Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by Fan Tracks. Here's your source of
information and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey leaguer. Block off hot,
this step hit on, staylock. Here's your hosts, Jesse Sevier and
Victor Nuno. Hey everybody. Jesse Severer Fantasy Hockey Life host co host and
Victor Nunio is the co host. But you know what, his voice is
not with you right now. Here's why I am back in Fantasy Hockey Life
studios and we are presenting to you today a very special two part episode like
we have last year. It's a crossover episode between Fantasy Hockey Life and Dabber
Prospects Report. And the first part is coming out right now you're hearing it.
The second part will come out on the DPR feed later in the week.
And here's what's going on. Hunt, Peter Harling and Victor Nunio went
to the NHL Draft for the second straight year. They went to the draft
and they got a lot of material, a cornucopia of material that they sent
back to me. Now here's the thing. The interviews that you get in
the draft are not necessarily Victor getting twenty minutes of one on one time with
the top prospect. Instead, there are media scrums around general managers and around
prospects where people ask questions with a recorder out and it's difficult to hear the
reporter, and then the prospect is on Mike and speaks and tries to answer
some of the questions. And a lot of times these are people who were
writing in print and their goal is to go back and write this nice report
in their hometown newspaper saying how excited the player was to have their name called
and come down, and how happy they are for their parent support and all
these things. Well, folks, here's the thing that is not necessarily the
most relevant information for our fantasy hockey listeners that we have here. So I
have accumulated all the material that Victor and Peter have provided, and I'm stitching
them into two episodes. And here's the thing. In addition to hearing those
folks, Victor and Peter had plenty of opportunities to talk to some of our
favorite experts, people who've been on the show, people who haven't, and
they had great talks about some of these prospects. Instead of hitting you with
a very long segment of prospect after prospect and just their voices, and these
interviews are fairly short, or the question and answers that we're getting are fairly
short. Instead, I am stitching them into some of the interviews that our
hosts have with some of the experts. So in the beginning of this episode,
for example, Victor and Peter are going to start out in our first
segment, and I am plugging in interviews from Jesse Paulkin, and Carter George
and Ilia Protas. All of them were discussed in the actual analysis that the
boys were doing, and they didn't know I was going to approach it quite
this way. But I make no apologies. Also, I make no apologies
for the fact that I did clean up some audio. There is some very
difficult to hear reporter questions. You probably have to strain for a little bit.
But there is a brutal number of ums and us that young men who
are not used to standing up in front of an audience are going to utter,
and I have methods of deleting those, and I have taken advantage of
them. So the audio is significantly cleaned up. Nobody is being taken out
of context or anything like that. But that's kind of how this is going
down. So I want everybody that this is the first half of it.
We're doing that segment with Victor and Peter, and then after that we're going
to have a second segment where Shane malloy speaks and Tarrett Parasak, the Washington
Capital's first round pick, is discussed. He's actually boy, He's going to
be talked about a lot between these two episodes. I've listened to a lot
more of it than you have, obviously, so I would invite everybody to
sit back, listen to this first segment, and I'll be back after the
break to tell you what we have coming up for the second half. All
right, Hey, everybody, this is Victor Pee. We're here in Vegas,
ready to talk to you about what it's like been like to be here
and give you some of our takes from the first and second round from the
draft. How you doing, Pete, I'm running on fumes, Victor.
It has been an exciting week, that's been exhausting, and it's been a
really good time. It's been a great time. I've had a great time
hanging out with you, and we've also ran into and talked to a bunch
of different people, writers, scouts, lots of different media people. It's
been it's been really eye opening. Yeah. You know, I've said it
before and I'll say it every year. The NHL Draft it's like the ball
at the end of the year. Right. That's why I do all the
work I do all year so that I can come to the NHL because it's
such a great time. I really enjoy rubb and elbows with the other media
people who have podcasts, are on different media outlets and are talking my language.
I don't have people in my private life thinking I can have these same
level conversations with So it's a lot of talking to a microphone with you and
then with actual human other human beings at the draft. Yeah, we've had
some really great, eye opening conversations about a lot of different things from what
this draft experience will be like in the future as early as next season.
We talked a lot about some rumors and things that we were hearing. Check
that out and the DPR show feed. Because we did a pre draft discussion.
We also broke down the first round some surprises that we saw and we
that we thought were interesting picks, and some value guys that we're going to
maybe go later, so we did a couple of those on location. Go
check out the DPR our Prospects Report feed for that. What we want to
do here is talk about some of the later round guys and maybe we're a
little bit interesting the fell a little bit more. How does that sound?
That sounds awesome. We just came from the second on round, so it's
fresh. We were literally there and you will hear later some of the interviews
that we got from the different scouts and writers and players and gms and all
that stuff. Definitely stay tuned for that. But this is some discussion on
some of the players, and we will try not to repeat ourselves on some
players that you're going to hear from in different parts of the show, so
we will try to avoid that. We got a couple guys that we think
are interesting. Who you got who's your first one? Pete? I could
talk about do we do Jesse Pulkinan There was some polkonan dog but feel free
all right. He was an interesting prospect in that he's a Draft plus one,
so he was passed over in last year's draft, and he's a big,
mobile defenseman with some fantasy value. And because he's a year older,
the turnaround time on him was going to be a little bit quicker in terms
of projection to the NHL. His English is obviously not his first language,
is a he's a finish prospect. And in the media podium interview Ryan Kennedy
was asking a bunch of people were asking him some questions and he was really
struggling, I think with the language barrier, because his answers were just a
lot of yeses and nos and no context or follow up. But one of
the questions that was posed to him was about how last year he wasn't really
on the radar or relevant, and that the feel on that was because he
just didn't really he didn't care enough. And so the question was what's changed,
What's made you you care more this year? And his answer was basically
yes. So I think maybe the question was lost in translation there, of
course, But what I was really curious about is the underlying concern from the
question and if he was just sitting there at eating Hamburger's last year, then
what's changed or or how confident Army that he might not just be more interested
in Hamberg's again next year? When when do you think he might come to
when I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't
know. But you expect to stay stadium late next year, I don't know,
maybe Finland maybe. What was it like playing at the World Juniors this
year, the World Junior Championship? What was that experience like, I don't
know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. This
is bad. So that was interesting. But before I knew that he was
a prospect that I had some fantasy aspirations for the reasons that I opened with
it. He's a little bit older, and he's got size and mobility and
offensive upsides. I thought that was an interesting player. He's definitely interesting,
and as we've talked about many times that islander Pool is poor, so they
got a big infusion. We already talked about Cole Eiserman going there and polking
in. That's a home run, I think, because he's a bigger,
older player and he's pretty ready to play, So that's good for them.
Yeah, let's go to another defenseman, Leo Selene Willinius. The Sharks took
at fifty three, which I thought was a pretty interesting pick. They also
really need defense. Of course, we know they went Sam Dickinson with eleven,
and we've talked a lot about that, so we don't need to waste
too much air on that. But I'm looking forward to seeing all these guys
development camp. Probably by the time you're hearing this, it'll be upon us,
and so that'll be really fun to catch all these guys. But he's
a good size, six foot left handed d he's pretty young for this draft
April tenth, so he played pretty much this whole season, mainly in the
j twenty, where he was point per game. I think that maybe some
of that offense is a little bit inflated, though I'm not sure that he's
gonna be that big offensive guy, but there's potential there to be a good
offensive defenseman. I think the biggest thing for Wellen selling Millennius is that he's
a big he's a good skater, he's good shutdown guy. He's a guy
who's a pretty robust defensive defenseman. And maybe there's a little bit more offense
there too, But he's a guy who shoots up near the top of that
pool. Obviously, behind Dickinson, they don't have too many other guys who
are super exciting, so he's one. I thought that was pretty good value
for them where they got him. And we've talked so much about how there's
great depth at D and this is exactly what we're talking about, getting a
guy at fifty third over raw where most people had him about fifteen spots earlier.
So that's pretty good value for the Sharks. I would say, would
you describe for people who have the screenplay? I would subscribers as a player,
a two way defender. I like to move the park, small player
with Yeah, I'm a good scaler, so yeah, a two way defender
for yourself. Obviously, the Sharks have a few sweets and gave me to
a little neck. Are you familiar with them? Do you knowing me on
the team? And what do you know about San Jose as a team as
fall? Yeah? I know it's it's a lot of Swedish players there.
It's a nice stay. So that's what I know that. Now, Yeah,
for yourself, what's next for your work? And obviously if you've got
development camp coming out, do you expect to be there? And then where
do you expect to play next season? So maybe juniors or we're back to
No, I'm gonna play in the Vicua Akers with the men's I signed a
two years contract there. That's my plan. I don't know for the next
two coming seasons. What ado you stream lot? Yeah, of course I'm
That's all I want. I'm gonna work hard every day to play in NHL.
Monday is a player that after Yeah, I like to watch on Mirohayes.
And he's also two a defender, a good scaler. I like to
how he plays. Yeah, I like to watch on him. Is your
of course that's my goal? I yeah, I want to play against man.
Be stronger, Yeah, work on on my things. Yeah, be
better on all the things. And yeah, be stronger, play with more
intensity. And what is you say is the strongest part of your game right
now? You don't need to rely on to play. And I would say
my smartness or my skating skills, my mobility on ice A special teams,
I would say I can play in both both panelt killing or power play.
But I have played a play this season, so I want to go for
that. It's more I think. So, Yeah, he looked pretty good
for Sweden in the international tournaments that I watched as well. He's specifically looking
for Frey and and he stood out not for his offensive prowess, but like
just as a player who I think projects maybe a little bit more reliably to
the NHL. Perhaps. Okay, I gotta talk about my local boy there,
Jacob Attaglia. I'm Kingston, Ontario, so I go to the front
Next games all the time, and he is a member of the Kingston front
Necks and he was their second round pick two years ago, and going into
this year, he was ranked pretty low on all the draft rankings, and
the player that Fronts took first that year, Gabriel Frasca, was you know,
you're a first round I don't even think he was drafted. And once
the front Necks made their coaching change, his season really turned the corner.
The new coach came in, bumped him up onto a first line with Hawk's
second round picked Paul Ledwinsky and Matthew Soto, and he never looked back.
He just started becoming a point a game player at the OHL level. I
like him, Victor. He's a nice kid for starters, and he's got
decent size. He's about six' one. He's really good in the corners
and has a good shot. But once a game he does a play or
I say to myself, ooh that was nifty, or oh I didn't see
that option. He makes some really nice plays and I've been banging his drum
all season, so it was nice to see him move into the second round
and get some get some spotlight. And I was listening to his media interview
after he was selected and one of the writers asked him if he had any
inclination that Calgary was interested in him and that's where he would be picked.
He laughed and he said, yeah, I mean I had some good interviews
with them. He goes, but I interviewed a lot of teams because I
really Calgary though. But I went to a spiritual healer and she told that
i'd get that I was going to be picked in the second round to a
Canadian team, and then she says, I think it's Calgary. So that
was weird. That's not something you expect to hear from a hockey player after
he's drafted out. His media is from So I thought that was a pretty
funny little story to share. It's a great story, and it's good stuff
that you get when you're here and you're lucky enough to be one of the
media people. I love that story. Let's move over to my next one.
That's Carter George and he had some pretty interesting things to say too.
Now, he was the third goalie taken and people may remember, I'm sure
Canadians remember that he helped backstop them U eighteen Gold. He was really good
in that tournament, and maybe not the reason they won, but he certainly
made some fantastic saves and was a big part of that. He's six foot
one, so maybe slightly undersized. He's also really young for this draft May
twentieth. It's fine, so he's drafted by the Kings fifty seventh overall,
who desperately needs some help in the goalie pipeline. It was interesting though,
he was talking about how he's been a Kings fan his whole life, pretty
much much since he was a little kid, and he watched the twenty twelve
Cup from the Kings that I didn't quite get the exploit answers to why he
was a Kings fan because he's from thunder Bay, Artario, so I don't
really I don't really get that maybe one of the players was a favorite of
his, or maybe parents or something like that. Not really sure, but
he's definitely had some pretty good numbers in the OHL. Looking at his Hockey
Prospecting card, he's forty seven percent chance of being in NHLer, which is
pretty darn good For someone who is just drafted like that, it tends to
be quite a bit lower. This was a dreamized since I've been a kid.
Obviously, growing up, I was a huge La Kings fan. I've
always dreamed of wearing the jersey and playing for them. It's pretty cool to
get drafted by this organization and that just means the world to me and your
neighbors out a lot of us. Yeah, excited a lot of people.
Yeah, I run a lot. I probably had twenty plus people back from
Thunder Bay. A lot of people came to support me, which is awesome.
It was pretty cool. Tile I'm hearing come all this way just to
support me and just show us what kind of people they are. Yeah,
they've done a lot for me. They probably were my development and they've done
a lot for providing me with resources and helped me succeed. Obviously, guys
in the room and the coaches have done a lot for me management top to
bottom. They've been incredible to me and treated me incredibly well. I can't
think of them enough, and I wouldn't be here without them. I have
yes when I went there, and probably remember it was just playing. We
played at the LA Kings practice facility, so I thought that was pretty cool
playing there, and then growing up, I think a twenty twelve cup was
pretty cool to me. And then obviously they wanted twenty fourteen too, so
that was a cherry on top for me. Any thought from jersey and logo,
I like it a lot. I'm not gonna lie, it's it's pretty
cool. It's it threw me off a little bit at first because I'm so
used to the old logo, and then once I used to it, it
looks. It looks pretty cool. I'm excited to wear it. Your style
was a goaltender and any Goldstenders stimulated throwing up. Yeah. Growing up,
I watched a lot of Price and Jonathan Wick, those kind of guys I
loved, and then once I got to an age where I started modeling my
game after guys, it came to Egorsh's Durky and Jeremy Swaven. Those two
guys are kind of same frame as me, play similar. I definitely take
a lot from them and can apply some of their attributes to my game,
and I'm still learning lots and trying to take as much as possible from either
goalies around the league. If you're wondering, the two goalies that went before
him were Overrager Illianabakoff no relation to Evgeny he's a double Overrager actually, and
then Mikhail Igoroff. So basically a couple of Russians went a little bit earlier,
and New Jersey drafted Ygorof and Colorado drafted the back off. So Day
two is always goalie day. No goalies won the first round, many goalies
went after that. Twenty four goalies actually went on Day two, five of
them in the second round, three and the third. So I don't think
we know anything about these goalies. We won't for a long time. But
I think I think Carter George is someone that you could get excited about,
especially because that LA system is pretty lacking, and so he immediately becomes one
of the most interesting players that in that pool. Yeah, he was amazing
for Canada BU teams. He was a very large reason why they won that
turnament that he was amazing. Fint me, he kept them in when they
really had no business being in the game. At times. But let's talk
about Luke Misa. Michael Mesa's older brother. Michael Mesa's got the exceptional status
in the Ontario Hockey League playing with Saganaw but Luke's coming out of the OHL
as well, and a lot of people had him in their first round and
he's with the Mississauga Steelheads, and he was a late first early second round
pick in a lot of people's rankings, I think, And he fell into
the bottom of the sixth round with pick one hundred and fifty, another Calgary
Flames pick there. So I talked to a couple of people about that.
I was like, hey, Luke Misa finally got picked, what do you
think of that? And all that's a great pick in the fifth round.
You should have gone higher. I had him in my second round. Blah
blah blah. So I watched them live Victor, and I see the appeal.
He's he's a pretty shifty player. He's quick. I don't know about
how breakaway fast he is, but he definitely moves around the ice quite quickly,
and I think he processes the game pretty quickly. Lacks some size.
He is five ten, one seventy four, so I'm not sure how survivable
that is in the pro level, let alone the National Hockey League. And
then his offensive skill sets are all above average in the OHL, but none
of them are elite, right, Like, he doesn't have a playmaking vision
that blows you away, he doesn't have the most lethal shot. He's just
really good at all those things. So I guess that's probably why he slid
down the rankings. With suffering from seize ititis, as Cam said in the
tweet that we saw earlier, is a bit of a problem for him.
Is it possible that he puts on twenty pounds and grows two more inches in
the next two years. It's totally possible. I mean again, thing can
happen, But until he does that, I'm less interested. I'm not sure
that he projects very well. So it could be a good fantasy value in
a fifth round kind of thing if he falls to you there, but there's
risk. Yeah, not someone that I'm super interested in. But as you
said, he has a lot of really good tools, and if he can
leverage that packers that altogether into the sum being greater than the parts, then
it could be really interesting. The next guy I want to talk about is
John Mustard. So he went sixty seven to the Chicago Blackhawks, and that
was around where some people had him ranked. The consensus had him ranked forty
second. It's forty six, so I guess you could say maybe there was
value there he had. He played for the USHL Waterloo Blackhawks and had twenty
nine goals in sixty games, so almost half a goal per game is pretty
nice. It's interesting because you might remember that last year they took Nick Lardis
out of the OHL, and I think these guys are not two dissimilar.
Mustard Is two inches taller, but they're both pretty quick guys with really good
shots. Mustard in the USA Jell anyways, has really perfected the art of
skating around guys, skating down, blistering down the wing, and firing a
shot with pretty good accuracy. So he needs to round out his game,
but we'll see maybe he can take a step. But it's funny because in
hockey prospecting, they both in their draft season had thirteen percent chance of being
a star and forty nine percent chance of being an NHL. Lartis increased his
star potential this year, which was pretty nice to see. But you have
to wait and see how that's all gonna work out for Mustard or yeah,
for Mustard. He is scheduled to go to Providence College next season. We'll
see how that works out. Trevor Connelly should be his teammate there, and
maybe those two can work together and increase their scoring. But I think interesting
pick. It's funny. We've talked about some team seem to have a type.
I'm not sure if two guys that are that similar constitute a type.
But it also interesting to me that it seemed like they already had that player
and they went out, I got another player that was similar to him,
a little bit taller, maybe a little bit faster. Maybe the shot isn't
quite as good as Lartises, But I think there's some rhymes there, which
is interesting. So maybe they're like, oh, we'll get two of these
guys and one of them should work out pretty well. I don't know,
what do you think of that, Pete? Yeah, I like Lartis and
I like Mustard. I was at his interview as well, and he asked
aout, do you have any funny nicknames? Because the last name he's not
really musty. Colonel Mustard, I like Colonel Mustard was funny un original,
yeah, but still funny. Okay, one more for me will go.
Let's talk about Anthony Romania, another guy from the Ontario Hockey League. He
was the first pick in the sixth round, one hundred and sixty seven overall
to the Vancouver Canucks. He was ranked a lot higher than that ninety seven
consensus was as high as in the seventies by some folks. So he's a
July birthday. So he's just about to turn nineteen, and he's a D
plus one. Last year was his first draft year, so he's got one
more year to play in the Ontario Hockey League and he had a real breakout
D plus one season. Is it still a D plus one if you get
drafted in your D plus one? I guess it is a yeah. Anyhow,
he scored almost sixty goals in sixty eight games and had one hundred and
eleven points for the North Bay Battalion. And I saw him play a couple
of times as well, and he's dynamite on the rush. The kids got
a tremendous shot, and he was playing with Dylan Wakeley as a center,
and those two guys we were pretty unstoppable at times. And I think the
ability to score on the rush gets a lot harder when you move up the
chain there of the food chain and get into pro hockey, But the ability
to score on the rush at that level would be a tremendous asset for him.
The skating is okay, and the size is okay. He's six foot
one eighty three, But I think in order for him to be rejectable at
the NHL level, I don't think it's going to be as a first line
fifty goal scorer. He's going to have to adapt his game a little bit
and make some changes, and sometimes that's a real challenge for some players.
I think you could make it to the NHL. He certainly got some scoring
prowess, and I think he would be a nice second power play unit option
for some teams perhaps if everything breaks well for him. But he might be
a player that depending on how deep your fantasy rounds go and if you're in
prospect leagues, But if it tries to mirror the NHL and you have five
or six rounds of prospect drafting from the draft, he's a guy i'd recommend.
I think there's there's some potential here. Yeah. I love that that's
into one. I think a lot of people like that pick from an analytics
sort of standpoint, So good stuff there. Last one I want to talk
about. There were some interesting legacy picks or people with ties to other teams
that we don't necessarily need to talk about. But it was fun to see
Attus Koivu being picked by Montreal. That's Sasaku's son, so that was pretty
fun. And then there are some other picks people that were related, so
I think that's interesting. But the one that I wanted to talk about is
Iliya Protas and he is Alexey Protas's brother, and that's been interesting pick.
And oh, I guess I didn't mention yet. He was picked by the
Washington Capitals. Who who is who Alexey plays for? Both these guys are
huge. Alexey is six foot six, he's now twenty three. He's in
the Washington organization. I'm sure people are familiar with him who play in bangor
leagues. He's maybe not the most exciting player for Fantasy, but he is
someone who does have a decent amount of appeal in you know, a little
bit more peripheral setting. He hasn't gotten the most ice time lately and he's
been more of like a thirty point guy. But I think, you know,
maybe there's a little bit more upside there with his brother. For one
reason, Billia is still seventeen and he doesn't turn eighteen until July eighteenth,
so he's very young for this draft class. He's six foot four, so
two inches shorter than his brother older brother, but he might still be growing
as well. And he had fifty one points in sixty one games in the
USHL this season, which was a little bit better than his brother had in
his draft seasons. He seems very raw. Last season he was playing at
the U seventeen and U eighteen level in Belarus and so he came over.
So maybe on like your deeper leagues. That's an interesting one. Plus,
I just think it's fun that he gets to play for the same organization as
his brother, and I think that could only have been helpful to have that
mentorship and to have that belief in the organization that you get when you have
a family member in there. I just wanted to be in the same organization
with the brother. Yeah, And when Cap saym Andam was I was surprisedly
so much because I don't know, I didn't know. I go so like
you guys ever played again? No or just practice like yeah he's here.
Yeah. And New Jersey trade the peak he told me when I when I
was in my draft and that was the same thing. New Georgy trade the
peak with capitals and when they say the more Baccaneers, Yeah, I just
was so happy. What has he told you about Washington and new organization?
Only good things, only positive things, because he loved this organotation, organization.
He told about a fantastic fans, best in the league about the city.
Yeah, I know, it's unbelievable. He told me, only good
things. Your own career, I think you played at sy and the Western
Yeah, you're in the us AHL. What was it when your choice to
the Moin? But during the last year, adviser ask who told me you
have offered from the Moin And they decided to go to the North America.
Because I have a great example in front of my eye, this brother who
has success in the North America. And I decided to go to the Morning
and I have a great season, a believables in there. It was a
great group of guys. So in development next week hour with brother will home.
He needs to he'll work at home to be ready for next season.
How do you describe your game? I think the big point of my game
that's hockey sounds, hockey IQ. Yeah, I want to be one help
team to win and want to coach. Trust me every citation on ice and
we are up or down one five on five every citations next ye, I
think skating in speed, that's like the best aspect I need to work on
going through this process. Some of the best advice hecta with them as far
as just kind of handle the ups and downs and come to drive. Okay,
you just don't enjoy it. Enjoy it. There's a special moment and
what will happens to what happens and it's just a little moment. And he
said enjoyed. No, unfortunately we don't get our visa at that moment.
Yeah, but we're watching that and definitely cat kicking. We were so happy.
You see, alecting is grown. The absence. I think be more
exciting to bring you to the page too. I want to. Yeah.
Yeah, it's a great organization. How you can see he's dropped a lot.
He's development so fast and I'm so happy to jog to this organization.
I hope I will have to say the same success with team some really cool
storylines. I'm sure there's more that we can get to. We, as
Pete mentioned in the beginning, are running on fumes. It has been an
awesome but exhausting the last few days, trying to chase down all these people
that talk to, getting all these interviews, talking to all the people,
trying to do as much as we can for you, the listener. Thanks
so much for listening to this. I hope you enjoy all the great content
that we try to amass, and there will be more and more stuff throughout
the summer as we continue to unpack and cross reference and recover from our time
here. Pete, Yeah, it's been hot. I'm looking forward to not
feeling standing on the sun. Yes, but thanks so much. Enjoy the
rest of the content that you're going to hear in the rest of the show,
and reach out if you have any questions or if you want to talk
about hockey or anything. We're always available. All right, Join now by
Shane Malloy of Hockey Prospecting Radio. How you doing, body doing great?
This is the unbelievable event here. I don't know how the NHL could ever
not do a draft in the sphere. Again, it is the brand awareness
that the league's received from this has been outstanding and it's a one event that
the NHL does better than anybody else in sports is our entry draft. So
for me, I think it was just a massive upper deck Grand Slam home
run for the NHL. It's been awesome. The visual asthetics, the appeal,
it's just been incredible. Yeah, for me, it's just like getting
non hockey people to like, they're jumping on social media. They're like they're
making commentary all over the place like how amazing it is, Like you can't
buy that. And for the NHL, it is we're always against the juggernaut
of the NFL and NBA and Major League Baseball. For us as an industry,
to get that type of exposure is massive. For so great on the
NAH of taking their risk to be here, because it's they've done a fantastic
job. Absolutely. Let's talk about some of the interesting guys that set out
to you from the first couple of days. So first we'll talk about Trek
Parasak, who went seventeenth overall to the Washington Capitals. He's a pretty interesting
player, isn't he certainly, because look, he was a Rooking in the
Western Hockey League and had a ridiculous output in terms of his ability to produce
points off you know, whether it be scoring goals or assists. And what
makes him really interesting is he wasn't He's not the biggest guy's six foot maybe
one hundred and eighty pounds, but he's not the fastest skater in terms of
straight line speed. But what he is he's very deceptive. He's very elusive
as a skater, and he reminds me a lot of Tyler Toffoli in the
way he operates inside the offensive zone. He finds seams, he finds lanes,
he finds open spots only for himself but his teammates. I think his
hockey sense is borderline etlite. Like he's so impressive. His puck skills in
small areas is excellent, and he finds to draw defenders in And I'm not
terribly shocked it was the Washington Capitals that jumped out to get him. If
you look at Washington Capitals like draft efficiency and success from five to sixteen,
they're in the top four of the NHL, and if they've continued to do
that from sixteen to twenty, so they understand which players that can work well
in their system, and they have a really strong developmental system. And all
this kid needs is a couple of years more than the dub and then probably
a year in American High because he just needs to get bigger, stronger,
and you can get just a little extra pop on that foot speed. But
he's a second line player all day long. Yeah, I've heard a lot
of concerns about the foot speed and physicality, but you'd bet on him,
may Yeah, I bet him on Now. I have him in the second
round because I want to mitigate my risk in that respect. But I thought
he was going to be a player that would play two hundred games in the
NHL or more so for me, I thought it was a no brainer.
But I also feel like that kind of threat of me being a score allows
me to become a better playmaker. So I think they tie into each other.
And I would says break in the middle. There we're back people up
the Benchoshi before hm. Now yeah, you might be yeah tobly well,
hopefully get to play with him again down the line, and then yeah,
it could be works what works so well with you too. Yeah, I
think just the way we play. I think we just found some chemistry early
is the way we moved parks And obviously he was able to put the pocket
of that, that's for sure, with the season he had. And yeah,
just such a competitive, hardworking guy and was able to learn so much
from him in that sense. And yeah, we just we just clicked instantly
and we're able to find the chemistry. You mentioned the process the lead from
this age sixteen to the age seventeen season. Do you think that seeing the
results from that is going to motivate you that you're gonna have obviously a couple
more level jumps to get to where you've got go having been through that process,
and once feel like it'll be trying to become more naturally to you after
the next couple of NS. Yeah, for sure. I think that's all.
Everything that I have been through so far has been a learning experience.
It's definitely been cut from quite a few teams growing up and taking that all
as a learning experience, and I think that's shaving into the person and player
that I am of. Nothing's ever gonna be given to you after and everything
and everything happens for a reason. And so just taking all those things and
being able to face advision like that and hopefully get where I want to be
one day. How did you feel about the nickname super Gristy this year.
Yeah, I don't know. It's always he's super cool, addictive. Definitely
got old after a while, and I don't love the attention that much like
that, but obviously super cool to have a nickname like that. I'm pretty
sure it's just our play by play guy said it after I scored one goal
at the start of the year and I was went on a little bit of
a tear to start there, and I was hot and finally back in the
bad So I think they just started calling me that from that broadcast and it
just cut on, and I think that's everybody calls me that now. So
how much fun was this year? And pretty Steorge is a great season?
Yeah, it was unbelievable that the players we had there, my teammates,
I can be more grateful to have those guys, and the coaching staff is
unbelievable, and the whole organization is so amazing. The fans rallying behind us
at the end there in the playoffs, it was just unbelief. Season I
can be happier. I think to improve on going forward, I think is
definitely my strength. I think I need to get a lot stronger, get
in the gym, a little bit more fill out in my body. I
think that's a big start for me, and then I think with that will
come my skating as well, be able to build better speed and that sort
of thing sounds good. Another no brainer. Santase Sharks walk up at thirty
third overall and probably take best player available your Centershof one hundred percent with the
kids. An athlete, and he has very good hockey sense, very good
puck skills. There's gonna be a lot of very good in my explanation about
him, but he doesn't have There's not any red flags with him as a
player. And this is as well as anybody when you're trying to evaluate an
athlete and you see somebody who is so athletic and it's going to reduce injuries,
but also it's going to help him as a talent pool compresses that lets
them along with his puck skills and its cognitive ability, I think he's going
to be a second line player, no problem in the NHL power play,
and he's going to be able to produce five on five. So I'm a
little surprised he dropped out of the first round, but those things do happen.
There's always going to be a team or two teams that like pull a
guy out that I didn't think we're gonna go there, and and that team
reaps the benefit of it. In his media availability, right after someone asked
him what he modeled his game after, he said, Nathan McKinnon, not
sure he's gonna be quite that level, but what do you think of him?
Liking that sort of style and like the type of player it plays with,
like intensity and high pace, and that's Nathan McKinnon's game, Like he's
gonna outpace you and outwork you and be intense. And I think Schernershov has
the ability to do that. Of course, I don't think he's gonna put
up those type of productive numbers, but certainly he's a player that if he
was in the sixty point range in his prime years, like twenty four to
thirty, that wouldn't surprise me. Last one that I know you're really interested
in Gabriel Eliason, who's a big left hand, left handed d who went
to Ottawa he's a September ninth birthday, so he's super young for this draft
class went thirty ninth. Overall. What do you think of him? I
think he's a Viking. He should replace his helmet with a helmet with horns
on it, take away his stick and give him like a battle axe.
Him along with Steian Solberg, they're both Vikings. The one thing about Eliason
is there's certain players that hit, and there's certain players hit to hurt and
want to punish you, and he takes actually pride in knocking people out and
then he just laughs at them. So there's almost like a kind of a
maniacal aspect of his game. And you look in the playoffs like you need
guys like that. He's an intimidating force. So like when forwards go down
and try to retrieve a puck against him, he's going to ensure that you're
never gonna want to do that ever again. Now, there's gonna be some
issues in terms of his puck moving ability. He's got to play that.
He's got to be simple in that respect, and he has to play a
very disciplined defensive game because he's a bit of a bit of a hunter in
terms of hitting people. So that's an area that he's going to have to
clean up. But if you look in the playoffs, what kind of defensemen
you need when it gets greasy and dirty. He's it awesome. Thanks so
much, Shane, Thank you very much, thanks for having me. Now
we're back for the second half of the episode. This is Jesse back in
the studio once again, and here is what you have to look forward to.
Stephan Rosner, who you recently heard interviewed on one of our team previews,
is coming up next with Camil Bednark is going to be one of the
guys spoken of, Cam Robinson Boy. We got an all star cast here,
Victor and Peter Cleaned Up is going to be on and Ze boyem writer
Richie Alfonse Frage are all going to be a part of that talk. And
then at the end we are going to segment together probably another ten minutes or
so of material that doesn't fit cleanly into one of these interviews, and it's
primarily going to be clustered around the general managers. We'll start with Daniel Brier,
then Barry Trotz with a little bit of Igor surin interview, and then
finally Trevor Connolly on his own because it was a very interesting interview and we
can't miss out on that. So everybody stay put. Now it's time for
the next interview with Victor. All right here with Stephan Rosner of The Hockey
News talking some Islanders pick. They went with good value twenty ofth overall,
Cole Eiserman fifty four, Jesse polkinon, Camille Bennarik got sixty one. So
what did you think of their draft so far? Yeah, I think it's
been good. This is a team that really doesn't have a strong prospect tool
they haven't picked in the first round. This twenty nine team getting Coleismhen.
I think everyone will agree that he did fall in this draft. Who would
take a chance and a really one dimensional guy, pure goalscorer. This is
Islander seen that needs goal scoring and I think just talking to maybe he's a
little cocky, but he sees the game a different way. Lou loved that
about him. He loved that they were open to sing it the way he
saw it. And when you got a guy that falls like that, you
take that chance every day. Seems like they need to support him with some
playmakers and some other types of mentioned the prospect poill being a little low.
What do you think about and maybe a guy like Benark or what's going to
be around Iman when he's ready to contribute. Yeah, I think Ben Ork's
great one. They played together at US development. They also are going to
college Boston University together, coached by J. Pandolpho and Ben Aric. What
he said was he's a two way player. He values that a lot.
He reminded me of a boat hood that a little bit the way he spoke,
but also that he's very mature in that aspect of the game. So
he said he's played with Isman before, the fact that he understands how Ibman
plays. He knows he can get him the puck. Things like that.
Those are the kind of guys you need to run there, Guys that can
make the plays. Play defensively smart to a lot of guys like Iiman's just
focus on what they do best, scoring goals really well on both ends of
the ice. My biggest strength is that two and or four games. I
take a lot of pride in doing that and being good defensively. At the
same time, I can produce offensively as well. So I think that's the
good balance of both worlds. So, yeah, there's a few guys,
but I guess the main guy is definitely Patreuce berger On. I don't know.
I'm from Chicago, but he played on the Boston Bruins. But I
don't know why, but whenever I was younger, I like to watch him
play and I liked how he was responsible, and I think I picked up
that responsible game and that mature game earlier than some other players would have.
I definitely try to be as good as he is. In my opinion,
I think he was the honestly the best two hundred and two way. Yeah,
and polkind have been an overrager. He might be ready a little bit
sooner than later. Maybe get him over pretty soon. Huh Yeah. We
asked him his English isn't great, which is all good. He said.
They didn't know if he would stay over there or come come this year.
But big guy, and he's mobile, he said, he's He models the
game after Victor Hedman. Obviously it's hard to find a lot of Victor Headmans,
but you watch him. The replay is very decisive, quick motion at
the blue line to do a little shimmy and get around it. The Islanders
again, mobile defensive defensemen are hard to find. We see Noa Dallason with
the honors right now. He needn't even work on his just getting up the
ice, but getting off from from your back end is really important, especially
when your two net struggles to produce and transition. Yeah, then they went
goalie in the fourth and fifth round. They got some other picks coming up,
but that kind of interesting seeing how much they needed like one are you
could argue they don't need is in that, but they went goalie. What
do you think about it? Yes, I think you look at Can signed
another seven years and healed his deal. Another couple one in Varlamo's. But
after that they didn't really have that much goaltending depth and they got a couple
of guys Yakup Scark has pretty much been a failed prospect. Hendrick Titan though
really emerged last year as one of those one of those big guys maybe in
the future is huge. They have Tristan Lennox who has hurt a lot last
year. But they get these two guys. One of them played for CSK
Moscow and the Islanders did hire k kam Moscow's goalie coach to become Bridge sports
goalie coach. So I think it's smart to always have goalie depth. Maybe
one of them hits eventually five years down the line. Varlamo's retired and you
need someone you always have it. Also, trade bait. We're seeing stuff
with Nashville right now, and you're never gonna have too many goalies. Again,
look at the draft that's late rounds. We'll see what happens here,
but I think it's it definitely doesn't hurt to bolts of the prositpal and they
did it on offense, defense and in the goal. Thanks so much,
seven, no prom Thank you so much. All right. At the draft,
it's the second day. We're at about round five now. I'm sitting
down with the Victor and Cam Robinson from EP Ringside, formerly managing editor of
Dobard Prospects. I like to remind everybody that can I having fun. You
having a good time, buddy. A little blurry here on day two,
but we're having a good time in Vegas. We're near the finish line for
sure. Let's talk about a couple of the guys who have been selected today
and maybe what to the fantasy upside could be on some of these players.
So let's start with Zeeve William. He dropped a little bit. I thought
he would be one of the first defense been taken out of the bunch,
and he was like the last, which I thought was a little surprising.
He goes ends up going to Minnesota and you put out a tweet saying that
there the pair of him in Rock Faber are are going to be something special
for a long time. What's the fantasy upside of William going to Minnesota?
They don't have that pure power play quarterback and I identified him as a player,
It's maybe he's not your power play one guy. He put up fifty
points in forty two games of Denver this year. He played a central role
in a national championship winning team, played a big role for USA at the
World Juniors gold medal kids a winner, excellent two way guy. But I'm
not sure the production at college is really indicative of the type of player he's
going to be in the NHL and like a fantasy player, so I don't
project him to be like that seventy plus point defenceman. But I have had
some pushback from other scouts who you know my kind of knock on woolliham in
it for the elite points is that he doesn't have like electric feet. He's
not mccar or Hughes or Mira Hayskin, eric guys like that. But I'm
quickly reminded by some people that, yeah, neither's Adam Fox. So does
he have that level of potential. Maybe he could have that kind of juice
at the very top end, but more likely, I think he's a very
useful piece that fifth. Minnesota uses him on the top power play, then
he's going to be a guy who could put up fifty to sixty points.
If he's more your secondary offensive catalyst, then he's going to be more mutian.
It's gonna be like thirty five forty forty five points, which is still
very valuable because of this all round aspect for the fantasy world. I think
we need to wait and see where he lands long term. But just a
great pick there from Minnesota, and I know they're doing backflips grabbing him.
That's the best in the world, and I'm going to be able to be
in Minnison a while kind of interesting where you go probably live and expected book
the team trade up goods to be that guy for sure. Yeah, seeing
him trade up I had a pretty good feeling that it could be me,
and yeah, it couldn't be more honored for them to make that decision to
get me. Do you think the world were Oh yeah, I knew.
We had some good conversations, nothing too crazy, but definitely there was some
interest there. I don't know you're gonna breaks. Yeah, it's awesome.
I think it's super cool. We won the NCHD Championship as well there.
To win two championships in that building already feels feels really good. I think
obviously I want to improve on everything. Still young, you can still I
prove on everything. I want to can work on my consistency defensively, But
I think the biggest thing is for me is my hot accus is probably the
biggest thing that will translate to the best. That's probably the biggest thing.
We talked about your coming into the program at the us HL and happening to
Brian to become them power play guy. Are you going to use that experience
in the us HL now that you're the new guys? So yeah, I'm
just gonna come to obviously go there and have the same mentality that I got
to work for everything and earn every opportunity for me. I'm gonna I'm gonna
continue to do what I do best and just work as hard as I can.
Like, I just felt so special to hug my mom, ug my
dad. They made so many sacrifices for my brothers and I and to hug
them was so special. And then to hug my two brothers who mentored me
this entire time, it feels even better. So it's it's a moment that
I can't fully explain, but it was. It was awesome. Family.
Yeah, not from Israel, but we have a couple from Israel, and
then a lot of friends and family that they came to support me. I
spent two years at Chattick Saint Mary's at the Fairbell, Minnesota. Spent a
whole summer at Lake Minnetonka as well. So I love Lake Minatanka. I'd
rather spend the time there than on the beach of California. Yeah, super
pumped to be Minnesota. Weile we went to a couple anytime we could.
I would try to go, but not too many fisticated to the Yeah.
Everything I think for me is he's the best coach ever had and the best
coach college hockey and he's gonna be a great coach hl and Dad. He's
meant so much to me, my brother and my family, and I'm so
grateful for him. Did you, guys, I don't know if you've thought
about maybe playing with him one day. I know it's a really quick Yeah,
that would be. That would be awesome. I think that'd be something
I could dream about. Yeah, he's obviously a stud and such a great
player. Yeah, that'd be it'd be awesome. I just kind of want
to ask you about Cole Aisaman going a little bit later than maybe some thought,
but he might literally be on an island out there in New York with
quite literally with the rest of the prospectful but pretty good grab for them,
eh. The Islanders no a thing or two about getting enigmatic scores out of
the program, right, So key for Bellows swinging a miss, Oliver Wallstrom
swinging a miss three times a charm with Coliserman three worst right, three?
I really did Wallstrom. I learned a lot from that from liking him though,
And it's like twenty very much in the realm of take a cut on
Cole Eisman, because best goal scorer in the class and he does have some
jam like he he has burgeoning power forward capabilities. That's just whether you can
like unlock that full time for him and really motivate him and light a fire
under his ass range of outcomes for him is so massive, like he could
be like an every year thirty five plus goal scorer, dominant on the power
play, physically engaged, or maybe he's a quad a guy who gets like
some time and bounces around. But I did have one I'd want NHL or
teamside guy tell me that he reminds him of JT. Miller and not it
all in stylistically, but as like a player with the level of skill that
Miller had went middle of the first round in his draft year, a little
immature, didn't have the work ethic. Maybe he didn't stay in the best
shape early on, staying out late and it took him two teams, right,
he had to move a couple of times before he really found his spot
and now obviously now a one hundred point guy in Vancouver year over year.
Maybe Iiserman finds success in his mid to late twenties on his third team.
So yeah, it's he's a complete Wilid card. Yeah, my concern with
him is like there is. There is a wide range of poinential. It
comes like you said, and are we going to see the best version of
Cole Eiserman now that he's being drafted and developed by the New York Islanders.
They don't have that. From my understanding, it's not a very hands on
developmental model that they have there. They let the players sort it out themselves.
So I think he actually needs a lot of refinement and a lot of
control to turn him into the best potential player he can be. He's going
to be you it's a good program. Yeah, he's going to have to
clean up some of those mistakes in order to just really transition and handle the
riggers of the NCAA. I mean, he's good enough that he could probably
still cheat his way to some big point totals, but that won't happen when
he gets to the NHL, So he's going to have to figure it out.
And he's a competitive kid. He's fiery in that regard, So I
think he just needs to diversify his game a little bit because when he has
the puck on his stick, everybody knows what he's gonna do. Right,
He's gonna shooting it, whether it's in a shin pads or it's into the
back of the net, but he's not going to see the passing options that
he should all the time. So yeah, he needs to round out that
offensive game and then just really keep it fire. And there's definitely upside,
especially at that spot, and it's worthy. All right, last one and
then we'll let you get back out there. And I've been talking to a
lot of people and talking a lot on our show about Trek Parasak, and
we were a little surprised that he went in the first round. I had
him as a first round fantasy option. What's the fantasy upside looking like for
Parasak going in the first round? The way he did not a traditional first
round or based on size, speed, skill, I wouldn't say maybe skill,
but it's so opportunistic. That's the name of the game with him is
that whenever I would see him live, I think only one time was I
really like impressed with what I saw, and he had five primary points.
And then every other time I saw him it was just cue would be a
bit invisible or whatever, and then he'd catch a breakaway pass and go burn
a goal. He just finds a way to hit the score. She'd take
a step into the Western League this year and score whatever it was, forty
two to forty three goals if it wasn't for McKenna. He's the rookie of
the year and the dub. Yes, he's highly insulated in Prince George there
with a couple older kids, Zach Funk scoring a goal game, Andre Becker
who just got drafted this year as an overage or he's putting up a monster
season nearly a hundred points. They had who else that have Cohen Zeemer,
they had Riley height, like they have a lot of high end players there
that so he didn't have to be a focal point and that's how he could
just slip under the radar a little bit, I think against the defensive matchups
and find a way to score. So you know, he went earlier than
I thought he would, Washington taking him in the mid teens there. But
you know, analytically, you know he's a darling. So it's like the
production is very clearly a first round player, but the size and speed maybe
doesn't indicate that he's going to be that level of player long term. But
you know, again as a fantasy look probably a first round pick. Washington
does have a pretty good track record of player development as well, so that's
nice. Yeah, I haven't hated what Washington's done with the trades and some
of their picks. It's they're an interesting team to watch as they try to
navigate not falling down all the way. They're doing the retool versus the rebuild,
So they'll be one to watch for sure. All right, Man,
to get back to the draft and the NaSTA drinks. Awesome, sounds good,
but any thing right? All Right, we're standing out here in the
sun in Vegas, but we're awesome. We're so happy to be joined by
Jill Henderson, Puck Preps, will scout scouting Pete here as well. How
you guys doing, How do you enjoy the draft? It was a lot
of fun. I thought it was great experience. I hope they do it
again here. It was a lot of fun. I've never seen anything like
that before, but a lot of fun. I think it was just another
solid in NHL draft. What about you, Joe, This is the first
draft that I got to experience doing a WHL draft for these kids, So
knowing the kids all through by the time they're fifteen, up to this draft,
so there's a little bit more special for me. So seeing the names
come off the board, it was really fun cheering for them on the low
key. Yeah, we got some guys that I know you guys wanted to
talk about. Let's start with you, Will. I know that you're a
big fan of Teddy C guy. I think you had him in the top
five on your board. He went a bit later than that, a fifty
fifth overall. But still, what do you like so much about this guy?
Well, it just brings everything right. It's just a high paced,
high energy guy. Physical, doesn't really back down from nothing. But he
has some skill, He's got some offense to him. I think he showcased
a lot of that. The underteens played really well off of James Haggins.
I think those two boosted each other really well. I don't know exactly what
dropped him all the way to the end of the second round, but I
don't really care. I think he's just a really well rounded, high end
guy who brings a lot to the game. I totally agree with you,
and I think that the fact that he got picked so late makes him a
really good fantasy sleeper, right like a player who has way more potential than
where his draft position suggests. And if you're in my league, of course,
don't paying attention to me, Joel this get your WHL expertise on here.
You just talked about a whole bunch of guys. You've been following them
since your draft class. They slotted probably right around where you were thinking.
I think you were suggesting, yeah, not too far away. Yeah,
who's the guy that's maybe out of the first round, that's got some fantasy
value that you think is a little underrated. I don't know what auto rated.
These are guys that always, you know, I've been on the radars
forever. But the three forwards, I think I was very curious to see
how far apart that they would go from each other, and they really didn't
go very far apart. And so it was just Bash Andrew, Basha,
Tannerhouan Rader, Richie and these are all guys that could be play on third
lines across the league one day. They bring a little bit of finesse,
a little bit of battle along the boards, they can bring that offense like
these are all guys that can provide potentially up to forty points in a season
for teams. So I think those are the guys that you're hoping you can
push out of that second round, jumble the top the top half of the
second round into being full time guys for you in the NHL. And I
like all those three guys. I had all of them in the range and
take your pick which one fits your group very well? And you know there
they all could be good players, right or Richie and Minnesota Quadi Metoma,
I was on knee collision whatever, Right, Mary, You've got a great
success in princeps the whole three years the house playing the Raiders, right,
Yeah, I think it's helped a lot. I think coming into a young
team when I was sixteen, I got a lot of opportunity. I earned
a lot of ice time, I got gum and power play. So I
think I've been growing my game a lot there, just taking big moments playing
it, playing and playing a lot of big minutes, especially at a young
age. I think it's helping. And yeah, I'm thankful for Prince Albert.
I couldn't be here without them for sure. Yeah, it was great
having the playoffs I did. I thought that was some of my best hockey
of the year. And then also going to the World to winning it was
it was awesome. So I think that really helped my confidence, and yeah,
I feel good. Origin Yeah, I wanted to be a goalie until
I played goalie for practice once my dad was out and he ripped one off
my chest and it hurt pretty bad. So I've never wanted to put on
the pass ever since then. Your dad different, very different. He's more
of a two hundred foot center, really good skater, really strong. I
have a couple more inches on him. I think. I think I'm more
offensively gifted, So I would say that about our game. He'd fight and
stuff. I'm not fighting yet, but I would have been seven, I
think, Yeah, I was young. Two of them went to Pittsburgh.
That's neat, And does the team that drafted any of those guys you just
talked about, does that move the needle upward down at all for their fantasy
value? Thin because some team's got a better track record or prospect pools are
a little bit more shallow and it's less roster competition. Maybe. Yeah.
I think with Tanner how going to Pittsburgh, I think that's a great fit.
They've had multiple guys in there that can provide that smarts and skill and
shot from the wing. They've had some guys that have been filling those guys.
He's a Brian rust player. He's a guy that can really move up
the lineup depending right and I think he's more of a third line talent guy
that could move up the roster in the right spot because he can fill in
gaps. We saw it with Connor Brigard and then with the Flames too,
and they're completely rebuilding their roster and the one thing that they got in Andrew
Basha is speed. It's speed on the wing. Like he's a smart player.
They have a whole bunch of guys there, but they don't have any
guy that really has the speed of Basha. So he brings that element that
could move him up that lineup too. All right, well, we're gonna
go back to you. And alfhounds Free is one of the top offensive defenseman
who went a little bit later. He went thirty seven to Winnipeg and his
media availability, he described himself as a two way guy that leans more offense.
How high do you think that offense can and how much can it translate
to NHL and fantasy. I think it's about as high as you can find.
I look at the way that he generates offense, and I think that
there's a really good example of a modern offensive defenseman there, with the sort
of footwork and the skill level and just how high energy he is on the
blue line, especially in the offensive zone, and really creative pushes in the
offensive zone. And I think in a way that most guys this year didn't,
especially the sort of Canadian North American guys who scored a lot of points,
and I just think he brings something else to that. And I think
he also is a guy who does bring some two way ability, especially defending
a little aggressively in the neutral zone and the defensive zone maybe need a bit
of work, but he generally avoids playing there in the first place with how
he plays in the neutral zone woon neutral zone, and I think there's a
lot of value there. And yeah, if you're looking for offense, he's
a guy I'm certainly willing to bet on, especially in the thirty to forty
range. Alfonse Free Winnipeg, maybe the Babe Wagner or other. I think
there's a few Swedish prospects in the system. Are you familiar with any of
the other ones as well, not familiar just with Zelias. So yeah,
how would you describe I would describe my game as a two A defender that
is like more offensive to have have the park, good skinning ability to set
up my team is in good position out there, as I said, to
have the park on my blade. But the season, yeah, I'm being
loaned out from the highest level in in Sweden, shl. I'm being loaned
out to the second tier in Sweden for pure clean Yeah, and they think
about that is to to get the minutes in power play five or five in
box play as well, and I think that's a pretty pretty smart move for
me become your passion. My dad has has played hockey as well. That's
that's why I started. Yeah, he has always been been on my way
and and stuff like that. So that's that's pretty cool. Peter Frey not
not on the highest level in Sweden. It was like probably third fourth division
in Sweden, so it's nothing specially about it. You get to see him
player, yeah, every day, so yeah, from morning the night was
at the rink with him and spend time there. He has been my coach
as well, so that's pretty cool. Night. Also, your last name
yeah, I've been here for three days now. I was on a camp
with my agency for yeah, one week ago in Toronto, but yeah,
came here three days ago, like my agent had told me for twenty to
forty. So that was my expectations. Yeah, I would say, of
course, be more more able to do like better things in the O zone.
But yeah, my my defensive game, I would say, and needs
to step up, use my size a bit more. Like I know,
I got such a good skalning ability, but to use my size a bit
more, especially now when I'm playing with men. So yeah, skating always
a strength I've worked Yeah, since I was a little kid, like every
day, but it has always been like my strength. But yeah, I've
worked on it a lot as well. Have my favorite defenseman or somebody who
looked up to every one of Yeah, Queen Queen News has always been like
my my favorite defenseman in NHL. But when I was like a little kid,
watched Eric Carlson Victor headman. Yeah, of course, that's one one
of my goals to be able to play that this season. As I said
earlier, I'm trying to be more. I would I say it'd be better
at that to use my size a bit more. Good, I got pretty
good size. Yeah, use my size a bit more and be more physical.
Do you have any questions that you remember? Oh yeah, yeah,
probably my Uber rating and my snap score. Yeah that was I don't know
why they asked me that, but it was pretty pretty fun. What did
you say? What's the raider? We don't have like uber in Sweden,
so I couldn't answer, but yeah, I don't know. My my snap
score was like probably one million. That was pretty much. I would say
that was my answers. Can one more guy for you? Joe from the
Got Julius Mitnen was drafted by the Seattle Kraken in second round. I want
to say, yep, fortieth overall. You know he's a big winger,
forward, point a game guy in the WHL. What's it comparable from previous
drafts maybe or someone you? How are you projecting him? What a fantasy
people who have him on their radar, what should they expect? I think
basically, if you're trying to project him to the NHL, you have to
get him more accustomed to the North American game, which means that his physicality
and his ability to kind of rub shoulders along the boards and needs to be
way more consistent. If you can get that a guy with his length of
stride, smart's finesse, his touch, if you can get him to be
more aggressive and to be stopping more players as much as he can be able
to finish plays, I think right now for me, he's a similar player
to a Christian vessel Linen, somebody who came into the NHL but really couldn't
find his place. And so I think with Julius, if you can get
him to be more aggressive, get more into players' faces, not back down
more consistently, He's got all sorts of skills to be able to potentially project,
but he does have to change his game in altar. But the finesse
is there, the smarts is there, skatings there. So an auto draft
player if you miss your draft, and if you get that, then you
should trade him because his value is not going to go in the direction you
want. I think the reality is that there's a lot of players in this
second round where it's just the second round is about players with huge tools in
huge upside that have to they have to now adapt to play pro, and
it's playing pro in North America is a very interesting one. And there's a
lot of players like this. I think you mentioned Ottawa. I think Zako
Stapchek is one that's that he had to learn. He had tons of an
ass tons of skill and he had to learn how to adapt his game to
be a full time NHL and we'll see. He's a player that had a
huge upside. And I think Vietnen is somewhere in that mold. Yeah,
that's the second time I've heard that statement today, That second round and on
guy's got to need to adapt their game in order to make it. That's
interesting. All right. One more for you, and that is William Villeneuve.
He's he got taken sixty third overall by Seattle. His he was rated
a little bit lower by a lot of outlets. Third maybe even fourth round
kind of guy. He's a five to eleven or ninety four pounds center wing.
What do you think about him and his prospects. I think he's just
going to get better from here. He's a guy who I watched in Sudbury
a ton this year and I think, especially for an all around guy who
can crash and bang in the NHL, I think there's going to be a
guy there He's got some real high end pace in his game. He's got
a lot of skill for a guy who may not have scored a ton this
year, but he's physical. Man, he really gives her. There's a
lot of physicality in his game, almost to a fault, I would say,
but I think it's a way that I think an NHL team really saw
in Seattle. I don't doubt a lot of what they do. And a
lead second round pick for a guy who might be a bottom six center or
maybe a winger who can just battle and grind and has some skill, I
don't know. I've liked Villeneuve all year, more than I thought I would,
And yeah, I was pleasantly surprised to see him pick there. And
yeah, I think Seattle did well. Has Zamra a little bit more upside
for points there? What do you think is kind of ceiling is there?
I think so, because I think the big fault with him, at least
in my experience, was he's a guy who plays really really rambunctious game,
really high energy, but just doesn't get to scoring areas a whole lot.
You know, he can fight guys off, but he just doesn't quite get
inside as much. And I think the more he does that, the better
off he'll be because around the perimeter and just for checking and pinning guys in
the offensive zone, he does that so well. And it's just such a
physical dude that I don't know, I feel like there's got to be something
for him. You give him a few years in the OHL, he'll play
a ton of minutes. I don't know. I've really enjoyed him and where
he went I think makes a lot of sense. Hey, thanks guys,
letting you guys got some post draft work coming out that listeners can can look
for. Yeah, so if anyone subscribed to Buck Preps that we basically have
our up to date profiles on those sorts of things, we'll probably do my
sense of a coverage from this. But the reality is there's players who are
that got picked from the BCCHL going to Clarkson and other places around and there's
just a it's a wonderful group of kids that it's just seemed like it made
sense from the West forst. If you want to know more about these types
of players, their long term projections, where they've come from, you can
see scouting reports from two to three years ago on a lot of these guys
as well. Head over to Puck perhaps find yourself a monthly subscription and and
find all the value there about you Scotch. I'm also at puck Creps as
well. I would say if you want to get a lead on maybe the
next year's draft in the year after, you can also check that out.
We've got summer coverage of camps and everything coming out there. But for me
and I'll be doing a video series on every team who they pick. I've
got to take some time to go through it all and break man. Yeah,
take a little bit of while go and watch all the guys. There's
a bunch of guys that got picked that I have not seen enough of to
really know what I'm talking about. So it'll take some time to get through
that. And but there that'll be coming soon and then we're gonna have stuff
coming out all summer for sure. Awesome, Thanks so much, guys.
Thanks to we'll get a drink strong draft. And also Din that pick is
a little earlier. I don't know how much I'm allowed to say at this
point, but I think it's looking very good about the contract. As far
as development camp, I don't think that's a possibility. Just there's a lot
of logistics that have to go in, just immigration, visa, all that
stuff. I don't have a timeline as far as when we expect him in
Philadelphia, but it's it's looking good, it's moving in the right direction.
I can't just buy respect for those teams, but it's your job and it's
their job to look with what's out there. There's definitely traction for with a
few of them, at least two that I thought we were going in the
right direction, and then again the board kind of went sideways a little bit,
and guys, we have our players that we really want, so they
weren't willing to move their pick, so we just kept going. You mentioned
that you think more that the Chengo is just scratching the surface. I'm assuming
you view him as a guy with extremely high upside and absolutely why do you
see him as a guy that maybe has top of the line on offside.
First of all, his work ethic. If you watch him play, he's
he's always one of the hardest worker both sides of the ice. His vision,
his hockey sense or high end. There's obviously some things that will work
with him to develop and increase, but to have a guy's understand already both
sides of the ice the way he does, and then you look the way
he played. It was a team that just barely made the playoffs. I
think in Gwelph he was the motor for that team. If you watch that
him play, he drove the play. He was a play driver. So
that's really exciting for us. How much did the under eight teams play as
the decision there have a really struggled one. Yeah, we didn't want him
to play too well. We were trying to keep him hidden. Our guys
were really high on him really early in the season, and he just kept
getting better and you saw his stock just kept increasing. So we were not
too excited about that, the fact that he kept climbing up because at first
early in the season, we thought he could have been a later pick for
us, our second pick in the first round, but in the second half
of the year, clearly just hearing all the other teams talk about it,
I got in trouble by a few teams already given me crap for taking him
ahead of a few of them. Perry Trotz National Gym this year and the
next year, and it sets us up for success going forward. I think
most players that come into the league right now, there's a lot of players
that are centers that move over the wing. But we drafted him primarily to
be a centerment for us. No, I think our scouts I didn't see
any of our scouts had done a really good thorough background check all those things.
You meet the kid right away, you know that if there was any
issues, it was just because they were so young. But no, you
could tell he's a solid kid, a young man. Oh. He because
he's competitive. And I think over there, the number one thing over there
is when you play a different style than most guys there there is a i'll
say a piece of some of those players that want to get a little piece
of them back. That's what we like about him is that he has an
effect on the game. We've got a few players like that. Zach LaRue,
who we drafted, has some of that that. The high skill obviously
was with the leading score American Hockey League playoffs for a good portion until if
Milwaukee lost out in the conference finals and then he finally got passed by someone
them. So we love those guys that have some of that combination of grit
and spit if you will. And if you have that combination, you're probably
gonna have some people trying to come at you a little bit. We don't
mind that at all. Of course, certain give a smart process and for
me also a problem if I will fight draft. It's really interesting. I
talked it to the Dimita simaschef and that he was in the Nashville and he
said me, it's really good here. And also I like this place now.
And I think many players will remember this celebration, all life players.
So there's some to the field. Oh yeah, I think made. And
also I have one barbershop for me. Is this players really good? And
these two players have a Stanley Cup and really good and I will try all
Trevor Connolly, Yeah, what do you want to tell people who are concerned
to make us the nets Man's back? You know you're gonna get that you
want you? Yeah, just that I've worked through. I think I've made
mistakes as a kid, and that I'm such a different person now. I
think I'm really mature and super like mature for my age. I think I've
done a lot in the community and got involved, and I think this whole
process has been a learning process for me, I think that I think everything
happens for a reason. I think I've been put through these past couple of
years for a reason. I think that it's all going to work out for
the best of me, and just began that I'll do anything for the organization
and anything to the people, and I'm super excited against her. All the
pre draft conversations, How surprising was it that it was Vegas And how many
conversations I guess did you have as Yeah, I had some really good conversations
with them at the combine and then earlier this week and kind of during the
year, I had a good talks with them as well. So I think
they were really high on character and what person was I am. And I
think they did a lot of research and a lot of digging, and I
don't think they would affect me if they didn't think I was the right fit
for the organization. So I think the talks we had together and the back
and forth was really good and I think we connected really well. Obviously,
the next goal to get to the NHL, right, So what was that
for you? To work? Going accel on what over the next hoping?
Yeah, I think I need to get stronger. I think that's the main
thing for me, is put on some weight before I get to the pro
levels. I think these next year or two at Providence is really going to
help me with that. Words can tell us until quite in terms, such
a question from Massachusetts Keviy fils Had. Yeah, I think I'm not going
to go into too much detail because I don't know if they want me sharing
that, but just figuring out what I like to do off the ice,
what I like to do on the ice, who I hang out with,
what I do in my free time, Just that type of stuff. I
think that kind of play making and goal scoring. I think I do both.
I think I like to use my plays. I like setting up teammates,
and I think also when I get a chance to pull one in,
I use my shot. And I think that my shot is one of my
things. I want to get better as well this summer. So I think
my game translates well. I think my skating is the biggest thing for me
that's gonna help me translate to the next level. Yeah, I think I
want to be like a top six power play penalty colling forward, and I
think I want to have an impact to being a good playoff player is a
big thing for me. I think I want to take steps and be like
a really dominant playoff player and at the next level. And I think off
the ice, I think the thing of mind that I've liked to talk about
with my parents the past couple of years is start maybe starting my own foundation
when I'm older. So I think that's something for sure to look forward to
in the future for me. I actually my little brother wore number twenty four
two years ago, so maybe that. Yeah. Yeah, I like hockey
kids of color, like kids in need of like hockey equipment or things like
that. I think that's like a big thing. Anything like something with Hawk
be like giving back to younger kids. I think with Providence and Tri City,
I think that those are both programs that kind of don't take like low
level character kids. Especially Providence with Nate Lehman and that organization, they really
keen on character and just how you treat your teammates and how you are around
the ranking around the like the team and the guys. So I think that
kind of teams really got to know me as a person. I think maybe
they spend more time with me than other kids, just because I've had issues
in the past, but I think that just like Vegas, just how much
trust they showed me, like especially picking me, it means so much dream
I think I could go higher. Maybe some of this stuff didn't happen,
but I'm honestly the happiest could ever with where I got selected. So I
hope you enjoyed this first half of the two part crossover episode. Keep in
mind we'll be back later this week. You should be subscribed to Dapper Prospect
Report to hear the other half of the great expert interviews and great interviews captured
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