The Athletic recently released their annual NHL Draft confidential (HERE), with anonymous scouts and executives giving their opinions on various prospects. You can read the whole thing, but something that really caught my attention was the varying opinions of this year's defensemen.
When asked to name the best d-man in the class, 11 scouts and five executives split their vote as such:
Levshunov – 5 (one said Silayev was more talented but has KHL risk)
Yakemchuk – 3
Silayev – 2
Buium – 2
Parekh – 2
Dickinson – 1
Levshunov/Yakemchuk/Dickinson tie – 1
Some of my favorite responses:
Scout 1: “Parekh could be the next Quinn Hughes, the next Erik Karlsson if he hits. He has special skill and hockey sense. The other guys in this draft may be safer — they’ll give you 22 minutes a night. You could miss with him for sure, but he could be special.”
Executive 3: “Silayev is so tantalizing. He’s such a good skater for a guy his size. He’s very physical. He can move pucks. He has superstar potential. You can’t find someone like him other than the draft.”
Scout 3: “Yakemchuk can be a No. 1 defenseman. He’s big, mean, athletic, and has a ton of natural offensive abilities. He’s a guy you build a winner around.”
Scout 6: “Dickinson doesn’t have a miss factor. I think worst case you’re getting a top-four-minute-eating big defenseman who can fly. If he really hits and there’s some offense the high side is an impactful NHL defender.”
Executive 4: “Levshunov is as complete as you can get. He was a dominant college player from the get-go. He has no weakness. He was playing big minutes at big times. Silayev is right there with him although not as much offense and Parekh/Yakemchuk are behind those two for me.”
Scout 8: “I only watched the players in USA, but I keep seeing Levshunov ranked very high, and I didn’t even think he was the best defense prospect in college. Buium was way better when I saw him. Levshunov is very good, but I thought Buium was an impactful college defenseman all season.”
Remember this if Levshunov is off the board and the Ducks take another defenseman third overall. There's a good chance the guy they get is the one they wanted all along.
by BigTimeTimJim13
3 Comments
I feel the ducks need to stop taking the safe choice and make a swing on superstar potential which is why I’ve been a huge supporter of taking Silayev.
Somebody mentioned this in a different post but Devils on the hunt for a goalie, Gibson likely available. Gibson and Oilers first for 10 from NJ
Separately, as meaningless as it is, Levshunov has become a more significant favorite to go second.
If Demidov falls to us we can take advantage of the deeper talent pool of defensemen and go Demidov at 3 and Buium/Yaremchuk/Parekh/Silayev/Dickinson at 10.
Our goaltender pipeline is deep, it might be time to take advantage of it
I trust our front office to make the right pick.. they’ve done a great job drafting in the early rounds lately.
Selfishly would like to see Parekh on the team cuz he’s half Korean tho 😎