Hockey's Future Top 50 Prospects: 11-25

[J17 Vs Proclamation]

Phaneuf has offence, defence, hitting, leadership, etc etc etc, he is the total package. A franchise type of blueliner.

You don't see it, meh, thats okay, you will soon.

The way the Nhl is going i wont. Anyway very few players are the totla package and he won't be a franchise player. I'd take guys like Bouwmeester and Pitkanen over him. Phanuef can hit and has leadreship. We will wait and see how his defense and offense pan out when he goes to the faster, rougher environment of the NHL

 

[MrMastodonFarm*]

The way the Nhl is going i wont. Anyway very few players are the totla package and he won't be a franchise player. I'd take guys like Bouwmeester and Pitkanen over him. Phanuef can hit and has leadreship. We will wait and see how his defense and offense pan out when he goes to the faster, rougher environment of the NHL

I, of course, question how many times you have seen him play.

*edited for horrible spelling, due to rushed office time

 

[kruezer]

The way the Nhl is going i wont. Anyway very few players are the totla package and he won't be a franchise player. I'd take guys like Bouwmeester and Pitkanen over him. Phanuef can hit and has leadreship. We will wait and see how his defense and offense pan out when he goes to the faster, rougher environment of the NHL

I'd take Pitkanen over him, and Barker too BTW, but Bouwmeester probably not, its arguable though, those guys are all the Top U24 Blueliners around. I don't think Phaneuf will have a problem with the physical play of the NHL, the speed could be tougher, and he definately has high class leadership (look at the Rebs without him right now, Yikes, they've fallen apart) his offense is really underrated though, if he hadn't have put his shoulder out of place he might very well be leading the 'Dub in goal scoring.

 

[J17 Vs Proclamation]

I'd take Pitkanen over him, and Barker too BTW, but Bouwmeester probably not, its arguable though, those guys are all the Top U24 Blueliners around. I don't think Phaneuf will have a problem with the physical play of the NHL, the speed could be tougher, and he definately has high class leadership (look at the Rebs without him right now, Yikes, they've fallen apart) his offense is really underrated though, if he hadn't have put his shoulder out of place he might very well be leading the 'Dub in goal scoring.

I'd take Pitkanen and Bouwmeester other him. Not so sure about Barker though.

 

[Mothra]

Ya spelt question wrong dude.

well.....you knew what he meant....and decided not to forward that info...so I will ask....

How many times have you seen him play?

 

[Patty Ice]

none....I wouldnt know him if he was sitting next to me (well...maybe I would)...but to dissect his game the way he did one would think he had seen at least dozens of his games

as for me...you will never hear me talk like that about a player I have never seen (a good amount of)...past or present

I did no dissection on their games, just my observations and personal opinions on what I have seen of them (check the PM I sent you). I think it needs to be reminded that in no way that anything said here with regards to prospects should be taken as gospel. It is largely a group of educated (and uneducated) opinions and not necessarily truth. Only the players themselves can dictate that.

 

[J17 Vs Proclamation]

well.....you knew what he meant....and decided not to forward that info...so I will ask....

How many times have you seen him play?

Not a damn lot. I know your going to say ya cant comment but people are justing hyping him up to much for guy that hasn't played a single NHL game. Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying he's bad (far from it). We wil just have to wait and see how he peforms in the NHL. I hope you prove me wrong.

 

[PanthersRule96]

No error, when you see Whitney and Grebeshkov in the later stages of the list, Mark Stuart shouldn't be in the top 25.

Stuart is nothing. He has like bad offensive skills. To be a top prospect, no matter how good you are defensively, you need to have at least semi-decent offense. STuart is a sold prospect, but that's why guys like Suter, Grebeshkov, Krajicek, Colailacovo, Whitney, etc.. are ahead of him. He's definately a safe prospect, but he has no extreme upside that would put him with like Blake or Lidstrom, or any other good d for that matter. All the highly hearalded dmen in the game have good offense.

 

[kruezer]

Not a damn lot. I know your going to say ya cant comment but people are justing hyping him up to much for guy that hasn't played a single NHL game. Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying he's bad (far from it). We wil just have to wait and see how he peforms in the NHL. I hope you prove me wrong.

He does get hyped, naturally if you play for Canada at WJC and put together a solid tourny you will, and rightly so, but quite a few of the prospects on this list haven't seen the NHL, its no crime to speak highly of them though.

 

[leafaholix*]

And oh yeah; Leafaholix - always amusing to see you comment on how some homers overhype their own prospects, yet you declare two of your own (Coco and Steen) to be the least appreciated (along with the top prospect in the world). Alwaysa good for a laugh. P.S. If Coco becomes a better NHLer than Higgins (the "disgrace" of the top 50); I'll eat a Leafs cap.

I was joking on the Steen and Colaiacovo comment, obviously.

And I think Higgins should be higher... so I don't know what you're talking about.

 

[Ola]

you're gonna catch some heat for that one

i can't compare the two and say who has more potential...fleury obviously has a ton or he wouldn't have been drafted so high, but it's not out of the question that someone else could have as much or even more potential and skill than him.

but lundqvist has had an excellent career and he's only 22...he's just done great in every situation he's been in, very talented...deserves some credit. we'll see where fleury ends up by the age of 22

Some SEL stats:
Miika Kiprusoff 2004 17games in net 1.70GAA 93.00%
Henrik Lundqvist 2004 17games in net 1.71 93.86%
Henrik Lundqvist 2002(20 y/o) 28games in net 1.45GAA 94.8%

I honestly doubt M-A Fleury would post as good stats in the SEL as Lundqvist did as a 20 y/o.

 

[J17 Vs Proclamation]

He does get hyped, naturally if you play for Canada at WJC and put together a solid tourny you will, and rightly so, but quite a few of the prospects on this list haven't seen the NHL, its no crime to speak highly of them though.

Yeah but he gets too much hype. A solid tourny isn't a great tourny. Though playing for Canada does mean he's kinda in the spotlight.

 

[JackDaniel]

How does Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers make the top 50 while Lundqvist does not? Makes no sense.

Exact... absolutely stupid!!!

JD

 

[MePutPuckInNet]

My biggest complaint is that there's no categorical definition of what "potential" truly means. The word itself is so open to interpretation, perspective, conjecture and subjectivity, that it becomes virtually meaningless. If only we knew more precisely what it is that the creators of this list are looking at, perhaps more people would be open to agreement ....or at least less traumatized by it.

Having said that...I have a genuine question regarding the list. I'm not passing any judgements or trying to start quibbling. As far as I'm concerned most of the guys I'm asking about are pretty much on the same page [obviously HF agrees since they're literally - on the same page of the list eh?]. But, I'd like to understand what exactly the creators of the list are looking at in establishing the placement of the players. I did read the info about the prospects and criteria...but it leaves a lot of questions, in my opinion.

Basically, how is it that Andrei Kostitsyn goes ahead of a Carter/Stewart/O'Sullivan? I'm not even arguing that he shouldn't. I just want to know WHY he is. What exactly is the differential "potential" factor? The comments on him in the list write up indicate that although he's got a great shot and awesome puck handling, his speed is not one of his better assets. So how does he rank further down the list than those 3 other dudes I just mentioned? I really and truly would just like to know what exactly you're looking at to draw these conclusions. Please be specific if you're going to reply.

 

[kruezer]

Yeah but he gets too much hype. A solid tourny isn't a great tourny. Though playing for Canada does mean he's kinda in the spotlight.

I can agree he gets hyped, definetaly, I drive the bus after all . I won't debate whether his tourny was solid or great, though he did get picked as the 2nd best defensemen after Lepisto. I don't know, I think THN putting him 2nd overall last year just opened some peoples eyes.

 

[Levitate]

Blackburn still has shot at the NHL level. He is only, what 21 and he's being called a bust. It is still to earlier to tell with him. NYR fans should be more patient with him. You're expecting a young goalie to set the world on fire.

i personally don't want to give up on him, and i haven't...like i said though, some ranger fans are nuts and because he showed he needed work when he was still 18 years old, they called him a bust.

but his injury and waiver status has him looking at an uncertain future..though i really can't see the rangers dumping him on waivers (they'd definatly let weekes or dunham go first) it still forces him back into the NHL when he'd be better served honing his game in the AHL for a year or so. if the rangers can give him time, he's still a great goalie prospect, and he played some amazing games as a 18 year old as well.

 

[Chimaera]

To bring the attention back to Ward, he's probably gotten the biggest shaft of anyone out there.


At least if he's not in the top 10 (which I would be surprised to see him)

And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a playoff team that he'd have to be on, it would be a Canadian team he'd have to be on.

 

[Buffaloed]

Still am amazed Henrik Lundqvist doesnt get any respect. Hes better than Montoya.

It's more like the SEL not getting respect with respect to goaltenders. When the best NHL goalie its produced is Tommy Salo, there's going to be some bias, and it's probably deserved. Hedberg is the only other Swedish goalie I can think of that's been in the NHL that had some success. It also didn't help that a number of Leaf fans spent the 2001 offseason hyping (and annoying everyone) Mikael Tellqvist as the next franchise goalie. Sweden is going to be viewed as a dubious developer of goalie talent until it places 2-3 quality starters in the NHL.

 

[kruezer]

To bring the attention back to Ward, he's probably gotten the biggest shaft of anyone out there.


At least if he's not in the top 10 (which I would be surprised to see him)

And I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a playoff team that he'd have to be on, it would be a Canadian team he'd have to be on.

Definetaly, most underreated Goalie prospect around. Its a tough list to crack, but he's incredibly underrated.

 

[FearTheFlyers]

Parise 25 spots ahead of Richards and 5 ahead of Carter is criminal.

 

[CoolburnIsGone]

I'm glad I'm not involved in the ratings business, but I would suggest in the future a separate list for goalies (top 10) and use the top 50 just for skaters. Goalies are "different". It's like allowing cats to compete in a dog show.

I'd say take this a step further and separate out forwards and d-men in the skaters group. For example, you see here how rating a d-man ahead of a forward can be heavily debated since they (d-men) are "different" too. I'd like to see a top 10 goalies, top 35 forwards and top 15 d-men as the lists.

 

[Bacchus]

It's more like the SEL not getting respect with respect to goaltenders. When the best NHL goalie its produced is Tommy Salo, there's going to be some bias, and it's probably deserved. Hedberg is the only other Swedish goalie I can think of that's been in the NHL that had some success. It also didn't help that a number of Leaf fans spent the 2001 offseason hyping (and annoying everyone) Mikael Tellqvist as the next franchise goalie. Sweden is going to be viewed as a dubious developer of goalie talent until it places 2-3 quality starters in the NHL.

But there should be no bias involved. Of course, there are questionmarks if he will be able to translate his game over to NA and in the NHL (same as with every other prospect btw.) - but what exactly can he do more in the SEL to show that he has the potential to become a very good NHL-goalie?

 

[Vic Rattlehead*]

Stuart is nothing. He has like bad offensive skills. To be a top prospect, no matter how good you are defensively, you need to have at least semi-decent offense. STuart is a sold prospect, but that's why guys like Suter, Grebeshkov, Krajicek, Colailacovo, Whitney, etc.. are ahead of him. He's definately a safe prospect, but he has no extreme upside that would put him with like Blake or Lidstrom, or any other good d for that matter. All the highly hearalded dmen in the game have good offense.

Stuart is nothing? Sure he won't have the offence but he has the potential to be a premier shut-down defender.

 

[MrMastodonFarm*]

Not a damn lot. .

Once, twice?

Go watch him play for 5-6 games, you will realize why he gets the hype.

 

[mooseOAK*]

Stuart is nothing? Sure he won't have the offence but he has the potential to be a premier shut-down defender.

Guys like that without the offensive skills tend to max out as #3 or #4 defencemen.