Prospect Info: 2016 Ranking #9

[cgf]

Around here in the rankings is when I resent the Boedker trade yet again

Add Siemens or Butcher

If we still had Wood, he'd have been picked a while ago.

 

[UncleRisto]

If we still had Wood, he'd have been picked a while ago.

Well not a very long while.

 

[Nzap]

Well not a very long while.

And I'd say he should be behind Martin if he was here.

 

[tigervixxxen]

And I'd say he should be behind Martin if he was here.

I think he would have been voted in after Greer.

 

[ABasin]

If we still had Wood, he'd have been picked a while ago.

None of the assets traded at last year's deadline had any value, my friend.

 

[Nzap]

I think he would have been voted in after Greer.

I agree he would have been higher. I'd have him ahead of Morrison around ninth myself, but my "scouting" is based on youtube clips and other people's opinions so

 

[Tommy Shelby]

Wood is starting to become the new Williams/Cohen/Gaunce around here I see.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Wood is starting to become the new Williams/Cohen/Gaunce around here I see.

It's te Parayko fear. Wood needs a lot of things to go right to turn into a quality NHL'er. If all those things go right he will be a beast though.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Wood was one of our best defensive prospects, there's no delusion in that. What that ultimately means is probably nothing, just like most of these guys on the poll now because it's the Avs.

 

[landy92mack29]

It's te Parayko fear. Wood needs a lot of things to go right to turn into a quality NHL'er. If all those things go right he will be a beast though.

No he doesn't. All he needs to keep improving is his skating and he'll be a top 4 d-man. Even if his skating doesn't improve much he'll be a bottom pairing guy who plays big special teams minutes.

 

[cgf]

No he doesn't. All he needs to keep improving is his skating and he'll be a top 4 d-man. Even if his skating doesn't improve much he'll be a bottom pairing guy who plays big special teams minutes.

He needs to improve his skating, a few more years of polish; and to start playing his size more, but if his development continues as it has, he should be a good one.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

No he doesn't. All he needs to keep improving is his skating and he'll be a top 4 d-man. Even if his skating doesn't improve much he'll be a bottom pairing guy who plays big special teams minutes.

His skating is very weak though. It's not like John Tavares who needed to just get faster. He needs to improve foot speed, overall speed, balance and edge work. He isn't exactly a great defensive player either and can learn to move the puck better. He's a monster with a huge shot but the other areas of his game are quite raw. He took a huge step forward in his skating last year but it's still not AHL level.

 

[landy92mack29]

His skating is very weak though. It's not like John Tavares who needed to just get faster. He needs to improve foot speed, overall speed, balance and edge work. He isn't exactly a great defensive player either and can learn to move the puck better. He's a monster with a huge shot but the other areas of his game are quite raw. He took a huge step forward in his skating last year but it's still not AHL level.

He's a very good defensive player who had to cover for Dineen's adventures all year. He's great at moving the puck as well. Only knocks on him are he isn't as physical as someone his size should be and his skating which has taken big steps forward each year and is AHL level now. He definitely needs to keep improving but it's improved from very weak to weak as of now. 2 years in the A and he'll be ready for NHL minutes.

 

[Tweaky]

Wood would have been a toss up with Beaudin for me, fighting for 8-9, after Martin. And that is only because of the cheer-leading he has benefited from since he got traded. Without the trade, I would not have looked as closely at him, and would not have bumped him up my list. And I think the same is true for many here. Fair chance he would be fallen below shiny new toy Morrison as well. And he should probably be behind Grimaldi as well, but we as a group tend to stick to the preference order of new toy then old toy and last recycled toy...and I don't have enough viewings of Rocco to really push that opinion, yet.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I very much disagree with that. He would have been signed, ready to play pro hockey next year and that gets a pretty significant upgrade in people's minds. We would have been talking about how his season ended and he was over PPG in the playoffs, not had the months of folks convincing each other that the Avs never saw value in him.

Last year the rank in that range went

Compher
Geertsen
Siemens
Wood
Greer
Mironov
Rendulic
Martin

Geertsen and Siemens would have fallen under Wood, Greer likely over, so about 7th.

 

[Tweaky]

I very much disagree with that. He would have been signed, ready to play pro hockey next year and that gets a pretty significant upgrade in people's minds. We would have been talking about how his season ended and he was over PPG in the playoffs, not had the months of folks convincing each other that the Avs never saw value in him.

I have seen very little here of anyone trying to pretend that the Avs saw little value in him. At most, some folks have stated that the FO had him valued lower then we did, and lower than we assumed they did. The majority of the posts have been the ones railing against the trade, touting how big a mistake it was (not arguing that one anymore, after not resigning Boedker, it is a hands down failure, no question). The only time anyone has posted anything negative about him has been in response to those that seemed to think he is the second coming of Rob Blake. Those folks are the ones that immediately respond to any post that might be construed as having a less than lofty opinion of him. Personally, I feel his performance this past year was much to be expected, not any giant leap in development. He was a huge guy playing his draft+2 year against kids, though his playoff performance was impressive. No doubt that we should have hung on to him, but the focus of the trade has alerted many of us to what a mistake that was. And we emphasize that by raising his perceived value after the fact.

Wood was 9th last year. Seimens has fallen behind, Bleackley is gone, Pickard graduated, and he would have passed Geertsen most likely. So up to 5. But we added Jost ahead of him, and probably Morrsion. Plus Greer and maybe Beaudin passing him due to Memorial Cup run. So 8/9 like I said. And that is not including Martin, who I feel should be ahead of a few of those guys anyhow.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I recall quite a few posts about how the Avs didn't really give up anything of value and believed they weren't going to sign him anyway.

I general, I don't see how a player no longer here would be held in higher regard than someone who is. The whole foundation of prospect projection is hope, and that generally requires a personal stake. The player would be talked about and people would be posting updates. I think that's a bigger influence than folks just remembering a player fondly. I doubt many randomly Google a player we no longer have and their stats. While more people may regret the trade now, there's no pitch forking going on or people trying to overstate what was given up. And like I said, I think when a prospect signs that changes quite a bit of the perception on them. If Butcher had signed this summer I think he would have gone like 8 spots higher than he will go. So if Wood was still here and signed I have a hard time seeing he's held in a higher regard as departed and people looking at hindsight of a trade most agreed with at the time.

 

[McMetal]

I feel like people want to hate the Boedker trade, and that's why Wood gets overrated. It's become a symbol for the wasted season and people are trying to make the trade look worse than it was to justify their anger.

I'm in the middle of the "He'll be a top 4 defenseman" and "He was a meaningless asset". He could have been a bottom pair guy for us, but I can see why the logjam at defense made them decide he was expendable.

 

[tigervixxxen]

It's all down to our individual perceptions so there's really no use to debate it further. But I just really disagree with that. I don't think anyone wants to hate that trade, if anything many people still want to justify it. I dont think anyone is angry about it except for the people that didn't like it from day 1. I haven't been able to speak freely about the trade since it happened, there's still so much backlash on complaining about it. And the people who like Wood the most haven't changed their opinion on him.

 

[landy92mack29]

I feel like people want to hate the Boedker trade, and that's why Wood gets overrated. It's become a symbol for the wasted season and people are trying to make the trade look worse than it was to justify their anger.

I'm in the middle of the "He'll be a top 4 defenseman" and "He was a meaningless asset". He could have been a bottom pair guy for us, but I can see why the logjam at defense made them decide he was expendable.

Wood is massively underrated by everyone except about 3 people. It's no coincidence that the few people who actually follow prospects closely were the ones who disliked the trade from day 1 while the masses loved it and tried to dismiss Wood+Bleackley as meh prospects as soon as it happened. The only thing that's changed since the trade is some people have realized how stupid of a trade it was.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

Wood was never one of our 'best defensive prospects' lol and if he was, that's only a testament to how absolutely pitiful our prospect pool was back then. He was a long shot then and he still is now. He's not even a B level prospect xD I also think it's funny how the moment he gets traded, he's suddenly this gem that is destined to make us look foolish and turn into a top pairing D, previously everyone was very realistic about his potential.

 

[henchman21]

Wood is massively underrated by everyone except about 3 people. It's no coincidence that the few people who actually follow prospects closely were the ones who disliked the trade from day 1 while the masses loved it and tried to dismiss Wood+Bleackley as meh prospects as soon as it happened. The only thing that's changed since the trade is some people have realized how stupid of a trade it was.

I'm one of the 3 people and I didn't mind the trade. It just didn't work out. If the Avs made the playoffs, I think the deal would be viewed differently. And if the Avs re-signed Boedker. The Avs paid the market price for a rental (essentially it was a high B prospect + 2nd)... the issue is that it just didn't work.

I'm not one who minds rental trades, but if people do, they will hate this trade. That is more where the divide lies.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Wood is massively underrated by everyone except about 3 people. It's no coincidence that the few people who actually follow prospects closely were the ones who disliked the trade from day 1 while the masses loved it and tried to dismiss Wood+Bleackley as meh prospects as soon as it happened. The only thing that's changed since the trade is some people have realized how stupid of a trade it was.

That's not true. I've seen Wood as much, if not more than most here. The last 3 years I've watched a lot of OHL hockey. But because of the amount of junior hockey I've watched I understand how much of a difference simply being big makes. Wood is a good prospect, but he has a lot to work on to succeed at the next level. I hope he does well. He's a fantastic kid and trust me I know this first hand. I've known about the kid since he's about 13 (although I didn't realize it was the same kid until later lol) I'm just not going to use blinders.

 

[cgf]

I'm one of the 3 people and I didn't mind the trade. It just didn't work out. If the Avs made the playoffs, I think the deal would be viewed differently. And if the Avs re-signed Boedker. The Avs paid the market price for a rental (essentially it was a high B prospect + 2nd)... the issue is that it just didn't work.

I'm not one who minds rental trades, but if people do, they will hate this trade. That is more where the divide lies.

I can say for sure that I would have viewed the trade differently if Boedker had been re-signed. I'd have hated it even more

Though I get why they felt the need to roll the dice at the time; I just hate that we had to give up Wood as part of it. Obviously you trade the bigger gamble instead of the surer thing and so move Wood instead of Meloche, but I really can't believe that there wasn't a move to be made that wouldn't have cost us one of the two top 4 RHD prospects we had in the system.

Wood was never one of our 'best defensive prospects' lol and if he was, that's only a testament to how absolutely pitiful our prospect pool was back then. He was a long shot then and he still is now. He's not even a B level prospect xD I also think it's funny how the moment he gets traded, he's suddenly this gem that is destined to make us look foolish and turn into a top pairing D, previously everyone was very realistic about his potential.

I get that Wood was a long term project meowth, but that doesn't mean you should just dismiss the talent he did have, or the progress he had already made since being drafted. He was a highly valued project who had been making all of the steps you could've asked him to...other than developing a mean streak...it was fair for people to feel about him the way many feel about AJ Greer now. A kid who wasn't gunna have a quick impact, but is making a lot of progress towards making the impact he has the talent to.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I can say for sure that I would have viewed the trade differently if Boedker had been re-signed. I'd have hated it even more

Though I get why they felt the need to roll the dice at the time; I just hate that we had to give up Wood as part of it. Obviously you trade the bigger gamble instead of the surer thing and so move Wood instead of Meloche, but I really can't believe that there wasn't a move to be made that wouldn't have cost us one of the two top 4 RHD prospects we had in the system.



I get that Wood was a long term project meowth, but that doesn't mean you should just dismiss the talent he did have, or the progress he had already made since being drafted. He was a highly valued project who had been making all of the steps you could've asked him to...other than developing a mean streak...it was fair for people to feel about him the way many feel about AJ Greer now. A kid who wasn't gunna have a quick impact, but is making a lot of progress towards making the impact he has the talent to.

The bolded is the big kicker for me with watching Wood develop with another team now. As I said many times he has a lot he needs to work on/go right. I know some of you think I'm wrong in saying that but I completely stand by it. In saying that he has adapted his game very very much over the last year and a half into what I would have hoped. If he continues the path he's taken recently he will get to where he needs to be. Development usually doesn't flow that easily though.