Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks, your source of information
and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey league. Fuck off to step
hit on, stay lost. Here's your hosts, Jesse soup Here and Victor
Nuno Fantasy Hockey Live back when began to talk about Fantasy Hockey Dynasty Fantasy Hockey.
I am Jesse Severe and joining me it is Victor Nuno. Victor,
how you doing over there? I'm doing awesome, Jesse. We are in
the thick of our draftastic series. We love to do this talk draft and
hope everybody as excited as we are because we got such great guests today.
Mitch just a fantastic guy with such great knowledge, So I hope everyone brought
their listening years today. How are you doing. I'm doing great. I'm
doing great. Love getting the lowdown, getting four one one on many of
these prospects that we've been following for quite a while in Mitch brings some great
insights. Man. But yeah, it's getting to be midsummer. I don't
know how this happened, Victor. But now free agency is over, now
the draft is over, and now I'm counting the days as we got July
in August here and then it's going to start getting cold in Wisconsin again,
and that depresses me. But hockey will come back when it gets cold.
I guess that's good. That's the consolation prize for me. Yeah, this
time without hockey is tough. But there's a lot of prospect tournaments. There's
the development camps. There's a link. I went to the Sharks development scrimmage,
which you'll hear a little bit me commenting on that. That was super
fun to see all the prospects. And feel free to hit me up if
you are interested in how any of the guys are doing. I mentioned some
of them, but there's a whole lot going on, so you get some
of that. But you're right, it's not the same as the NHL season
starting, and so at least you've got that going for you once the weather
starts changing in Wisconsin. Let me tell you, if you want to hit
Victor up, I highlight reck Victor is one of the best hit or up
ed people. No, never mind, I can't make a I can't make
an objective now and out of that, Victor, if people want to reach
you, they can do that on our discord and to get on our discord.
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fan Hockey Life. You on Twitter at Victor Nuno twelve, You who went
over one thousand followers just here recently, tremendous stuff. Just in time for
Twitter to die, you have now achieved us a great number of followers.
That's not even as many as you deserve, Victor for the good content you
put out, but at least it's a nice it's a nice milestone, right,
Yeah, thousand on Twitter and I think ten on threads, So if
you want to do that, you can find me on there. I think
it's at Victor. I think I had to use my Instagram handle, which
is not something I ever really do. But yeah, if Twitter dies then
we need to switch on over. So yeah, it's v c K t
R one two at on threads. So yeah, that's a whole new thing
that is apparently happening. It's what I like, Jesse, is just the
CEO wards that are happening with Musk and Zuckerberg, because it's, yeah,
we're just the pawns in the end here, but it's fun to it's fun
to see them grumble at each other. Yeah, despite all my rage,
I'm still just write in a cage, Victor. That's all I can say
about that. But I can say many things about fantasy hockey and about our
stuff. Actually it's better to have Victor say them because he says them more
intelligently and accurately. But we have cool things to give away for people who've
been following the NHL Draft, right, Victor, that's right. So we
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out if you want to become a patron and playing this thing. All right,
Victor, that is it for our introduction here. Let's take a break
and come back and talk with our guy, Mitch Brown. Welcoming one of
your top favorite draft guys into this episode here. Mitch Brown of EP Ringside,
ready to talk about some of these drafts, of these draft picks from
this year. How are you doing today, Mitch doing great. Thanks for
having me on, Jesse and Victor. I really appreciate it. Yeah.
No, we love getting your insights on some of these guys, and you
were right in the thick of things with the draft this year, right.
Yeah, it was not a great time for my mental and physical health,
that is for sure. I think I hit two thousand game reports or something
like that. For the draft guide. We have four hundred players in there.
I watched the six hundred games. Yeah, I'm still recovery. I
might have to just take some time off until October for the sake of your
personal well being. We'll try not to to go too long today, but
you could probably recite some of these in your sleep by this point because you're
so familiar with the player pool. Some of the guys we decided to talk
about today's are some of your favorites or some of the takes that you have
come out of this draft with one of them, and starting with the guys
who went too high. We've talked about these on some of our past episodes,
but Nate Danielson was the first one on our list. Mitch, Steve
Eiserman, he doesn't care about your mock draft. If you were making a
mock draft, Steve Eiserman's going to bust it because he took Danielson, a
six two center from Red Deer who has been playing for the Brandon weak Kings
for the past three years. Last year, in fact, he was the
captain, and the last two years Nate Danielson has had greater than a point
per game pace. My first reaction when I heard this pick was it was
a re But Steve Eiserman has made a dope of me before, so I
need some true scouting take of what's going on here. What is Danielson going
to be Mitch? And could Detroit have done better with this picky about They
absolutely could have done better in my estimation. The other side of it,
though, too, is that he's a six foot two center. Where's the
Sea improved defensively a whole lot throughout the season, and they've had success taking
speedy or forwards and helping them learn the nuances of the game. So I
think from their eyes it's a justifiable decision. Personally, I would have rather
just taken Oliver More if we're looking at that archetype of speedy guy who needs
to learn the nuances of the game. So in Danielson's case, it's a
lack of layers. I think that really put some people off, including myself.
So you see a guy who can deek through opponents at times, he
can set up some chances, he can get to the net. It's really
just if you want to do those things in the NHL without being an insanely
fast skater or just looking on Trey's affing to see you as an example a
guy who was insanely fast but can do a lot of those things. You
need to have more layers to your game. You need to be deceptive,
you need to be able to change pace and draw opponents towards you, and
Nate Danielson doesn't really do that at this stage. And even though he's fast,
he doesn't have a ton of emotion skill. So for me, that
was about, I don't know, fifteen spots too high, and especially if
you're evaluating within that archetype, they want a center who plays fast, who
plays to the net. I thought there were better players available in that as
well. Plus it would have been fun to have Oliver Moore and Dylan markin
and the same team. And yeah, they're the same player according to some.
But yeah, anyways, that was interesting. Let's move on to the
next guy, Charlie Stramel, who went twenty first overall to Minnesota high on
draft boards after his D minus one, but had a really rough season at
Wisconsin, only scoring twelve points in thirty three games. I know you guys
had him at forty seven pure ringside. I definitely saw him as a second
rounder, and he went up a little bit according to where Minnesota took him.
So what are your thoughts on him? Do you think he can regain
some of that scoring prowess or is he just going to be more of like
a bottom six guy that's a little bit tough to play against. I think
he's certainly a bottom six guy who's tough to play against, and how tough
he is to play against will dictate how good of a pick this becomes.
Really, if he continues to be what he is now, there's a chance
he's just a tweener. If he gets super pesky then and raises his ceiling
a little bit. I think in Minnesota's case, the first factor here is
probably that you saw him with the NTDP where while he was injured he did
show a little bit more dynamic ability. And the second thing is the consint
is bringing in Mike Haystons, who, as we know, coach Minnesota State
University, which is one of the most well structured offensively tilted teams in the
entire ends double A. So that's a massive upgard in terms of coaching,
from literally playing the worst system possible in Wisconsin to having the guy who might
be tactically the best. So it's really like, even then, though I'm
trying to like give it, give get in their head a little bit,
but like, even from that perspective, I still find it difficult to justify
it because we just don't have the proof of concept of him with these skills.
When you're picking a guy in that draft spot, it's okay to go
low on upside, but there was so much talent available at twenty first.
I just I have a difficult time rationalizing it. And I guess, to
Streamle's credit, like he's a good player, I think more likely than that
he will develop more of that power side of his game and he'll play.
And Minnesota has a historically been a team that has emphasized skill in the draft,
especially in the Judd Brackett Era. So I could be way out to
lunch here, but that was just one that I really struggled with personally.
They could have taken Quinn Mustie that would have been maybe a little bit better.
And he certainly has a bit of an edge to his game too,
Like down this stretch he was in everyone's face. We'll certainly get to talk
a bit more about that guy, but next, let's talk about Oliver Bonk,
Philly's second and less buzzy first round pick. A tall defenseman, that's
what we know NHL GMS like early in the draft. Canadian by birth,
but the son of the number three overall pick twenty nine years ago, Radic
Bonk of Chechia. Oliver played for the London Knights last year, put up
ten goals, thirty assists for forty points and sixty games for the OHL runner
up London Knights. My sense of this guy is he's a defensive defenseman,
not particularly useful to us fantasy types and unless they become just minute hogs who
just get a ton of minutes and a crew accounting stats from that, where
do you see Bonk's career going and where did you see his value relative to
his peers in this draft, Mitch, so, I think he's probably a
bottom pairing defenseman in the NHL. He's a little bit on the bland side,
right. I think he needs to develop a clear identity. Normally guys
like that don't go in the first round, but when you're a London Knight,
that is your identity and so teams don't care. They'll pick you wherever,
which I mean Easton Cowen is another example of the London Knight bump.
I think to a lesser degree, mind you, but still in Bon's case,
it's just you need to see him either lean more on the defensive skills,
the angling guy's physicality and so on. You want to see him jump
into the play a little bit more. You want to see him deviate from
London's incredibly stupid breakouts. You want to see him actually l try plays and
stuff like that. London doesn't really do that overall. And then from a
projection standpoint, it's Sam Dickinson next year is going to be the guy who's
going to get all the offensive opportunities most likely, and that's going to eat
a little bit into a Bonx opportunity. With Logan Mayu going pro we were
hoping that Bonk would get that chance. Sam Dickinson has proven this past season
that he's a legit top prospect for twenty twenty four, and I think he
might be number one, And Bonk might have a virtually identical season to the
one that he had playing the number two, number three, a little bit
of special teams, but not much flash, and so it's a safe,
a boring pick. I think he's gonna play, but just not the type
of value that I'm looking at for a late first rounder. Of course,
Philadelphia had an exciting draft overall, so it's hard to really hang this one
on them. Yeah, they sure did. They fell into one of the
best players in the draft. But we're not talking about Mitch cough but you
already mentioned the other guy we're gonna talk about London Knights. Easton Cowen might
have been the shock of the first round when I was there. Probably the
most audible gasps I heard was when the Maple Leafs took Cowen at twenty eighth
overall. You guys had him ranked sixty six. Some of the scouts I
talked to there suggested he was going in the next ten to fifteen picks.
Anyway, So maybe it wasn't that big of a reach. We don't really
know that for sure, but he certainly didn't have that many points in terms
of what the raw number is fifty three points and sixty eight games. But
I know a lot of people mentioned his linear upward trajectory throughout the season and
through the playoffs. So if you believe that, maybe there's more there,
but you're a little more conservative on Easton Cowan, what's your take on him?
So personally I would have ranked him higher than where we ended up putting
him at a laite prospects. I think his motor is like exceptional, one
of the best in the entire draft, and this was a great draft for
workers. He's physical, he has a little bit of a pest annoying side
to his game, and on top of that, the thing that separates him
from other sort of average skating smaller players is that he doesn't really rely on
skills or plays that he won't be able to make it the next level.
He doesn't really try to outscape people, he doesn't really try to dangle through
everyone. He's more of a get open in the right place, move the
pocket at the right time, draw pressure cut back and so on and so
forth. So I think he's a pretty translatable player. He definitely got the
lundon nights, he definitely got the playoffs run bump. So those are two
things that are worth considering. And then from the leaf standpoint, I think
they and other teams have done the trade back thing before, thinking that they're
going to get their guy, and then they did not get their guy.
Colin obviously their guy for picking him a twenty eighth. Overall, it seems
reasonable to pick him there if you really believe in him, And in that
sense I understand it. I just think you're picking you're leaving some value on
the table. Is he better than Grayson SuChin, who is a similar player
in that same archtype. I don't think so, So I would have preferred
to see them go that direction, or maybe the Bradley and a Doe direction,
for just getting a guy who could potentially fill the net. I think
it's a relatively reasonable pick because obviously they see upside in him that other people
don't, So in that case, they probably see him more as they do
it all up and down top nine winger, whereas I see him more as
a third line guy. So in that case, and in that sense,
I get the pick. It was just one of those weird ones too,
because no one was talking about him really as a first round. I don't
know if any real public outlet had him as a first and generally, like
you, generally you have an idea guys that are going to go hire.
We knew all over Bonk was going to go higher than where most people in
the public sphere had him writed, especially us who grappled with him like in
the seventies or whatever. So it was certainly an interesting one and I get
I get through logic, I'm more sympathetic to it than say it the Nate
Danielson one. So yeah, that's It'll be interesting to see what happens next
year, that is for sure. The good news is he's going to a
situation in Toronto where I'm sure he'll be anonymous, that nobody will be paying
attention to how things go with him. Yeah, no pressure him, no
pressure, a guy who I think, Wow, a guy who is probably
also going to come in with the little less pressure. But for Reels,
Zach Benson, we're going now moving into some guys who went too low by
your estimation in this draft. And I think he's surprised, at least me,
he surprised many, falling to number thirteen to the Buffalo Sabers. A
reminder to listeners, he is a bit smaller at five to ten, which
doesn't play as well with NHL gms. He played for the Winnipeg Ice last
year, putting up ninety eight points in sixty games. Scouting reports from our
show have emphasized his intelligence and is polished. Just how good his game is
already. Where would you value Benson in this class, Mitch? If you
were looking for future scoring potential, how good will this guy be in the
NHL? I think he will be a top line scorer who can potentially challenge
for a salpe. Like we're talking about an insanely dynamic and insanely intelligent and
an incredibly hard working player, one of the best players that has come through
recent drafts. Like I'm taking him first overall in twenty twenty two, no
hesitation. We had him ranked fifth overall the Draft guide that I didn't even
write his profile, and the person who wrote his profile is like, this
dude is a first overall caliber talent. And I think when you look at
Winnipeg last year, they had a bunch of top end talent. Savoy geeky.
First half the season, geek he looked really good. Why because he
played with Benson. Savoy looks really good in the second half. Why does
that happen? Because he's playing with Benson. He elevates everyone around him,
but yet still is the play driver. He's still the big fish. He's
the guy who can completely control the game. And I think more particularly when
you watch him, there isn't really anything that suggests he's not going to be
able to do it in the NHL, Like he might lose some of his
effectiveness. Absolutely, but at the end of the day, he's not the
type of guy who's going to deak through an entire team. He's going to
get to puck, make a quick move, then offloaded to an open teammate.
He's the master of making these high paced, deceptive, manipulative plays where
he's bringing everyone towards him and then beating them and then on the Board's playmaking
is the best in the draft class. Even if he loses twenty five percent
of that, he's still going to be the best in the draft class.
No one can make the plays through contact that he can so in a way,
he's more prepared for the NHL, certainly in that area than a lot
of bigger players are. Because, as we know size, being small can
be a disadvantage, it can also be an advantage. You can get lower
drive through players legs and so on and knock them off balance. And if
you are bigger, that's not an automatic to being better along the boards.
You're more easily knocked off balance. You say you have a bigger reach,
so players can easily get underneath your stick and so on. So I think
in Benson's case, it's really just teams forgetting what has been working. Even
in the playoffs, Like Jonathan Marshastow, everyone wants to talk about how big
that Vegas team is, who was their best player in the playoffs? Everyone
wants to talk about Tampa Bay's towering blue line. Who is brightham point.
Well, there's a lot. There are a lot of different ways that I
think the anti Benson the size argument is easily refuted just by looking at what's
been happening in the NHL for the past few years. I think sometimes NHL
teams see what happens in the playoffs and they assume that has to be they
think all this team, they had a bunch of top and tall guys,
and it's yeah, they're tall and good, and also the best player on
the team is five ten, so maybe try to pick the guy who's five
ten and can be the best player on the team. I love Zak Benson,
and I know we've talked to Joel Henderson, who follows WHL really well,
and last year we were talking about Winnipeg and he was talking about how
Zack Benson was many times the best player on the ice and that continued this
year. He's just it's hard not to say so many good things about him,
and super nice kid when I met him in person, really confident,
not in a cocky way either. Yeah, he's just really good. Let's
talk about another guy who's really good, and we already mentioned him or I
did. Quentin Musty. He went twenty six overall to the San Jose Sharks.
You guys has had him ranked twelfth. It's also worth mentioning he's very
young for this draft class. I was at the Sharks development camp scrimmage a
couple of days ago Mitch and he basically was a star of the show.
It was his birthday actually, on July six, he had a hat trick
pretty much upstage Will Smith in a really funny moment, later challenge Will Smith
to a fake fight because he slashed him on one of the plays that led
to a goal. It was pretty fun. But Musty seventy eight points in
fifty three games for Sudbury. He just looks like a really strong late round
pick, late first round pick that probably should have gone a lot earlier.
Right, Yeah, absolutely, He's what six ft one in a bit,
He's got great hands. He added a physical side to his game later in
the season, the defense became a strength. He's got ankle breaking moves.
He can shoot it off the pass like an Nhller. He can set up
teammates for high danger chances over and over again. He's got incredible confidence.
He's young. It's like, how does this guy go twenty sixth It doesn't
make any sense to me. He's closer to a top ten pick than a
late first round lean, a late first rounder all things considered. And the
interesting partament Musty two is that coming into the Ohl, he was more of
a shooter, and even last year he was more of a shooter, and
then this season he's playing with David go yet, so he takes on more
of a playmaking role. He's trying to set him up for scoring chances,
and oh suddenly he's one of the best playmakers in the entire CHL. He
was like an assist per game, and so we haven't even really seen the
full extent of his finishing ability. He's one of the best shooters in the
draft class. Like I said, he could really rip it off the pass,
which is what you're looking for NHL level shooting ability. So I just
I guess my thoughts on development camp analysis are it's stupid unless it's someone like
Musty being great and proving me right in the very short term, than yes,
I'm all for development camp analysis, but it really just ties into a
broader theme of Quentin Musty being really freaking good and not getting enough credit for
it. Yeah. I love someone put a tweet out that was like every
prospect is amazing at development Camp and just recycles that tweet every single year because
it's true, everyone looks amazing and you're like, this guy is gonna be
the next coming of Sidney Crosby and then turns out he doesn't even play in
the league or whatever. So, yeah, you're right, but there definitely
are some sometimes you can overreact to things. But yeah, there are times
when you see things like that and you're like, how did this guy wait
till twenty six? And Will Smith who looked okay taking fourth overall? Like
he wasn't that exciting. I don't think that means anything necessarily, but Musty
looking great? Yeah, it proves Mitch right. So that's that we're gonna
go with that in the short term. We'll see how wrong I will be
in the long term. But I just I have a difficult time grassman.
So even play in the LHL scores one and a half points per game in
the OH, who scores one and a half points per game in the OH
and goes twenty six? It's just not a thing that happens. It's just
so weird to me. Mentioned Grayson Sachen before as a guy who compared to
Toronto's first round pick in terms of an archetype. I believe if I caught
that. He was a forward for the Seattle Thunderbirds this year, and he
made the jump from the US national team development program to the WHL, put
up a point per game in his first chance there. Florida snagged him at
the end of the second round, another perceived value relative to where he was
picked. Talking about Joel Henderson again, he mentioned that he thought the production
was suppressed for Sauchin last year because of the way he was deployed on his
team. But what do you think about Sachin and the Cats. Is this
guy going to go on to be a high scoring player and a strong forward
for the Florida Panthers someday. Adeli Prospects we ranked him thirteenth overall, fully
acknowledging the risk of a point per game dude who played in a depth role
in the second half of the season largely now he was seemingly injured for a
lot of that playoff run, and in the first half of the season.
I actually thought that was where he played his best hockey. He was incredibly
dynamic. He just didn't get all the points to show for it. I
think in a different environment, in a different system, say, if he
got Andrew Christall's freedom to do whatever he wants without fear, he probably would
have had a much more productive first half of the season. In Stagin's case,
it's a combination of a few things. He's got some of the best
hands in the draft class. He's one of the most inside driven players that
I've ever seen in the CHL. Absolutely fearless, and he's one hundred and
fifty pounds. Few players one hundred and fifty pounds two hundred and twenty pounds
can absorb and make plays through contact like he can. So he might always
be a smaller guy in the NHL, but he's already prepared to make the
same plays in the NHL that he does in junior. Add in the incredible
motor, add in the defense, and there's a lot of upside here.
I think NHL teams probably a little bit scared of how he played in the
second half, probably a little bit scared of the size, a little bit
scared of the skating. I think the skating one is relatively valid because when
you look at puck protection in the NHL, you're trying to get your back
to the player. You're trying to initiate the turn with your outside edge that
will allow you to absorb contact, puts you in a more dynamic position.
He does a lot of the inside edge turns, like when you're skating heel
to heal kind of thing. Then you just turn around and it stops you
in the same place where you start. You don't really have the same tightness
or exit velocity from it. And he doesn't do that a ton, or
he does that too much, So it's just some Maybe he's not perfectly translatable
in the current iteration of his game, but he showed a lot of skills
that should allow him to adapt. It was a bit of a risk putting
him thirteenth overall, but in terms of just pure top end upside, like
I think you're looking at a guy who can play top sixth center in the
NHL. It's just a few years away from really starting to get on that
path. Probably definitely. Nick Lardis is the next guy we're going to talk
about. He went sixty seventh to Chicago. You guys had him ranked thirty
third. Really young kid. Another one actually as we're recording, that's it's
a birthday, So happy birthday, Nick Lardis. I'm sure you're listening to
the show. And he had a lot of goals in the OHL twenty five
goals for Hamilton of the OHL, and he also had twelve goals for Peterborough.
I guess I should mention so he split his time there, and he's
someone who I think got the Chicago got really good value. Obviously, coming
away with Bedard you're going to have a good draft no matter what. But
I think a lot of people were talking about this pick as being really sneaky
and one of the best scorers that that the OHL had so tell us about.
Nick lardis insanely fast, loves to take the puck to the net.
He can rip it and score goals from the perimeter. The playmaking improved a
lot throughout the season, the pace improved a lot throughout the season. I
think he's a little bit of a risky pick in the sense that we don't
fully know his skill level. It was only half the season where he was
a NHL Draft pick caliber. But on the other hand, he's the same
size as Brandon Jagger. He outscored Brandon Yeager buy a mile in the second
half of the season. You project them to do relatively the same things shooting,
powerplay, scoring, some defense. So why does one guy go fourteenth
and the other guy goes sixty seventh. It was a little bit of a
word one I thought personally, and I think in Lardus's case, again,
there is the risk because we don't really know, but he was a top
guy coming into the OHL. He was a fifth overall pick. He has
the resume. He has a lot of interesting elements to his game from that
will support the scoring game, not just the speed, but also how he
improved his playmaking and how he's able to get open inside space and so on.
So I think Chicago was looking at a potential top six, second,
maybe third line score depending on how things go tremendous. Let's take a short
break, come back and talk more with Mitch Brown. Mitch, the next
guy we want to talk about is Caden Price, the defenceman who slipped to
the late third to the Seattle cracking. He was a Colonna Rocket last year,
is still almost two months from his eighteenth birthdays. We recorded today,
put up forty points and sixty five games, in addition to five assists in
seven games for Canada's UA teen World Junior's team and five points in five games
at the Gretzky Olinka. Not bad for a defenceman. We broadcast some of
his draft scrum talk on our episode a couple of weeks ago, as well
as some very positive talk from Seattle officials on getting him at this point in
the draft and some of his potential offensive upside. Price himself said he played
through injuries last year and he he really takes pride in playing a two way
game. What makes Price of value in your eyes in this draft and what
you think is the eventual role that he's going to have. So he's one
of the best playmaking defensemen in the entire draft class. You see it on
the breakout where he's very good at drawing pressure, evading it, passing through
it, starting the rush, and from the offensives own blue line. He
can pull off all sorts of dazzling moves, but it's really about how he
can move through a pass reception, head up the entire time, and then
spot a teammate creeping down the far post. He's also a relatively solid rush
defender too, So at all those things in and there's little doubt that he
has middle pairing upside. It's just that his game to game performance, shift
to shift performance was so volatile, maybe the most inconsistent player I've seen in
quite some time. There were some games where he's ripping backdoor passes that you've
never seen coming, and then there are other games where he's scared to touch
the puck. So the injuries certainly play a point. But he's always been
a player who has some volatility to his game. Part of that is the
skating. He can be elusive and so on, but without exceptional explosive or
speed, his game has to rely more on deception and craft and timing and
so on, and if one of those things isn't working, then the rest
of his game seems to fall apart. So if he can fix that confidence,
if he can not let mistakes compound, he'll play. He'll play in
the NHL. Like I said, in middle pairing upside, but there's a
lot of work to do. I really like that by Seattle, who continues
to have one of the funnest and most interesting draft strategies in the entire league.
That's a good way to describe it, for sure. So the next
guy we're going to talk about, Luca Cagnoni, fell all the way down
one hundred and twenty third overall, But pretty cool for a guy who did
not get drafted into the WHL to get drafted into the NHL. Even though
he was a fourth round selection. He was a thirty second d off the
board. You guys at ep Ringside had hardly had thirty two better players ranked
than Cagnoni, because you had him thirty fourth. He's only five nine,
so I'm sure that's a big part of why he fell. But any three
pounds, it's pretty stout and nearly a point per game at the Portland Winner
Hawks of the WHL sixty four points in sixty seven games. Yeah, I
guess I could throw in my two cents about what he looked like at the
prospects scrimmage. He definitely had some pretty good awest offensive moves, but he
looked average or a little worse defensively in terms of playing against some of those
bigger players. So that's the concern I think is how is he going to
hold up because as he grows in levels and hopefully plays professional hockey's gonna have
to play against much bigger players. So is that a concern for CACNOONI.
You guys obviously seem to really like him there. Yeah, it's absolutely a
concern, and I think to his credit late in the season he really improved
of rush defense. He was on guys earlier poking away pucks, going shoulder
to chest and knocking away plays a lot faster, So I think in that
sense, the rush defense could be his strength. And as we see with
smaller defenseman in the NHL, you either have to be insanely dynamic or you
can take the Matt Rizzlock route, where you're just very good at breaking up
plays before they get to the blue line and then making the first pass to
escape the zone. So Cagnoni has a lot of different directions that his game
can go, and all of them will be valuable players in the NHL provided
he continues to tighten his decision making. He's one of the most dynamic players
in the entire draft from a playmaking standpoint and from an activation standpoint. So
this was a really nice pickup for San Jose one hundred and twenty third overall
for that level of talent. With shocking, let's go even deeper into the
draft, because the last of these guys who you saw as a significant value
in this draft really fell. Connor Levis, a sixty one centerman. He
went number two hundred and ten in the seventh round to the Winnipeg Jets.
You can't accuse NHL teams of just scouting the stat line because he had sixty
seven points and sixty eight games for the Kamloops Blazers last year. What's the
catch? What happened with Connor Levis? And why do you think that he
ought to have been picked higher? And he was Mitch so skating and he
was a little rough and down the stretch for a variety of reasons. But
at the end of the day, he just wasn't good enough to maintain his
status in the NHL circles. Now, the reason to believe in him is
that he's an incredibly crafty playmaker off the boards. Skating is not an advantage
for him, So what does he do. He sneaks away, gets the
puck, rips it to the inside to an open teammate. We see a
lot more dynamic stuff from him in flashies. He's not really a puckhandler,
but he knows how to attack the inside. He knows how to shoot,
he knows how to get open and then fire, and so he's a little
bit of a specialist. He's ther fourth line playmaker guy who can do some
cool stuff in the playoffs for you. But if he can improve any of
those individual skills just a little bit more, then you're looking at a player
who can maybe crack a third line role, maybe get say, traded for
way too much at the trade deadline. So I thought this was a really
interesting one. I personally thought he was going to go second a third round,
So those are some good late round steals move up your fantasy draft board.
Then I asked you, Mitch, about just some of your personal favorite
guys to talk about, and the first one we already mentioned his name,
matt Vey Mitchkoff, seventh overall to Philly. The Philly the era of the
Flyers with Danny Brier at the Helm is a new era. It's exciting to
see. We thought he'd fall on draft day. I'm not sure everyone thought
he'd go there, but it seems like he maneuvered his way to end up
in Philly, which I think is interesting. And we've heard a lot about
Mitchkoff this year, but I really want to hear you talk about matt Vey
Mitchkoff. What do you like about him so much? So for me,
this pick is really about Philadelphia more than it is about Mishkov, because I
think it's signaled a couple of things. First, is that they're taking a
guy who more than more likely than not, they're not going to see in
their lineup for three years, which this is great. Philadelphia needs to burn
it to the ground. This is perfect. You burn it to the ground
three years time. This dude comes over and right away he's probably a top
six wayer for you. So it solidifies their timeline. And on top that
that Philadelphia was willing to take him signified that the error of the Flyer's drafting
stupid is over look. I don't love the Oliver Bonk pick, but the
rest of that draft was good. Like they added Biarnison, they added Denver
Barky, which was a real nice pickup. In the third. Cole Canoebal
was a solid pickup in the Barquey mold. Alex Sheernick is all paced.
There's a real chance that he doesn't play, but just the chance you can
add a player with that level of speed, that level of skill on the
fourth is great. Carter Southern is a big, creative defenseman, very much
in the Trevis Sanhai mold. So there's they that pick really set the stage.
And I think when you're looking at from an outside perspective or even as
a Philadelphia Flyers fan, the Matthew Meach coop signifies at the beginning of a
new era in Philadelphia, one that's emphasizing skill, speed and isn't a phrase
to pick smaller players at the expensive size, and isn't afraid to take some
risks. And I think that's really it. That's what you want, especially
in this situation in Philadelphia where your team has been caught in the middle for
so long. Man Dan Brier is a rock star lately. He's really done
great things since he's come to the Philadelphia Flyers. Next up of the guys
that you really like, matthew Wood. Barry Trots's first pick for the Nashville
Predators was a big forward who had nearly a point per game in Yukon as
the youngest player in the NCAA, No big deal. He had almost a
goal and an assist per game and seven contests for Canada at the U eighteens
that culminated in a four point championship win over Slovakia, including two assists to
Maclan. Celebrity ever heard of him? One was on the overtime championship winner.
What makes matthew Wood special and what kind of statistical profile do you think
he will eventually put for the Preds. But let's go back to that play
the overtime winner, because I think it really explains Matthew woods game. When
he comes in, he told rags and then he realizes, Oh, I
can't beat this dude, So then he just makes a little soft touch pass
into space for his teammate to pick up and finish the playoff. And that's
what makes Wood such an interesting player. It's that he's very aware that he's
slow, so he weaponizes it. He draws in players and then at the
very last possible second, he feathers that puck to an open teammate. I
think we had him ranked fifteenth or sixteen, so this was right about his
range. It wasn't insane value by any stretch of the imagination. But I
like the fit with Nashville. I think he gives them another dynamic scoring option.
And of course there's a chance that he's just there's a chance that you
get you hit a Grand Slam with him, because he's so smart, he's
so skilled. Every small step in his game will improve every other aspect of
his game. So you can look at it as, oh, he'll never
play if his skitting doesn't improve, But what if it improves half step?
That's top six forward easily with a bullet and so I'd really like to fit
there. And again I like the Nashville is drapped overall, like Melendix,
Felix Nielsen, Callen Lynn Keiskin in King of Violence, Dylan McKinnon, Joey
Willis. This was a real solid class all around for Nashville, and it
signifies I think a little bit of a change in how they're selecting players and
slin and I think this is I think the new era in Nashville is off
to a great start, all right. Moving back to the Tonto Maple Leafs
at one hundred and eighty fifth overall, they took Noah Chadwick six foot,
four hundred and eighty seven pound left handed d at of Lethbridge in the WHL.
Didn't score a lot, just twenty points in sixty seven games. You
guys had him ranked one hundred and thirty seconds, so they got him a
bit later than projected. I don't really know much about him, Mitch,
So why is he one of your favorites? Because he's a player who you
look at the stat line and you look at his size, and you assume
one thing and you watch him, but he's very much. Not that.
Do you think, oh he's big defensive defenseman, he can't defend. He
is an offensive playmaker from the blue line and in one of the most creative
players in the WHL. He sees lanes developing that very few players do.
He tries to deek off the point like cal mccar He sets up chances that
very few players have the confidence to pull off. And that's really the angle
here. At six foot four, When you can set up chances like that,
do you have a ton upside for him and will come down to skating
improving the defense significantly. But I like this swing a lot. It was
I didn't expect him to get drafted and to see him go to the Maple
Leafs, a team that has had success with with say, poor skating players,
poor defending players, and helping them improve just that little bit more.
I think this was a good fit and it was nice to see a player
who is understated by the production get rewarded like this. The next one of
your favorites is a bit of a smuggle, but will allow it. Anaheim's
Day two selections mostly Colson Petrie, Ride Wins, Dionicio, and Voytech port
in just recapping quickly, Anaheim picked course of the first pick in rounds.
He got Petre the top of the third round, a point per game right
winger from the Flint Firebirds. Dionicio, a Windsor Spitfire defenseman who went in
the fifth round after forty three points and thirty three games in the OHL,
as well as he was part of the Swiss U twenty World Junior Championship team,
and Port started off the sixth round, a check defenseman playing in the
Wahl's Edmonton Oil Kings didn't score a ten last year, but reviews say the
offense may not be a zero. Nonetheless, why did you love Anaheim's draft?
Mitch so? I like the CARLSONO or Fantilly thing. I wouldn't have
done it personally, but I think that's fun. And then their Day two
start off with Niko Miyanovic, who I do not value in that spot at
all, and I was like, oh boy, what's Annaheim doing? And
then they started winning me over again, as Anaheim often does. They always
have one or two weird ones, and I'm like, what are they thinking?
And then they just keep adding talent like Coulson Pietra. Okay, bring
it back a little bit. Anaheim likes their tall but relatively lanky players,
hoping that they can fill out and doing that will allow them to become more
effective players. Over all. This as an archetype they have valued in the
Martin Madden years for forever now and me add fits that for sure. But
Pietra just do it as a wrecking ball any skin. So you hope that
he's gonna add some weight and the way that he plays, he's gonna become
even more violent. He's gonna become even more effective, and he's got a
ton of skill. I thought that was a fun one. Denizio I had
a Twitter thread about him, even though I'm vehemently opposed to the idea of
Twitter threads, He's one of them. Okay, He's incredibly unique. There
isn't another player like him. He's he sets up scoring chances like a forward,
He sees the game like a forward. He even played forward for Windsor
for a little bit, which is the position he played growing up. And
he was better than Shane Wright. Like they put him on. They put
him on their first line and then he was the play driver. So it
just goes to show you how interesting of a player he is this game will
happen, prove though, and then port He's not the let's say, the
classic sort of breakout player. He didn't score much. If you watch him
that he might not be the most exciting player, but as you continue to
accumulate viewings, you start realizing or picking up on the patterns, and he
does all of the things needed to become a more dynamic player in time.
And of course he's a little bit on the thinner side six foot two one
seven d ish and so fits the Anaheim Duck's archetype. They're a team that
values size that continually picks the best players within that archetype, which is something
I enjoy, all right. Another guy, Jeremy Henzel, double overageer taken
one hundred and eighty seventh by Avalanche by the Avalanche fe nearly two hundred pounds
forty eight points in sixty six games for the Seattle Thunderbirds, who I'm still
shocked did not win the Memorial Cup with how well they played in the WHL.
But he, unless I'm reading the guide wrong, you guys didn't rank
him, So I guess why is Jeremy Hanzel one of your favorites? We
ranked him as a player that should be picked somewhere in the third to fifth
round, so he gave him a C grade, So in that sense,
we ranked him. But in Hansel's case, we ranked him in his draft
here, so two years ago when he was a non scoring, can't defend
player, and then in the playoffs of this year he became Seattle's number one,
their go to shutdown guy, one of the best defensive defenders in the
entire WHL. So that's some incredible growth right there. And then you add
the fact that he's still the same deceptive, creative playmaker that I valued in
his draft here, and for me, it was just very cool to see
another guy who we had ranked years ago finally hear his name called because his
development just was steady and he continued to improve until he was out playing Kevin
Koarkschinsky, who went seventh overall to Chicago last year. And I can't think
of a better fit stylistically in the Colorado Avalanche, the team that is the
masters of getting their defenseman into the play Hey korchynsky Stock went up a bit
last year by all accounts. Last guy we had on this list, Jimmy
Clark one of your favorites of one of the final picks in the draft by
the Minnesota Wild. Bark is a reasonable size forward who's played in the USHL
the last couple of years and conveniently is headed across town from the Wild to
play NC for the Golden Gophers this fall. What do you expect from Jimmy
Clark and why is this guy one of your favorites in the draft? So
I just love the fact that Minnesota picked a Minnesota kid who's going to Minnesota.
First off, this is the Minnesota Wild that really know what they're doing
here. I respect this a lot. As The second part of it is
that early in the season I thought he was just a hard worker, just
a hard worker, but busy b type, a guy who might be able
to make it the very bottom of your lineup, twelve thirteenth forward type.
By the end of the season, he was one of the best playmakers in
the USHL. We're not talking just setting up chances. We're talking in the
manipulating opponents, drawing pressure, passing through it, playing with pace, playing
to the middle. So all these things that I expect to translate, I
think there's a he has a long way to go, the skin will have
to improve. He's going to have to improve his ability to play with back
pressure and specific so that's a key skill for being the playmaker in the NHL.
But he's going to a school that encourages the type of passes and playmaking
that he does. In Minnesota, a team that loves those East West lateral
playbuilding type setups, and so I really like the fit there. I think
with Minnesota it's a great seventh round flyer. Lots of teams who are just
like, Hey, who's the next tall guy available? In Minnesota's who's the
next high skill guy available? So really like that one. All right,
Mitch, that is our list. That's some great information on a lot of
these draft picks. Why don't you let people know? As though they don't
know already, Mitch? But where can they keep up with your work?
You've got a lot of the best stuff going on out there for the draft.
You can follow me on the soon to be dead Twitter at Mitchell Brown
dot com. That's Mitchel Brown, and I'm on threads at Mitch Brown Hockey.
I guess I'll start cross posting stuff there at some point when I work
up the curush to actually open up the app again, we live in a
stupid time, and then headepe ringside dot com. We have a lot of
content on the draft. We have some more fun stuff coming. We have
our Draft guide if you still want to get caught up on all your favorite
players and your favorite team who they drafted him and so on. And our
YouTube page. We have a lot of breakdowns on some players and we have
a few more coming. You're an Anaheim Ducks fan, we might have an
Olan zel Legger one coming up. We might have an Oliver more coming up.
So pretty exciting time to be in the elite prospects ecosystem. Yeah,
I'm probably gonna have to give Mark Zuckerberg all my data back. I was
trying to get away from it, but I think it's too late. Death
Threads is coming for us and we'll see about that. But anyway, Mitch,
wherever it is, we're going to have to join it to keep up
with your stuff because you got great ones out there. Thank you for coming
on our show and talking NHL Draft with us. Thanks a lot, Jesse,
and thanks that jo I really appreciate your time. A reminder, and
don't you forget it. Our show is brought to you by fan Tracks.
You can move your leagues over there. You can ask them, they'll help
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There's hundreds of them, and leagues are ready to be set up today if
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Report with Peter Harling is some great listening for those following prospects. I also
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Life at Victor Nuno twelve viic t O r n U n O one two.
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then take take some shots, take some screenshots of all that, or just
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we will enter you in a drawing. It is going to be drawn for
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please enter, Please do all those nice things. Thank you for listening to
thank you to Mitch Brown for being on this one, and until next time,
good luck and keep living that fantasy hockey life.