Andrej Meszaros vs Boris Valabik

[E&M]

What does everyone think of the two Slovakian defencemen that were drafted in the first round of 2004?

I have only seen Meszaros play and I am definitely impressed. Valabik was picked 13 spots earlier, and I'm just wondering who's better? and what makes Valabik a top 10 pick? (never seen him play) I can clearly see why Meszaros was picked in the first round.

Either way, it looks like Slovakia is going to have a pretty good defence a few years down the road.

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[Vic Rattlehead*]

I would take Meszaros before I would take Valabik.

 

[BIG GIFS]

The only reason why Valabik was choose in the Top 10 was because of his size. He's a typical boom or bust prospect. Yes, he throws punishing bodycheck, but if you can't control the puck well, what is the utility?

 

[trahans99]

I've said many times on this site how BAD Valabik is .... he has bust written all over him. And yes I will say that already b/c i've seen him play 10 times live and has been horrible in every game. Must be something w/ Kitchener dman ...Kindl isn't doing very good this year compared to the hype.

 

[Bad News Benning]

Valabik reminds me a lot more of Kudroc/Mezei( 1st round busts who were picked because of their size) then he does Chara at this point. There's still room for him to improve and get better, but I'd definitely take Meszaros over him at this point.

 

[Vik]

I haven't seen Valabik so I can't say much about him, but can you imagine having to go up against him and Zdeno Chara for Slovakia?

 

[Vatican Roulette]

maybe he was having a bad game, but the one time i saw him i didn't know how he was even drafted.

 

[McDonald19]

Meszaros is easily the better player.

bad pick by Atlanta.

 

[Reign Nateo]

Meszaros is big, slick, and mean. There are a lot of teams that will be wishing they picked him.

 

[Hunter74]

Hasn't Valabik been injured all year??

If you are just comparing last them to the year they were drafted than i can understand but if you are comparing Meszaros current season to Valabiks 7 games I dont think its very fair. If you talking about who you think will have teh bigger positive impact on there respective teams 5 years into there NHL careers then thats more practical, alittle premeture but alot better than compareing there current seasons to each other.

I dont agree with this boom or bust title some are giveing to him. Yes he is sometimes compared to Chara but for the most part most expect him to be just your typical 2 way defenseman who is extremly physical. Looking at his size and attitude I dont see how he cant live up to at least being able to be a big mean physical defenseman which is what Atlanta is hopeing he turns into. Obvioulsy there is that possibility he may turn out to be like Kudroc or Mezie but there are also a dozen puck moveing defenseman who never made much of themselves at the NHL level that we could compare Meszaros too aswell.

Yeah yeah people are gonna say his skating is really bad and speedy forwards can beat him so what. There are way more smaller type players in junior than there is in the NHL and I am sure after he finishes growing into his frame and works on some foot work it wont be a problem. It takes big guys to grow into there bodies at this age in an enviroment wheres theres less space and time for forwards to work it will be to his advantage.

As for Meszaros I dont know a hole lot about him except that he has alot of skill and so far in the WHL has been quite the cheapshot artist. I think out of his 40pims i think 36 of them have been either and elbow, boarding, kneeing or hitting from behind. Yet out of all his rough and tough play he has only had 1 game in which he actually has a roughing which is actually a game misconduct plus a fight. Seems liek someone at the end of the game was able to get ahold of him and make him answer the bell for his antics. Personally i think this is just another one of those cases were a European player is going way way out of there way to show that they can play physical and not be intimidated by the North American game. Which is good but theres being phsycial and being kinda cheap. He wont be able to play like this when he hits pro or very much longer in the WHL i would think. Maybe thats the type of player he is though I am not sure. I like the fact he's willing to through the body around but I dont think he needs to play dirty to prove he can be physical. His scouting reports said he was more of a finnesse guy but could handle the rough play but i havent read one that said he was a cheap player at times. Hopefully this is just a prove to everyone i can handle the North American game kinda complex and his normal game will surface more often as he is very talented with some good size to boot.


In the end though when comparing an "offensive" defenseman to a "Defensive" defenseman it usually just comes down to what people value more. Most often people tend to go with the offensive guy for some reason.

 

[leafaholix*]

Boris Valabik... in 5 years we're going to look back at this massive defenseman playing in a division 2 league over in Europe, wondering how the hell he went that high in the draft.

 

[kruezer]

As for Meszaros I dont know a hole lot about him except that he has alot of skill and so far in the WHL has been quite the cheapshot artist. I think out of his 40pims i think 36 of them have been either and elbow, boarding, kneeing or hitting from behind. Yet out of all his rough and tough play he has only had 1 game in which he actually has a roughing which is actually a game misconduct plus a fight. Seems liek someone at the end of the game was able to get ahold of him and make him answer the bell for his antics. Personally i think this is just another one of those cases were a European player is going way way out of there way to show that they can play physical and not be intimidated by the North American game. Which is good but theres being phsycial and being kinda cheap. He wont be able to play like this when he hits pro or very much longer in the WHL i would think. Maybe thats the type of player he is though I am not sure. I like the fact he's willing to through the body around but I dont think he needs to play dirty to prove he can be physical. His scouting reports said he was more of a finnesse guy but could handle the rough play but i havent read one that said he was a cheap player at times. Hopefully this is just a prove to everyone i can handle the North American game kinda complex and his normal game will surface more often as he is very talented with some good size to boot.

Man, I'm still disappointed Calgary didn't take this guy, they sure don't need defense, but this guy couldn't be more perfect a Flame IMO. I like the slick offense of course, but going out of his way to prove his toughness, is that not exactly the Calgary Flames game plan? He even came over to the 'Dub, I like the Chucko pick (though I might be in the minority there) but I'm still disappointed they didn't pick this dude up, you can't have enough guys like him IMO.

 

[Mess]

Andrej Meszaros leads the WHL in defensive scoring ..

http://www.whl.ca/stats/statdisplay...Id=223&&leagueId=26&lastActive=&singleSeason=

Great stats for a first year player in the Dub

 

[Greg7]

As for Meszaros I dont know a hole lot about him except that he has alot of skill and so far in the WHL has been quite the cheapshot artist. I think out of his 40pims i think 36 of them have been either and elbow, boarding, kneeing or hitting from behind. Yet out of all his rough and tough play he has only had 1 game in which he actually has a roughing which is actually a game misconduct plus a fight. Seems liek someone at the end of the game was able to get ahold of him and make him answer the bell for his antics. Personally i think this is just another one of those cases were a European player is going way way out of there way to show that they can play physical and not be intimidated by the North American game. Which is good but theres being phsycial and being kinda cheap. He wont be able to play like this when he hits pro or very much longer in the WHL i would think. Maybe thats the type of player he is though I am not sure. I like the fact he's willing to through the body around but I dont think he needs to play dirty to prove he can be physical. His scouting reports said he was more of a finnesse guy but could handle the rough play but i havent read one that said he was a cheap player at times. Hopefully this is just a prove to everyone i can handle the North American game kinda complex and his normal game will surface more often as he is very talented with some good size to boot.

I watch Meszaros every home game, and all the cheapshots you're talking about haven't happened. I can remember a couple boardings, one or two very unvicious elbows, no kneeings, and I don't remember any hitting from behinds. Unless he only ever does anything dirty on the road, he's definitely not a dirty player at all.

At least 15 of his PIMs came on one play where he fought and got a game minute misconduct, and unlike what you say, it was without a doubt he that initiated the fight. In fact, I would have said that play was the closest he's ever gotten to being dirty because he basically forced the guy to fight by just dropping his gloves and going at him.

You're right about the skill, and he has been very physical this year; in fact, if I have one complaint about him, it's that he occasionally takes himself out of position to hit. He's been an absolute wizard with the puck, his first pass is truly incredible (my favourite part of his game), he skates very well, his offensive instincts are very good, he eats up a ton of minutes, he's a rock in his own zone, and he's a physical force. So far from what I have seen in the WHL this year, Meszaros is the best defenseman in the western conference.

The bottom line is that he's a great CLEAN player.

 

[bobbyboucher24]

I was surprised that Mezaros fell as far as he did in the draft. I wasn't surprised that Boris went as high as he did purely for his size, like others have mentioned. Teams are afraid of the Chara potential and were intrigued by his size. I think teams will regret passing on Mezaros.

 

[Hossa]

As for Meszaros I dont know a hole lot about him except that he has alot of skill and so far in the WHL has been quite the cheapshot artist. I think out of his 40pims i think 36 of them have been either and elbow, boarding, kneeing or hitting from behind. Yet out of all his rough and tough play he has only had 1 game in which he actually has a roughing which is actually a game misconduct plus a fight. Seems liek someone at the end of the game was able to get ahold of him and make him answer the bell for his antics. Personally i think this is just another one of those cases were a European player is going way way out of there way to show that they can play physical and not be intimidated by the North American game. Which is good but theres being phsycial and being kinda cheap. He wont be able to play like this when he hits pro or very much longer in the WHL i would think. Maybe thats the type of player he is though I am not sure. I like the fact he's willing to through the body around but I dont think he needs to play dirty to prove he can be physical. His scouting reports said he was more of a finnesse guy but could handle the rough play but i havent read one that said he was a cheap player at times. Hopefully this is just a prove to everyone i can handle the North American game kinda complex and his normal game will surface more often as he is very talented with some good size to boot.

You're jumping to some pretty major conclusions considering you say you don't know much about him and make no reference to ever having seen him play.

 

[Twist and Shout]

Valabik was chosen where he was, because of his size. Give me Meszaros over him any day of the week.

 

[Hunter74]

You're jumping to some pretty major conclusions considering you say you don't know much about him and make no reference to ever having seen him play.

I dont think so just take a look at his penalties this year and you will see exactly what i am talking about. I looked over every penalty he has recieved this season in the WHL and alot of them are like i said of the dirty variety. Look for yourself. Then I compared this seasons pims to last seasons pims and you will notice that theres a huge spike in his physical play.

Go over his game logs on the WHL site and you will see every penalty he has taken. Maybe I am getting him confused with another Meszaros player who plays for the Vancouver Giants but i dont think so.

 

[Russian_fanatic]

I say Meszaros should have gone in the top 10.

 

[Hossa]

I dont think so just take a look at his penalties this year and you will see exactly what i am talking about. I looked over every penalty he has recieved this season in the WHL and alot of them are like i said of the dirty variety. Look for yourself. Then I compared this seasons pims to last seasons pims and you will notice that theres a huge spike in his physical play.

Go over his game logs on the WHL site and you will see every penalty he has taken. Maybe I am getting him confused with another Meszaros player who plays for the Vancouver Giants but i dont think so.

What I'm saying is that you have you take statistics for what they are, numbers. Having spoken to numerous people who follow the Giants religiously, who watch him consistently, none have labelled him dirty or chippy thus far. To attach that label to a player based "only" on statistics just isn't really fair.

 

[Hunter74]

What I'm saying is that you have you take statistics for what they are, numbers. Having spoken to numerous people who follow the Giants religiously, who watch him consistently, none have labelled him dirty or chippy thus far. To attach that label to a player based "only" on statistics just isn't really fair.

Maybe not but the numbers are the numbers in this case. The majority of his penalties are like I said and I think you can interpret that into at least very chippy play. Now wether you see that as a bad thinkg for him or a good thing is completly up to you.

Personally I dont like to give much credit to people who follow there teams very closely b/c alot of people are homers. Example would be alot of Red Deer fans (not picking on Red Deer fans just and example) woudl say that Colin Fraser is a not a dirty player when he is quite known for being a very very chippy player.

Normally i woudl agree that stats are jsut stats and you shouldn't put to much into them but in this case the numbers really lean to him being a chippy player. Wether thats him trying to prove he can play that so called North American game or its the way he plays normally I dont really know. I do know that scouting reports on him beofre he came to North America stated that he's not known as an aggressive player and his penalty mins over seas would support that. Though here in North America his pims would sudgest that he's alot chippier than his ealier scouting reports said.

Personally I stand by my statement about his play being chippy/dirty so far this season in the Dub. If you want to view that as a bad thing or not is completly up to you. I just dont think he needs to be dirty in order to prove that he can handle the rough stuff and dish it out just as much.

 

[rebedom]

Andrej Meszaros leads the WHL in defensive scoring ..

http://www.whl.ca/stats/statdisplay...Id=223&&leagueId=26&lastActive=&singleSeason=

Great stats for a first year player in the Dub

and look who is right behind him in points for rookies another Sens European pick Roman Wick.

 

[littleHossa]

I say Meszaros should have gone in the top 10.

So does the Senators's scouting staff

 

[bopeep]

Right now Vancouver is having a tough time keeping the puck out of their net (with the loss of Fistric). For those who have seen him play, is Meszaros playing well defensively? Newspaper reports have talked of 2 on 1's where he has gone to the shooter - leaving the other man open. He's picking up alot of pp points, no doubt, just wondering if the rest of his game is solid.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Valabik was chosen where he was, because of his size. Give me Meszaros over him any day of the week.

Bingo. I'm not going to sit here and say that Valabik WILL be a bust, but I have to believe there were several better choices for Atlanta in their draft position. Thelen or Meszaros would have made a much nice partner for Coburn IMO. We'll see if Valabik can overcome the laundry list of deficiencies that plague his game.