Prospect Info: 2012 16th Overall - Tom Wilson, Right Wing

[exwhaler]

Lol, yeah I know right? Now that you mention it he's coming in with injury concerns so I guess we can throw durable Eric Fehr out the window.

Wilson's injuries this past season were a strained MCL and a broken knuckle from a fight, the latter of which was responsible for most of the time he missed. The season before, his one injury was severe--a severed tendon in his wrist. Two of those sound more like flukes to me rather than something indicating a future fragile player.

Eric Fehr had reoccurring shoulder problems in the seasons after he was drafted, which eventually derailed his career. Many draftees this year, incidentally, dealt with injuries, some more serious than Wilson's. When you're drafting teenagers--who are playing a physically demanding game while still growing into their bodies--judging what injuries mean for that player becomes more difficult.

My impression of Wilson is this...he's a safe pick. Based on most of the scouting reports I've read since the pick, most seem to feel that Wilson will be an NHLer at some point; the real question is what kind of player he's going to be. Plus, I get the impression that Wilson is facing a short development track, based on his tools right now. Picking the safe guy over a high-risk, high-ceiling player like Teravainen goes a bit against McPhee's stated philosophy of "swinging for the fences," but I wouldn't be surprised that with Faska and Zemgus off the board, with unexpectedly getting Forsberg at 11, with an utter absence of guys like Wilson in the system, with Wilson's assumed short development time, and with the idea that he'd most likely be getting an actual NHL player, McPhee felt he was a better fit for the Capitals as a prospect than other players left on the board. Drafting for need does occur when you're dealing with an either/or decision among question marks.

Although, I think I probably would have been happier with Maatta. Oh, well.

 

[exwhaler]

Wilson goal, Canada v. Russia. Wilson's the big guy (duh), no. 24, and you can see him stick handle and try a wraparound early before tipping in a teammate's shot.

 

[Chiquito]

This thread is dedicated to talk about Tom Wilson.

This probably won't stick but a possible nickname for him is "Biff" (actor Tom Wilson played Biff in the Back to the Future series).

When I hear the name Biff I think of the character from "Death of a Salesman"
Willy sees him as an underachiever, and Biff spends the play learning to accept his failures.
I would hate to see that nickname sticking to a Hockey player

 

[Liberati0n*]

When I hear the name Biff I think of the character from "Death of a Salesman"
Willy sees him as an underachiever, and Biff spends the play learning to accept his failures.
I would hate to see that nickname sticking to a Hockey player

That's your fault for having the wrong association. Why do you think "hockey" is a proper noun?

 

[Atlas]

I wonder if Mr. Wilson is familiar with a fellow named Rene Bourque?

 

[artilector]

McPhee during last year's draft:

We may not have done that five years ago, but we did it this time because – again – my philosophy’s always been the same: in the first round you've got to swing for the fences. Get a difference-maker, not just a guy that's going to play, but get a difference-maker and we didn't see that in this draft.

Seems contrary to McPhee's draft philosphy to draft the safe guy in the first round.

Hmm, wow. That certainly explains it. Though it doesn't make sense to me -- the 1st round is the only decently reliable source of quality top-6/4 prospects, so why screw around? Screw around in the other rounds, since its a crapshoot anyway.. Even when quality prospects don't quite set the world on fire, they can still be quite useful, as we've just seen with Eakin.

Plus, Teravainen seemed to have quite high potential as well, offensively perhaps even better than Forsberg..

Also, I'd rather take a chance on a guy with good skating/skills rather than good "canadian genes". It's so rare to catch up on skills AFTER one turns pro, it's easier (though not easy) to learn to be more professional for example.

Like somebody said, (paraphrasing), the road to draft infamy is littered with projected power forwards. I have about 0 expectations for this guy.

So looks like pretty bad pick, IMO, though in total Forsberg still makes the draft excellent for the Caps, I think.

 

[Blue Suede Shoes]

Greetings Caps fans, you guys had an awesome draft. Forsberg appears to be an absolute steal outside the top 10 (rated #3 overall by the tsn crew during the draft), I think he's a terrific talent. And Wilson is a physical beast.

This probably won't stick but a possible nickname for him is "Biff" (actor Tom Wilson played Biff in the Back to the Future series).

I was kicking this around, what do you think of Willy Mammoth?

Anyways, congrats, and cheers!

 

[Carlzner]

Yeah... To the guys talking about Teravainen... We have a similar prospect in Kuzya.

Biff adds some variety to our prospect pool, and I like the pick.

 

[ChibiPooky]

Not a big fan of "Willy Mammoth", sorry. I think it'll come about more or less organically. No need to force it.

 

[RandyHolt]

Lets roll with Tom. Nicknames are best used to shorten long names to save you on the endless typing. I think Willy and Biff are dumb and serve no purpose. Why not use his real nickname, if he has one.

Seems contrary to McPhee's draft philosphy

Much of what he says seems contrary to me. It seems I am not alone.

 

[amin723]

I wanted Hertl, but I'll take this guy. As much as Lucic has anger management issues, he's not really THAT bad (temperment-wise, hockey wise he's very good) and I wouldn't mind him on my team, and this guy has better numbers than Lucic did at his age. However I don't know how OHL compares to WHL/BCHL which is where Lucic was playing.

With Hertl going at #17 to the Sharks, it makes me sad. I think he'll be really good.

 

[UpsideHockey]

The Next Ones profile on Wilson: http://thehockeywriters.com/tom-wil...rospect-profile-the-next-great-power-forward/

 

[Cfdsiv]

For those of you who might remember Ryan Walter this fan is hoping Tom Wilson is a near close. Walter was a big punishing center who could play and hold his own, but his skating wasn't great and neither was his shot. Didn't have to be though, and the Caps have never had a played like Walter since. As far as nicknames go his teammates will probably call him Wils or Willy (it's always the name on the back of the sweater).

 

[amjay13]

One of my favorite Caps prospects in quite some time. I think he's a boom or bust guy, a 25 goal NHL power forward or an AHL fighter. Too early to tell.

 

[RandyHolt]

I was a big fan of Ryan Walter and if Wilson became a clone, I will be elated. My enthusiasm is tempered however. Wilson is a bigger body and I suspect his skating may not quite make it to Walter's level - admittedly lets say average. Cheers to hoping I am wrong. I do appreciate the Walter mention, an interesting comparison to ponder for long time caps fans.

 

[BiPolar Caps]

I was a big fan of Ryan Walter and if Wilson became a clone, I will be elated. My enthusiasm is tempered however. Wilson is a bigger body and I suspect his skating may quite make it to Walter's level - admittedly lets say average. Cheers to hoping I am wrong. I do appreciate the Walter mention, an interesting comparison to ponder for long time caps fans.

I was really disheartened when they traded Walter and Rick Green (no relation) to the Canadiens. Couldn't understand the deal at the time as they were two of the stars of the team and I believe Ryan may even had been the Captain at the time of the trade. Walter seemed to be a great teammate and locker room guy. Use to watch the practices at Ft. Dupont (no one or very few came to watch the Caps practices back then and in that neighborhood). Walter coming off the ice would always talk with the people there.

 

[RandyHolt]

Yeah I was bumming too. But Langway coupled with the addition of Stevens, helped me get over the moving out of Walter. It didn't take long at all for Stevens to become my favorite player. I remember his first game, or the first game I went to (can't remember for certain), he tried to get into a fight with Sabre, and ended up with double minors only, even though gloves were dropped. It was the proverbial bear hug nuggie treatment. I missed his first fight official dammit.

 

[stanleycaps18]

Walter was the captain at the time of the trade,a nd I too was bummed. But, seeing the 4 Canadiens don caps jerseys made an almost immediate difference on the ice.

 

[aragorn]

To Washington: Matt Puempel LW
To Ottawa: Tom Wilson RW

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

And why would the Caps do that?

 

[Zoidberg Jesus]

To Washington: Matt Puempel LW
To Ottawa: Tom Wilson RW

If we were looking for another scoring winger (to add to our prospect pool that consists of pretty much nothing but scoring wingers) we would've just drafted Teravainen at 16. This move makes no sense for us.

 

[sunnydaycrash]

If we were looking for another scoring winger (to add to our prospect pool that consists of pretty much nothing but scoring wingers) we would've just drafted Teravainen at 16. This move makes no sense for us.

holy ****......I thought it was an actual trade....phew!

 

[HSHS]

holy ****......I thought it was an actual trade....phew!

I was happy cause I thought gmgm was fired given his comments on his desire to draft Wilson... But no. It's just another post hitting rock bottom confirming my desire to click elsewhere.

 

[Semin]

8 games, 2 goals, 8 assists, 10 points, 24 PIM, +2

 

[SimplySensational]

I may of been wrong.