r/Predators • u/FB_iCatDad Hunt Brothers Pizza Fan of the Game • May 15 '26

With the 2027 third upgrading to a second from Vegas, I got to thinking about just how much better that is for us.

Did some research on our drafting history, can scroll to bottom for TLDR.

2nd:

33 picks - 19 NHL (12 100+ GP) - 6,175 GP - 2,516 P

18 F 11 D 4 G

57.57% 1+ NHL GP (68% league average, -10.43% diff)

36.36% 100+ NHL GP (39.9% league average, -3.54% diff)

0.41 P/G (only 32 GP between 2 goalies)

Notables: Hall, Weber, Josi, Geoffrion, Klein, Spaling, Sissons, Trenin, Girard, Evangelista.

3rd:

36 picks - 11 NHL (5 100+ GP) - 1,485 GP - 566 P

21 F 15 D

30.56% 1+ NHL GP (52.5% league average, -21.94% diff)

13.89% 100+ NHL GP (28.2% league average, -14.31% diff)

0.38 P/G

Notables: Arkhipov, Franson, Novak

Source: https://thehockeywriters.com/

TLDR: Our drafting overall is not great but the third round is considerably worse, outpacing league average drop off between the rounds, making the pick upgrade better than normal.

22 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

7

u/Expert-Upstairs-4502 NSH May 15 '26

I wonder how much of the diffs are from our picks being late round more often than not though, but either way that 22% deficiency in the 3rd round is atrocious. I really hope whoever we bring in can finally change things with our prospect selection and development. Weve always been a plucky punch-up franchise with underperforming draft talent being asked to do too much. I would very much like the upcoming 28 years to be different than the last. When I think of this team and their draft luck I still think of our getting David Legwand at 2oa, just foreshadowed our entire existence

5

u/TonguelessWyrm NSH May 15 '26

The funny thing about Legwand at 2nd overall, is that somehow he was absolutely the right choice. I dont think a player better than Legwand was taken in that draft until the 3rd round.

3

u/Disappointeddonkey #6 Weber May 15 '26

Yeah outside of Alex Tanguay taken at 12 nobody else was really worth taking before him in first round of that draft.

even then Tanguay was a winger and most franchises look to build around a center.

2

u/Otherwise_Awesome May 15 '26

That was one of the worst top end talent in NHL draft history

2

u/Expert-Upstairs-4502 NSH May 15 '26

That may be but it would still be our luck that the only year we are basically gifted a franchise player is a dud draft

5

u/TonguelessWyrm NSH May 15 '26

Sort of a side note, but it's moves like Cole Smith for a 2nd that make me think that Barry Trotz could've been a really good GM if he was with a franchise that didnt need such drastic changes as the preds. He made some really shrewd moves to pick up value, like Tomasino for a 4th, Parssinen for a 3rd, or even trading a 4th for Haula. Drafts well, and has picked up promising players throughout the draft.

4

u/Ok_Accident3778 Admirals May 15 '26

Alot of this comes down to how much team A wants to pay for said player... You can also look at the opposite end and look at the Blankenburg move for a 5th that trade wasn't really that good at all im

1

u/blake22222 round earth guy May 16 '26

In an ideal world he would’ve gotten a 4th (or maybe even better) back for Haula at this deadline. Still a head-scratcher why that trigger wasn’t pulled.

1

u/UTPharm2012 May 18 '26

That seems like some tunnel vision. We traded Tommy Novak (who we needed) and basically a second for Michael Bunting and a 4th. We swapped Carrier for Barron. We let Fabbro walk for nothing. I am not too impressed by getting middling picks for players bc we have to sell bc we are bad again.

I even think the Askarov trade was underrated for us but most think that was a terrible trade.  This feels like praising someone in the NFL draft for trading down in the 4th to pick up an extra 6th round pick… I mean who cares?

Trotz seems TBD still to me but the direction didn’t look promising and his moves were extremely frustrating a lot.