What late round/non-rank prospects on your team look good?

[thestonedkoala]

Expanding on Leafaholix's post about how the organization rankings and prospect rankings shouldn't be taken seriously, who out of your organization looks to be a surprised 'player' from the lower rounds or non-ranked? Lower rounds as in 4th or less or would it be better if it was 5th or less?

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[X-SHARKIE]

Defenseman Josh Gorges....Un drafted , the Sharks signed this guy and he's been outstanding ever since.... He's been looking very good and well force his way into the Cleveland Barons line up this year.

Doug Wilson....who obviosly knows defenseman said after a pre season game witch the Sharks had notables like Scott Hannan, Brad Stuart, and Mike Rathje on the ice...."I think Gorges was the best defeseman on the ice tonight"

He also has looked very impressive with the U-20 team last year at the WJC's.

Size is starting to become a non issue has he has really bulked up this year, and he's one of the smartest prospects we have, he just continues to impress you with smart play on both ends after smart play all night when you see him play.


Another Defenseman Doug Murray: He's huge at 6-3 235 and really loves to hit, but he hits smart. Absolutely kills people on the ice with his hits, but rarely gets called because they are mostly clean hits. He also has a booming shot from the point. If his skating continues to improve it's hard to say he couldn't become more then a 5th or 6th defenseman.

Oilers have as well, Brodziak, man that guy can play.

 

[slimer]

Here are some for the Blues in no paticular order.

Jonathan Lehun (6th) - He has looked surprisingly good in jrs.

Lee Stempniak (5th) - Viewed as a Hobey Baker candidate.

D.J. King (6th) - Drawing comparisons to Domi with a bit more size.

Colin Hemingway (8th) - Produce very well in college, and started to come on strong at the end of his 1st pro season.

Johnny Pohl (9th) - Came on strong at the end of last years AHL season and could compete for a NHL spot soon.

In drafts this century, the Blues have also drafted the following players in the late rounds that are no longer prospects:

Cajanek (8th) and Divis (8th).

 

[Chartrand]

The first one that comes to my head in regards to the Kings is 9th rounder Noah Clarke.

Marty Guerin, and Brady Murray were also late round picks, I believe, and appear to be solid prospects.

 

[NYRangers]

Henrik Lundqvist - 7th
Thomas Pock - Undrafted
Nigel Dawes - 5th
Petr Prucha - 8th

Underrated guys I like: Dwight Helminen, Billy Ryan, Zdenek Bahensky, Jonathan Paiement, and Jakub Petruzalek

They are all from this years draft, except Dwight Helminen. If they have good years theyll probably get more respect, like lower ranked guys do.

 

[montreal]

For the Habs, Oskari Korpikari a 7th round pick in '03 is looking like a very solid defensemen in Finland for Karpat. Good size, skating, strength, puck protection. Doesn't seem to have much offensive upside, but I think he could be an NHLer if a few years.

Christopher Heino-Lindberg, a 6th rounder from '03. I had never seen till this summer, at the Habs development camp he was very good. Quick reflexes, good positioning, fast glove hand. Not very big though. Got to met him and his father, seems to always be joking around with the other players. I hope the Habs bring him and Korpikari over in a year or two. Seems like Heino-Lindberg is off to a good start in the tier-2 league so far.

Greg Stewart, 8th rounder '04. Still very raw offensively, he has decent size, good speed, skating, a nice slap shot and he plays a good physical game. I don't know how his offensive game will develop over the next 3-4 years, but for a not very physical Habs team, he could be a solid 4th liner perhaps. I liked what I've seen him.

 

[andora]

for colorado i kind of like sergei shemetov (8th rounder i think) and all i've read about him.. i also like david hemingway (7th rounder?) out of the BCHL, saw him once and he had a very strong game, very offensive

for toronto i like the looks of jeremy williams, a 7th rounder i believe, kind of an all or nothing player, meaning he'll either make it as a top line scorer or be an offensive guy in the minors, but i like what i've seen of him when i've watched swift current the past two years..

john mitchell too for toronto, a fifth rounder with plymouth, good offensive player looking to have a big year, also like the looks of him

 

[Vipers]

For the Habs, Oskari Korpikari a 7th round pick in '03 is looking like a very solid defensemen in Finland for Karpat. Good size, skating, strength, puck protection. Doesn't seem to have much offensive upside, but I think he could be an NHLer if a few years.

Christopher Heino-Lindberg, a 6th rounder from '03. I had never seen till this summer, at the Habs development camp he was very good. Quick reflexes, good positioning, fast glove hand. Not very big though. Got to met him and his father, seems to always be joking around with the other players. I hope the Habs bring him and Korpikari over in a year or two. Seems like Heino-Lindberg is off to a good start in the tier-2 league so far.

Greg Stewart, 8th rounder '04. Still very raw offensively, he has decent size, good speed, skating, a nice slap shot and he plays a good physical game. I don't know how his offensive game will develop over the next 3-4 years, but for a not very physical Habs team, he could be a solid 4th liner perhaps. I liked what I've seen him.

Yann Danis?

 

[McDonald19]

Anaheim:
Three players who make up the core of the AHL team-
Joel Perrault 5th round 2001

Pierre Parenteau 9th round 2001

Shane O'Brien 8th round 2003


also free agent signing out of college:

Curtis Glencross was the best player at the Pacific Division Rookie Tournament.

 

[leafaholix*]

John Mitchell - 5th round pick
Robbie Earl - 6th round pick
Jeremy Williams - 7th round pick
Jan Steber - 8th round pick
Ben Ondrus - UFA

I'm not expecting much from Ondrus, but it would be nice to have a young guy on the 3rd or 4th line that can kill penalties and forecheck. He's very quick and plays a good defensive game.

 

[SmokeyClause]

From the 2003 draft, the Preds have a few that they expect to make some waves. Teemu Lassila is a goaltending prospect taken in the 4th round. The Preds like his upside and are hoping he'll be a nice backup plan in case Finley doesn't pan out. Andrei Mukhachev is a 7th round overager that the Preds had initially wanted to come over and play immediately as a large, physical Defensive Dman. But the lockout nixed those plans. But still, any 7th rounder that a team expects to compete for an NHL job almost immediately is a steal. In the 9th round, we took Lauris Darzins. He's a big forward who has turned some heads in Kelowna playing for the Rockets. He's averaged a PPG so far (though only after 3 games).

Those are the late rounders who COULD turn into something for the Preds from the 2003 draft. The others might, they just aren't as obvious.

The potential steals from the 2004 draft for the Preds tend to be overagers. Janne Niskala was a 5th round overager who is one of the best Dmen in the FNL right now. He's been said to be a more goal oriented version of Zidlicky. He just turned 23. The other that stands out is 8th rounder Denis Kulyash. He's either broken through as a really good offensive Dman or he's just had a fluke first couple of games. He's a 21 year old Dman from Russia who is the second leading scorer on CSKA Moscow (as a Dman). It's his first real year on the scene, so who knows what to make of it.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

A few notable late-round performers from the Penguins are:

Andy Chiodo(G) - round 6 #166 overall
Patrick Bartschi - round 7 #202 overall
Maxime Talbot - round 9 #234 overall
Matt Moulson - round 9 #263 overall

There may be a couple more (maybe Bobby Goepfert, for instance) but those stick out in my mind.

I also liked the late round selections this past draft of David Brown and especially Brian Ihnacak, but it's too early to get much of a read on them yet.

 

[MrMastodonFarm*]

For the Flames.

Undrafted - Ritchie Regehr
Late round - David VanDerGulik

 

[nomorekids]

to expand on Smokey's post, I heard some good things about BCHL grad Craig Switzer, who the Preds nabbed in the ninth this year. He was supposedly the best offensive d-man in the BCHL, playing for Salmon Arm...and will take his game to the NCAA this year.

 

[leafaholix*]

to expand on Smokey's post, I heard some good things about BCHL grad Craig Switzer, who the Preds nabbed in the ninth this year. He was supposedly the best offensive d-man in the BCHL, playing for Salmon Arm...and will take his game to the NCAA this year.

I think we're talking about the same guy, but I read he's on his way to New Hampshire. And having seen what some UNH guys have to say, they're expected big things from him. Possibly a leader offensively on the blue line.

 

[Chaos]

Fo the Stars, most of you probably know Miettinen(224th overall in 2000)- SM-Liiga MVP in 2002-2003, coming of a decent rookie season in the AHL, similar to Lehtinen, but better offensively and not as good defensively(but who is). Another one, also from Finland, Jussi Jokinen(192nd overall in 2001)- Coming off back-to-back 35+ point seasons in Finland(as a 20 and 21 year old, which incidentally, is better than one Mikko Koivu has done), currently leads his team in scoring(4+2=6 in 7 games), can probably become a solid 2nd liner if his game translates to North America.

 

[nomorekids]

I think we're talking about the same guy, but I read he's on his way to New Hampshire. And having seen what some UNH guys have to say, they're expected big things from him. Possibly a leader offensively on the blue line.

same guy. his first game with the wildcats is saturday, i believe.

 

[Fat Elvis]

The first one that comes to my head in regards to the Kings is 9th rounder Noah Clarke.

Marty Guerin, and Brady Murray were also late round picks, I believe, and appear to be solid prospects.

Greg Hogeboom is a nice prospect in the 5th and Richard Petiot in the 4th. Matt Zaba may suprise as well.

 

[leafaholix*]

same guy. his first game with the wildcats is saturday, i believe.

John Doherty (Leafs top pick in 2003) will contend with your boy for icetime, he's a big boy on UNH's blueline.

 

[montreal]

Fo the Stars, most of you probably know Miettinen(224th overall in 2000)- SM-Liiga MVP in 2002-2003, coming of a decent rookie season in the AHL, similar to Lehtinen, but better offensively and not as good defensively(but who is). Another one, also from Finland, Jussi Jokinen(192nd overall in 2001)- Coming off back-to-back 35+ point seasons in Finland(as a 20 and 21 year old, which incidentally, is better than one Mikko Koivu has done), currently leads his team in scoring(4+2=6 in 7 games), can probably become a solid 2nd liner if his game translates to North America.

I like what I've seen from Jokinen at Karpat. Good hands, wheels, skating. I will see Miettinen on the 22nd for Hamilton.

 

[montreal]

Yann Danis?

He's not been in the organization long, but from what I saw at development camp and at Brown, he's got excellent skills. Plays a very sound positional game in nets, reads the plays well, covers his angles well, good reflexes, glove hand. Moved side to side quickly, and from what I understand he's very smart person, being an All Academic team twice. I expect good things from him, and I will get to focus on him a lot more this season.

Another one for the Habs in nets is Jaroslav Halak a 9th rounder from '03. The problem is too much depth, as they also have Michaud and Lacasse who are at opposite ends of their development, but in 2 years, the Habs will have Danis, Heino-Lindberg, Halak, Michaud and Lacasse. While I consider Danis the frontrunner for the backup to Theodore down the road, it's going to be an interesting race as I have been impressed with all the Habs goalies outside of Michaud, who has shown good flashes but might be overtaken in the depth charts before long. Halak is not very big either, nor does he come out and challenge shooters and he doesn't play any certain style. But he does know how to stop the puck, and he put up great numbers in the Slovak junior league last year as a 18 year old. I haven't seen too much of him, but I'll get to see a handful of Lewiston games this year.

 

[Ruckus007]

For the Sabres:

C Paul Gaustad (7th, 2000): big, tough, checking center who will probably be a fairly decent 4th line center when the NHL starts up again.

RW Michal Vondrka (5th, 2001): held his own in last year's Sabres training camp. Ranked ahead of Novotny for whatever that's worth.

D Denis Ezhov (4th, 2003): looks like a fairly safe bet to eventually be a bottom pair defenseman

RW L.P Martin (9th, 2003): I personally don't know a heckuva a lot about him but he had a strong training camp last season and is at least intriguing.


I decided not to add Nathan Paetsch since he was originally a second rounder of the Caps but he really has me personally intrigued. I don't know if he'll pan out as an NHL but I just like him. Grittier than I expected, pretty good checker, good offensive player. Might be destined for wing though he did play defense in Rochester's first preseason game.

 

[Foppa]

Aside from the obvious...Marek Svatos (7th round), I'd have to say easily for the Avs would be UNH forward Sean Collins, (9th round, 289 overall in 2002). This season he will be one of the senior leaders on the team and has made an impact since he first step foot on ice as a frosh. Has averaged about a point-per-contest in his NCAA career and looks likely to be the next smaller but offensively gifted youngster to make an impact for Colorado down the road. Also, David Jones (9th rounder, 288 overall in 2003) is probably worth a mention. Led the BCHL Express in scoring last season - granted, as a guy older than many in that league (such as teammate Brock Bradford). But he seems to posses excellent offensive tools and some grit to boot. His freshman season at the NCAA level this season could be quite telling in how legit his upside is.

 

[Chaos]

I will see Miettinen on the 22nd for Hamilton.

I take it the injury he suffered the other night isnt that serious then?

 

[shadoz19]

For the Wings, I'd say Derek Meech.

He was a 7th rounder in 2002 and will play with the Wings AHL team. He projects to be a #5 defenseman.