Me neither, especially the way the league is trending.I don’t think Roy has the speed for the NHL
Me neither, especially the way the league is trending.I don’t think Roy has the speed for the NHL
No doubt. Luostarinen did score with the between the skates move while Svechnikov muffed it in the shootout. So Luostarinen should be ranked higher!!
Full disclosure....I have Necas as our #1 prospect....and I don't think I'm wrong (and not in a 40 point Chris Terry kind of way).
Elyniuk tooIIRC the only one from last years top 25 that exited the org was Carroll.
#metooI have Necas as our #1 prospect
I'd say I agree. Necas has more experience at a higher level, and has shown he can hold his own, plain and simple. Svechnikov may come in and blow the doors off PNC arena, but if you're making an estimated guess, Necas is a clear #1 IMO.
Svechnikov is probably going to have a lower bar to clear, especially this season. As a goal scoring winger, he could blow the doors off simply by feasting on the top PP and being respectable on defense. Assuming Necas is a center here, he’s going to have a much sharper learning curve to navigate. He won’t be the top PP guy and he might not have much time on the second unit either, and most of the rest of the game involves facing off against the other team’s top scoring threat if they can target him successfully. He could be the better player and still have a much rougher go of it, for positional reasons alone.
I'm not sure what the construction of the power play units will be, but I cannot imagine a scenario where Valentin Zykov isn't on one of them, likely the 1st unit. Granted, AHL stats and all, but this is a guy who scored 17 of his 33 goals on the power play (leading the entire AHL). This is also a guy who's body is built to camp in front of the net. Add that to the fact that he has been in Raleigh working out for most of the Summer, and that's a guy I want parked in goalie's faces.Do we deploy that high-priced defense on the PP, and do guys like Williams, Ferland, Zykov have a role on the PP?
FWIW The Athletic posted their top 50 U-23 prospects list:
Wheeler: The Top 50 drafted NHL prospects ranking, 2018...
Svechnikov at #3 (disagree entirely with having Pettersson over him)
Necas at #9
Fox at #34
Bean, Foegele, Kuokkanen, Wallmark, McKeown all listed as HMs.
And I likely would have had Bean over a good segment of the bottom of that list.
Zykov having recently turned 23 was ineligible
Yeah, it would seem that he fulfills a role for which the only possible suitors are Staal and Ferland (apologies to McGinn), and we've come to realize that Staal is not be the answer that we hope for in that spot.I'm not sure what the construction of the power play units will be, but I cannot imagine a scenario where Valentin Zykov isn't on one of them, likely the 1st unit. Granted, AHL stats and all, but this is a guy who scored 17 of his 33 goals on the power play (leading the entire AHL). This is also a guy who's body is built to camp in front of the net. Add that to the fact that he has been in Raleigh working out for most of the Summer, and that's a guy I want parked in goalie's faces.
We’ve sucked for 9 years. I’d be pretty disappointed if we didn’t have 3 in the top 50.
We’ve sucked for 9 years. I’d be pretty disappointed if we didn’t have 3 in the top 50.
I think it's pretty exciting to see the level of depth we have in the system now. I'd be stunned if we weren't around the top 3 best prospect groups in the NHL.
Mr. Azek sounds like a high school science teacher.
We are, of course, known for that high quality Raleigh meth....Sounds like he’s ready to break bad