With the 19th pick... Flyers select Jay O'Brien (C)

[pilldoc]

https://thehockeywriters.com/jay-obrien-2018-nhl-draft-prospect-profile/

 

When it comes to the All-American Prospects Game in Buffalo, the vast majority of invitees come from either the USHL or the United States program in Michigan. To get an invite as a high school prep star says something significant about that player and what potential he has. Thayer Academy’s Jay O’Brien certainly fits the mold of good potential at the next level.

 

Widely considered the best high school player in this draft, O’Brien got an invite to Buffalo and was only one of two New England prep players to get the honor. To go from playing on the prep ice to the ice at Key Bank Center is a dramatic change and one very welcomed by O’Brien. It showed the hard work he put in was paying off.

 

Thayer has produced some good talent of late. Minnesota’s Charlie Coyle went there along with both Brian Gibbons and Northeastern’s Adam Gaudette. O’Brien might have more upside than these three. He was by far their leading scorer this season. In just 30 games, he produced 43 goals and 80 points. He was easy to spot on the ice during games. The fast one was O’Brien. In terms of who his coach was, you might recognize the name. Former Ranger and Blackhawk great Tony Amonte runs the bench at Thayer. That’s pretty good company to learn from.

 

So what do we have in O’Brien? As mentioned above, we have someone who can skate. He demonstrates both good acceleration and speed and uses it to create space and scoring chances. He can finish as demonstrated by his 43 goals. He also has really good hands. Whether he’s unleashing a shot or making a subtle extra move to create a shooting lane, he can do that at top speed and create havoc for opponents.

The obvious question that comes up with O’Brien is the level of competition he played against. We got a small glimpse of that at both the prospect’s game and when he played for the USDP. He played a game against Michigan State where although he didn’t score, he made some noticeable plays. He didn’t look out of place against more experienced competition. The thing I’d like to see is continued improvement on the defensive end. He has improved there and shown flashes. I just want to see him do it against men. He’ll get his chance to do that as his next stop is Providence to play for the Friars in 2018-19.

 

O’Brien has the tools to carve out a role in the middle six at the next level. He’s a bit of a longer-term project given that he’s just finishing up high school. With proper development, he could become one of the best early day-two picks.

 

So was this a reach  by Hexy???

[intheslot]

this was a SCOUTS pick bit of a reach but could payoff down the road,..

 

[ruxpin]

I like it. Off the radar for me, but I like it. 

[BobbyClarkeFan16]

Hate it. Absolutely hate it. This was a reach and they could have easily traded down for him. I'm so upset by this pick. 

[flyers4040]

2020/21 season. POSSIBLE LINE-UP :   konecny,  coots,  giroux (this will be the last year of current contract)

 

                                                                      frost,  patrick,  voracek

 

                                                                      farabee,  o'brien,  simmons (if re-signed)

 

                                                                      ratcliffe,  vorobyov,  lindblom

                                            

                  others in pipeline : rubtsov,  strome, fazleev, vecchione, laberge, twarynski, martel, aube-kubel, bunnaman, laczynski, allison

[sekkes85]

Don't mind the player but the position taken seems odd (have been a lot of reached this draft).  Really wish we traded back 6-7 spots and got him.

[ruxpin]

12 minutes ago, flyers4040 said:

2020/21 season. POSSIBLE LINE-UP :   konecny,  coots,  giroux (this will be the last year of current contract)

 

                                                                      frost,  patrick,  voracek

 

                                                                      farabee,  o'brien,  simmons (if re-signed)

 

                                                                      ratcliffe,  vorobyov,  lindblom

                                            

                  others in pipeline : rubtsov,  strome, fazleev, vecchione, laberge, twarynski, martel, aube-kubel, bunnaman, laczynski, allison

I wouldn't be shocked if it's Frost at center and Patrick at LW. Does Lindblom also play RW? 

[ruxpin]

10 minutes ago, sekkes85 said:

Don't mind the player but the position taken seems odd (have been a lot of reached this draft).  Really wish we traded back 6-7 spots and got him.

Yeah, lots of reaching. With all the teams reaching, I wonder if that made trading back difficult

[OccamsRazor]

Well many didn't like the Frost pick but it is looking like a helluva a pick now.

 

Maybe will see how it looks in a couple years.

[jammer2]

 You just never know with these high school kids. It's easy to confirm rumors that such and such a team followed Jay around for half the year....or your own scouts see the other scouts and confirm. That gives a clue that a certain team may be interested. The scouts, coaches, fans all have a pipeline as to who is showing interest. Bottom line, if Hexy likes this kid, go get him. Don't even take the chance of trading back. We don't have the info they have. I like this pick. Off the radar, but again, SPEED. I want speed to be first and foremost. If you don't have it, don't draft them. Speed, good hands at the HS level.....I trust Hexy and his scouts here. 

[OccamsRazor]

3 minutes ago, jammer2 said:

 You just never know with these high school kids. It's easy to confirm rumors that such and such a team followed Jay around for half the year....or your own scouts see the other scouts and confirm. That gives a clue that a certain team may be interested. The scouts, coaches, fans all have a pipeline as to who is showing interest. Bottom line, if Hexy likes this kid, go get him. Don't even take the chance of trading back. We don't have the info they have. I like this pick. Off the radar, but again, SPEED. I want speed to be first and foremost. If you don't have it, don't draft them. Speed, good hands at the HS level.....I trust Hexy and his scouts here. 

 

I agree hard to judge high schoolers.

 

For comparison Casey Middelstadt put up 64 points in 25 games his last year.

 

O'Brien put up 80 in 30 games.

 

 

So he sounds like he has a nose for the net.

 

Now time to see what they turn into when the level of competition goes up.

[jammer2]

6 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

I agree hard to judge high schoolers.

 

For comparison Casey Middelstadt put up 64 points in 25 games his last year.

 

O'Brien put up 80 in 30 games.

 

 

So he sounds like he has a nose for the net.

 

Now time to see what they turn into when the level of competition goes up.

 

 For me, it's not really the point totals. For sure, a HS prospect should be scoring at 1.5 pts per game....but really, it's the speed (projected speed, he IS playing against slower, underdeveloped kids), the nose for the net, compete level, smarts, work ethic. I like the idea he already has a nice quick release. You can add velocity, but a quick release is hard to improve a lot on.....either you are born with it or not usually. Right around the spot this kid was picked, you had Veleno, NO.....Noel.....NO.... McLeod....NO a bunch of forwards that did not really stand out. I trust Hexy, and if a kid is gonna get a tad overlooked, it's a HS kid. 

 

 EDIT.....maybe not overlooked, as OR said, he WAS the HS player of the year...but underrated, yeah....because it's so hard to gauge his actual skill set against inferior competition like a HS league. 

[OccamsRazor]

7 minutes ago, jammer2 said:

 

 For me, it's not really the point totals. For sure, a HS prospect should be scoring at 1.5 pts per game....but really, it's the speed (projected speed, he IS playing against slower, underdeveloped kids), the nose for the net, compete level, smarts, work ethic. I like the idea he already has a nice quick release. You can add velocity, but a quick release is hard to improve a lot on.....either you are born with it or not usually. Right around the spot this kid was picked, you had Veleno, NO.....Noel.....NO.... McLeod....NO a bunch of forwards that did not really stand out. I trust Hexy, and if a kid is gonna get a tad overlooked, it's a HS kid. 

 

Yeah it sure of the level of kids he played against don't know much about high school hockey.

 

I think he won top high school player in north America if I remember seeing. 

 

So he is dominating which is what you want.

 

So we'll see if he can continue that against 19, 20, 21 and 22 year olds.

 

It might not be out the gate he will have to get bigger and stronger so he could play on the lower lines till he gets there. Typical college growing pains.

 

The seed is planted now let's watch it grow.

[jammer2]

Just like Farabee, Hexy thought Jay had the most upside at this draft slot. I don't have any reason to not trust him. 

[flyercanuck]

Both players have great motors, skill, high IQ, work ethic...I'm fine with both picks. Maybe a reach for OB but the kid looks like a real gamer to me.

 

I watched some shift by shift vid of him a couple weeks ago and thought it'd be great if we could steal him in the 2nd...but as a player I'm happy we got him.

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

9 hours ago, BobbyClarkeFan16 said:

Hate it. Absolutely hate it. This was a reach and they could have easily traded down for him. I'm so upset by this pick. 

 

I don't know if I would say I hate the pick but I definitely agree with the rest of your post.  It got a little quiet in the arena when Prior announced his name.   I think there was only one stretch pick that went further than this one in the first round.

[hf101]

I think they had O'Brien higher than other expected picks, just like Morgan Frost, they thought he wouldn't last until #50.   I think also they have several 2nd round d-men who they think would be there at #50 that they like better than the d-men ranked to go first round.

 

They also have time to develop their draft picks now without pushing them into the NHL too soon.  O'Brien can easily spend his next 4 years at Providence. 

[BobbyClarkeFan16]

6 hours ago, jammer2 said:

 

 For me, it's not really the point totals. For sure, a HS prospect should be scoring at 1.5 pts per game....but really, it's the speed (projected speed, he IS playing against slower, underdeveloped kids), the nose for the net, compete level, smarts, work ethic. I like the idea he already has a nice quick release. You can add velocity, but a quick release is hard to improve a lot on.....either you are born with it or not usually. Right around the spot this kid was picked, you had Veleno, NO.....Noel.....NO.... McLeod....NO a bunch of forwards that did not really stand out. I trust Hexy, and if a kid is gonna get a tad overlooked, it's a HS kid.  

 

And it's these reasons why I'm not happy about this pick. He played against lesser competition. He's also a late 1999 born player. He should be miles ahead of everyone because he's almost a year older than the guys he's playing against and it's lesser competition. He had a chance to play in either the USHL or USNTDP and instead, and let's be honest here, he took the easy route. I hate picks like this. The only thing he's got going for him right now is that he's in excellent shape. Let's see how he fares against much better competition. 

 

The good news though is that there's still a lot of first round talent available in round 2. Hopefully they hit the jackpot there on someone. 

[jammer2]

1 minute ago, BobbyClarkeFan16 said:

 

And it's these reasons why I'm not happy about this pick. He played against lesser competition. He's also a late 1999 born player. He should be miles ahead of everyone because he's almost a year older than the guys he's playing against and it's lesser competition. He had a chance to play in either the USHL or USNTDP and instead, and let's be honest here, he took the easy route. I hate picks like this. The only thing he's got going for him right now is that he's in excellent shape. Let's see how he fares against much better competition. 

 

The good news though is that there's still a lot of first round talent available in round 2. Hopefully they hit the jackpot there on someone. 

 

 Some valid points in there, can't argue with much of that. Like you said, it does at least "appear" like he took the easy way out, but who knows what a kid has going on.....we shall see when he hits Prov. 

[Poconono]

10 hours ago, sekkes85 said:

Don't mind the player but the position taken seems odd (have been a lot of reached this draft).  Really wish we traded back 6-7 spots and got him.

I hear you but Bob McKenzie was saying that this selection really pissed off the Rangers.  He was at least on their radar a few picks later.  When Homer was shown on the phone just before the pick was made I was hoping Calgary had called and wanted to offer Dougie Hamilton for that 19th selection.  They were supposedly quite desperate to get a first rounder according to the media.

[AJgoal]

 

 

[hf101]

I'll watch more of that game of the 2018 National Championships later,  but hey that choice was made by the Flyers brass watching right here in West Chester, PA.

[flyer4ever]

These picks are like educated guesses, you hope they develop.Obviously  you have to be fast to play in the NHL, but you can't be one dimensional as a team. The playoffs that just ended were won by a team that played heavy hockey. The physical play wore down Tampa and Vegas. Would like to see both these picks play in the OHL next season but thats not going to happen. Cross your fingers on these picks.

[ruxpin]

We have other players coming that will take care of the physical. I'm not concerned with one dimensional. Definitely agree with the statement about educated guess and what it implies. Time will tell. 

[hf101]

Jay O'Brien reminds me of Claude Giroux.