moosefan
Registered User
cvandenberg said:I didn't put J.P. Paquet or Mike Gauthier on the list because they are having really tough adjustments in their junior leagues. I think they have 3 points in 80 games between them, so no matter waht they did against other 16 year olds, they are not on my first round. Patrick McNeill has not played physical this year and is having a bit of a disappointing season with Saginaw. Defensively he hasn't played well even though he is a defenseman. He is also about 5'10 at the most in real life. I know a guy who played in Strtahroy last year with him. Ryan O'Marra is a pure goal scorer, while Lawrence is more a playmaker. Anyone that tells me that Marc Staal will not be taken in the first 15 picks in the draft next year will eat their words! The name will get him there, but if anyone has seen this guy's size and how he skates, teams can't lay off a guy like that. Also he offensively has outperformed some of the people who are saying are better. To rank Gauthier, Paquet and McNeill ahead of him is pretty risky! Paquet can't even score in the Q! To address the JP Levasseur situation this kid isn't even playing in the Q this year (1 game), so to compare him to Mior or Price would not be fair. If he was that good, they would have called him up. We can't put too much stock in one tourney (the under 17s) remember these guys have played entire season's in their other leagues. And yes, Kessel and Daniel Ryder are both 2006 draft eligible. Steve Downie is going to be good but he has not scored much this season. One name that I forgot to put on to watch out for is RYAN WILSON of St. Mike's (OHL).
Ryder is not 2006, what you have to know about Paquet is that he and Bourdon are both getting brought in slow in the QMJHL, both of them are luckey to see more than 8 min a game play time in most. Levasseur is only back in Midget AAA because he can come in next year where as Rouyn had two decent goalies for this year, just because he is back in AAA means nothing of his ability, the team wants him to get as much playing time as possible rather than ride the pine. Scoring isn't everything, you have to look at playing time, the systems they are put in, Patrick McNeill has alot ot pressuer on him to be the franchise right now, and I have seen him play about 5 games live and other people that I trust have told me that he is having a great year in Saginaw. Gauthier is more of a defensive defensemen who isn't going to rip up score sheets but he goes out and gets the job done and he does it well. You are putting ungodley predictions out for 16 year olds, especially d-men to be very successful in the league right now and that does not happen too often as the yare brought in slow and and trying to learn a new game.