HF Ranks the Top 40 QMJHL 2005-eligible prospects

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Form and Substance

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Jun 11, 2004
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Awesome list, really guys. My only complaint (wasn't this inevitable?) is not seeing Francis Paré on the list, to me he would go ahead of guys like Hooper and Charette because of his goal scoring instincts. I actually believe he'll score 50 goals next year. Obviously he needs to work on his skating but it is better than hooper's.
 

Rahan

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When talking about Marek Zagrapan, it's written:
"However, he tends to be overly emotional when the play gets rougher, giving him his share of penalties."

Aren't you mixing up Stanislav Lascek with Marek Zagrapan? I've hardly ever seen Zaggy be emotional.. Lascek, on the other hand, has had his tantrums.
 

Onion Boy

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I absolutely love the article. This is exactly the type of stuff HF should be doing more of. It's GREAT for those of us who aren't subscribed to Mckeen's, ISS, and the like.

Great read and I look forward to future editions. Good work guys.
 

habbyfan60

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Mar 23, 2005
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wow! great work is right! still can't believe that mior has fallen that low. guess it really doesn't matter what you did the years prior to the draft year. he had an awful first part of the year but, i thought he brought it on in the second half. guess i was wrong! i still believe in this guy and look forward to having him prove all these people wrong in the future.

just a couple of questions though, when a player falls out of favour like mior has in the eye of the scouts:

1. what kind of a year does player need to have the following year to get back to top prospect status?

2. if a player like mior was regarded as high as he was at the start of the 2004-2005 season and has a mediocre season, wouldn't it be wise for the player to opt out of the draft this year and enter the draft the following year as an overager, assuming they can have a great year?

i would like to hear other people's opinion on this.
 

ZombieMatt

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May 20, 2002
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In the case of Ryan Mior, it's tough to say, I think there are probably some differing opinions on him. Some scouts may not be as put off by some of his performances as others. I know one western conference scout I spoke to fairly extensively felt that Mior's stock had dropped because of his second half of the season (mass consistency issues) and that he felt that Mior would be available in the last three rounds. But that is just one vantage point.

If he is interviewed (and the face to face meetings mean more than people realize I think), he will do well. Mior, in my opinion after talking to him for an HF piece, is a very smart and mature individual, and that may endear teams to him a little bit more.

Should he opt out and try again next season? Tough decision. His numbers should be much better next year as PEI can only improve. They had a young defence, but that should improve and thus Mior should face less scoring chances. Theoretically anyhow. But waiting a year also puts doubts into some teams minds because he is a year older, has that extra development, and they may covet a younger player of fairly equitable skill over him. It is a very tough choice. I think he may be better off to just take where he gets picked next season, and then try to draw more attentoin to himself in the organization he belongs to with an improved performance in 05-06.
 

King'sPawn

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Aaron Vickers said:
Truly a work that will not only please readers, but something that will garner Hockey's Future a lot of attention elsewhere, I would imagine.

Easily one of the Top Three pieces of work on HF this year.

Agreed. Wonderful work!
 

Ismellofhockey

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Armchair drafters rejoice!

I love these kinds of write ups, I hate waiting a few months to figure out what kind of player my team selected in the draft.

This is great, thanks a lot HF staffers.
 

Lukko4

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May 15, 2002
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Just a correction on Bartulis, he did play in the World Championships, in the 1:9 loss to Sweden.

As for his strength, he has already bulked up quite a bit over this season, he is pretty big compared to the skinny kid who came over in August.

Bartulis has the tools to be a top notch player, but once he physically matures, he can start to play a more physical game.
 

ZombieMatt

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May 20, 2002
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I should point out a few things.

We basically decided that there isn't much between Bartulis/Letang. We consider them basically equal, but somebody had to be listed ahead of the other.

Goaltenders are an area of intrigue for this draft. Some believe that Pelletier's U18 performance rose his stock considerably, and that Levasseur's lack of starts in the second half of the season has dropped him considerably. We tried to balance these considerations against their individual hypes/expectations with other aspects aside. The top three goalies are perhaps the biggest "x factor" coming out of the Q for this upcoming draft.
 

ZombieMatt

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Stevenet said:
Just a correction on Bartulis, he did play in the World Championships, in the 1:9 loss to Sweden.

As for his strength, he has already bulked up quite a bit over this season, he is pretty big compared to the skinny kid who came over in August.

Bartulis has the tools to be a top notch player, but once he physically matures, he can start to play a more physical game.

Ah, thanks for the correction Steve. The profile on him was written quite some time ago, near the start of ths project beginning, and I must have missed that, sorry.

In regards to his strength though, while he has gotten bigger, no doubt, it is very evident that he needs to play stronger. He still has problems containing bigger forwards, I saw it all year long in Moncton, and while it is getting better, it remains a major area of concern.

Yes, he does have tremendous potential, I will be the first to support that, but he must PLAY stronger if he's going to be able to physically compete in the NHL.
 

plaugher

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Would like to extend a big thanks to all the complements thus far (and so few complaints!)

Regarding Vlasic's lower rating, as you'll notice,. he's one of a sizeable chunk of defensemen in the 11-20 range. He is very solid all-around, but so are those ahead of him, and they all seem to bring a separate intangible in which they are stronger. Gragnani and Bartulis were getting massive minutes and playing in all situations, whilst boasting a bit of a more visible all-around game than Vlasic; Letang's offensive game seems superior to Vlasic's; and Denny's physical presence is stronger than Vlasic's.

His being ranked at the bottom of that pile should not be seen as a slight against his potential; it was just that he was the victim of being a quieter, all-around d-man than those just ahead of him.

In actuality, based on the projections we provided, all five were rated for the 3rd-or-4th round, so they are all pretty much interchangeable in where they may go.
 

turnbuckle*

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Nice work guys; lots of information. Some great stuff on some prospects that very little has been written about.

I do have an objection with Latendresse being ranked 2nd overall, and projected as a "first-line power forward". Perhaps he will be a power forward in the AHL, can't see it happening in the NHL however.

Mind you, I believe the term "power forward" is thrown around more than it should be; in my opinion there are perhaps a half dozen power forwards in the NHL. These days, anyone over 6-1, is North American, and scores more than 20 goals is dubbed a power forward. I also don't believe Latendresse will ever be a first-line forward, as I don't think he has the hands, and certainly doesn't have the speed. Maybe a second line winger at best with a good overall game.

I know, I know...he played well against Moncton in a first-round playoff loss, and had a decent second half of the regular season, but I'd like to see a dominant, consistent SEASON from Latendresse before ever projecting him to be a first liner in the NHL. His skating is going to have to come a looooooong way for that ever to happen, and his lack of finishing touch will always prohibit him from being a 30-goal man in the greatest league in the world.
This, of course, is only my opinion, although I will add that there are more than a couple scouts who are not sold on Latendresse being effective in the NHL due to his skating deficiencies.

I believe Latendresse will be the 5th pick from the Q, not the 2nd.
 

Brock

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Yeah definitely a great article, one of the better ones on this site in a while. I definitely believe that HF should consider more articles like this over the course of the junior seasons.
 

ZombieMatt

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May 20, 2002
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Latendresse is an interesting character. I saw him play twice early in the season, where he was bad, once after Christmas, the three games in Moncton, and all the U18's. And where he will be picked will be dependant upon which Latendresse teams decide is the real one.

Most of these kids have consistency issues or some sort of problem to overcome. Bourret is short, Zagrapan is softish, and Latendresse is inconsistent/has average skating.

The thing is, when Latendresse plays well, he may be the second best player in the 2005 draft period. If you saw him in Moncton you'd be hard pressed to refute that. Of course, can he maintain that type of effort.

Personally, I think his skating is blown out of proportion. For a teenager who is 220 lbs, he skates remarkably well I think. Of course, its all comparative. I remain confident that his size and all around package will make him the second Q forward taken, but there are other good players available from the region, so he is far from a lock.
 

bigd

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Jul 27, 2003
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What happened to Andricopoulos? I remember watching him at the minor hockey level and he was always a dominant players. His skating was phenominal and he had great stick handling ability. He never was much of a physical player but in an offensive league like the Q I thought he would put up some good numbers.
 

MontrealSF

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bigd said:
What happened to Andricopoulos? I remember watching him at the minor hockey level and he was always a dominant players. His skating was phenominal and he had great stick handling ability. He never was much of a physical player but in an offensive league like the Q I thought he would put up some good numbers.

He had a very disappointing year in Quebec City. Might rebound next year with the Remparts being improved. But things are quite difficult to understand in Quebec City...
 
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