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Welcome to the Dropboard Hockey Show.
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My name is Mark, and as always, I'm joined by my co-host Link, and today we got a special guest, Scott Wheeler from The Athletic.
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How's it going, Scott?
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It's uh going well.
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We're right back into the swing of things.
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I obviously just got back from kind of the rookie tournament uh gauntlet, and now we're we're into seasons and I'm back into OHL ranks and and we're sort of off and running here.
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Yeah, you know what?
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Good to be back.
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2027 NHL draft class.
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That's what we are going to be discussing today.
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Scott, you already dropped your uh prelim, I guess, draft rankings uh at the athletic.
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Go check that out.
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Uh post Hlinka.
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And uh, so what are you what are your thoughts on this draft class?
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Let's get right into it.
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I think overall the class is at this stage.
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Again, we've got a full season and and the obviously the most important full season to play here.
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And uh I look back on some of the recent drafts, we didn't know that Beckett Seneca was coming.
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We didn't know that Caleb Malholtry was coming.
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There are going to be players in this class that emerge in the same way.
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But where we're at today, sort of just beginning the seasons for a lot of these kids, obviously in Russia, in Sweden, in Finland, and in Jonah Newschenwander's case in Switzerland, their seasons are already underway.
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We're we're finally through preseason action and into the start of the regular season in the CHL as well.
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College hockey will soon follow.
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Uh, but at this sort of very, very early stage, I would sort of grade this class as as sort of average to maybe slightly below average.
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Um we've been spoiled in recent years.
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Uh 2023 and 2024 aren't yesterday now, but they're not distant history either.
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And 2023 and 2024, I think, were were sort of very, very high-end draft classes.
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This class feels more like 2025 and 2026 did for me.
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Uh, and both of those classes I thought were just okay.
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Uh, I I kind of view this the same.
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I like some of the centers at the top, I like a couple of the skilled wingers at the top, Landon DuPont is Landon DuPont, but there's there isn't uh, I don't think, uh a sort of uh a deep top end.
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Like I don't see four or five guys in the way that say after Connor Bedard, there was Adam Fantilly, there was Matt Vamichkov, there was Will Smith, there was Leo Carlson, uh even after Macklin Celebrini, you had that run of really high-end D, you had Ivan Demodov.
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This class doesn't feel like it has that kind of quality uh at the at the sort of tip top of it.
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Um, but it's a it's it's a it seems like a good class.
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And and maybe maybe a player will emerge in that sort of Ivan Demodov, Will Smith, Leo Carlson tier, right?
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Like maybe there will be that second guy in this class that emerges.
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I I'm high on Squartzov and I'm sure we'll get to him.
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I think he's from a skill standpoint has the has an opportunity to be a really high-end skill player in the league someday.
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Um, but there are there's more uncertainty about him at this age even than there was about a Demodov or a Leo Carlson, right?
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So um we'll see.
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We'll see.
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It's it's early.
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I'm excited to see who emerges and who uh sort of steps up in this class, but I would probably grade it uh about average at the moment.
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All right.
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I want to take it back to where we were just talking about, where we're starting with Landon DuPont.
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I mean, he's been hype for many years.
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Uh obviously, he was exceptional status.
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He has been phenomenal in the WHL, and now he's going over to the NCAA.
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Massive expectations on him this year.
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Do you think he's able to be caught for first overall?
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Are there people around him that can challenge him, or is he kind of coming into this year with kind of more hype than anyone can really catch up to?
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Everything you said is true.
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Very accomplished player, uh, first defenseman to get exceptional status into the WHL, etc.
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etc.
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Top player for Canada internationally at the most recent Hellenka Gretzky Cup.
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He's quite likely going to be a part of the top six for Canada's blue line at the World Juniors, and he's kind of on that typical path of a first overall pick.
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I don't see a player in the there are play, there are people who are very high on Neuschwander.
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I don't see in Neuschwander a true first overall
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pick.
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Like I just don't see now, maybe he's that sort of Nico Hesher tier center prospect, like that that kind of first overall pick.
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But I think DuPont is more than say the Owen Power first overall pick.
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Uh and I think DuPont's got a chance to have a really big year in college and and sort of just be the guy.
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And the other element in this is that if there were challengers coming into this season, NHL Scouts felt, frankly, that it was the two Russians and the two Russian wingers.
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And the reality is, because of their contract status, it it's just not in the cards.
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Like, first overall is just not in the cards for those kids, frankly, I think no matter how well their seasons go.
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And obviously Privilov's off to a bit of a weird start where he's just in the KHL, but he's not playing.
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And Skortsov has had a couple of moments in the KHL and has put up a couple of points early on, but they they aren't, I don't think, without a just a monstrous season, and I don't think either of them are going to have that, or at least look at this stage like they're going to have that.
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As a result, they just aren't going to have enough momentum to catch him.
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And so you're it's going to have to, if it's going to be someone, it's going to be a Neuschwander or a Milan Sundstrom or uh someone who's who emerges that we're not quite there on yet.
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Uh, I don't I don't think, frankly, any of those players have it in them though.
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Like I don't think Carter Meyer, you go down the list, I don't think any of those kits are a real threat to Landon.
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So my guess would be that Landon kind of goes pole-to-pole, and that next June on draft day that it's Landon DuPont who's the first overall pick, barring a terrible college season, which with how effective he is and how consistently good he is, I don't think is in the cards.
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There are there are nitpicks and criticisms of him and his upside that are real, but at the end of the day, he's going to have a very good year.
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He's going to be in the limelight all year, and like McKenna, I think he'll he'll finish as the guy.
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You mentioned DuPont probably running the gamut uh beginning to end.
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In terms of defensemen, doesn't s this draft doesn't seem to be really rich in high-end D.
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Uh is there anyone that you know in terms of defensemen that could potentially rise up a little bit maybe throughout the season?
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No, I mean not at this stage.
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After Landon, you're right to to sort of identify that it's a it's a weak D class.
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Um now we've been spoiled a little bit.
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I I sort of mentioned 2024.
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Obviously, in 2024, you had Naziv Boyam and Zayn Perek and Sam Dickinson and Anton Salayev and Carter Yakimchuk, and you go down the list, right?
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Artie Levchanov, like there were five or six legit D in that age group, and that's they're there last year, same thing, right?
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There was Albert Smitz and Keaton Verhoff and uh Carson Carls and Chase Reed and Daxon Rudolph and Malty Gustafson kind of emerged, and and there was just that sort of glut of okay, the typical draft class of five or six guys who have a chance to be top 10, top 15 picks.
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This draft, you're not going to see.
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I don't think at this stage it looks like you're going to see six or seven, even five uh D sort of in the top 15.
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Malik Lou Telien is the most compelling from a physical tools standpoint.
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Like Lee Talien has he's 6'3, he's athletic.
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I worry a little bit with Malik about sort of between the ears and the decision making and the reads on the ice.
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He's not the smartest player.
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Um, and there are other layers to to Lee Tallien that I think just complicate him being a top, top, top pick.
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But he's kind of the guy that people view, at least from a talent standpoint, as that.
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Um I just don't know whether he'll put it all together enough to be a top five guy in the way that that all of those D I just mentioned were in the conversation for the top five, six, seven picks in their draft class.
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Um and even if he does, that's still a weak draft class because normally there are four or five guys, as I mentioned, who kind of fit into that.
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I'm a big believer in Brock Cripps, but how are we going to see uh another 5'11 guy go in the top 10 in a in a draft class?
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I don't know.
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Like we're we're two years removed from a draft class that saw zero, zero sub-six-foot defensemen drafted across 217 picks, right?
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So obviously last year that changed, and last year you had a few guys who were kind of in that that high end in Xavier Villeneuve and Tommy Blyle.
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You had a few guys who were sort of in that high-end 511 stratosphere.
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I think Crips lives in that.
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But if even if you live in that stratosphere, if you're not Landon DuPont, it's hard to go at the tip tip top of the draft.
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Like he I think Crips
probably ends up as a first rounder.
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I think he probably doesn't end up as a top 10 or 15 pick.
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Uh so the the I I just don't know who those who like who else is coming.
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Like you look at Levi Harper and some of these other players who are good players, they're not going to be top pick, so I don't even think Levi Harper will be a first-rounder.
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So uh, and I'm not a fan of Gutierrez, who kind of had first round buzz all of last year.
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So I I don't know outside of Lee Talien and Cripps and and DuPont, I just don't know in this class who there is on the blue line to get excited about.
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There are people who are excited about Cooper McCaslin, who's playing with the London Knights.
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There are others, there are going to be other D, there's going to be plenty of D taken in the first round, as there always is.
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And those guys are going to emerge.
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Boston Tate, I think, has a chance to be a first rounder, but doesn't have the sort of sexy offense that you need to be a high first rounder, right?
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So uh I think about Boston Tate kind of the same way that I think about where Caden Gooley went and where Braden Schneider went in their drafts, right?
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Like in the in the late teens, early 20s.
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Um, I think there's a chance that Tate doesn't even go in the first round, frankly.
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So uh yeah, it it's definitely uh a weaker overall D class than the last few years for sure.
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Uh so I want to take it back to the strong European forward class that we have here.
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Uh starting with the Russians, obviously we've got Skortsov and uh Privalov very high.
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Kustavoy's making a case to be maybe a top 10, maybe even a top five forward in this entire draft.
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Milan Sunstrom, Neuenschwander, as you've obviously mentioned.
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Uh, what makes all of these forwards unique and kind of which of them do you feel like really gives you like a top three vibe from these guys?
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Well, Skfortsov is the skill guy, right?
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Like Neuschwander and Sundstrom are talented, but the the pure offense, the pure puck play, the one-on-one game, the breaking ankles, the sort of pull you out of your seat isn't isn't there consistently with with Sundstrom and Neuschwander, both very, very good players, I believe, belong right at the top of this draft after DuPont, sort of in that next tier.
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But Sportsov is the one who, from a pure skill standpoint, you watch and you say, okay, like that's that's high-end.
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Now, is he is he Nick Ellers or is he something more than that, right?
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Like, is he a true, true, true high-end skill guy?
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Or is he a 6'1 lean skill guy who is going to have some some flaws and and sort of be a 60-point guy?
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Can he be a point per game guy?
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Like, that's the determination that teams will have to make on Svortsov over the course of this season.
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Is he in that sort of Michikov, Demodov stratosphere that those two players were in, or is he a cut below that?
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Um, that's what what we're going to figure, we're at we're going to find out this year with Svorsov.
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But he's the one from a pure skill standpoint that that pops the most.
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All of those other players are very good.
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Like Sunstrom, the feat has been a bit of a talking point, like just the the overall pace.
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Uh, Neuschwander is just a very good player.
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Like, Neuschwander is just going to be a very good player.
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He's just a safe projection to be a top six player in the league.
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Um after that, you've got guys like Sammy Nelson.
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Like Sammy Nelson's a very good player, Dima Jilkin's a very good player.
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There, there are lots of very interesting players in this group, very compelling pro prospects in this group.
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Skrortov is the one, I think, and Pustaboy fits into that same group.
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Um, but Skortsov is the one that that you think, okay, that he's he's got, and Privilov, frankly, although I'm I'm a little unsure about Privilov, uh, but Svorzov is the one where it's like, okay, he's got he's got that highlight reel quality in there uh in a way that some of these other forwards don't.
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Moving on to Canada, they just won the Halenka Gretzky Cup.
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Um, you know, pretty pretty stacked team, I guess you could say.
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Any of the, you know, we talked a lot about the Europeans and the Russian contingency so far for this draft class.
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Any Canadians that could uh move up the rankings based on uh Halenka?
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Well, I thought Weisick was very good there.
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He's off to a bit of a slower.
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We're only a couple of games into his season in Guelph, but I I think he was scoreless over the weekend in his first two games of the season in Guelph.
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But Weisik was a kid who had a lot of momentum coming out of it.
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Um oddly enough, he's actually
a 2028, but Ben Veich had had a lot of momentum coming out of uh the Holinka.
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Um there it was a very complete team.
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In saying that, the the the star quality on that team was the 2028s, right?
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Like it was Schultz and it was Pew, and uh obviously Landon was a big part of it, but Schultz and Pugh drove that team's off at least offensively.
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And I like I thought Cam Warren was very good there.
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Cam's a 2027, Cam's in this class, but he's 5'8, 5'9, right?
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Like it's just it's hard for some of those guys to break through.
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And I don't think Cam Warren is the Zach Benson or Vigo Bjork level of 5'8, 5'9, where it's like, okay, this kid's uh still a top 10 pick, right?
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Uh could Cam Warren be a fringe first rounder, maybe, with a big season in North Bay.
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Um, but a lot of the players on that team are just good players.
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Like like Weisick's gonna be a first rounder, but he's not he's gonna be the first rounder in the projectable middle six player kind of way, right?
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Like he's not a star prospect.
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So, and a lot of those players, frankly, felt like that to me.
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Like a lot of really good players, workers, uh, guys who you enjoyed watching at the Hoinka, and guys who sort of made Canada proud with the identity of that team and sort of the way that they hunted and tracked pucks and all of that.
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Um but outside of the 2028, I'm not sure there was like a true riser in that group, like a guy who's going to do what Caleb Malholtra did last year and go from projected third rounder entering the season to the third overall pick, right?
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Do any goalies strike you as impressive at this early stage of the year?
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Is there anyone you really got your eye on, or is this kind of a weaker class for goalies as well?
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I like Eric II in the WHL.
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Um, obviously played for China in the Division 1B uh men's world championships and led them to a silver medal there as a 17-year-old goalie.
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Was a very, very good goalie uh in the in the WHL last year and should be one of the top goalies in the WHL this year.
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Um really sort of technically sound netminder.
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He's got good size.
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I think he's like 6'2, 6'3.
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Um Tim Raz the Swede is good.
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Uh it's super early, obviously, on the goalies.
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Like I tend to not even put goalies on my lit on my list uh on the preseason ranking.
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You would have noticed that there was no goalie, obviously, in the top 32 and and even in the honorable mentions.
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I will probably have four or five goalies in the honorable mentions of my top 64 that comes out uh sort of at the end of October.
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Um there are there are a few decent goalies.
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Two is the one, I'm not sure whether he's going to be viewed as the top goalie prospect in this draft class, but he's the one that I've uh sort of liked a lot.
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Um And even if he becomes a mid to late round pick, like I think there might be something there for a team.
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Um But there isn't, like, there's no there's no Sebastian Kosa, Jesper Wallsted, Yaroslav Askarov, I'll tell you that.
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Like that that goalie is not in this group.
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This time of year, some you know, early draft rankings are released.
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Elite Prospects just released theirs, uh, top 64, I think it was.
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In this draft class, you see any player that like you have an eye on that you think, yeah, they could be a riser, you know, in the vein of Seneca and Maholtra.
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Is there someone that you you think, yeah, you know what, they they could possibly jump up this early on?
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Not necessarily a riser, like it's just hard for this player to become a riser, but like my early fave one of my early favorites, if you will, like a guy that I anticipate that I'll just be higher on than the than maybe the consensus is Bosse Meyer.
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Uh he's an 08.
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Obviously, this is an 09 age group.
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He's a late 08.
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I expect that he'll have a real chance to be on the the Swedish World Junior team.
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Um he was sort of banged up and not a part of it at uh uh at the World Junior Summer Showcase, but really, really, really uh like crafty, smart, obviously the captain of their U-18 team at U18 Worlds last spring.
00:17:48.240 --> 00:18:07.839
Um just a really smart, crafty player, can play center, can play the wing, can make plays, keeps his eyes up, uh, but just sort of knows where to be on the ice, he's got skill, um, but he's a 5'10, 5'11 guy and and uh won't be viewed as a premium guy in this class.
00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:12.079
I I think he's like he's he's going to be in the teens on my list.
00:18:12.319 --> 00:18:20.559
I would guess that he's not there uh when any when we see NHL Central Scouting's first list uh in early October when their preliminary ratings come out.
00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:23.039
My guess would be he's not going to be an A-rated player.
00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:26.000
Uh he'll probably be a B-rated player to start.
00:18:26.319
--> 00:18:29.680
Um, but I kind of view him as an A-rated guy, if you will.
00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:32.000
So he'd he'd probably be my early guy.
00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:40.160
I love Dima Dima Jilkin is has kind of been my guy in this class, but I don't think Dima's a a hidden uh hidden commodity at this point.
00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:45.359
I think Dima is just a top ten guy in this class and and should be and will be.
00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:59.519
Um But Dima was a guy last year that I would when early lists were coming out, he was very, very high on my list, obviously, and uh a guy that I kind of thumped for last year, and it seems like there's that's kind of where everybody is now on Dima.
00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:01.599
Um so I'm I'm excited about Jilkin.
00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:08.000
Jilkin's just a dog, like he reminds me of kind of the Zach Benson Vigo Bjork mold.
00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:09.759
Nice.
00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:16.400
Uh last question on my end, uh, I would say this is more of a selfish question because I haven't heard you say this guy's name.
00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:21.920
And I was I was a big fan of his flink up performance, and I just I just want to know where you have Brock Anglin this year.
00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:24.160
What are you thinking about his expectations?
00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.160
And uh do you think he sticks it out at center?
00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:28.480
Yeah, so I mentioned that sort of second tier.
00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:30.240
He'd be in that second tier for me.
00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:42.000
Like he he's in that group of Sammy Nelson and um maybe not quite where Carter Meyer and Neuschwander and and and those guys live.
00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:54.240
Uh, but once you so maybe more of a third-tier guy, if you will, but I think Anglin belongs in sort of a 10 to 15 conversation in this draft class, maybe even like eight or nine on my list kind of thing at this stage.
00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:55.759
I don't think he goes there.
00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:59.759
His profile just isn't a player that typically goes top 10.
00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:06.000
Um, obviously Frank Nazar kind of is a close comp, and Frank did go top, did Frank go 11th?
00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:07.839
I think Nazar went 11th.
00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:11.519
Um so the that that's that's kind of the player type.
00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:19.440
Elite skater, best skater in the draft, like world-class speed, uh, but can also rip it, has skill, makes plays.
00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:21.920
The off-puck game came a long way last year.
00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:27.440
I know where they worked hard on on sort of the decision making and the off-puck play with him in Seattle last year.
00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:35.279
They penalty killed him a little bit last year, um, played him in some difficult matchups even as a 16-year-old, and he rose to the challenge most nights.
00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:37.599
Now, this year he needs to take a step, right?
00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:42.480
Like he needs to go out and have the 90, 95-point season.
00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:48.880
And if he doesn't have that, then he will likely at his size, even with the skating, kind of slip in rankings.
00:20:48.960 --> 00:21:01.519
Like if you guys remember a year ago, Mathis Preston was kind of viewed as a a potential top 10, top 15 pick in last year's draft, and then he's a he's a second rounder at the end of it because he has a 60-point season instead of a 90-point season, right?
00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:15.920
So Brock needs to when you're the when you're a 5'10, 5'11 skill guy with speed, you better produce because if you don't, people start to think about Fabian Liesell and and some of the guys that haven't worked in that profile, right?
00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:20.480
And uh then suddenly you're a second round pick instead of a 10-15 pick.
00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:23.599
So uh I I think he's got the ability to be that though.
00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:27.279
Like I think he's got the ability to kind of go where Nazar did.
00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:30.480
I have one more question actually for you.
00:21:30.640 --> 00:21:33.440
We haven't mentioned the Enigma, Alexis Joseph.
00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:35.920
What are your thoughts on him?
00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:41.119
I mean, two really bad international showings with uh a league full of scouts watching, right?
00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:46.799
And that sticks to you like glue, and it can be hard to shake it over the course of a season.
00:21:47.039 --> 00:22:08.559
Uh obviously, a year ago at U-17s, he was the best player on the ice, and scouts had their jaws on the floor watching this six foot four center go up and down the ice with speed and making plays and uh going between his legs, and like there were some real flashes at U-17s that made you think, okay, this kid might challenge, like this kid might be in the mix for first overall.
00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:10.880
And then he had a good year in St.
00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:11.359
John.
00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:15.039
He was a point per game player on a poor team, and he had a good year.
00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:20.240
And then at U-18s, he fell down the depth chart, and he eventually got scratched.
00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:23.279
And then obviously at at Holinka, the same thing happens.
00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:27.119
He starts in the top six, and late in the tournament, he's playing in the bottom six.
00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:40.720
And the question and the challenge that I and others have had with Alexi over the last two international events with Hockey Canada is it's just a lot of gliding, a lot of standing still, a lot of watching.
00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:45.440
He's just not as engaged and active as he should be off the puck.
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:51.440
And that's a big problem when you're that size, because at that size and with his skill level, you should be dominant.
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:57.279
And if you're not dominant, then what happens to you is what happened to Ethan Belchez last year, right?
00:22:57.519 --> 00:23:05.680
Where Ethan was once viewed as a top potential top five pick, even as early as the fall last year, when he got off to a great start in Windsor.
00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:16.799
And then it just if if it's not dominant every night at that size, people start to think, okay, what's it going to look like in the NHL when everybody when the the size balances out?
00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:18.720
So Alexi needs to have a huge year.
00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:21.440
Him and Jamie Glantz uh should be a real pair.
00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:26.000
Jamie Glantz is a legit prospect for this year's draft, who's playing on his line, obviously, in St.
00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:26.400
John.
00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:32.559
They should be an excellent line um in in in the queue.
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:41.039
Um, but I he's just I like I don't view him as a necessarily uh uh even a surefired top ten pick anymore.
00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:47.440
And a year or ago, that was sort of that that if you told me that, that would have been a bit of a surprise.
00:23:47.759 --> 00:23:48.960
Thank you so much, Scott.
00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:50.960
I I really appreciate your time once again.
00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:53.839
Uh thank you for getting into us with this draft class.
00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:55.039
Uh it's exciting.
00:23:55.200 --> 00:24:09.599
It doesn't seem like obviously like the monsters that have been uh here for for years past, but uh I don't know for everything it's been saying, you've I you've taken the time to uh mention the 2028 class, which looks super exciting as well.
00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:12.559
So that might kind of just hang over the balance with this here.
00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:14.720
But uh thank you so much for joining us today.
00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:16.079
Yeah, cheers, guys.
00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:16.880
Yeah, thanks.
00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:18.559
Have a good uh day.