Yeah, he seriously plateaued. I would take him in the later rounds and hope that he could get back on track but not in the first or beginning of the second. Maybe not even in the 2nd at all.

I get that his numbers don't jump at you but the way I see it is that he's one of the best defensemen away from the puck and put up 50-42-42 points 3 years in a row while being top 5 in DZ starts, top 10 In hits, 2nd in blocked shots and had the toughest matchups in the NHL with 47.9% of his TOI against elite competition. All this while not being too reliant on the PP for his offense. The guy is huge, he moves very well, has very good puck skills and vision... He might not be the most natural offensive defenseman but to me he's the modern version of a Shea Weber.

I think Silayev is the most comparable player to Reinbacher in style but there isn't any player that really compares. Obviously Silayev is much bigger and a better skater but I think Reinbacher is a smarter player with quicker decision making. I'm not sure about the Levshunov comp. Levshunov is an extremely aggressive defenseman offensively and has the potential to be very very good defensively also. If Levshunov hits, he can be one of the best D in the league. He has a potential that I don't think Reinbacher can even dream of imo because he doesn't have that offensive flair and offensive IQ that players like Levshunov have. Is he gonna hit though ? That's the question. I think there's a lot of risk in that projection. They probably thought they wouldn't be picking 5th again so they wanted to address their need now since high end right shot D aren't usually available later in the draft. I think Reinbacher is a great fit for MTL. But there is risk with him also and his D+1 didn't do anything to help project him. He could end up the equivalent of E.J Emery who will most likely be picked in the second half of this draft like he could be significantly better. I think next year will be crucial and by the end of it, we will have a clearer picture of what we are getting. But unfortunately, I'd be surprised if he actually ended up being the 5th best player of the 2023 Draft.

I don't remember saying anything overly negative about ASP ? Kronwall was 5'11" to 6' but had one of the best timing there ever was for open ice hits 😆 I don't dislike ASP's game in general. I don't think he's a great defender but he's busy and involved and isn't scared to use his body to make stops. Obviously doing it at the SHL level and NHL are 2 different things but at least doing it at the lower level indicates the will to play the body is there. My most recent viewings of him are in the playoffs against Rogle and same as the few games I've seen this season, he was dynamic with the puck and good but not fantastic in defense. Therefore I thought top 4 was a perfectly good rating for him. The list of sub 6' 1st pair defender in the NHL is very very short for a reason. Off the top of my head, I can think of Makar, Hughes, Fox and Spurgeon ? In the end I see ASP more like a Sam Girard or Ryan Ellis. A competitive offensive defenseman who can defend adequately in the NHL without it being a major strength.

I'm not sure being french has anything to do with it but at the second I gave him a 2, I knew some would be offended by it but such is life. My biggest problem with him is the lack of defensive improvement since his draft year. He has the least amount of blocks/60 by a very large margin, he doesn't hit, he's at the bottom of the league for defensive zone starts, he's top 10 in the league for giveaways and top 20 for defensive zone giveaways.... On the other hand, he's a fantastic offensive defenseman and brilliant skater. He's a great PP quarterback, more than half his points came from it and I think his offensive potential can and will outweigh the defensive deficiencies. I wouldn't argue with you if you told me he deserved a 3 but compared to Guhle, I wouldn't be comfortable pairing Hughes against the other team's top line in the playoffs night after night to shut them down. He's basically an Evan Bouchard light who hits and block less. Bouchard is the defenseman with the most minutes on ice on a team that is in the conference finals. So that is great. Bouchard needs Ekholm though in the same way New jersey needs a Ekholm for Hughes. On their own, I don't think they can handle 1st pair minutes and matchups if they don't have a stellar defensive brick wall on their side. I gave a 2 to Parekh also and I think Parekh has the potential to be an even greater offensive defenseman. So I think I'm somewhat consistent with my train of thought but this was all done on the fly. Some of it would probably change if I didn't have to keep talking and could dive into advanced metrics while doing this.

@@bluechipprospect Luke is 20 years old mate. He just played his first year of hockey. I dont know what growth you are expecting to see. He landed 3rd in calder voting. He clocked in as the fastest defenseman in the league this year at 24.19 MPH and the second fastest skater behind Owen Tippett with 24.21 MPH. He put up 47 points in 82 games. You have Guhle who is 22****** who has a total of 40 points in 114 games with a -27. Are you French or just dumb?

You must not know defensemen take the longest to grow. Quinn had the same problem and just won the Norris...

Never seen a guy so blunt on a 20-year-old. Can't wait to see your opinion on Lane Hutson. Has everything you just said but way worse defensively and smaller...Im guessing he will be a 1 judging by your standards.

@pattylonglegs3353 You see, I thought we already established that he was a great skater when I said he was a "brilliant skater". We can ignore all the deficiencies and all the strengths. We can ignore that Guhle had the 7th hardest competition of all defenseman in the league with 42.7% of his TOI being against elite competition while playing on his off side. We can ignore Guhle's -8 on a worse team to Hughes -25 against weaker competition if you really want to bring minuses in the conversation for some reasons.We don't have to agree on everything. I even said I wouldn't argue if you thought he was a 3 but that doesn't seem to be enough. You take this way too seriously man. It's all good if you think he's a superstar and I think he's just very very good. I don't have a Cristall ball, I'm just sharing my views with people who want to hear it . I'm gonna take a wild guess that you're a New Jersey fan and you want me to think he's a superstar but you're incapable to articulate it without resulting to insults and then tell me I'm the one who's dumb ? 😬 You always have the option to start your own channel and share your opinion with the world if my french and dumb opinion don't please you 😉

I think 1 year of development can make a very significant difference. For example, if you watched London last year in the playoffs, did you think Bonk was as good as he is this year ? For me, Bonk is a very much improved player but I would take that production with a grain of salt. Dickinson is putting up those numbers while not being the #1 defenseman on that team which is pretty impressive. But I agree with you that at this moment, Bonk is the better player. He's the more reliable one. But the tools on Dickinson are significantly better in his draft year compared to Bonk in his draft year.

Ça sort tout seul ! J'ai pas de contrôle la dessus 😆

Hard to know if he would be good on the right side without seeing him there consistently. I don't think he's a reach at 2 but most other public list seems to think he would be so who knows 😆

He wasn't picked as one of the first 6 D in 2022. I didn't want to compare the 2024 crop with defensemen taken later in the draft with many years of date post draft. I wanted to compare apples to apples so I only rated the first 6 D's off the board in each draft. If I rated it differently then obviously years like 2020 with Faber and Nikishin taken in the later rounds would have 3 or 4 as a grade and would destroy the 2024 class with the help of hindsight 😆

​@bluechipprospect let's say it ! Hutson is rated 4, boom ! He's a superstar in the making ! Haha. A bit of wishful thinking cuz I'm Habs fan. But realistically, Hutson will at the VERY LEAST be a second pair dman due to his size and defensive game, and will be the QB of the powerplay. He's a powerplay machine with his ankle breaker dekes 😂 But I really see a Hutson/Reinbacher top pair dmen in a few years. Hutson might grow a bit more and get more weight, and can really skate, his defensive game will improve too which by the way isnt that bad. He was the "to-go" dman at World Junior shut down / offensive dman. Right there that's all already a good sign that he can run a top pair dman in the NHL in the future

I used to be Hughes biggest cheerleader but I feel like there was basically 0 progress on his defensive game since his draft year . We could say that Nemec and Hughes have similar profiles but I'm starting to prefer Nemec even though Hughes' ceiling is probably higher. I'm just believing less and less in it. Might be a little harsh but that's the way I felt at the moment of doing it lol. As for Byram, he showed that he could play like a 1 D and in the playoffs so I strongly believe his ceiling is very very high and since he already played like he was that beast, it's easy to think he could come back to it if he isn't in the shadow of Makar. But I wouldn't argue with anyone saying Hughes should be a 3.

@@bluechipprospect Imagine going from being in the shadow of Makar, to being in the shadow of Dahlin haha

@@xdionne87 Dahlin is awesome tho...

No he will go 4 or 5… 7 is very unlikely

@@JakeElston-gt4jm Yeah I thought that~ I don't think he makes it past Columbus or Montreal, though I'd love to see if Staios could make a move with Columbus to grab him.

@@nickboyd6716 I have Parekh going at 7 If you want forward maybe Catton at 7

@@JakeElston-gt4jm yeah Catton and Zayne are good fits and we need them, i’m just super high on Cayden!

Highly unlikely imo

I don't think he's that close. He does get to the inside and doesn't expect anyone to get the puck for him but I don't see that much of a power game close to the net or in battles. The fact that he isn't even 6' doesn't help for sure. But when you watch Brandsegg Nygard fight for positioning in front of net or hit people, you tell yourself that Iginla is very far from that. Much more of a skill guy with some strength and compete but not a power forward.

@@bluechipprospect last year Ryan Leonard was often talked about as a power forward. Does he have a better power game than Iginla? Not that it matters, but player comparable are always fun. Perhaps Iginla is similar to a Lafreniere or Leonard ? Not saying potential but style

Yeah Leonard was a way more aggressive player than Iginla is. Leonard was incredibly competitive on and off the puck. Iginla is also competitive but Leonard was a good tier or 2 above. I think the comp isnt that bad but Leonard is like a stronger and more competitive one while Iginla is the more skilled between both. But if I had to compare him to a player from last year's draft, I think Dvorsky is closer to it than Leonard.

​@@bluechipprospectsame thoughts ! Thx I understand why you put Lindstrom ahead of Nygard but I'd really see the Norwegian eating the big Canadian ahahah