Goomba
Mario is a Devils fan
- May 7, 2021
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- 491
Both Ottawa and New Jersey have very deep pools by virtue of drafting a ton recently, and comparing them can be hard and lengthy in time. Me listing the Devils prospects wouldnt achieve much since we both dont know many of the others later-round prospectsAre you talking about prospect pool or U-25 pieces? It looks like you're talking about prospect pools but Sens also had "high-end under 23 guys on the roster for a few years now", namely Thomas Chabot and Brady Tkachuk
Obviously, Devils have sucked for almost a decade now (Sens 4 years) so it's a bit early for Ottawa, some things are still not clear yet, notably "down the middle". Will Stutzle will eventually play center or not? If he does, then you're looking at Stutzle-Norris-Pinto. Will Logan Brown will finally stop getting injured? If he does, many believe he will finally be able to establish himself in the NHL. How good will he be is the question. Also, wouldn't be surprised if they pick up a Center in the upcoming top-10 of this Draft.
I haven't looked DEEPLY enough at the Devils pool to know this but this is how the Sens pool was voted on HF Sens just before the season (age at start of the season), with some comments :
1- Tim Stutzle (19 y/o) : has literally everything to be a star/superstar
2- Jake Sanderson (18 y/o) : will be considered one of the best prospects not in the NHL in the near future if it's not already the case
3- Drake Batherson (22 y/o) : 25 goals, 50 pts pace in NHL this season. High end skill and vision, still hasn't put it all together
4- Josh Norris (21 y/o) : 25 goals, 51 pts pace in NHL this season. Already quite good on faceoffs and defensively. Mature game that will keep getting better
5- Erik Brannstrom (21 y/o) : still progressing, 36 pts pace in NHL this season.
6- Logan Brown (22 y/o) : long-term project but has been very injury prone. High end skill set. 0.84 PPG in AHL. Needs to stay healthy but hard to see him not being NHL player (might be somewhere else)
7- Jacob Bernard-Docker (20 y/o) : pretty good 2-way Top-4 D-man prospect. Quietly solid in all zones
8- Alex Formenton (21 y/o) : elite speed at 6'3, excellent defensively and will provide secondary scoring while creating havoc all over the ice
9- Shane Pinto (20 y/o) : excellent 2-way center, great on face-offs/defensively, underrated offense. Very steep development curve as he started playing hockey seriously at 15 y/o, seems to be just scratching the surface
10- Ridly Greig (18 y/o) : another pick that looks like a homerun. Looked very good in the AHL at 18 y/o. 1.52 PPG in WHL. Speed, skill, agitation, versatility
11- Roby Jarventie (18 y/o) : long term project, elite shot, 6'3, pretty good skater. 14 goals 25 pts in 48 Liiga games at 18 y/o, that's pretty good for a teenager in that men's league. Scored 2 goals and 1 assist in his 4th AHL game.
12- Rudolfs Balcers (23 y/o) : gave him away for nothing, will be an excellent 2-way 3rd line forward, another blunder by the Sens GM.
13- Vitali Abramov (22 y/o) : a bit undersized at 5'10, good skater but not super fast, which makes it harder for an undersized forward. Pretty good offensive skillset but below average defensive awareness which is another thing to overcome. 74 pts in 60 games in the last 2 AHL seasons. Didn't look out of place at all in his NHL games but at some point, there's not unlimited spots on a roster.
14- Joey Daccord (24 y/o) : has shown pretty well since turning pro. His stats this year are terrible because defense was terrible in Ottawa and Belleville early in the season. It has progressively been fixed but he has been injured for a while.
15- Lassi Thomson (20 y/o) : long term project. Good skillset but IMO won't ever be good enough defensively to be top-4. Has definitively shown he has NHL upside this season in the AHL. 30 pts pace in his rookie season.
16- Egor Sokolov (20 y/o) : this guy make us think about Mark Stone more and more everyday. Chances are very small that he'll be as good but certainly has a shot and hockey sense. 14 goals in 33 AHL games. This pick looks like a homerun.
17- Tyler Kleven (18 y/o) : looked much better than he was given credit for. Intriguing pick (44th OA in 2020). Hits like a truck, very good size, reach and mobility. Booming shot
18- Filip Chlapik (23 y/o) : no spot for him even though he didn't look out of place at all in the NHL last year, but more a defensive player at that level. So he's back in Europe for now. Will probably try to come back in the NHL in the near future
19- Mads Søgaard (20 y/o) : 6'7 athletic monster, 6-0-0, 0.927 SV% to start his AHL career, has looked very very good
20- Filip Gustavsson (22 y/o) : goalie prospect with great pedigree, has looked stellar in the NHL, 0.933 SV% on a team that was a work in progress defensively.
21- Max Lajoie (23 y/o) : good start in the NHL, got injured and then regressed. Has been traded this season
22- Kevin Mandolese (20 y/o) : was great in the Q, still years away but not a bad goalie prospect at all
23- Angus Crookshank (21 y/o) : 14 pts in 17 AHL games. Looks like a gamer. Another guy with speed, skill and agitation.
24- Maxence Guénette (19 y/o) : pretty good career in the Q, will turn pro. Worth keeping an eye on.
25- Jonathan Davidsson (23 y/o) : unfortunately for him, career got derailed by injuries (concussions). Will be gone soon if it's not already the case
26- Leevi Merilainen (18 y/o) : pretty young but had some pretty good reviews from Finland. 0.934 SV% this season
27- Jonny Tychonick (20 y/o) : always forget about him but personally don't think he'll amount to much. Still a recent 2nd round pick (2018)
28- Philippe Daoust (19 y/o) : was starting to get a lot of attention in the Q before getting injured. Probably a significant breakout season next year
29- Parker Kelly (21 y/o) : agitating 4th liner, can chip in offensively, 0.48 PPG in the AHL. He seems to be in the plans of the organization. Scored his first goal in his first NHL game.
Not voted (only those worth mentionning) :
Aspirot (21 y/o) has probably been the best D-man in Belleville this season. Reinhardt (20 y/o) showing some good stuff. Kastelic (21 y/o) pretty decent too. Lodin (21 y/o) has some pretty good skill, could surprise next year when he comes over. Alsing (24 y/o) has played some games in the NHL at the end of the season. No idea what will happen with Novak (22 y/o) but some good reviews in the NCAA.
When you have guys like Sokolov at #16, Sogaard at #19, Gustavsson at #20, Crookshank at #24, etc... you have an insanely DEEP prospect pool. Devils pool probably good too but not in the same tier IMO. Same thing if you do that for U-25. I never saw this kind of young asset wealth before in Ottawa but the Melnyk-Dorion duo scares the shit out of me, they could sabotage things at any point in time.
However the jobs of many out there who compare prospects and entire prospect pools have had NJ near the top-3 along with NYR, LAK, and OTT. Most recently after the 2020 draft, I saw NJ ranked #2 behind NYR (though this is mainly due to them winning Lafreniere, otherwise NJ was #1)
Just as some examples of these later round talents blooming for NJ, Jesper Bratt was a sixth rounder, Sharangovich a fourth rounder, and Miles Wood a fourth rounder.
And as you touched on for U24-25 talent on the roster, NJ has had some on the roster for some years now. Hischier Hughes Bratt Zacha Smith Blackwood Sharangovich Bahl (likely a stay at the big league), and more on the way with names like Holtz Mercer Clarke Foote Ohkotyuk Misyul etc etc..
New Jersey just had the youngest forward roster put out on ice since a 1980's Sabres team. And during a few of the Devils games this year, their NHL roster was younger than their AHL roster!
I think Ottawa has more 1st round talent throughout their pool (again, Hischier Hughes both being 1s affects this), but NJ has the deeper set including rounds three and on.