Cam Robinson's 2018 NHL Draft Rankings

[Crazy Joe Davola]

Thoughts on Wahlstrom's NHL ETA?

He's committed to Harvard but I've heard whispers he may join his good buddy Farabee at BU next season. As Steve said, the AHL is an option too.

Either way, I see a one and done situation as pretty likely.

[Crazy Joe Davola]

Any thoughts on the goalies in this crop compared to previous years. I see 4 listed, all near the bottom 10. Is this a weak crop?

Quite a weak crop. Have those guys in the top 100 is probably even being a little generous by me. I'm not sure I'll have any of them in there by the time I publish the final rankings in June.

Time for teams to start sifting through NCAA and Euro free agents to stockpile that position

[Jouko-Pouko]

Cam's new rankings are published! Check it out: Cam Robinson's 2018 NHL Draft Rankings: Top 115 - April 2018

[Pengwin7]

Always a great read.
Would love to hear Cam's thoughts on pushing Hughes(3) ahead of Zadina(4)...

With the NHL getting younger/faster... I sort of anticipate that the good skating defensemen will become... (well, eventually)... abundant.
I can even foresee something that has never been a fad in real NHL hockey - positional switches where great skating forwards might get tried out at D if they can make great zone-entry stats. (ala 90s Fedorov & Dandenault)

And so I think high-end scoring forwards should command a deeper premium on consideration, sort of "going forward" think-set for the new NHL.
[Dahlin, obv, being "generational" from a D-man perspective and well beyond this same discussion with Svech/Zadina.]

I just can't see a GM going with Hughes ahead of Zadina... but I'd love to hear reasoning.

[jman]

I've been on the fence between Hughes and Boqvist for a long time. More and more rankings as we get closer to the draft have Hughes ahead of Boqvist but to me, it still looks really close.

Boqvist has two things that are working in his favour:

1. He is a RH shot
2. He is a lot younger than Hughes (and therefore we are seeing him much earlier in his development - ie - possibly more potential here...)

How important are these two characteristics?

[Axeman33]

I've been on the fence between Hughes and Boqvist for a long time. More and more rankings as we get closer to the draft have Hughes ahead of Boqvist but to me, it still looks really close.

Boqvist has two things that are working in his favour:

1. He is a RH shot
2. He is a lot younger than Hughes (and therefore we are seeing him much earlier in his development - ie - possibly more potential here...)

How important are these two characteristics?

I'd say both are somewhat important. Being a RHS is more important then being younger to me. Both have a lot of growing to do before they will be effective NHL Dmen.

[reggiebarnes]

Always a great read.
Would love to hear Cam's thoughts on pushing Hughes(3) ahead of Zadina(4)...

With the NHL getting younger/faster... I sort of anticipate that the good skating defensemen will become... (well, eventually)... abundant.
I can even foresee something that has never been a fad in real NHL hockey - positional switches where great skating forwards might get tried out at D if they can make great zone-entry stats. (ala 90s Fedorov & Dandenault)

And so I think high-end scoring forwards should command a deeper premium on consideration, sort of "going forward" think-set for the new NHL.
[Dahlin, obv, being "generational" from a D-man perspective and well beyond this same discussion with Svech/Zadina.]

I just can't see a GM going with Hughes ahead of Zadina... but I'd love to hear reasoning.

hughes is too high on this list. Certainly he is not ahead of Bouchard. And Merkley who is likely a second rounder (worst defensive player in entire CHL) is too high as well. Hughes has nice upside and is the best US dman in a long time, but isn’t good enough in Ian zone or big enough to be ahead of other D or Zadina

[Crazy Joe Davola]

Hughes over Zadina is something I’ve toyed with for a couple of months. Realistically, you can’t go wrong with either but my rational was that a defensman that can impact the game at the level I expect Hughes to is more unique than a goal scoring winnger - albeit a potentially terrific one.

When I broke down the tiers I put 3-11 into a group but when I do my final marks in June, I’m strongly considering going with 3-5 as a tier and 6-11 in another. That’s how highly I value Hughes, Zadina, and Boqvist.

[Crazy Joe Davola]

/

hughes is too high on this list. Certainly he is not ahead of Bouchard. And Merkley who is likely a second rounder (worst defensive player in entire CHL) is too high as well. Hughes has nice upside and is the best US dman in a long time, but isn’t good enough in Ian zone or big enough to be ahead of other D or Zadina

Careful not to be sucked in purely based on points. While Bouchard had a spectacular season, some of that was due to him being to primary focus of his team’s attack. His skating is fine but won’t allow him to log 30+ minutes a night as it did in the OHL. Not without improvement anyways.

That likely makes him a tad more one dimensional than the elite skaters in this group.

Fortunately, scouting is subjective and I place a great deal on skating and processing skills. Others may value size and shooting ability. It doesn’t make either of us wrong.

I broke down Bouchard, Dobson and Smith a few weeks back. Take a gander for a more detailed response https://dobberprospects.com/prospect...ah-dobson/amp/

[Shift Disturber]

hughes is too high on this list. Certainly he is not ahead of Bouchard. And Merkley who is likely a second rounder (worst defensive player in entire CHL) is too high as well. Hughes has nice upside and is the best US dman in a long time, but isn’t good enough in Ian zone or big enough to be ahead of other D or Zadina

I don't know how anyone can be that decisive. Time will tell if you are correct, but as of today there are plenty of arguments that put Bouchard behind Hughes. I see Bouchard as Ekblad-light and if I was an NHL GM would take Hughes over him. It is well known that Karlsson was the 7th d-man taken in the 2008 draft and no one could imagine how good he would become. We also didn't know how disappointing Bogosian would be. We'll have the same situation in 10 years looking back at this draft when we will know how all these fine D prospects develop.

[donpaulo]

Looking forward to seeing the team names next to the picks

[reggiebarnes]

I don't know how anyone can be that decisive. Time will tell if you are correct, but as of today there are plenty of arguments that put Bouchard behind Hughes. I see Bouchard as Ekblad-light and if I was an NHL GM would take Hughes over him. It is well known that Karlsson was the 7th d-man taken in the 2008 draft and no one could imagine how good he would become. We also didn't know how disappointing Bogosian would be. We'll have the same situation in 10 years looking back at this draft when we will know how all these fine D prospects develop.

Ok but there was no scenario where karlsson would have been taken ahead of Bogosian . Hughes could end up the better player but I?m confident Bouchard would be draft ahead of him no matter what

as a sens fan I?m really intrigued that we will end up with Zadina, Tkachuk, Wahlstrom or one of the D. I?d go Tkachuk if they don?t think any of the d will be #1

[Bazz]

I like Hughes comparison to Krug and the Bouchard comp to Ekblad. I watched a couple U of M games and Hughes can skate like a forward and is creator. He can buy time and space, good vision as well. I’ve only seen highlights of Bouchard and I love his shot from the point. I’d be happy if my Blackhawks landed either to go with Jokipari. I can’t wait to see the mock drafts.

[Crazy Joe Davola]

Ok but there was no scenario where karlsson would have been taken ahead of Bogosian . Hughes could end up the better player but I?m confident Bouchard would be draft ahead of him no matter what

as a sens fan I?m really intrigued that we will end up with Zadina, Tkachuk, Wahlstrom or one of the D. I?d go Tkachuk if they don?t think any of the d will be #1

This isn?t intended to predict who gets drafted where. That?s a mock draft and is fraught with pitfalls.

This is how I evaluate players today and project them going forward.

[Crazy Joe Davola]

I like Hughes comparison to Krug and the Bouchard comp to Ekblad. I watched a couple U of M games and Hughes can skate like a forward and is creator. He can buy time and space, good vision as well. I’ve only seen highlights of Bouchard and I love his shot from the point. I’d be happy if my Blackhawks landed either to go with Jokipari. I can’t wait to see the mock drafts.

I?ll be joining Peter Harling and Aynsley Scott this morning on DobberProspects Radio to do a full mock of round one!