New McKeen's top 165

[shaner8989]

Irving
Varlamov
Enroth
Palmer
Sauer
Berra
Neuvirth
Armstrong

Any potential steals there?

 

[fedorov_jr]

backstrom has moved from 5-6 to 2-3 in the last few weeks... can anyone tell me more about his game and what he's done to warrant the climb? could it be people like his potential more than that of kessel/toews/staal?

 

[MN_Gopher]

Very few people if any would score 100 in the NCAA. Parise was better than Crosby when they were both at Shattucks. Parise puts up 32 points in 28 conference games. Crosby puts up 135 points in 59 games. Kessel put up 33 points in 28 conference games. Vanek puts up 33 points in 28 games his freshman year in conference. Heatley puts up 36 points in 27 games. Not to bad in comparitive company. Vanek, Heatley and Parise all played on their teams top lines. Kessel played second line. Not with Potulny or Irmen.


In compaison to Kariya. When Kariya played almost all NCAA players played HS the year before. Now there is the u18 team, shattucks putting out tons and the USHL is almost manditory if you are not a top pick. Most average players are coming in after a few years in the USHL. More top US players are staying in the NCAA and we are taking a few guys like Toews and Zajac from Canada. No one will dominate the NCAA like Kariya did.

 

[haelwho]

Any potential steals there?

Enroth could be. I don't really know enough about the others to say.

 

[Snoopy]

backstrom

Unless you are talking about a mock draft any rankings are usually for where scouting services like mckeens, redline & iss think that a player SHOULD go, not where he WILL go.

Guaranteed Pittsburgh does not take Backstrom at #2!

 

[CertifiedPublicGuin]

Irving
Varlamov
Enroth
Palmer
Sauer
Berra
Neuvirth
Armstrong

I don't know if the original poster assumes that Helenius is already ahead of Bernier, but if not, then Riku should of course be on there

 

[stockwizard*]

Very few people if any would score 100 in the NCAA. Parise was better than Crosby when they were both at Shattucks. Parise puts up 32 points in 28 conference games. Crosby puts up 135 points in 59 games. Kessel put up 33 points in 28 conference games. Vanek puts up 33 points in 28 games his freshman year in conference. Heatley puts up 36 points in 27 games. Not to bad in comparitive company. Vanek, Heatley and Parise all played on their teams top lines. Kessel played second line. Not with Potulny or Irmen.


In compaison to Kariya. When Kariya played almost all NCAA players played HS the year before. Now there is the u18 team, shattucks putting out tons and the USHL is almost manditory if you are not a top pick. Most average players are coming in after a few years in the USHL. More top US players are staying in the NCAA and we are taking a few guys like Toews and Zajac from Canada. No one will dominate the NCAA like Kariya did.

What kind of non sense is this?

While Parise was playing under his dad at Shattuck:
17 year old season: 2.33 points per game
18 year old season: 2.76 points per game

Crosby while playing in a new environment and getting little ice time for the first part of the year:
15 year old season: 2.84 points per game.

I am sure the Pens won't irritate Crosby by taking Kessel and all his baggage.

The sooner you American boys realise that Kessel will never come close to being as good as Crosby is now, the better.

 

[katodelder]

Any potential steals there?

The big riser from the start of the season of this group has been Varlamov. #96 in January, #70 in March, #39 now.

 

[RangerBoy]

I don't know if the original poster assumes that Helenius is already ahead of Bernier, but if not, then Riku should of course be on there

The question was who are the top goalies after Bernier.The Finnish goalie is ranked ahead of Bernier

 

[jake1]

What kind of non sense is this?

While Parise was playing under his dad at Shattuck:
17 year old season: 2.33 points per game
18 year old season: 2.76 points per game

Crosby while playing in a new environment and getting little ice time for the first part of the year:
15 year old season: 2.84 points per game.

I am sure the Pens won't irritate Crosby by taking Kessel and all his baggage.

The sooner you American boys realise that Kessel will never come close to being as good as Crosby is now, the better.

You are correct in your stats and general point that Crosby was lights-out at SSM, even compared to Parise when he was a few years older. But if you're going to rip someone for getting facts wrong, try not to mess them up too. The elder Parise doesn't coach the prep team, Tom Ward does; JP Parise coaches younger kids at SSM. Also, "Crosby" and "little ice time" are terms that have pretty much never gone together, including when he was at Shattuck.

 

[sbtatter]

Who at McKeens are responsible for the draft lists? Is it NHL and junior league scouts, or based on what?

 

[Rookie Chargers]

Who at McKeens are responsible for the draft lists? Is it NHL and junior league scouts, or based on what?

From what I can tell it is the imput of 18 minds ranging from the U.S., Canada and Europe.

 

[MN_Gopher]

What kind of non sense is this?

While Parise was playing under his dad at Shattuck:
17 year old season: 2.33 points per game
18 year old season: 2.76 points per game

Crosby while playing in a new environment and getting little ice time for the first part of the year:
15 year old season: 2.84 points per game.

I am sure the Pens won't irritate Crosby by taking Kessel and all his baggage.

The sooner you American boys realise that Kessel will never come close to being as good as Crosby is now, the better.

So in your world points are better. Then Kessel was better than everyone else at the world juniors? Out playing Malkin too? No points do not make the better player. And the sooner you non NCAA fans with no knowledge keep trying to put the baggage label on Kessel. We will see closer to eye to eye.

And WOW OMG Parise goes from 2.76 and Crosby has 2.84. Then they go to what a little over 2 per for Crosby and Parise is at a a buck and a quarter. Yeah thats the same in realtive translation. Way easier to score in Q. Cannot compare Q and NCAA.

 

[inferno98]

I must say that i'm a little surprised that Wishart went up several spots and Sanguinetti dropped several spots from McKeen's last ranking. Since then, wishart had a poor showing at the Under 18s while Sanguinetti had a strong playoff showing for Owen Sound. If anything, I would have expected the opposite, Wishart dropping a few spots and Sangy solidifying his ranking.

Yeah thats what I was thinking, but a lot of people are uneasy about how Sanguinetti plays. If sanguinetti drops to the flyers i really hope they pick him up.

 

[Walzy]

I would be really surprised if Gawlik will not be chosen this year.
He played similar to Gogulla(2nd round pick last year!)

but Gogulla was/is way too overrated....

but ok, if you take Ott in the 1st (like Dallas) you can take Gogulla in the 2nd lol

 

[Joe MacMillan]

I don't know if the original poster assumes that Helenius is already ahead of Bernier, but if not, then Riku should of course be on there

Helenius is #13 and is ahead of Bernier on the list.

 

[Spetzky]

So in your world points are better. Then Kessel was better than everyone else at the world juniors? Out playing Malkin too? No points do not make the better player. And the sooner you non NCAA fans with no knowledge keep trying to put the baggage label on Kessel. We will see closer to eye to eye.

And WOW OMG Parise goes from 2.76 and Crosby has 2.84. Then they go to what a little over 2 per for Crosby and Parise is at a a buck and a quarter. Yeah thats the same in realtive translation. Way easier to score in Q. Cannot compare Q and NCAA.

I believe he was talking about the one year Crosby played in Shattuck- St.Mary's Prepatory School. At the age of 15, he broke the schools points record previously held by 18 year-old Zach Parise.

 

[timlap]

No one has accused HabLover of having much insight into college hockey. Bottomline with Kessel is he WAS subjected to unrealistic expectations (me included) and while he had a great year didn't live up to those expectations. That doesn't mean he isn't a great prospect, because he is. He's just been in the fishbowl for too long. At least he's handling all of this speculation about his game and character with dignity.

He's an excellent prospect who also happened to mature early and quickly in certain facets of his game and thus was quite dominant while still young. Plus, the USNTDP attracts big attention (at least in the relatively small world of draftniks and scouts and scouting services). If anyone is to blame for overhyping Kessel, it's Phil himself for being so good. (Also blame Crosby and Ovechkin for setting the standard high).

Like Spezza, he has been exposed to being analsysed again and again and people are nitpicking in order to find flaws.

Like Spezza, he's as sure fire an NHL player as you can hope for and his shortcomings are not a serious concern.

Having said all that, I might rank him as low as 5th only because I see the top 4 forwards as being quite equal and it depends what you like:

Staal- potentially the whole package, the forward equivalent of Erik Johnson, but he is more projection than reality at this point.

Toews- Complete game including offence despite some doubters

Backstrom- Seems to be the most mature player at this point and comparisons to Peter Forsberg don't seem outrageous

Kessel- potentially over-the-top offence, both scoring and playmaking, can he be an elite all-round player?

Prety tough to choose between the 4 imo, but still I wish my team had to make a choice.

 

[habs9]

If accurate Leafs would get Frolik

If each team picks by this rating system then Leafs would probably take Frolik rather than another Finnish goalie. That would be great but really would Frolik fall that far?

I think Frolik has huge offensive upside. Exactly what the Leafs need.

 

[Bootsauce]

If each team picks by this rating system then Leafs would probably take Frolik rather than another Finnish goalie. That would be great but really would Frolik fall that far?

I think Frolik has huge offensive upside. Exactly what the Leafs need.

My thoughts exactly regarding the Canucks. If Frolik was still there when the Nucks picked I would be very happy! Kinda like Kopitar last year! oh wait.....

 

[Bryzga lol*]

backstrom has moved from 5-6 to 2-3 in the last few weeks... can anyone tell me more about his game and what he's done to warrant the climb? could it be people like his potential more than that of kessel/toews/staal?

I'd like to know aswell. I've followed Kessel, Toews and Staal so much that it surprised me to see Backstrom ahead of them, but he must be that good.

I can't see the Pens picking him, they need muscle so I really think they'll be picking Staal. Crosby and Malkin aren't the strongest guys, but if Jordan develops like his brothers, he's going to complete the offence. The Pens could have the best 2 top lines in hockey in a couple of years, hands down, regardless of who are the other three wingers (if they pick Staal).

 

[SChan*]

backstrom has moved from 5-6 to 2-3 in the last few weeks... can anyone tell me more about his game and what he's done to warrant the climb? could it be people like his potential more than that of kessel/toews/staal?

since backstrom plays for my SEL team, I can tell you that backstrom's development is nothing short of remarkable, he started the SEL season very quietly, but he became better and better with each game, and when he seaosn was over, our national coach thought backstrom was so good that he played him on our nr1 line (and we won the world championchip)

Backstrom can be described as a very down to earth guy, with a good attitude, but with a giant winning instinct, like Peter Forsberg he has critisized his play a lot that he can play better than this despite being 18 years old. He is also described to raise to any level of play that is nesicerry.

Backstrom is like Forsberg, a great passer. At the world championchip, Our veteran Jorgen Jonsson said that he doesn't have anything to teach backstrom, and that his "flip over the stick" passes is nothing short of amazing. Like Forsberg, backstrom holds his stick very close to the body which makes it difficult to take the puck away from him.

If Pittsburgh takes this guy, I think they have a new dynasty in the making.

 

[Anthony Mauro]

since backstrom plays for my SEL team, I can tell you that backstrom's development is nothing short of remarkable, he started the SEL season very quietly, but he became better and better with each game, and when he seaosn was over, our national coach thought backstrom was so good that he played him on our nr1 line (and we won the world championchip)

Backstrom can be described as a very down to earth guy, with a good attitude, but with a giant winning instinct, like Peter Forsberg he has critisized his play a lot that he can play better than this despite being 18 years old. He is also described to raise to any level of play that is nesicerry.

Backstrom is like Forsberg, a great passer. At the world championchip, Our veteran Jorgen Jonsson said that he doesn't have anything to teach backstrom, and that his "flip over the stick" passes is nothing short of amazing. Like Forsberg, backstrom holds his stick very close to the body which makes it difficult to take the puck away from him.

If Pittsburgh takes this guy, I think they have a new dynasty in the making.

Great post. Out of all these expert reports, from some that haven't even seen the kid, this is one thing that's never been mentioned before. But it is pretty significant mark in his scouting profile.

Nice observation.

 

[HabLover]

Very few people if any would score 100 in the NCAA. Parise was better than Crosby when they were both at Shattucks. Parise puts up 32 points in 28 conference games. Crosby puts up 135 points in 59 games. Kessel put up 33 points in 28 conference games. Vanek puts up 33 points in 28 games his freshman year in conference. Heatley puts up 36 points in 27 games. Not to bad in comparitive company. Vanek, Heatley and Parise all played on their teams top lines. Kessel played second line. Not with Potulny or Irmen.


In compaison to Kariya. When Kariya played almost all NCAA players played HS the year before. Now there is the u18 team, shattucks putting out tons and the USHL is almost manditory if you are not a top pick. Most average players are coming in after a few years in the USHL. More top US players are staying in the NCAA and we are taking a few guys like Toews and Zajac from Canada. No one will dominate the NCAA like Kariya did.

I almost pissed my pants when I read this!! Parise never has been and never will be better than Crosby!! Even when Zach was about 2 or 3 yrs old and Sid was in his mommy's tummy he was still better than Zach!

 

[perin]

since backstrom plays for my SEL team, I can tell you that backstrom's development is nothing short of remarkable, he started the SEL season very quietly, but he became better and better with each game, and when he seaosn was over, our national coach thought backstrom was so good that he played him on our nr1 line (and we won the world championchip)

Backstrom can be described as a very down to earth guy, with a good attitude, but with a giant winning instinct, like Peter Forsberg he has critisized his play a lot that he can play better than this despite being 18 years old. He is also described to raise to any level of play that is nesicerry.

Backstrom is like Forsberg, a great passer. At the world championchip, Our veteran Jorgen Jonsson said that he doesn't have anything to teach backstrom, and that his "flip over the stick" passes is nothing short of amazing. Like Forsberg, backstrom holds his stick very close to the body which makes it difficult to take the puck away from him.

If Pittsburgh takes this guy, I think they have a new dynasty in the making.

I would love for the Hawks to get this guy at #3