HardHitHorton said:
Andrei was rated the 20th best prospect on Hockey's Future in August. I'd assume most people don't believe he is now from the way people talk about him on these boards. What do you guys think?
There's two ingredients to a prospect: flat-out potential and the likelihood of reaching it. It depends on how you weight each ingredient.
In Kostitsyn's case, the more weight you put on pure skill and talent, the better he looks. The more weight you put on intangible qualities, the more of a coin flip he becomes. Chipchura is a good contrast. It's his latter qualities that make him such a sure-fire NHLer, even though his skills will probably limit him to a 3rd line role at most. Who's the better prospect? It depends on what you value more.
I don't know enough to rank him among all prospects. 20th seems high, but whatever.
PS: about his ice-time. In his case, it's not about skills, it's about doing the little things that are expected of any NHLer. The fact that he was brought up at all just sends the message that he will play in the NHL once he improves those little things. It's one thing to have an AHL coach talk about what it takes to get to the next level, especially when you already have the talent, but it's another to see it first-hand. At least, that's what I think they're doing.
