HF Habs: 2022 HF Habs Prospect Rankings #12

[Estimated_Prophet]

I dont know anymore. Theres still very good NHL upside but its very close now.

Rohrer
Kidney
Heineman
Dobes
Mysak
Struble
Tuch
Smilanic
Ylonen
Xhekaj

I think thats how id rank them but Ill 100% be wrong on that.

Pretty insane all these guys are at least top 60 value IMO in a redraft. Maybe not Struble because of injuries.

Individually ranking players is just silly anyways. There should just be tiers but that is not as much fun as pitting them against each other in a public poll....so here we are

 

[26Mats]

If you have a pipeline of these types you have more money to spend on top 6 talent, instead of paying 3.4 M for 3rd land 4th iners. The Evans and Pitlick deals should be the norm not Armia and Byron. If they price themselves out, you can move on if you have depth coming.

I can't wait to move out Byron, Drouin, Dadonov, Hoffman, and Armia. Hopefully Hoffman and Armia bring their trade value up this year.

More open spots for the youth.

 

[Mrb1p]

Individually ranking players is just silly anyways. There should just be tiers but that is not as much fun as pitting them against each other in a public poll....so here we are

Well its kinda boring and lame and makes it much easier for the ranked to be right.

At some point you have to make a choice between assets.

 

[Ghetto Sangria]

Heineman, add Struble

Our top 20 is insane. The fact that we will have at least 20 prospects who have real legitimate NHL upside and not just as bottom line depth players but all with the upside to become a significant NHL contributor is really rare.

This is not to imply that they are all going to make it as many likely won't but at this point in a pool's depth chart you expect to see a much lower upside group. It isn't even limited to the top twenty as there are still a few very interesting prospects who are not even in the poll yet.

I have never seen this much depth in a Habs pool before......not even close.

This prospect depth is excellent for being competitive long term. Right now, we're building our core through our higher draft picks. The depth gives us three advantages:

1. More at-bats to land another core player,
2. tons of affordable depth options to fill out our team as we continue to be competitive
3. It gives our future draft picks time to develop properly before joining the big club

Really liking the direction we are going.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Ugh I feel dirty voting for a goalie two rounds in a row.

 

[NotProkofievian]

Heineman, add Struble

Our top 20 is insane. The fact that we will have at least 20 prospects who have real legitimate NHL upside and not just as bottom line depth players but all with the upside to become a significant NHL contributor is really rare.

This is not to imply that they are all going to make it as many likely won't but at this point in a pool's depth chart you expect to see a much lower upside group. It isn't even limited to the top twenty as there are still a few very interesting prospects who are not even in the poll yet.

I have never seen this much depth in a Habs pool before......not even close.

I was just thinking that our depth is quite strong. We're on #12 and we have guys like Heineman, Kidney, Dobes, Norlinder still on the board. Most of these guys will bust, but a few of them wont.

What we need is more crown jewels. Then these good bets can really make a difference. If Heineman is your best prospect, you're f***ed. If Heineman is your 12th best prospect? That's pretty good.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

Ylonen add Tuch

 

[WeThreeKings]

Ugh I feel dirty voting for a goalie two rounds in a row.

Welcome to the dark side

 

[Skip Bayless]

Ylonen, add Engström.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Because they were depth defenseman, all these players have value and brought something good to the team, that doesn't change the fact he paid too much money for depth.

Depth defensemen? What the f***, man?

They were Top 4 defensemen and an integral part of what made this team go so deep.

TOI last playoff run:

Player	Pos	GP	ATOI ▼
Carey Price	G	22	60:59
Ben Chiarot	D	22	25:15
Shea Weber	D	22	25:13
Jeff Petry	D	20	24:04
Joel Edmundson	D	22	23:23
Phillip Danault	C	22	18:56
Nick Suzuki	C	22	18:55
Tyler Toffoli	C	22	17:48
Jake Evans	C	7	15:32
Cole Caufield	RW	20	15:14
Artturi Lehkonen	LW	17	15:07
Brendan Gallagher	RW	22	14:41
Paul Byron	LW	22	14:35
Josh Anderson	RW	22	14:30
Tomas Tatar	LW	5	13:57
Corey Perry	RW	22	13:54
Jesperi Kotkaniemi	C	19	13:42
Joel Armia	RW	21	13:41
Jonathon Merrill	D	13	12:53
Brett Kulak	D	13	12:52
Alexander Romanov	D	4	12:24
Eric Staal	C	21	11:31
Erik Gustafsson	D	16	10:0

 

[MrNasty]

Struble again

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Man, people turned on Norlinder faster than freaking Macho Man on Hulk Hogan. Went from hero to zero in a real hurry.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Man, people turned on Norlinder faster than freaking Macho Man on Hulk Hogan. Went from hero to zero in a real hurry.

I have him 9th still and my reservations are solely on him staying healthy.. his ability and upside hasn't changed in my mind but whether he can develop with all these injuries has to be weighed.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Well its kinda boring and lame and makes it much easier for the ranked to be right.

At some point you have to make a choice between assets.

Agreed that it isn't the most exciting way for fans but these is how NHL teams actually work. When players are so close it doesn't matter if a random fan who has never met these players or been on the ice with them guessed right because it is almost entirely luck. You are correct that teams have to make choices between assets but that is primarily done 3-5 years into development other than the fringe players that they decide to sign or let go.

I like trying to guess who will be better than who but I am fully aware that I don't have the tools to form a truly educated opinion from my couch.

I am not in any way proposing that we stop these polls as I enjoy them but as history has shown....they mean absolutely nothing.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

I have him 9th still and my reservations are solely on him staying healthy.. his ability and upside hasn't changed in my mind but whether he can develop with all these injuries has to be weighed.

I'm just bemused by how high people were on him just a year ago versus how low the opinion is now.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I'm just bemused by how high people were on him just a year ago versus how low the opinion is now.

Shows how bi-polar the fan base is haha

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

I was just thinking that our depth is quite strong. We're on #12 and we have guys like Heineman, Kidney, Dobes, Norlinder still on the board. Most of these guys will bust, but a few of them wont.

What we need is more crown jewels. Then these good bets can really make a difference. If Heineman is your best prospect, you're f***ed. If Heineman is your 12th best prospect? That's pretty good.

Slaf and Guhle are already "crown jewels" and there are others who could reach that level as we have a handful of kids with some serious upside if they can overcome a flaw or two.

If we pick at or near the top of the draft next season with multiple early picks again this pool will officially be elite. Let's also not forget that Caufield and Dach are younger than some of the kids in this poll.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Shows how bi-polar the fan base is haha

Very true, it is also a testament to the depth of this pool. In year's past with much weaker pools fans would be more likely to stay in his corner without the other shiny toys to distract them.

Admittedly I am not very high on him anymore and never was a huge fan but I was intrigued and thought he had a legitimate chance. He still may but he does really seem to have some processing deficiencies that concern me for a PMD. I am a little jaded having watched the Habs in 5 different decades and having seen so many "Norlinders" let me down. Right now he looks closer to a Josh Brook than a future NHLer but that can change in a hurry.

Prospects rarely follow linear development paths and with a talent like Norlinder it just takes something to click and he is back in the saddle. For many prospects that something never seems to click, hopefully he is one of the exceptions. I could see him not working out with the Habs but figuring it out later in his career while playing in Sweden and being signed to an NHL contract as a free agent........ or he could explode next season and make this poll look silly, both are very possible and this is why these polls are a little silly to begin with and this is why I try to keep an open mind with these kids.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Very true, it is also a testament to the depth of this pool. In year's past with much weaker pools fans would be more likely to stay in his corner without the other shiny toys to distract them.

Admittedly I am not very high on him anymore and never was a huge fan but I was intrigued and thought he had a legitimate chance. He still may but he does really seem to have some processing deficiencies that concern me for a PMD. I am a little jaded having watched the Habs in 5 different decades and having seen so many "Norlinders" let me down. Right now he looks closer to a Josh Brook than a future NHLer but that can change in a hurry.

Prospects rarely follow linear development paths and with a talent like Norlinder it just takes something to click and he is back in the saddle. For many prospects that something never seems to click, hopefully he is one of the exceptions. I could see him not working out with the Habs but figuring it out later in his career while playing in Sweden and being signed to an NHL contract as a free agent........ or he could explode next season and make this poll look silly, both are very possible and this is why these polls are a little silly to begin with and this is why I try to keep an open mind with these kids.

Yeah I forgot to add the depth of the pool does change things too - we've added some good prospects, and some other prospects had some really, really good years.

His year this year was littered with injuries and the Bergevin triangle where he didn't get to play much and they didn't send him back to Sweden.

I'd like to see a step forward from him this year, otherwise I'll knock him way down - same way as I did with Hillis who I was high on, but also battled injuries and then didn't get much opportunity with Bouchard and this year was much of the same, with injuries and lack of palying time.

 

[Mrb1p]

Man, people turned on Norlinder faster than freaking Macho Man on Hulk Hogan. Went from hero to zero in a real hurry.

Norlinder was always media hype to me, theres a kid every year that gets this hype, mostly as fluff piece for the management, especially in the Bergevin era, as you needed to be in his good graces to have info.

Guhle
Norlinder
Fleury
Hudon
Mete
Andrighetto
Sekac
Nygren
Bournival

 

[rickthegoon]

My boy Arber not getting any love again

 

[JianYang]

Heineman, add Struble

Our top 20 is insane. The fact that we will have at least 20 prospects who have real legitimate NHL upside and not just as bottom line depth players but all with the upside to become a significant NHL contributor is really rare.

This is not to imply that they are all going to make it as many likely won't but at this point in a pool's depth chart you expect to see a much lower upside group. It isn't even limited to the top twenty as there are still a few very interesting prospects who are not even in the poll yet.

I have never seen this much depth in a Habs pool before......not even close.

It's a deep pool, but I don't think it's insane. The top end is still a bit shallow for it to be considered great, IMO.

I'll start voting Dobes once Kidney and Heineman are gone
I'm very high on Dobes but got used to be disappointed by goalies
Ylonen would've gone top 10 easily imo if he didn't play in the AHL playoffs

Montreal generally has done a great job with goalies since the beginning of time. Sure, it ran a bit dry with price around, but he was I. Eof those guys who everyone projected to be around for 15 years, so development of that position was kind of on pause for a while.

 

[Treb]

My boy Arber not getting any love again

I have him at 25. He will go up if he plays well at the pro level.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

It's a deep pool, but I don't think it's insane. The top end is still a bit shallow for it to be considered great, IMO.

I was referring to the quality of the depth. We have over 20 good prospects who have upside to be more than replacement level players.

I would say our top 5 is good but not top 10 in the league. But from 6-25 we might have the best group in the league.

 

[waitin425]

Xhekaj is not the most "talented" in the traditional sense....but he likely is the most likely out of the remaining players to find a role in the NHL