Prospect Info: 2021 Ducks Prospect Rankings #11

[MMC]

It's time for our annual Ducks prospect rankings. Each poll will run for 48 hours except in the case of a clear landslide. I will go to the top 25 and include a final poll where you can pick 5 honorable mentions. Please tell me who you want me to add in the replies. In the eleventh poll, I am voting for Alexander Volkov.

As always the list will define prospects as hockeysfuture does: NHL Prospect Criteria - Hockey's Future.

2021 Ducks Prospect Rankings
1. C - Trevor Zegras (no change)
2. D - Jamie Drysdale (no change)
3. C - Mason McTavish (1st year)
4. G - Lukas Dostal (-1)
5. RW - Jacob Perreault (no change)
6. D - Olen Zellweger (1st year)
7. D - Henry Thrun (no change)
8. C - Benoit-Olivier Groulx (+1)
9. LW - Sasha Pastujov (1st year)
10. D - Jackson LaCombe (+1)

Our notable graduates and departures are:

Max Comtois
Isac Lundestrom
Antoine Morand
Jack Kopacka
Matthew Hill​

Click to read more...

 

[MMC]

I think all of our prospects are on the list now. Can someone verify?

 

[Anaheim4ever]

It was between Moore, Volkov, Galimov and McLaughlin for me and went with Volkov.
because he's already in the NHL and seems to project as at least a 3rd line winger with the potential to be more of a middle six guy who can play on the 2nd line when needed.
Nothing against Tracey but if you pretend you don't know what round he was drafted then he would rank clearly behind Volkov & Moore.

If you do the same with other prospects and pretend you don't know where they were drafted they would seem more like 1st round picks than Tracey.
Like Pastujov for example, he sounds like a late 1st round pick, remember how Perry was drafted and his skating was awful ?

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

It’s an absolute shame how Tracey is voted on. He has regressed and was a terrible pick. If it’s based on talent alone, I went with Galimov.

I don’t know if he will ever come across the pond, but especially how younger guys are given ice time in the KHL, being a 20 point scorer in 3 seasons is exceptionally well

 

[Hockey Duckie]

It was between Moore, Volkov, Galimov and McLaughlin for me and went with Volkov.
because he's already in the NHL and seems to project as at least a 3rd line winger with the potential to be more of a middle six guy who can play on the 2nd line when needed.
Nothing against Tracey but if you pretend you don't know what round he was drafted then he would rank clearly behind Volkov & Moore.

Moore - 19 years old
Tracey - 20 years old
Galimov - 21 years old (will be 22 on Sept 8)
McLaughlin - 21 years old
Volkov - 24 years old​

Moore's got high upside as a RHD, but we really will get to see what we have in him this year as he'll finally be playing in the NCAA. Last year, he played in the USHL and the year before at high school level. I'm excited to see him play at Harvard, maybe playing with Thrun!

Tracey has lead three WHL teams in scoring in the past two seasons. Had a high of 1.36 ppg scoring rate before being traded to a offensively starved, defensive minded team a year and a half ago.

Galimov had a great playoff. His regular season was okay. He's got a KHL contract through the 22/23 season. So we'll be watching from afar and hope he can carry that playoff performance to the regular season next year.

McLaughlin's stock started to take off later in the 2021 season as his play on the ice became more aggressive despite an incremental increase in scoring production. I think the org wants to see it develop more or be consistent, which is why they haven't signed McLaughlin to an ELC as he's entering his fourth year in college.

Volkov's production with the Ducks last year looked very good, but it's such a small sample. Still, he's already a bottom-6 NHLer today. Then again, he's 24 years old going into this season. He's got at least a 3-year head start on the other prospects listed above. Is this Volkov's ceiling? Do the other prospects have a higher ceiling than Volkov?

If you do the same with other prospects and pretend you don't know where they were drafted they would seem more like 1st round picks than Tracey.
Like Pastujov for example, he sounds like a late 1st round pick, remember how Perry was drafted and his skating was awful ?

I like Pasta. I thought we could have had him with our 2nd round pick, but he fell for a reason. The Perry similarity did come up for me too, but maybe Pasta's skating was just that bad to take on the risk of drafting him in the 2nd round. Now knowing his skate training will be supervised by Barb Underhill, Pasta's stock crept up even though he's accomplished nothing in his development yet. We're banking on what he could be, and not what he is today.

Your assessment of Tracey is what he is today and not what he could be tomorrow. You don't know what Tracey can be tomorrow. You make a connection to Perry being a slow skater, but a success story. Yet, you completely neglect that Tracey is a long term project because he's a late bloomer. There are many stories of late bloomers becoming successful at the NHL level too. Because Wild Bill was a late bloomer success story is why some Duck fans wanted to protect Sam Steel in the expansion draft.

Guess I'm a fan of all of our prospects. The more that succeed or improve, then the better our organization becomes because we need help for today and tomorrow. We can trade prospects who increase or met their high potentials, which gives us more trade value.

 

[Gliff]

If Tracey wasnt a 1st rounder noone would be voting for him. He has done nothing since being drafted for people to think it was a good pick. Yes, there are reasons for his drop in production but you can find reasons for every prospect. A trajectory like his generally means bust.

Galimov is producing in a better league and is only a year older. No reason to have Tracey over him at this point.

I have Moore then Galimov.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

If Tracey wasnt a 1st rounder noone would be voting for him. He has done nothing since being drafted for people to think it was a good pick. Yes, there are reasons for his drop in production but you can find reasons for every prospect. A trajectory like his generally means bust.

Galimov is producing in a better league and is only a year older. No reason to have Tracey over him at this point.

I have Moore then Galimov.

Yup.
Then there is this: what elite skill does Tracey have ? Not sure what his strength is either. I don't see a playmaker, sniper, 2way forward, power forward, grinder or dangler there.

Not even sure what player to compare him to, maybe Sekac in that was just a 3rd line skater ?

 

[MMC]

It’s an absolute shame how Tracey is voted on. He has regressed and was a terrible pick. If it’s based on talent alone, I went with Galimov.

I don’t know if he will ever come across the pond, but especially how younger guys are given ice time in the KHL, being a 20 point scorer in 3 seasons is exceptionally well

You don't have to vote for Tracey but why do you feel the need to complain that people are in every poll?

 

[GunnarStahl]

I have Moore due to upside then I am tempted to put Tschigerl, I honestly really like Hinds too I think, part of me just doesn’t know what to make of Tracey necessarily and it feels weird to me to rank Mahura and Volkov as prospects

 

[Boo Boo]

Does anyone have any thoughts on limoges? Could he ever play in the nhl? He’s older but was impressive in his ahl stint.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

You don't have to vote for Tracey but why do you feel the need to complain that people are in every poll?

Voting should be where posters are only allowed to vote if they voice *why* they think their prospect should be rated.

otherwise it’s just people voting just for votings sake

 

[Hockey Duckie]

If Tracey wasnt a 1st rounder noone would be voting for him. He has done nothing since being drafted for people to think it was a good pick. Yes, there are reasons for his drop in production but you can find reasons for every prospect. A trajectory like his generally means bust.

Galimov is producing in a better league and is only a year older. No reason to have Tracey over him at this point.

Galimov will be 22 years old at the start of the KHL season as his birth date is Sept 8th, starting his D+5 season. Tracey will be 20 years old at the start of this AHL season and will 20 years old at the end of the AHL regular season because his birth date is May 28th, starting his D+3 season. This means Galimov played as a 20 and 21 year old at the KHL level for the past two seasons. He did get one game in as a 19-year old. As a 19-year old, he played 5 games at the MHL and 40 games at the VHL. What Galimov has done at the KHL level at age 20 is probably why the Ducks took a flyer on him in the fifth round of the 2020 NHL draft. We drafted Galimov as a 20-year old prospect in his D+3 season (Zellweger has a Sept 10th and was drafted as a 17-year old in this year's draft is my reference for D+0 season). Galimov would be considered a late bloomer. It would be awesome to see Galimov continue his progress in the KHL for the next couple of seasons and then bring him over!

I can see how Galimov can be rated over Tracey, but they're also at two different phases in their hockey careers.

Might be a bit pre-mature to write off Tracey since his trajectory has been to consistently carry his WHL teams' offense since he was drafted despite major overhauls. When Tracey was drafted, probably all of us were worried if his D+0 production was highly inflated by his overager linemates. Welp, he's proven he can produce on his own as he's lead three teams in scoring for his D+1 and D+2 years in the WHL. His 12-game stint in the AHL last year flatlined in production, but he was only 19-years old as well. Apparently, he wasn't ready to produce in the AHL as a 19-year old as he looked overwhelmed. Then again, Tracey was held back from playing a full season in the WHL until he was 17 years old. All he did in his rookie (D+0) season was win rookie of the year, most goals by a rookie award, most assists by a rookie award, and most points by a rookie award. Let's give Tracey a couple more years until we can project he's a bust since he's a late bloomer too like Galimov.

 

[91Fedorov]

Voting should be where posters are only allowed to vote if they voice *why* they think their prospect should be rated.

otherwise it’s just people voting just for votings sake

That's how voting works though. Most votes don't ask you to argue your opinion first. There is also no criteria for this poll. It's not their ceiling, floor, age or foosball skills. It's a poll on how the people on this board feel about our prospects. It's working as intended.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Voting should be where posters are only allowed to vote if they voice *why* they think their prospect should be rated.

otherwise it’s just people voting just for votings sake

Nah. You can see who voted and that's their voice who should be ranked. You can also track their record for each poll to get a sense of what their thoughts are per thread poll. There's a possibility that some posters have been selecting Tracey for the past couple of polls. Plus, I'd like to think they want to save the space for me to fill up.

Anyhow, you can throw out props for why you like Galimov here and try to sway people that way instead of shaming why people are voting for Tracey. Tracey is already out of the top-10, but you don't trust their votes? I thought Tracey dropping out of the top-10 was profound enough. Heck, I didn't vote for Tracey in the top-10 and I'm one of his biggest fans!

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Yup.
Then there is this: what elite skill does Tracey have ? Not sure what his strength is either. I don't see a playmaker, sniper, 2way forward, power forward, grinder or dangler there.

Not even sure what player to compare him to, maybe Sekac in that was just a 3rd line skater ?

Considering Tracey's being polled as the 11th best prospect kinda reveals he doesn't possess elite skills. His strength is being offensively productive by being a two-way scorer (goal scoring and playmaking) at the WHL level. He's more of a perimeter player b/c he still needs to add more meat to his bones, but his hockey IQ is very high (has to be to be productive offensively). This past year, he was very effective on the PP (6g + 6a) and that could very well be a place where he can shine for the Ducks in the far future. The fact he's led three WHL teams in scoring in two seasons identifies him as a play driver. He projects as a top-6 forward, or at least that's how I think the org sees him still.

Unfortunately, he was thrust into the AHL level because the WHL was shut down. He just wasn't ready for it as a 19-year old. For physical reference, 18-year old Perreault was 5'11 and 192 pounds when drafted. Tracey was 6'0 and 176 pounds when drafted two seasons ago. Perreault is far more advanced physically and skates faster than Drysdale (skating forward; hint: elite skating). Tracey is still playing catch-up physically and I don't think he can ever reach Perreault's skating level. One thing going for Tracey over Perreault is Tracey isn't afraid to attack/shoot the puck in his AHL stint, but Perreault was timid about shooting the puck in the AHL. Here's a link on AHL player breakdowns: player reviews from Defend the Nest.

Tracey's 12-game AHL stint was just that, a 12-game AHL stint that proved that he wasn't ready yet as a 19-year old. Maybe an extra year of development all around, especially physically, can help Tracey translate his WHL scoring onto the AHL scene this year.

I think pairing him with McTavish might be a good duo in the future. McTavish likes to score more goals than assists and Tracey produces more assists than goals might be a good complement to each other.

Line 1: Comtois-Zegras-Perreault
Line 2: Tracey-McTavish-Terry​

The player I'd connect him with might be Kunitz. Not that he'll be the same type of player (b/c Kunitz isn't a perimeter player), but the fact that Kunitz is very productive offensively when paired with talent. Both aren't elite at anything, but both are highly productive offensively. IIRC, Tracey was centered by Ryder Korczak (2021 3rd round pick) in his D+1 season. That talent helped him improve his scoring rate at Moose Jaw from 1.23 ppg to 1.36 ppg. Okay, I just found an old article from the Athletic on Tracey being traded from Moose Jaw to Victoria that revealed it takes time for Tracey to find a bond with his linemates before his scoring takes off: link. Now that we're in a more regular schedule, Tracey could develop that bond better going into the AHL season. Well, at least that's what I'm hoping for Tracey.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Considering Tracey's being polled as the 11th best prospect kinda reveals he doesn't possess elite skills. His strength is being offensively productive by being a two-way scorer (goal scoring and playmaking) at the WHL level. He's more of a perimeter player b/c he still needs to add more meat to his bones, but his hockey IQ is very high (has to be to be productive offensively). This past year, he was very effective on the PP (6g + 6a) and that could very well be a place where he can shine for the Ducks in the far future. The fact he's led three WHL teams in scoring in two seasons identifies him as a play driver. He projects as a top-6 forward, or at least that's how I think the org sees him still.

Unfortunately, he was thrust into the AHL level because the WHL was shut down. He just wasn't ready for it as a 19-year old. For physical reference, 18-year old Perreault was 5'11 and 192 pounds when drafted. Tracey was 6'0 and 176 pounds when drafted two seasons ago. Perreault is far more advanced physically and skates faster than Drysdale (skating forward; hint: elite skating). Tracey is still playing catch-up physically and I don't think he can ever reach Perreault's skating level. One thing going for Tracey over Perreault is Tracey isn't afraid to attack/shoot the puck in his AHL stint, but Perreault was timid about shooting the puck in the AHL. Here's a link on AHL player breakdowns: player reviews from Defend the Nest.

Tracey's 12-game AHL stint was just that, a 12-game AHL stint that proved that he wasn't ready yet as a 19-year old. Maybe an extra year of development all around, especially physically, can help Tracey translate his WHL scoring onto the AHL scene this year.

I think pairing him with McTavish might be a good duo in the future. McTavish likes to score more goals than assists and Tracey produces more assists than goals might be a good complement to each other.

Line 1: Comtois-Zegras-Perreault
Line 2: Tracey-McTavish-Terry​

The player I'd connect him with might be Kunitz. Not that he'll be the same type of player (b/c Kunitz isn't a perimeter player), but the fact that Kunitz is very productive offensively when paired with talent. Both aren't elite at anything, but both are highly productive offensively. IIRC, Tracey was centered by Ryder Korczak (2021 3rd round pick) in his D+1 season. That talent helped him improve his scoring rate at Moose Jaw from 1.23 ppg to 1.36 ppg. Okay, I just found an old article from the Athletic on Tracey being traded from Moose Jaw to Victoria that revealed it takes time for Tracey to find a bond with his linemates before his scoring takes off: link. Now that we're in a more regular schedule, Tracey could develop that bond better going into the AHL season. Well, at least that's what I'm hoping for Tracey.

Why such long essay about Tracey ?
There is no magic stats or elite tools in him and WHL is not as good as OHL and box score scouting isn't gonna convince me
Every team has a prospect just like him. They could have had Hoglander, Kaliyev, Pinto etc with that pick.

 

[TopShelfWaterBottle]

Benoit is an absolute stud he was great in his stint at the end of the year

 

[bsu]

Volkov
Benoit
Tracey

 

[Kalv]

I went with Galimov oveer Volkov

 

[GunnarStahl]

I’m kinda surprised Galimov is getting the support he is

 

[Kalv]

I’m kinda surprised Galimov is getting the support he is

He had injuries that riddled his last regular season.
As reported by the DucksProspects Artyom will likely start as a #1C for AK Bars who should still be one of the powerhouses in the KHL and also they have Bobkov btw.
Galimov scored at the decent rate in the playoffs in limited minutes. And apparently he had the league best 8 gwg 2 years ago despite not being among top scorers.
He certainly can do a highlight reel goal but from late last season it looked like he is putting it together with consistenccy as well.

My mistery with him is his height. To me he looks like 6'1 not 5'11

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I’m kinda surprised Galimov is getting the support he is

I mean, he produced well in a mens league that is known for not giving a lot of ice time and support to it's junior/younger players. He was bumped around the lineup and still was able to put the points up.

I think because he was an overager when drafted, and people don't look into him plays a part into that

I'm surprised he wasn't higher on this list. I would have him at 9, and maybe Pasta at 11. That's just me though.

 

[Arthuros]

Big oof for Mahura.

Volkov again, then Tracey.

 

[MMC]

I think all of our prospects are on the list now. Can someone verify?

Just realized Sundsvik is missing. Can someone please verify that he’s the only one who still is?

 

[405Entrance]

I hated the Tracey pick back then and I hate it now. f*** Vegas for snatching Krebs out of our hands. Voted Moore, like his potential, maybe he and thrun can fill out our top 4 in the future