2016-2017 CHL/NCAA/Euro Prospects Thread

[LastWordArmy]

[Tweet] 868497581260890112 [/MEDIA]

Time to trade Price boys!

But seriously, it seems that the Habs have always been good in getting amazing goaltenders. Feels pretty good to have the best goalie in the world with Lingdren and McNiven also in the pipes.

Edit: With McNiven turning pro next year, where do you think he'll be playing? I'm assuming Montoya will keep his role as backup, which means Lingdren will be our starter for the AHL. Does Fucale come back up in the AHL and we send down McNiven to the ECHL? I'd rather give more games to McNiven.

That sounds Plausible.

 

[jfm133]

Hudon still has a chance to become a top-6 player. The problem is we don't know because he was not given a real chance.

As for McNiven award, Fucale won the same in 2013 and many are counting him out now. There is a big step between CHL and AHL. Fucale is turning 22 today, happy birthday Zach! He is still very young for a goalie, needs more consistency, but he is still a very legit prospect.

Lindgren is 19 months older than Fucale who is 25 months older than McNiven. So good age gap between them. We need to think where will Fucale be in two years and McNiven in four years?

 

[WeThreeKings]

Hudon still has a chance to become a top-6 player. The problem is we don't know because he was not given a real chance.

As for McNiven award, Fucale won the same in 2013 and many are counting him out now. There is a big step between CHL and AHL. Fucale is turning 22 today, happy birthday Zach! He is still very young for a goalie, needs more consistency, but he is still a very legit prospect.

Lindgren is 19 months older than Fucale who is 25 months older than McNiven. So good age gap between them. We need to think where will Fucale be in two years and McNiven in four years?

Really, you get a good read at 24-25 what these guys are going to be. Goalies take a long time to develop unless they are absolute studs.

 

[montreal]

Hudon still has a chance to become a top-6 player. The problem is we don't know because he was not given a real chance.

As for McNiven award, Fucale won the same in 2013 and many are counting him out now. There is a big step between CHL and AHL. Fucale is turning 22 today, happy birthday Zach! He is still very young for a goalie, needs more consistency, but he is still a very legit prospect.

Lindgren is 19 months older than Fucale who is 25 months older than McNiven. So good age gap between them. We need to think where will Fucale be in two years and McNiven in four years?

Fucale never won the CHL goalie of the Year. Also big difference between Fucale's Moosehead team that lost 6 games in regulation and was one of the better Q teams in the modern era, and Owen Sound. Not to take away from OS, they did break a franchise record in wins with 49, going 49-15-4.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHL_Goaltender_of_the_Year

 

[montreal]

So I'm guessing that Evans is going back to the NCAA

Which is good since Lefebvre is coming back.

Evans teammate Anders Bjork just signed, so we'll see if that has any impact on Evans, unless the Habs want him to stay for his senior year and work on getting stronger/filling out his frame since that's his biggest issues going forward. I know the Sabers are rumored to want Notre Dame's captain, Cal Petersen to turn pro this summer. If he does ND could be in big trouble losing their 2 best players in Bjork and Peterson.




On a very side not, since I'm bored I was looking at Providence's schedule for next season. Hawkey is going to get tested early, 4 of first 8 games vs BC/BU.

 

[jfm133]

Fucale never won the CHL goalie of the Year. Also big difference between Fucale's Moosehead team that lost 6 games in regulation and was one of the better Q teams in the modern era, and Owen Sound. Not to take away from OS, they did break a franchise record in wins with 49, going 49-15-4.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHL_Goaltender_of_the_Year

My mistake for the award, but you compare McNiven this year at 19 with Fucale at 17. It is true that Fucale played for very good teams in Halifax. It is also true that his last junior season at 19 was inconsistent. Inconsistency is Fucale's major problem. He needs to fix that. He needs to be motivated for every regular season game, because in playoffs and tournament he is very good. I am not taking anything away from McNiven, the kid earned everything, but I would not put him in front of Fucale right away. It will be interesting to watch next year. Fucale will need to go through waivers after the next season, so next season will be very important.

 

[montreal]

My mistake for the award, but you compare McNiven this year at 19 with Fucale at 17. It is true that Fucale played for very good teams in Halifax. It is also true that his last junior season at 19 was inconsistent. Inconsistency is Fucale's major problem. He needs to fix that. He needs to be motivated for every regular season game, because in playoffs and tournament he is very good. I am not taking anything away from McNiven, the kid earned everything, but I would not put him in front of Fucale right away. It will be interesting to watch next year. Fucale will need to go through waivers after the next season, so next season will be very important.

Waivers should mean nothing for Fucale unless he really shows something major next year. Doubt any team would be looking for him to be an NHL backup at this point. As for putting McNiven ahead, I do and it's very easy to do so. I've watched him show great improvement each year, while I watched Fuacle make the same mistakes over and over. Years ago I got heat for saying how Beaulieu was doing the same thing in Hamilton, making the same mistakes he made each year in the AHL. Same for Tinordi. Now I'm not comparing them, and who knows what happens with Beaulieu, Fucale plus if the league didn't change so quickly to PMD being in such high demand maybe Tinordi could have been a regular 6th/7th type since he always was good on the PK, blocking shots and can play a solid physical game. My point is that it's troubling to me when I see kids/young players repeating the same mistakes for several years. By no means am I saying they can't figure it out, just that it's a bad sign for me and I will push them down my prospect list until they show they fix those issues.

For me it's about how you improve on your weaknesses and Fucale has yet to do so. I really hope the kid makes it, I'm not one of those that puts down one prospect because I like another, I want all Hab prospects to make it as it will only help the Habs but I have been watching prospects for a long time and while I'll be wrong at times just like everyone that ever lived, I go with what I see.

I have no idea what the future holds for McNiven, but I have been very impressed with him. If he keeps improving, there's no telling how good he can be. If you watched a lot of OS games, imo he was the one leading the way, if not for him I bet things would have gone very differently for OS.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Evans teammate Anders Bjork just signed, so we'll see if that has any impact on Evans, unless the Habs want him to stay for his senior year and work on getting stronger/filling out his frame since that's his biggest issues going forward. I know the Sabres are rumored to want Notre Dame's captain, Cal Petersen to turn pro this summer. If he does ND could be in big trouble losing their 2 best players in Bjork and Peterson.




On a very side not, since I'm bored I was looking at Providence's schedule for next season. Hawkey is going to get tested early, 4 of first 8 games vs BC/BU.

Bjork might be my favorite player in the whole NCAA this year, I've been impressed every time I've seen him since his freshman season. I expect good things out of him in the pros.

 

[jfm133]

Again. McNiven has yet to play one pro game. There is a big step between CHL and AHL. As for Fucale, his problem is not repeating the same mistakes, it is his consistency. He proved to be very good in playoffs and tournaments like the Spengler Cup. When the motivation is high, concentration is high and results are good. His problem is that he is yet unable to show his best level in regular season games on a constant basis. It's a common problem with young goalies. That's why most of them need more time. They need high concentration for 60 minutes which is not the case for other position players.

 

[montreal]

Again. McNiven has yet to play one pro game. There is a big step between CHL and AHL. As for Fucale, his problem is not repeating the same mistakes, it is his consistency. He proved to be very good in playoffs and tournaments like the Spengler Cup. When the motivation is high, concentration is high and results are good. His problem is that he is yet unable to show his best level in regular season games on a constant basis. It's a common problem with young goalies. That's why most of them need more time. They need high concentration for 60 minutes which is not the case for other position players.

his problem is repeating the same mistakes, it's his terrible rebound control that gets him in trouble. The guy has had the same issue since day 1 that I have seen him. On top of that he's inconsistent, which if you are inconsistent year over year then that's repeating your weaknesses and not improving on them.

2 days away from being free, Center prospect matt bradley wont be giving a contract after having a very good CHL season, with so little C prospect what you guys think about this, bradley just removed montreal canadien from his tweeter account.

Personnaly.
**** bergevin, guy cant run an organisation. He better has something big coming.

I won't lose any sleep over it. I thought he was on the bubble to be signed, and said so all year. I would have signed him since he does the little things well but I never saw him as having much NHL upside.

 

[montreal]

Evans teammate Anders Bjork just signed, so we'll see if that has any impact on Evans, unless the Habs want him to stay for his senior year and work on getting stronger/filling out his frame since that's his biggest issues going forward. I know the Sabres are rumored to want Notre Dame's captain, Cal Petersen to turn pro this summer. If he does ND could be in big trouble losing their 2 best players in Bjork and Peterson.

And there goes Peterson, just announced he's turning pro this summer, although he didn't say with who, as the Sabres own his rights but he can go the UFA route due to the NCAA loophole. Wonder if this impacts Evans or not. I'm ok with it either way, if he goes back to ND, they could be in tough after losing their 2 best players but he would get a ton of time and can work on getting stronger/filling out his frame more. If not it would be very interesting to see how he would do in the AHL.

 

[Mike Mike Caron]

I know that Nygren has signed in Switzerland, but is there a chance that he got an NHL outlcause? Is there a chance we'll see him at training camp?

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

I know that Nygren has signed in Switzerland, but is there a chance that he got an NHL outlcause? Is there a chance we'll see him at training camp?

Well we lose his NHL rights on June 30th so any team could offer him a deal, including us. I don't know how eager he is to leave Europe though.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/Team-Canada/Men/Junior/2017-18/Camps/Roster-Development

https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/Team-Canada/Men/Under-18/2017-18/Selection-Camp/Roster

Team canada posted the list for the U20 and U18 summer camps. Mete and Bitten will get a chance to show what they got to the U20 brass. Several draft eligible players got invites too.

 

[le_sean]

Bitten would be a good 3rd or 4th like energy centre for Canada. I expect Mete to at least be the #7 PP specialist but he could definitely have a greater impact.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Mete and Bitten invited to Canada's Junior camp.

 

[Goldenhands]

Only 2 players invited from the Q

 

[Mike Mike Caron]

I'm surprised Bitten is invited after his so-so season. Great news though!

 

[Mike Mike Caron]

Only 2 players invited from the Q

I see 10.

 

[Treb]

i see 10.

u20 - 2
u18 - 10

 

[CHfan1]

Who are the Habs top 5 prospects now and what is the realistic expectation of each.

It seems with Sergachev gone now (note* I'm fine with the trade) the Habs have one of the weakest prospect pools in the NHL (with the exception of goalie). Is that assumption correct?

 

[Skip Bayless]

Who are the Habs top 5 prospects now and what is the realistic expectation of each.

It seems with Sergachev gone now (note* I'm fine with the trade) the Habs have one of the weakest prospect pools in the NHL (with the exception of goalie). Is that assumption correct?

Yes it is, as it stands right now I'd say:

1-Juulsen
2-Poehling
3-Mete
4-McNiven
5-Hudon/Lindgren

 

[WeThreeKings]

Delete

 

[Adam Michaels]

It's going to be interesting following the NCAA next season. Six of the Habs' prospects will be playing there:

1- Jake Evans with Notre-Dame (2014 7th Round - 207th)
2- Nikolas Koberstein with University of Alaska-Fairbanks (2014 5th Round - 125th) edit: thanks to Christo182 for the reminder
3- Hayden Hawkey with Providence College (2014 6th Round - 177th)
4- Casey Staum with University of Nebraska-Omaha (2016 5th Round - 124th)
5- Ryan Poehling with St. Cloud State University (2017 1st Round - 25th)
6- Cayden Primeau with Northeastern University (2017 7th Round - 199th)

Am I missing anyone?

 

[DesmondDekker]

It's going to be interesting following the NCAA next season. Five of the Habs' prospects will be playing there:

1- Jake Evans with Notre-Dame (2014 7th Round - 207th)
2- Hayden Hawkey with Providence College (2014 6th Round - 177th)
3- Casey Staum with University of Nebraska-Omaha (2016 5th Round - 124th)
4- Ryan Poehling with St. Cloud State University (2017 1st Round - 25th)
5- Cayden Primeau with Northeastern University (2017 7th Round - 199th)

Am I missing anyone?

Nicolas Koberstein