Alex Newhook or Alex Turcotte?

Who’s the better Alex prospect?


  • Total voters
    363

CheckingLineCenter

Registered User
Aug 10, 2018
8,221
8,713
It’s probably fair to say that right now Turcotte is in the Dach/Cozens tier, and Newhook in the Krebs/Zegras tier just a shade below but with real potential to become a better player than those currently considered as “above.”

I think Turcotte is in the Cozens/Krebs/Dach tier (all contenders for 3OA) where they have top end potiential with high floors, and Newhook is more in the Zegras tier- where their peak potiential is just as top end and absolutely warrants a high pick, but they’re not quite as “safe”.
 

Steve Kournianos

@thedraftanalyst
Newhook is having a so-so postseason but the stats say he's dominating. He's kinda not IMO> Looks gassed and goes through long periods without impacting play. Another situation when Alex Campbell has looked better.

Turcotte is the better prospect but keep in mind that Newhook has the tougher job, thinner roster.

If he was consistent, or just a hair below his regular season pace in tournaments, showcases and now the playoffs, he's undoubtedly be top five in a lot of rankings.

Jekyll and Hyde season. May mean nothing long term but his body language sometimes is no bueno. Clearly gets frustrated and it impacts his game.

Powell River is getting to him. We'll see how the series plays out.
 

Llamamoto

Nice Bison. Kind Bison. Yep.
Sep 5, 2018
8,855
12,207
Its Turcotte AINEC in my opinion. Better in every category except for speed, and even then it is close. Don't get me wrong, I love Newhook as a prospect, but Turcotte is my 3-4#overall pick.
 
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covfefe

Zoltan Poszar's Burner
Feb 5, 2014
5,234
6,298
Newhook is having a so-so postseason but the stats say he's dominating. He's kinda not IMO> Looks gassed and goes through long periods without impacting play. Another situation when Alex Campbell has looked better.

Turcotte is the better prospect but keep in mind that Newhook has the tougher job, thinner roster.

If he was consistent, or just a hair below his regular season pace in tournaments, showcases and now the playoffs, he's undoubtedly be top five in a lot of rankings.

Jekyll and Hyde season. May mean nothing long term but his body language sometimes is no bueno. Clearly gets frustrated and it impacts his game.

Powell River is getting to him. We'll see how the series plays out.

You've watched all the games so far?

Hard to stay on your A-game with 3-4-5 guys hacking the top of your skates, going for wrist cuff gaps, facewashing, etc, after every whistle. I do agree on the frustration element, and have mentioned that dating back 3-4 years - he can get off his game when he gets targeted. But it'll be a lot harder for teams to gameplan in that way when he moves to higher levels of competition, and plays with guys like Cotton, Hutsko, Boldy, Wahlstrom, etc - and even more so when he is playing in the NHL.

At this point his league play is completely irrelevant, he's the best Jr. A player in the country by a landslide. And Campbell doesn't get drafted if he isn't playing on Victoria.

The reffing has been atrocious in this series and PR is a goon squad. That's the only hope they have to win this series.
 
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Team Cozens

Registered User
Oct 24, 2013
6,566
3,863
Burlington
Would love the Sabres to get Turcotte with their 1st and Newhook with the Blues 1st.
Will take a 3rd overall lottery win and the Blues ending up around 18th OA.
 

Lays

Registered User
Jan 22, 2017
13,559
12,630
You've watched all the games so far?

Hard to stay on your A-game with 3-4-5 guys hacking the top of your skates, going for wrist cuff gaps, facewashing, etc, after whistle. I do agree on the frustration element, and have mentioned that, dating back 3-4 years, that he can get off his game when he gets targeted. But it'll be a lot harder for teams to gameplan in that way when he moves to higher levels of competition, and plays with guys like Cotton, Hutsko, Boldy, Wahlstrom, etc - and even more so when he is playing in the NHL.

At this point his league play is completely irrelevant, he's the best Jr. A player in the country by a landslide. And Campbell doesn't get drafted if he isn't playing on Victoria.

The reffing has been atrocious in this series and PR is a goon squad. That's the only hope they have to win this series.
I agree with your post but Campbell deserves credit too, he’s a solid prospect by himself
 

covfefe

Zoltan Poszar's Burner
Feb 5, 2014
5,234
6,298
I agree with your post but Campbell deserves credit too, he’s a solid prospect by himself

Don’t get me wrong, I like Campbell too, but he is the classic shotgun type guy. And is he talked about as a draft prospect if he plays in Cowichan, Trail, etc?

He’s no better a pro prospect than Hodges or Bochen, neither of whom have probably ever been mentioned on here...
 

Steve Kournianos

@thedraftanalyst
You've watched all the games so far?

Hard to stay on your A-game with 3-4-5 guys hacking the top of your skates, going for wrist cuff gaps, facewashing, etc, after every whistle. I do agree on the frustration element, and have mentioned that dating back 3-4 years - he can get off his game when he gets targeted. But it'll be a lot harder for teams to gameplan in that way when he moves to higher levels of competition, and plays with guys like Cotton, Hutsko, Boldy, Wahlstrom, etc - and even more so when he is playing in the NHL.

At this point his league play is completely irrelevant, he's the best Jr. A player in the country by a landslide. And Campbell doesn't get drafted if he isn't playing on Victoria.

The reffing has been atrocious in this series and PR is a goon squad. That's the only hope they have to win this series.

Watched every game.

Rise above. Plain and simple. Wanna be a top-10 pick? Be consistent. Krebs has it way way waaay worse than Newhook, and in a tougher league. There is no excuse for Newhook. Elite players draw attention and exploit the time and space that gets shifted over to their linemates.

Perception is reality — people think Newhook’s game drops when the spotlight is brightest. That stays with you forever until you change.

And I disagree with Campbell. That kid has carried play with or without Newhook. Not saying he’s the better prospect, but he is the last guy on that team who doesn’t need anyone to be effective.
 

Kocur Dill

picklicious
Feb 7, 2010
3,073
1,571
Watching a few of the vids on page 1, Turcotte reminds me a lot of Kevin Hayes. Lumbering stride but with purpose and forethought as to where he wants to go before he gets there as his way of adjusting to that "weakness", and the IQ to pick his high probability spots properly on the fly.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Dec 8, 2013
57,230
23,102
New York
Watching a few of the vids on page 1, Turcotte reminds me a lot of Kevin Hayes. Lumbering stride but with purpose and forethought as to where he wants to go before he gets there as his way of adjusting to that "weakness", and the IQ to pick his high probability spots properly on the fly.

If you are only talking about their skating stride, I agree. But they are different players and there’s also more to skating than the mechanics of the stride. Hayes is 6 inches taller. Both are well-rounded centers, but Turcotte is a lot more gritty than Hayes and he possesses more talent in almost every area of the game. But sure, the skating mechanics are somewhat similar. Turcotte has very good speed, but more of a lumbering stride. He’s not the skater that Hughes or Zegras are, but will be a 60-65 skater in the NHL.
 

AveryStar4Eva

Registered User
Aug 28, 2014
7,453
5,782
Don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone describe Turcotte as lumbering. The kid can fly and might be the second best skater in the draft.
 
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Spectra

Registered boozer
Aug 3, 2005
2,519
458
When in doubt, always go American. They have an easier time adapting culturally.
 

Patagonia

Keep Whining
Jan 6, 2017
7,621
3,245
Newhook wont be there in the mid-teens.

Newhook has a lot of questions about his true abilities.

He is a fantastic skater and stick handler, but are the skills and stats inflated by the level of competition to ease the path to the NHL?

He’s from the east coast, but plays on lower level leagues. Leaving home at a young age to travel across the country to play in the OJHL ON league and another lower level BCHL in BC.

For such a young kid, he could have chosen a local or nearby Quebec which have more leagues with different skill levels than anywhere in the country. Yet, travelled across the country to only play on inferior leagues in small towns.

For example, AVs drafted 2 similar players: Jost & Makar. Results are mixed, struggles for Jost. Makar needed the extra year in college to be ready for the NHL.

Newhook is the biggest question besides Podkolzin. It’s difficult to determine his skill level and the reason for being ranked mid teens. Teams might consider him a higher, but it would be a risky selection.
 

Hfbsux

Registered User
Dec 22, 2012
2,603
1,947
Newhook has a lot of questions about his true abilities.

He is a fantastic skater and stick handler, but are the skills and stats inflated by the level of competition to ease the path to the NHL?

He’s from the east coast, but plays on lower level leagues. Leaving home at a young age to travel across the country to play in the OJHL ON league and another lower level BCHL in BC.

For such a young kid, he could have chosen a local or nearby Quebec which have more leagues with different skill levels than anywhere in the country. Yet, travelled across the country to only play on inferior leagues in small towns.

For example, AVs drafted 2 similar players: Jost & Makar. Results are mixed, struggles for Jost. Makar needed the extra year in college to be ready for the NHL.

Newhook is the biggest question besides Podkolzin. It’s difficult to determine his skill level and the reason for being ranked mid teens. Teams might consider him a higher, but it would be a risky selection.

He and his sister both want to play for BU as she is pretty good herself. He's been playing BCHL because its the NCAA route. What's wrong with Makar playing in NCAA? He's been a beast and a top prospect for years, this hasn't changed one bit.
 

BondraTime

Registered User
Nov 20, 2005
28,481
23,062
East Coast
Newhook has a lot of questions about his true abilities.

He is a fantastic skater and stick handler, but are the skills and stats inflated by the level of competition to ease the path to the NHL?

He’s from the east coast, but plays on lower level leagues. Leaving home at a young age to travel across the country to play in the OJHL ON league and another lower level BCHL in BC.

For such a young kid, he could have chosen a local or nearby Quebec which have more leagues with different skill levels than anywhere in the country. Yet, travelled across the country to only play on inferior leagues in small towns.

For example, AVs drafted 2 similar players: Jost & Makar. Results are mixed, struggles for Jost. Makar needed the extra year in college to be ready for the NHL.

Newhook is the biggest question besides Podkolzin. It’s difficult to determine his skill level and the reason for being ranked mid teens. Teams might consider him a higher, but it would be a risky selection.
He played 1 game in the OJHL, as a 15 year old...He went to play Midget AAA in the Toronto area, with all the best players from Ontario

He played Minor Midget in Ontario, the same league and team that guys like Stamkos played, where Newhook won the Top Midget player in ETA (with all the top OHL guys there....)

The BCHL is the best league outside of the CHL in Canada, if you can't understand why an NCAA player went there I don't know what to tell you.
 

Patagonia

Keep Whining
Jan 6, 2017
7,621
3,245
He and his sister both want to play for BU as she is pretty good herself. He's been playing BCHL because its the NCAA route. What's wrong with Makar playing in NCAA? He's been a beast and a top prospect for years, this hasn't changed one bit.

NCAA is fine, but he doesn’t play until the Fall before you can gauge his skill level.

Team Canada WJC (Dec 2018) didn’t even invite him to tryout. Although, this could be political as they seem to view players in the lower leagues negatively. They played Makar (Dec 2016) with approx 8 mins per game only due to player injuries.

He still is an intriguing selection, but his timeline to join the NHL might be a little longer as he transitions into higher level competition. Maybe 3-4 years.

I predict to be drafted in 11-16 range.
 

Hfbsux

Registered User
Dec 22, 2012
2,603
1,947
NCAA is fine, but he doesn’t play until the Fall before you can gauge his skill level.

Team Canada WJC (Dec 2018) didn’t even invite him to tryout. Although, this could be political as they seem to view players in the lower leagues negatively. They played Makar (Dec 2016) with approx 8 mins per game only due to player injuries.

He still is an intriguing selection, but his timeline to join the NHL might be a little longer as he transitions into higher level competition. Maybe 3-4 years.

I predict to be drafted in 11-16 range.

I dont expect a whole lot of undrafted prospects to be invited at the WJC camp. He is playing with the U18 right now and is leading the team in scoring, playing on the top line with Krebs and Cozens.
 

BondraTime

Registered User
Nov 20, 2005
28,481
23,062
East Coast
NCAA is fine, but he doesn’t play until the Fall before you can gauge his skill level.

Team Canada WJC (Dec 2018) didn’t even invite him to tryout. Although, this could be political as they seem to view players in the lower leagues negatively. They played Makar (Dec 2016) with approx 8 mins per game only due to player injuries.

He still is an intriguing selection, but his timeline to join the NHL might be a little longer as he transitions into higher level competition. Maybe 3-4 years.

I predict to be drafted in 11-16 range.
No guys Newhooks age were invited, not even from the CHL
 

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