Hextall is drafting for Hakstol. Hakstol doesn't like "figure skaters," forwards who can skate and shoot but shy away from corners, don't forecheck and aren't responsible defensively. Hakstol's system cycles players in and out of the offensive zone, using one defenseman as a "4th forward," so the ability to forecheck and control the puck in the offensive zone, feeding it back to the defenseman for shots, and getting to the net to create traffic, is key to this system.
So he drafts a Russian who isn't a sniper like the two guys he passed up (Bellows and Gauither), but is faster, and a better two way prospect. He then adds another two way center with offensive skills (Labarge), the top goalie prospect in the draft (Hart), and a power forward who is a scorer (Allison). They already have Konecny, Lindblom (1st line SHL at age 19) and Aube-Kubel in the pipeline, this fills out the forward group.
Twarynski (3rd rd) and Bunnaman (4th rd) are similar to Vorobyov and Dove-McFalls last year, 3rd/4th line guys who can play two way games but have enough skills to be more productive than players like Vandervelde and White.
After that Laczynski and Salinitri are "sleeper" forwards, like Marody and Kase last year, guys who have scoring skills and can skate but are undersized. Hogberg and Bernhardt are mobile, offensive minded Swedish defensemen who are projects, but fit the mold of attacking defensemen that Hakstol likes.
They didn't hit home runs like last year (Provorov, Konecky, and Myers), but that was a once every two decades draft. Hextall did add a solid group of players who fit the system his coach has installed, and who can provide a solid group of 3rd/4th line prospects and hopefully a couple guys who can push to play on the top two lines.
