2018-2019 CHL/NCAA/Euro Prospects Thread III

[Le Barron de HF]

I'm particularly lukewarm on the WHL guys these days. Way too many of them seem to fall short of expectations.

One thing that doesnt help imo is that as far as I know there are no WHL organizations that stand out from the rest as far as their organization goes for development a la London or Halifax.

 

[Tim Wallach]

One thing that doesnt help imo is that as far as I know there are no WHL organizations that stand out from the rest as far as their organization goes for development a la London or Halifax.

For sure.

And my own personal take is that the Flames and Oilers dominated the 80s and into the 90s and western Canada got a huge reputational boost from that era. Hockey Canada was based in Calgary and over-valued WHLers for all national programs. The weighting of WHLers versus other leagues in those roster compositions reflected a dominant league. Even the draft stats mirrored that.

I think people are starting to wake up to the fact that it is at best on par with other junior leagues and arguably worse of late.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

One thing that doesnt help imo is that as far as I know there are no WHL organizations that stand out from the rest as far as their organization goes for development a la London or Halifax.

I'd say Kelowna has a pretty strong resume, although less so in the last few years. The WHL loses a lot of guys to the college route too, arguably more so that the other two leagues ( I'll admit I don't have the actual numbers though) . Guys like Makar and Jost for exemple would have been major stars there but went to the NCAA instead. Byram, Cozens and Dach might all go top 10 so it can't be all that bad.

 

[Bacchus1]

I was a bit surprised by this list of prospects. Romanov being in 10th place seemed mow, while Walford being in 8th seemed high. Still, I thought some of you might enjoy the analysis and justifications.

2018-19 Top 10 Montreal Canadiens Prospects - MyNHLTradeRumors.com

 

[WeThreeKings]

Looks like Walford and Tyszka won't be signed. Sucks.

My issue isn't that they aren't signing them it's that they blew a contract on Pezzetta but won't sign these guys who are clearly better prospects.

 

[Stive Morgan]

My issue isn't that they aren't signing them it's that they blew a contract on Pezzetta but won't sign these guys who are clearly better prospects.

My issue is that we're drafting guys like Pezzetta or Crisp in the first place.

 

[dcal64]

My issue is that we're drafting guys like Pezzetta or Crisp in the first place.

You should watch NHL playoffs, it's big boys hockey, how did Tampa Bay smurfs do this year against the Blue Jackets Big Badasses?

Are you going to tell me that the Blues and Bruins are the most skilled teams left?

 

[WeThreeKings]

You should watch NHL playoffs, it's big boys hockey, how did Tampa Bay smurfs do this year against the Blue Jackets Big Badasses?

Are you going to tell me that the Blues and Bruins are the most skilled teams left?

Logan Couture
David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand
Jaden Schwartz

so big, so swole, such badass

 

[dcal64]

Logan Couture
David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand
Jaden Schwartz

so big, so swole, such badass

Kucherov, Point, Goudre, Tyler Johnson, Gaudreau, how did they work out?

 

[le_sean]

Kucherov, Point, Goudre, Tyler Johnson, Gaudreau, how did they work out?

Congrats to the biggest team in the NHL, the Jets on their consecutive Stanley Cup wins.

 

[dcal64]

Congrats to the biggest team in the NHL, the Jets on their consecutive Stanley Cup wins.

If they got beat by Tampa, I would get your point, but they got beat by another big team the Blues, so your point is pointless.

 

[Help]

Not sure that pointing out the small stature of the team that just set the NHL single season win record is a good way to stress the importance of size

Perhaps reconsider, my dude

 

[le_sean]

If they got beat by Tampa, I would get your point, but they got beat by another big team the Blues, so your point is pointless.

Who did they lose to last year though they had the same exact team? Oh the hulking Golden Knights. What a big and scary team.

And why did they lose to the Blues? Because Jaden Schwartz woke up and scored like 6 goals in the final few games.

 

[dcal64]

Not sure that pointing out the small stature of the team that just set the NHL single season win record is a good way to stress the importance of size

Perhaps reconsider, my dude

Dude, you should read the whole thread, I was referring to the playoffs, and how did the small stature team do against a big stature team that finished a gazillion points behind them in the regular season?

 

[Fazkovsky]

Its true that you still need a bit of size

In the playoffs, physicality is increased

 

[dcal64]

Who did they lose to last year though they had the same exact team? Oh the hulking Golden Knights. What a big and scary team.

And why did they lose to the Blues? Because Jaden Schwartz woke up and scored like 6 goals in the final few games.

Can you seriously say that the bigger teams are not beating the more skilled smaller teams this year in the playoffs?

 

[WeThreeKings]

Kucherov, Point, Goudre, Tyler Johnson, Gaudreau, how did they work out?

Shea Weber, Milan Lucic, Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien, Tom Wilson, how did they work out?

 

[Foxtail]

Avs fan here in peace , nice set of prospects

 

[le_sean]

Can you seriously say that the bigger teams are not beating the more skilled smaller teams this year in the playoffs?

I can say that the teams winning are the teams with more depth than others and excellent goaltending, as is always the case. When you have guys like Barbashev and Johansson on your bottom lines, you’re going to have success. When Rask is playing the best hockey of his career and Binnington comes in and plays lights out, you’re going to have success.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I can say that the teams winning are the teams with more depth than others and excellent goaltending, as is always the case. When you have guys like Barbashev and Johansson on your bottom lines, you’re going to have success. When Rask is playing the best hockey of his career and Binnington comes in and plays lights out, you’re going to have success.

Anyone who takes a one year snap-shot and uses it to push an agenda of -this is how a team should be built- is an idiot.

Create an identity around your best players.. if you shift your philosophy every time a new team wins the cup, you'll always be a year behind.

 

[Help]

Dude, you should read the whole thread, I was referring to the playoffs, and how did the small stature team do against a big stature team that finished a gazillion points behind them in the regular season?

4 bad games doesn't undo the 82 games of dominance. Sometimes the better teams don't win. Over the course of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the better team usually doesn't win. It's a random game. You can attribute it to truculence, I attribute it to plain old variance

Small is a good model, and in the spirit of the Draft Thread, I hope Cole Caulfield falls to us

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Avs fan here in peace , nice set of prospects

and no mention of Brook or Primeau too. Some nice B level prospects too in Ylonen, Ikonen, Teasdale, Fleury a few others.

 

[le_sean]

Anyone who takes a one year snap-shot and uses it to push an agenda of -this is how a team should be built- is an idiot.

Create an identity around your best players.. if you shift your philosophy every time a new team wins the cup, you'll always be a year behind.

You can even look at the Habs of this season. They played way better than we expected because they finally had a team identity of speed. Everyone thought we’d be battling for Hughes.

When the Habs got their asses handed to them by Lucic, they went and drafted guys like McCarron and Tinordi. That set the team back big time. The NHL was different then but the reason the Bruins won the Cup in 2011 was not because they were huge, it’s because Thomas played like a god and they went and added key depth players like Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley.

Even when the Kings won the Cup twice, everyone thought “well they are big”. They don’t win those Cups without two key deadline acquisitions - Jeff Carter the first time, Marian Gaborik the second time. Fast, skilled players. Also Quick had a .930 SV%

 

[WeThreeKings]

You can even look at the Habs of this season. They played way better than we expected because they finally had a team identity of speed. Everyone thought we’d be battling for Hughes.

When the Habs got their asses handed to them by Lucic, they went and drafted guys like McCarron and Tinordi. That set the team back big time. The NHL was different then but the reason the Bruins won the Cup in 2011 was not because they were huge, it’s because Thomas played like a god and they went and added key depth players like Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley.

Even when the Kings won the Cup twice, everyone thought “well they are big”. They don’t win those Cups without two key deadline acquisitions - Jeff Carter the first time, Marian Gaborik the second time. Fast, skilled players. Also Quick had a .930 SV%

Here's the ingredients to a cup win:
Luck - you need lots of this, be it teams that you don't match up well against getting eliminated before playing you, or getting a good draw of teams you can beat. Plus not having major injuries.
Depth - If you have injuries, which you will, you need good cheap depth that can come up and play over their heads long enough to do it.
Goaltending - No, this doesn't mean you need Carey Price, but you need a guy at the very minimum making key saves and not giving up bad goals in key moments (see Patrick Lalime)
Talent - You need this and lots of it.
Coaching - A guy who can get the most out of his teams and players.
Strong special teams - You need a strong PP or a strong PK, ideally both.

Put the spin on it that you want.. LA was a talented team, Chicago was a talented team, Pittsburgh and Washington are talented teams.. the Bruins and Blues are talented teams.. neither of them are where they are without Pastrnak, Marchand, McAvoy, Shwartz, Tarasenko et. al.

 

[Mike Mike Caron]

Logan Couture
David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand
Jaden Schwartz

so big, so swole, such badass

Couture and Pastrnak are not small, they'd be considered giants on the Habs.