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Chapter 1: What insights does Jason Bukala share about the upcoming NHL draft?
Now joining us on Canucks Talk, as he does every Wednesday, and we're very excited for this, a special one-hour conversation with Jason Bukala leading into the NHL draft on Friday and Saturday. Of course, he's now a part of SportsSense NHL coverage, former director of amateur scouting in the NHL, and we are thrilled to have him on the line. Bukala, thank you so much for doing this.
How's it going?
Awesome to be here, fellas. It's going fantastic. What an exciting week it's already been, and it's only going to get hotter as we get towards Friday here.
Yeah, only about 48 hours, a little bit more now to go before the NHL draft. And what we've been doing this week, Boox, I know we filled you in on it, but we're doing the Canucks draft. official Canucks Talk mock draft. And we've done from 1 to 16 so far. So we'll take over. We'll do 17 to 24 with you here, which is great because we'll finish with the Canucks second first round pick.
So do we need to run through like 1 through 16 really quick? Should I just do like 9 through 16? How that went? What do you think here, Jets?
Yeah, let's recap the order for our audience and then we'll put Boox on the clock at 17. Now, our audience should also note, as a result of a variety of trades yesterday, some of these picks, in fact, a lot of these picks have already moved hands. But so it goes.
We'll, you know, keep marching forward as, you know, Boox has done many times in his career when he gets thrown a curveball at the draft table. Right, Boox? Absolutely.
That's what makes it fun. The name of the game. All right. So here's how it's gone so far. One to Toronto. McKenna. No surprise there. The Sharks takes Denver. Canucks. Melhotra. Blackhawks. Chase Reed. Rangers. Carols. Flames. Vigo Bjork. Seattle. Albert Smits. Winnipeg. Keaton Verhoff. Ottawa. Ethan Belches. Nashville. Daxon Rudolph. St. Louis. Tynan Lawrence. New Jersey. Wyatt Cullen.
Islanders. Malte Gustafson. Columbus. Ryan Lynn.
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Chapter 2: Which players are projected to be selected in picks 17-24?
St. Louis. Oscar Hemming. Washington. Alexander command. What? That pick has also been tried. Oh yeah. So far, but anyways, that's how it went in our version of the mod draft. So you're up at 17 books. I'll turn it over to you here.
So as we speak today, the LA Kings hold the 17th pick overall. And with the 17th pick, I would lean towards the sniper out of the Saginaw Spirit, who's a sleeper, I think. Could he be Kucherov-like? I don't know, guys. That's pretty rich, right? But I'm going with Nikita Klepov from the Saginaw Spirit, the 6-foot, 180-pound winger.
And I think that that's a good fit for LA, also because Panarin's there and You know, I just think that that sort of mentorship means something and you never know. It's interesting at the NHL level, you have to start to create a pipeline in certain territories of the world. Happy Panarin leads to happy Klepov, leads to other happy Russians coming over later on. I just see some synergy there.
Klepa feels like one of those guys where there's a pretty big range where he could end up, right? It could go as high if a team wants to take a swing, but could end up fading to the back of the first round or maybe even to the second round boots.
Yeah, the profile is just too rich for me to allow him to slip to the second round. As we get later on, we start talking about shutdown defensemen later on in the first round, for example. And he was used in all situations there, Jay, in Saginaw. He's not going to kill penalties as a pro, but...
37 goals, 60 assists, 97 points on a team that was kind of retooling as a junior outfit this year, not rebuilding, but certainly retooling, and those numbers matter, and he was a plus player.
The one thing I would say about him, though, is that he's going to have to find another gear because he's sort of, he's not slow, but he's not a burner, and to make the plays that he wants to make outside of the power play when he can make them from more of a stationary stance, he's going to have to add a little bit more speed, but
Player development will get their hands on them, and they'll push them through to train a different way. Folks, does the Russian factor...
Has the Russian factor shifted? Because, you know, Klepov's 17, I would say four or five years ago, even though, you know, he's got comps in his profile like Bobby Ryan and Logan Couture. This is a guy that we'd have expected to go 20s, as Jamie said, early second. But when, you know, you're taking him at 17, scouts I chat with suggest Pugachev is like absolutely not falling to 33.
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Chapter 3: How do player fit and nationality impact draft decisions?
I'm positioned here today that if the three of us were at our draft table running the draft, I'm positioned to say that for Canadian franchises especially, and maybe certain scenarios overall, that the American versus Russian dilemma in terms of who do you want to draft, I don't know that there's much of a difference. Like if I'm the Vancouver Canucks, the Winnipeg Jets, etc.,
Uh, I'm, I'm not fearful to draft a Russian. I'm really not, uh, especially in relation to the way that the Americans seem to want to, you know, continue to play south of our border at least. So, um, yeah, I, you know, a lot is predicated to answer, as you know, on who the agent is and how that relationship has already been nurtured with certain teams over here.
The Washington Capitals have forever had a great relationship, right, with the Russian pipeline. And Ovi being there all this time kind of helped that. But, you know, Dan Milstein, you guys have seen it. He's had some of his clients come right through Vancouver. And the landscape is there's a lot of topsy-turviness in the league on so many levels and so many categories right now.
All right, let's move on to the Washington Capitals. They traded on Tuesday. Their other first-round pick at 16, we had them taking Alexander Command before that trade went down on Tuesday's broadcast. But they have the Ducks pick at 18th overall as a result of the John Carlson rental by Anaheim. The Capitals, Ross Mahoney and co., step up to the dais. They're on the clock.
What's the selection, Boox? Washington selects from Modo in Sweden from the Alice Fensken. My guy. Elton Hermanson. Yeah, this kid's a player. I really like him. So stocky strong. He's a threat off the rush. He does a lot. Even at the combine when we interviewed him, he really takes a lot of pride in working the wall and extending plays. Equal parts shooter, distributor, but player.
you know I think there's some untapped playmaking ability there I find that when I watch him on the international stage he's more like off the rush driving off his he likes to play his off wing something that I want to point out to listeners he's a right shot that likes to play his off wing so on his own exits he likes to have the entire ice surface spacing him facing chest out instead of when you're on your strong side you're looking over your left shoulder on an exit for example so
I'm curious to see where he goes as a pro, but they've had some real good luck with some Swedes in the past, Washington. And I have to tell you that the Washington Capitals, they are entrenched in scout Europe more vigorously than most franchises. They really spent a lot of time in Russia, so they would have done their homework here. And I think he'd be a heck of a top six addition.
So, uh, Hermanson's my guy in that, like the guy that I will be, you know, encouraging Canucks fans to cross their fingers and hope falls to 24 books. You're, you're really taking all the skill off the board here before the Canucks come back on the clock. But here's my, I know you love my dumb comps.
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Chapter 4: How does Jason Bukala evaluate Nikita Klepov's potential in the draft?
So let me, let me give you one. Here's the, the, Top Olsvenskan points per game scorers across the last 20 years, age 17 only. Number one, Anton Freundel, 0.86. Number two, William Nylander, 0.77. Number three, David Pasternak, 0.67. Number four, Elton Hermanson, 0.55.
And you get a bunch of guys, Petey, Dvorsky, Jesper Bratt, and Philip Forsberg, all sort of at the 0.44 range, filling out sort of the top 15. that's a profile, my friend.
Yeah, that is a profile. So let me, uh, this is, this is awesome as usual. Um, so when, when PD was drafted out of the Al Svensken, Dvorsky played his wing. So one thing to keep in mind there when we're bringing up comps, which is fascinating is that when you're playing pro and by the way, on your wing is another draft eligible.
That's, that's even heavier lift for those two young guys playing at the, as Al Svensken levels. So, um,
Chapter 5: What is the significance of NCAA rulings on player selections?
Having said all that, I'm not surprised. Hermanson's a play driver. He's built for today's game as far as I'm concerned. And I like his compete. He moves really well, guys. He rips it. And he doesn't cheat the game necessarily on the back end. He's going to be on time. We've talked about it. This Swedish group of athletes coming out right now, They're really competitive.
In this first round, they're really competitive people. They're really competitive, and they've already had a great deal of success.
All right. On the board at number 19 now, or on the clock, I should say, is Utah. Where are we going with this one, Bukes?
Well, the Utah Mammoth, who are on the cusp of doing some great things. And they got a bunch of guys up front that are great players. But I think Billy Armstrong, the general manager, is going to love J.P. Hurlburt or the Kamloops Blazers. Why? Because he's going to give them that kind of Swiss Army knife up front. He can play the middle. He can play the wing. He produces points.
He's competitive the way that he wants him to be competitive. He doesn't. He doesn't back away from the physicality. He's not going to run people over, but they got a bunch of trees in Utah who do that anyways. So I'm going JP Hurlburt here. And I love the fact the kid bet on himself to come to Kamloops this year after leaving the program and set his own path.
His, his, his interviews, transfer at the, at the combine. Awesome. Right. Just awesome. Dressed in a suit every day. Just super, super proud to be there. I really took a shine to this kid. He's going to Michigan. One pocket, Michigan. Yeah. I know he loves the Wolverines. He's going to have to continue working to have a chance there to do what he wants to do offensively.
I like a smart off-puck player for the Utah Mammoth, though, Books. Every shift against Vegas in that first round series, Logan Cooley had an automatic revolving door entry with speed into the Vegas offensive zone. Their D could not in any way keep up with him. And the option that they had playing with him and Gunther on the left side was Kyler Yamamoto. Like,
That's a position you need to upgrade on short term. That's a position you need to upgrade on long term. I'd love to see them identify and go after and target sort of a guy that can be creative without the puck in sort of a Hurlburt type mold in the first round. Love that pick from you.
Yeah, the thing there, and I'll put a bow on it for you guys, is that they're in a position to Utah is with all the drafting and developing they've done in recent years. They're in a position to take more of a risk on certain players.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of drafting Russian players in the NHL?
Do you think Rick Tockett might push them, nudge them a little bit to go in a different direction?
No.
No, he's not because he's going to be happy with the way that Novotny plays because he's a hard out and he's sturdy strong and he absorbs contact. And, you know, he's not going to, you know, he might be one of those guys along the wall or off the cycle that takes on two opponents, you know, to win a puck battle off him.
And I think that Toc is going to appreciate the fact that the puck's going to spill into a high danger area off of that and it's going to go in the back of the net.
And if Talk is saying anything, I'm sure their director of amateur scouting is sharp enough to send him a clip of some Novotny finishing hits just to call him.
Don't worry.
This guy's physical, too.
Actually, mid-sentence, in the build-up to round one, Drancer, and he's sitting in the room, Talk, I'm playing all the videos on these guys to show them so that I'm not getting any of that. When the owner walks in the room on the night, I don't need my coach going, oh, for God's sake. You know what? I don't need any of that, so.
No, no, no. You show them all the hits. All the hits. Always show your coach the hits. Here's the hit clips. Right, Boogs? Come on. That's right. That's right. All right. So here we go. 22. We are going to 22, right? Do we go to 23? So this is Kyle Dubas, Wes Clark, and the Pittsburgh Penguins on the board, Books. They've done really well, man. They've had a couple nasty draft classes here.
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Chapter 7: How do trades influence the dynamics of the NHL draft?
Had to play that had a lot of meaning. This kid, he just gets it done for you. He gets it done. He kills plays. He moves pucks sufficiently. He's got a little bit of sneaky offense to his game at times. Makes a really good first pass. Love his character. He's part of the leadership group, the whole nine yards. He just plays the right way.
And when you get good, these guys are really hard to acquire in trade.
It's interesting now, Buks, with the changes to the NCAA system and everything, the pathway for drafted players I think is more interesting than ever. And maybe that doesn't apply quite as much to European players. But still, we've seen Tom Villander come over and play at Boston U. It's still a potential. What do you see with the type of player he is, where he is right now for William Hackinson?
What does that kind of ideal pathway do you think look for him to go from the 24th pick potentially to the NHL?
Yeah, for me, he just stays in Sweden and plays in the Elite League for me personally at LuleƄ. He's capable because of his size and the way that he approaches a game to stay over there and defend against pros for the next two years before he comes over. It's not going to be as heavy a lift for him at that level. So he's better geared for that type of a scenario for me.
So this is one of those outliers where I don't see him necessarily needing to entertain coming to the NCAA. I think he's a pro-style player.
Who else would you have in consideration at this spot for the Canucks?
Well, you know, there was a few different names that I bantered around. One of them was from the Quebec Ramparts. I really do have a lot of time for Maddox Dayanae. Why? Because he can play center in the wing. He's a big, strong body as well. And he's an insulator. I value him a lot more than Oliver Subanto because I believe that the profile, scoring profile, is much more...
attractive let's just say that so I almost put him down here I almost did and why sort of the same reason that I was explaining for Buffalo taking Morozov I kind of felt like that way about Dana as well he was the first overall pick in the Quebec League back in his time and and I think he's going to end up being a 35-40 goal guy potentially there this year but for the for the fit
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Chapter 8: What strategies should teams consider for maximizing draft value?
Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber online today. Joining us for another segment, a special one-hour conversation today here on Canucks Talk ahead of the draft on Friday. He's calling in on the Able Auctions hotline. He is our guy, Jason Buchla. And, Buchs, we did your leg of the Canucks Talk mock draft in the first segment. But, man, there's been a lot of...
Player activity, movement, trades, draft picks going all over the place, prospects, young players. So we got a lot to dive into here as well. And let's start with, you know, it's kind of fallen off the radar. I feel like a bit now because there's been a bunch of other trades that have gone down since. But the Calgary Flames go out and add Simone Nemech.
And they don't have to give up their number six overall pick, but they trade a high second round pick from the New York Rangers and a 2027 first from Vegas, a 2028 first from the Colorado Avalanche. Let's start with the Calgary side of things. Of course, Nemech, a former number two overall pick. I don't think there's a lot of question about his offensive upside.
There might be question overall about the, you know, the other parts of his game. What do you think about Nemech and his fit in Calgary?
I think that he's honestly a powder keg ready to go off and be the better version of himself. I really, really do. You know, I think that, uh, He's going to be a ying and a yang when it comes to Perak there on the right side. And then you're going to have Nemec. Nemec can play both sides, by the way.
So when I first started scouting him back in Europe back in the day, and he was playing pro as a youngster, mature beyond his years. Really, he was. He played the game with pace. His off puck, joining the rushes an extra layer. The way that he saw the ice and made plays. And then, of course, he was a leader on the international stage with his peer group there.
uh internationally uh you know at the world juniors for example uh for slovakia and slovakia's had a you know a relatively successful run for the most part uh on the world stage and he was a big part of that so things just didn't work in new jersey for whatever reason not sure doesn't matter i think that they're gonna get a guy that can easily play 20 22 minutes a night i think he averaged close to that anyways last year in new jersey and defensively he'll buy in better he'll he'll you know
imagine it this way. When the three of us are kind of off about our job or going to work on an off day, you're kind of, you know, you might cut a corner here or there. You're not the best version of yourself. You know, you're just having an off day.
It seems like there's been a lot of noise around Nemech for the last little while, and he really wanted more than what the Devils were willing to give him. So having said that, I just think that he's going to get more dialed in defensively. I think you're going to see more out of him that way, a la...
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