Prospect Info: 2019 Capitals Top Prospect #10

[tenken00]

2019 Capitals Prospects Rankings:

1) Ilya Samsonov G (40 votes 64.5%) Prospect Info: - 2019 Capitals Top Prospect #1
6' 3" | 200 lb | Age: 22 | 2015 WSH, 1st rd, 22nd pk (22nd overall)

2) Alex Alexeyev LD (42 votes 91.3%) Prospect Info: - 2019 Capitals Top Prospect #2
6' 4" | 196 lb | Age: 19 | 2018 WSH, 1st rd, 31st pk (31st overall)

3) Connor McMichael C (29 votes 48.3%) Prospect Info: - 2019 Capitals Top Prospect #3
5' 11" | 174 lb | Age: 18 | 2019 WSH, 1st rd, 25th pk (25th overall)

4) Martin Fehervary LD (45 votes 91.8%) Prospect Info: - 2019 Capitals Top Prospect #4
6' 2" | 194 lb | Age: 19 | 2018 WSH, 2nd rd, 15th pk (46th overall)

5) Brett Leason RW (27 votes 55.1%) Prospect Info: - 2019 Capitals Top Prospect #5
6' 4" | 200 lb | Age: 20 | 2019 WSH, 2nd rd, 25th pk (56th overall)

6) Lucas Johansen LD (21 votes 43.8%) Prospect Info: - 2019 Capitals Top Prospect #6
6' 2" | 182 lb | Age: 21 | 2016 WSH, 1st rd, 28th pk (28th overall)

7) Vitek Vanecek G (25 votes 65.8%) Prospect Info: - 2019 Capitals Top Prospect #7
6' 1" | 187 lb | Age: 23 | 2014 WSH, 2nd rd, 9th pk (39th overall)

8) Axel Jonsson-Fjallby LW (14 votes 31.1%) Prospect Info: - 2019 Capitals Top Prospect #8
6' 0" | 170 lb | Age: 21 | 2016 WSH, 5th rd, 26th pk (147th overall)

9) Joe Snively C (11 votes 22.9%) Prospect Info: - 2019 Capitals Top Prospect #9
5' 9" | 170 lb | Age: 23 | 2019 WSH, signed (undrafted)


With the 2019 draft and development camp done and finished, what do you think the Caps prospect rankings should be this year? Part of an ongoing series.

Admittedly, I'm not familiar with a lot of them, so it'll be interesting to read what you guys think.

I took this initial list from another site, so feel free to request an add of another prospect!

The requirement is U25, and less than 25 NHL games played.


Note: I'll start the next prospect ranking thread the next day if the polling isn't close. If two or more prospects are within 10 votes of each other, I'll leave that thread out for the additional day.

Click to read more...

 

[tenken00]

After a marathon voting session, Joe Snively, native of the Washington DC area, wins 9th!

 

[Hivemind]

Sutter again.

 

[Hivemind]

Not sure why Malentsyn is ahead of Sutter. Sutter can do just about everything Malentsyn can, and likely at a higher level. Beck is older, and thus likely closer to an NHL cup of coffee, but his ceiling is notably lower than Sutter's and career NHL potential is far more questionable.

To use recent Capitals analogies, Beck Malentsyn tops out as a Matt Hendricks while Riley Sutter could be Brooks Laich.

 

[hb12xchamps]

I think Malenstyn’s ceiling is a little higher than Matt Hendricks, a guy who hit 20 points once and that was during the twilight of the Bruce years.

I also think 95% of this board has yet to see Sutter play, myself included, and see what he has to offer so that also doesn’t help.

This ranking could be complete different in the next 3-6 months anyway so

 

[Langway]

Sutter is kind of a hard guy to read after all of the time he missed last season. He didn't clearly progress statistically so it's hard to buy into him as clearly on the ascent. You would think he's capable of stepping in and producing more offense than Malenstyn as a rookie but we'll see. We'll see what sort of role he's able to carve out. It may only be a fourth-line role initially, in which case his numbers will likely take a hit. I think he's got good sense and is a solid two-way guy provided his skating continues to improve but I'm not sure he's better than Pilon, for instance. After Malenstyn I'd likely go Protas then Pilon then Sutter. I don't know that Sutter has clearly shown the offense or explosiveness generally to distinguish himself from the pack.

I'm guessing most believe Malenstyn's grit and PK will carry him into a solid fourth-line tenergy ype niche and maybe even an Andrew Copp type game best-case. But it's mainly those two tools that distinguish him in some way.

 

[Ridley Simon]

In Beck we trust, to round out the top 10. I thought about Sugar Shane, but he’s next, IMO.

Then we get the Sutter’s and Protas’ of the world.

 

[Hivemind]

Sutter is kind of a hard guy to read after all of the time he missed last season. He didn't clearly progress statistically so it's hard to buy into him as clearly on the ascent. You would think he's capable of stepping in and producing more offense than Malenstyn as a rookie but we'll see. We'll see what sort of role he's able to carve out. It may only be a fourth-line role initially, in which case his numbers will likely take a hit. I think he's got good sense and is a solid two-way guy provided his skating continues to improve but I'm not sure he's better than Pilon, for instance. After Malenstyn I'd likely go Protas then Pilon then Sutter. I don't know that Sutter has clearly shown the offense or explosiveness generally to distinguish himself from the pack.

I'm guessing most believe Malenstyn's grit and PK will carry him into a solid fourth-line tenergy ype niche and maybe even an Andrew Copp type game best-case. But it's mainly those two tools that distinguish him in some way.

In the time Sutter did play, he went from being a ~0.78 point/game player to a better than point per game player in the WHL. The injury definitely derailed his season a fair bit, but aside of that he did pretty much everything you want to see from a mid-round pick in their draft+1 season.

I can buy some concerns with Sutter missing so much time, and I can see arguments for taking guys like Snively, Gersich, AJF, or maybe even Pilon over Sutter since they play fundamentally different styles of hockey. But as you mentioned, Malenstyn's standout tools are his grit and penalty killing. Riley Sutter is, well, a Sutter. And he plays like a Sutter. Grit, hustle, heart, energy, penalty killing, and defensive responsibility are part of his bloodline and his personal playing style. He does the same things Malenstyn does, he has the same size Malenstyn has, and both player are similar skaters. I just don't see any upside in Malenstyn over what Sutter brings, and definitely see some qualities in Sutter that Malenstyn doesn't have in terms of offensive potential as a complimentary forward in a middle six role. No guarantee that Sutter achieves that, but there's no guarantee with any prospect.

 

[Langway]

Being a Sutter doesn't make him an equal physical presence and PKer, though. He's decent in those areas and certainly has the better offensive numbers in the WHL but I don't think it's a matter of Sutter possessing everything Malenstyn has and then another layer of offense. If that were the case he should be above AJF but he's not as much of an energy player from what I've seen. He's more subtle and positional. It's fair to wonder just how far Malenstyn's strengths will take him but I don't view Sutter as a comparably safer bet to be an NHLer just yet. A strong rookie season would be persuasive but there have been some doubts about Sutter's first couple steps, for instance. He's still a better bet to become a third-liner than Malenstyn given some of his tools so I get the logic but we'll see how that translates at the AHL level. He's going to need to make some adjustments like everyone else.