Most underrated prospect?

[BigKing]

In regards to the King's prospects, many of them are overrated. The guy who doesn't get talked about as much and who will be the type of guy you need to have to win a cup is Petr Kanko.

Noah Clarke also played pretty well during his cup of coffee with the big club this year. I just think it's a lack of size that would possibly keep these two down, although Kanko reminds me of a Ciccarelli type guy, a guy who will really step it up in the playoffs as well as he almost won the MVP of the CHL playoffs two years ago.

 

[ZombieMatt]

Just a few names that pop into my mind:

Anton Babchuk
James Wisniewski
Daniel Fernholm
Kiril Koltsov
Rob Globke
Anthony Stewart
Dragan Umicevic

 

[Puckhead]

Oh. So, the reason O'Sullivan doesn't have that potential is because the term is used too loosely? Ok. I was worried it had something to do with his talent and ability.

The saddest part of the O' Sullivan situation is that he will have every opportunity to be successful in Minnesota. He will play with one of the best young forwards in the league in Gaborik, he will learn both sides of the game, which he is already quite good at with coach Lemaire and seeing as there is very little top end talent on that team he will shine that much brighter if he can show up on the ice. The Franchise player stuff is a little misleading. If you take top end talent from a low leverl team and put him on a top team, it may translate differently. What I am trying to say is that great players are indeed great no matter where they play or who they play with. O' Sullivan has that potential, but it may turn out to be simply that...potential.

 

[btn]

Michael Garnett has been in Kari Lehtonen's shadow(and rightly so) in the Thrashers farm system. But I think he is going to have a terrific season with the Chicago AHL squad next year, and may end up being a pretty good bargaining chip for Don Waddell down the road.

 

[X-SHARKIE]

Michael Garnett has been in Kari Lehtonen's shadow(and rightly so) in the Thrashers farm system. But I think he is going to have a terrific season with the Chicago AHL squad next year, and may end up being a pretty good bargaining chip for Don Waddell down the road.

Great Call, I saw 5 games of the Wolves this season and two play off games, I saw Garnett three times. He's a small guy, but he is very quick, and such a smart goaltender, very mechanically solid as well, I don't see him being a starter in the NHL but he could be a damn good back up.

 

[thestonedkoala]

I would love for the Wild to trade for Michael Garnett

 

[thestonedkoala]

The saddest part of the O' Sullivan situation is that he will have every opportunity to be successful in Minnesota. He will play with one of the best young forwards in the league in Gaborik, he will learn both sides of the game, which he is already quite good at with coach Lemaire and seeing as there is very little top end talent on that team he will shine that much brighter if he can show up on the ice. The Franchise player stuff is a little misleading. If you take top end talent from a low leverl team and put him on a top team, it may translate differently. What I am trying to say is that great players are indeed great no matter where they play or who they play with. O' Sullivan has that potential, but it may turn out to be simply that...potential.

Very little top end talent? Bouchard, Wallin, Foy are awesome top 6 forwards along with Voloshenko...Irmen could end up being a surprise. We are missing a big guy to take up space but we have some top ended talent other that O'Sullivan.

And we are not a low level team. That's saying Ruutu on Chicago is going to shine much brighter because Chicago doesn't have much top ended talent yet. Or Nashville or Columbus. Where does it end.

What makes Kostitsyn better than O'Sullivan? All prospects have potential and potential to reach them. O'Sullivan has a huge potential and good chance of hitting most of it. He has worked hard to get where he is and there is no doubt he wants to succeed.

 

[CrossCheck]

We are missing a big guy to take up space but we have some top ended talent other that O'Sullivan.

Don't you consider Kyle Wanvig a top end talent that could give space to smaller top end talent? He's started to prove he can score on a nightly basis in the AHL and could easily develop that powerfull game in the NHL real soon...

 

[Testify]

how exactly far is Wanvig from the NHL??

and could he turn out to be a solid 3rd liner or a decent 2nd liner??

thx for your infos

 

[CrossCheck]

I think he could become even more... He's a Scott Mellanby type of player. HE's a physical presence with poor/average skating at most but who could play with small offensive players on any line. He could be also used on a PP to screen goalies and get garbage. That's why he could even get used on a first line to shake things up and give space to let say Bouchard and Gaborik...

 

[Vagrant]

Eric Staal. Despite having a really good year in his 18 to 19 year old season, people are still ranking him pretty poorly in comparison. Those 2003 + 2004 Top Ten lists, people had him in the 5-7 range. He was always under Malkin as well as usually being under Horton and Zherdev. Fleury as well, which is understandable. A few lists even had him under Phaneuf and Suter. He scored the most points or close out of last year's first round selections and played the most games, yet he's still considered to not be as good of a prospect as Malkin. That's pretty confusing to me, as Malkin has done nothing really gaudy in terms of point production. I know that Russian players usually don't in playing with a league full of men, but i'm not sure i'd rank him above Staal. After all, Malkin will likely not be ready to jump into the league next season, and Staal has already played 81 games at the NHL level and scored 31 points.


As for the conventional intent of this topic, i'd have to say Danny Richmond. Quite a few people consider Richmond to be an average prospect at best, but i'd like to think otherwise. Richmond has a flashy offensive game that reminds me of David Tanabe's a few years ago, but he's not as prone to the mental breakdown as Tanabe was. I'd say that within 2 seasons, Richmond will be playing on the Hurricanes and hopefully making an impact.

 

[db23]

When will people realize that it's THE OHL, not the NHL. Who cares what he's done in junior. Ever heard of Bryan Fogarty, Jason Bonsignore, Cal McGowan, Dave Chyzowski, Scott Scissons, etc, etc. These guys were all HUGE scoring stars in junior but didn't have the game that equated to success at the NHL level. People should really have more to back up an argument of who is the most underrated prospect than "he was good in junior". Big deal. The reason why Locke is not talked about is because of his size and lack of speed. When you are that small you need to have something that can set you apart. Yes, Locke has some good offensive skills, but will he be able to do that at the next level? Personally I say no, but that's just my opinion. I see him as a career minor leaguer much like Jesse Schultz will be. Big junior scorers but that's it.

Locke may or may not succeed, but your examples of why he won't are lousy to say the least. Fogarty was an alchoholic. That is the entrie reason that he had a mediocre pro career. Bonsignore was one of the lowest scoring first round picks in the tear he was drafted. Check it out. Chysowski only scored a lot of points in one junior season, and even that wasn't exceptional by 1970's standards. Scissons was the opposite of what you're trying to make him out to be. He was never considered a big offensive threat, but a big strong two way type similar to Kyle Chipchura from this year's draft.

I could throw out hundreds of players who weren't drafted or taken late despite scoring a lot of points, starting with Martin St. Louis and including recent examples such as Mike Comrie, Chris Drury, Mike York, John Madden, Darcy Tucker, Doug Gilmour, Doug Weight, Marc Savard, etc., etc. At least those guys actually did score a lot of points consistently as amateurs. Other than Fogarty, your examples really didn't.

 

[db23]

There are a lot of underrated prospects out there (depending on your definition, I guess).

I'll throw Doug Lynch's name out there. He never gets mentioned, and he certainly won't be a superstar, but Oiler fans are really excited about him. He was an AHL all-star in his first pro season at 20 years old. Hopefully we'll see a lot more of him in the NHL next year.

I was just about to post Lynch when I saw yours. I'm not an Oiler's fan either. Leaf fans are always hyping Colaiacovo, but Lynch was much better in the AHL last season. He is also a lot bigger and tougher.

 

[db23]

Zakharov better hope he gets traded to the Habs so he can continue to play with Kastsitsyn. IMO Kats is considerably more talented and has the brighter future. Zakharov has been playing with Kats for years during international tourneys and sometime gets more ice time. Since his Dad is the Belarus' head coach I'd say he's made sure to lineup his son with Kats.

Zakharov has consistently outscored Kostitsyn playing for Belarus. I think that in the last three tournaments Zakharov has more points. Last year at the WJC (B Pool) Kosttisyn didn't even manage to finish second to Zakharov, he was third on the line in scoring.

 

[thestonedkoala]

Wanvig is a good 3rd liner, he'll score in the AHL but he hasn't done very much with the time he has been given in the NHL.

Wallin and Veilleux seemed a bit better.

 

[King Fish]

Most underrated prospect is Stephan Ruzicka in the Flyers organization. Many of the kids your talking about are first round picks!

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Most underrated prospect is Stephan Ruzicka in the Flyers organization. Many of the kids your talking about are first round picks!

He is very underrated. I think he'll turn out to be a decent player for them.

 

[Zonkie]

There´s been much talk about Calgary´s great season, but not so much about Matthew Lombardi. I will also mention Derek Roy, Buffalo and Paul Martin, New Jersey.

 

[X-SHARKIE]

I think Kyle Brodziak, drafted 7th round 2003 by the Oilers is vastly underated.

 

[montreal]

Zakharov has consistently outscored Kostitsyn playing for Belarus. I think that in the last three tournaments Zakharov has more points. Last year at the WJC (B Pool) Kosttisyn didn't even manage to finish second to Zakharov, he was third on the line in scoring.

Maybe you should have looked this up first.

'04 U-20's- Zakharov 14 pts, Kostitsyn 10 pts, Karaha was 2nd in tournament scoring.

'04 WC's- Kostitsyn 6 pts, 3rd on team in scoring, Zakharov wasn't invited.

'03- U-20's- Kostitsyn 3 pts, 2nd on team, Zakharov 2 pts tied with 4 others.

'03- U-18's- Kostitsyn 15 pts, Zakharov 16 pts well playing on the same line.

'03- WC's- Kostitsyn 1 pt in 2 games, Zakharov not invited

'02 U-20's- Kostitsyn 3 pts leads team, Zakharov 2 pts

'02 U-18's- Kostitsyn 10 pts leads team, Zakharov 6 pts.

So Zakharov outscored Kostitsyn by 4 points in this years U-20's and by one point in last years U-18's.

 

[GorillazXL]

Just a few names that pop into my mind:

Anton Babchuk
James Wisniewski
Daniel Fernholm
Kiril Koltsov
Rob Globke
Anthony Stewart
Dragan Umicevic

Umicevic? If this kid had a heart he would be amazing, I just don't know if he will ever find the wizard to give him a heart... Apparently he's as skilled if not more skilled then Robert Nilsson. I dream about the day he gets his act together and play in the AHL and realize what it takes to take it one step higher to make the NHL. As an Oilers fan I would mention Brodziak... He was drafted low because of his age but he never let that stop him from progress, he played extremely well at last years canadian WJC camp but got cut for what ever reason . He also took it up a step with the Warriors providing lots of offense and a sound checking game.

GXL