The draft of the week 2022 has arrived and the teams have headed to hotels and conference rooms scattered throughout downtown Montreal. The last two scouting seasons have created chaos for both the players and the scouting staff.
The draft is due to be held in Montreal, and a better script could not have been written with the Habs winning the lottery. They are ready to make a first general historical selection under the guidance of their new management group.
This will be my 19th NHL draft. He never gets old. It’s like Christmas in July.
By now, most of our readers will likely have honed their knowledge about prospects who could potentially be selected by their favorite NHL team.
What I am about to present is my draft personal order for the first round. This is not a simulated draft. I have not spoken to any of my former colleagues for insider information about their potential thoughts or strategies.
I present it as if I’m still on a scouting team and preparing to be on the draft table.
Here’s an inside look at my process:
1. After analyzing the accumulated reports of players from around the world, I break down each territory and list the prospects in descending order of interest.
2. Each territory is analyzed against each other. The final list begins to take shape as players are removed from their regional list and placed in descending order on the world list. Not all regions are created equal. There are years when the top five picks come from American leagues. By contrast, there are years, like this one, in which it is very likely that at least three of the top five players will come from Europe. Listing is smooth from year to year and can only be done thoroughly without bias.
3. When the final list is complete, the strategy of orienting players in the exchange, exchange, or “choice” scenarios begins to take shape.
Note 1: The average NHL listener will see between 175 and 200 games a year and submit more than 1,500 game reports. Analysis adds another layer to the process and plays an important role in list preparation and strategic planning.
Now that I’ve provided the Coles Notes version of my process, here’s my final list for the 2022 NHL Draft:
Num. 1: Logan Cooley
Num. 2: Shane Wright
Well. 3: Juraj Slavkovsky
Well. 4: Simon the German
No. 5: David Jiricek
No. 6: Cutter Gauthier
No. 7: Matthew Savoie
No. 8: Joakim Kemell
No. 9: Marco Kasper
no. 10: Jonathan Lekkerimaki
No. 11: Danila Yurov
No. 12: Kevin Korchinski
No. 13: Denton Mateychuk
no. 14: Pavel Mintyukov
No. 15: Frank Nazar
No. 16: Isaac Howard
no. 17: Jimmy Snuggerud
Num. 18: Noah Ostlund
No. 19: Conor Geekie
No. 20: Ivan Miroshnichenko
Num. 21: Liam Ohgren
No. 22: Ryan Chesley
Num. 23: Owen Pickering
No. 24: Lane Hutson
Be 25: Jiri Kulich
No. 26: Luca Del Bel Belluz
No. 27: Nathan Gaucher
Num. 28: Rutger McGroarty
No. 29: Seamus Casey
No. 30: Mattias Havelid
No 31: Odelius Street
no. 32: Alexander Perevalov
Num. 33: Owen Beck
No. 34: Brad Lambert
No. 35: Lian Bichsel
No. 36: Jagger Firkus
STRATEGY NOTES
• I selected Logan Cooley instead of Shane Wright because I think he has the highest ceiling offensively. I was also impressed with the level of competition that Cooley presented in each visualization. That’s not to say Wright isn’t a great professional. He has all the attributes to be a fantastic NHL player. Wright has a higher floor than Cooley, but Cooley has more elite perks in my opinion.
• I value Denton Mateychuk at number 13 and I think he will be available in this strip (teammate Sam Cosentino had him 26th in the simulated draft). I also have a hunch that other teams don’t have it as high as I do. This is a scenario where I would pick up the phone to assess the interest of the next five teams behind me to see if they are interested in negotiating. I may be able to get an additional selection in the second round with the transaction and still get the player I want.
Note: Risk / reward is always at stake with this type of trading. The other reason I don’t care about this proposed deal is my level of comfort with players ranked between 14th and 18th on my list. Should the team I negotiated with choose Mateychuk, he would still have a quality player and an additional selection in return.
• Before anyone assures that there are only 32 picks in the first round … I know!
The fact is that this draft has the potential to be one of the most unpredictable first rounds since I entered the league. I really think any of the names on my list could go in the first round. When I’m on the floor overseeing change and change scenarios, it’s vital to make sure my stock system is in place in case the phone rings.
• The art of Scouting is not an exact science. No one knows for sure what this kind of draft will look like in the coming years. The process always leads to a healthy discussion (and sometimes a furious passion!).
Discuss among yourselves or give me feedback on why you passionately believe in a player and where you think you deserve to be on this year’s final list.