Athletic’s Corey Pronman ranks his top U-23 players

[Healthy DiPietro]

I haven't seen how Dahlin is going to surpass Heiskanen, Hughes and Makar at this point.

I know Dahlin is a year younger but he will have to take a big step to be with the 3 I listed.

He has more career points on a worse team than any of them while being 1-2 years younger. I don't get how he'd be outside of that group in any way.

 

[BB06]

Matthews is this gens Stamkos/Seguin a no show in the playoffs you can't win with. I wouldn't take him first thats for sure

 

[Goulet17]

Dont feel like doing more than top 10, ratings for projected full career just like Pronman

7. Cale Makar - Strong in all areas, but nothing on it's own screams gamebreaking. That being said, he's a surefire full-size #1D that can defend, shoot, and skate. Will likely lead the blueline of a potentially dominant squad in Colorado, if not an outright dynasty if the right pieces fall into place.

Not really how I would describe Makar, in fact, it likely would be the exact opposite. Many times, it is difficult to tell the difference between Makar and MacKinnon on the ice.

 

[Islay1989]

Not really how I would describe Makar, in fact, it likely would be the exact opposite. Many times, it is difficult to tell the difference between Makar and MacKinnon on the ice.

It's blatantly obvious what is the spiel there. Nucks fan shortchanging Cale because of the whole Hughes vs Makar nonsense.

 

[LeafGrief]

Matthews is this gens Stamkos/Seguin a no show in the playoffs you can't win with. I wouldn't take him first thats for sure

This post is funny because Matthews has 12 points in his last 12 playoff games and Stamkos scored a goal on one of the three shifts he played in this year's playoffs.

Ya think that people would notice that we're in 2020 and at least try to come up with some new hot takes instead of the same old same old.

 

[NJ DevLolz]

Cool that the best player on a team that went to the finals is ranked behind 2 guys who had a very dissapointing rookie season and 2 guys who haven't played a single NHL game yet.

Didn't realize Heiskanen played in the NHL at 18. It's funny how much an incomplete 18 year old season can sway folks, eh?

 

[Rebels57]

Comically bad rankings yet again from this fraud

 

[Peasy]

Matthews is this gens Stamkos/Seguin a no show in the playoffs you can't win with. I wouldn't take him first thats for sure

Do you not realize that he was the Leafs best player the past 2 playoffs lol?

These past "playoffs" he had points on 6 of Toronto's 10 goals scored in the series.

Don't confuse Toronto's lack of success as an issue with Matthews because he has been the least of their problems...

But I mean you are a Canucks fan. You people tend to have a weird obsession over the Leafs so its not a surprised that you would post something like this.

 

[serp]

Didn't realize Heiskanen played in the NHL at 18. It's funny how much an incomplete 18 year old season can sway folks, eh?

Not his fault he had a serious concussion before training camp of 2017/2018 and Stars decided it wasn't worth bringing him over at that point .




Pretty sure he was good enough for the NHL the year after he was drafted but it , most likely , turned out to be the correct decision to give him another year in Finland.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Yeah I'm not sure how you can ever accurately project the futures of 155 young players, and provide a ranking for it.

Seems like a wasted effort......but on the other hand I'm an Athletic subscriber too.

What can I say, there's some good content on there.

Pronman......not so much.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

He still refuses to concede defeat over Middlestadt and actually has the marbles to rank him higher than Jack Quinn (seriously). He doesn't even have UPL ranked in our top 10. He's becoming the Skip Bayless of prospect forecasting at this point.

I get that prospect forecasting is incredibly difficult, and I get that a lot of people get things wrong. But I think there's even extra pressure on people who consistently go "off the board" with these kinds of lists because of their own made up methodology to get it right once in a while because they're trying to prove they're smarter than the consensus.

 

[Hockey 4 Life]

Why is Heiskanen as the #1 crazy? He arguably had the greatest playoff performance by a u23 defenceman ever and has zero flaws in his game.

I think the #1 and #2 spots are between Heiskanen and Pettersson and it comes down to preference. Both are extremely high IQ, which I value a lot, and both will win championships in this league.

If you're worried about Matthews, he lacks the IQ and ability to make linemates better to challenge for #1.

You have no idea what your talking about in regards to matthews. You also indicated he is a playoff failure. I domt think you've watched him much at all.

 

[Hockey 4 Life]

Matthews is this gens Stamkos/Seguin a no show in the playoffs you can't win with. I wouldn't take him first thats for sure

Your clueless when it comes to matthews.

 

[sabremike]

He has more career points on a worse team than any of them while being 1-2 years younger. I don't get how he'd be outside of that group in any way.

And playing for just about the worst most incompetent organization the sport has ever seen that didn't either get wound up or relocated. In his two seasons Dahlin was coached by someone who was literally a bad high school coach and in his second a guy whose only pro coaching success is in a league that would be to the NHL what MLS would be to whatever you consider the best league in the world who had done not a single thing to distinguish himself at this level except being a great motivational speaker.

 

[rubikscube]

Makes no sense to have Perfetti in the top 20 but the homer in me likes it

 

[Langway]

Auston Matthews & Braden Schneider with the same skating grade is a f***ing mindblower.

 

[agent082]

Not sure I would rank Heiskanen #14 even if he won't improve a bit upcoming years.

 

[Raging Bull]

Matthews is this gens Stamkos/Seguin a no show in the playoffs you can't win with. I wouldn't take him first thats for sure

Baffles me that people who don't watch hockey are on these boards.

 

[Breakers]

just read the article
Too many names in the top grouping labeled special.
kick like 5 of them out there easy.

 

[joe dirte]

And that is what makes him underwhelming as a #1c. Prime Crosby scored 50 goals and 60 assists. Matthews scores 50 goals and 30 assists.

A center is supposed to make plays and support offense. Matthews plays like a winger offensively.

the interesting thing is, if you look at his production broken down by linemate, his two most frequent wingers were Marner and Nylander, but never together. Basically, he was centering one or the other. As Nylander has established himself as a solid goal scoring player, and Marner has established himself as one of the league's best playmaker's, it's interesting to look at the splits. When with Marner, at ES, he had 16 goals, 6 assists, 22 points. When with Nylander, he had 12 goals, 9 assists, 21 points, wiht nearly equal minutes. So, it isn't so much that he can't be a playmaker, he probably would have had closer to even splits with Nylander, as he would set up him more. But he clearly had a dynamic with Marner of Marner setting him up, and him burying it.

So, I don't think you can really say he can't be a dynamic playmaker, in fact, Nylander being put on his line seems to have been partly responsible for Nylander's goal scoring surge, but moreso, he can do both, and does do both, depending on the requirements of the situation. You'll likely see a 90 point player (likely more actually) next year, but the split on goals/assists, is probably more dependent on whether he spends more time with Marner or Nylander. You very well might see something more like 50/50 if he spends most of his time with Nylander.

You should probably also note that the 50/30 you reference was in a 70 game season, it would have been more like 55-60/35-40 this past season.

 

[moropanov]

You'll likely see a 90 point player (likely more actually) next year, but the split on goals/assists, is probably more dependent on whether he spends more time with Marner or Nylander. You very well might see something more like 50/50 if he spends most of his time with Nylander.

You should probably also note that the 50/30 you reference was in a 70 game season, it would have been more like 55-60/35-40 this past season.

Crosby 23 year old 1.61 p/gp
McDavid 22/23 years old 1.52 p/gp

Matthews, labelled as "generatioal", 1.1 p/gp??

 

[joe dirte]

Crosby 23 year old 1.61 p/gp
McDavid 22/23 years old 1.52 p/gp

Matthews, labelled as "generatioal", 1.1 p/gp??

Bahahahahaa, switching gears on the hate you're spewing, are you now? I never said anything about him being generational. In fact, a quick search says you're the very first person in this thread to use the word generational.

So what is you're point? Are you now conceding that he can drive play (his on ice advanced stats are absurdly good by the way), and playmake, and acknowledging what you've said has been proven wrong, but now switching to, "but he's just not generational"?

If so, good for you, you've now agreed with everybody else you've argued with in this thread.

 

[moropanov]

Bahahahahaa, switching gears on the hate you're spewing, are you now? I never said anything about him being generational. In fact, a quick search says you're the very first person in this thread to use the word generational.

Pronman labels him generational in that article.

So what is you're point? Are you now conceding that he can drive play (his on ice advanced stats are absurdly good by the way), and playmake, and acknowledging what you've said has been proven wrong, but now switching to, "but he's just not generational"?

Matthews doesn't drive goals for as efficiently as several other players in the league. He is also not a great playmaker, Joe Thornton is also garbage as a goalscorer and that's a valid criticism of his game.

 

[joe dirte]

Pronman labels him generational in that article.

Actually no he doesn't. He states his tier as "Generational/Special Player bubble". So, somewhere below full generational, but sets himself apart from the next tier. Okay, that's not a bad description. He's a solid 2 way player, could end up as the best goal scorer of his next generation, and can playmake at an elite level too. But nobody is confusing him with McDavid. So, that all sounds okay to me.

Matthews doesn't drive goals for as efficiently as several other players in the league. He is also not a great playmaker, Joe Thornton is also garbage as a goalscorer and that's a valid criticism of his game.

Well, as shown, put him on a line with a solid goal scorer, and he'd be close to a 40 to 50 assist guy, based on TOI with Nylander. I don't care if you don't think that's a great playmaker, or however you want to rank that, it certainly isn't a weakness, that much is clear.

As far as driving goals, he does though. the Leafs scored goals at the fastest rate with him on the ice. He was clearly driving more goals than anybody else on the team. Interestingly enough, goals for skyrocket with him on the ice, but goals against also dropped like a brick. You can't even say that about guys like McDavid, who goals for skyrocket for the oilers when he is on the ice (moreso than even Matthews), but so does goals against. the Oilers score in droves with him on the ice, but they also bleed goals in droves. Intersting, don't you think?

 

[FlameChampion]

Does Pronman even watch the NHL? Being serious. I have never got the impression that the guy even focuses on anything beside prospects. Just seems like hes trying to churn out more articles. I dont think this list is a good look for him.