How it could go down

to me the draft starts at 2. wright goes 1 no doubt about it. I really like cooley but im not sure he's separated himself enough from Slafkovsky to guarantee a top 3 pick, 6'4 220 is so intriguing and cooley is only 5'10 175, I quite liked cooley at the u18 but he didn't really dominate, he made great plays but wasn't really on another level

and as for Nemec and jiricek I've seen many people like jiricek over Nemec. bigger, tries more offensively and has an incredible shot

to me wright is a lock, and cooley, slafkovksy, nemec and jiricek are fighting for the top 5 with maybe one falling out. savoie could certainly push his way into the top 5 but he's small and has several flaws but is quite skilled

outside of that the only thing I see is mintyukov or mateychuk will be the other d in the top 10(as you mentioned 3 d)

and I can almost guarantee gaucher lands in the first round. 6'3 210, can skate and hit. someone will take him simply to have a bottom 6 power forward with top 6 upside and has sneaky good defence

I can’t wait to see an NHL GM ( probably Ottawa ) to pick Conor Geekie way too high and for him to become another Logan Brown. I can’t really see Chesley going top 10, I love Chesley but I think he goes 15-20 range. before, I would’ve disagreed a lot on Pickering but he’s grown on me, still would rather take Mateychuk over him though.

Really like Fisher, Hamara, Matikka, I’ve got them in as late 2nd.

Also super high on Bump and Fleming.

Not a fan of Duke.

Where is Bichsel?????

Huh? Sharks arent drafting a LD aka their deepest position. Especially not Pickering over the likes of Mintykov and mateychuk lol. t

Nemec vs Jiricek. What separates the two is skating ability. Nemec a very good skater and Jiricek is not. I have Nemec as clear #1 dman and Jiricek in next tier with Pickering, Chesley, the two you mentioned, maybe a couple of others.

Cooley was named player of the tournament. I don’t know what else people could have seen from him, especially considering he was really trying to showcase his defense. I have always seen a lot of Nate MacKinnon in him. High-motor, but efficient in his movement. Very skilled.

My guess is he is late 1st / early 2nd bubble.

Would have really liked to see him play with the grown-ups at World Championships.

That Logan Brown, Conor Geekie, Ty Boucher line is going to be $$.

Chesley is a guy that I am confident will go higher than expected. A number of scouts have both both Ryan Kennedy and Bob McKenzie that he is 3rd best dman in draft. (All it takes is one). People look at counting stats too much and dman for NTDP aren’t going to put up huge numbers. For one, only one-third of the schedule is in juniors. They are running up the score in weaker opponents much. Two, their second and third pair are going to be a lot better than a typical junior team, so ice time will be more spread out. They same conversation followed Jake Sanderson and Luke Hughes (and McAvoy, Jones, and numerous others from program).

Fans of prep school hockey rave about Fisher. I have not seen him play, but hope to. Hamara sold me at u18. Really interested Matikka. Devils fans love Salminen, his linemate at Jokerit and teammate next year at University of Denver. Kind of hoping we get ‘em both. I am holding for a Fleming rebound. Minnesota youth hockey legend. A 1st round talent, but something has come of the rails there.

I do love Chesley, he’s always been around the 15-20 range on my board and should stay there, I just don’t really see a top 10 pick out of him, especially when I have someone like Lekkerimaki who’s at 11 and can definitely be in the argument for top 10