Hockey News mock draft

[kimzey59]

"St. Louis has done a wonderful job developing these types of players over the years."
Not really. We typically go the extreme's on defense. Either straight offensive types(Pietrangelo, Dunn, Walman) or straight "shut down" types(Colt, Edmundson, Mikkola). The last guy we drafted that even remotely fits the same mold as Aitcheson(big, physical and offensively inclined) was Erik Johnson back in '06(and before that you have to go back to Brian Benning in '84 or Rik Wilson in '80).
Aitcheson is absolutely NOT the mold of defenseman that we typically go after and we certainly don't have any kind of success rate with that type. Fischer is loosely in that category, but it still remains to be seem if he actually turns into something.


Conversely, if you're going for team trends, Reschny is absolutely in our wheelhouse.
Oshie, Schwartz, Fabbri, Thomas; slightly undersized "ball of hate" types seem to be a legit target for us.

IF Aitcheson and Reschny are both on the board at 19, I can't see us going for Aitcheson based on our historic trends. And frankly, I'd hope we stick to our trend and take Reschny. He may not have the same physical tools, but he's the MUCH better player IMO.

[seattleblue]

It would be one of those two players and I would understand the logic of either.

kimzey is right that we often pick the slightly undersized skilled motor guy. Aitcheson is the safer pick but either pick would be good.

[Hockey Pete]

I’d love to have Aitcheson, even with the organizational glut at LD. I see a Barrett Jackman type in him. Won’t be a star but just a nasty d-man that projects to be a likely 2nd pairing guy. That said, I’ll be pretty shocked if he’s still available at 19. I wouldn’t be surprised if he slips into the top-10.

And I’ll be downright shocked if Reschny falls to the 20s…but you never know. Gabe Perreault fell that far although that was admittedly a much stronger draft. But I’d put Reschny’s hockey sense up against anyone in this class. He’s a very smart and crafty player. I’d be mad if we passed on him. I’ve got him in my top-10.

If Reschny is on the board and we DON'T pick him, I rooting for another team...

[Pierre McGuire]

After the playoffs he had, I don't see anyway he makes it to 19.

[zamadoo]

I will spell A-I-T-C-H and I-E-T-R and O-U-W-M all day long if they're a top 4 quality defenseman!

(O-L-A-I-A-C not so much)

[skilles]

It would be one of those two players and I would understand the logic of either.

kimzey is right that we often pick the slightly undersized skilled motor guy. Aitcheson is the safer pick but either pick would be good.

I'd say we like skill and a motor and the big guys with that are always gone when we pick.

[STL fan in MN]

I’d love to have Aitcheson, even with the organizational glut at LD. I see a Barrett Jackman type in him. Won’t be a star but just a nasty d-man that projects to be a likely 2nd pairing guy. That said, I’ll be pretty shocked if he’s still available at 19. I wouldn’t be surprised if he slips into the top-10.

And I’ll be downright shocked if Reschny falls to the 20s…but you never know. Gabe Perreault fell that far although that was admittedly a much stronger draft. But I’d put Reschny’s hockey sense up against anyone in this class. He’s a very smart and crafty player. I’d be mad if we passed on him. I’ve got him in my top-10.

If Reschny is on the board and we DON'T pick him, I rooting for another team...

Amen.

But after a dazzling 2nd half to the season, then 25 pts in 11 playoff games and then being (arguably) Canada’s best forward at the U18s, I have to imagine that Reschny’s stock is going up. I’d be so happy if other teams passed him up because he’s a little undersized and we were able to snag him…but my guess is he goes top-15. The draft is hard to predict though…and this draft in particular seems more all over the place…so I’m holding out hope we can get him.

[somni]

I’d love to have Aitcheson, even with the organizational glut at LD. I see a Barrett Jackman type in him. Won’t be a star but just a nasty d-man that projects to be a likely 2nd pairing guy. That said, I’ll be pretty shocked if he’s still available at 19. I wouldn’t be surprised if he slips into the top-10.

And I’ll be downright shocked if Reschny falls to the 20s…but you never know. Gabe Perreault fell that far although that was admittedly a much stronger draft. But I’d put Reschny’s hockey sense up against anyone in this class. He’s a very smart and crafty player. I’d be mad if we passed on him. I’ve got him in my top-10.

If Reschny is on the board and we DON'T pick him, I rooting for another team...

Amen.

But after a dazzling 2nd half to the season, then 25 pts in 11 playoff games and then being (arguably) Canada’s best forward at the U18s, I have to imagine that Reschny’s stock is going up. I’d be so happy if other teams passed him up because he’s a little undersized and we were able to snag him…but my guess is he goes top-15. The draft is hard to predict though…and this draft in particular seems more all over the place…so I’m holding out hope we can get him.

I was just going to say that all these mock drafts are all over the place from each other (except for the first couple of picks). Not sure if it's always like that, but this year really seems like one player could be at #13, but also #25 in another mock. I don't remember it being like that.

[STL fan in MN]

I’d love to have Aitcheson, even with the organizational glut at LD. I see a Barrett Jackman type in him. Won’t be a star but just a nasty d-man that projects to be a likely 2nd pairing guy. That said, I’ll be pretty shocked if he’s still available at 19. I wouldn’t be surprised if he slips into the top-10.

And I’ll be downright shocked if Reschny falls to the 20s…but you never know. Gabe Perreault fell that far although that was admittedly a much stronger draft. But I’d put Reschny’s hockey sense up against anyone in this class. He’s a very smart and crafty player. I’d be mad if we passed on him. I’ve got him in my top-10.

If Reschny is on the board and we DON'T pick him, I rooting for another team...

Amen.

But after a dazzling 2nd half to the season, then 25 pts in 11 playoff games and then being (arguably) Canada’s best forward at the U18s, I have to imagine that Reschny’s stock is going up. I’d be so happy if other teams passed him up because he’s a little undersized and we were able to snag him…but my guess is he goes top-15. The draft is hard to predict though…and this draft in particular seems more all over the place…so I’m holding out hope we can get him.

I was just going to say that all these mock drafts are all over the place from each other (except for the first couple of picks). Not sure if it's always like that, but this year really seems like one player could be at #13, but also #25 in another mock. I don't remember it being like that.

Yeah, it’s a little more wide open this hear IMO. I feel there’s a pretty established top-10ish (but not necessarily the order) that I feel pretty confident saying should all be gone by the top 12-13 picks (so 2-3 “reaches”) but then it opens up quite a bit.

But mocks are pretty useless tbh. They’re usually just someone’s rankings on top of the draft order. And a lot of them are just fluff and filler with random paragraphs that sound good but oftentimes make no sense if you really know a team well. Like when a couple weeks back Wheeler suggested since the Blues picked a a d-man (Jiricek), center (Dvorsky) and RW (Snuggy) that the Blues are shallow at LW and should thus take a LW. Anyone that knows the Blues depth chart would laugh at that instantly as Neighbours and Holloway are LWs and Buchy and Bolduc are lefties that really only play RW because we’re so short there. And then Stenberg, Kaskimaki, Stancl etc too. Our pool is already overloaded with LWs (and even moreso LDs).

[Harry S Deals]

It would be one of those two players and I would understand the logic of either.

kimzey is right that we often pick the slightly undersized skilled motor guy. Aitcheson is the safer pick but either pick would be good.

Polak, Salvador, Edmundson, Mikkola, Tucker didn't really have to develop Jackman much

[seattleblue]

It would be one of those two players and I would understand the logic of either.

kimzey is right that we often pick the slightly undersized skilled motor guy. Aitcheson is the safer pick but either pick would be good.

Polak, Salvador, Edmundson, Mikkola, Tucker didn't really have to develop Jackman much

Should have been clearer. I am pretty sure kimzey's meaning was with the first round pick and that's how I was using it. The reason is that teams try to get all the raw skill out of the initial picks that they can. The physical defenseman is a 2d, 3d and often later round creature. Blues have two nasty boys in Burns and Fischer right now.

[seattleblue]

I will spell A-I-T-C-H and I-E-T-R and O-U-W-M all day long if they're a top 4 quality defenseman!

(O-L-A-I-A-C not so much)

I think I speak for everyone when I say I appreciate this pic

[seattleblue]

I’d love to have Aitcheson, even with the organizational glut at LD. I see a Barrett Jackman type in him. Won’t be a star but just a nasty d-man that projects to be a likely 2nd pairing guy. That said, I’ll be pretty shocked if he’s still available at 19. I wouldn’t be surprised if he slips into the top-10.

And I’ll be downright shocked if Reschny falls to the 20s…but you never know. Gabe Perreault fell that far although that was admittedly a much stronger draft. But I’d put Reschny’s hockey sense up against anyone in this class. He’s a very smart and crafty player. I’d be mad if we passed on him. I’ve got him in my top-10.

If Reschny is on the board and we DON'T pick him, I rooting for another team...

Amen.

But after a dazzling 2nd half to the season, then 25 pts in 11 playoff games and then being (arguably) Canada’s best forward at the U18s, I have to imagine that Reschny’s stock is going up. I’d be so happy if other teams passed him up because he’s a little undersized and we were able to snag him…but my guess is he goes top-15. The draft is hard to predict though…and this draft in particular seems more all over the place…so I’m holding out hope we can get him.

I remember this second half surge. He notched 10 pts in 2 games against Stancl's hapless team and it was like practice out there so I cautioned myself against over-believing in it. But the rest of his work against other teams was very strong too.

[STL fan in MN]

Fair point that he could’ve beat up on (bleep) teams but I’d imagine the schedule was at least somewhat balanced.

I found this chart interesting. Shows Reschny was very good in the 1st half but then absolutely dominant in the 2nd half. Martin, Misa and a few others too.
https://x.com/jerome_berube/status/1922 ... 1K-FGmcAg

[General]

"St. Louis has done a wonderful job developing these types of players over the years."
Not really. We typically go the extreme's on defense. Either straight offensive types(Pietrangelo, Dunn, Walman) or straight "shut down" types(Colt, Edmundson, Mikkola). The last guy we drafted that even remotely fits the same mold as Aitcheson(big, physical and offensively inclined) was Erik Johnson back in '06(and before that you have to go back to Brian Benning in '84 or Rik Wilson in '80).
Aitcheson is absolutely NOT the mold of defenseman that we typically go after and we certainly don't have any kind of success rate with that type. Fischer is loosely in that category, but it still remains to be seem if he actually turns into something.


Conversely, if you're going for team trends, Reschny is absolutely in our wheelhouse.
Oshie, Schwartz, Fabbri, Thomas; slightly undersized "ball of hate" types seem to be a legit target for us.

IF Aitcheson and Reschny are both on the board at 19, I can't see us going for Aitcheson based on our historic trends. And frankly, I'd hope we stick to our trend and take Reschny. He may not have the same physical tools, but he's the MUCH better player IMO.

I didn’t take that quote to be talking about big defensemen but rather draft picks in the late teens or early 20s in which the Blues have really done a good job developing.

[Harry S Deals]

It would be one of those two players and I would understand the logic of either.

kimzey is right that we often pick the slightly undersized skilled motor guy. Aitcheson is the safer pick but either pick would be good.

Polak, Salvador, Edmundson, Mikkola, Tucker didn't really have to develop Jackman much

Should have been clearer. I am pretty sure kimzey's meaning was with the first round pick and that's how I was using it. The reason is that teams try to get all the raw skill out of the initial picks that they can. The physical defenseman is a 2d, 3d and often later round creature. Blues have two nasty boys in Burns and Fischer right now.

I may be out on a limb here but I think Tyler Tucker is a fixture going forward you can check off another d spot. I also heard Adam Jiricek will play with an edge too perhaps esp when he gets more comfortable as he matures