Prospect Info: Caps Top Prospects General Discussion Thread Vol. 2 - 2021-22

[HeyMattyB]

Twitter is raging about it. (Which is to say there's a dozen or so tweets about it.) So yeah, somebody dropped the ball.

EDIT: it's on now!

 

[Cush]

working now

 

[DWGie26]

I have it on. Was on the Regular Season College Hockey. Guess the technical difficulties are taken care of.

BC up 1-0. Going on PP

 

[usiel]

Nice Smith goal for another PP goal.

 

[DWGie26]

Will Smith makes it 2-0!

 

[Cush]

getting chippy

 

[Cush]

Leonard with one off the post

 

[Langway]

Leonard moved to Gauthier's line. Interesting.

Edit: Now back together it seems.

 

[Cush]

Leonard with a beauty of an assist

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Absurd apple for Leonard….

 

[Langway]

Money Lenny.

Pretty quiet game for Celebrini.

 

[Cush]

 

[Cush]

picked up another assist

should be an assist goal #6

 

[Marshall]

I award Lenny 1.5 assist for that play.

 

[Ridley Simon]

That was super Wow.

 

[HTFN]

He beat two guys based on logical positioning and context on one touch.

That seems like it's maybe a highlight one and done but that instinct is going to work for him. He looked at the play and said "why beat you one at a time when I can beat you both?" then did it and kept his options open while carving right through the throat of the defense.

Will he get all of what he tries in the NHL? Probably not immediately... but this is one of the cheeky guys in a prospect pool who can try the new NHL stuff without being bogged down by it. Guy can play in virtually any era, but especially this one even if his skill only rarely manifests...

but if he's as good as this run says he can be this is a 30 goal guy with winning tools. That's a pro touch right there. He won't adjust immediately but he's got that Hendrix/Miro "can he be better than the pack" set of tools where as we've seen them grow this year we've been more comfortable with their NHL upside. He's that guy but ready already.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Why only 30 goals? We have Zach Hyman getting 50. The NHL had a LOT more scorers now.

I don’t see a 30 ceiling, like at all, IMO

 

[usiel]

BC secures top seed. Plays Michigan Tech Friday the 29th at 2pm on ESPNU

2024 Men's Frozen Four: Bracket, scores, schedule for the college hockey championship

Follow the 2024 DI men's ice hockey tournament all the way to the 2024 Frozen Four at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

www.ncaa.com

 

[HTFN]

Why only 30 goals? We have Zach Hyman getting 50. The NHL had a LOT more scorers now.

I don’t see a 30 ceiling, like at all, IMO

I was thinking more like 30 in a vacuum, not exactly his floor since he could carve out a 3rd line career at worst but if he pans out, I think you can expect him to push that number regardless of roster or who drives play on his line at the NHL level. If essentially left to his own devices I can see a somewhat regular 30 goal threat.

Strap him to a McDavid or any other all-star play driver and watch that number go up, for sure. Chris Kreider comes to mind as a guy with virtually any tool you could want, plays a tough and complete game, but was mostly a 25-ish goal guy until he got an elite playmaking teammate and was really able to unlock the rest of his game as a result of not having to do what seemed like everything. I see it the way I see what TJ Oshie was asked to do in St. Louis vs. what was asked of him in Washington and how that actually opened up a more productive game.

It's not a peak, it's just what I would call the... I don't know, condition-independent projection? Leonard seems like a guy who would push 30 goals and like 50-70 points even if he were taking big minutes for the Arizona Coyotes or the San Jose Sharks or whatever and had very little help. In the right spot with a supporting cast or good chemistry that could go up by a lot because this kid seems like he's got the juice, but like... if any team were kicking the tires on Hyman right now they're not buying thinking they're getting a 50 goal scorer even though he just did it, some of that is very obviously situationally dependent considering how much time he spent on some good Toronto lines.

TL;DR Leonard is still a little bit of a mystery box but if his development doesn't completely implode I see him as a capable 20/50-30/70 guy sheerly through his own ability to play the game who could definitely have a few seasons that pop in a JT Miller kind of way. Might permanently unlock that level, might not

 

[usiel]

It will really depend on who Leonard is playing with. A high level pass first center or left wing his goal scoring will just go up, imho. One thing interesting watching that pereault/smith/leonard line in the that Smith is not really a pass first center he is more of goal scoring center and perreault is the one that has the great hockey sense and better passing. Also Leonard is always covering those two defensively. I see Leonard playing more defense than Smith does which seems weird.

 

[Ridley Simon]

It will really depend on who Leonard is playing with. A high level pass first center or left wing his goal scoring will just go up, imho. One thing interesting watching that pereault/smith/leonard line in the that Smith is not really a pass first center he is more of goal scoring center and perreault is the one that has the great hockey sense and better passing. Also Leonard is always covering those two defensively. I see Leonard playing more defense than Smith does which seems weird.

Interesting stuff from both of you (@HTFN), and it makes sense, when you look under the hood. Candidly, I hadn’t done that yet. Now I won’t have too .

Guess that begs the question which of our current centers/forwards could/would be best suited to play w Leonard?

At first blush, i think it may be Protas. He’s got very good vision, is an adept passer, take up space, and isn’t really a shooter. Question would be, is he creative enough?

Which wing? Oshie fits it, but he’s not going to be the guy, when the time comes (unless it’s later THIS year).

Ovechkin is a terrific passer and would obv allow Leonard a lot of space. That could be a thing, for sure.

 

[Misery74]

Interesting stuff from both of you (@HTFN), and it makes sense, when you look under the hood. Candidly, I hadn’t done that yet. Now I won’t have too .

Guess that begs the question which of our current centers/forwards could/would be best suited to play w Leonard?

At first blush, i think it may be Protas. He’s got very good vision, is an adept passer, take up space, and isn’t really a shooter. Question would be, is he creative enough?

Which wing? Oshie fits it, but he’s not going to be the guy, when the time comes (unless it’s later THIS year).

Ovechkin is a terrific passer and would obv allow Leonard a lot of space. That could be a thing, for sure.

I think Leonard leaves after this year. Not much NIL money in NCAA hockey.

8-29-Leonard

 

[usiel]

Interesting stuff from both of you (@HTFN), and it makes sense, when you look under the hood. Candidly, I hadn’t done that yet. Now I won’t have too .

Guess that begs the question which of our current centers/forwards could/would be best suited to play w Leonard?

At first blush, i think it may be Protas. He’s got very good vision, is an adept passer, take up space, and isn’t really a shooter. Question would be, is he creative enough?

Which wing? Oshie fits it, but he’s not going to be the guy, when the time comes (unless it’s later THIS year).

Ovechkin is a terrific passer and would obv allow Leonard a lot of space. That could be a thing, for sure.

I do still like Protas potential as a center but you have Strome/McM/Lapiere/Dowd moving into next year.

Perreault is a play making LW. I think MaJo and Tomas F. were also better natural passers that shooters. Obviously the big thing is if the Caps can find a top line C in the draft. Those are tough either they are in the top 5 or just hitting on a gem.

Boisvert and Hage seem intriguing probably will around where they will draft.

 

[Calicaps]

I do still like Protas potential as a center but you have Strome/McM/Lapiere/Dowd moving into next year.

Perreault is a play making LW. I think MaJo and Tomas F. were also better natural passers that shooters. Obviously the big thing is if the Caps can find a top line C in the draft. Those are tough either they are in the top 5 or just hitting on a gem.

Boisvert and Hage seem intriguing probably will around where they will draft.

Could see them possibly trading Dowd at the draft or after, depending how the rest of the season goes. Then you have Strome/McM/Lappy/Protas with some nice versatility across that group to move up or down. But without Dowd, there's definitely a lack of depth. So maybe you keep 'em all, especially with only McMike due for a raise this offseason and Patches and probably NAK (and maybe Osh ) coming off the books.

 

[DWGie26]

I don’t think they can trade Dowd now as he is the veteran center. I would do that because there is no center depth in Hershey. Consider Protas as 5C. Then Sutter. Rybinski could maybe take that role if we don’t resign Dowd.

Then i think you may have to resign NAK to play 4RW. I do think Trineyev is trending to take that 4RW role with some ability to play up to 3RW but he needs another full year in Hershey with maybe some call-up duty.

Lastly, I know people like Protas at Center, but more importantly I like him in middle 6. He shines a lot more on the skilled lines.