Your memories of players in major junior?

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

This thread is for your first-hand memories of seeing players in major junior, the NCAA, or other developmental leagues.

-I was the guy that saw Drew Doughty up close and didnt see that much in him. Granted, he was taking a regular shift at the blueline from a very young age which isnt obvious without a game program, but if you had told me back in 2008 after seeing him play in the OHL that he was going to be on a pairing with niedermayer winning olympic gold in 2 years time I would have looked at you like you were crazy

-In the category of "mildly surprised he didnt make it", Finn and Pedan come to mind.

Matt Finn was a fairly slow skater for sure, but he had a wide range of abilities while anchoring the blueline for an OHL champ team. Besides which he only had to crack the mid 2010s leafs roster in trying-to-lose-on-purpose mode

Pedan was actually really surprising to me that he didnt stick as at least a bottom pairing NHL defenceman. He was like a demo of how youd reprogram a punishing Pronger-type defenceman to work in the new faster/gentler nhl. Reasonably quick and quite fluid on his skates for a big guy, had a wicked point shot and decent offensive smarts, very physical, but rarely doing anything so stupid as to penalize his team. Had this crazy look in his eye when getting into scrums like he enjoyed it a bit too much.

-Peter Holland/Taylor Beck were an interesting era to watch, esp considering Holland went on to a reasonably long career as an nhl 3d liner, whereas Beck was just a spare part ahl callup. Didnt seem to be that huge of a talent gap in junior, although becks game was always supplemented with hustle whereas Holland seemed permanently stuck at 60% intensity max

-Merkley was a mild disappointment. Some good offensive skills, but often seemed like a one-trick pony who could only do his thing off the rush/working the point and would start to develop tunnel vision not noticing open teammates or other options besides holding onto the puck. Not that surprised by the end he was moved before the memorial cup run

Your thoughts?

Click to read more...

 

[Michael Farkas]

I'll recuse myself from this thread generally because there isn't enough server space haha

I will say, I saw Drew Doughty for the first time in junior and called someone immediately and said "I just saw the next Ray Bourque"...

I recall those other players mentioned and didn't care for any of them...though, if that's defenseman Merkley, I recall him being an elite level technical talent, but a mess in terms of IQ and compete. Wide range of opinions in his draft year, team to team, even scout to scout...

 

[jigglysquishy]

I went to the 2013 Memorial Cup and was blown away by MacKinnon. There was a lot of debate around MacKinnon/Drouin/Jones (and Barkov) for number one at the draft. 5 games is 5 games, but MacKinnon was the clear best player and topped it off with a hat trick to win the Cup.

I got to watch a lot of Jordan Eberle with the Pats and was always very impressed.

Bedard this year was the beat junior aged player I've seen live.

 

[JackSlater]

I went to the 2013 Memorial Cup and was blown away by MacKinnon. There was a lot of debate around MacKinnon/Drouin/Jones (and Barkov) for number one at the draft. 5 games is 5 games, but MacKinnon was the clear best player and topped it off with a hat trick to win the Cup.

I got to watch a lot of Jordan Eberle with the Pats and was always very impressed.

Bedard this year was the beat junior aged player I've seen live.

I saw Halifax play various times (not in the Memorial Cup) and Drouin always seemed better than MacKinnon to me. MacKinnon seemed like a guy who wasn't particularly smart about generating offence and who relied on his physical tools too much. Didn't really turn out the way I figured. I first had access to major junior hockey near the end of the 90s. Another pair of teammates I recall is Lecavalier and Richards. Richards seemed a lot smarter and Lecavalier seemed more like a guy whose point total would surprise me. He'd have one beautiful play but then a few other points where I didn't remember him at all, while Richards was more steadily involved in the team's offence.

In a somewhat prescient situation, Dubois was a much more effective player as a 17 year old than he was as an 18 year old. He was physically too much for the opposition to handle as a 17 year old, but he wanted to be traded at 18 and was nearly useless until he was. Traded to Montreal, in fact.

Radulov was probably the most entertaining player I've seen in the QMJHL. He was extremely talented and used to dominate games, but he would also get into it with the other team regularly. He was very good in the NHL but I was sure that he would be great.

My favourite random junior hockey memory is George Davis, NHL draftee, jumping into the other team's bench to fight the other team in the mid 2000s.

 

[MS]

I watched a fair bit of both Sam Reinhart and Leon Draisaitl in 2013-14 and was absolutely baffled at how literally everyone had Reinhart as the higher-ranked player for that draft. Like, it shouldn't have even been close. Draisaitl was just so much more dynamic and looked like a junior Peter Forsberg as he carried a terrible team to the playoffs singlehandedly and Reinhart was just not at that level. But bloodlines + Canadian carries you a long way.

Conversely, the player I've probably been the most wrong about is Milan Lucic in his draft year. I thought he was an absolute no-hoper - I'd watched guys like Sean O'Connor and Darren McLachlan come through the WHL in the couple years before that and get drafted relatively high and just totally flop in pro and Lucic seemed like the exact same kind of big, square-shouldered, limited-talent slug as those guys. Then he came back the following year and looked like a totally different player. The one-season transformation was absolutely incredible.

 

[kaiser matias]

Watched Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at the first game of the 2010-11 WHL season in Edmonton (his draft season). He was very short, and quite unimpressive for the presumptive first overall pick.

Saw Bedard this year early in the season when Regina came to Edmonton. This was before the WJC so the hype wasn't there yet, so got good seats low, and he did not disappoint (though Regina certainly did). He contributed on all of the Pats' goals, including the OT winner.

 

[sonic92]

I've been a fan of the Calgary Hitmen since Ryan Getzlaf had a full head of hair.

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

I saw Bouwmeester play for the Medicine Hat Tigers and remember being blown away by the incredible timing and precision of a breakaway pass he made to Joffrey Lupul.

It was like he was passing it between Vancouver Giants defenders to nobody and then suddenly Lupul had it and was on a breakaway.

This was prior to the 02 draft and that game I learned about Lupul. IIRC he had 2 or 3 goals and I discovered he was draft eligible and he then went high.

 

[NyQuil]

Growing up, you tend to idolize the Junior players that star during your time following the team closely.

For me, Brett Seguin with the Ottawa 67s always struck me as an immensely skilled firecracker who was worth the price of admission.

He is the all-time leading assist leader in the OHL with 303.

1988-89	Ottawa 67's	OHL	48	16	36	52	12		12	2	6	8	2
1989-90	Ottawa 67's	OHL	63	28	80	108	30		--	--	--	--	--
1990-91	Ottawa 67's	OHL	63	24	87	111	85		17	10	25	35	21
1991-92	Ottawa 67's	OHL	64	34	100	134	70		11	8	10	18	16

Despite his impressive numbers, he was drafted in the 6th round by the LA Kings and never played a single game in the NHL.

As a 5'9 player, he never really had a chance with the emphasis on size that emerged in the 90s.

Nonetheless, he would go on to rack up over 1,000 points for the Central Hockey League (CHL) playing for the Austin Ice Bats and Topeka Scarecrows.

The other guy I won't forget is Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson, who looked like the real deal during the 2009 WJC held in Ottawa. I managed to catch all of Sweden's games and he looked like he had the complete toolbox. Never panned out as expected.

A colleague of mine has a son who recently played for the Oshawa Generals as a defenceman. I asked him who had impressed him, and who didn't.

Anthony Cirelli was a guy who had really impressed him, while Quinton Byfield was a guy that he felt was overrated. I'd had this discussion before the draft, but I found it interesting.

 

[MS]

I saw Bouwmeester play for the Medicine Hat Tigers and remember being blown away by the incredible timing and precision of a breakaway pass he made to Joffrey Lupul.

It was like he was passing it between Vancouver Giants defenders to nobody and then suddenly Lupul had it and was on a breakaway.

This was prior to the 02 draft and that game I learned about Lupul. IIRC he had 2 or 3 goals and I discovered he was draft eligible and he then went high.

I remember watching Bouwmeester in junior and the thing that most stands out was the *sound* he made when skating. You could close your eyes and know exactly when he was on the ice and where because of the length and power with which he cut into the ice. He was probably a top-5 skater in the world at that point playing against a bunch of kids and the difference was incredible.

 

[forever1922]

Last several years on TPS Turku, over in Europe, but it's prospects so I assume it qualifies.

Having seen a lot of both Kakko and Slafkovsky, I can't believe Kakko hasn't made a real breaktrough yet. He was at times unstoppable in his draft year.

With Slafkovsky I'm suprised he was as highly thought of as he was. He was not the highest regarded (not NHL scouts but per finnish fans of TPS that is) prospect on his team (including already drafted Pärssinen for example) just prior to his breakout at Worlds.

Pärssinen on the other hand took a while to get going but at the end of his time in Finland looked very good.

Between Pärssinen, Kakko and Slafkovsky it will be very interesting to see who has the best career.

 

[Davenport]

Best junior player I ever saw was Denis Potvin, with the Ottawa 67s, during the 1972-73 season. Ottawa was visiting St. Catharines. The expression "man among boys" comes to mind. He was NHL-ready already.