Fastest Prospects?

True North

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I was wondering if anyone who knows the Top 20 or so prospects in the draft this year could rank them, 1-20 in terms of overall speed. With the emphasis on speed in the new NHL, I'd love to be able to see who's the cream of the crop this year.

Thanks!
 

True North

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Yeah I understand it'd take a little while to compose a list, so if anyone just wants to tell me who the standouts are and who the slouches are that'd be great too. One player I'm interested in knowing about is Berglund...I've heard a lot of good things about him but haven't been able to find much about his skating ability.
 

An Ape called Yoko

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Vincent_TheGreat said:
I really haven't heard much about Berglund in that regard either.
Like most forwards in that age - with a frame of 6'4" - he needs to work on his acceleration the first couple of meters. Already he has decent speed and he is very hard to take off the puck in full flight. I´d say his skating is pretty good, but the acceleration could need some work and also to add some pounds to his body.
 

SOLR

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I think Kessel is something special in terms of speed. Sometimes hes so fast he can't make any play out of it at his current development stage.(Miss the shot, makes a bad pass). Anyone faster in this draft? I really doubt it.

Jonathan Toews shows some good progress since WJC.(He was already fast for his age, but it seems like he was only lacking muscle strenght)
 

islandermaniac

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Vincent_TheGreat said:
I can't name a list, but Kessell and Brassard are elite!
how is brassard elite? in the prospects skills tests he was 33 out of 40 in the 60 foot dash (4 of the 40 are goalies, btw). he was 25 out of 40 in the 150. he was also 25 out of 40 in the lap.
 

superjonathan

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islandermaniac said:
how is brassard elite? in the prospects skills tests he was 33 out of 40 in the 60 foot dash (4 of the 40 are goalies, btw). he was 25 out of 40 in the 150. he was also 25 out of 40 in the lap.

and even bernier beat him in the 60 :eek: this is just one time and i wonder how well doing things like this model game situations?
 

JoeIsAStud

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islandermaniac said:
how is brassard elite? in the prospects skills tests he was 33 out of 40 in the 60 foot dash (4 of the 40 are goalies, btw). he was 25 out of 40 in the 150. he was also 25 out of 40 in the lap.

Brassard is he did perform as badly as you say in those sprints. What is really funny is once he gets the puck on his stick he is fast than almost anyone. He had the second fastest time in the puck control
 

sbtatter

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islandermaniac said:
how is brassard elite? in the prospects skills tests he was 33 out of 40 in the 60 foot dash (4 of the 40 are goalies, btw). he was 25 out of 40 in the 150. he was also 25 out of 40 in the lap.
If you look in the 2003 results you see Perry is one of the slowest, Fehr and Stone concistently beat Staal so not sure how much stock to put in the results in comparison to "on-ice" performance....
 

superjonathan

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sbtatter said:
If you look in the 2003 results you see Perry is one of the slowest, Fehr and Stone concistently beat Staal so not sure how much stock to put in the results in comparison to "on-ice" performance....

the fehr/stone/staal thing is fair but perry is (maybe was, i haven't seen as much of him since he left the O) slow so i'm not sure what the point of including him is.
 

Alberta Yote

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JoeIsAStud said:
Brassard is he did perform as badly as you say in those sprints. What is really funny is once he gets the puck on his stick he is fast than almost anyone. He had the second fastest time in the puck control
Seems to me that is the more important stat.
 

superjonathan

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Alberta Yote said:
Seems to me that is the more important stat.

i disagree. what percent of the time a player spends on the ice does he have the puck? what about getting back on defense etc.? also how often does a guy make 90 degree turns as he's going through the neutral zone like they do when they weave through the cones in the puck control test? i'm not saying it's not important, i'm just saying i don't think it's more important than 60 foot or 150 foot dash.
 

nuck

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Goals are all scored with the puck in your possession. There are lots of players with blistering speed without the puck that never stuck in the NHL or they are checkers. Straight speedskating is good for looking impressive when you are beating out icing calls but except for the rare breakaway opportunity you need the speed carrying the puck through obstacles more. Most of the time when players get beat going back on defence it is because they were out of position or reacted late.

I would be a little concerned if a player was substantilly slower than the rest of the crop though. That would only show up more against the higher level of NHL competition but it depends on how significant the speed difference is. A player like Jason Allison, who's lack of speed almost negates his high skill level and huge stature, is probably .5 seconds slower in a dash type drill than a player like Brassard, so Derick might be nowhere near slow enough in the dash to hurt his chances in the pros. You would need to be able to compare these tests against current pros or ones that were the most extreme examples of these skills. like Denis Savard carrying a puck through obstacles. Some of these numbers on disappointing draft picks like Doug Wickenheiser, Ken Yaremchuk, Pat Peake, or Alex Daigle might be really enlightening.
 

Whitesnake

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Hear that Brady Calla is exceptionnaly fast, just doesn't know how to use that speed.....
 

Rabid Ranger

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nuck said:
Goals are all scored with the puck in your possession. There are lots of players with blistering speed without the puck that never stuck in the NHL or they are checkers. Straight speedskating is good for looking impressive when you are beating out icing calls but except for the rare breakaway opportunity you need the speed carrying the puck through obstacles more. Most of the time when players get beat going back on defence it is because they were out of position or reacted late.

I would be a little concerned if a player was substantilly slower than the rest of the crop though. That would only show up more against the higher level of NHL competition but it depends on how significant the speed difference is. A player like Jason Allison, who's lack of speed almost negates his high skill level and huge stature, is probably .5 seconds slower in a dash type drill than a player like Brassard, so Derick might be nowhere near slow enough in the dash to hurt his chances in the pros. You would need to be able to compare these tests against current pros or ones that were the most extreme examples of these skills. like Denis Savard carrying a puck through obstacles. Some of these numbers on disappointing draft picks like Doug Wickenheiser, Ken Yaremchuk, Pat Peake, or Alex Daigle might be really enlightening.


Good thoughts, although I hesitate to call Pat Peake disappointing. He was well on his way to becoming a good NHL player when he had his horrific heel injury.
 

PhoPhan

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kidhander said:
Enver Lisin

The Coyotes took Lisin in the 2nd round in 2004, and they have signed him recently. He won't be in this draft, but he's fast.
 

Fan.At

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I think Andreas Nödl is a pretty good and quick Skater. Definitly in the top 20 somewhere (ISS has him 3rd best skater in the entire draft).
 

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