joe sacco said:
any information on these players would be appreciated. strengths, weaknesses, potential, projected draft position. these are the top 10 whl skaters according to the central scouting bureau's preliminary rankings.
01. peter mueller, c, everett
02. ty wishart, d, prince george
03. ryan white, c, calgary
04. brady calla, rw, everett
05. codey burki, c, brandon
06. ben maxwell, c, kootenay
07. tysen dowzak, d, kelowna
08. riley holzapfel, c, moose jaw
09. michael grabner, rw, spokane
10. bud holloway, c, seattle
goaltenders
01. leland irving, everett
02. kevin armstrong, saskatoon
03. kris lazaruk, kootenay
Meuller has been talked about a lot and will be a top-10 pick. Big, skilled, strong on the puck, passes and finishes equally well.
Wishart is a big, strong defensive defender. Moves pretty well, positionally very sound in his own zone. Good outlet pass for a player of his ilk. Not much upside; probably projects as a solid #4-5 defender in the NHL. Rathje/Malik type player - not nasty but finishes his checks. Safe pick who'll probably go somewhere between 25-45.
White has intangibles coming out of his ears, but the big question is how much he'll score in pro. Excellent work ethic, defensive play, grit. Good skater, hard to knock off the puck. Drives the net well, but doesn't have a great deal of creativity. Upside is probably a Langenbrunner-type guy ... 45-50 point gritty 2nd line player. But there's a pretty good chance he won't be more than a checker. My guess is that he'll go somewhere between 20-30. Another very safe pick.
Maxwell is a nice talent and has great hands around the net and excellent hockey sense. Smallish and not strong on the puck, however, and is a good but not great skater. Has a nice skill level and upside, but also reminds me a lot of players like Duncan Milroy. Probably a 2nd round pick. Either a top-6 guy or bust.
Calla is a speedy sniper who's had a very disappointing season in Everett thus far. 6 goals in 40 games. Very good skater, nice shot ... but something isn't working for him right now. He's looked pretty good the couple times I've seen him so I'm not really sure what's holding him back ... might play on the perimeter a bit much. His stock is probably falling to 3rd/4th round. Needs to have a big 2nd half of the season.
Dowzak is a pilon ... I can't believe people had this guy in the first round to start the season. Pretty much a 3rd pairing guy in Kelowna, 2 points so far. Big and strong, but very limited skill level. Probably a 5th-6th rounder at this point IMO.
Grabner is a smallish 87-born Austrian with nice hands. I have no idea why he's rated so high ... probably a late-round pick, wouldn't be surprising if he wasn't drafted. 18 points in 40 games so far ... not very impressive for a guy who only missed being eligible for 05 by a couple weeks.
Holzapfel is a smallish skill guy ... I haven't seen much of him at all.
Burki is one of those guys who is good at everything, but doesn't seem to excel at anything. Good size, good two-way forward at the WHL level, but I don't see anything special there to give him a great deal of upside, plus he's an 87-born guy. Probably a mid-round pick.
Holloway is a nice skater with decent size, but lacks grit and hasn't really shown much production. Has the tools to do more offensively than he's shown to this point, and will probably be a 3rd-5th round pick based on that.
...
This is the worst WHL draft class I've ever seen. There are 4 position players worth mentioning as guys who will go in the top 2 rounds, and after that it just goes straight in the toilet. No depth at all.
