World Juniors 2017-18 (3 Baby-SENS players) in Buffalo NY

[Burrowsaurus]

what were you doing at 17

Well this isn’t fair.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Were you more impressed with Glass, Rasmussen, Vilardi, Tippett and Suzuki who were drafted ahead of him though?

Nugent Hopkins and seguin were also left off WJCs.

 

[BondraTime]

Were you more impressed with Glass, Rasmussen, Vilardi, Tippett and Suzuki who were drafted ahead of him though?

From a projection standpoint? Sure, outside of Tippett and maybe Rasmussen. I'm not going to take making the roster and turn it into a who's better scenario. Comtois and Fromenton are there as well, I'd take your list above over them as well (outside of Tippett and Rasmussen, again).

 

[BondraTime]

He was meh. I know I always get piled on when I judge players at this tourney but when these guys fail to impress against the best players in the world in their age group, it makes me start to wonder about their ceiling.

I may have phrased it wrong.

Thomas doesn't impress me for what I'm being told he is expected to become, and what I project from looking at his skillset.

I see a 40-50 point #2 C. Very good player. I don't see #1C potential in him.

 

[BondraTime]

And I have definitely not seen him play as much as others here, I don't get to see much/any of the OHL or WHL. I'm going off my own very small sample size.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

Is that because Canadians dive more, or because ~50% of the league is Canadian, so other nationalities don't get seen as the culprits as often? Ryan (American) has been known to embellish. Karlsson's been accused of it too. Hasek was prolific at it back in the day. I'm not all that convinced one nationality is more prone to it than another, at least not that I can tell.

I think its more of a cultural thing in NA. Most of the top end players now come from extreme privaledge. Gone are the days of farm boys making it to the big leagues. Its mostly rich kids from the GTA. All the guys I knew who played junior were the worst bros you could imagine. Hockey culture in Canada is just toxic for the most part. The egos we put on these kids makes them into little assholes on the ice. Doesn't help their parent are maniacs who threaten referees with death whenever a call is missed. How.many police escorts have you seen at local rinks? For me, its waaaay too many.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

I may have phrased it wrong.

Thomas doesn't impress me for what I'm being told he is expected to become, and what I project from looking at his skillset.

I see a 40-50 point #2 C. Very good player. I don't see #1C potential in him.

Are people saying 1C? I have missed those projections.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I may have phrased it wrong.

Thomas doesn't impress me for what I'm being told he is expected to become, and what I project from looking at his skillset.

I see a 40-50 point #2 C. Very good player. I don't see #1C potential in him.

I think that is accurate... I think he projects to that a good #2 type of center. That's ok. We've gone down this road before with guys like White and Howden .,,, Thomas is one of those types as well , although perhaps a slightly higher ceiling. I see him as a 200 foot C. like those other guys. I think he has good hands , probably better than the other two and he has good vision/iq like the other two. He is not the bring you out of your seat player that dazzles you but he has a mature game and does a lot of the little things well , in all zones; like White and Howden.

Generally I was not overly impressed with Steel either. He was good but not great.. (maybe a theme of the forwards) The only Center that I thought did well and met or exceeded expectations was Howden for me... Mcleod could easily have been left off imo other than him, I liked the choices for the team. I liked the Comtois Formenton Howden line.. although I think that would have suited Mcleod better because he could just use his speed to be disruptive and create loose pucks vs be relied on to make plays... Howden with Batherson and whoever (Gadjovivh/Steeneberg) would have made that line more dangerous because he can make plays.

 

[Hale The Villain]

I may have phrased it wrong.

Thomas doesn't impress me for what I'm being told he is expected to become, and what I project from looking at his skillset.

I see a 40-50 point #2 C. Very good player. I don't see #1C potential in him.

I see him in a similar light. 40-50 two-way 2nd line C is his realistic potential.

I generally don't like betting against kids with high-end IQ and skill though. Wouldn't shock me if he ended up a 50-60P low-end #1 center that makes a difference in all 3 zones.

 

[SAK11]

Nugent Hopkins and seguin were also left off WJCs.

Before they were drafted, though.

 

[DrEasy]

I really don't follow juniors at all, so my only impressions are based on the WJC. And solely judging from that (admittedly a very small sample size), I was more impressed by White (last year) and Howden than I was by Thomas.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Before they were drafted, though.

Still probably the most talented players available lol. Or at least up there

 

[JD1]

Nugent Hopkins and seguin were also left off WJCs.

Seguin was in the nhl at 18. He was left off ad a 17. Same with RNH. It's primarily a 19 year old event. Being left off as a 17 year old isn' the same imo.

 

[SAK11]

I really don't follow juniors at all, so my only impressions are based on the WJC. And solely judging from that (admittedly a very small sample size), I was more impressed by White (last year) and Howden than I was by Thomas.

I'd agree that both White and Howden performed better than Thomas did. White scored 7 goals in 7 games, and Howden had more goals and points than Thomas despite playing lower down the lineup on what was supposed to be more of an energy line.
In fairness to Thomas, he's only 18. The two player's you've compared him to were 19, and in White's case, it was his 2nd year at that tournament.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I'd agree that both White and Howden performed better than Thomas did. White scored 7 goals in 7 games, and Howden had more goals and points than Thomas despite playing lower down the lineup on what was supposed to be more of an energy line.
In fairness to Thomas, he's only 18. The two player's you've compared him to were 19, and in White's case, it was his 2nd year at that tournament.

At 18 with a big role as well. We also have seen the difference a year makes 18 to 19 for a lot of these players.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

I may have phrased it wrong.

Thomas doesn't impress me for what I'm being told he is expected to become, and what I project from looking at his skillset.

I see a 40-50 point #2 C. Very good player. I don't see #1C potential in him.

That feels right. I really like Thomas' all-around game, but he doesn't have one specific skill or trait that will make him a legit 1C in the NHL, imo. He kinda reminds me of Turris....a guy that is suited as 2C on a true contender, but isn't quite a fit as a true 1C.