Prospect Info: 2015 Ranking #16

[tigervixxxen]

2015 PROSPECT RANKING
[table="head;width=3000]RANK|PREV|CHNG|NAME|POS|TEAM|DRAFT|VOTES
1|N/A|N/A| Mikko Rantanen|RW|TPS|#10 overall 2015|106 votes, 93.40%|
2|1|-1| Chris Bigras|D|Owen Sound|#32 overall 2013|99 votes, 96.97%|
3|2|-1| Conner Bleackley|C|Red Deer|#23 overall 2014|92 votes, 46.74%|
4|11|+7| Calvin Pickard|G|Lake Erie|#49 overall 2010|89 votes, 50.56%|
5|N/A|N/A| Nicolas Meloche|D|Baie-Comeau|#40 overall 2015|89 votes, 41.57%|
6|N/A|N/A| JT Compher|C|University of Michigan|#35 overall 2013|87 votes, 42.53%|
7|9|+2| Mason Geertsen|D|Vancouver|#93 overall 2013|84 votes, 38.10%|
8|3|-5| Duncan Siemens|D|Lake Erie|#11 overall 2011|84 votes, 60.71%|
9|10|+1| Kyle Wood|D|North Bay|#84 overall 2014|79 votes, 36.71%|
10|N/A|N/A| AJ Greer|LW|Boston University|#39 overall 2015|70 votes, 52.86%|
11|N/A|N/A| Andrei Mironov|D|Dynamo Moskva|#101 overall 2015|66 votes, 48.48%|
12|18|+6| Borna Rendulic|RW|Lake Erie|Undrafted FA|68 votes, 33.82%|
13|17|+4| Spencer Martin|G|Mississauga|#63 overall 2013|63 votes, 49.21%|
14|4|-10| Joey Hishon|C|Lake Erie|#17 overall 2010|65 votes, 36.92%|
15|N/A|N/A| JC Beaudin|C|Rouyn-Noranda|#71 overall 2015|62 votes, 41.94%|
[/table]


Added Alexis Pepin​

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[Congo Jack]

Tough to choose between Nantel and Butcher, but decided on Butcher.

Add Boikov.

 

[member 116861]

Will Butcher and add Boikov again.

 

[returnofthemack29]

Add Boikov please.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Nantel is going to be the hill I die on again

I agree add Boikov

 

[landy92mack29]

Nantel

add Magyar

 

[UncleRisto]

Went with Nantel. Not expecting much out of Butcher.

 

[Tommy Shelby]

Going with Nantel. Butcher, the last true Pracey pick, wont get much of an opportunity here, regardless of whether or not he earns one, which I dont think he ever will anyway.

If they let Gus Young walk, who was in my opinion better than Butcher, the odds look bleak for him.

 

[Nzap]

Hamilton cause of the certain NHL status he can have.

Add: Will

 

[Tweaky]

Butcher add Boikov

 

[Freudian]

Last year:

3. Duncan Siemens
4. Joey Hishon
5. Stefan Elliott
6. Sami Aittokallio
7. Troy Bourke
8. Will Butcher

Things have changed quickly.

 

[henchman21]

Went Nantel here. Add Boikov.

Edit: I wouldn't mind adding Lindholm and Westlund as well... getting to the late stages here means there is a ton of personal preference to the vote.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

Nantel is going to be the hill I die on again

I agree add Boikov

At least you won't die alone. It's been an slow painful death though.

Add Olhaver

 

[Tru]

Hamilton, add Boikov

 

[Jayevs]

Voted Bourke, I don't want to judge guys off of how they have performed on Lake Erie the past few years... The only guys who have looked good down there have been Tyson Barrie and Calvin Pickard and those guys are looking tremendous at the NHL level. In camp/scrimmages Bourke has always looked good next to good players, usually a stand out.

 

[UncleRisto]

I kinda like Bourke too. Trying to figure out where he fits in in this ranking. Soon...

 

[tigervixxxen]

It took Pickard 3 years to look good in the AHL. It's a hard league and our team hasn't been the greatest so it's a bit understandable that once they hit that stage of their development they are judged in a different light. I'm very curious to see if Bigras and Geertsen buck this trend. Anyway, I'm a big fan of Bourke myself and would have him above a few others that have already been voted in. Love the way he plays, never stops and is such a puck hound. Hope he can translate it into a few more goals but he's my favorite of the midgets.

 

[cgf]

Nantel, then Henley. After that I've got Butcher, Boikov, the smurfs (Smith/Bourke/Hishon), and Biffkaka.

So add Boikov.

EDIT:
It's so cool to have so many interesting prospects that could become lower level NHLers for us and really contribute in those roles. I'm sold on Henley as a sure thing to become a good 4C/PK-specialist. So I rate him rather highly for that certainty I feel in his future, but I opted for the potential of nantel. Kid's shown the excellent play away from the puck that makes projecting him into a bottom 6 role easy, but also showed last season that he has the talent offensively to become a sweet third liner one day if things keep going well in his development. Pretty nuts that our bottom 6 in a few years could be anchored by Yeti/Greg, JTCompher, Bleackley*, Everberg, and possibly Greer*/Beaudin/Rendulic/Nantel/Henley/Biffkaka/the-smurfs.

I struggle to make up my mind on Hamilton and think he's likely going to remain a great AHL two-way C who can play as a 4C in the NHL adequately when called upon. The kind of guy it's great to have in the organization for depth and the AHL-kids to play with, but who I'm not sure really qualifies as a "legit" prospect for the NHL team...kinda like Cal O'Reilly. Though maybe I'm under-rating his play off the scoresheet to delineate between him and Henley like this.

*if he isn't riding shotgun to Landy-Mack or Dutchy-Rantanen/Rads

It took Pickard 3 years to look good in the AHL. It's a hard league and our team hasn't been the greatest so it's a bit understandable that once they hit that stage of their development they are judged in a different light. I'm very curious to see if Bigras and Geertsen buck this trend. Anyway, I'm a big fan of Bourke myself and would have him above a few others that have already been voted in. Love the way he plays, never stops and is such a puck hound. Hope he can translate it into a few more goals but he's my favorite of the midgets.

It's such a shame that McNabb-happened, cause I honestly enjoyed watching both Bourkie and Smith more than Hish in Lake Erie

If they don't lose that scrappiness that they bring alongside their skating and skill, I won't be surprised at all if either of them scratches out a talbot like career in the NHL with some more offense.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Yeah Hamilton is tough to judge, I just haven't seen enough of him. He looked pretty good in the AHL but that was a few games and did fine filling in at the NHL level. I agree its tough to judge a 23-24 year old "prospect" next to the 17-18 year olds who were just drafted. That's why I agree with the age cut off of 24 and I think there's some graph out there that shows if they haven't made it to the show by 21-22 I think it is the odds go way down. So I understand some people who value getting something out of a guy who might get called up over a prospect who may never get signed but then there's getting an actual roster player out of a prospect is still a possibility vs. career AHLers who are pretty much set.

 

[henchman21]

I like Hamilton and I still love that deal for him. IMO he could step into a 4th line role right now and be an substantial improvement over Cliche. He can and will be a NHL player for a number of years... he just won't be anything more than a journeyman. He might peak for a few years in a 3rd line role somewhere, but mostly likely he is just a 4th liner. I don't consider him much of a prospect (too old IMO), but I can see value in him. I'd take him straight up over a number of prospects that will be voted on in this area.

 

[Nzap]

I like Hamilton and I still love that deal for him. IMO he could step into a 4th line role right now and be an substantial improvement over Cliche. He can and will be a NHL player for a number of years... he just won't be anything more than a journeyman. He might peak for a few years in a 3rd line role somewhere, but mostly likely he is just a 4th liner. I don't consider him much of a prospect (too old IMO), but I can see value in him. I'd take him straight up over a number of prospects that will be voted on in this area.

Hishon and Pickard are at the same age though.
Goalies are different here, but I feel the same way with Hishon.
Hamilton has at least shown he can fight constantly with the big boys which is why I've been voting him for so long already.

 

[henchman21]

Hishon and Pickard are at the same age though.
Goalies are different here, but I feel the same way with Hishon.
Hamilton has at least shown he can fight constantly with the big boys which is why I've been voting him for so long already.

I didn't and honestly wouldn't vote for Hishon up to this point, I get why people would want them up here... but IMO they are not 'prospects.' Goalies have until ~25 IMO.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Is still on their ELC a better cutoff (for next year, we've gone too far this year)? Hopefully we'll have even more young prospects then. Just want to do what makes best sense for the list, but then again people would still want to place Hishon (and Siemens next year).

 

[henchman21]

Yeah ELCs seem about where the cutoff should be... maybe a year after. For goalies 2or 3 years should be added.

It might be interesting to do an under ~25 one too.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Yeah ELCs seem about where the cutoff should be... maybe a year after. For goalies 2or 3 years should be added.

It might be interesting to do an under ~25 one too.

Good point. Could do a more prospects focused list with stricter cut offs and then a 25 under 25 or something like that.