2014-2015 CHL/NCAA/Euro Prospects thread 9.0

[Le Barron de HF]

Here's the article I was talking about on the last page. As you can see I made some changes on my comparaisons based on the feedback I got on here
http://rabidhabs.com/ranking-the-habs-top-15-prospects
Feel free to give me feedback.

 

[Mr. Hab]

Whitesnake...great work yet again this year.

Harry K. Thanks for your write ups as well.

As a Finnish-Canadian the Lehkonen news is extra disappointing.

The Lernout news is a great counter-weight though.

Someone to crush Leafs down the road.

Question, gents:

What year do you see Lernout wearing a Habs jersey?

Others here may be better suited to answer your question, but I'll take as ''shot'' (and yes apparently Lernout has a great shot!!, so pun intended!).

This is his first year in the AHL (from what I know), so...at least two years of AHL? He may see some playoff action for 2018 playoffs? (maybe before?)...I'm guesstimating, of course.

 

[Whitesnake]

Whitesnake...great work yet again this year.

Harry K. Thanks for your write ups as well.

As a Finnish-Canadian the Lehkonen news is extra disappointing.

The Lernout news is a great counter-weight though.

Someone to crush Leafs down the road.

Question, gents:

What year do you see Lernout wearing a Habs jersey?

Again....don't push it too far. No need to be extra dissapointing by this Lehkonen game. He didn't have a good one...but that's 1 in July. The ones that count are later on. Besides, my comment was also driven by a long lasting impression that I HAVE, just me, of him. But other guys have surprised me before. I don't see it. But Timmins not that long ago did say that Lehkonen was probably our best hidden prospect. Trust him more than me.

 

[MrNasty]

Considering Lernout was one of the guys the Habs called up to hang with the team during the playofss speaks a lot to what the Habs see in him. I suspect he will be get some NHL time within the next two years.

 

[Ghetto Sangria]

Considering Lernout was one of the guys the Habs called up to hang with the team during the playofss speaks a lot to what the Habs see in him. I suspect he will be get some NHL time within the next two years.

They traded up to get him, no? He has developped well and does seem to have the clubs full support so I agree with you there. Much like Dietz, I think he will get some looks soon

 

[montreal]

What year do you see Lernout wearing a Habs jersey?

We'll have to see how he adjusts to the AHL first, if it goes well then we'll need to see about injuries and any roster moves. Gilbert's contract is up next season so he should be gone after that I assume. If Lernout does well in the AHL then that could push him over Dietz as the top RD prospect in the AHL so he could see time the following season. The good news for him is that our D prospects are very thin after losing Beaulieu, Pateryn and Tinordi from the AHL. The bad news for him is just about every D prospect we have is a RD so there's going to be some comp going forward. How he handles it should be telling for when he'll see NHL time.

They traded up to get him, no? He has developped well and does seem to have the clubs full support so I agree with you there. Much like Dietz, I think he will get some looks soon

yes they traded up to get him. For me the AHL is a big test, I don't put too much stock into CHL play unless it's really good. So how he does next season and beyond will be very telling about his future with us.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

I was a huge Lehkonen fan but...the guy seems broken down to me.

Not based on this one scrimmage, but after such an underwhelming season and WJC, and to be one of the worst players in this, I just don't have much faith anymore. He was a guy with a Saku-like willingness to go through walls, but it appears all those injuries at such a young age have left him to make Saku look like an iron man. Sad to hear, our Nordic prospects appear to be cursed.

Regrettably, Lehkonen has not developed as the team expected when it invested a second round pick in selecting him. What I saw of Lehkonen at the past WJC quickly convinced me that he had little chance of making the NHL. He's too slow and has no dynamic snap to his game. Picking him and Fucale in the same round of a very deep draft has served to deprive the team of an excellent opportunity to add strategic depth to its asset pool. Mistakes like Lehkonen and Fucale are hard to overcome and hamstring the team both with respect to its on ice performance and its ability to make trades that will improve the team.

 

[QuebecPride]

People shouldn't expect offense from Bourque in the Pros. Mathletic compared him a while ago to Gorges, and it fits him well I find. Very smart, good first pass, average skater, will do anything to win puck battles and the game. It'll be interesting to see what happens with his numbers now that the big names are gone in Rimouski. He'll get much more ice with the departures of Morin, Kostalek and Beaudoin, but won't be able to ride the coattails of Clapperton/Loiseau/Joly anymore.

Personally, I thought Bourque was our best pick in the draft ( going by the ratio quality on price paid), but I know very little of Bradley/Vedejmo.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

I expect Bourque to put up good numbers by pure virtue of having a lot more ice time in offensive situations next year by default, a bit like Lernout last year. I would not be surprised to see him go from 38 points to as high as a 50 points season, which is way more than he projects to do as a pro. I agree with the Gorges comparisons ( Good healthy Gorges, not pure shot blocker Gorges) , it's pretty spot on . His bread and butter at the next level will be steady, unspectacular good puck decisions hockey, the kind of player you never notice ( In a good way) .

The other 2015 picks all figure to see big increases in their productions too. They are all in a situation where they'll get added minutes on kinda average teams, outside of Juulsen who could be benefiting from the Matthews bonanza and a potentially hot PP.

 

[montreal]

People shouldn't expect offense from Bourque in the Pros. Mathletic compared him a while ago to Gorges, and it fits him well I find. Very smart, good first pass, average skater, will do anything to win puck battles and the game. It'll be interesting to see what happens with his numbers now that the big names are gone in Rimouski. He'll get much more ice with the departures of Morin, Kostalek and Beaudoin, but won't be able to ride the coattails of Clapperton/Loiseau/Joly anymore.

Personally, I thought Bourque was our best pick in the draft ( going by the ratio quality on price paid), but I know very little of Bradley/Vedejmo.

He's the only draft pick from last month that I've seen play a game other then Juulsen. It's funny how so many D prospects get compared to Gorges, I'm trying to think back to Q playoffs and Memorial Cup as to what I thought of him. I know that it was mainly Kostalek that impressed me. Going off his stats that is a nice jump from his rookie year to this past season so it will be interesting to see how it goes for him next year and the following. I like that he's had some good experience playing in the Q finals and Memorial Cup but now will have to carry more of the load so how he responds should be telling.

 

[QuebecPride]

He's the only draft pick from last month that I've seen play a game other then Juulsen. It's funny how so many D prospects get compared to Gorges, I'm trying to think back to Q playoffs and Memorial Cup as to what I thought of him. I know that it was mainly Kostalek that impressed me. Going off his stats that is a nice jump from his rookie year to this past season so it will be interesting to see how it goes for him next year and the following. I like that he's had some good experience playing in the Q finals and Memorial Cup but now will have to carry more of the load so how he responds should be telling.

I only remember Ellis being compared to Gorges.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Guys like him ( and more so M.Staal and Bouwmeester) have been the poster boys for that new bread of defense first D men who's game is based around stick work and positioning more than physicality. They can skate and move the puck but they don't really use those skills in a pro active manner so they're kinda ''tweeners'' , like a combo guard in the NBA.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

yeah I wouldn't write Lehkonen off yet. He still picked up two late season hat tricks in one of the best leagues in the world while still junior eligible.

Last season seemed to be a bit of a write off and even if he doesn't pan out its not like we have tons of spots for 'undersized' forwards.

I didn't see Bozon but I'm sure he'll be determined to get better after a disappointing camp. But again he's sort of a fringe-ish prospect at this point so it won't be the end of the world.

I'm sure we'll take our time with Lernout no real rush. Its seems that management has been high on him since the get go and I'm glad he's impressing. He could turn out to be a nice surprise bottom 4 guy.

Super pumped about Addison and Vejdemo. Even though Vejdemo still feels like a bit of a long shot I'm glad that he really stood out as a youngin. I feel more confident about these types of picks with the new regime in place. Fingers crossed.

Addison seems like he could be a lock for a bottom 6er with maybe some hidden upside. Love that he's apparently a real good skater and has decent size.

 

[montreal]

I only remember Ellis being compared to Gorges.

Maybe it just seems like every non overly big or highly skilled D gets compared to Gorges. Doesn't matter since I'm not big on comparing prospects to NHLers to begin with. At least he's a LD since we need them badly.

 

[NotProkofievian]

yeah I wouldn't write Lehkonen off yet. He still picked up two late season hat tricks in one of the best leagues in the world while still junior eligible.

Last season seemed to be a bit of a write off and even if he doesn't pan out its not like we have tons of spots for 'undersized' forwards.

I don't know what happened with Lehkonen's season last year. He had mono in the summer, but he started off just fine. In November he looked fantastic against the Tappara. Before watching that game I was not stoked about him, but that performance changed my mind. Then I saw him again against IFK and he was not the same player. That must've been in December. He had a long drought and then picked it up again at the end of the season. I have no idea what was going on with him.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

I don't know what happened with Lehkonen's season last year. He had mono in the summer, but he started off just fine. In November he looked fantastic against the Tappara. Before watching that game I was not stoked about him, but that performance changed my mind. Then I saw him again against IFK and he was not the same player. That must've been in December. He had a long drought and then picked it up again at the end of the season. I have no idea what was going on with him.

yeah i just recently found out he had the mono in the summer. i was kind of confused because it was his midseason that suffered and i stupidly thought it hit him in the midseason not realizing he couldn't have played while having it. lol.

maybe the lack of training he could do in the offseason caught up with him as the season went on. i think he can pick it back up.

 

[montreal]

I'm also at a loss to explain what happened to Lehkonen this season. If you look at how he started off the season, things were going great for him but then around Mid November he seems to have hit a wall and really struggled to produce consistently. I was disappointed with his WJC's as I thought he would have a big tournament. If you look at Nov 15th and on he played in games for the SHL, Champions League, WJC's and playoffs. In 46 games he had points in just 8 of those games from Nov 15th to the end of the season.

 

[JAVO16]

The mono might have affected his capacity to perform throughout a long season (with the champion's league, WJC, etc). He might have been burned out by the mid-season.

 

[montreal]

The mono might have affected his capacity to perform throughout a long season (with the champion's league, WJC, etc). He might have been burned out by the mid-season.

yea it makes sense but it was still a very strange season, just 8 games where he records a point in a game from Nov 15th till April. But in the final 24 games, he did pick up 12 points. So maybe he started to recover later in the season, but that middle part of the season, was really bad. That's 22 games in a row without a single point. granted that was a mix of SHL, WJC's and Champions league but still odd to watch as I saw him at each level, SHL, WJC's and most of the Championship league games he played. Several times I thought I was watching two different players.