What is Dan Fritsche's Upside and What NHLer Does he Most Compare With?

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Brock

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Well back when Fritsche broke into the OHL, I thought i saw a lot of Jeremy Roenick in him.

As he has progressed through the years, I'm not sure he'll ever have as good of an NHL career, but I believe their styles are similar.

Fritsche is a hard working, pretty good overall player. He's got good all around skills, no real fault. However none of his offensive abilities are really "top notch".

The Jackets got one hell of a steal from Fritsche. We all said it draft day, and we are all still saying it.
 

Marmax

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Brock said:
Well back when Fritsche broke into the OHL, I thought i saw a lot of Jeremy Roenick in him.

As he has progressed through the years, I'm not sure he'll ever have as good of an NHL career, but I believe their styles are similar.

Fritsche is a hard working, pretty good overall player. He's got good all around skills, no real fault. However none of his offensive abilities are really "top notch".

The Jackets got one hell of a steal from Fritsche. We all said it draft day, and we are all still saying it.


I was hopping that Montreal grab him but they prefered to go with Maxime Lapierre :rolleyes: I think that Fritsche, if he can saty healty, what kind of mistake other teams did by not taking him sooner.
 

Hossa

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TheGreek said:
I have read a ton about this kid of late. What type of NHLer do you think he will be? Is he an perenial All-Star type player, a role player or somewhere in between? What NHLer would you compare him to? Thanks!

My comparison is Mike Fisher. He's not quite as fast as Fisher, but his style of player reminds me a lot of Fisher. Tha'ts a high compliment from me.

I don't see him as a perenial all-star, or a first line player. I see him as one of those solid 2nd line guys, (or unbelievable third line guys) who gives you lots of everything, but doens't score more than 50-55 points max.
 

Jovavic

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The only weakness the kid shows, besides not being physically mature enough to take the punishment of NHL games everyday, is that he's skating isn't up to par with the rest of his skills. He's by no means slow or clunky in his skating, it's just very average right now. He's a better skater now than Nash was last year at this time., though. MacLean said on his show today that they are working on a contract and that it has to be done before Monday to make the deadline. Fritsche was also practicing with the players he would most likely play with if he does the nine game trail or just makes the team outright (Shelley and Ling, btw, no one would mess with the kid then). The chances of Fritsche putting the bug jersey on in a real NHL game this are far greater than Zherdev's at this point.
 

Ejh18

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Brock said:
Fritsche is a hard working, pretty good overall player. He's got good all around skills, no real fault. However none of his offensive abilities are really "top notch".

From last years draft preview...
"A highly-skilled centreman, Fritsche might be just as good as the likes of O’Sullivan and Staal. According to a scout, “Fritsche is a centerman who possesses exceptional skills and has the size to go with it. An exceptional playmaker, Fritsche is an intelligent hockey player who has the ability to control a game.â€

The one question about Fritsche is his shoulders, and from the way he threw his body around in camp, they seem to be fine...

Whether his skill transfers to the NHL game, is yet to be seen. But he defenitly has skill. And he is making it very difficult for DM to send him packing for Sarina.
 

Brock

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Ejh18 said:
From last years draft preview...
"A highly-skilled centreman, Fritsche might be just as good as the likes of O’Sullivan and Staal. According to a scout, “Fritsche is a centerman who possesses exceptional skills and has the size to go with it. An exceptional playmaker, Fritsche is an intelligent hockey player who has the ability to control a game.â€

The one question about Fritsche is his shoulders, and from the way he threw his body around in camp, they seem to be fine...

Whether his skill transfers to the NHL game, is yet to be seen. But he defenitly has skill. And he is making it very difficult for DM to send him packing for Sarina.

His shoulders weren't the only question being thrown around at draft time. The other was his NHL potential, as most believe he would never become an elite talent.

He's skilled, but when you watch him play, you don't sit there and go "wow, holy crap, you see that move he just pulled." "Or wow, Fritsche is the most skilled player that I have ever seen" He goes about his business and isn't extremely flashy. Like i said, he works hard, he plays hard and he's skilled too. But he's definitely not as skilled as guys like Staal or Horton or any of the other top guys from the OHL this past season.
 

Blane Youngblood

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Brock said:
His shoulders weren't the only question being thrown around at draft time. The other was his NHL potential, as most believe he would never become an elite talent.

He's skilled, but when you watch him play, you don't sit there and go "wow, holy crap, you see that move he just pulled." "Or wow, Fritsche is the most skilled player that I have ever seen" He goes about his business and isn't extremely flashy. Like i said, he works hard, he plays hard and he's skilled too. But he's definitely not as skilled as guys like Staal or Horton or any of the other top guys from the OHL this past season.

So Craig Janny, Adam Oates or Jason Allison? I haven't seen Fritsche play but the first two are guys that sound like him.
 

Brock

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jin said:
So Craig Janny, Adam Oates or Jason Allison? I haven't seen Fritsche play but the first two are guys that sound like him.

Actually, I like Hossa's comparison to Mike Fisher.

Fritsche is a little more hard nosed than the guys you mentioned.
 

andora

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Ejh18 said:
From last years draft preview...
"A highly-skilled centreman, Fritsche might be just as good as the likes of O’Sullivan and Staal. According to a scout, “Fritsche is a centerman who possesses exceptional skills and has the size to go with it. An exceptional playmaker, Fritsche is an intelligent hockey player who has the ability to control a game.â€

The one question about Fritsche is his shoulders, and from the way he threw his body around in camp, they seem to be fine...

Whether his skill transfers to the NHL game, is yet to be seen. But he defenitly has skill. And he is making it very difficult for DM to send him packing for Sarina.

but seriously folks.. what prospects outside of dmen and defensive specialists don't have words/phrases like these thrown at them in their scouting reports..
 

Vlad The Impaler

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Dan Fritsche reminds me of Rob Neidermayer. Similar size, similar style, similar stats.

He could have a similar career having a similar impact for his team and similar problems staying healthy. He has a similar potential too but it's too soon to know if he'll put it all together.

How many times can you say "similar" in a post without getting sued? :p
 

Juan

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Brock said:
His shoulders weren't the only question being thrown around at draft time. The other was his NHL potential, as most believe he would never become an elite talent.

He's skilled, but when you watch him play, you don't sit there and go "wow, holy crap, you see that move he just pulled." "Or wow, Fritsche is the most skilled player that I have ever seen" He goes about his business and isn't extremely flashy. Like i said, he works hard, he plays hard and he's skilled too. But he's definitely not as skilled as guys like Staal or Horton or any of the other top guys from the OHL this past season.

"Definitely not as skilled"? What do you base that on? He had more points in his first 80 games in the OHL than ALL OF THEM except O'Sullivan. And in the half dozen games I saw him play against Carter, Brown and Horton last year, he thoroughly outplayed them head-to-head.
 

Brock

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Juan said:
"Definitely not as skilled"? What do you base that on? He had more points in his first 80 games in the OHL than ALL OF THEM except O'Sullivan. And in the half dozen games I saw him play against Carter, Brown and Horton last year, he thoroughly outplayed them head-to-head.

He is not as skilled. Simple and precise.

Dave Andreychuk scored 40 more goals in his NHL career than Mike Bossy. Was he more skilled than Bossy? No.

Danny Fritsche is an excellent player, but he doesn't possess the "raw offensive skill" that guys like Staal or Horton do. That is why they went in the Top 3 and Fritsche fell out of the first round completely. Staal or Horton make plays happen by dazzling the opposition, their skill set is as high as any prospect in the NHL today.

I'm not saying Fritsche isn't talented, he's got a nose for the puck. But he is definitely not as offensively skilled as some of the other players mentioned in this thread.

I'm not saying that Fritsche won't become an excellent NHL'er either, with the ability to score. Some guys with the skill set, and without the other intanigbles can't crack the NHL, guys like Adam Coliagacomo for instance. Then there are guys like Andreychuk or Dino Ciccarelli or Adam Graves or whoever, whom have played through their career and managed to put up points in the NHL despite not being as "purely talented" as some of their opponents.

But in the games I saw Fritsche play last year, like i said before, he just doesn't dazzle you with moves. He works hard and does his thing. THe poster asked about the level of offensive skill when compared to guys like Staal. So that's what i answered.
 
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