Prospect Info: Zachary Fucale

[mustardnight*]

Do you guys think he has the "drive" to be a top goalie or a starter in the NHL?

Personally I don't think he has the Patrick Roy, Carey Price "drive", he's more like Dustin Tokarski than Price. When games matter Roy and Price shows up. 4 goals in one of the most important game of Fucale's life isn't not good.

I think we should package him for a top player.

Lol you're always so negative, you're like a pack of downers.

What are you basing your comments on? One game, that he still won?

One of the biggest complaints regarding Carey Price's game the first few years he was in the nhl was his "drive"; my, how memory is short.

 

[Pricef*]

Not to mention, Price is 27. He's entering his prime. Fucale is 19, Price should be able to play until 35. Fucale will be 27 by then.

Bingo

 

[S Bah]

I can understand the animosity of American posters for Fucale and Team Canada, but the other posters leave me wondering what a player/person has to do to impress them? Probably lay golden eggs or some other magical trick/miracle.

 

[Pricef*]

Only on HF Boards can you read definitive projections on 19-year-old goaltenders. ..and not just one or two projections, but several. A 19-year-old goalie who has set league records for wins and now has a Memorial Cup and WJC championship.

Not even the pro scouts and GMs are cocky enough to do that watching these players live, but when you are an HF Board poster all you have to do is watch a few tournament games on TV and a goalies' future can be projected without a shred of doubt. There are some incredibly gifted people on here..supposedly too talented to bother taking lowly positions as NHL executives. I feel honoured to be in such hallowed company.

Bravo you're so right.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

I can understand the animosity of American posters for Fucale and Team Canada, but the other posters leave me wondering what a player/person has to do to impress them? Probably lay golden eggs or some other magical trick/miracle.

As an American who has lived for many years in Canada I have been a big fan of the Canadian National hockey team since the Montreal Jr. Canadiens beat the Russian 9-3 in 1969. Fucale is not a motherhood issue. I am just one of many who doubt the long term success of this one player. Nothing earth shattering in this determination. The kid lacks the necessary athleticism you need to succeed at hockey's highest levels. If I am right, he won't be the first highly touted draftee to so fail and he certainly won't be the last. That doesn't take away anything from his twenty minutes of glory. Which is more than most athletes can say.

 

[rockjngo]

As an American who has lived for many years in Canada I have been a big fan of the Canadian National hockey team since the Montreal Jr. Canadiens beat the Russian 9-3 in 1969. Fucale is not a motherhood issue. I am just one of many who doubt the long term success of this one player. Nothing earth shattering in this determination. The kid lacks the necessary athleticism you need to succeed at hockey's highest levels. If I am right, he won't be the first highly touted draftee to so fail and he certainly won't be the last. That doesn't take away anything from his twenty minutes of glory. Which is more than most athletes can say.

yes i agree, players who dominate in junior does not mean he'll have success in the nhl. Patrick osullivan, robbie schremp,

 

[MakeTheGoalsLarger]

as far as i know, he was rated the best goalie of his draft because he is good when the game is on the line, makes key saves. Well he won the game, so he performs as expected.


about the rebound control: stop comparing him to Price lol. i bet Fucale's rebound control will be noticeably better in 8-9 years.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Concentration problems... He doesnt really look calm in there nor does he inspire confidence with the way he plays.

Not sure how a few people see this instead of what everyone else - including coaches and teammates - report on a regular basis. Maybe if you look too hard for something that really isn't there, the tendency is to make a mountain out of a mole hill from necessity.

about the rebound control: stop comparing him to Price lol. i bet Fucale's rebound control will be noticeably better in 8-9 years.

It's definitely already better than at least 90% of the goalies that face him in any barn on any given night. People judging him on an NHL scale already are loltastic.

 

[montreal]

The impressive thing is that at a young age in terms of prospect development, he's already putting together a solid resume. Winning the Q, Memorial Cup, WJC Gold, hopefully he can build off this as he moves on to the AHL next year. We'll see how much he can improve over the next 3-4 years in the A as the Habs should be able to take their time with him since we have two solid young goalies behind Price in Tok and Condon.

 

[pepperMonkey]

There are holes and then there are holes. The inability to catch a puck is not a matter of technique. It is a matter of athleticism. Athleticism is something that cannot be taught. it's something you wake up with and go to sleep with. In this writer's opinion, Fucale's value will never be higher and if you are in agreement with the view that this player's upside is very limited, then trade him now before he is exposed as he faces greater competition at the pro-level.

Fucale is a good kid who stood tall for Canada for one period in the most important 20 minutes of his playing career. But those twenty minutes, do not change the long term limitations in his ability. If we can trade him for value, do it now.

Umm...wasn't Price's glove side the big hole in his game when he first came into the league???

 

[mustardnight*]

yes i agree, players who dominate in junior does not mean he'll have success in the nhl. Patrick osullivan, robbie schremp,

Why do you pick out two examples amongst the throngs of others? yeah, those guys didn't pan out, but guess what, most other stars in the NHl came from a CHL system. You pick out anecdotal negatives as absolute statements.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I think we should view him as a trading chip. We've got Price for the forseeable future and we're trying to win it now.

I have no problem hanging onto him and developing him but if another team WANTS him and will pay us for him then I think we should do it. I don't see the point in developing this guy for seven years waiting for Price to get old. And we've already got a good young goalie in Tokarski to boot.

So, develop him and see how it goes. But if we're working on a trade to help ourselves now I'd have zero hesitation in adding Fucale in as part of a package to help us.

 

[CanadiensforLife]

This reminds me of the time when Price was going through growing pains and a lot of fans were impatient and were on his case, they wanted to keep Halak and kick Price's *** out of town. Good thing the Habs management were smarter and kept Price (look at the level he's reached and only entering his prime). With goalies and defensemen, patience is important. You just don't throw a young guy under the bus based on one game and 4 goals which only 1 can really be put on him.

 

[MarkovtoSubban]

The impressive thing is that at a young age in terms of prospect development, he's already putting together a solid resume. Winning the Q, Memorial Cup, WJC Gold, hopefully he can build off this as he moves on to the AHL next year. We'll see how much he can improve over the next 3-4 years in the A as the Habs should be able to take their time with him since we have two solid young goalies behind Price in Tok and Condon.

Hamilton will have a young defence next couple years as well, lots of shots:

Bennett-Pateryn
Dietz-Thrower
Makowski-Lernout
Didier

 

[Scintillating10]

A lot of Fucale's success benefit of playing on a great team in Halifax. I have my doubts he will mount to much more than fringe NHLer, but I find goalies hardest to judge. He still could be a good one.

 

[68*]

#36 overall draft pick
WJC Gold winner
Memorial Cup winner

Can he be traded for a 1st in the 2015 draft?

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

His value is probably worth a lot more to us at this point than in a trade, I doubt teams would consider him a key part in a trade right now so might as well keep him and see how much he can improve under Waite.

If Tokarski can continue to look good in the NHL and Condon continues to improve we can look at trading Tokarski when he's looking for a new contract after next season and move Condon in as the backup. That will let Fucale play the majority of the games for the 'Dogs for a couple of years, finally nice to have some depth at goalie after having plugs like Robert Mayer getting called up in recent years.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

I think we should view him as a trading chip. We've got Price for the forseeable future and we're trying to win it now.

I have no problem hanging onto him and developing him but if another team WANTS him and will pay us for him then I think we should do it. I don't see the point in developing this guy for seven years waiting for Price to get old. And we've already got a good young goalie in Tokarski to boot.

So, develop him and see how it goes. But if we're working on a trade to help ourselves now I'd have zero hesitation in adding Fucale in as part of a package to help us.

If Tokarski really is any good, he's going to need to find a new home LONG before any decisions involving Fucale come to the fore. He won't be here for the next 5 years as a back-up, that's just really, really unrealistic. Heck another 3 years is unrealistically optimistic.

So you trade away Fucale in the short term, just to find yourself dealing Tokarski to somewhere he can get an opportunity a year or two later. Stuck with Condon and nothing else between him and Price to lean on in the organization (between the two levels). Sounds like solid asset management.

 

[The Real Guy Lafleur]

Let me just quote what Carey Price had to say about Fucale:

"I think he’s got the right type of personality and the right type of mentality to know that he has the opportunity to win. It’s not overbearing. It’s an opportunity. You can’t over-expect too much from kids. We put way too much pressure on them. The name of the game is to have fun. It’s not about winning all the time necessarily. They’ve done a great job of putting themselves in a great spot to win. He’s got a lot of character. He plays hard. He’s very sound technically. He’s got all the tools.â€

So if Price thinks it, then it should shut up the nay sayers.

 

[Yoshidas Island]

A lot of Fucale's success benefit of playing on a great team in Halifax. I have my doubts he will mount to much more than fringe NHLer, but I find goalies hardest to judge. He still could be a good one.

I do believe that Fucale has been traded to the Quebec Ramparts, so this will give him a huge chance to win the Memorial Cup again!!

 

[Habs_Apostle]

A lot of Fucale's success benefit of playing on a great team in Halifax. I have my doubts he will mount to much more than fringe NHLer, but I find goalies hardest to judge. He still could be a good one.

Well, I haven't followed him closely but this was my worry. I assuming, of course, scouts look at more than success. At any rate, I haven't been terribly impressed from all the times I've seen him play, including this tournament. I have very low expectations for Fucale. Of course, being in the habs' system, I'd love to see him prove me wrong.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

#36 overall draft pick
WJC Gold winner
Memorial Cup winner

Can he be traded for a 1st in the 2015 draft?

Only if Rejean Houle is on the other side of the deal. We should only be so lucky.

 

[Habs Icing]

All he does is win.

Too bad you can't admit that of Therrien.

 

[Redux91]

this thread stinks just because we have carey price its funny

we have the god of goaltending in nets in price (and he STILL has doubters out there in hiding on this very board, its UNbelievable)

but its because we have SUCH stout goaltending and even more so with the emergence of tokarski, we really are embarrassed with riches when it comes to goalies now, were so ****ing spoiled , most of you dont even realize it

but because we HAVE the best , its hard to measure up to it, if we didnt have price or tokarski, maybe we'd be FREAKING out with total excitement about fucales future, even if he had let in SIX goals and still won the gold.

will fucale be good, maybe, will be great? who knows, but he might very well be one of the best goaltending prospects out there and a number of teams would probably LOVE to have him

BUT because price is 27 and tokarski is 24 and we seem pretty solid in nets for the next 10 years it seems like

but it seems like no matter what, people think fucale will just never be good ENOUGH to make it . and maybe there right, only he wont make the HABS, he will probably be dealt one day and he will very likely make it to the NHL on a team that will be thrilled to have him

poeople need to stop saying he sucks and really root for the kid more , wether he is the future of the habs or wether he brings in a great return in a trade

sooner or later we will find out, is he the product of great unbelievable teams, or is there really something to everything he keeps WINNING

 

[Redux91]

The impressive thing is that at a young age in terms of prospect development, he's already putting together a solid resume. Winning the Q, Memorial Cup, WJC Gold, hopefully he can build off this as he moves on to the AHL next year. We'll see how much he can improve over the next 3-4 years in the A as the Habs should be able to take their time with him since we have two solid young goalies behind Price in Tok and Condon.

exactly

even tokarski did everything fucale has done and even MORE, and it STILL took him till the age of 24 to make the NHL and as a back up

so fucale has pleeeeeeenty of time to work on a whoooole bunch of things

the number one thing, which is glaring, is rebound control, and WHO better to learn from then the MASTEr himself? carey freaking price and stephane waite