2014-2015 CHL/NCAA/Euro Prospects thread 6.0

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Emerz

#1 PLD Fanboy
Jun 5, 2013
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Losing Bouchard Asst. Coach certainly won't help the Drakkars hopes along with Gregoire missing 6-8 weeks, still a long season though, stranger things have happened in junior hockey on many occasions.:nod: Can anyone shine some light on Svechnikov's play lately, is he playing injured?

Svechnikov is indeed dealing with a minor lower body injury, he is still dominant on the puck / board play and could easily have a few goals in the last couple games but hes hit a few posts.
 
Dec 2, 2010
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Still don't like his game. I just don't like Audette's IQ and decision making. Good skills and shot but lacks the brains to take advantage of that.
 
Dec 2, 2010
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Seen him plenty since Sherbrooke came in the Q. Live. And before I hear the whole "the pros in the business drafted him so what do you know?!" . You're right I don't know. Just my 2 cents.

What I mean is that he has good intentions. For the past year or so I noticed his effort level is higher. I'll give him that.. but I find him out of position or chasing the puck around and not coming close to touching it too often. Poor anticipation. His feet are not too slow to catch up, just the mental aspect. For an easy-to-see example: J.Gregoire. He's probably slower than Audette in a foot race but he's often in the right place at the right time. You know that Gretzky quote? Something like "good players go where the puck WILL be not where it is right now."

To QP, ofcourse. Although you hope that prospects figure out anticipation at a younger age, he has time to put it together and I definitely hope so.
 

montreal

Go Habs Go
Mar 21, 2002
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I'll say that right now, Lehkonen is my biggest question mark. I really have no idea how his game will translate in the NHL.

I agree, have been watching a lot of Lehkonen this year so far he's a treat to watch as he's so skilled but also plays without fear despite being undersize. That said you wonder how he would do against teams like boston in the playoffs which is where a lot of undersized players struggle. But in the new NHL that we are keep moving towards each year, that could change as more and more smaller players are starting to make their way to the NHL and have an impact which is something that was unheard of 15-20 years ago.

I can't wait to see Lehkonen in North America as he's easily among our most skilled prospects, just needs to add a lot to that skinny frame as he looks to me to be around 165 pounds soaking wet but he'll have a few years to add to that if he can. If he can't it will still be interesting to see how he does on the smaller ice. I assume he has an out clause in his deal with Frolunda, and while the Habs could just as easily leave him in the SHL for another year, I wonder if he keeps putting up the points like he has if they would consider bringing him across the pond for next season.

I had Collberg ranked 11th overall in his draft year..don't know that any one had him ranked higher..but I'm not going to sit back and deny that I had him ranked too highly..I can see it with my own eyes. He lacks the quickness, grit and competitiveness for his size to be a surefire prospect...I truly think he would have had problems cracking the Habs' lineup as he's not a bottom line player, and he's likely not good enough for his size to ever supplant a top-line winger on the Habs.

Yes it's too early to write him off..and I'm not saying he won't succeed with the Isles..but sometimes you have to make early projections, as the Habs did with this trade, and my early read on Collberg is that he would have been a longshot to become a regular on the Habs. Yes that makes my draft ranking of 11th look bad, but you don't get all of them right. I only get to see players like Collberg on video in international competitions, so it's an inexact science to be sure. For me Collberg's style hasn't translated well to the pro game...he's a great junior..but not all great juniors become great pros. I may have put too much emphasis on performance and not enough on projection in Collberg's case as he really did look good at the U-20's as a 17-year-old. Actually he looked good in all international tournament that year.

I don't do much "scouting" these days as in the past few years now I just focus on the Habs prospects so I don't often get to see too many before we draft them. That said I have been one of Collberg's biggest fans on this board as I got a bit of an Alex Perezhogin vibe from him (another guy I was really high on back in the day) so while I wasn't as high on him as I was back then on Perezhogin I still had high hopes for him. The trade made sense though and while I still like Collberg as a prospect and think he will be an NHLer, had Price not gotten hurt who knows how the playoffs could have gone. Even with losing to the rangers it was worth it for the experience for our young guys which hopefully pays dividends down the road if not sooner.

Collberg is a strange prospect as he's among the all time leaders in Swedish wjc U-20 scoring (no one is going to catch Petr the Great as his wjc numbers are just sick) but with this struggles to produce in the SHL it's a big concern as you just never know what prospects are going to plateau from their 17/18 year old draft class. But I always liked his shot and could see him turning into a decent 2nd liner, although I would have loved if the Habs could have gotten their hands on Anders Lee as I wanted the Habs to draft him so badly both the year he was passed over in '08 when it was thought he would play NCAA football since he was a highly rated QB as well, and then again in '09 when NYI got him in the 6th round. :(

Off topic but I was wondering if you know what Timmins and the Habs thought of former draft pick Daniel Pribyl ('11, 168th overall). I know his skating/foot speed was a big concern but now that he's a teammate of Reway, I wonder if the Habs are keeping tabs on him as last year was his best and this year he's leading the team in scoring. Since he's still only 21 and has a big frame to go with his good hands, might be worth keeping an eye on unless they think his lack of mobility in the new NHL will hinder him from keeping up with the NHL speed.
 
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GREMLIN

Tanking enthusiast
Sep 19, 2013
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I did watch Lehkonen play yesterday, the skill is definitely there but It's so hard to grasp his potential as you rarely see him having to work with little space on international ice. It's absolutely essential in the NHL to be able to work a cycling game in high traffic and he'll likely have a huge adjustment to make in that area of his game when coming to NA. He's definitely a huge question mark, I doubt he's got the assets to be effective at the NHL level but he was always a high risk/reward pick and it would be absolutely amazing to see him pull it off. We definitely need to get him in Hamilton asap, when we do that we'll have a way better idea of his potential as a hab. He's also a guy who would really need to spend a couple summers in Brossard on a good strength/weight gaining program training with NHLers and other prospects, he would really see what it takes to make it here and would benefit a lot from it IMO (Reway is in the same boat).
 

24rings

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Sep 9, 2002
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Seen him plenty since Sherbrooke came in the Q. Live. And before I hear the whole "the pros in the business drafted him so what do you know?!" . You're right I don't know. Just my 2 cents.

What I mean is that he has good intentions. For the past year or so I noticed his effort level is higher. I'll give him that.. but I find him out of position or chasing the puck around and not coming close to touching it too often. Poor anticipation. His feet are not too slow to catch up, just the mental aspect. For an easy-to-see example: J.Gregoire. He's probably slower than Audette in a foot race but he's often in the right place at the right time. You know that Gretzky quote? Something like "good players go where the puck WILL be not where it is right now."

To QP, ofcourse. Although you hope that prospects figure out anticipation at a younger age, he has time to put it together and I definitely hope so.

Thanks, I havent seen him play so its nice to hear from someone that has.
 

Vi Nc E x13x

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Oct 30, 2011
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Man London`s skaters havent been great so far .. Even Max domi only has 1ppg. I think Big Mac will get a big role with the team this year.
 
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