NHL 2017 -Official Discussion Thread

[StCapps]

Vilardi falls out of the top 10. Weird. Kings got a steal there, fell right into their lap.

[Smitty-48]

Vilardi falls out of the top 10. Weird. Kings got a steal there, fell right into their lap.

Meh, draft for skill, he projects to be a grinder at the NHL level, I wouldn't even take him at 17, this is not a deep draft, last year he prolly would have gone second round. He used his size at the junior level against kids, but against men in the show, he's too slow, doesn't have the skating, if you want something like that, I've got Kirby Rychel for you on the Marlies right now, no need to draft it.

[StCapps]

Vilardi falls out of the top 10. Weird. Kings got a steal there, fell right into their lap.

Meh, draft for skill, he projects to be a grinder at the NHL level, I wouldn't even take him at 17, this is not a deep draft, last year he prolly would have gone second round.

He's got decent skill, good hands and shot, solid defensively, well rounded, it's the skating that's the big question mark.
As for the Leafs at 17, looking like one or two of Liljegren, Valimaki and Tolvanen will be there, and there is the Petruzelli option as we discussed last night.

[Smitty-48]

Vilardi falls out of the top 10. Weird. Kings got a steal there, fell right into their lap.

Meh, draft for skill, he projects to be a grinder at the NHL level, I wouldn't even take him at 17, this is not a deep draft, last year he prolly would have gone second round.

He's got decent skill, it's the skating that's the big question mark.

Yeah, and the game is all about skating now, and Gabe Vilardi's don't turn into speedsters just because you leave them in the A for four years, that was actually a stupid pick by LA, they've got plenty of grit and grind already, what they need is speed.

[StCapps]

Meh, draft for skill, he projects to be a grinder at the NHL level, I wouldn't even take him at 17, this is not a deep draft, last year he prolly would have gone second round.

He's got decent skill, it's the skating that's the big question mark.

Yeah, and the game is all about skating now, and Gabe Vilardi's don't turn into speedsters just because you leave them in the A for four years, that was actually a stupid pick by LA, they've got plenty of grit and grind already, what they need is speed.

If he turns out to be a third liner, then yeah it will be a shitty pick. If he turns into a second liner with versatility, a poor man's Ryan O'Reilly, that's not bad for the 11th pick in this kind of draft class, even if they have a bunch of grit already.

[StCapps]

Liljegren to the Leafs. Good pick, there's your drafting for skill, right there. Rather have Liljegren than Vilardi, that's for sure.

[Smitty-48]

Hey, Liljegren, now that's more like it, had an off year, but was projected to go top three before he did, upside is franchise top paring RHD.

That dropped right into our laps, eh? Skill is off the charts, poor man's Erik Karlsson.

[StCapps]

Leafs continue to draft extremely well, boy how things have changed. Changing of the culture indeed, not just a catch phrase for once.

[Smitty-48]

Needed some help from the Hockey Gods there, he had mono at the beginning of the season, so that threw him off, then he saw himself dropping in the rankings so he was trying too hard and that threw his game off even more, so just an off year drops him into the Leafs lap at 17, but all the skills are elite, skating, shooting, vision, he's in the same class as a Makar, basically like getting a top 5 pick in this draft, send him back to Sweden, then when he fills out, let Babcock train him up, worst case scenario he's a Jake Gardiner, also drafted at 17th, best case scenario he's a Number One D, he has all the skill, just has to have the will.

[Smitty-48]

Going in I was thinking Valamaki, Foote, Hague, but I had Liljegren ranked way above them, just wasn't expecting him to be available at 17, thought he would go top 10 at least, he was after all, before he had mono, projected to go top 2.

Effortless skating, puck moving, laser shooting, right handed defenceman with sick mitts, Billy Nylander on the back end, what's not to like?

Can send them to the gym, can teach them to cover the zone, but you can't teach the kind of skill this kid has, may not end up being the biggest steal of the draft, but I think he's dinfintely a steal at 17th, more than was I hoping, pleasantly surprised, that's fo sho.