American Prospect Update Thread - Part 4

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Slaggert and Faber played their first games for the 18’s. I’m a fan of both players, but like Beniers, they’d be in the mid tier of players on the 17’s, in my opinion. I’m surprised that players such as Smilanic, Bordeleau, Sanderson and Kleven haven’t played any games for the 18’s.

 

[AmericanDream]

Slaggert and Faber played their first games for the 18’s. I’m a fan of both players, but like Beniers, they’d be in the mid tier of players on the 17’s, in my opinion. I’m surprised that players such as Smilanic, Bordeleau, Sanderson and Kleven haven’t played any games for the 18’s.

I think the u-18 team is pretty set with high end offensive talent, they likely are trying to add depth pieces/guys that play more bottom 6 roles perhaps? makes no sense to pull the names you said away from top minutes on the u-17 team to get buried on the u-18 team. I know not all call-ups got top minutes on the u-18 team, but plenty of players that did get the call were put in strong roles to help produce offensively typically...that really doesn't seem like a need or option here.

for this reason I think we might come away disappointed come u-18 tourney time as Kaliyev and Robertson belong there to help that group out...not sure they get a sniff either.

 

[Jaykay]

Slaggert and Faber played their first games for the 18’s. I’m a fan of both players, but like Beniers, they’d be in the mid tier of players on the 17’s, in my opinion. I’m surprised that players such as Smilanic, Bordeleau, Sanderson and Kleven haven’t played any games for the 18’s.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Faber with the U18s today. Quite the jump from playing bantams last year.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I’m a big fan of Slaggert’s game. I think he could be a first round pick, if he puts up more points next season than he did this season. He has good offensive talent that doesn’t always show up on the scoreboard. His two way game is very good to go along with good skating and a good hockey IQ.

Faber has some upside because of how well he skates, but he’s a raw prospect.

 

[JiggsNY]

Really surprised that we haven't heard a thing about the Evaluation camp roster. Last year we were hearing right away the names that made the team. Not even any rumors, much less coverage this year.

 

[clevelandcane]

Really surprised that we haven't heard a thing about the Evaluation camp roster. Last year we were hearing right away the names that made the team. Not even any rumors, much less coverage this year.

Agreed. Do you think maybe they haven't offered kids yet? Are still evaluating?

I NEED INFORMATION!!!

 

[Bologna 1]

Agreed. Do you think maybe they haven't offered kids yet? Are still evaluating?

I NEED INFORMATION!!!

Yeah seems odd. No way they don't know who they are taking. To not hear anything is surprising.

 

[William H Bonney]

Youth Hockey Hub reported a few days ago that they knew of 4 Minnesotans out of the 10 at camp that had received invites but didn't name them.

It'll start leaking soon one way or another. For example, Matthew Argentina - a forward at the camp - just signed a tender with Waterloo.

 

[Bologna 1]

Youth Hockey Hub reported a few days ago that they knew of 4 Minnesotans out of the 10 at camp that had received invites but didn't name them.

It'll start leaking soon one way or another. For example, Matthew Argentina - a forward at the camp - just signed a tender with Waterloo.

I would think the four are Mittelstadt, Lucius, Janicke & Martin.

 

[William H Bonney]

I would think the four are Mittelstadt, Lucius, Janicke & Martin.

Would be my guess too. And they way they worded it was that they knew of 4 not that only 4 received invites, so I wouldn't be surprised if some others got invites.

 

[Dux917]

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Why?

 

[kroypuck]

Why?

Guessing they don't want to risk injury before U18 tourney

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Guessing they don't want to risk injury before U18 tourney

I’m sure that’s the reason, but they could risk injury to the 17’s. What message does that sound to those players?

 

[canuck2010]

Wow an awful lot of guys holding onto their sticks.

 

[clevelandcane]

Seems odd but you gotta trust the coaches. Who knows what was said or threatened.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Does anyone know when the WJC18 roster will be announced?

 

[JiggsNY]

Guess they werent waiting for the OHL Draft after all

 

[JiggsNY]

some surprises, but I'm really surprised Dylan Gratton, and Davis Burnside aren't there. others like Stillman and Mittelstadt and Davey too, but i think almost everyone thought Gratton and Burnside were locks.

These kids just shot up the OHL draft chart tomorrow. Rumor is that Sagniaw will select Gratton.

 

[Bonin21]

some surprises, but I'm really surprised Dylan Gratton, and Davis Burnside aren't there. others like Stillman and Mittelstadt and Davey too, but i think almost everyone thought Gratton and Burnside were locks.

These kids just shot up the OHL draft chart tomorrow. Rumor is that Sagniaw will select Gratton.

Maybe they have already decided to go OHL.

 

[William H Bonney]

Dylan Gratton wasn't offered a spot with the team, so he didn't turn down the NTDP for the OHL. I'd imagine he'd planned on playing with the NTDP though, so the OHL probably becomes a lot more likely now. Time will tell if the NTDP got it wrong or if he's not worthy of the hype.

There's always a couple of guys that turn down their offers every year though and I'm sure this go around is no different. Usually they're Minnesota kids headed back to high school hockey (may explain Mittelstadt) or guys dead set on the CHL (may explain Stillman). Occasionally you'll get declined invites outside those groups (i.e. Schingoethe last year), but it's much rarer in that regard.

Lots of familiar names on this team. Lots of hyped guys as well in a hyped birth year. Right now, I'm most interested in following these guys to start:

Forwards

• Jeremy Wilmer
• Dylan Duke
• Chaz Lucius
• Sasha Pastujov
• Jack Devine
• Colby Saganiuk

Defense

• Aidan Hreschuk
• Luke Hughes
• Roman Schmidt
• Ty Gallagher

I'm sure a few of those guys won't live up to the hype and others will. Hopefully third time's the charm for this Pastujov.

 

[Bonin21]

Middle-stadt (John) as I call him, the second of the three, is a senior next year. That would explain why Luke would want to come back and go for a state title again with his brother. Casey stayed there to try to win it, too. I could even see Luke staying all four years if they don't win it next year.

 

[clevelandcane]

How do we think this rising U17 team compares to the outgoing U18 team?

 

[William H Bonney]

Here's the height/weight listings from the new U17 team from the evaluation camp. I wouldn't take these as gospel, but more so because I'm interested to see how accurate these are when the team measures are done at the end of summer and/or how much these guys grow in the next 5 months.

Player​	Position​	Height​	Weight​
Tyler Boucher​	Forward​	6'0​	180​
Caden Brown​	Forward​	5'10​	162*​
Jack Devine​	Forward​	5'9​	157​
Dylan Duke​	Forward​	5'10​	165​
Liam Gilmartin​	Forward​	6'0​	183​
Jack Hughes​	Forward​	5'11​	149​
Justin Janicke​	Forward​	5'10​	160​
Chaz Lucius​	Forward​	6'0.5*​	161​
Sasha Pastujov​	Forward​	5'11​	175​
Colby Saganiuk​	Forward​	5'5​	151​
Redmond Savage​	Forward​	5'10​	160​
Ryan St. Louis​	Forward​	5'9​	158*​
Jeremy Wilmer​	Forward​	5'5​	127​
Sean Behrens​	Defense​	5'6.5*​	152*​
Ty Gallagher​	Defense​	5'11​	182​
Aidan Hreschuk​	Defense​	5'10​	174​
Luke Hughes​	Defense​	6'0​	150​
Jacob Martin​	Defense​	5'10.5*​	171.5*​
Ty Murchison​	Defense​	6'0​	173​
Roman Schmidt​	Defense​	6'4^​	210^​
Ethan Straky​	Defense​	5'9.5*​	160.5*​
Gibson Homer​	Goalie​	6'3​	173​
Kaidan Mbereko​	Goalie​	5'11​	150​

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Position​	Avg Height​	Avg Weight​
Forward​	5'8​	160.6​
Defense​	5'9​	171.6​
Goalie​	6'1​	161.5​
Overall​	5'9​	164.5​

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

This is based on the roster sheets handed out before each game. The roster sheets didn't always list every player (as each team would rotate in/out players halfway through and those players rotating in wouldn't have measurables listed), but every player was listed with measurables multiple times. A few players (Brown, St. Louis, Behrens, Lucius, Martin, Straky) oddly had different measurements listed throughout and where this happened I averaged their listings and marked their measurement (height and or weight) that was averaged with an asterisk. The differences were all pretty minor except Jacob Martin who was listed as 160 lbs and 183 lbs. Roman Schmidt wasn't in camp, so I used his last reported measurables.

​

Not an overly large team at this point (outside of Schmidt and Homer), but there's a lot of guys with solid frames and given these are 15/16 year olds, I'm sure in 5 months there will be some significant changes. Wilmer, Saganiuk, and Behrens hopefully all find some growth spurts and soon.

 

[Daneurism]

Stillman is a good player, but not lock for the USNTDP good.