Prospect Info: Annual HFDevils Prospect Rankings #8

[Rhodes 81]

Jacobs, add Mozik

 

[Alex NJD]

Damn its close. Went Speers, add Lappin

 

[Zippy316]

I'm going to go with whoever is leading the polls when the poll expires.

Not sure what I'm going to do if there is a tie though.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I'm going to go with whoever is leading the polls when the poll expires.

Not sure what I'm going to do if there is a tie though.

Tiebreaking poll with just the two. Run it for half the time.

 

[Zippy316]

Tiebreaking poll with just the two. Run it for half the time.

I probably will do that and run it from 8APM to 9AM or sometime in the morning.

 

[HBK27]

Looks like Speers may pull it out.

He's a good prospect, but I'm just surprised so many have him ahead of Jacobs and Bastian.

Speers was a 3rd rounder (#67 overall) a year ago and actually put up worse stats this year...but had a better playoff run.

The other two were 2nd round picks (both #41) - obviously Bastian was just drafted, but seemed that Jacobs has been doing rather well, particularly this past season.

I think Speers playoff run is too fresh in some people's minds.

Yes, it's just a silly poll and I'm having fun with it...not actually complaining.

 

[Sgt Brylin]

Wedgewood, add Pietila.

On a side note, it's so weird to see Gavrus' name still around.

 

[nugg]

Jacobs,
add Mozik

 

[JimEIV]

I'm not sure Jacobs has accomplished enough since he was drafted to make our top #10...
I like Bastion, Speers, Anderson and Lappin more at this point.

 

[DanteDevilsHockey]

Speers, add Lappin

 

[Cheddabombs]

It's so close, get them to 25 each and close the poll

 

[NJDevils17]

I'm not sure Jacobs has accomplished enough since he was drafted to make our top #10...
I like Bastion, Speers, Anderson and Lappin more at this point.

Jacobs was All-Freshman/Rookie team in the Big 10, which is certainly no small feat. In Sarnia, he often played better than Chychrun, especially in the second half. I wish I could find the exact quote, but the color guys were saying how great he was after a rough start.

He's no slouch offensively either. He had 5 points in 7 games during the playoffs and good numbers during the regular season, considering he played the defensive role on the pairing with Chychrun. Just based on the eye test he excels as well.

I'm probably higher on him than a lot of other guys, but I think he's not that far behind Santini. In all my Sarnia viewings he impressed me a lot.

edit: As for Speers I think he has a good argument to be ahead of him. Lappin is going to be 24 in November, he simply needs to prove more and not a small AHL sample size. Bastian has to prove he can do more without McLeod and Nylander although I like his game a lot. Same with Anderson.

 

[Triumph]

I'm not sure Jacobs has accomplished enough since he was drafted to make our top #10...
I like Bastion, Speers, Anderson and Lappin more at this point.

Agreed. 4 goals in over 100 games since being drafted means that unless he improves significantly he's only going to make it on the defensive side of the puck, and there are very few players who do that and play 20+ minutes in the NHL. This ranking can only be based on 'he was drafted in the 2nd round'. Doesn't matter at this point.

 

[NJDevils17]

Agreed. 4 goals in over 100 games since being drafted means that unless he improves significantly he's only going to make it on the defensive side of the puck, and there are very few players who do that and play 20+ minutes in the NHL. This ranking can only be based on 'he was drafted in the 2nd round'. Doesn't matter at this point.

Totally disagree. He isn't inept offensively. He played the more defensive role on his pairing and still put up 24 points in 67 games and 5 in 7 playoff games. He is actually an okay offensive player, just not utilized that way.

His defense is that good too. He is rock solid back there. I think his progressed well for being a second round pick and in a hypothetical redraft would probably go top 30 at least. He was one the best defenseman in the Big 10 in his year there too. He improved Mich St's defense tenfold.

He's probably our most underrated prospect at this point. Overshadowed by Santini defensively and Zacha on his own team. He's been referred to as the best defenseman on that team in the second half.

 

[Triumph]

Totally disagree. He isn't inept offensively. He played the more defensive role on his pairing and still put up 24 points in 67 games and 5 in 7 playoff games. He is actually an okay offensive player, just not utilized that way.

His defense is that good too. He is rock solid back there. I think his progressed well for being a second round pick and in a hypothetical redraft would probably go top 30 at least. He was one the best defenseman in the Big 10 in his year there too. He improved Mich St's defense tenfold.

He's probably our most underrated prospect at this point. Overshadowed by Santini defensively and Zacha on his own team. He's been referred to as the best defenseman on that team in the second half.

Go through and look at defensive defensemen currently playing and see how they did in junior. You'll see that even guys like Karl Alzner, Nick Schultz, Braydon Coburn, Josh Gorges, Marc Staal, etc. had better offensive numbers in junior. You really have to drill down to find an NHL regular with worse junior offensive numbers - Deryk Engelland is one I found. So I agree, he's not inept offensively. But he's not significantly better than an average OHL defenseman, and that's a problem.

Even if he's 'rock solid' defensively, that only gets you so far - in the NHL, you have to be able to move the puck efficiently. And I have the same skepticism of Santini and wouldn't've rated him close to as high as he was rated here - he might be good, but he's got to be really solid on D, because he doesn't contribute yet at the offensive end.

 

[NJDevils17]

Go through and look at defensive defensemen currently playing and see how they did in junior. You'll see that even guys like Karl Alzner, Nick Schultz, Braydon Coburn, Josh Gorges, Marc Staal, etc. had better offensive numbers in junior. You really have to drill down to find an NHL regular with worse junior offensive numbers - Deryk Engelland is one I found. So I agree, he's not inept offensively. But he's not significantly better than an average OHL defenseman, and that's a problem.

Even if he's 'rock solid' defensively, that only gets you so far - in the NHL, you have to be able to move the puck efficiently. And I have the same skepticism of Santini and wouldn't've rated him close to as high as he was rated here - he might be good, but he's got to be really solid on D, because he doesn't contribute yet at the offensive end.

Brooks Orpik is a good Santini comp. Neither produced high numbers at BC either but Orpik was a great NHL player. I get not loving that he isn't offensively gifted but his first pass is solid.

As for Jacobs, he has a much better offensive game than Santini IMO. He is a good two way player who hasn't played an offensive role in 2 years. He's been asked to play a defensive role almost the whole time.

 

[JimEIV]

Here is fun fact...Colin White had more points in a single season in the NHL(3 times) than he ever did in junior.

Doesn't mean anything but it's pretty interesting that Colin White had more points as a Pro than he ever did in the QMJHL...And that was a very high scoring league . White's last year in the Q he had a teammate that had 152 points in 68 games - White had 15 lol.

 

[Triumph]

Brooks Orpik is a good Santini comp. Neither produced high numbers at BC either but Orpik was a great NHL player. I get not loving that he isn't offensively gifted but his first pass is solid.

As for Jacobs, he has a much better offensive game than Santini IMO. He is a good two way player who hasn't played an offensive role in 2 years. He's been asked to play a defensive role almost the whole time.

If a player's good, he shouldn't be told he has to play a defensive role in his Draft Year + 2 season in junior. He should naturally be playing both an offensive and defensive role.

Here is fun fact...Colin White had more points in a single season in the NHL(3 times) than he ever did in junior.

Doesn't mean anything but it's pretty interesting that Colin White had more points as a Pro than he ever did in the QMJHL...And that was a very high scoring league . White's last year in the Q he had a teammate that had 152 points in 68 games - White had 15 lol.

This sort of defenseman is just not really in the NHL anymore and what D there are like that are almost all over 30. So you're right that it doesn't mean anything.