Prospect Info: 2023 Top Islanders Prospects #13

[SI]

1. Dufour, RW, 21
2. Bolduc, LHD, 22
3. Maggio, RW, 20
4. Holmstrom, LW/RW, 22
5. Nelson, C, 18
6. Iskhakov, LW, 23
7. Durandeau, LW, 23
8. Odelius, LHD, 19
9. Salo, LHD, 24
10. George, LHD, 19
11. Jefferies, RW, 21
12. Liukas, LW, 20 (turns 21 in September)
13. ?

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[Chapin Landvogt]

Add Newkirk

 

[seafoam]

Nurmi, add Ljungkrantz.

 

[seafoam]

Add Newkirk

Why Newkirk if you don’t mind me asking? He hasn’t be able to crack Bridgport’s regular lineup in his two years as a pro.

Wouldn’t Gill or even Ljungkrantz/Rajaniemi be considered better prospects than Newkirk at this point?

 

[hockeylaxdad]

Add: Mitchell & Fulp

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

Why Newkirk if you don’t mind me asking? He hasn’t be able to crack Bridgport’s regular lineup in his two years as a pro.

Wouldn’t Gill or even Ljungkrantz/Rajaniemi be considered better prospects than Newkirk at this point?

Personal thing. I watched some video of Newkirk in his 16 games for the baby Isles last season and liked a lot of what I saw. It was actually "only" his 2nd pro season and he's been clipping at just under a PPG pace in the ECHL. But he played in the AHL as if he understood that a safe two-way game is going to be his calling card moving forward.

If anything, those who love to mention Verhaeghe's path to the NHL might wanna have a little patience here. Not so much because one can gauge his offensive play as "one day being like Verhaeghe", but definitely with respect to coming out of the draft and spending parts of his first two seasons in the ECHL.

We'll see.

Ljungkrantz is a non-topic right now. He started last season pretty nicely in the SHL, but had all of one point in the second half of the season and is now scheduled to play in Sweden's 2nd league for a middle-of-the-road outfit. Rajaniemi's best Liiga season was his draft year. There's been a bit of a lull since then, with successively worse results each season. Never a terrific sign either when you make the WJC team one year, play sparingly, then are left off the next year although still eligible.

Gill could be a topic. I'm just not keen on placing a double overager draft pick ahead of guys who are already heading into their third year of pro, in Newkirk's case coming off an uptick in year 2 of his ELC.

Of course, we're talking about guys who are not in the top 15 among our prospects.

With a monster 4th year in the Q for a pretty loaded club, we may be a little more excited about Gill next year at this time. I do like the hockey sense and set-up abilities we saw last season. He's not afraid to create in traffic.