Well, you saw where all the KZfaq experts darling of the defensmen class Buium went. Twelve. Seriously, two months ago, can't miss. A few weeks ago, fith best.

I will say that there's usually less discrepancy among the media/public lists than there is among scouts. There's a bizarre push towards "consensus". To give an example, it was the "Shane Wright Draft" in 2022 from wire to wire, right?. A lot of scouts didn't have him as #1 from November/December on. I think I had him at 4 or 5 for the last couple months of the season. But in a world where knowledge is currency, you don't want to tip your hand unnecessarily. So that's why you see some stuff like this now. I get the optics aren't super appreciable right now. Especially if you're on the "wrong" end of it (i.e. a Chicago fan). But again, it's not like this pick is impossibly bad or anything. Whether it works out perfectly, works out "sort of", or doesn't work out at all, it's not like you can't see why they went this direction. And they're going to have to make the best of it, both of the player and of the environment.

"but has there ever been such a widely varying opinion on a top prospect as Levshunov? And it's not like there was throughout the year. I remember not even two months ago, Levshunov was tops on the defensive list." I think that's pretty easily explained by so many public scouts basing their whole opinion on analysis of the prospects play. So they miss the broader picture of the players, and that part is exceptionally positive for Levshunov. Where one person sees mistakes and inconsistent play, another sees dramatic jump in competition and extremely positive development year over year. The latter seem to be very important to NHL teams, as we could see with Sennecke going 3rd seemingly based on a strong progression of his play to end the season. Projection vs current ability basically.

You're def coping. Tell me who else can rack up 2 ppg in the MHL? He would have torched any CHL league this year and be the best player in any too.. He *did* make the KHL team after the camp over Michkov but Michkov could play with an other team because he had a signed contract... Demidov had almost a ppg in the 9 KHL's preseason games he played and was dominant so it's not a lack of talent there, it's Russia being wack again and again.

Buium was better, just less big

@@djclovissio2338 Offensively sure. Buium has a lot more questions going the other way

Let me just say, I get this pick. He's a horse, he's right-handed, the production is there, the athleticism is there, there's a quality skill level, there's an element of physicality. It's not a mystery. Would I have gone there? No, I don't think so. I likely would have gone with Demidov in this same spot. I'll say, I'm a U.S. guy - so that's the area I'm most familiar with, everything else is tertiary during my year. But Demidov really jumps off the page to me. And not that you want to get into the habit of drafting for need, but I feel like the Hawks could benefit from another potential gamebreaker at forward.

Still shaking my head at not picking demidov

The whole purpose of the video was to show case faults. Which young defensmen doesn’t have a lot of turnovers?

He was freshman of the year and voted best dman in the b10. U can look at every prospect and see bad plays

Two months ago, he's a can't miss. The last three weeks, he's a bum. Then, you got Demidov, who plays in a league scouts can't even attend, and playing against absolute garbage pegged as the next best thing.

​​@@Elrond_Hubbard1yet Dimidov gets picked 5th . passed over by Anaheim with the third pick for someone totally off the radar. ... that debunks that "great" myth..

⁠@@michaellewter8671it’s pointless using where a player is drafted to gauge how great they are, demidov fell to pick 5 because other teams picked for need/selected their guy. Among scouts he was pretty much the consensus #2 prospect. The ducks have a history of making off the board picks for players they like.

@@Elrond_Hubbard1he definitely isn’t can’t miss and no one said that 😂, some ppl just placed him as the more nhl ready defensemen in the draft which isn’t reason enough to select him at 2. Also, Demidov is the prospect w/ second highest ceiling in the draft so I understand why people are excited. There’s a reason why KD tried to trade up to 4 to select him, even offering up Chicagos first round pick next year unprotected

That's not it. It's a miss of a pick at #2. There was better prospect to pick. We all know what that prospect is. This was not weak draft so you can say Blackhawks gambled. So it's high risk not high reward. This is we gambling on future of our franchise to pick a guy who would likely go normally 5-10 range. But was somehow picked #2. I can already say now that Demidov is gonna have at #5 better career than Lev at #2. Comparing player for player. This is not outlandish hot take. Just because Anaheim and Columbus let him slide too, doesnt mean Lev at #2 was right choice.

The idea of him being in his prime at 18 is just absurd. He has not even grown into his body yet. And he will be playing in the AHL this year so it will be against me with bigger bodies so he will be forced to learn how to use that body. The kid was playing on a euro sized risk in Belarus 2 1/2 years ago. Then a year in the ushl. Then a year in the NCAA. Give him a hot minute to develop. Putting him in the NHL even next year would be stupid and is another absurd hot take IMO. You had some valid points in this video, and highlighted some concerns, but you also missed the narrative on a bunch as well. You sounds like a person who leans towards solid known quantities over risk taking in the draft. And I won't begrudge that philosophy. I'm less risk averse though, and so is the hawks front office.

I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise. The videos either convince you or they don't, the comments section will never solve anything. I will say that he was not the consensus anything. Perhaps on public lists, maybe...I don't really keep those in my head very well. But certainly not on NHL team lists was he consensus. It was a real mixed bag. Some saying, "it's really tight between him and five other guys." Some saying, "I don't see what the problem is, he's #2 (overall) on my list." and others saying, "I question the hockey sense and the dynamic ability, it scares me off from putting him top 10." etc. etc. I understand what people see when they go, "yes, he's top [whatever]" and I understand the reticence over some very obvious weaknesses. That's what makes the draft interesting...

I've heard the 3rd line comment on Moore multiple times now. Looking at his WJC performance I sort of get why. But I think he has more upside than that. I think 3rd liner would be the floor.

@@rfjohnson69 exactly. I see a top 6 ceiling on him easily.

@@bryantlawson6270 I think middle 6 is most likely but I'll be glad to be wrong

First, I absolutely think Bedard is a sniper. A premier sniper in the league, in fact. And I agree, he had to be a playmaker to get points on that team because not everyone on this team can negotiate their way into the zone or manipulate defenses. Couldn't agree more, I'm sorry if that meaning didn't come across in the video. Levshunov connects on passes throughout the video. But I understand the consternation. But I am only taking a piece of his game and how it potentially translates (and how it may not in some regards). But, more or less, this is just a consecutive sample of late season breakout passes. I didn't procure failures with any intent, I just took from late season games and this is what it looks like. And I don't think it's a misrepresentation of the player that I've seen all year. I'd have no interest in misrepresenting a player because that just increases my chances of being wrong about him - and scouting is hard enough as it is haha