Best group of defensive prospects?

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st_roland

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Homer pick, unresearched pick but I say the Aves: Liles, Boychuk, Slovak, Ballard, Liffiton, Gilbert. I see a few possible #2 D-men in that group.
 

Jacob

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Penguins. Not a homer pick, I'm trying to be as objective as possible.
 

Enoch

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The Avalanche do have a good defensive crop.

Nashville, IMO, also deserves some consideration.

Stehlik, Klein, Suter, Hamhuis, Shea Webber, Hutchinson just to name a few.
 

TMHUNH

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Pittsburgh and Nashville definitely take top honors. The thing with the Preds is that in 2003 after Suter they took all of the players who were ranked high but dropped for some reason, you have to think that all of the other teams passed for a reason that may come back to haunt them, but no doubt they have the deepest selection, so they don't have to worry about everyone panning out.

There are teams who don't have the depth but have better D prospects at the top end.

PHI - Pitkanen/Woywitka
LA- Grebs/Gleason
MTL - Komisarek/Hainsey

and you have to mention Boston in here with Jonsson, Morrisonn, Stuart, Jurcina, Alberts to add to a blueline already stocked with young talent. It would just be off the top of my head but I don't know if any other team has 3 first round picks for prospect D-men (mainly because other teams have 1st rounders that make the team by now, so you can view it as either a plus or a minus)
 

nucks2001

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Enoch said:
The Avalanche do have a good defensive crop.

Nashville, IMO, also deserves some consideration.

Stehlik, Klein, Suter, Hamhuis, Shea Webber, Hutchinson just to name a few.

Safronov is a handy prospect as well
 

MN_Gopher

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With Martin and Hale allready playing. And Kadeykin and Demarchi in the system, you not only have good prospects but a balance between O and D minded players.
 

ICX*

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Preds by a longshot. Hamhuis, Zidlicky, Suter, Klein, and Stehlik. As much as I'm excited about NJ's defensive future, we have a lack of 2-way or offensive d-men in the system with the promotion of Martin.
 

TRask

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best defencive prospects

I cant believe no one said the Bruins, i think they have the most depth at d in the league as far as prospects go. Check this out:
Jeff Jillson (23) Nick Boynton (24) Jonathan Girard (23) Milan Jurcina (20) Zdenek Kutlak (23) Lars Jonsson (21) Shaonne Morrisson (21)
Andrew Alberts, (22) Mark Stuart (19)
Now thats young talent at d. Jillson and Boynton are future top 2 dmen. Jonsson is a great offensive defenceman prospect. Morrisson is off to a slow start but is still highly regarded. And Alberts and Stuart are both studs on d in the mold of scott stevens. What more could u ask for??
 

Habsfunk

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I would say Nashville has the best crop of D prospects, followed by Pittsburgh.

Homer talk: Montreal has two great prospects in Komisarek and Hainsey but after that it falls off. I think Andrew Archer will develop into a solid 5/6 defenceman in the mould of a Jassen Cullimore. Nothing spectacular, but he'll get the job done. Another intriguing prospect is Oskari Kopiskari, who's managed to hold down a regular spot in the starting lineup in the Finnish Elite League as an 18 year old - no small feat at all. There's also Konstantin Korneev who's got good skills and smarts but is on the small side. Lastly is Ryan O'Byrne, who seems to be quite the project but does have potential to develop into an NHL defenseman.
 

looooob

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some posters seem to be including young NHLers in the mix, others listing prospects only.

If we're going to include young NHLers then Calgary deserves mention as well with Leopold,Regehr and Ference all 23 (I think--and even Lydman and Gauthier are not old) plus Phaneuf and Ramholt. going with prospects only, then we aren't in this discussion at all
 

Dr Love

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Burke's Evil Spirit said:
Prospects only? Pittsburgh would win it rather easily, IMO (Whitney, Welch, Orpik, Lupaschuk) with Nashville coming in second.

Orpik is up with the Pitt Pens, I assume by prospects you mean only those in the minors or juniors.
 

Gags1288

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I'd have Nashville 1st and Philly a close second. Nashville has slightly better depth than the Flyers, but Philly has the best prospect of all, imo and decent depth with guys like Seidenberg and Vandermeer (if they're still considered) and other top end guys like Woywitka to go with Pitkanen.
 

Foppa

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The Avs have stockpiled some impressive depth with defensive prospects, but their lack of a true stud #1 type would keep them being in the Top 5 imo. Liles has a bright future and I really like Ballard's upside a lot considering his track record in college and stocky build. But Ballard, who imo has the most upside of any Avs defensive prospect, would rank a #3 or so on a lot of these teams prospect depth charts in terms of potential.

I think the Avs have a lot of potential second/third pairing potential guys, but really nobody outside Ballard that has flashed the tools to be a #2 type guy, let alone a #1, at this point in time.

Still pretty interesting how defense, once the weak point of the Avs system, is now its strength, and high-flying scoring forwards, once its strength, is now probably its weakness. Offnesive prospects are dropping like flies (Vrbata, Nedorost, Johansson) and trades and top picks keep bringing in young defenders (Ballard, Slovak, Liffiton) Total change in philosophy it seems.
 

punchy1

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I would rank them like this, Pens, Nashville, Los Angeles as having the most and then you have to go with Phil MTL Avs.

Los Angeles has Grebeshkov/Gleason/Rome/Petiot/Zizka as well as the fact that Corvo and Vis are both young players who are solid. I guess that with the exception of Gebeshkov and Gleason there aren't any #1 or 2 guys but the rest are in the 3 4 5 catagory and if Kuznet pans out there is another one. They are bloody well off on D for awhile.

MTL has Hainsey/Komis
Bos has Boynton/Jilson (brilliant lad he is)
Phil has Pitkaenen/Woywitka

there are some really talented young D in the league right now.
 

Evilo

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I wouldn't say either team easily.
Pens and Preds are pretty close.
Pens have Whitney, Welch, Lupaschuk, Schneider, Nemec, Malenkhyk, Fernholm, etc...
 

Enoch

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Foppa said:
The Avs have stockpiled some impressive depth with defensive prospects, but their lack of a true stud #1 type would keep them being in the Top 5 imo. Liles has a bright future and I really like Ballard's upside a lot considering his track record in college and stocky build. But Ballard, who imo has the most upside of any Avs defensive prospect, would rank a #3 or so on a lot of these teams prospect depth charts in terms of potential.

I think the Avs have a lot of potential second/third pairing potential guys, but really nobody outside Ballard that has flashed the tools to be a #2 type guy, let alone a #1, at this point in time.

Still pretty interesting how defense, once the weak point of the Avs system, is now its strength, and high-flying scoring forwards, once its strength, is now probably its weakness. Offnesive prospects are dropping like flies (Vrbata, Nedorost, Johansson) and trades and top picks keep bringing in young defenders (Ballard, Slovak, Liffiton) Total change in philosophy it seems.

Defensive teams are cheap. PL knows this. He is planning for the cap. 6 positions vs. 12 postions???? Lacroix probably recognized that he had poor prospect depth to begin with, now he has just sold out in one area, that being the defense. With Sakic leading the Offense until 07, and Blake (probably Foote or MOrris as well) leading the defense, the Avs will still ahve a competitive team if a cap comes into play.
 

jmelm

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Don't forget Alexandre Rouleau for Pittsburgh. He made the Canadian WJCs last year over some pretty good competition. The Pens are excited about him, and in an article about him it mentioned some Quebec League scouts & execs that said he will be a regular in the NHL for sure.

Paul Bissonette is another very good prospect. Sure, he has a terrible +/- because he plays on the worst team in the CHL, but he almost made the team out of camp.

I'm not saying both of these guys will be No. 1 dmen. But if these guys are on your 3rd pairing, I think you've got some pretty good prospect depth.
 

BlackJack21

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bruins8152 said:
I cant believe no one said the Bruins, i think they have the most depth at d in the league as far as prospects go. Check this out:
Jeff Jillson (23) Nick Boynton (24) Jonathan Girard (23) Milan Jurcina (20) Zdenek Kutlak (23) Lars Jonsson (21) Shaonne Morrisson (21)
Andrew Alberts, (22) Mark Stuart (19)
Now thats young talent at d. Jillson and Boynton are future top 2 dmen. Jonsson is a great offensive defenceman prospect. Morrisson is off to a slow start but is still highly regarded. And Alberts and Stuart are both studs on d in the mold of scott stevens. What more could u ask for??

Jeff Jillson (23) Nick Boynton (24) Jonathan Girard (23) are'nt prospect anymore.

However Boston is not a bad pick...

My pick Nashville. They have depth and high end prospect.

BJ21
 

BlackJack21

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Habsfunk said:
I would say Nashville has the best crop of D prospects, followed by Pittsburgh.

Homer talk: Montreal has two great prospects in Komisarek and Hainsey but after that it falls off. I think Andrew Archer will develop into a solid 5/6 defenceman in the mould of a Jassen Cullimore. Nothing spectacular, but he'll get the job done. Another intriguing prospect is Oskari Kopiskari, who's managed to hold down a regular spot in the starting lineup in the Finnish Elite League as an 18 year old - no small feat at all. There's also Konstantin Korneev who's got good skills and smarts but is on the small side. Lastly is Ryan O'Byrne, who seems to be quite the project but does have potential to develop into an NHL defenseman.

Bauchemin is also a potential 4-5th d-man IMO... at least!

BJ21
 
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