Spencer_12

Only thing that would bother me is short term extensions for Zegras and Terry. Unfortunately the Ducks waited too long to rebuild so we’re in the position that we’re in. We hit with Zegras, McTavish is heading that way, and the jury is still out with Drysdale. Other than that, all our best prospects are still in junior, and some have big question marks (Zellweger’s size potentially limiting his impact in the NHL, Gaucher‘s offense translating to higher levels, and whether or not Pastujov will even be a NHL player). I think a lot of Ducks fans are getting impatient with losing, and that’s kind of blinded them to the reality that the team is probably further away than they want to admit. We have cap space and assets, but the way I see fans talk about them being able to be used to quickly to turn the team into a contender seems closer to a pipe dream than reality. I think going slower with the rebuild is probably better for long term sustained success. This could all change if next season some of these young guys take massive steps sooner than anticipated. If that happens the Ducks could speed things up, but you can’t plan for that.

No to Toffoli. He’s too old for our timeline, and only has 1 year left. He’s not worth the assets we’d have to give up. Hanifan is interesting. His age works really well with our timeline. Only 1 year left so he’d need to be open to an extension. Big problem is he’s better than Toews was at the time Colorado picked him up for two 2nd round picks. That’s about the value of what I’d want to give up for him. Considering the Ducks’ 1st rounder should be pretty high next year that’s a no go, and I think Calgary will get a 1st for him.

McKenzie’s ratings are out: ”University of Michigan freshman centre Adam Fantilli from the Greater Toronto Area is No. 2 on our final list, not because we believe Anaheim will necessarily take him there or should take him there. The Ducks could, but whether they do or don’t, it’s inconsequential to our ranking. He’s second to only Bedard simply because nine of the 10 scouts surveyed ranked him there. Fantilli showed well at the men’s world championship for Team Canada, and whether he’s projected as an NHL centre or winger — scouts are somewhat divided on that — he has all the tools to be a first-line NHLer. Size, strength, skating, power, work ethic, shot, scoring ability — he’s got it all.“ https://www.tsn.ca/intrigue-and-excitement-in-the-year-of-connor-bedard-at-the-nhl-draft-1.1976262 I’m surprised that Carlsson didn’t receive a single 2nd place vote, and that Fantilli received all but 1 of them. Even during the mid season rankings Carlsson was ranked #2 by a few of the scouts surveyed, and he had a good finish to his season. I expected him to receive a few 2nd place votes considering other scouts surveyed by The Athletic were more split on Carlsson/Fantilli. Also interesting that scouts were split on Fantilli remaining at center.

Dach can’t stay healthy. He’s played 70 games once in his first 4 years in the league. This past season was his 1st producing at a rate that’s acceptable for a 2nd line player (he was on pace for 52 points in 82 games but he only played 58 games). If I had a crystal ball and could see that he would find a way to stay healthy for the next 10 years and produce the way he did this past season then I’d be open to him. I think it would have to be a top 2 protected 2024 1st, not top 5, and I would need to know that Verbeek would draft Michkov at #5. Otherwise, hell no at passing on him at #5. Either way, Dach is too much of a gamble.

I haven’t seen any places/prospect guys projecting Reinbacher as an elite #1 defenseman and I’ve been reading a lot of draft content. If they are out there it’s the extreme minority. The most common line of thinking is that Reinbacher and a few others will be picked too high due to need/scarcity of the position in this draft.

It’s too early to give up on any of Luneau, Zellweger, and Mintyukov. I think this is especially true for Luneau because while he had an extremely good season, I don’t think his value has reached the same level as Mintyukov and Zellweger. I don’t want to give up on any of them before seeing them play at the pro level. I watched one of Luneau’s games this past season, and he was better than all of the times I’ve seen Zellweger play (probably around 10 games). He looked like a young Cale Makar. I definitely want to see more of him before putting him into a trade package. It’s unlikely that all 3 of our top defensive prospects play for us, but it’s far too early to be making the decision on who stays and who goes.

“Today we bring you our annual NHL Draft Confidential. This piece comprises conversations I’ve had with NHL personnel over the past weeks and months about the top names and the biggest questions in the 2023 NHL Draft. We hope this gives you an idea of how the league perceives the top prospects and big debates in the draft this season.” ”All right, No. 1 is settled. Who should Anaheimtake at No. 2? Scout 1: “I would take Carlsson. He has elite skill, he’s smarter than Fantilli although not as good a skater. I think he’s someone who could have a Mikko Rantanen type of career.” Executive 1: “Michkov would seriously be in the conversation for us if we had the No. 2 pick. I get all the risks but he could honestly push Bedard in terms of pure ability.” Scout 2: “It’s Fantilli, don’t overthink it. He’s a big, fast, physical, Canadian center who led college hockey in scoring. He could be a legit No. 1 C in the NHL. It’s a no brainer.” Executive 2: “If I was picking (the) best pure player, I would struggle between Fantilli and Michkov to the very end, but given the world we live in, Fantilli all day is the guy.” Scout 3: “I think people are presuming it’s going to be Fantilli but I wouldn’t be so confident. There are a lot of Leo Carlsson fans in the league, people who believe he’s the better player than Fantilli.” Scout 4: “I would think about Will Smith [if I were Anaheim], his brain plus skill package is pretty special, but I would still lean Fantilli, he just does too much well. Executive 3: “I would take Carlsson. I think he could be the next Barkov.” https://theathletic.com/4553117/2023/06/13/nhl-draft-2023-scouts-executives-reports-observations/

It’s far too early to be evaluating last years draft in any real way. There’s still plenty of time for it to be a home run or a complete dumpster fire. What I would say though is right now it’s definitely trending up considering the season Mintyukov and Luneau had.

The biggest difference is Bedard is thought to have a better chance at producing like Matthews than Fantilli has at producing like MacKinnon. If I could time travel to the future and know that Fantilli is going to be good enough to put up 111 points in a season, then I’d rather have Fantilli over Bedard too, even if Bedard puts up 125 a season.

Eduard Sale is another interesting name (Wheeler has him at #14, Pronman at #24). At the mid-year rankings he was thought to be a top 10 pick by a lot of people, but he seems to be falling a bit. The biggest criticism with him seems to be his inconsistent compete level. Pronman has this to say about him: “On his best day, Sale looks like a high-in-the-lineup forward. He has a rare combination of high-end puck skills in an NHL body with NHL speed and scoring ability. If he hits, you’re going to get a good player, but his in-and-out effort makes that a notable “if.” Sale’s toolkit is exciting. He’s a good-sized winger who skates quite well and has a ton of natural offensive abilities. He has the hands to beat NHL defensemen regularly and with his length and speed he’ll be able to drive play at even strength. Sale is a great passer who can run a power play well and hit seams at a strong clip. He can shoot the puck well enough but is better as a passer for me. His compete is OK. I wouldn’t call him a physical or high-energy type of player, but he shows enough courage to get to the net. I would like to see him be more consistent as there’s too many nights I watch him have little impact, even if he can take over games other nights. I think he’s a very good player, who can be a legit top six wing in the NHL, but I also see him in the process frustrate coaches and fans.“ I wouldn’t be surprised if the Ducks pass on him even at #33 because Verbeek seems to be all about compete level, but there’s people who really love the talent this kid has.

Pronman of the athletic has him ranked #9. Wheeler has him at #26. Lots of other places haven’t made final lists yet, but if he’s trending up he might not be there at #33 unless the Russia factor kicks in.

Florida hit the post 3 times and had another close call denied by a flashing of a stick. Game could have easily gone the other way if Florida got a few bounces.

There actually is stuff to talk about the draft. Good. Pronman of the Athletic released his top 142 draft ranking. It doesn’t say it’s final, but there’s no more hockey to be played and it sounds final. He’s got Fantilli ranked #2, and in the 2nd tier (Elite NHL player). Carlsson is ranked #4, and in the 3rd tier (NHL All-Star). Here’s some interesting quotes from the article: “The 2023 NHL Draft is an above-average draft. This is mostly due to the unusual amount of premium talent at top of the draft.” ”The four names that follow Bedard, though, are all outstanding pro prospects. Adam Fantilli from Michigan would be a strong first overall candidate in many drafts. SKA’s Matvei Michkov would be up there as well as a pure hockey player. Some scouts would argue for Orebro’s Leo Carlsson in a similar way. I couldn’t get him to that range of player by the end of the season, but he and Will Smith from the U.S. program are both high-end talents who would be No. 2 or 3 for me in a standard draft.” ”I’ve observed that this year’s draft has gotten a lot of hype. In my opinion, this is driven by the top five names in the draft. This causes the talent drop-offs in this year’s ranking to be a handful of spots later than usual. If this draft had one, two or three premium names, it would look a lot more typical.” https://theathletic.com/4538998/2023/05/30/nhl-draft-rankings-2023-bedard-pronman/

So, definitely looking forward to the 2023 NHL draft. Hope the Ducks make some good picks in the later rounds. (if you guys want to continue arguing about things that happened almost a decade ago, then start a new topic)

After watching a ton of Fantilli/Carlsson in the WC, and there’s no more hockey coming for them until the draft, I’ve got Fantilli as my #2. There’ll be more analysis coming out from people who get paid to evaluate prospects in the coming weeks so I could always change my mind, but Fantilli has shown an explosive, higher level to his game that I didn’t see from Carlsson. I won’t dislike it if the Ducks take Carlsson, but I’ll be pretty nervous about passing on Fantilli.

What an absolute monster game from Fantilli. I watched the whole game, and I can tell you he was one of the best players on the ice. If he had a little more luck he would have had 4-5 points. Every single shift he was a problem for Latvia, and it was in every zone. He made good passes in his own end to break out of the zone, made the right play in the neutral zone to spring attacks, and pretty much every shift he was involved in a decent look on goal. His highlight reel, goal of the tournament contender, game winner was the cherry on top of a very, very solid game from him. This game probably illustrates why most have him at #2 ahead of Carlsson. I’ve watched a lot of Carlsson in this tournament, and he just hasn’t shown that he is capable of the highs that Fantilli is. Fantilli was on another level in this game. Obviously, the question will be can he reach those highs consistently, and at the NHL level. But in this game there certainly was that wow factor that was really impressive.

Carlsson’s tournament is done as they were upset by Latvia. Canada beat Finland so Fantilli gets another game. It’s crazy to see the difference in how Sweden used Carlsson and how Canada is using Fantilli. In their quarterfinal game, Carlsson took 22 shifts for a total of 21:04, and Fantilli took 15 shifts for a total of 11:31. It had nothing to do with Fantilli’s play either. I watched Canada’s game and Fantilli was used as a 13th forward even though Canada dressed 12. A good shift didn’t mean more ice time, they just kept skipping him and using him randomly. He’s basically been used as a body, not someone they are trying to put in a place to succeed. It’s definitely disappointing from a perspective of a team maybe about to draft him, but at least he looks like he belongs.

One of his goals was extremely lucky. He threw the puck towards a teammate making his way towards the net, but it deflected off a US players stick far away from the net and went in. If the puck makes it through it would have been a nothing play. His 1st goal was on a 5 on 3. Nice shot to hit the wide open net, but that has to be a goal after that kind of setup. 5 on 5 he looked ok not great. Made some plays with the puck, but wasn’t involved in too many dangerous moments. His most dangerous play 5 on 5 was when his teammate gave him a nice pass in the offensive zone which allowed him to go in 1v1 with the goalie, but the goalie denied his backhand shot. I think I’ve seen 3 games each from Fantilli and Carlsson so far. Fantilli had the best moment between them in the game where he stole the puck at the blueline, created a 2 on 1, and made a great pass setting up a one-timer. Carlsson hasn’t done anything to match that type of explosive play. Carlsson has been more consistent though. Part of that I think comes from Carlsson being put in better situations, and Sweden is executing better. In the Canada games I’ve watched I’ve seen so many shifts where Fantilli’s line never got the puck on a nice breakout. It’s a lot of struggling to get the puck through the neutral zone, and then Fantilli gets on the forecheck. Sweden has been more consistent with that. I don’t think Ducks fans should make any comparisons based on goals/assists cause it doesn’t tell the full story. Overall though, Carlsson hasn’t looked out of place. I just wish Fantilli was getting a better opportunity, and was playing center.

Fantilli looked pretty good today against Kazakhstan. He created some nice chances and had a few himself. 4 shots on goal. You have to consider the quality of competition though.

Sweden/Finland was a bit of a tough game for Carlsson. It was a pretty tight checking game, and his line never had much opportunity to generate anything. Their defense wasn’t getting pucks up to his line with nice breakouts so it was a lot of dump and chase play. He started to look better on a few shifts in the 3rd period. On one occasion he was able to get the puck with speed in his own end, and he flew by defenders in the neutral zone. He made a nice little play to open up space for his teammate by dropping the puck to him, but they weren’t on the same page and the chance was gone. Other than that, he had a decent shot on goal on his 1st shift of the game, and was standing alone in front of the net on a PP but I guess the Swedish player with the puck didn’t see him because he didn’t even attempt to make the pass. Compared to the game I saw Fantilli play in Canada’s first game of the tournament, it seems Fantilli is better at getting pucks off the boards at speed when forechecking. There were a few times in this game when the puck evaded Carlsson’s stick, and if he were to have gotten it he could have been in a good spot. Perhaps that was just the small sample size of the games I saw, but it is a difference I noticed.

I’m down to 2 teams I absolutely don’t want to win the Cup - Seattle and Vegas. Unfortunately there’s a decent chance that’s the WCF with one team only 4 wins away from a Cup. Vegas looks good too. I don’t dislike Seattle, but I believe in fanbases having to suffer before knowing success. Vegas I won’t be ok with until they have to go through a full rebuild.

I watched Sweden’s game yesterday to see how Carlsson looked. I came away impressed. Beyond the goal that Sexlaf posted - which Raymond deserves most of the credit for, but hey, he put himself in a good position and finished - he did a lot of little things that stood out. I can see why people rave about his hockey sense. He made a bunch of little 10ft passes to put teammates in good positions, and then he immediately went to a dangerous area incase he got the puck back. For someone that’s barely played center he looks the part. He’s centering their top line with Lucas Raymond on his wing, and he looked well positioned in the defensive zone. I wouldn’t be surprised if his defensive game is ahead of Fantilli’s at center even though Carlsson has barely played the position. I guess that speaks to how high his hockey sense is. His skating seemed fine to me. Fantilli’s is better, but Carlsson did well using his skating to shake off defenseman when he had the puck in the offensive zone. Someone in this thread compared Fantilli to MacKinnon and Carlsson to Kopitar. I can see that. Fantilli really does play with that mix of speed, controlled intensity, and skill that MacKinnon plays with, and Carlsson plays the game like Kopitar does. Honestly, I came into the game hoping Carlsson would look 2nd place to Fantilli because Fantilli’s game has got its hooks in me. After watching it though, I’ve got to say I think Carlsson is going to be a really good NHLer if that’s how he usually looks. I’ll be interested to see how he looks against Finland later today. I still prefer Fantilli because I prefer the MacKinnon type to the Kopitar type, but I can’t be mad if the Ducks choose Carlsson.

Another assist for Fantilli. Makes a nice play at the blueline to steal the puck and creates a 2 on 1.

He was playing physical. There was a video posted of Fantilli’s WJC highlights by Sexlaf, and he was playing basically the same as in that video. It was posted around the day of the lottery results. He didn’t look out of place at all against the older men. Not sure on his linemates as he wasn’t taking consistent shifts, but he was on their #2 PP unit. On the PP he didn’t get much time to settle in and make plays.

I just finished watching the game. This was one of his bright moments making the play for the goal and getting an assist. It wasn’t the only one though. He made a nice pass to a player who was then one on one with the goalie, but the player couldn’t finish. He was mostly good all areas of the ice. He only got around 12 min of ice time, but looked mostly solid in his 1st game against men.