The NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo was fairly uneventful but always provides useful information about what teams will do later this month in Nashville. Unlike last year in Montreal, there is literally no drama about the top pick, as Connor Bedard will go to the Chicago Blackhawks first overall, but the lack of drama should be extended to the top three of the first round.
Even though neither participated in the physical testing on Saturday, there is little doubt that the top two will be Bedard and Hobey Baker Award winner Adam Fantilli going to Anaheim. There were a few hints that Columbus is giving a long look at Will Smith at #3, but most believe that the Jackets will take Leo Carlsson.
If the top three are chalk, then the draft really starts at #4 with San Jose.
There appear to be two wildcards at the top of the draft in Matvei Michkov and David Reinbacher.
There is no doubting Michkov’s high-end talent, but the question is when a team drafting him could expect him to come to North America. Speculation is that the winger could go as high as Montreal at #5 or even Arizona at #6, but the perfect fit might be Washington at #8 with Alex Ovechkin pulling strings back home to get the 18-year-old over sooner.
Michkov and the top Russian prospects were invited to the Combine but did not come due to visa issues, so they will have to base their evaluation purely on information from their scouts in Russia.
Another factor made clearer over the weekend was that the defensive crop is not very strong in this draft, with only the Austrian-born Reinbacher and possibly Axel Sandin-Pellika going in the top 10. After that, big Russian blueliner Dmitri Simashev is likely to go in the top half of the first.
Gavin Brindley is one of the most intriguing prospects in the lower half of the first round of the #NHLDraft. Only 5'9", he has the speed, offensive ability, and tenacity to be an NHLer. pic.twitter.com/fRcUySIjYt
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) June 12, 2023
Talking to a number of the prospects, most of them spoke to in excess of 20 teams, which is different than previous years. This reflects a level of uncertainty of where players will go and clubs using more of a shotgun approach to cover their options.
After potential top-10 picks like Ryan Leonard, Oliver Moore, Matthew Wood, and Quentin Musty, the group of forwards gets decidedly smaller, with the most intriguing options being Andrew Cristall, Riley Heidt, Gavin Brindley, and Jayden Perron, all 5’10… and under. There continues to be a height prejudice in the NHL, and players with a larger physical stature might get elevated into the late first round ahead of smaller players with more pure talent.
Watch and listen to the @HockeyBuzz Buzzcast for your daily #NHL news and rumors on:@YouTube https://t.co/yKfvRAkraC@TuneIn https://t.co/gseaUhfA7V@ApplePodcasts https://t.co/M5dT4bhrDt
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) January 5, 2021