Prospect Info: 2019 Top prospects #18

[Paul4587]

Thrun debuts at 17, winning the three way tiebreaker between him, Benoit and Drew.

Rankings so far:
1. Zegras (1st yr eligible)
2. Steel (-1)
3. Terry (-1)
4. Comtois (+2)
5. Lundestrom (-)
6. Jones (+2)
7. Tracey (1st yr eligible)
8. Dostal (+11)
9. Larsson (-6)
10. Guhle (1st yr Ducks property)
11. Mahura (-7)
12. Grouxl (+1)
13. LaCombe (1st yr eligible)
14. McLaughlin (-)
15. Sherwood (+6)
16. Morand (-7)
17. Thrun (1st yr eligible)

Last years results
2017 results
2016
2015

I’ll add one-two guys from the following list to each poll, if you can comment on who to add I’ll take the player with the most votes. If nobody gets votes I'll pick the guy who I think has the best chance at getting votes in future polls.

To add:
Matt Berkovitz
Alex Dostie
Deven Siederoff
Angus Redmond
Garett Metcalf
Brent Gates (Gulls contract)
Steven Ruggiero (Gulls contract)
Nick Sorensen

Click to read more...

 

[Kalv]

Went with Benoit. But him, Janicke and Kopacka are changing everyday for me

Benoit had the most impressive season of them all I`d say. He realy came out of nowhere, his development curve took quite a way up.

 

[TopShelfWaterBottle]

Went with Benoit. But him, Janicke and Kopacka are changing everyday for me

Benoit had the most impressive season of them all I`d say. He realy came out of nowhere, his development curve took quite a way up.

Earned him a 3yr contract

 

[Paul4587]

Went with Benoit. But him, Janicke and Kopacka are changing everyday for me

Benoit had the most impressive season of them all I`d say. He realy came out of nowhere, his development curve took quite a way up.

Think Kopacka is being slept on because he was hurt last season. He could be a decent bottom 6er if he pans out.

 

[Kalv]

Think Kopacka is being slept on because he was hurt last season. He could be a decent bottom 6er if he pans out.

Absolutely. Personally I really liked him even before he turned pro. He doesn`t have flashy numbers and everything but he is always regarded as a solid, two way player. He has size, he has speed, that is a good combination and to have 0.5 PPG in his AHL debut season that was riddled with a (IIRC) silly injury, it`s a solid start.

But for now I would put Benoit above him. Simon just came out of nowhere really and solidified himself as basically the most stable D in SD. He played the most games IIRC. That`s quite an accomplishment, btw he was the youngest on that blueline Who knows what could be his development curve

 

[GreatBear]

They are all pretty much a long shot at this point in time. One or two might make it, but it is pretty much a guess. I went with Benoit because: 1) he has shown that he can play at the AHL level, and 2) he is young enough to still progress.

 

[Kalv]

They are all pretty much a long shot at this point in time. One or two might make it, but it is pretty much a guess. I went with Benoit because: 1) he has shown that he can play at the AHL level, and 2) he is young enough to still progress.

Janicke is freshly drafted Of course it`s a longshot.

Kopacka might make it as a bottom 6er but if all goes well he has a potential to be a solid one, albeit limited offensive potential

 

[MMC]

Perbix

 

[AngelDuck]

Perbix. Highest upside is of the remaining players and the only guy left with a chance to really make a climb by next year imo

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Perbix. Highest upside is of the remaining players and the only guy left with a chance to really make a climb by next year imo

Yep, at this point far down the prospect pool i'm going with who ever has the highest upside the rest of the way.

 

[Kalv]

Perbix. Highest upside is of the remaining players and the only guy left with a chance to really make a climb by next year imo

Don`t agree with this, he`s not the only one of the remainding ones that has a shot.

Benoit and Kopacka have good chances to make the names of themselves.

 

[TopShelfWaterBottle]

Hey @Paul4587 can we go until we’ve ranked them all or we dealing with a cutoff?

 

[Paul4587]

Hey @Paul4587 can we go until we’ve ranked them all or we dealing with a cutoff?

Was going to cut off at 25 but can keep going if there’s enough interest to do so. By that point there will be actual hockey again though.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Don`t agree with this, he`s not the only one of the remainding ones that has a shot.

Benoit and Kopacka have good chances to make the names of themselves.

It's funny to see that considering how many low round draft picks the Ducks have made that became successful such as 7th rounder Kase, 6th rounder Manson, 5th rounder Terry, and 4th rounder Vatanen. We just don't know right now, but who would have thought Terry would be the leading prospect for the Ducks when he was first drafted or Kase would the face of the youth movement on the forward side at the NHL level?

Here's a scouting report by HF on Terry:

Talent Analysis

Terry is a long-range project who will likely use most of his NCAA eligibility at Denver before being ready for professional hockey. An undersized forward who skates well, he has solid stick skills but is still working to refine his game. Making the jump directly from the USA National Team Development Program to college hockey as an 18-year-old, he has played a regular role for the Pioneers. Troy has been sound in a lower line role while chipping in at times offensively.
Future

Terry is playing for the University of Denver as a freshman in 2015-16. One of the younger players in college hockey — having done directly from the NTDP program without playing a year of junior hockey — he has not looked out of place. Terry has been solid in his first year but scouts feel there is more to come as he gets acclimated to the higher level of play. At the pro level he projects as a solid second or third line center — provided he continues to add size and strength and learns to read the positional game.

Read more at http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/troy-terry/#6KX9sFdX05kpBYQf.99

I think Janicke might have a niche in the future, especially if he keeps on scoring and improves his skating. His skating is the one aspect Pronman didn't like. It'll be interesting to see him develop as well as seeing him continue to be on team USA's roster to see how he fares amongst a collected, talented pool. Fellow Duck prospect Blake McLaughlin went into the NCAA at 5'11" and 161 pounds. Blake had to put on weight to be able to go into corners. Janicke is 5'10" and 194 pounds today. He's like a tank - probably why he skates like one as well. Janicke's body is NCAA ready, but his skating is the one aspect of his game he needs to improve the most. If Janicke can grow two more inches, then wowzers!

To add perspective to Janicke, let's compare McLaughlin's 2017-18 USHL season (the season he was drafted by the Ducks). Remember, McLaughlin is ranked 14th in this list.

2017-18 McLaughlin USHL production: 23g + 29a = 52 pts (2nd leading scorer on the team/ 3rd leading goal scorer on team/ seven players with 40+ points)
2018-19 Janicke USHL production: 22g + 26a = 48 pts (1st leading scorer on the team/ 1st leading goal scorer on team/ two players with 40 + points)

What makes McLaughlin a better prospect to most scouts is his skating. It all starts with skating. Draftsite.com had projected Janicke to be a 4th round pick, but he ended up being a 5th round pick by the Ducks. Not so great skating and stuck on a bad USHL team (that drafted him #1 overall in the USHL draft) probably made Janicke more obscure. I'm not saying that Janicke will be a 1st line center in the NHL, but that he can find a niche being a center in the NHL, provided he improves his skating and his goal scoring remains consistent. A glue-guy center.

 

[Duck Off]

it's a crapshoot at this point but went with Perbix. Like what I see when I read about him. Still needs to prove more to really jump up the board, but like his potential. Janicke or Benoit would be my other choices though.

 

[eternalbedhead]

It's funny to see that considering how many low round draft picks the Ducks have made that became successful such as 7th rounder Kase, 6th rounder Manson, 5th rounder Terry, and 4th rounder Vatanen. We just don't know right now, but who would have thought Terry would be the leading prospect for the Ducks when he was first drafted or Kase would the face of the youth movement on the forward side at the NHL level?

Here's a scouting report by HF on Terry:


I think Janicke might have a niche in the future, especially if he keeps on scoring and improves his skating. His skating is the one aspect Pronman didn't like. It'll be interesting to see him develop as well as seeing him continue to be on team USA's roster to see how he fares amongst a collected, talented pool. Fellow Duck prospect Blake McLaughlin went into the NCAA at 5'11" and 161 pounds. Blake had to put on weight to be able to go into corners. Janicke is 5'10" and 194 pounds today. He's like a tank - probably why he skates like one as well. Janicke's body is NCAA ready, but his skating is the one aspect of his game he needs to improve the most. If Janicke can grow two more inches, then wowzers!

To add perspective to Janicke, let's compare McLaughlin's 2017-18 USHL season (the season he was drafted by the Ducks). Remember, McLaughlin is ranked 14th in this list.

2017-18 McLaughlin USHL production: 23g + 29a = 52 pts (2nd leading scorer on the team/ 3rd leading goal scorer on team/ seven players with 40+ points)
2018-19 Janicke USHL production: 22g + 26a = 48 pts (1st leading scorer on the team/ 1st leading goal scorer on team/ two players with 40 + points)

What makes McLaughlin a better prospect to most scouts is his skating. It all starts with skating. Draftsite.com had projected Janicke to be a 4th round pick, but he ended up being a 5th round pick by the Ducks. Not so great skating and stuck on a bad USHL team (that drafted him #1 overall in the USHL draft) probably made Janicke more obscure. I'm not saying that Janicke will be a 1st line center in the NHL, but that he can find a niche being a center in the NHL, provided he improves his skating and his goal scoring remains consistent. A glue-guy center.

The problem with stat-watching is that it doesn't tell a whole lot.

2012-13 Rakell OHL production: 21g + 23a = 44 pts (4th in PPG on team/2nd in GPG/6 players who were PPG)

Rakell had pretty mediocre stats on a team that finished first in his division. I know he's a very flashy-looking player but I think people are really overrating him and I really feel we swung and missed at #30.

And we all know how that turned out.

 

[Kalv]

It's funny to see that considering how many low round draft picks the Ducks have made that became successful such as 7th rounder Kase, 6th rounder Manson, 5th rounder Terry, and 4th rounder Vatanen. We just don't know right now, but who would have thought Terry would be the leading prospect for the Ducks when he was first drafted or Kase would the face of the youth movement on the forward side at the NHL level?

Here's a scouting report by HF on Terry:


I think Janicke might have a niche in the future, especially if he keeps on scoring and improves his skating. His skating is the one aspect Pronman didn't like. It'll be interesting to see him develop as well as seeing him continue to be on team USA's roster to see how he fares amongst a collected, talented pool. Fellow Duck prospect Blake McLaughlin went into the NCAA at 5'11" and 161 pounds. Blake had to put on weight to be able to go into corners. Janicke is 5'10" and 194 pounds today. He's like a tank - probably why he skates like one as well. Janicke's body is NCAA ready, but his skating is the one aspect of his game he needs to improve the most. If Janicke can grow two more inches, then wowzers!

To add perspective to Janicke, let's compare McLaughlin's 2017-18 USHL season (the season he was drafted by the Ducks). Remember, McLaughlin is ranked 14th in this list.

2017-18 McLaughlin USHL production: 23g + 29a = 52 pts (2nd leading scorer on the team/ 3rd leading goal scorer on team/ seven players with 40+ points)
2018-19 Janicke USHL production: 22g + 26a = 48 pts (1st leading scorer on the team/ 1st leading goal scorer on team/ two players with 40 + points)

What makes McLaughlin a better prospect to most scouts is his skating. It all starts with skating. Draftsite.com had projected Janicke to be a 4th round pick, but he ended up being a 5th round pick by the Ducks. Not so great skating and stuck on a bad USHL team (that drafted him #1 overall in the USHL draft) probably made Janicke more obscure. I'm not saying that Janicke will be a 1st line center in the NHL, but that he can find a niche being a center in the NHL, provided he improves his skating and his goal scoring remains consistent. A glue-guy center.

After seeing Tery in his rookie season playoffs in the NCAA, the following summer I had him as our 2nd F prospect IIRC. He was always a longterm project but you could easilly see he has a really really good potential just from watching him play - how he reads the game, make skilled moves with the puck and at that point, struggle in areas because of his yet unfilled frame.
It`s crazy he fell that far.

But yeah players you mentioned are really really good value picks. You could even add Andersen in 3d round from whom we got multiple years of solid goaltenting and a first round pick (Steel) and a second round pick (Comtois). That`s actually crazy, I sometimes forget it.

We do have also some headscratchers here and there but we have to understand that it can and will happen. I wonder though if our drafts haven`t got worse in recent years. Do we have some personell changes?
With Kase/Vatanen/Andersen you could already see there is some good potential in them, in recent years there hasn`t been too much of these.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

After seeing Tery in his rookie season playoffs in the NCAA, the following summer I had him as our 2nd F prospect IIRC. He was always a longterm project but you could easilly see he has a really really good potential just from watching him play - how he reads the game, make skilled moves with the puck and at that point, struggle in areas because of his yet unfilled frame.
It`s crazy he fell that far.

But yeah players you mentioned are really really good value picks. You could even add Andersen in 3d round from whom we got multiple years of solid goaltenting and a first round pick (Steel) and a second round pick (Comtois). That`s actually crazy, I sometimes forget it.

We do have also some headscratchers here and there but we have to understand that it can and will happen. I wonder though if our drafts haven`t got worse in recent years. Do we have some personell changes?
With Kase/Vatanen/Andersen you could already see there is some good potential in them, in recent years there hasn`t been too much of these.

We haven't seen the Ducks draft a Finn since 2015.

 

[eternalbedhead]

After seeing Tery in his rookie season playoffs in the NCAA, the following summer I had him as our 2nd F prospect IIRC. He was always a longterm project but you could easilly see he has a really really good potential just from watching him play - how he reads the game, make skilled moves with the puck and at that point, struggle in areas because of his yet unfilled frame.
It`s crazy he fell that far.

But yeah players you mentioned are really really good value picks. You could even add Andersen in 3d round from whom we got multiple years of solid goaltenting and a first round pick (Steel) and a second round pick (Comtois). That`s actually crazy, I sometimes forget it.

We do have also some headscratchers here and there but we have to understand that it can and will happen. I wonder though if our drafts haven`t got worse in recent years. Do we have some personell changes?
With Kase/Vatanen/Andersen you could already see there is some good potential in them, in recent years there hasn`t been too much of these.

I think it's unfair to take hindsight bias with our late round strikes and hold it against the late-round picks we've taken in the last few years. I mean, sure, we've "missed" on a few recently (Olson, Dostie, and just about every late round pick from 2015 outside of Terry), but I'd hardly say our drafting has gotten worse. For instance, prior to Kase, the last 5th round-or-later pick we got an NHL player out of (at the very least one full season's worth of games) was 2011 with Manson in the 6th round. Before Manson, it was Wagner in 2010, and before Wagner it was Steven Kampfer in 2007, and he never actually played with us.

Of our late-round picks (5th round or later) that were taken in the last few drafts, we have Hunter Drew and Trevor Janicke who look like they could be good role players down the line. If you extend the definition of "late-round pick" further to the 3rd round (so as to include Andersen), then you can add McLaughlin, Dostal, Thrun, and possibly even Perbix even though I'm worried how well he'll adjust to the college game. Those are all players that we can see good potential in, and several of those have more than a fleeting chance at becoming more than a role player. (especially McLaughlin and Dostal; possibly Thrun as well) Will they reach it? Probably not. But honestly I don't think our drafting has gotten worse in the slightest. I'd honestly say we've continued improving since the end of the Burke era.

A lot of the players this deep in the list are probably not going to make it to the NHL. But I just want to say that we simply don't know for some of them, and that we do have a lot of hype surrounding a couple of them for a reason. McLaughlin had a rookie season comparable to Terry's and could jump further in this upcoming year, Dostal is obviously drawing rave reviews in the top men's league in Finland, and Thrun took a Kase-like plunge to the fourth round and I really feel we got a steal with him. Janicke, Drew, and Perbix all have the chance to be dark horse prospects.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

After seeing Tery in his rookie season playoffs in the NCAA, the following summer I had him as our 2nd F prospect IIRC. He was always a longterm project but you could easilly see he has a really really good potential just from watching him play - how he reads the game, make skilled moves with the puck and at that point, struggle in areas because of his yet unfilled frame.
It`s crazy he fell that far.

But yeah players you mentioned are really really good value picks. You could even add Andersen in 3d round from whom we got multiple years of solid goaltenting and a first round pick (Steel) and a second round pick (Comtois). That`s actually crazy, I sometimes forget it.

We do have also some headscratchers here and there but we have to understand that it can and will happen. I wonder though if our drafts haven`t got worse in recent years. Do we have some personell changes?
With Kase/Vatanen/Andersen you could already see there is some good potential in them, in recent years there hasn`t been too much of these.

With Andersen, he went back into the draft b/c of the conflicts with his original drafting team, Carolina. Carolina drafted Andersen in the 2nd round. I saw us getting Andersen as positive karma for losing Schultz. I think teams were weary about Andersen b/c of the conflict with Carolina and the Ducks took a chance with him in the 3rd round.

As for gotten worse, I have no idea. Each draft is organic to that draft year. Looking at all of the patterns, usually you can find NHL product in the top half of the first round. The chances of making the NHL drop from there and gets exponentially worse the further you get away from the top-15 picks. It's just icing on the cake that the Ducks continually hit on picks beyond the top-15. Some draft years are better than others based upon who's available. The 2011 draft year is an amazing year for the Ducks as all of them have played in the NHL. We might be spoiled such that we're expecting lower draft picks to always produce when we should be celebrating how fortunate the lower draft picks are breaking through the statistical bust rates.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The problem with stat-watching is that it doesn't tell a whole lot.

2012-13 Rakell OHL production: 21g + 23a = 44 pts (4th in PPG on team/2nd in GPG/6 players who were PPG)

Rakell had pretty mediocre stats on a team that finished first in his division. I know he's a very flashy-looking player but I think people are really overrating him and I really feel we swung and missed at #30.

And we all know how that turned out.

Stat researching is a good barometer. With Rakell, I don't any one of us saw a sniper. Rakell has failed as a center, but that's to our advantage as the switch to wing made more use of him as a scorer. Recall, Rakell did switch from wing to center in the juniors to help his team. He looked good enough from the switch to elevate him in the draft. The center he replaced in juniors was Noesen, who switched to wing.

We got lucky with Rakell. I recall at that draft that we should have drafted Gibby first and then Rakell, but that whole "never draft a goalie in the first round" schtick was followed b/c Gibby's talent was just awesome. Rakell was supposed to be playing center for us. After seeing what's transpired, I'm glad he failed at center. LoL Hey, Deslauriers started off as a defensemen in the NHL and is now a 4th line winger.

Although stat-watching is having a negative stigma, it's still important as it's actual production. Granted, you need to read up on other aspects to gauge the player better, but let's not spit on stat-watching. Because hockey is fluid, there isn't a definitive stat of play. You need all of it to help paint a better picture. It's like crapping on +/- ratings because the new stat people believe the +/- rating cannot be a be-all stat. It shouldn't be. It's one of many stats to help paint a picture b/c hockey is fluid. Baseball is a static sport and can easily be defined events.