Prospect Info: 2017 HF Devils Top 20 Prospect Rankings: #5

[devilsblood]

Wood kind of reminds me of Clarkson. He plays with a lot of energy but isn't a particularly smart player. Which doesn't mean he can't be a useful player. Clarkson had the hockey IQ of a potato but still had a few productive years before the injuries and expectations in Toronto caught up with him. I think Wood's ceiling depends on his ability to think the game and not just go full throttle all the time. So far I definitely have some doubts about that. Still, I love the kid's energy and I hope his head catches up with his feet, because he could be a heck of a player if it ever does.

I've been thinking this too. But an exceptionally fast Clarkson.

 

[JimEIV]

For forwards that played over 500 minutes this season, Miles Wood was ranked 348 out of 351 in Corsi For per 60. The only players in the entire league worse were Vern Fiddler, Smith-Pelly, and Joe Cramarossa.

Corsi against Wood was ranked 302 out of 351, and Corsi% 347 out 351.

If you look at the bottom of league you'll see many rookies/young players, mostly on bad teams.

But surprisingly you also see Jimmy Vesey and Kevin Hayes in the bottom 20 and JT Miller just above but still in the bottom 25.

Vesey is interesting because he's a 24 year old rookie on a pretty good team and his Corsi numbers were barely different than Miles Wood.

Vesey ranked 333
For 47.77
Against 59.53
% 44.5

Wood ranked 347
For 42.05
Against 59.91
% 41.2
http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...500&teamid=0&type=corsi&sort=PCT&sortdir=DESC

I am not in the least bit concerned about Wood's numbers. Guys like Burmistrov, Domi and Dvorak from Arizona are right there with him...a rookie on crappy team that doesn't score a lot...no surprise here really. Half of Arizona's team is in the bottom and they have some talented young players. Arizona produced very similarly​ to NJ this season in Goals for and Goals against also.

 

[devilsblood]

Dang, didn't realize both those guys were so bad possession wise. Hayes being worse then Vesey.

Kreider meanwhile looks excellent, and he get's a lot of flack from rag fans.

 

[Nubmer6]

I've been thinking this too. But an exceptionally fast Clarkson.

Are we someday going to start seeing Wood-arounds?

 

[Triumph]

For forwards that played over 500 minutes this season, Miles Wood was ranked 348 out of 351 in Corsi For per 60. The only players in the entire league worse were Vern Fiddler, Smith-Pelly, and Joe Cramarossa.

Corsi against Wood was ranked 302 out of 351, and Corsi% 347 out 351.

If you look at the bottom of league you'll see many rookies/young players, mostly on bad teams.

But surprisingly you also see Jimmy Vesey and Kevin Hayes in the bottom 20 and JT Miller just above but still in the bottom 25.

Vesey is interesting because he's a 24 year old rookie on a pretty good team and his Corsi numbers were barely different than Miles Wood.

Vesey ranked 333
For 47.77
Against 59.53
% 44.5

Wood ranked 347
For 42.05
Against 59.91
% 41.2
http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...500&teamid=0&type=corsi&sort=PCT&sortdir=DESC

I am not in the least bit concerned about Wood's numbers. Guys like Burmistrov, Domi and Dvorak from Arizona are right there with him...a rookie on crappy team that doesn't score a lot...no surprise here really. Half of Arizona's team is in the bottom and they have some talented young players. Arizona produced very similarly​ to NJ this season in Goals for and Goals against also.

If you watch the Rangers, players like Miller and Hayes are 'passing out of shooting situations' often. Where a lot of players would go for a decent percentage shot, those two are looking to pass to a higher percentage shot. It means there are a lot of shots not taken and consequently the Corsi looks bad. We'll have to see if it's a sustainable practice.

Meanwhile Wood is the opposite kind of player - he seldom passes and he takes a large portion of the shots taken while he is on the ice.

 

[Devils Dominion]

When is it time for #6?

 

[devilsblood]

If you watch the Rangers, players like Miller and Hayes are 'passing out of shooting situations' often. Where a lot of players would go for a decent percentage shot, those two are looking to pass to a higher percentage shot. It means there are a lot of shots not taken and consequently the Corsi looks bad. We'll have to see if it's a sustainable practice.

Meanwhile Wood is the opposite kind of player - he seldom passes and he takes a large portion of the shots taken while he is on the ice.

Pulling out the eye test?

Elias loved passing out of shooting situations too. Certainly current version of Joe Thornton fits that bill. As do a lot of good possession players in the NHL. Hayes is not some passing savant or some odd anomaly.

 

[Missionhockey]

Wood kind of reminds me of Clarkson. He plays with a lot of energy but isn't a particularly smart player. Which doesn't mean he can't be a useful player. Clarkson had the hockey IQ of a potato but still had a few productive years before the injuries and expectations in Toronto caught up with him. I think Wood's ceiling depends on his ability to think the game and not just go full throttle all the time. So far I definitely have some doubts about that. Still, I love the kid's energy and I hope his head catches up with his feet, because he could be a heck of a player if it ever does.

I respectfully disagree.

Wood has a lot of tools that Clarkson didn't have and their games are totally different. Clarkson could never skate like Wood. Clarkson also showed that he had tunnel vision basically when it came to his offensive IQ. Wood could have the latter, but I think it's unfair to label him like that, mostly because he was always beating guys to loose pucks and to the net, he rarely had to slow the play down and look at his options. Clarkson was very different, it was either toe drag and use the defenseman as a screen or wrap around behind the net. We should give Wood the benefit of the doubt because I'm sure he's going to see a skills coach, most NHLers do, even the top players like Patrick Kane or John Tavares. Hopefully Wood has a good learning curve and can develop.

 

[Triumph]

Pulling out the eye test?

Elias loved passing out of shooting situations too. Certainly current version of Joe Thornton fits that bill. As do a lot of good possession players in the NHL. Hayes is not some passing savant or some odd anomaly.

Elias and Thornton were also great at other parts of the game which Hayes and Miller are not. You've compared two 2nd line guys to two of the greatest forwards of all time.

Here's an article of those guys talking about it and then here's a guy on Twitter who looks at these sorts of things - the thing is that they probably won't be together that much longer so we won't get to see if they can keep up their shooting percentages.

 

[Zippy316]

When is it time for #6?

Will put it up once I get back to a computer.

If anyone else wants to put the next one up go for it, but if not I'll probably have it up in like 90 minutes or so.

 

[Triumph]

I respectfully disagree.

Wood has a lot of tools that Clarkson didn't have and their games are totally different. Clarkson could never skate like Wood. Clarkson also showed that he had tunnel vision basically when it came to his offensive IQ. Wood could have the latter, but I think it's unfair to label him like that, mostly because he was always beating guys to loose pucks and to the net, he rarely had to slow the play down and look at his options. Clarkson was very different, it was either toe drag and use the defenseman as a screen or wrap around behind the net. We should give Wood the benefit of the doubt because I'm sure he's going to see a skills coach, most NHLers do, even the top players like Patrick Kane or John Tavares. Hopefully Wood has a good learning curve and can develop.

Clarkson in his time as a Devil took about 37% of the shots that were taken while he was on the ice. Miles Wood took about 33% last season. So they're close-ish, though I imagine the spread for the middle 90% of forwards is between about 25-35%, so a 4% difference is reasonably significant. Still, by eyeballing it that looks like the highest ratio on last year's team.

 

[Missionhockey]

Clarkson in his time as a Devil took about 37% of the shots that were taken while he was on the ice. Miles Wood took about 33% last season. So they're close-ish, though I imagine the spread for the middle 90% of forwards is between about 25-35%, so a 4% difference is reasonably significant. Still, by eyeballing it that looks like the highest ratio on last year's team.

I haven't looked at the numbers but I'll take your word for it. However, my comment is how it's happening not what is happening. I mean, did Clarkson ever have the amount of break aways that Wood had last year? Wood isn't great cycling and that was Clarkson's bread and butter when he played with Elias. My point is that they're totally different players in terms of playing style and in the cycle and defensive zone are really what Wood kind of sucks at, that doesn't mean he can't get better.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Will put it up once I get back to a computer.

If anyone else wants to put the next one up go for it, but if not I'll probably have it up in like 90 minutes or so.

We may as well wait for you, no rush.

 

[devilsblood]

Elias and Thornton were also great at other parts of the game which Hayes and Miller are not. You've compared two 2nd line guys to two of the greatest forwards of all time.

Here's an article of those guys talking about it and then here's a guy on Twitter who looks at these sorts of things - the thing is that they probably won't be together that much longer so we won't get to see if they can keep up their shooting percentages.

For the season, for players over 750 minutes played, Hayes was next to last on the rag's in terms of 5 on 5 gf%. Vesey was dead last.

Hayes gf% ws 49.4, on face value respectable, Vesey was at 42.5, on face value not good.

GFrelTM. -3 for Hayes. -11.6 for Vesey.

Miller meanwhile was at 54% and a +4 gfreltm.

So I don't think your defense of Hayes holds much water.

 

[Triumph]

For the season, for players over 750 minutes played, Hayes was next to last on the rag's in terms of 5 on 5 gf%. Vesey was dead last.

Hayes gf% ws 49.4, on face value respectable, Vesey was at 42.5, on face value not good.

GFrelTM. -3 for Hayes. -11.6 for Vesey.

Miller meanwhile was at 54% and a +4 gfreltm.

So I don't think your defense of Hayes holds much water.

Sigh. Why is Vesey being talked about here at all? I never defended Vesey - I don't think he's a very good player and he played about 30% of his time with Hayes and less than 20% with Miller.

Hayes was 3rd on the Rangers in on-ice shooting percentage and Miller was 4th. Together Miller and Hayes had a 60.8% GF. I don't know if it was sustainable - I doubt very much it was, Lundqvist being what he is - but they shoot well together, and I imagine things will be a little different now that Girardi is gone and Shattenkirk is there.