Pronman’s draft ranking

[Pierre McGuire]

Ive resigned myself to the most likely outcome that the Bluess will continue to blow up their previous top 3 draft position, and will now be pickin between 5 and 10, so Im hopin beyond hope that they’re somehow able to snag Carson Carels after spending all year watchin a couple of games, lots of clips, and lots of reading up on him. He’s a beast, even if he looks a little on the smallish side to me when I watch em. He’s stocky tho, and has the character, personality, and most importantly..the high end attitude of being willing to do whatever it takes to win, and you can never have enough of them types.

BRING HIM TO THE BLUES!

Carels is definitely not small and he’s farm boy strong and he’s in an NHL lineup as soon as October 2027, maybe even October 2026 depending on who drafts him.

What do you think of Scott Wheeler as a prospect evaluator? He has Ryan Lin at #6 in his latest rankings, ahead of Carels even. Please tell me he sucks, cause his write up on CC below wasnt all that glowing…

Carels is a summer birthday who played 24 minutes per game as a 16-year-old in Prince George last season and is now averaging 28 this year, driving play at five-on-five and contributing on both the power play and penalty kill. He also ran PP2 for Canada Red at U17s behind Landon DuPont and killed penalties for Canada at the Hlinka. His play in the fall in the WHL and at the CHL USA Prospects Challenge (where I thought he and Lin were Team CHL’s strongest D) earned him an invite to play for Canada at the World Juniors as an underager. After a strong camp with Canada, he became a depth guy in the tournament but was fine on the whole (it wasn’t positive, but I didn’t think it was negative either). Though he’s probably not going to be a PP1 guy at the next level, his production has seen a major uptick this season (and as the season has progressed) and he looks like a PP2 guy at minimum. He was also the Player of the Game at the WHL Prospects Game, where he registered four assists.

Carels is an all-around defenseman who plays the game firmly and directly in all three zones and on both sides of the puck. His game is more about instinct than being super cerebral, and he can be a little sloppy at times with his stick placement/closeouts/decisions on the puck, but he's quite toolsy and looks like a pro in a lot of ways. He’s got a big, hard slap shot that makes him a threat to score. He sees the play well as a passer and can break it out. He’s a strong skater who can push pucks down ice and also open up and use his edges. He can defend physically (there’s a meanness to his game, even) and cuts off a lot of plays with his timing early when he's at his best. He's firm, with a wide gait, though he'll occasionally get beaten one-on-one laterally. He’s not a dynamic individual playmaker, but he can move and carry pucks down ice, has skill and skating, walks the line well, can beat the first layer and can hammer it. His development will be more about cleaning things up (stick play, keeping his feet moving offensively) than his actual tools. He's solid, and NHL scouts are high on him as a future top-four D who plays winning hockey, even if he has a little less NHL offense than the names ahead of him here. He’ll be a big part of Team Canada at next year’s World Juniors and will be a top-10 pick.

I view Wheeler the same as Pronman...i don't pay that much attention to him but that write up isn't bad. Before the WJC's began all the talk was about Verhoeff but Canada came to rely more on Carels in that tourney because of his solid D game. Carels doesn't possess the offensive game that a few of the others have but they also don't have the poise and control that he has. He's as rock solid as gets on the backend, and he's a better skater than all of the others. Reid and Verhoeff might put up more points but Carels won't be far behind in that production and he's much better defensively

[kimzey59]

Ive resigned myself to the most likely outcome that the Bluess will continue to blow up their previous top 3 draft position, and will now be pickin between 5 and 10, so Im hopin beyond hope that they’re somehow able to snag Carson Carels after spending all year watchin a couple of games, lots of clips, and lots of reading up on him. He’s a beast, even if he looks a little on the smallish side to me when I watch em. He’s stocky tho, and has the character, personality, and most importantly..the high end attitude of being willing to do whatever it takes to win, and you can never have enough of them types.

BRING HIM TO THE BLUES!

Carels is definitely not small and he’s farm boy strong and he’s in an NHL lineup as soon as October 2027, maybe even October 2026 depending on who drafts him.

What do you think of Scott Wheeler as a prospect evaluator? He has Ryan Lin at #6 in his latest rankings, ahead of Carels even. Please tell me he sucks, cause his write up on CC below wasnt all that glowing…

Carels is a summer birthday who played 24 minutes per game as a 16-year-old in Prince George last season and is now averaging 28 this year, driving play at five-on-five and contributing on both the power play and penalty kill. He also ran PP2 for Canada Red at U17s behind Landon DuPont and killed penalties for Canada at the Hlinka. His play in the fall in the WHL and at the CHL USA Prospects Challenge (where I thought he and Lin were Team CHL’s strongest D) earned him an invite to play for Canada at the World Juniors as an underager. After a strong camp with Canada, he became a depth guy in the tournament but was fine on the whole (it wasn’t positive, but I didn’t think it was negative either). Though he’s probably not going to be a PP1 guy at the next level, his production has seen a major uptick this season (and as the season has progressed) and he looks like a PP2 guy at minimum. He was also the Player of the Game at the WHL Prospects Game, where he registered four assists.

Carels is an all-around defenseman who plays the game firmly and directly in all three zones and on both sides of the puck. His game is more about instinct than being super cerebral, and he can be a little sloppy at times with his stick placement/closeouts/decisions on the puck, but he's quite toolsy and looks like a pro in a lot of ways. He’s got a big, hard slap shot that makes him a threat to score. He sees the play well as a passer and can break it out. He’s a strong skater who can push pucks down ice and also open up and use his edges. He can defend physically (there’s a meanness to his game, even) and cuts off a lot of plays with his timing early when he's at his best. He's firm, with a wide gait, though he'll occasionally get beaten one-on-one laterally. He’s not a dynamic individual playmaker, but he can move and carry pucks down ice, has skill and skating, walks the line well, can beat the first layer and can hammer it. His development will be more about cleaning things up (stick play, keeping his feet moving offensively) than his actual tools. He's solid, and NHL scouts are high on him as a future top-four D who plays winning hockey, even if he has a little less NHL offense than the names ahead of him here. He’ll be a big part of Team Canada at next year’s World Juniors and will be a top-10 pick.

Wheeler usually isn't bad but he does have his biases(he plays heavily towards big market teams when handing out "grades" or doing top 50 lists and he tends not to like European players). That said, he's drastically over-rating Ryan Lin.

As for Carels, I side with Wheeler more than I do Pierre.
Carels is not going to be a #1 D man in the NHL. He just doesn't have the puck skills to be a PP option. He's more of a Ke'Andre Miller type #2/3 guy. Still a heck of a piece to grab and absolutely worth using a top 10 pick on; but Pierre's been substantially overhyping him IMO.

At least IMO; Reid, Verhoeff and Smits have higher upside than Carels. Carels has a much clearer development path than the others do, but his upside is solidly below theirs.

The same thing is generally true of Rudolph. He's got a very clear progression path to being a top 4 NHL D man, but I don't see #1 potential. He's the guy you want playing next to your #1 Dman, not the guy you want leading your defense.

[SameOldBlues]

Thanks, Kimzey & Pierre. Id be extremely happy to get Petro-ish offensive production out of Carels if his serial killer persona translates to the NHL.

Carels is the only Dman from the Top D prospects whose physicality is mentioned often by writers, experts, podcasters etc., am I missing anyone?

[kimzey59]

Is Smits physical at all? I cant really get a solid answer from what all ive read, and have only seen a couple clips of his play

Smits is extremely physical.
He's the guy that leveled Austin Matthews in the Olympics.

I don't know what sites you're looking at for scouting reports; but aggression is the key to Smits game. To the point where reigning in some of that aggression is going to be the key to his NHL success. He has a habit of taking himself out of position to pinch down low or chase hits. If/when he cleans that up a bit, you're looking at a Moritz Seider type. And his play in the Olympics suggests he's very close to NHL ready(probably the most NHL ready player in this Draft).

[BleedingBleu]

Is Smits physical at all? I cant really get a solid answer from what all ive read, and have only seen a couple clips of his play

Smits is extremely physical.
He's the guy that leveled Austin Matthews in the Olympics.

I don't know what sites you're looking at for scouting reports; but aggression is the key to Smits game. To the point where reigning in some of that aggression is going to be the key to his NHL success. He has a habit of taking himself out of position to pinch down low or chase hits. If/when he cleans that up a bit, you're looking at a Moritz Seider type. And his play in the Olympics suggests he's very close to NHL ready(probably the most NHL ready player in this Draft).

So long as the Detroit Pick doesn’t have a protection clause on it, I’m rooting for the fantasy where Detroit hits in the Draft Lottery and we walk away with something crazy like 2 Top 10 picks and a Malholtra/Smits Draft combination.

However, I’d be happy in a world where we walked away with a McKenna/Stenberg/Malholtra matched with a Piiparinen/Gustafsson.

Should they miss out on one of the 3 Forwards, then a Smits/Rudolph/Carels in combination w/a Big Power Forward Belchetz/Hemming… then try to draft the twin Ruck brothers.
If we can’t get the Tkachuk brothers, nor the Stenberg brothers, then Ruck-it!

[John Cocktoastin]

In the 4-6 range, I would be looking at...

Verhoeff
Belchetz
Malhotra

...in that order. But, in all honesty, I'd take any of them at that range. I like them all.

[tfriede2]

Is Smits physical at all? I cant really get a solid answer from what all ive read, and have only seen a couple clips of his play

Smits is extremely physical.
He's the guy that leveled Austin Matthews in the Olympics.

I don't know what sites you're looking at for scouting reports; but aggression is the key to Smits game. To the point where reigning in some of that aggression is going to be the key to his NHL success. He has a habit of taking himself out of position to pinch down low or chase hits. If/when he cleans that up a bit, you're looking at a Moritz Seider type. And his play in the Olympics suggests he's very close to NHL ready(probably the most NHL ready player in this Draft).

So long as the Detroit Pick doesn’t have a protection clause on it, I’m rooting for the fantasy where Detroit hits in the Draft Lottery and we walk away with something crazy like 2 Top 10 picks and a Malholtra/Smits Draft combination.

However, I’d be happy in a world where we walked away with a McKenna/Stenberg/Malholtra matched with a Piiparinen/Gustafsson.

Should they miss out on one of the 3 Forwards, then a Smits/Rudolph/Carels in combination w/a Big Power Forward Belchetz/Hemming… then try to draft the twin Ruck brothers.
If we can’t get the Tkachuk brothers, nor the Stenberg brothers, then Ruck-it!

The Detroit pick has no protections - we should be rooting like heck that they miss the playoffs.

[BleedingBleu]

Is Smits physical at all? I cant really get a solid answer from what all ive read, and have only seen a couple clips of his play

Smits is extremely physical.
He's the guy that leveled Austin Matthews in the Olympics.

I don't know what sites you're looking at for scouting reports; but aggression is the key to Smits game. To the point where reigning in some of that aggression is going to be the key to his NHL success. He has a habit of taking himself out of position to pinch down low or chase hits. If/when he cleans that up a bit, you're looking at a Moritz Seider type. And his play in the Olympics suggests he's very close to NHL ready(probably the most NHL ready player in this Draft).

So long as the Detroit Pick doesn’t have a protection clause on it, I’m rooting for the fantasy where Detroit hits in the Draft Lottery and we walk away with something crazy like 2 Top 10 picks and a Malholtra/Smits Draft combination.

However, I’d be happy in a world where we walked away with a McKenna/Stenberg/Malholtra matched with a Piiparinen/Gustafsson.

Should they miss out on one of the 3 Forwards, then a Smits/Rudolph/Carels in combination w/a Big Power Forward Belchetz/Hemming… then try to draft the twin Ruck brothers.
If we can’t get the Tkachuk brothers, nor the Stenberg brothers, then Ruck-it!

The Detroit pick has no protections - we should be rooting like heck that they miss the playoffs.

+1

I have this weird paranoia that I’ll miss something critical and suffer the letdown. So, thanks for the reassurance!

[zuck698]

Is Smits physical at all? I cant really get a solid answer from what all ive read, and have only seen a couple clips of his play

Smits is extremely physical.
He's the guy that leveled Austin Matthews in the Olympics.

I don't know what sites you're looking at for scouting reports; but aggression is the key to Smits game. To the point where reigning in some of that aggression is going to be the key to his NHL success. He has a habit of taking himself out of position to pinch down low or chase hits. If/when he cleans that up a bit, you're looking at a Moritz Seider type. And his play in the Olympics suggests he's very close to NHL ready(probably the most NHL ready player in this Draft).

So long as the Detroit Pick doesn’t have a protection clause on it, I’m rooting for the fantasy where Detroit hits in the Draft Lottery and we walk away with something crazy like 2 Top 10 picks and a Malholtra/Smits Draft combination.

However, I’d be happy in a world where we walked away with a McKenna/Stenberg/Malholtra matched with a Piiparinen/Gustafsson.

Should they miss out on one of the 3 Forwards, then a Smits/Rudolph/Carels in combination w/a Big Power Forward Belchetz/Hemming… then try to draft the twin Ruck brothers.
If we can’t get the Tkachuk brothers, nor the Stenberg brothers, then Ruck-it!

The Detroit pick has no protections - we should be rooting like heck that they miss the playoffs.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that we were getting Colorado's pick that Detroit owns and not Detroits? If I am correct, then it doesn't really matter where Detroit ends up. I thought that was the case anyway....

[BleedingBleu]

Is Smits physical at all? I cant really get a solid answer from what all ive read, and have only seen a couple clips of his play

Smits is extremely physical.
He's the guy that leveled Austin Matthews in the Olympics.

I don't know what sites you're looking at for scouting reports; but aggression is the key to Smits game. To the point where reigning in some of that aggression is going to be the key to his NHL success. He has a habit of taking himself out of position to pinch down low or chase hits. If/when he cleans that up a bit, you're looking at a Moritz Seider type. And his play in the Olympics suggests he's very close to NHL ready(probably the most NHL ready player in this Draft).

So long as the Detroit Pick doesn’t have a protection clause on it, I’m rooting for the fantasy where Detroit hits in the Draft Lottery and we walk away with something crazy like 2 Top 10 picks and a Malholtra/Smits Draft combination.

However, I’d be happy in a world where we walked away with a McKenna/Stenberg/Malholtra matched with a Piiparinen/Gustafsson.

Should they miss out on one of the 3 Forwards, then a Smits/Rudolph/Carels in combination w/a Big Power Forward Belchetz/Hemming… then try to draft the twin Ruck brothers.
If we can’t get the Tkachuk brothers, nor the Stenberg brothers, then Ruck-it!

The Detroit pick has no protections - we should be rooting like heck that they miss the playoffs.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that we were getting Colorado's pick that Detroit owns and not Detroits? If I am correct, then it doesn't really matter where Detroit ends up. I thought that was the case anyway....

Colorado’s pick that the NY Islanders traded for Schenn

[zuck698]

Is Smits physical at all? I cant really get a solid answer from what all ive read, and have only seen a couple clips of his play

Smits is extremely physical.
He's the guy that leveled Austin Matthews in the Olympics.

I don't know what sites you're looking at for scouting reports; but aggression is the key to Smits game. To the point where reigning in some of that aggression is going to be the key to his NHL success. He has a habit of taking himself out of position to pinch down low or chase hits. If/when he cleans that up a bit, you're looking at a Moritz Seider type. And his play in the Olympics suggests he's very close to NHL ready(probably the most NHL ready player in this Draft).

So long as the Detroit Pick doesn’t have a protection clause on it, I’m rooting for the fantasy where Detroit hits in the Draft Lottery and we walk away with something crazy like 2 Top 10 picks and a Malholtra/Smits Draft combination.

However, I’d be happy in a world where we walked away with a McKenna/Stenberg/Malholtra matched with a Piiparinen/Gustafsson.

Should they miss out on one of the 3 Forwards, then a Smits/Rudolph/Carels in combination w/a Big Power Forward Belchetz/Hemming… then try to draft the twin Ruck brothers.
If we can’t get the Tkachuk brothers, nor the Stenberg brothers, then Ruck-it!

The Detroit pick has no protections - we should be rooting like heck that they miss the playoffs.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that we were getting Colorado's pick that Detroit owns and not Detroits? If I am correct, then it doesn't really matter where Detroit ends up. I thought that was the case anyway....

Colorado’s pick that the NY Islanders traded for Schenn

Thanks BB! Brain freeze or old age! Either one suffices here...

[kimzey59]

Is Smits physical at all? I cant really get a solid answer from what all ive read, and have only seen a couple clips of his play

Smits is extremely physical.
He's the guy that leveled Austin Matthews in the Olympics.

I don't know what sites you're looking at for scouting reports; but aggression is the key to Smits game. To the point where reigning in some of that aggression is going to be the key to his NHL success. He has a habit of taking himself out of position to pinch down low or chase hits. If/when he cleans that up a bit, you're looking at a Moritz Seider type. And his play in the Olympics suggests he's very close to NHL ready(probably the most NHL ready player in this Draft).

So long as the Detroit Pick doesn’t have a protection clause on it, I’m rooting for the fantasy where Detroit hits in the Draft Lottery and we walk away with something crazy like 2 Top 10 picks and a Malholtra/Smits Draft combination.

However, I’d be happy in a world where we walked away with a McKenna/Stenberg/Malholtra matched with a Piiparinen/Gustafsson.

Should they miss out on one of the 3 Forwards, then a Smits/Rudolph/Carels in combination w/a Big Power Forward Belchetz/Hemming… then try to draft the twin Ruck brothers.
If we can’t get the Tkachuk brothers, nor the Stenberg brothers, then Ruck-it!

The Detroit pick has no protections - we should be rooting like heck that they miss the playoffs.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that we were getting Colorado's pick that Detroit owns and not Detroits? If I am correct, then it doesn't really matter where Detroit ends up. I thought that was the case anyway....

The Islander's sent us the Colorado pick(previously acquired in the Brock Nelson trade; technically does have top 10 protection but that is highly unlikely to trigger) for Schenn.
Detroit sent us their unprotected 1st for Faulk.

Not much hope for the Colorado pick to get overly high; but the Detroit pick could really end up burning them.

[Harry S Deals]

Columbus is hot, no regulation losses in their last 10, they have a game in hand on Detroit, Wings are a scufflin'.