Confirmed with Link: Alexander True signed to 3 year deal with Sharks

[Fistfullofbeer]

I only see Kevin Kurz report it and have not seen terms of this deal on Capfriendly. Could it be an ELC? I know True signed a 2 year deal with the Cuda last year.

Also, do you still like this guy @The Nemesis ?

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[Pinkfloyd]

It's an ELC.

 

[The Nemesis]

I only see Kevin Kurz report it and have not seen terms of this deal on Capfriendly. Could it be an ELC? I know True signed a 2 year deal with the Cuda last year.

Also, do you still like this guy @The Nemesis ?

A little less than I did coming out of the WHL becuase he didn't have a great season, production wise (though 15 goals for a bottom 6 guy is pretty solid).
But I still think he has the tool-set to be a good 4th liner with emergency 3rd line ability.

 

[KirbyDots]

Good, I like True. He has potential as a good 4th liner or bottom 6 if he can work on his game.

 

[Led Zappa]

A little less than I did coming out of the WHL becuase he didn't have a great season, production wise (though 15 goals for a bottom 6 guy is pretty solid).
But I still think he has the tool-set to be a good 4th liner with emergency 3rd line ability.

I really like what I've seen in the 2 prospects games.

 

[LadyStanley]

Sharks Sign Forward Alex True

Official word

 

[Nighthock]

Sharks Sign Forward Alex True

Official word

Ah, so it is indeed True.

 

[tiburon12]

Would a sponsorship from True hockey be too on the nose for him?

 

[Alwalys]

Good, I like True. He has potential as a good 4th liner or bottom 6 if he can work on his game.

Finally!

 

[The Nemesis]

Ah, so it is indeed True.

 

[seroes]

Would a sponsorship from True hockey be too on the nose for him?

Well Taco Charlton from the Dallas cowboys got a sponsorship from a restaurant called Taco Bueno. Different sport but.....money is money.

 

[OrrNumber4]

Serious question. It seems like every prospect the on the Barracuda has a decent shot at an NHL future. Is this just the bias talking?

 

[tiburon12]

Well Taco Charlton from the Dallas cowboys got a sponsorship from a restaurant called Taco Bueno. Different sport but.....money is money.

With a lay-up name like that, disappointed that's all he got

 

[Hinterland]

Serious question. It seems like every prospect the on the Barracuda has a decent shot at an NHL future. Is this just the bias talking?

Well, you don't sign a player unless you believe that he could somehow carve out an NHL-career. I don't know about "decent" but there are definitely some interesting players with the Barracuda next season. No future superstar but a lot of promising prospects.

 

[The Nemesis]

Serious question. It seems like every prospect the on the Barracuda has a decent shot at an NHL future. Is this just the bias talking?

You don't have a prospect in the system unless you think there's a reasonable chance they can make something useful of themselves. Some, maybe most, aren't going to make it, but even as a fanbase there's no point in looking at the pool and just assuming that there's going to be 2/3rds or 3/4ths attrition before we see a handful make it.

Reasonably, if I were looking at the pool WRT Cuda guys, I would probably say that it could break down like this:

Will make it
I don't have the confidence to say we have any 'sure things' at the moment.

Should make it
Balcers
Bibeau
Gambrell
Suomela


Could make it (or too soon to tell)
Blichfeld
DeSimone
Gregor
Halbgewachs
Letunov
Kornar
Middleton
Praplan
True

Probably won't make it
Chartier
Fitzgerald
Wiederer
Wood

Almost certainly won't make it
Brodzinski
Martin
Sandberg
Schoenborn


Note that I'm not including the aged-out guys (Simek, Radil, Clifton, Heed)

 

[hohosaregood]

You don't have a prospect in the system unless you think there's a reasonable chance they can make something useful of themselves. Some, maybe most, aren't going to make it, but even as a fanbase there's no point in looking at the pool and just assuming that there's going to be 2/3rds or 3/4ths attrition before we see a handful make it.

Reasonably, if I were looking at the pool WRT Cuda guys, I would probably say that it could break down like this:

Will make it
I don't have the confidence to say we have any 'sure things' at the moment.

Should make it
Balcers
Bibeau
Gambrell
Suomela


Could make it (or too soon to tell)
Blichfeld
DeSimone
Gregor
Halbgewachs
Letunov
Kornar
Middleton
Praplan
True

Probably won't make it
Chartier
Fitzgerald
Wiederer
Wood

Almost certainly won't make it
Brodzinski
Martin
Sandberg
Schoenborn


Note that I'm not including the aged-out guys (Simek, Radil, Clifton, Heed)

I'm a little more optimistic on Chartier than you are so I'd move him up a tier but after that, I can't really disagree with you. I'd maybe include Roy on the list somewhere

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

I'm a little more optimistic on Chartier than you are so I'd move him up a tier but after that, I can't really disagree with you. I'd maybe include Roy on the list somewhere

We all know where Roy belongs on that list.

Do Chmelevski and Chekhovich meet the criteria for being on the list? Because if so, I would have them in that “could make it” list for sure.

Serious question. It seems like every prospect the on the Barracuda has a decent shot at an NHL future. Is this just the bias talking?

Looking at that “Sharks Prospect Ratings” thread by SharksRule04, my initial reaction was that some of the ratings were very biased. But upon further review, it just seems like we actually have a decent prospect pool for the first time in a while.

 

[The Nemesis]

I'm a little more optimistic on Chartier than you are so I'd move him up a tier but after that, I can't really disagree with you. I'd maybe include Roy on the list somewhere

I completely forgot about Roy.

He probably slots in "probably won't make it" unless he comes back this season and shows that he has miracle knees that aren't going to make him move like a geriatric wading through a kiddy pool full of pudding.

Re: Chartier - The farther we get from it, the more his super breakout season with the Rockets looks like a high water mark. Yes he was basically a PPG guy last year, but that was playing essentially a quarter of a season. In 4 WHL seasons and 2 pro seasons he's only managed to stay healthy the whole year basically twice.

Do Chmelevski and Chekhovich meet the criteria for being on the list? Because if so, I would have them in that “could make it” list for sure.

I was only concerned with guys who are currently or are expected to be on the Cuda this season. That meant no CHLers (Chmelevski, Checkhovich, Merkley, etc), no NCAA guys (Ferraro, Norris, etc), and nobody still in Europe (Karlsson, and... well pretty much just Karlsson at this point.)

Re: the pool, it's a deep pool, but not one deep in high end talent.

Reasonably, any forwards in the the "should" and "could" tiers have middle 6 potential except for True. No gamebreakers, no leading scorer types, but the type of guy who has enough offensive zing to be maybe a 15-20 goal, 35-55 point forward. Someone on the Donskoi/Labanc tier of talent. Obviously you can't make a whole team out of guys like that, but for all the talk about needing boom-or-bust, Merkley-esque prospects, there's something to be said for having enough reasonable contributors in the system to have a pretty good chance of turning out enough of them to staff 2 or maybe even 3 lines with players of that talent level. And even if a bunch of them can't crack the 2nd line barrier, it's even a boon just to get a bunch of good 3rd liners to sift through.

 

[OrrNumber4]

You don't have a prospect in the system unless you think there's a reasonable chance they can make something useful of themselves. Some, maybe most, aren't going to make it, but even as a fanbase there's no point in looking at the pool and just assuming that there's going to be 2/3rds or 3/4ths attrition before we see a handful make it.

Reasonably, if I were looking at the pool WRT Cuda guys, I would probably say that it could break down like this:

Will make it
I don't have the confidence to say we have any 'sure things' at the moment.

Should make it
Balcers
Bibeau
Gambrell
Suomela


Could make it (or too soon to tell)
Blichfeld
DeSimone
Gregor
Halbgewachs
Letunov
Kornar
Middleton
Praplan
True

Probably won't make it
Chartier
Fitzgerald
Wiederer
Wood

Almost certainly won't make it
Brodzinski
Martin
Sandberg
Schoenborn


Note that I'm not including the aged-out guys (Simek, Radil, Clifton, Heed)

Thanks for that and analysis. I do think that while teams almost always draft looking for NHL talent, they'll sign prospects intending then to be AHL players...especially undrafted players like True. Of course, there are players like Sandberg whose stock has dropped a lot.

But, it seems like many prospects are at least putting up numbers that typically translate into moderate NHL success.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

I completely forgot about Roy.

He probably slots in "probably won't make it" unless he comes back this season and shows that he has miracle knees that aren't going to make him move like a geriatric wading through a kiddy pool full of pudding.

Re: Chartier - The farther we get from it, the more his super breakout season with the Rockets looks like a high water mark. Yes he was basically a PPG guy last year, but that was playing essentially a quarter of a season. In 4 WHL seasons and 2 pro seasons he's only managed to stay healthy the whole year basically twice.



I was only concerned with guys who are currently or are expected to be on the Cuda this season. That meant no CHLers (Chmelevski, Checkhovich, Merkley, etc), no NCAA guys (Ferraro, Norris, etc), and nobody still in Europe (Karlsson, and... well pretty much just Karlsson at this point.)

Re: the pool, it's a deep pool, but not one deep in high end talent.

Reasonably, any forwards in the the "should" and "could" tiers have middle 6 potential except for True. No gamebreakers, no leading scorer types, but the type of guy who has enough offensive zing to be maybe a 15-20 goal, 35-55 point forward. Someone on the Donskoi/Labanc tier of talent. Obviously you can't make a whole team out of guys like that, but for all the talk about needing boom-or-bust, Merkley-esque prospects, there's something to be said for having enough reasonable contributors in the system to have a pretty good chance of turning out enough of them to staff 2 or maybe even 3 lines with players of that talent level. And even if a bunch of them can't crack the 2nd line barrier, it's even a boon just to get a bunch of good 3rd liners to sift through.

Great post and I mostly agree, but I think LaBanc has a higher ceiling than what we’ve seen, and I think his ceiling is higher than any of our other prospects besides Merkley.

Also, is it confirmed that Chmelevski and Chekhovich are going back to junior? I assumed both did well enough with the Cuda last year to earn a full-time spot with them this year. Perhaps their contracts are AHL or NHL only?

 

[The Nemesis]

Thanks for that and analysis. I do think that while teams almost always draft looking for NHL talent, they'll sign prospects intending then to be AHL players...especially undrafted players like True. Of course, there are players like Sandberg whose stock has dropped a lot.

But, it seems like many prospects are at least putting up numbers that typically translate into moderate NHL success.

If they're going to look for guys with the expectation of them being AHLers, they'll jut let the Cuda sign them to AHL contracts, like Thomas Gregoire or Zach Frye or even John McCarthy. If someone's going to get an NHL contract it's probably with the expectation that they could contribute to some degree at the NHL level (even if it's just in an emergency cup-of-coffee fashion)

Given that True was at the prospect camp last year, it seems like they just started slow with the Cuda contract and then bumped it up when he performed well over the last year.

 

[OrrNumber4]

Great post and I mostly agree, but I think LaBanc has a higher ceiling than what we’ve seen, and I think his ceiling is higher than any of our other prospects besides Merkley.

Also, is it confirmed that Chmelevski and Chekhovich are going back to junior? I assumed both did well enough with the Cuda last year to earn a full-time spot with them this year. Perhaps their contracts are AHL or NHL only?

I think as long as their junior team is playing, they are obligated to play for them until they turn 20.

 

[The Nemesis]

Great post and I mostly agree, but I think LaBanc has a higher ceiling than what we’ve seen, and I think his ceiling is higher than any of our other prospects besides Merkley.

Also, is it confirmed that Chmelevski and Chekhovich are going back to junior? I assumed both did well enough with the Cuda last year to earn a full-time spot with them this year. Perhaps their contracts are AHL or NHL only?

They're too young to play in the AHL this year. CHL players can't play full-time in the AHL before they're 20. Unless they were to come into camp and stick with the Sharks, they would have to go back to junior. The only exception would be if they got loaned out to a team in Europe the way that Goldobin went and played a season in Finland.

Otherwise the only way junior-age CHL players get AHL time is on Amateur Tryout deals when their CHL season is over (Which is what the case was with both of them last season)

Essentially it's part of the CHL-NHL agreement so that it protects CHL teams from having all their talent poached immediately upon being drafted. The league needs marquee names with NHL ties to help promote the league and put butts in seats. Because people wouldn't turn out nearly as much for teams with rosters that were nothing but 16/17 year olds and undrafted guys with little pro future.

 

[Lebanezer]

Great post and I mostly agree, but I think LaBanc has a higher ceiling than what we’ve seen, and I think his ceiling is higher than any of our other prospects besides Merkley.

Also, is it confirmed that Chmelevski and Chekhovich are going back to junior? I assumed both did well enough with the Cuda last year to earn a full-time spot with them this year. Perhaps their contracts are AHL or NHL only?

Chmelevski and Chekhovich are too young for the AHL, so it's NHL or Juniors for them. Once their junior seasons are over they can join the Barracuda indefinitely.