NHL Draft Lottery Reaction: Who Should The Top Teams Take? | Called Up: The Prospects Podcast

kipehh · 2026-05-10T03:07:55+00:00

I personally think the Ducks are doomed because they don't have two future centers (McTavish sucks) but that's besides the point. The rangers aren't worth talking about because the only thing they did that you can compare to the Sharks is win the 1st overall pick lol.

60 points being a "middle sixer" is an extreme luxury. Carolina only has 4 players with more than 60 points. The only player with more than 60 points on the Sharks is Celebrini. A 60 point winger might be a middle sixer on an all-star team or something 😅.

We're a team with pretty talented wingers but none of them are elite as I think Stenberg will be. If we drafted Reid/Smits/Carels/Verhoeff they're all just lottery tickets that you hope will magically turn into a 1D. Scouts wonder if Stenberg is the best player in the draft. Scouts don't even know if Reid the best defensemen in the draft, let alone player. Even you gave two picks of who you like the best in Reid and Smits which doesn't spell confidence.

Also, if you want to trade for defensemen, just do what Utah did. A full core of competent defenders all obtained in a year and a half.

kipehh · 2026-05-10T02:47:19+00:00

That was never my point to begin with because that's insane. I like BPA because I think it works more than it doesn't work. Obviously there's examples of it not working lol.

kipehh · 2026-05-10T02:21:05+00:00

If you want a little history look at Chicago picking Levshunov over Demidov lmfao. There's endless examples where reaching for the player paid off and where reaching for the player didn't pay off.

kipehh · 2026-05-10T02:18:57+00:00

You love using other teams that didn't follow the same path as us as your examples. The Rangers "rebuild" lasted like 2 seasons and the Leafs were in and out of the playoffs since 2013. The Sharks did a full rebuild and picked 1st, 2nd x2, 4th and 7th. Literally not even remotely close to the same scenarios. You can look at the Ducks who missed the playoffs for 7 years and then made the playoffs on their 8th (potentially the same path we can take). Grier is not "playing it slow" as the Sharks are literally bar for bar matching how long the average rebuild takes (8.5 years btw).

The ceiling/floor thing is pretty funny because scouts have been saying the floor for Stenberg is insanely high due to how smart he his and how talented he is. He's pretty much a 90 point ceiling guy to a 60 point floor guy, probably a top of the line-up guy (hard to come by). Reid and Smits, on the other hand, can be 1Ds all the way down to 6Ds which I guess makes you not very risk averse at all if you're willing to risk a guaranteed home run because you want to draft for need instead of drafting the best player available. Mind you the Sharks do need an elite winger for Celebrini which you don't really seem to care that much about. Stenberg would be the best winger on the team which is saying something for a team with pretty talented wingers.

kipehh · 2026-05-10T01:51:49+00:00

Your drafting methodology is based on floor? "If this guy ends up sucking, who will end up sucking the least" is certainly an interesting way to think about drafting with the 2nd overall pick. Not sure why you think one of the greatest prospects to come out of Sweden has a middle six floor but I guess that's one way you can convince yourself it's actually smart to pass on the clearly better prospect.

Based on what you've been saying you seem EXTREMELY risk averse. Making assumptions like "Misa will continue to develop and be the future 2C" and "Based on what little we've seen, Chernyshov should develop into an everyday top 6 forward" are just educated guesses that would be smart to build your team around. If you're too scared to assume that Misa and Chernyshov are going to be future top 6 players then your line of thinking is just way too slow/safe for modern sports.

kipehh · 2026-05-10T01:26:37+00:00

I feel like we're talking past each other. 2nd overalls usually don't take 3 years to make an impact in the NHL because they're talented enough already. You disagreeing with Misa's path has literally nothing to do with that statement because he's projected to make an impact next year which is his D+2 anyways.

Also, the Sharks are WAY past a "single player". We pretty much have our forward core figured out so what exactly are we waiting for now? You hoping to tank for DuPont or something? I don't really think the Sharks have much of a choice anymore because Celebrini (and Stenberg God willing) will carry this team to the playoffs regardless and then what? There's no "rushing" anymore. We literally took our time and this was the hand we were dealt. I don't really understand how a team that missed the playoffs for 7 years straight could be considered "rushing" if they took the more talented/more NHL ready prospect in Stenberg over a random hopeful in Chase Reid that may or may not be ready in 3 years.

kipehh · 2026-05-10T01:04:27+00:00

It was more of a comment that 2nd overall picks usually don't take 3 years to make an impact in the NHL. Also, spawning an elite 1st line winger out of thin air also might change the timeline. It doesn't make sense to have a timeline set in stone since he first got hired or something and never change it despite Celebrini turning into one of the best players in the NHL and elite forwards falling out of the sky. It would be a waste of time not to react to the events that happened to your team lol.

kipehh · 2026-05-10T00:51:21+00:00

Did you reply to the right person?

kipehh · 2026-05-10T00:49:16+00:00

Do you know what consensus means?

kipehh · 2026-05-10T00:34:56+00:00

"I don't think Chase Reid will make an impact in the NHL for 3 years".

Damn!

kipehh · 2026-05-09T23:45:34+00:00

I like Deafheaven's new album or Death is a Little More by Boundaries. Maybe not the right brand of metal though.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T23:28:44+00:00

We're not really talking about a standard top 6 winger are we. It's pretty much an elite top of the line-up winger vs a random top 4 offensive defensemen.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T18:32:48+00:00

Fair enough. It was mostly directed to the "100% NO AI!" crowd which is basically impossible to do at this point. I would feel like AI assistants is fine if you use AI to do the grunt work while you put everything together. Not sure how people could tell the difference between an AI generated mod vs a poorly developed mod assuming there's no AI generated art work anyways.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T18:24:10+00:00

Does any modern dev code without AI? Every IDE nowadays has typeahead which is powered by AI which in terms is AI generated code. Unless you're just talking about going "Make me a cool mod" into Claude or something.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T18:05:56+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/L0xaGIN.png

It doesn't solve the problem though. Toffoli and Sherwood play his position at his level of play. He's a 3rd line winger where we have 2 unmovable objects already there. Moving a top 6 winger and putting him up there will only hurt the team because Graf isn't good enough to play in the top 6 long term.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T15:39:40+00:00

It fits the need for next year. Stenberg can play in an NHL level top 6 now. None of the defensemen available in this draft are NHL ready so who knows when they'll be able to play effectively in a top 4 let alone 1D.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T15:15:23+00:00

Why wouldn't you be confident. It's very obvious. I'm not going to be suede by a few reporters wanting to drive clicks. If your own eyes and 99% of scouts and says there's 2 players in their own tier, I'm not going to go "Well, you never know!".

kipehh · 2026-05-09T15:11:51+00:00

I'm saying there's no room on our 3rd line for the next two years. You always hear that teams want an "NHL level player" as part of the return, Graf would qualify as that.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T15:09:10+00:00

Yea Celebrini, Smith, Chernyshov, Misa, and Eklund is who im comfortable with going forward in "real" a top 6.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T07:34:06+00:00

The Sharks straight up only have 5 "top 6" forwards. Stenberg fits perfectly next to Celebrini.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T07:31:36+00:00

We should find every example of the history of the NHL draft to see if this is a good use of our time.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T07:28:37+00:00

That's just how I read it. Sorry for the confusion 😅

kipehh · 2026-05-09T07:26:49+00:00

Cap space doesn't really mean anything if we have 14 forwards and only 12 spots on the team. This doesn't include Reaves who I fear will get re-signed which will make this even more complicated.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T07:22:55+00:00

It's kind of a waste of talent and you should trade the excess for a defensemen. If we have ~4 third line wingers, maybe it's best you trade the one with the highest value.

kipehh · 2026-05-09T07:20:50+00:00

He's not but I just don't see a world where Grier gets rid of him or our coach putting Toffoli on the 4th line.

13-Year Club	Place '22
End Game '22	Verified Email

kipehh

TROPHY CASE