Prospect Info: 2023, 5th round, 137th pick - RD Jack Phelan

[Henkka]

Jack Phelan at eliteprospects.com

Eliteprospects.com hockey player profile of Jack Phelan, 2004-05-28 Hinsdale, IL, USA USA. Most recently in the NCAA with Univ. of Wisconsin. Complete player biography and stats.

www.eliteprospects.com

Overager.

Has 6'3 Left-handed twin brother, also defenceman.

Click to read more...

 

[NickH8]

This is the most puzzling pick of the draft. Not that I care about a 5th round pick but man. 5 points in 50 some games as an overager in Junior A. This guy has no chance of being an NHLer. I'd be happy to eat crow but man.

 

[Holden Caufield]

Is that pronounced ‘Fee-llon’ or ‘Felon’ ?

The later would be more appropriate, Because it feels like a crime was committed by whoever made this pick….

 

[Fyodorov]

This is the most puzzling pick of the draft. Not that I care about a 5th round pick but man. 5 points in 50 some games as an overager in Junior A. This guy has no chance of being an NHLer. I'd be happy to eat crow but man.

How can you even say these things if you haven't watched fifty of his games going back to when he was 6?

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

I’m no biologist but I feel like, if twin brothers hold their sticks on different sides, one of them is wrong.

 

[Henkka]

I’m no biologist but I feel like, if twin brothers hold their sticks on different sides, one of them is wrong.

Maybe the lefty is wrong. He wasn't drafted.

How about having those twins as a pair.

And trading for Willander

Phelan - Phelan, L-R
Wallinder - Willander, L-R
Johansson - Johansson, L-R

 

[RedHawkDown]

Sure dude. Whatever. Let Draper do whatever at this point.

 

[Spitfire11]

I always give the scouts the benefit of the doubt and almost never question the Wings’ picks, but this one really makes zero sense. Is he a star floor hockey player and this was his first year playing on ice?

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

I guess it is a good sign that he is heading to Wisco. I honestly know nothing about him.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

I think we should target a defenseman in round one 2024.

 

[WaW]

I think people were overreacting on Gibson and Cleveland, but this was an actual WTF pick lol, even for a 5th rounder.

 

[DamonDRW]

I think we should target a defenseman in round one 2024.

Undoubtedly, big and physical one, having 2-3 points in 60 games.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Have we confirmed yet that this is an actual person?

 

[Realgud]

@izlez

Ok I went back and watched him a bit in 2 different games...

The good: His defensive instincts like positioning and gap control are great, seriously really smart when it comes to knowing what to do defensively. He is very aware too, always looking around and make sure no one sneaks in from behind. I like his defensive game a lot. He is 6'2 and tries to be physical but he isn't very strong right now. His skating agility is quite good, especially when going in reverse with his crossovers. His top speed isn't great but it's fine.

The bad: His puckhandling, puck carrying, passing and passing decisions are all legitimately terrible. For an overager, this is really concerning. I'm really not sure what to think here. I guess it could come with development but right now he is purely a defensive defenseman in my opinion.

I don't necessarily hate the pick as much now but man... I don't think he deserved to go in the 5th. I see a bottom pairing stay at home D kind of potential but absolutely nothing more. I guess it would have been fine in the 7th, especially since his size at 6'2 is not something special where you really need and go get him before someone else does...

Confusing pick but I can see what they're going for... BUT AGAIN you pick Gibson and Cleveland in the 2nd as stay at home physical defensemen, do you really need to pick SO MANY?

Anyway, time will tell.

@stillwater @OgeeOgelthorpe Both of you liked the other post, so I thought you might be curious too.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

@izlez

Ok I went back and watched him a bit in 2 different games...

The good: His defensive instincts like positioning and gap control are great, seriously really smart when it comes to knowing what to do defensively. He is very aware too, always looking around and make sure no one sneaks in from behind. I like his defensive game a lot. He is 6'2 and tries to be physical but he isn't very strong right now. His skating agility is quite good, especially when going in reverse with his crossovers. His top speed isn't great but it's fine.

The bad: His puckhandling, puck carrying, passing and passing decisions are all legitimately terrible. For an overager, this is really concerning. I'm really not sure what to think here. I guess it could come with development but right now he is purely a defensive defenseman in my opinion.

I don't necessarily hate the pick as much now but man... I don't think he deserved to go in the 5th. I see a bottom pairing stay at home D kind of potential but absolutely nothing more. I guess it would have been fine in the 7th, especially since his size at 6'2 is not something special where you really need and go get him before someone else does...

Confusing pick but I can see what they're going for... BUT AGAIN you pick Gibson and Cleveland in the 2nd as stay at home physical defensemen, do you really need to pick SO MANY?

Anyway, time will tell.

@stillwater @OgeeOgelthorpe Both of you liked the other post, so I thought you might be curious too.

Picks that fit this profile have an infinitesimally small chance of even getting signed to play in the minors though. This is sounding like a worse skating Kasper Kotkansalo.

Kasper Kotkansalo at eliteprospects.com

Honestly, this draft from the 2nd round on seemed like they lost the plot. 5th rounders are always long shots but why not take a long shot on a guy that could become a something? This one looks like he'll finish college and never play again?

 

[Henkka]

He is purely a defensive defenseman in my opinion.

Confusing pick but I can see what they're going for... BUT AGAIN you pick Gibson and Cleveland in the 2nd as stay at home physical defensemen, do you really need to pick SO MANY?

Anyway, time will tell.

If the prospect probability to hit as NHL player after 1st round is 20% or less, you pretty much have to use at least 5 picks to get 1 pan out.

And the guy who pans out, has a wrong handness...

 

[Realgud]

If the prospect probability to hit as NHL player after 1st round is 20% or less, you pretty much have to use at least 5 picks to get 1 pan out.

And the guy who pans out, has a wrong handness...

Generally that makes sense but this year's draft was deep, the picks in the 40s can be considered late firsts so if you pick 2 defensive dmen with those picks, you better hope they reach the NHL or else why did you reach for them when so many prime players were still available (at least in my opinion). But yeah, you are not wrong in the sense that if this is really what you're looking for, then I guess really going for it to make sure you at least get 1 NHLer in that role has some logic to it...

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Generally that makes sense but this year's draft was deep, the picks in the 40s can be considered late firsts so if you pick 2 defensive dmen with those picks, you better hope they reach the NHL or else why did you reach for them when so many prime players were still available (at least in my opinion). But yeah, you are not wrong in the sense that if this is really what you're looking for, then I guess really going for it to make sure you at least get 1 NHLer in that role has some logic to it...

Set aside what we did in the 2nd for a moment and who we took there. If you subscribe to the idea that there is a certain requisite size required to play defense in the NHL (an argument that has legit teeth) I think just about every defensemen you take outside of the top two rounds is going to profile as what we typically think of as a defensive defensemen, Any defensemen with size and legit skill will be gone by the mid rounds. If you take it a step further and argue that you also need a certain level of mobility in addition to size, you are going to be sacrificing even more in terms of pre-draft production or picking from comparably lower leagues.

I have zero issues with this profile in the mid-to-late rounds and don't really expect anything else in terms of defensemen taken there. I don't, however, think you should target this profile too early in the draft. I know nothing about this particular kid but I do like that Mike Hastings likes him.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

Had a chance to see him live tonight and you can definitely see why he was picked by the Red Wings. Jack Phelan has great mobility and size. He has a physical edge to him as well. However, he is very raw in his skillset and doesn’t have much offensive output.

You never know what you are going to get with players drafted in this range, but it’s not a bad bet to draft a player with those tools. After seeing him play, I think he was a good pick at 137.

 

[Cake Eater]

You can have decent size, a good skater, and play physical. But being a poor shooter, poor passer, poor stick handler, poor defender, and low hockey IQ is not something you should bet a 5th round pick on. I hate the responsibility that Draper is given.

 

[raymond23]

You can have decent size, a good skater, and play physical. But being a poor shooter, poor passer, poor stick handler, poor defender, and low hockey IQ is not something you should bet a 5th round pick on. I hate the responsibility that Draper is given.

So many vanilla players

Hopefully Draper proves a lot of us wrong

 

[MichaelFarrell]

You can have decent size, a good skater, and play physical. But being a poor shooter, poor passer, poor stick handler, poor defender, and low hockey IQ is not something you should bet a 5th round pick on. I hate the responsibility that Draper is given.

Players need time to develop. He is still a very young man. Not every defenseman needs to be great offensively. He made some nice tape-to-tape passes out there as well.

When I look at some of the other guys who were taken after him, there aren’t a lot of surefire better options. I’d question a lot of Draper’s earlier picks before I’d picking question this kid in the 5th round. The game I watched had several NHL drafted players and he caught my eye.

 

[Cake Eater]

Players need time to develop. He is still a very young man. Not every defenseman needs to be great offensively. He made some nice tape-to-tape passes out there as well.

When I look at some of the other guys who were taken after him, there aren’t a lot of surefire better options. I’d question a lot of Draper’s earlier picks before I’d picking question this kid in the 5th round. The game I watched had several NHL drafted players and he caught my eye.

Despite the jokes above, he didn't start playing hockey last year. The absolute lack of the attributes mentioned above are not something that a guy like that suddenly develop. I couldn't care less about offensive production, as that is obviously not what he was drafted for. He lacks many of the basic skills to be a top 10 old-timers rec player when he hits 35.

He caught your eye because you were admittedly looking for him.

 

[izlez]

Despite the jokes above, he didn't start playing hockey last year. The absolute lack of the attributes mentioned above are not something that a guy like that suddenly develop. I couldn't care less about offensive production, as that is obviously not what he was drafted for. He lacks many of the basic skills to be a top 10 old-timers rec player when he hits 35.

He caught your eye because you were admittedly looking for him.

What are you basing this on to have such a strong opinion?

 

[lilidk]

To make this team good in the long run Time to change things in our drafting strategy . Drafting ASP was move in the right direction, unfortunately after our first round picks we got bunch of why questions. Time to start looking for smart creative projects that could become something good.