Prospect Info: Capitals Prospects and Minor League Affiliates (Hershey Bears, SC Stingrays) - 2014-18

[racingmoose]

Bears blew a 5-1 and eventually a 6-2 lead to lose to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 7-6. Vanecek was pulled in the 2nd period and Copley faired no better. This team is so mentally fragile it's insane. To blow a lead like that just shows they lack the mentality of a championship team.

They better start cutting the fat and getting rid of guys that have been here for a few years. It's time to say bye to Garrett Mitchell, Zach Sill, Dustin Gazely, Aaron Ness etc. That group hasn't produced well the past few seasons. It's probably going to take a big offseason to get Chris Bourque to re-sign. I'd be pissed off at the product that's been put on the ice if I were him.

I don't know, I think most people would want Zach Sill back. He's a very intelligent player, plays hard and with an edge, and does all the little things that need done. If they want a veteran defenseman around, Ness is a good option. In the AHL, he's very effective with the puck.

 

[hb12xchamps]

I don't know, I think most people would want Zach Sill back. He's a very intelligent player, plays hard and with an edge, and does all the little things that need done. If they want a veteran defenseman around, Ness is a good option. In the AHL, he's very effective with the puck.

I wouldn’t mind Sill back as one of the vets. He is a very good shut down center and PKer. Ness on the other hand is nothing more than an offensive D. He’s atrocious in his own zone and constantly gets beat in battles along the boards. Sure we’d maybe miss his PP capabilities, but I’d rather the young guys (Williams, Hobbs, Johansen and eventually Priskie) get the PP minutes. Those guys aren’t bad on the PP and that’s great development time for them.

It’s definitely time to move on from Garrett unfortunately. He’s been a great Bear in the community and with the fans but his play this year really dropped off. He’ll probably be one that comes back when he retires and lives in Hershey with his family. I’m also good with moving on from Peluso, Gazely (he’ll be a vet), and Langlois. I’d think about Graovac and Simpson if there’s not a whole lot of talent in FA this year. They definitely need to bring back Whitney if he’s going to stay in NA. The guy has 11 points in 10 games and is a plus 7. He already has the same number of points Albert had before he was traded

 

[hb12xchamps]

Bears win 3-0 against a very depleted Utica team. It could have been worse if Thatcher Demko didn’t stand on his head. He’s gonna be a good one for Vancouver.

Lucas Johansen had a great game IMO. He’s arguably our top prospect at this point and is a perfect guy for today’s NHL. His defensive zone play has gotten a lot better as the year has gone on. He was very involved in the offense and got some PP2 time last night. Hobbs was out with an upper body injury so couldn’t get any notes on him. I thought Siegenthaler had a good game. He looked better with the puck on his stick and with his breakout passes. Hopefully they continue to work on him with that. He continues to step up on a guy far too aggressively and gets burnt by the guys who can make a quick deke around him. That’s my only real gripe with him in the D zone

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

We need LuJo to be a hit.

 

[Hivemind]

I'm skeptical LuJo will be more than a 4/5 at the NHL level.

 

[Ajax1995]

I'm skeptical LuJo will be more than a 4/5 at the NHL level.

Just curious but what are you basing this on?

 

[hb12xchamps]

I think his ceiling is a 3/4 2nd pairing guy. I don’t see top pairing potential from him. He’s just not at the same level that Carlson was when he stepped in and tore up the AHL right away

 

[Hivemind]

Just curious but what are you basing this on?

Similar to what hb11 said, he just doesn't dominate games at lower levels the way I would expect a future top4 D to do. He could potentially slide up into a top 4 role as a complimentary guy (ie good enough to not get completely abused but is basically carried by his partner). He looks more like a future game manager/damage mitigator to me than an impact player.

 

[Chockey Hockey]

Mitchell is no doubt a great guy and has done many things in the community. However, he has been the most underperforming captain on ice the Bears have had for a long time.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I think his ceiling is a 3/4 2nd pairing guy. I don’t see top pairing potential from him. He’s just not at the same level that Carlson was when he stepped in and tore up the AHL right away

I think 3/4 is a realistic upside.

 

[hb12xchamps]

I think 3/4 is a realistic upside.

It’s realistic and if he pans out to that, it’s decent value for a later round pick.

 

[hb12xchamps]

Mitchell is no doubt a great guy and has done many things in the community. However, he has been the most underperforming captain on ice the Bears have had for a long time.

Agreed. His first year he was great until the CC playoff run, but the last two years he has progressively gotten worse

 

[Ajax1995]

I’m not going to argue with either one of you as I have nothing first hand to use as evidence. I do have an issue calling ceilings at such young ages in general though.

I agree his numbers in his last year of junior were not what I wanted to show an obvious development arch offensively. But my understanding is his usage changed and his defensive play definitely improved. But I am going on nothing but stats and a few online scouting reports.

As far as a comparison to Carlson in his 20 year old season in Hershey goes, again with no first hand knowledge at all, I feel pretty sure that Carlson wouldn’t have looked nearly as good playing on as poor a team as this year’s Bears team is and Johansen would look a heck of a lot better playing on a powerhouse like that team was.

Again not arguing anything said. Just arguing possible circumstances.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

It’s realistic and if he pans out to that, it’s decent value for a later round pick.

A top-4 with a late first. I’d say that’s good value for a later first....

 

[Raikkonen]

Stick him with John Carlson, keep his salary low - and you have very useful player. If he can PK - well, get him in the lineup next October. Who needs Kempny as 2LD?

 

[Langway]

I think Johansen can be a Paul Martin type player. His skill level and control of the game aren't tremendous but he's pretty serviceable and mainly needs to fill out.

 

[hb12xchamps]

I think Johansen can be a Paul Martin type player. His skill level and control of the game aren't tremendous but he's pretty serviceable and mainly needs to fill out.

Definitely. Needs to go on the Djoos eating plan this offseason to add some muscle. He does get overmatched by stronger players in board battles a good bit

 

[Hivemind]

I think Johansen can be a Paul Martin type player. His skill level and control of the game aren't tremendous but he's pretty serviceable and mainly needs to fill out.

I think that's a good comparable for his ceiling. I just fear he might end up a bit more David Schlemko than Paul Martin.

 

[GoCaps2004]

I think his ceiling is a 3/4 2nd pairing guy. I don’t see top pairing potential from him. He’s just not at the same level that Carlson was when he stepped in and tore up the AHL right away

Similar to what hb11 said, he just doesn't dominate games at lower levels the way I would expect a future top4 D to do. He could potentially slide up into a top 4 role as a complimentary guy (ie good enough to not get completely abused but is basically carried by his partner). He looks more like a future game manager/damage mitigator to me than an impact player.

I wasn't following Hershey back then, but the year John Carlson joined, they looked f***ing stacked. Two guys with more than 100 points, Chris Bourque almost at 1.5pts a game, Holtby and Neuvirth as the goalies with .917 and .919 save percentages respectively. If Johansen was playing on as strong a team would he not put up similar numbers to Carlson and would he not look as good on Defense? I mean Hershey this year has nobody at a ppg pace, the goaltending has been incredibly inconsistent, Copley has .898 save percentage and Vanecek has a .887. The team this year just seems much worse in general? Is it even possible to expect a young D to come into a team that is really weak and look good?

 

[Hivemind]

I wasn't following Hershey back then, but the year John Carlson joined, they looked ****ing stacked. Two guys with more than 100 points, Chris Bourque almost at 1.5pts a game, Holtby and Neuvirth as the goalies with .917 and .919 save percentages respectively. If Johansen was playing on as strong a team would he not put up similar numbers to Carlson and would he not look as good on Defense? I mean Hershey this year has nobody at a ppg pace, the goaltending has been incredibly inconsistent, Copley has .898 save percentage and Vanecek has a .887. The team this year just seems much worse in general? Is it even possible to expect a young D to come into a team that is really weak and look good?

Of course Carlson benefitted from a much stronger Hershey team that season, there's no contesting that. But Carlson also showed a lot more individually off the bat compared to Johansen, including earning 29 games in the NHL that season (7 of which came in the NHL playoffs). Carlson was just on another level compared to what we're seeing with Johansen. This is also true when comparing their time in the CHL.

It's easy to compare the draft positions of Carlson and Johansen and think they have similar upsides. But that ignores that Carlson was drafted in one of the most stacked draft classes for NHL defensemen of all time (Karlsson, Doughty, Pietrangelo, etc) and only had one season of hockey against meaningful (USHL) competition under his belt at that point. In retrospect, it's rather amazing that Carlson jumped from the AtJHL (a tier III US junior league) to the NHL in the span of less than four years. His rise was nothing short of meteoric.

This isn't to say that LuJo is going to bust, only to keep expectations in check. I still expect he will be an NHL player of some capacity, I just don't see the game breaking talent that Carlson displayed at lower levels.

 

[Chockey Hockey]

One thing to keep in mind, LuJo doesn't have the luxury of playing with a veteran partner.

 

[Hivemind]

One thing to keep in mind, LuJo doesn't have the luxury of playing with a veteran partner.

Wasn't Carlson mostly playing with Alzner during his stint in Hershey?

 

[Ajax1995]

Wasn't Carlson mostly playing with Alzner during his stint in Hershey?

The scrub drafted 5th overall the year before his draft class..?

Regardless, who is Johansen usually playing with?

 

[Hivemind]

The scrub drafted 5th overall the year before his draft class..?

Kindly find where I called Alzner a scrub. If you bothered to read the conversation you'd see that the poster before was referencing veteran partners, of which Alzner was not. That's not disparaging Alzner.

 

[GoCaps2004]

The scrub drafted 5th overall the year before his draft class..?

Regardless, who is Johansen usually playing with?

I think he is just implying that carlson *wasn't* playing with a veteran in hershey like someone else implyed