Hockey Prophets

2018 Draft: How Did The Teams Do?

June 29, 2018 by Brian Fogarty

The NHL draft, a strange art form that combines a bit of science, a bit of experiential knowledge and a lot of pure luck, allows teams to resupply their prospect pools each summer. While it takes years for the results of the draft to truly clarify and all of the luck to play out, below is a compilation of each team's picks, and a short review of how NHL teams did over the draft weekend according to what the Hockey Prophets have seen in the tea leaves. (Note that each player is listed with position, height, weight, A/P Score, Hockey Prophets draft ranking and weighted publication ranking).

Anaheim Ducks

Round 1, Pick 23: Isac Lundestrom (Pos: C, Height: 6'0, Weight: 183, A/P: -0.56, HP rank: 22nd; Pub Rank: 21st)

Round 2, Pick 54: Ben-Olivier Groulx (Pos: C, Height: 6'1, Weight: 192, A/P: -0.18, HP rank: 40th; Pub Rank: 42nd)

Round 3, Pick 79 (from NJD): Blake McLaughlin (Pos: C, Height: 6'0, Weight: 157, A/P: -0.46, HP rank: 50th; Pub Rank: 56th)

Round 3, Pick 85: Lukas Dostal (Pos: G, Height: 6'1, Weight: 166, A/P: N/A, HP rank: 90th; Pub Rank: 80th)

Round 4, Pick 116: Jackson Perbix (Pos: RW, Height: 6'1, Weight: 175, A/P: -0.06, HP rank: 182nd; Pub Rank: 154th)

Round 5, Pick 147: Roman Durny (Pos: G, Height: 6'1, Weight: 209, A/P: N/A, HP rank: 269th; Pub Rank: 300th)

Round 6, Pick 178: Hunter Drew (Pos: D, Height: 6'2, Weight: 187, A/P: 0.02, HP rank: NR; Pub Rank: NR)

The Ducks added three centers in the opening three rounds. None of the three put up spectacular numbers in their draft years, but all showed solid hockey intelligence, decent skating and a willingness to play with energy in all three zones. Although the upside might be limited, all three have the potential for NHL play and could give Anaheim depth down the middle.

Read more: 2018 Draft: How Did The Teams Do?

Barzal Is The Only Choice For Calder in 2018

April 7, 2018 by Brian Fogarty

There have been a lot of tremendous rookie players in the NHL this season, many of whom deserve consideration and discussion as some of the top first-year players in the league, but Mathew Barzal put up a season that set him apart from the rest of the class. Had Brock Boeser not been fallen by a completely random bench-gate event that ended his season, he may have been able to give Barzal a run to the end. However, as the season winds down in its last days of the regular season, Barzal is the clearcut Calder Trophy winner.

Mathew Barzal

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To start the discussion on just how good Barzal has been this season, it seems appropriate to look at where he stands in a key offensive category--points scored per 60 minutes of ice time. For all NHL players with at least 60 games played this season, the top ten were (ranked by P60, with P60 and even-strength P60 scores shown):

1) Evgeni Malkin (4.00, 3.10)

2) Nathan MacKinnon (3.96, 3.26)

3) Brad Marchand (3.94, 3.62)

4) Taylor Hall (3.88, 2.72)

5) Nikita Kucherov (3.80, 2.93)

6) Connor McDavid (3.59, 3.47)

7) Claude Giroux (3.56, 2.89)

8) Steven Stamkos (3.53, 2.74)

9) Phil Kessel (3.49, 2.36)

10) Mathew Barzal (3.46, 2.89)

Read more: Barzal Is The Only Choice For Calder in 2018

Top Prospects: The Defensemen, Spring 2018

April 3, 2018 by Brian Fogarty

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The Spring 2018 edition of the Top Prospects: The Defensemen ranking saw a lot of movement by many of the game's best young blueliners, and among the graduated are four of the top 6 from last summer and 11 of the top 50 (stats are 2018 NHL):

Pulling so much of the quality out of the prospect pool means that several players have moved up considerably, but the player at the top in the summer retains his status as hockey's top defensive prospect, and by a wide margin.

Read more: Top Prospects: The Defensemen, Spring 2018