I made the original post about where to rank aho in this years prospect draft because in the 16 team league I'm in you cannot pick up a prospect who has yet to play a NHL game. So he was passed over last year and is available in this years draft. When I made that post I asked if 7 was too high after the top 6 forwards? To me it is not, yes he had the best linemates in WJC but as an 18 year old he put up 45 pts in 45 games in that finnish league as well as 15 pts in 14 games in the playoffs. To me he sees the ice very well and I loved some of his cross ice passes at WJC and the World Cup thing that just finished. He has a nice wrister and seems to make plays by the net but I don't know how that will translate on smaller ice vs the best defensemen in the world.
I think he makes the Canes out of camp and will play middle six minutes. I have the fortune of having picks 2 7 and 8 of which I will take Laine and if Aho is available at 7 I'll take him and right now I have Keller penciled in at 8. I believe Keller is this years Kyle Connor.
16 Team H2H Dynasty
G A Pt PIM SoG PPP H+B FOW DZS
W Svs GAA Sv%
C Scheifele Tavares Dvorack Eller
LW Domi Aho Ritchie Vrana
RW Tarasenko J Williams Laine Sheary
D Klefbom M Rielly Spurgeon Provorov Ellis Dahlin
R White Kase Schmaltz Thomas Anston-Reese Lindell Theodore
G McEhlinney C Anderson
R Kuemper
M Bjork Raddysh Kravtsov Ylonen Soderstorm Gilles Gustavsson Point Khakonen Delia Hill
Looks like there's a typo here, you've got Keller in the top 5, but he's the 6th on that list
Jokes aside, if the Devils do land him at 11, that would be larceny! I only knew a little on him a couple of months ago, but after reading that so many people were high on him, I tried to find more info and from what I've seen (articles, stats, videos, ...) I really like what he can bring to his future team.
Keeper league 14 teams (H2H, 20 active players keep 16 NHLers, 16 minors)
Scoring Cats: G-A-PTS-PPG-PPA-(+/-)-HITS-BLK-SHP-SOG-FOW-GWG / W-L-SVS-SV%-GAA-SO
C- Crosby, Barzal, Bennett, Schmaltz, Cooley, Novak
W- Forsberg, Batherson, Nichuskin, Tuch, Konecny, Maccelli, Sharangovich, Bertuzzi, Neighbours, Reichel, Holloway
D- Carlson, Rielly, Klingberg
G- Hellebuyck, Demko, Merzlikins, Vejmelka
Minors:
F: Fantilli, Bourgault, Perreault, Cowan, Ohgren, N. Foote, Goyette, Iskhakov, Denisenko, Tracey
D: Simashev, Willander, Lambos
G: Schmidt, Rodrigue, DiPietro, Gaudreau, McKay
Where would you rank Matt Murray if he was available vs this years draft class? Say for the league in my sig
12 Team HTH Keeper
(F's G=1 A=1, D G=1 A=1, All Skaters PPG=.5, SHG=.5 Goalies W=2 SO=3)
Dress 8 F, 4 D, 2 G weekly
F's-Marner, Rantanen, Crosby, Panarin, Guentzel, Caufield, Kaprizov, Lundell, Tomasino, Holtz, Pavelski, Zuccarello, Hagel, Dach
D-Makar, Josi, Doughty Andersson, AP, Hutson
G-Hellebuyck, Fleury, Comrie, Kochetkov, Wolf, Primeau, Sogaard
10 Team Keeper League, 15 Keepers (max 2 goalies), 10 prospects, Start 2C, 2LW, 2RW, 3 Utility, 4D, 2G
Stats: G, A, P, +/-, PIMS, SOG, STP; W, SO, SV%, GAA
C: MacKinnon, Scheifele, Larkin, Pavelski (RW)
LW Panarin, Ehlers , Ovechkin, Verhaeghe (C), Beauvillier, Killorn
RW: Kucherov, Pastrnak, Wheeler, Mangiapane (LW)
D: Makar, Hughes, Krug; Pietrangelo, Schmidt, Andersson, Gostibehere
G: Vasilevskiy, Hellebuyck, Bobrovsky
Prospects: Sorokin (G), Askarov (G), Raymond (LW), Kaliyev (RW), Perfetti (RW), Norris (C), Kaprizov (LW), Hayton (C), Brannstrom (D), Boqvist (D), Clarke (D)
I'm starting to hear more and more guys talking about considering Tkachuk over Puljujarvi at 3rd overall simply because they fear Torts and what he will do to that kids development.
10 Team, Points Only, Cash League
25 Man Roster (no position), top 20 point getters count at end of month
Keep 20/25 at seasons end, Cut 5 to FA for redrafting
Goalie points W=2pt L=-1pt SHO=2pt
Stamkos, Tavares, Eichel, Mercer, JRobertson, RThomas, Kucherov, Nugent-Hopkins, Tuch, KConnor, Necas, Point, Konecny, SJarvis, Cozenz, Morrissey, Bouchard, Josi, Novak, Tolvanen, Peterka, SBennett
G- Vasilevskiy, Sorokin, Oettinger
"Cleavage is like the sun. You can look, but dont stare.. Unless you're wearing sunglasses."
G,A,+/-,PPP,SHP,GWG,H,BS,W,SV%,SA,SO
12 Man H2H Salary Keeper League
C - S.Crosby/S.Monahan/G.Landeskog(lw)/W.Karlsson
LW- T.Hall/B.Rust(lw)/N.Hoglander
RW - J.Guentzel(lw)/ T.Tatar(lw)/J.Pulujaarvi/K.Kapanen(lw)
D - B.Burns/E.Karlsson/M.Heiskanen/J.Carlson
G - I.Sorokin/I.Shesterkin/T.Demko/C.Peterson/C.Talbot
Farm - C.Primeau/P.Kochetov/C.Caufield/E.Svechnikov
I can't comment on the Aho vs. draft class debate but I found this comment to be really interesting.
I'm actually of the other school of thought, which is essentially screw goalies. Unless you're talking about the next Lundqvist or Price type guy (and even then, for every Lundqvist and Price there's a Bernier or Lehner), no way I'm taking a highly touted young goalie over a young forward of equal/slightly lesser hype. There's just way too much volatility in the goalie market which I'm starting to learn now. We're seeing it more and more lately that goalie development is extremely unpredictable and we're seeing a lot of cases in today's generation of the NHL where most of the best talent comes out of guys that almost come out of nowhere.
I'm not saying Murray CAN'T be one of the top goalies going forward, but I don't think I would take him over anybody in this draft class.
To put things in perspective, Aho put up point-per-game (45 in 45) in Liiga w/ Puljujarvi on his line. Granted he is a year older, and arguably more developed. But he definitely doesn't have the supreme physical tools as Puljujarvi, who put up 28 points in 50 games.
If you think Puljujarvi is NHL-ready right now -- which I certainly do, as I have him ranked above Laine in my personal ranks -- then Sebastian Aho certainly isn't far off. Penguins just showed you don't need massive body grinders to win hockey games. You need skill, speed, puck support, and intelligence. Aho will have those in spades.
I would honestly consider him just outside the top-3. Right alongside Dubois and Tkachuk. You can talk about the small sample size that is the MASTERCARD Memorial Cup, and Matty being "clutch" and all that stuff during the playoffs. And that's all well and good, but during the regular season he had the highest assist-share of SECONDARY assists, meaning, he got lucky with his gaudy point totals. He's a good player, don't get me wrong, but I would SERIOUSLY consider drafting this way (BPA):
Matthews
Puljujarvi
Laine
Dubois
Aho
Tkachuk / Keller [depending on categories like Hits / PIM]
MounD - Double Threat FHL (18-19 champs)
10-Team Yahoo daily H2H Dynasty
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 6D, 2G, 7Bn (IR)
G, A, +/-, PPP, SHP, SOG, FW, HIT, BLK // W, Sv, GAA, Sv%, SHO
C: Bergeron, Barkov, Aho, Point, Kadri
LW: Marchand, Landeskog, Hertl, Marchessault
RW: Stamkos, Tarasenko, Laine, Palmieri
D: Carlson, Letang, Dumba, Weber, Pietrangelo, Ristolainen, Byfuglien*
G: Bobrovsky, Holtby, Lehner, Greiss-Varlamov
Farm: Turcotte, Cozens, Denisenko, Newhook // Sandin, Jokiharju, Dobson, K'Andre // Shesterkin
I would draft Murray IMMEDIATELY after the big 3. He is a proven commodity, multiple years of dominating in the pros (AHL), came into the Penguins and showed incredible poise while learning it all on the biggest stage in sports. This kid is special, I would prioritize him over anyone not named Matthews, Pulju, and Laine. Goalies are technically easier to "poach" as a diligent manager, but guys like Murray are kind of rare -- just not as rare / hard to acquire as studs like the Big 3.
MounD - Double Threat FHL (18-19 champs)
10-Team Yahoo daily H2H Dynasty
3C, 3LW, 3RW, 6D, 2G, 7Bn (IR)
G, A, +/-, PPP, SHP, SOG, FW, HIT, BLK // W, Sv, GAA, Sv%, SHO
C: Bergeron, Barkov, Aho, Point, Kadri
LW: Marchand, Landeskog, Hertl, Marchessault
RW: Stamkos, Tarasenko, Laine, Palmieri
D: Carlson, Letang, Dumba, Weber, Pietrangelo, Ristolainen, Byfuglien*
G: Bobrovsky, Holtby, Lehner, Greiss-Varlamov
Farm: Turcotte, Cozens, Denisenko, Newhook // Sandin, Jokiharju, Dobson, K'Andre // Shesterkin