Timo Meier (9th overall)

[stator]

Needs to get a little stronger/heavier on his stick. Loses the puck easily at times, but otherwise, loving how he's coming along.

Sharks overall control of the puck, as in keeping the puck on the tape, is not the best in the league. It really shows when they play against a decent, faster team.

I would guess they are probably around the 50 percentile in the league for this aspect.

Going to what Sharksfan83 stated above, this team needs a guy like McDavid. Even Taveres will do. Either one and resigning Kane, I would have to think this team will be on the short list among hockey writers' prediction to win the cup next pre-season.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

He was talking about Timo Meier. Not the Sharks.

 

[ThorNton Apologist]

The guy is a beast. 30 goals next season is a reasonable expectation. He’s a new era power forward, he drives the net and opens up space for teammates. Seems to be getting better in all areas this season. I know the 2015 draft looks great and could even be comparable to 2003 (we’ll see), but Meier is turning out to be a very solid pick at #9. It’s easy to say guys like Rantanen and Connor will produce more overall points but Timo contributes more than just goals. He’s such a strong net from front presence. His strength and puck protection is very similar to Hertls.

 

[67 others]

My friend, I have watched Meier play all this year and last. I am a Haligonian and watch the mooseheads all the time.

This kid's drive is off the charts. His skills improved not just this season, but every damn game. He literally microscopes his mistakes, practices ways to improve and builds muscle memory to not make the same mistake twice. Forget the scout reports. I will say it here and now. This kid's ceiling is Corey Perry+. His floor? I don't see a floor. Lucic maybe? Only the ceiling. He will bust his butt to be the best and improve. Not only does he work hard to fix his mistakes, but he works hard to perfect what he already does right and get better at it every time he does it.

During this year, a lot of Moose fans were forgetting Ehlers watching Meier because Meier is a superstar talent in his own right.

That being said. Ill say something else for another I saw quite a it of. Jeremy Roy from Sherbrooke is now our best prospect. This guy could end up supplanting Hanifin/Provorov/Werenski as the best defenseman of the draft and he WILL be a #1 defenseman. He has that "It" factor of a Duncan Keith and Drew Doughty. Forget these silly reports. His stock went down because he had a few injuries and suspensions and because he plays in the Q(Why do scouts hate Q defensemen?) and people got to see less of him than they did the others.

A year ago, scouts said his shot was the weakest part of his game while mulling that he would go top 10 in the draft. Flash forward, now he is praised for his shot, and his explosiveness is the weakest part of his game according to scouts.

I said a decade ago watching Crosby complain about Vlasic being so hard to play against that he should be going top 10 in the draft, and time has shown Vlasic to be a steal and incredible player.

Fun to fast forward 3-4 years later.

Poor Jeremy Roy. boy was I off base there. Constant injuries absolutely murdered his drive and confidence and he does not look like the same prospect anymore.

If I am wrong about the next franchise player being Alexis Lafreniere, then ill truly eat crow.


But Meier. Yep, I told you so. Jux was basically on a cliff ready to jump after this pick as we tried unsuccessfully to tell her Meier would be a stud. I said Corey Perry ceiling back then, including potential Hart

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

IMO, Rantanen and Barzal also possessed the potential to become elite talent, but the org went with Meier instead. Meier is gonna be an awesome player but there were better players available and more pressing needs to be solved with that #9 pick.

It has really never been more complicated than this.

 

[67 others]

It has really never been more complicated than this.

Depends on the person. We had a few absolutely hating Meier and wanting to fire Wilson. I still stand by Meier being a Corey Perry level ceiling.

I watch about 50 QMJHL games a year since half my job is supervise the setups (Flipping icedeck to Basketball courts to concerts, etc) at the Scotiabank center in Halifax. Granted the other half of my job is supervising setup at the new convention center and that is eating the bulk of my time since it opened last January

Ill admit I was way off about Roy. Constant Injuries constantly never let him gain any momentum and have eaten his confidence.

I think Alexis Lafreniere for Rimouski will be a franchise level talent.

I thought Ehlers would be about where he is currently. I was big on Mackinnon over Drouin during that draft year. and I am not high on Zedina as some were. That concludes my rant lol

Back when this post was made, A bunch of people asked me to post more, but then a lot of posters attacked me and have been attacking me since because of this argument, so I guess I hung in Limbo.

 

[Barrie22]

If you think Meier could be a first line powerforward you clearly have not watched him. He does not have first line upside, point blank. This is the biggest issue.

As I said, the ability to play with stars is not nothing but it is nothing if we have no stars for him to play with, which is the case in the foreseeable future. I'd much rather have a player that dragged around a bad team like Barzal, Rantanen, or Crouse.

Fun to go back.

 

[Fistfullofbeer]

Fun to fast forward 3-4 years later.

Poor Jeremy Roy. boy was I off base there. Constant injuries absolutely murdered his drive and confidence and he does not look like the same prospect anymore.

If I am wrong about the next franchise player being Alexis Lafreniere, then ill truly eat crow.


But Meier. Yep, I told you so. Jux was basically on a cliff ready to jump after this pick as we tried unsuccessfully to tell her Meier would be a stud. I said Corey Perry ceiling back then, including potential Hart

While I don't think Roy is going to be as good as you originally thought, I still think he could make it to the NHL. He has lost a lot of development time because of injuries but our team has the luxury to let him develop at his own pace. Another 2-3 injury free years could definitely help his development a lot. He is only 21 right now so its not like he is short on time.

The biggest question mark with him is going to be his skating. He was a slow-ish skater to begin with and the knee injuries didnt help. But I have seen player like Hertl and even Labanc get quicker over the last couple of years. So, while the odds are against Roy I am still hoping he can make it.

 

[Limekiller]

I've warmed up to the pick too. I still think, based on all the scouting reports from the various pro scouts and sites that Rantanen has the higher upside, and I'd have been happier taking him. I will be first in line to admit I was wrong, though, should Meier turn out better in the long run, which I hope he does.

Oddly enough, my opinion hasn't changed at all since then. I still think Rantanen has the higher ceiling, and that's who I wanted at the time. Meier is turning out to be REALLY good, obviously, but I still don't think he was the BPA at that pick. Of course, he still has a number of years to change my mind on that too, and I still hope he does.

 

[67 others]

Fun to go back.

It is a bit fun. I am willing to bet she had seen nothing of Meier save a highlight reel or two. But she was calling everyone out questioning whether we had seen him play. I watch so many moosehead games a year that when I chimed in saying he did have that upside, she basically called me a Mooseheads biased unreliable source.

Crouse's and Rantanen's and Connor's skills will translate just as well if not better than Meier's.

Honestly curious, how many of you have actually seen Meier play and how many of you are just regurgitating scouting reports?

I of course was in full defensive mode since people were just raging about this pick. A california poster commented and I mentioned "Exactly how much of Meier have YOU seen out in Sunny California?" or somesuch.

You want to hate this pick and will hear nothing to the contrary.

A few posts ago in the sharks section, you were taking condescending shots at people for regurgitating scout report and saying "have any of you even seen him play?"

Now you get opinions of people who have seen him play, and you degrade them as biased and insist a fellow doom and gloom who hates the pick watched a lot of prospects(and the fact is, they don't play Moosehead games in California)

In the end, it is great to see Meier just tearing it up for the sharks. Being the brick wall he was for the Moose. Watching Neal throw a hit on him and bounce off and get up all mad as Meier smirked with his breather out was beyond satisfying.

 

[Nick O]

im just waiting to say timotime

Ha! We are saying this frequently now! I like that this post by the OP was resurrected to see all the opinions...
Nick

 

[Dicdonya]

@ConorMcGregor
Although I do enjoy looking back on past posts and predictions by myself and others on these boards to see how right, or wrong, we all were. (people ITT regarding Tierney)

It is fairly sad to pull up such an old thread, and actually bump it, seemingly only to gloat and make fun of a singular poster here.

It is especially odd when both Rantanen and Barzal are arguably better than Meier still, and certainly have had better success in the NHL up to this point than Meier.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

At the end of the day, the only thing that Jux really said that was wrong was that Meier couldn't be a 1st liner. Right now, he is already a complimentary F1 first liner in the mold of Hertl with the Joes in 2015-2016. Beyond that, she was completely correct about Meier being inferior to Rantanen and Barzal. I love Meier as much as anybody else and I've pumped his tires plenty on here but I can still objectively say that he is nowhere near those players until he proves otherwise.

 

[OrrNumber4]

@ConorMcGregor
It is fairly sad to pull up such an old thread, and actually bump it, seemingly only to gloat and make fun of a singular poster here.

Well said.

Can we also take a step back here and recognize that is has been ten games? If you aren't panicking about Karlsson struggling, you can't be getting too excited about Meier (or Hertl's) great start.

 

[Hinterland]

At the end of the day, the only thing that Jux really said that was wrong was that Meier couldn't be a 1st liner. Right now, he is already a complimentary F1 first liner in the mold of Hertl with the Joes in 2015-2016. Beyond that, she was completely correct about Meier being inferior to Rantanen and Barzal. I love Meier as much as anybody else and I've pumped his tires plenty on here but I can still objectively say that he is nowhere near those players until he proves otherwise.

Barzal sucks ass now that Tavares is gone (I predicted it) and Rantanen (though small sample size) sucked ass when MacKinnon was out. Meier doesn't depend on anybody and since getting used properly his EV-scoring probably isn't far behind Barzal...if at all. Don't you think Meier could do much more if given ridiculous PP-time and offensive zone starts like the other two? Or alongside a superstar like MacKinnon? Meier is also by far the most complete player...better than the other two in every area...especially than Barzal. As long as they're not outscoring him with ease I'll take Meier over them every day of the week.

 

[Foppberg]

Barzal sucks ass now that Tavares is gone (I predicted it) and Rantanen (though small sample size) sucked ass when MacKinnon was out. Meier doesn't depend on anybody and since getting used properly his EV-scoring probably isn't far behind Barzal...if at all. Don't you think Meier could do much more if given ridiculous PP-time and offensive zone starts like the other two? Or alongside a superstar like MacKinnon? Meier is also by far the most complete player...better than the other two in every area...especially than Barzal. As long as they're not outscoring him with ease I'll take Meier over them every day of the week.

Was looking up Hertl for fantasy pool purposes and this popped up. The bolded just isn't true, last season when MacKinnon was out he still went a PPG, and this year Mikko has been our best player along with Varlamov. Despite all the points MacKinnon really hasn't looked dominant, that's been Rantanen 100%, guys been an absolute beast so far this year. Don't have to cut down other players to justify your own player, Meier looks like a hell of a player too.

 

[OrrNumber4]

Barzal sucks ass now that Tavares is gone (I predicted it) and Rantanen (though small sample size) sucked ass when MacKinnon was out. Meier doesn't depend on anybody and since getting used properly his EV-scoring probably isn't far behind Barzal...if at all. Don't you think Meier could do much more if given ridiculous PP-time and offensive zone starts like the other two? Or alongside a superstar like MacKinnon? Meier is also by far the most complete player...better than the other two in every area...especially than Barzal. As long as they're not outscoring him with ease I'll take Meier over them every day of the week.

The over-the-top language is what detracts from your argument.

The case for Meier over those two players would be linemates, deployment, and off-the-puck abilities.

For what it is worth, while I would say that Meier is the superior defensive player, Rantanen is average defensively and Barzal is like Thornton circa 2006.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Well said.

Can we also take a step back here and recognize that is has been ten games? If you aren't panicking about Karlsson struggling, you can't be getting too excited about Meier (or Hertl's) great start.

Except in Meier’s case, it has been 64. And he is 18th in the NHL in goals, and 8th in the NHL in even strength goals over that time frame.

 

[torero]

Depends on the person. We had a few absolutely hating Meier and wanting to fire Wilson. I still stand by Meier being a Corey Perry level ceiling.

I watch about 50 QMJHL games a year since half my job is supervise the setups (Flipping icedeck to Basketball courts to concerts, etc) at the Scotiabank center in Halifax. Granted the other half of my job is supervising setup at the new convention center and that is eating the bulk of my time since it opened last January

Ill admit I was way off about Roy. Constant Injuries constantly never let him gain any momentum and have eaten his confidence.

I think Alexis Lafreniere for Rimouski will be a franchise level talent.

I thought Ehlers would be about where he is currently. I was big on Mackinnon over Drouin during that draft year. and I am not high on Zedina as some were. That concludes my rant lol

Back when this post was made, A bunch of people asked me to post more, but then a lot of posters attacked me and have been attacking me since because of this argument, so I guess I hung in Limbo.

That is the price of being visionaire !! keep it up and never give up.
I have been a consistent outperformer in the stock market (top 10% in returns with few fails when compared to other peers by institutions like lipers).
What you describe was my daily bread.
To the point that i felt like , when you are attacked, it is a good sign ... you enter in a taboo area ... which means that common people don't have the power to analyse this area, and become aggressive.

And if we project today's stats ... you are right about Timo ... around Corey Perry. Well done.

I also felt (having much less observation occasions than you) that all credit of the goals in QMJHL was going to Ehlers exagerately.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

At the end of the day, the only thing that Jux really said that was wrong was that Meier couldn't be a 1st liner. Right now, he is already a complimentary F1 first liner in the mold of Hertl with the Joes in 2015-2016. Beyond that, she was completely correct about Meier being inferior to Rantanen and Barzal. I love Meier as much as anybody else and I've pumped his tires plenty on here but I can still objectively say that he is nowhere near those players until he proves otherwise.

I'll take Meier over Barzal.

 

[Hinterland]

Was looking up Hertl for fantasy pool purposes and this popped up. The bolded just isn't true, last season when MacKinnon was out he still went a PPG, and this year Mikko has been our best player along with Varlamov. Despite all the points MacKinnon really hasn't looked dominant, that's been Rantanen 100%, guys been an absolute beast so far this year. Don't have to cut down other players to justify your own player, Meier looks like a hell of a player too.

I have Hertl and Meier in my fantasy team and they're as valuable as they're for the Sharks.
I agree with your post in general. This season Rantanen seems improved while MacKinnon isn't quite as sharp as last season. Wouldn't be worried though. MacKinnon for me still the best Center.
Your numbers are wrong though. When MacKinnon missed 7 straight in early February, Rantanen played poorly and was -4 with only 4 points. You know I watch a lot of Avs games and Rantanen is a nice fit for MacKinnon. People tend to overvalue him because of MacKinnon though. This season could be some sort of a turning point for Rantanen, too if he can keep it up. He's been really good until now.

 

[Juxtaposer]

It is a bit fun. I am willing to bet she had seen nothing of Meier save a highlight reel or two. But she was calling everyone out questioning whether we had seen him play. I watch so many moosehead games a year that when I chimed in saying he did have that upside, she basically called me a Mooseheads biased unreliable source.

I watched more of Meier than just about any California-located poster on this forum, thanks. Back in that season, I watched more CHL/SHL/Liiga games than Sharks games. There was a great website back then that used to steam them. It was potato quality but it was watchable. I remember you constantly accused me of not watching Meier simply because I disagreed with you. And I wasn’t the only one. There were plenty of Moosehead fans who agreed that Meier was a complementary type of player. And scouts who saw him in person agreed.

Meier has reached another level that he never indicated he would when he was 18. I’m thrilled that he did. Maybe you’re a hithertoo undiscovered scouting savant. But unless you think you’re smarter than every scout who viewed Meier, please stop beating the dead horse.

 

[67 others]

@ConorMcGregor
Although I do enjoy looking back on past posts and predictions by myself and others on these boards to see how right, or wrong, we all were. (people ITT regarding Tierney)

It is fairly sad to pull up such an old thread, and actually bump it, seemingly only to gloat and make fun of a singular poster here.

It is especially odd when both Rantanen and Barzal are arguably better than Meier still, and certainly have had better success in the NHL up to this point than Meier.

Quite frankly, I made fun of myself just as much for being way off the mark with Roy

 

[67 others]

That is the price of being visionaire !! keep it up and never give up.
I have been a consistent outperformer in the stock market (top 10% in returns with few fails when compared to other peers by institutions like lipers).
What you describe was my daily bread.
To the point that i felt like , when you are attacked, it is a good sign ... you enter in a taboo area ... which means that common people don't have the power to analyse this area, and become aggressive.

And if we project today's stats ... you are right about Timo ... around Corey Perry. Well done.

I also felt (having much less observation occasions than you) that all credit of the goals in QMJHL was going to Ehlers exagerately.

People did the same thing to Ehlers before he was drafted. "he is leeching off Drouin!"
They did not even play on the same line except on the PP lol.

Meier was putting up those points and showing dominant 1st line NHL ability even in games Ehlers was not there or was on a different line.

 

[Hinterland]

I watched more of Meier than just about any California-located poster on this forum, thanks. Back in that season, I watched more CHL/SHL/Liiga games than Sharks games. There was a great website back then that used to steam them. It was potato quality but it was watchable. I remember you constantly accused me of not watching Meier simply because I disagreed with you. And I wasn’t the only one. There were plenty of Moosehead fans who agreed that Meier was a complementary type of player. And scouts who saw him in person agreed.

Meier has reached another level that he never indicated he would when he was 18. I’m thrilled that he did. Maybe you’re a hithertoo undiscovered scouting savant. But unless you think you’re smarter than every scout who viewed Meier, please stop beating the dead horse.

Meier used to play for the local club here in Switzerland so I had a bit of an advantage. Still it would have been enough to just watch the 14/15 WJC to know about Meier's potential. He was in absolut beastmode there. It was ridiculous. I remember Joe Hicketts once got the better of him but other than that it was a man playing against kids.