23, 2021 11:57
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 16:27 |
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https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/1418559618599596040?s=19 https://twitter.com/SadClubCommish/status/1418587453179383809?s=19 This is gonna be bad
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Jul 23, 2021 16:05
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