Prospect Info: 2019-20 Flyers Prospects - Top 30 SKATERS, #18

Who is the Flyers #18 SKATER prospect?


  • Total voters
    90
  • Poll closed .

deadhead

Registered User
Feb 26, 2014
49,215
21,617
NAK has a good shot in training camp, Laughton at 3LW, Pitlick at 4C and NAK at 4RW is one option to start the season.

But NAK has to step up and take the job, and given that his role will be that of a forechecker on the 4th line, if he isn't flying in the pre-season he'll have made it self-evident that he lacks the drive to succeed in that role.

It's not just NAK, guys like Twarynski, Sushko, Vorobyev, Bunnaman and even Laberge and Rubtsov have to show they can fill that 4th line "energy" role, come out every night and give 8-10 minutes at full speed, because they're not going to beat out Farabee, Frost or Ratcliffe, or even guys like Kase or Strome (who aren't good 4th line fits) for top 9 roles.

There's only one top 9 slot available this fall, and in the future guys like Allison/Laczynski, JOB, Brink maybe even Cates will be in the running when more slots might open up.
 

VladDrag

Registered User
Feb 6, 2018
5,829
14,730
I think NAK’s shot here has come and gone. Unfair or not — and that shot was as a 4th line wing.

He’s waivers eligible and might not even be here soon enough. Plenty of upside on the board though.
And to me that’s a shame, regardless what he does in seasons to come. I think it would have been better to ice a few of the guys that may be able to help you out in the future, if nothing else only to see what yo’ve got in them.

Playing guys like Varone and Bailey didn’t make sense then and don’t make sense now in hindsight.
 
Last edited:

deadhead

Registered User
Feb 26, 2014
49,215
21,617
Bailey = NAK, both were 2nd rd picks with good speed who never could win a 4th line job.
Bailey was auditioned last year, NAK will be auditioned in TC.
 

JojoTheWhale

CORN BOY
May 22, 2008
33,322
103,974
Bailey = NAK, both were 2nd rd picks with good speed who never could win a 4th line job.
Bailey was auditioned last year, NAK will be auditioned in TC.

I would strongly object to lumping those two together.

Even as a draftable prospect, Bailey was straight line speed after the first step or two, a good shot, and absolutely nothing else. He was a Hail Mary on an injury-prone athletic prospect developing the other 95% of hockey skills. He never showed aptitude for the positional aspects of hockey, never performed well in Shot metrics, and never carried a line after he left Kitchener. Even the people that liked him in the draft declared him a potential power forward while at the same time saying he had neither the attitude nor the awareness yet to take that avenue, overdrafted by an incompetent team who purely coincidentally is located in the same area he was born and raised.

Given your general preferences, I'm more than a little surprised you don't see them as different animals. Doubly so given how much you value fit to role. Bailey is the last archetype you would want on a 4th line.
 

deadhead

Registered User
Feb 26, 2014
49,215
21,617
They saw Bailey and NAK in the AHL together, obviously, NAK failed to impress them more than Bailey.

I think they saw it as a "fish or cut bait" situation with Bailey, they were going to give him a chance to show he could utilize his size and speed (and Rinaldo hands) on the 4th line, he didn't and he's gone.

NAK is going to get the same opportunity this fall, since he was under control for one more season, they saw no urgency in auditioning him last spring, but with the logjam of young forwards, this is his do or die training camp. He may stick around in the press box as the alternative to Andreoff until one of the young prospects is deemed ready, but if he isn't playing regular minutes look for him to be dealt for a late round pick at some point this season if he isn't waived.
 

JojoTheWhale

CORN BOY
May 22, 2008
33,322
103,974
Then one of two things is true and I don't know which. I suspect none of us ever will.

  • NAK wasn't getting called up short of an infectious disease outbreak.
  • The Bailey trade was a strong negative (on an appropriately minor scale) because it cost them a look at NAK for a long shot with minimal upside.
 
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deadhead

Registered User
Feb 26, 2014
49,215
21,617
It's not like Gordon didn't know what NAK can do, if he really thought he should be up over Bailey I don't think it would have taken much to convince Fletcher.

I just think that NAK must have failed to impress, it's not like he was in the doghouse with a coach, this is with 2 HCs and 2 GMs, a team out of the playoffs and he still can't get a shot.
 

Curufinwe

Registered User
Feb 28, 2013
55,494
42,218
NAK was out injured between 1/18 and 2/25, and out injured again between 3/1 and 3/10.

TheAHL.com
Syracuse Crunch shut out Lehigh Valley Phantoms 4-0

forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel fell awkwardly into the end boards following a shot. He wasn’t pushed, he just lost his balance and his leg buckled under him. He slammed into the boards and his head hit the ice violently. He lay motionless on the ice for a few seconds and had to be attended to by the trainers. He was able to get up and was helped off the ice but did not return to the game.

They didn't qualify Bailey and did qualify NAK, so I would read more into that decision than who was called up to play 5 minutes a game in only 11 games between January and April. It's overly simplistic to assume that because NAK didn't get a shot under Fletcher last season, that he won't this season.
 
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deadhead

Registered User
Feb 26, 2014
49,215
21,617
There were 14 games left when NAK came back, so they could have auditioned him.
I just figure they wanted to take a look at Bailey before making a decision to qualify him, they knew they were going to qualify NAK.

I expect NAK to play a lot in pre-season, he'll be given every chance to win that 4th line job.
Players have to seize opportunities, he's reached the age where it's time to step up.
 

Rebels57

Former Flyers fan
Sponsor
Sep 28, 2014
76,364
122,631
Did you see who this board voted as #9?

While I do think Morin was voted too high this year, there are a lot of extenuating circumstances outside of his control that allows me to give him so leeway.

  • His skill set is greater than Ginnings
  • He deserved to make the team after the 2017 camp but was screwed because reasons.
  • He has had rotten luck with injuries.
 

DrinkFightFlyers

THE TORTURE NEVER STOPS
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Sep 24, 2009
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While I do think Morin was voted too high this year, there are a lot of extenuating circumstances outside of his control that allows me to give him so leeway.

  • His skill set is greater than Ginnings
  • He deserved to make the team after the 2017 camp but was screwed because reasons.
  • He has had rotten luck with injuries.
In other words, he was voted based off of his draft position. A little bit more "brutal" for a guy that is six years removed compared to a guy one year removed though. :laugh:
 

Rebels57

Former Flyers fan
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Sep 28, 2014
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In other words, he was voted based off of his draft position. A little bit more "brutal" for a guy that is six years removed compared to a guy one year removed though. :laugh:

If that's what you took from what I typed, I cannot help you :laugh:
 

deadhead

Registered User
Feb 26, 2014
49,215
21,617
While I do think Morin was voted too high this year, there are a lot of extenuating circumstances outside of his control that allows me to give him so leeway.

  • His skill set is greater than Ginnings
  • He deserved to make the team after the 2017 camp but was screwed because reasons.
  • He has had rotten luck with injuries.

The only skill I can see that he has over Ginning is straight line speed, both are big, somewhat an adventure with the puck, need work on lateral agility and neither has a great offensive skill package. We'll get a better idea how they compare when Ginning gets to the AHL.

Morin wasn't screwed, he didn't clearly outplay Hagg in the AHL and Hagg could play both sides, Morin was strictly a LHD. Morin never dominated the AHL like Sanheim or Myers.

Morin has had rotten luck with injuries, but that shouldn't impact his ranking, in fact, that should lower it because he may just be one of those guys who are injury prone (same with Rubtsov, Kase and Laberge, except Morin is older so it's more of a trend).
 

DrinkFightFlyers

THE TORTURE NEVER STOPS
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Sep 24, 2009
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DFF still has trouble understanding Morin’s situation. :laugh:
Do I? Because it seems like exactly what I was concerned with years ago would happen is actually happening (read: getting passed on the depth chart and performing in a way that was neither good or bad but just kind of ok). But that's ok, no one ever said he was going to be good and everyone said he would take 6-7 years to reach the NHL and would likely be a bottom pair guy. No one said 2-3 years and 4 at the max and he would be a top four guy with top pair potential. I was saying something else.

I guess maybe I said he would be a top pair guy or maybe something else but I definitely did not say that he would be passed on the depth chart and might not turn out the way we hope, etc.
 

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