2018 Draft Thread

[herman]

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2018/06/23/rasmus-sandin-drafted-29th-overall-by-the-toronto-maple-leafs/

The Leafs GM tipped his hand on this pick last week on the air with Jamies Duthie on TSN, saying of Craig Button?s projected pick of Sandin for the Leafs, ?He plays defense the way I like it to be played ? very, very good with the puck, skates very well. In the playoffs for the Soo, he took his game physically to another level and showed a great level of competitiveness in addition to his skillset. If Craig were the GM of the Leafs and he made that pick, it?d be a good pick.?

https://canucksarmy.com/2018/06/08/canucksarmys-2018-nhl-draft-profiles-30-rasmus-sandin/

Better than Tim Gleason, wooooo!!!

 

[princedpw]

Better than Al MacInnis!

 

[Bonsixx]

I like the pick and I love that they gained an extra pick to grab the guy they wanted.

I also enjoy that the Leafs actually have picks in the draft. What fun.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Smart pick for the Leafs, not surprising to see Dubas trade down again.
 
Pretty exciting day for Rasmus...

[tweet]1010384817182081024[/tweet]

 

[hockeyfan1]

The upside of Rasmus Sandin...

https://canucksarmy.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/06/Rasmus-Sandin-Event-Tracker.png?w=761

 

[Boston Leaf]

I know nothing about the kid but love that they got an extra pick. Can't believe people are upset about gaining another pick in the 3rd for a guy they were more than likely taking at 25. Found wallet

 

[Kin]

25 for 29 and 76. In 2015 the trade was 24 for 29 and 61. So yeah doesn't look great in comparison but if St. Louis was the only team looking to trade up you have to kinda take what you can get. And I doubt they would have been interested in giving up 45, which was their only other pick.

I agree with this in the broad strokes but I suppose my thinking is, and forgive me for going off on a bit of a journey but this isn't a fully formed thought so much as a gut reaction, something along these lines:

When we talk about trading down we generally hold it to be a pretty good idea in one of three cases:

1. Your team doesn't really like anyone available at their spot

2. Your team thinks they can get the guy they want at the spot they trade down to and pick up an extra asset in the process

3. Your team has a bunch of guys they'd be equally happy with and know they can get one at the spot they trade down to.

Scenario #1 seems really only useful if you're drafting high and right about where a tier drops off. So it's the two others I think I have some uncertainty towards.

#2 is probably the most commonly cited but just in general I tend to think it's bad strategy. If there's a guy you like and he's there...I generally say just take him. Can you trade down and pick up another asset? Sure but you are taking a risk. Even if you're pretty sure that none of the teams between you and where you're trading down to will take him you're still risking that another team doesn't like the same prospect and doesn't trade up to snag him. I think really hitting on your 1st round pick is important enough that unless you're getting a really solid return, which like I said I don't think a mid-3rd is, it's not something I'd do.

Besides which if things do go wrong it's not like we'd ever know about it so the "Well, they were going to take him anyway at 25" is conjecture to some extent.

But also,I guess there's a part of me that looks at rationale #3 up there and thinks we maybe are too quick to assume that a sort of wishy-washy "Well, I think all four prospects are equally good" attitude could ever really be entirely disconnected from a desire to add assets. Knowing that you can trade down and add a pick, I think, could sort of smooth out the edges between prospects even if subconsciously. It's sort of the idea of those draft charts you're talking about. It's not that 29 is just as valuable as 25, it's that 29+76 grades out better. So likewise if say a team were scoring prospects out of 100 and they had four guys who all bunched together from 76-79 or something then the temptation might be to sort of ignore the small differences in favour of the asset.

Which, to be fair, I think has some merit but really more if you've got a prospect system that's painfully low on depth. In the Leafs' situation, where I think their depth is ok but they really need some high impact guys I guess I'm a little disappointed that with all of the resources at their disposal they wouldn't be able to laser focus in on one guy who they really think is going to be that high impact prospect.

Because I think if you can do that then if that guy's available where you're picking...you just take him and avoid the risk.

But, like I said, just thoughts percolating.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Leafs fans trust Dubas knows what he's doing.  Sure there were others and Dubas could have chosen differently, but then we all know what fast-skating, puck-moving Swedish d-men can do.

In fact...

[tweet]1010367977433325573[/tweet]

 

[herman]

Burtch is selling (some of) Leafs Twitter on Sandin.

https://twitter.com/steveburtch/status/1010380453830774784

 

[Kin]

Leafs fans trust Dubas knows what he's doing.

I'm pretty sure nobody decided that you speak for Leafs fans.

Or, if they did, then go Red Wings.

 

[herman]

I think to Nik?s disappointment here, Dubas (and scouts) have said they believe Sandin is an impact player with a huge runway for growth with his already mature defensive instincts and offensive support game.

There?s obviously a lot of shiny new toy honeymooning over our latest pick, but a lot of positive feedback on Sandin came ahead of the draft, with prognosticators thinking he would be ranked a bit artificially low due to a rough ending to the SSM playoff run, and the supposed red flag of bouncing from team to team in Sweden. A relatively large portion of the 31 Thoughts pre-draft podcast was devoted to him.

https://www.pensionplanpuppets.com/2018/6/23/17495302/toronto-maple-leafs-rasmus-sandin-2018-nhl-draft-first-round-kyle-dubas-sault-ste-marie-greyhounds
https://twitter.com/mitchlbrown/status/978988591194963968

 

[Kin]

To be clear, outside of the fact that I think they need to add some players down the middle, I don't dislike the pick.

I'm not crazy about trading down as a strategy but that's as much a hypothetical as anything.

 

[herman]

To be clear, outside of the fact that I think they need to add some players down the middle, I don't dislike the pick.

I think this too, and I?m warming up to the pick more and more. He does seem to play exactly the way I want our defense to play.

I don?t think any of the centres in this crop (at least rated to go in the first round) were particularly exciting though.

 

[Kin]

I don?t think any of the centres in this crop (at least rated to go in the first round) were particularly exciting though.

The nice thing about having Matthews is that you don't need to go for excitement when picking C's. Unless "this guy has a pretty good chance to be a good #2 centre" is the sort of thing that excites you.

 

[hockeyfan1]

Leafs fans trust Dubas knows what he's doing.

I'm pretty sure nobody decided that you speak for Leafs fans.

Or, if they did, then go Red Wings.

I may not speak for all in the same way not everyone agrees with your supposed disappointment.

 

[Kin]

I may not speak for all in the same way not everyone agrees with your supposed disappointment.

Which is why I present my opinions as being representative of only my own opinion and raise them for discussion on a message board where other people are free to disagree if they so choose and engage in considered discussion.

It's what people who aren't busy plagiarizing other people's game summaries sometimes do here.

 

[herman]

I don?t think any of the centres in this crop (at least rated to go in the first round) were particularly exciting though.

The nice thing about having Matthews is that you don't need to go for excitement when picking C's. Unless "this guy has a pretty good chance to be a good #2 centre" is the sort of thing that excites you.

Lundestrom would've been my centre option.

 

[Kin]

Now, that said, there are enough neat picks on the board still that that surplus third could be useful in maybe moving up to grab one of Thomas or Wilde or someone.

Although that would be pretty un-Dubas-y.

 

[hockeyfan1]

I may not speak for all in the same way not everyone agrees with your supposed disappointment.

Which is why I present my opinions as being representative of only my own opinion and raise them for discussion on a message board where other people are free to disagree if they so choose and engage in considered discussion.

It's what people who aren't busy plagiarizing other people's game summaries sometimes do here.

Plagiarizing??    Whatever happened to referring to something for information for a summary, etc.?  From various sources, gathering all the neccesary information and placing everything gathered -- details, etc., - in writing a short summary.

BTW Have you read my book review of "Kitchen  Confidential" ?  (No one wrote that for me nor did I copy anyone else, in case you don't know).

P.S.  You're free to discuss matters as you wish, but just don't go thinking that your sarcastic responses will  be freely welcomed.

 

[cujo4ever]

Well I was hoping that they'd be able to get Merkley, but this Sandin character has some nice things written about him.

I've watched Merkley play for the Storm the last few years. That kid is going to be a very good NHL player IMO.