Prospect Info: 2019-2020 In The System: Springfield Thunderbirds, CHL, NCAA, Europe, etc.

[TheImpatientPanther]

Anyone know why Denisenko didn't play today in Loko's 2-1 win?
He's not listed in the lineup so was he scratched or demoted?

 

[letsgrowcactus]

Anyone know why Denisenko didn't play today in Loko's 2-1 win?
He's not listed in the lineup so was he scratched or demoted?

He played today; zero points again and was on ice for two goals against (the whole team was shutout 0-4).
At this point I'm legitimately worried. Not sure what he needs (Try to play through this? Send him down for a while to regain confidence? Get out of Russia altogether?) but this start of the season is very bad.

 

[FinlandPanther]

He played today; zero points again and was on ice for two goals against (the whole team was shutout 0-4).
At this point I'm legitimately worried. Not sure what he needs (Try to play through this? Send him down for a while to regain confidence? Get out of Russia altogether?) but this start of the season is very bad.

I think he needs to come to North America after this season.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

He played today; zero points again and was on ice for two goals against (the whole team was shutout 0-4).
At this point I'm legitimately worried. Not sure what he needs (Try to play through this? Send him down for a while to regain confidence? Get out of Russia altogether?) but this start of the season is very bad.

What site do you use for the boxscore?
Not sure if he can get out of his KHL contract?
I'd like to hear what Tallon has to say about him this year.
Not worried of him getting traded but a crappy coach than a new coach and from what I read in the KHL forum, a team full of new faces seems to be the main cause. Some comments about him in that thread don't paint a nice picture for this year.

Just curious if they are putting him in the bottom 6 because his defensive game needs work or if he just isn't showing enough to crack the top 6. Thankfully this should be his last year there and he can come play in SPR next year.

 

[BabyBennettov]

You're funny...

Not used to KHL prospects huh ?

 

[letsgrowcactus]

What site do you use for the boxscore?
Not sure if he can get out of his KHL contract?
I'd like to hear what Tallon has to say about him this year.
Not worried of him getting traded but a crappy coach than a new coach and from what I read in the KHL forum, a team full of new faces seems to be the main cause. Some comments about him in that thread don't paint a nice picture for this year.

Just curious if they are putting him in the bottom 6 because his defensive game needs work or if he just isn't showing enough to crack the top 6. Thankfully this should be his last year there and he can come play in SPR next year.

I use the english version of the official KHL website.
He supposedly played 13 minutes on the second line, his linemates were Ivanov (3 points in 14 games, 21 year old, last year was his firts full KHL season) and Kovalenko (3 points in 12 games, 19 and roughly eight months older than Denisenko, hasn't played a full KHL season yet.) This is clearly not a recipe for success.
One reason why Denisenko's not scoring is that he's not shooting the puck enough. 18 SOG in 11 games isn't great even in the KHL (and this is actually an improvement over last year and his 31 SOG in 25 games.) Although if he scored two goals on his 18 shots (which is a shooting% of about 11.1 so average for forwards) he'd be 6th on his team in points... perspective.
I'm curious - what comments are there in the KHL forum?
The team sucks. They're last in their division and second to last in the KHL.
He seems to be put on line 2 or 3 changing from game to game... Not sure why. Their best forwards (and vets) all seem to play on line 1. Here's to hoping we see him in the AHL next year.

 

[letsgrowcactus]

So, guess which of our prospects is having the best offensive start of the season?
Johnny Freaking Defensive Defenceman Ludvig.
Okay, maybe not the best offensive start - but he's doing damn well.
4+5, 9 points in 7 games - in other words, he's already at half his last year's total after seven games. Four of his points come from the PP and he's still shooting at 19% success rate... still. He's also +5.
Was first star of the game again yesterday (scored the GWG and added 2 assists in an 8-2 win; I also liked his effort to protect his net on the PK even though it ended in a goal.)
Currently leading both his team and all WHL defencemen in points; 11th in points in the whole WHL.
He's getting big minutes (PP, PK, 5-on-5) after Winterhawks lost some Dmen and so far he seems to be running away with the opportunity.

I know he's an overager but he's an august birthday so he's not that much older than some of the other guys drafted this year.

 

[IceManCat]

So, guess which of our prospects is having the best offensive start of the season?
Johnny Freaking Defensive Defenceman Ludvig.
Okay, maybe not the best offensive start - but he's doing damn well.
4+5, 9 points in 7 games - in other words, he's already at half his last year's total after seven games. Four of his points come from the PP and he's still shooting at 19% success rate... still. He's also +5.
Was first star of the game again yesterday (scored the GWG and added 2 assists in an 8-2 win; I also liked his effort to protect his net on the PK even though it ended in a goal.)
Currently leading both his team and all WHL defencemen in points; 11th in points in the whole WHL.
He's getting big minutes (PP, PK, 5-on-5) after Winterhawks lost some Dmen and so far he seems to be running away with the opportunity.

I know he's an overager but he's an august birthday so he's not that much older than some of the other guys drafted this year.

Was that the Petro pick" If he pans out it would be great we could use his meanness

 

[letsgrowcactus]

Was that the Petro pick" If he pans out it would be great we could use his meanness

Yep, that's the Petro pick.

 

[jvr32]

Knight, Hutsko, Inamoto, Finkelstein and Lindmark start their NCAA season tonight in the same game. Also that match is involving other interesting prospects from other teams such as Turcotte, Caufield, Boldy, Newhook, Miller and Holloway (2020 Draft prospect). Free stream should behere: Watch Wisconsin vs Boston College - Live Broadcast - Stream Men's Ice Hockey Online - Oct. 11 7:00 P.M. ET - SportsLive

 

[jvr32]

Boston College won 5-3. I thought Hutsko looked good. Was very active offensively and showed some nice moves and puckhandling ability. Could this be a breakthrough season? Meanwhile Knight had no chance on Caufield's two goals. on Lindmark's goal he maybe could have done better, but on other side he made numerous good saves. Lindmark was noticeable on the Wisconsin PK and scored a goal while on that. But 5 on 5 he was not very noticeable. Could see him as a hard nosed bottom 6 forward but we already know that. Inamoto was very invisible after a big hit he made in first period, didn't see him on the ice that much.

Here's Lindmark's goal

 

[Prominence Problem]

Boston College won 5-3. I thought Hutsko looked good. Was very active offensively and showed some nice moves and puckhandling ability. Could this be a breakthrough season?

I am going to be following him and quite interested on his offensive progression this year. I was quite disappointed that he didn't put up good numbers last year. Was he dealing with the major injuries last season?

 

[letsgrowcactus]

I am going to be following him and quite interested on his offensive progression this year. I was quite disappointed that he didn't put up good numbers last year. Was he dealing with the major injuries last season?

There were definitely injuries, though not at the beginning of the season IIRC? He had a scary head injury in March (had to be taken to the hospital) which was all the more terrifying given the broken neck thing a few years before.
Also the team as a whole sucked.

 

[letsgrowcactus]

Friday update:
WHL
They took away one of Ludvig's assists, so he decided to be awesome again and scored a PP goal (a shot from the blueline through the traffic) and added a PP assist, bringing him to 5+5 in 8 games (he seems to be collecting a lot of points on the PP - his team's PP is 2nd best in the WHL at 30%). 2nd star of the game in a 5-0 win where they outshot "bad guys" 41-16. I'm loving it. Give me more.
In other WHL news, the Seattle Thunderbirds still suck really bad (like, 20/22 in the league bad), losing another game 8-3. Didn't stop Wedman from being 3rd star of the game (1+1 on the PP, -3, 5 SOG, blocked a shot, won 18/29 faceoffs). Rybinski also collected an assist. Wedman now with 1+2 in 4 games, -9; Rybinski with 4 assists in 6 games, -5. Don't know what's the biggest problem of that team (the awful defence? bad goaltending? anemic offence?) but it's a mess.

OHL:
Meireles with a PP assist in a 3-1 win; nice puck distribution there. 6 points in 4 games so far.
Schwindt (1-6 loss), Noel (5-4 win) also played; both pointless. Noel was on ice for 3 out of his team's goals (2 on the PP); no assists there but contributed to all of them by parking his ass in front of enemy net. Even if he never put it together enough to be a top6 guy (which I still have high hopes for), that big body in front of the net means he will be useful at least as a bottom6 guy. Was also on ice for two goals against; one was not his fault, the other looked bad on him and/or teammates (three of them focused on the same guy and forgot to cover two other guys; Noel realized the issue too late, didn't get there in time and one of the two scored.)

College:
The BC/Wisconsin game was pretty much covered above; Hutsko finished with an assist (4 SOG, +2); Finkelstein had an assist (played top pairing, finished +3), Knight saved 23/26 for the W, Lindmark with his first NCAA goal/point (3 SOG, +1), Inamoto played on top pairing for Wisconsin and finished -1.
Gildon with 2 assists in a 6-2 win for UNH, was on ice for one of the goals against. Bachman played on the other side and collected an assist.
Cole Krygier matched his amount of goals from last year in just one game! (In other words, scored one on the PP ) He was on ice for one goal against; his team won 5-3.

Europe:
Schutz finally broke his pointless streak of something like 7-8 games - had a goal and an assist in a 3:2 win. Now with 5 points in 10 games; he's not getting big minutes so this is decent.
Kinnunen was sent down to juniors (has two assists there in 3 games, hopefully he'll find his game again).
Denisenko continuing his pointless streak in the KHL (hasn't had a point in seven or eight games; has yet to score a goal this year after they changed his goal to an assist early on). 2 points in 12 games. I watched a little of his game this week; he wasn't bad but didn't stand out either (and still getting meh icetime). Wonder if he just needs that one ugly goal at this point to get him going?

AHL:
Springfield lost 2-1 on Friday; goal by Repo, assists by Tippett and Heponiemi. First AHL point for Hepo. Driedger made 38 saves on 40 shots, was 2nd star of the game. SPR with 2 points after three games, trying to copy the Panthers' not-so-great start of the season.

 

[RainingRats]

What are the expectations for Springfield?

 

[scoob8888]

What are the expectations for Springfield?

Too early to tell.

 

[NewHampshire]

After missing the team’s exhibition game as an injury precaution, Gildon posts 1-3–4 in a pair of games as UNH opens the season with a win and a tie at Miami...

UNH should be better (even decent) this season, so it could be a big year for Gildon production...

 

[FinlandPanther]

After missing the team’s exhibition game as an injury precaution, Gildon posts 1-3–4 in a pair of games as UNH opens the season with a win and a tie at Miami...

UNH should be better (even decent) this season, so it could be a big year for Gildon production...

What do you see his upside being in the NHL? Also what negatives are there about his game?

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

After missing the team’s exhibition game as an injury precaution, Gildon posts 1-3–4 in a pair of games as UNH opens the season with a win and a tie at Miami...

UNH should be better (even decent) this season, so it could be a big year for Gildon production...

Is he playing top pairing minutes 5 on 5? PP?
Appreciate the recaps on him, stop by as much as ya can.
Our LD pipeline may not be star studded but between Stillman (AHL), Gildon (NCAA), Kolyachonok (OHL) and Ludvig (WHL), we should find at least 2 or maybe 3 full time NHL defensemen

 

[NewHampshire]

Gildon plays a ton of minutes 5-on-5 and quarterbacks the first PP unit (a unit which scored four times this weekend - UNH scored five PPG overall). Gildon had three PP points and one even strength assist this weekend. He does play semi-regularly on the PK, but may or may not do so as often this season depending on how the rest of the D shakes out (ie he may not HAVE to)...

As I said earlier, UNH has a chance to be notably better this season than they have in Gildon’s first two seasons. If I had to guess - I’d say that’s a BIG reason why he came back to school (same for Anthony Wyse who attended your development camp).

The opportunity for success is hugely dependent on UNH’s defense. They have a strong goaltender returning in JR, Mike Robinson (SJ) and a truly legit and experienced top four on the blue line.

I think you’ll see that top four chew up a lot of the five-on-five ice time, with three other defenders eating up the remaining time on the final pair. Last season Gildon and Wyse both pushed 30 minutes a game on a regular basis - more experience and depth this year should allow both to move closer to 25 and hopefully they’ll be better for it. Through two games UNH has split them up to balance the two pairs. Wyse plays with the more well-rounded Benton Maass (WSH) and Gildon plays with the more defensive minded Will MacKinnon...

MacKinnon allows Gildon the freedom to get up ice and that will always be his strength. When he’s on the ice for UNH he’s the puck-lugging, breakout specialist who keys the rush with his skating and first-pass ability and jumps into the play whenever he sees an opening. He has the puck on his stick A LOT in this system. He’s an incredibly gifted skater with great puck skills and offensive ability. Offensively, he is flat-out gifted...

This season, with better talent around him (an especially large jump in F talent and experience) and another year older (though he is still only 20!) he should put up HUGE offensive numbers for UNH. The sky is the limit - he’s a great passer and has a very very good wrist shot that he gets through traffic at an elite level and again, he’s keying the first PP with UNH’s four slickest forwards and the group looks very dangerous early.

With Gildon questions will always revolve around his defending. He’s improved each year at UNH and I expect he’ll show continued improvement this year. He’s always been readily aware of what he can do better and committed to improving and that’s most important...

He’s a big kid and he needs to use his size more along the walls, in the corners and in front of the net. He hasn’t always needed to be a physical guy and at times his approach in the defensive zone is to rely to much on his skill as opposed to taking the body or simply eating up space in front of the net.

He also can, at times, get too cute with the puck in his own end. He’s wants to make plays, he’s not really a bang it off the glass kind of guy, though he’s getting better at knowing when to keep things simple.

It’s only been one weekend, but I imagine time will tell he’s improved a great deal in these areas for the college level.

When he makes the jump to the pro level he’ll probably hit some bumps initially and steadily get better. Same when he cracks your line-up. I’d expect your patience will be rewarded. I think his NHL floor is a third-pair guy who makes a difference on the PP. The ceiling - if he puts it together in his own end is tremendous...

As for comps, I don’t watch enough NHL to feel comfortable making a comparison but think big, extremely mobile offensively gifted (with a few defensive hiccups) types. Last year I did mention guys like Yandle or Shattenkirk as similar stylistically...

As a college hockey fan, with more comp familiarity, it bugs me to see people fawn over guys like a K’Andre Miller, at Wisconsin, when I think Gildon does all the same things at a higher level, with more responsibility/ice time and lesser talent around him...

It bugs me watching Scott Perunovich of get lauded for his offense (on a loaded roster) and completely excused for all his shortcomings simply because he plays at Duluth.

If Gildon had stuck with his UW commit or gone to UMD, he’d be getting much more fan fare than he gets at UNH. I think he definitely makes WJC teams at those schools, for example. He’s more polished than Miller and a five-inches taller and 15 pounds heavier (and better in my biased opinion) version of Perunovich...

 

[Dread Clawz]

Sounds like this is the best developmental situation for Gildon right now. We don't need him right now anyway. Let him spend a couple seasons in Springfield after this. He should be ready to be a solid defenseman for the Panthers after that. He sounds like he has a very low bust risk.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

Cole Schwindt (C) with his 3rd goal of the year in a 4-2 loss. Now has 10 pts in 8 GP.

SPR (2-3-0) win 5-2 over Providence
McCoshen (LD) with two more assists, his 3rd and 4th in 5 GP
Prow (RD) with 2 helpers as well, now has 1 goal and 5 pts in 5 GP
Greco (RW) with a goal and assist, his first points of the year
Roy (LW) with a goal (1st) and assist (3rd)
Ang (C) with his 3rd assist, has 5 pts in 5 games
Driedger (G) stops 33 of 35 for his 2nd win of the year. 4 GP with a 2.26 GAA and .936 SV%

Denisenko (LW) with an assist in a 6-3 win today, his 3rd in 14 GP. Still hasn't scored yet.

 

[Ghoste]

Knight with a 39 save shutout for BC.


-ghoste

 

[Dread Clawz]

I really like Schwindt. I hope he can become a 4th line or even 3rd line center for us someday.

 

[Anod]

Cole Schwindt (C) with his 3rd goal of the year in a 4-2 loss. Now has 10 pts in 8 GP.

SPR (2-3-0) win 5-2 over Providence
McCoshen (LD) with two more assists, his 3rd and 4th in 5 GP
Prow (RD) with 2 helpers as well, now has 1 goal and 5 pts in 5 GP
Greco (RW) with a goal and assist, his first points of the year
Roy (LW) with a goal (1st) and assist (3rd)
Ang (C) with his 3rd assist, has 5 pts in 5 games
Driedger (G) stops 33 of 35 for his 2nd win of the year. 4 GP with a 2.26 GAA and .936 SV%

Denisenko (LW) with an assist in a 6-3 win today, his 3rd in 14 GP. Still hasn't scored yet.

Also Alex Petrovic with a -2 for Providence in this game. I guess he is continuing his downwards progression.