Your Team's Prospects This Year - Good, Bad, & the Ugly

[Patty Ice]

tisk tisk, Patty Ice...

two Sharks lists back to back is considered...how you say...a "faux pas."

Haven't you heard...the Sharks are this year's Habs.

 

[FearTheFlyers]

The Good- R J Umberger proving he still has it. Alexandre Picard dominating the Q.

The Bad- Ben Eager I thought this guy was a great pick up but just hasn't got his scoring touch from junipr.

The Ugly- Gino Pisellini Can't score, can't skate, can't fight. Looks lost.

The Surprising-Ryan Potulny-monster season.

The Mistreated-Jeff Carter, horribly mistreated by the Soo, look at his linemates .

The Misunderstood-Alex Drozdetsky-I sure don't understand him anyway.

The Underwhelming-Stefan Ruzicka just isin't playing with any motivation. 37 goals, could have had 50.

The overdiscussed-Mike Richards-The guy is good, and a steal ,but do we really need to know what he had for breakfast on any given morning?

 

[Juicer]

The Good- R J Umberger proving he still has it. Alexandre Picard dominating the Q.

The Bad- Ben Eager I thought this guy was a great pick up but just hasn't got his scoring touch from junipr.

The Ugly- Gino Pisellini Can't score, can't skate, can't fight. Looks lost.

The Surprising-Ryan Potulny-monster season.

The Mistreated-Jeff Carter, horribly mistreated by the Soo, look at his linemates .

The Misunderstood-Alex Drozdetsky-I sure don't understand him anyway.

The Underwhelming-Stefan Ruzicka just isin't playing with any motivation. 37 goals, could have had 50.

The overdiscussed-Mike Richards-The guy is good, and a steal ,but do we really need to know what he had for breakfast on any given morning?

I would add David Trembley to the underwhleming list.

Another catagory for me would be:

The Forgotten: Roman Malek

 

[paxtang]

Pisellini...can't fight.

As I've added on the Flyers board, Gino hurt his hand very badly in his first fight of the year with Marco, and it affected him all year long. One of the reason he's been so poor, but he still should have played better.

I also don't understand the orginal Flyer's posters comments about Ben Eager. It's actually exactly the opposite. Eager started the season on the 4th line as a pest. He's been moved to the 1st line with Umberger and Sim, and has played very well the last 15 games.

My list

The Good: I'd agree with Umberger and Picard. We all knew about Carter and Richards, but Umberger we didn't knwo what to expect, and Picard has really great.

The Bad: David Trembaly. I wouldn't completly give up on him, but I'd say a lot of his stats from earlier years was helped by the great teams he played with.

The Ugly: I'd probably say Pisellini had the worst season out of out prospects, but I haven't given up on him like some.

The Suprising: I thought Laliberte was playing really well until he got hurt. I think he could really break out next year.

The Mistreated: Ben Eager. Youngest forward on a deep team, had to work his way on the team and was bashed by quite a few for not putting up points immediatly. Has played physical all year out, made quite a few enemies on other teams, and been promoted to a scoring line now.

The Misunderstood: Maybe Ruggeri? I don't really know how to answer this one. Ruggeri seems like the kind of guy who progresses year by year, so I don't think it should be a huge suprise pro hockey took him a while to adjust to, but I still think he can be a solid 3rd pairing guy. He's been playing better as of late. I expect him on the Phantoms next year.

The Underwhelming: Ruzicka. Still put up very solid numbers, and there's no denying his talent, but I want to see how he plays with the Phantoms next year before I give him my stamp of approval.

The Overdiscussed: Probably Jeff Carter, but he deserves it.

 

[darbino]

Detroit Redwings

The Good- Kronwall playing awesome hockey, among the leaders in AHL defensive scoring 46 points in 65 games

The Bad- Igor Grigorenko -really bad start to season, did certainly pick it up towards the end

The Ugly- Nathan Robinson from AHL all-star to cast off-hope he picks it up in Syracuse

The Surprising-Matt Ellis-producing points, excellent defensive play and PK in the AHL.

The Mistreated-Todd Jackson-never belonged in GR this year-looking much better in ECHL

The Misunderstood-Tomas Kopecky-from top 5 Redwing prospect to forum whipping boy in 3 years

The Underwhelming-Jiri Hudler 21pts in 37 AHL games not very impressive for supposed future star

The overdiscussed-Jimmy Howard-The guy is doing great, but is getting to be over exposed

 

[Roughneck]

The good:
Kris Chucko. Showing good all around play in his freshman year. Getting good reviews from every source I can find and is leading the Gopher freshmen in scoring. Its looking promising

Brent Krahn. Finally looking like a good goalie prospect. He's been injury free, been playing very well in Lowell, has confidence. It is all good news seing as many were writing him off less than a year after he was drafted.

Dion Phaneuf. Needs no explanation.


The bad: Basically every one of the 'grinders' that have been chosen in the past few drafts. They could become grinders in the NHL, but you can't really tell.

The ugly:
Andrei Medvedev. If you've seen a picture of him, you know. His play doesn't seem much better.

Ruslan Zainullin. Apparently this guy plays hockey. But there hasn't been evidence of it for some time.

The surprising:
Dustin Boyd. Having a good year in Moose Jaw despite playing on a godawful team. Managed to get a serious look at a stacked World Junior selection camp, is looking to be another Matt Lombardi for the Flames.

Yuri Trubachev. Always rated behind guys like Taratukhin because of his size, but he's been outplaying most of the players from his draft year (of the Flames picks). Showing signs that he could have an outside shot at being a crafty NHLer.

The mistreated:
Eric Nystrom. His offense isn't great, but he will be an NHLer. Best Defensive Forward putting up a decent point total. Getting a hard rap because people expect more from a 10th Overall pick. I think people had too high expectations of him.

The misunderstood:
Andrei Medvedev. Some people thought this guy had NHL potential.

The underwhelming:
Eric Nystrom. Defense is great, but I expected more as a senior. Sort of went against my previous statement, but I included myself in the afformentioned 'people'.

The overdiscussed: Phaneuf. No need for an explanation. I love the guy and he gets talked about too much.

 

[Hossa]

The Bad- Ben Eager I thought this guy was a great pick up but just hasn't got his scoring touch from junipr.

I don't know why you think he had a great scoring touch in junior. In all the times I watched him, not only in the O, but in rookie camps with the Coyotes, he never gave me any indication he'd be a big score in the AHL, let alone the NHL. He's a fantastic skater, a good hitter, and a great fighter. But I have never once seen the offensive upside. For that reason, I'd put him in the misunderstood category, not bad.

 

[chaachie12]

The Surprising-Ryan Potulny-monster season.

A monster first half, we could use some of that this weekend though...Ryan, pretend it's December for one weekend, PLEASE!

 

[Sticky*]

How about Gino Pisellini? (OHL) - 59 games, 10 points (and at least 3 came in the last week of the season). He was a 5th rounder, but wow, just wow.

I'd add Ruzicka to the "good" list as well

I'd probably throw Patrick Sharp in the good list as well. Has been nothing but impressive.

 

[mooseOAK*]

The good: Kyle Wellwood
The bad:Jay Harrison
The ugly: Konstantin Volkov, MIA

Additional categories:
The surprising: Ian White
The mistreated: John Doherty
The misunderstood: Carlo Colaiacovo
The underwhelming: Jeremy Williams
The overdiscussed: Robbie Earl

 

[markov`]

My picks for the Habs...

The good:
Alexander Perezhogin. Played with Jaromir Jagr and outscored teammates Jaroslav Bednar and Oleg Tverdovsky. Is among the 20 best scorer in the league, filled of NHLers.

Chris Higgins. After a poor start, Higgins has been among the best offensive players in the AHL in the second half of the season. What a great all-around player he will become.

The bad:
Maxim Lapierre. Lapierre production decreased by a fairly big amount this year compared to last season in the QMJHL. Wasn't a impact player, finishing just 4th in team scoring.

The ugly:
Cory Urquhart. Picked before Bergeron, etc. and is an average ECHL player at best. Wasted pick in my books.

Additional categories:

The surprising:
Mikhail Grabovsky. He was apparently picked just because he knows Andrei well, but the guy is just a brutal offensive weapon in the RSL. At the age of 20, he is by far the best scorer on his team, and #14 in the RSL.

Yann Danis. I knew he was good. But I didn't knew he was that good. He's been amazing this season.

The mistreated:
Ron Hainsey. People seems to have written him off as a bust. Sure, his production has decreased, but the AHL is a much deeper league this year and he doesn't have the same role. I'm confident Hainsey could become a solid 2nd pairing defenseman in the NHL.

Corey Locke definitely deserves more respect. After being an absolute star in the juniors, he has proven this year he can be an offensive threat even at the pro level. This guy is gonna make the NHL.

The misunderstood:
Andrei Kostitsyn. His offensive production doesn't reach the Habs fans' expectations, but he's been developing his all-around game at an incredible pace this year.

The underwhelming:
Andrei Kostitsyn. I thought he could've done more offensively - but he's been picking his game up lately.

The overdiscussed:
Marcel Hossa. At the beginning of the year, people were saying he was that good because he produced well in Sweden. Now, we can say for a fact that his stats aren't that impressing. He has amazing potential but I don't know what is wrong with him.

 

[FearTheFlyers]

As I've added on the Flyers board, Gino hurt his hand very badly in his first fight of the year with Marco, and it affected him all year long. One of the reason he's been so poor, but he still should have played better.

I did not know that, he has not looked a good fighter at all when I've seen him, although certainly willing.

 

[paxtang]

I did not know that, he has not looked a good fighter at all when I've seen him, although certainly willing.

He hurt it badly in his first fight, and it hampered him all year by reinjuring it. In fact, for a few weeks he even played with a cast on his hand, and apparntly almost shut it down for the whole year for surgery.

Last year, I believe he got into 27 fights. This year I think he had 11. That's a big dropoff, and as you said, Gino is a very willing guy. He fought Capara in another one of their classics, he beat Bain, then Maunu. I know he lost to Big Snake, and he got edged in the first Todd fight, but in the second he broke Todd's nose and ended his season. I'd say he had a solid season in the fights he's had, but the fact that he had less than half of his fights the year before is probably a clear indicator he was injured. He went a stretch of 14 games without fighting, then a stretch of 17 games without fighting, when I think he had the cast on. It affected him all year long. So, while I don't think you can blame all of his troubles this year on the injury, part of the fact that his poitns dropped by 20 and his fights dropped more than a half can be attributed to it.

 

[FearTheFlyers]

He hurt it badly in his first fight, and it hampered him all year by reinjuring it. In fact, for a few weeks he even played with a cast on his hand, and apparntly almost shut it down for the whole year for surgery.

Last year, I believe he got into 27 fights. This year I think he had 11. That's a big dropoff, and as you said, Gino is a very willing guy. He fought Capara in another one of their classics, he beat Bain, then Maunu. I know he lost to Big Snake, and he got edged in the first Todd fight, but in the second he broke Todd's nose and ended his season. I'd say he had a solid season in the fights he's had, but the fact that he had less than half of his fights the year before is probably a clear indicator he was injured. He went a stretch of 14 games without fighting, then a stretch of 17 games without fighting, when I think he had the cast on. It affected him all year long. So, while I don't think you can blame all of his troubles this year on the injury, part of the fact that his poitns dropped by 20 and his fights dropped more than a half can be attributed to it.

I've only seen 4 of his fights.

He lost, IMO, contrary to yours to Bain.

He lost to Big Snake

He lost to Jordan Smith

Was losing to Todd but hit him with a nice shot and broke his nose.

So he's 1/4 in my book. But like you said, his hand must have plagued him.

 

[paxtang]

I've only seen 4 of his fights.

He lost, IMO, contrary to yours to Bain.

He lost to Big Snake

He lost to Jordan Smith

Was losing to Todd but hit him with a nice shot and broke his nose.

So he's 1/4 in my book. But like you said, his hand must have plagued him.

The Smith fight was a loss, but was one of those fights IMO that isn't indictive of his fighting abilities. It's not his fault Smith fell when he was about to land a punch. A loss is a loss is a loss, but isn't always a good barometer on skills.

But either way, and I think you got it so I don't know why I'm repeating it, my point was more to show that his hand affected him in fighting and playing. I, personally expect a bounce back year next year, but he definetly needs a lot of work on his skating. And a better left hand.

 

[hockeyfan125]

The good: Brett Skinner, Keven Bieksa, Ryan Kesler, Ellis-Plante. Bieksa should be on the Canucks roster next season, and that is amazing considering how far off the radar he was before this season. He is tough as hell, and has offense and skating to boot. Kesler and Bieksa are going to become fan favorites very, very quick in Vancouver.
The bad: Krikunov and the other guy. Get your assses over to NA now!
The ugly: Kirill Koltsov. No explanation needed.

Additional categories:
The surprising: Julien Ellis-Plante, Kevin Bieksa.
The mistreated: Jason King. Will never be the 30 goal scorer people talk about...but a very versatile player. Constistency is an issue, but effort is not.
The misunderstood: Jason King...read above.
The underwhelming: The Russians.

The overdiscussed: Ryan Kesler, and rightly so.

 

[sharkyz15]

The good: College Super Trio Carle, Morris, and Pavelski
The bad: Kai Hospelt (not all his fault tho)
The ugly: Nolan Schaefer

Additional categories:
The surprising: Ryan Clowe
The mistreated: Milan Michalek
The misunderstood: Steve Bernier (pple get down on his #'s too much)
The underwhelming: Lukas Kaspar
The overdiscussed: Matt Carle 4 good reason

 

[Legionnaire]

Kings

The good: Mike Cammalleri, the second leading scorer of the AHL
The bad: Scott Barney... great prospect, but misses on another year of development due to injury
The ugly: Jens Karlsson... Come overseas! Honorable mention goes to Lehoux for getting injured during a breakout year.

Additional categories:
The surprising: Scott Parse; he's having a great sophomore season in the NCAA
The mistreated: Denis Grebeshkov; I've read he's made a lot of defensive gaffs... he isn't being "poorly" treated; he needs to be held more accountable.
The misunderstood: Noah Clarke; outside of King's fans, nobody knows how fast he is or how well he makes plays.
The underwhelming: Lauri Tukonen; he just didn't perform up to the hype
The overdiscussed: Brian Boyle; he's been great for a while, but now he's just been discussed in several threads. I'm guilty of this, too, of course.

I wanted to use each name only once; some arguments could certainly be made.

Good list. The only thing I would change would be to put Brady Murray in "the ugly" column. If he's getting beat up this badly in college, he has no shot in the NHL.

 

[Debrincat93]

My picks for the wings

The good:
Niklas Kronwall. He at 1 point was leading the AHL defensemen in pts, now hes atleast top 5 and i believe still leads the Griffins in pts. 6 pts in 30 gms last year too on the last pairing for the wings, the kid has a HUGE future

Evan McGrath. Awesome year in the OHL, he was at 1 point a top 3-5 guy and now hes not to far behind. Love to see him in GR after next season...

Jimmy Howard. One of the best NCAA goalies out there, nuff said

The bad:
Jiri Hudler. He was off to a great start, went to czech while his dad was sick, came back and didnt do so much, not thrilled

Stefan Liv. This is gonna be a huge year for him, but it was nothing great, needs to get over in GR asap and try to improve his rating because Howard is gonna smoke him

The ugly:
tomas kopecky. the guy is horrible, lately hes been getting pts but blah he's a lost cause

Additional categories:

The surprising:
Valterri Filpulla. He's had a pretty solid offensive year, i expected him to do ok, but hes i believe done a hell of a decent job this year.


The mistreated:
Derek Meech. I dont read much on him, but from what i see and what little i read, it seams like he could have been brought along a little differently, who knows

The misunderstood:
Igor Grigorenko. Come on the guy busted his leg, is now regaining form. Playing in a league with NHLers and his roster spot nothing thrilling, after the trade he had 19 pts in 30 gms, not bad

The nderwhelming:
Jiri Hudler. started off great, ended not great, needs to get consistancy so when griggy is over here, he can give him a challenge for a roster spot

The overdiscussed:
Jimmy Howard, but i dont mind it whatsoever

 

[leafaholix*]

The good: Kyle Wellwood
- He's been tremendous this season, no doubt St. John's MVP.

The bad: Jay Harrison
- Though he's been better the last week or two, he's still had a bad season.

The ugly: Konstantin Volkov
- Has played a recorded 1 game all of this season, though he seems to be moving around the Russian Super League a lot.

The surprising: Dimitri Vorobiev
- I don't think anybody expected him to come out in the WJC's as a top 2 or 3 defenseman in the tournament. As well as his great season in the Russian League, defending against guys like Jaromir Jagr as a 19 year old.

The mistreated: John Doherty
- Big time talent, but he left the University of New Hampshire because the coach did not give him the minutes to continue his development, so he left and has played the majority of the season in the USHL on the worst team in the league. Recently he's been hot, but some have already labeled him a bust. Which should not be the case.

The misunderstood: Alexander Steen
- His numbers are down in the Swedish Elite League, but some fail to understand he played behind 4 NHL'ers, the captain, and a long time veteran of the league. His linemates were also no more than role players all season.

The underwhelming: Jan Steber
- Has some offensive skills, but hasn't put it together. Still, a good physical presence for Halifax. Though, he also failed to make the Czech team at the WJC.

The overdiscussed: Ian White
- Though he's a good prospect having a great rookie season in the AHL, he's still got an up-hill climb ahead of him to make the NHL. Though, I can see him there in a few years.

 

[David A. Rainer]

Good list. The only thing I would change would be to put Brady Murray in "the ugly" column. If he's getting beat up this badly in college, he has no shot in the NHL.

I said the exact same thing when I read his list. Maybe not so much because he won't make it in the NHL (I still think he has as good of a chance as anyone else), but that the injuries this year have just completely destroyed his season, making it ugly.

 

[gars59]

for me, the habs



The good: higgins, perezhogin,plekaneck,danis

The bad: Chipchura (tendon achille) , Lapierre

The ugly: Urquhart,lacasse,dulac lemelin

Additional categories:

The surprising: Corey Locke,Mikahail Grabovski
The mistreated: ron hainsey
The misunderstood:andrei kostitsyn
The underwhelming:marcel hossa
The overdiscussed:andrei kostitsyn

 

[andora]

yeah that chipchura one hurt, i wanted him to push for team canada

 

[clefty]

The Good: Evgeny Malkin (Magnitogorsk). Finished second on his team in scoring, was a star on his team as an 18 year old. Added some muscle mass and strength, and just simply developed all aspects of his game. 32 point season. Excellent world juniors tournament.

The Bad: Evgeny Isakov (Cherepovets). Was the final player to be cut for the Russian World juniors in 2004, didn't suit up for a game in the RSL this year.

The Ugly: Dave Brown (Notre Dame). Lost his starting job to an average goaltender, and was beaten thoroughly and often in a backup role. Won two games all season.

The Surprising: Alex Goligoski (Minnesota). If not for Keith Ballard leaving the Gophers, he would spent the year in the USHL. Yet he goes on to become a top blueliner in the ECAC and made it to the US World Juniors squad. Nagging injuries stopped him from having an even better season. Also, Jonathan Filewich broke away from four seasons of average offensive numbers to put up 80 points on the year after being traded to Lethbridge.

The Mistreated: Daniel Fernholm (Djurgardens). Was a key defender last year, but was overlooked this season as Djurgardens took advantage of the lockout by signing a couple of name defensemen (Dan Boyle and Daniel Tjarnqvist). Even found himself loaned off to Italy. His teammate Johannes Salmonsson would be second.

The Underwhelming: Cam Paddock (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Wheeling). Had 16 scoreless games with the Baby Pens and was sent down to Wheeling where he didn't really do all that much. Was overlooked a few times for a recall in favour of the no name Kenny Corupe.

The Misunderstood: Marc-Andre Fleury. It seems somewhere along the line, save percentage became the be all and end all of goaltending. I must have been taking a nap when this was decided.

The Overdiscussed: Marc-Andre Fleury's season. Count the threads.