Prospect Info: Bakersfield Condors '17-18 Thread

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CycloneSweep

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Very true. The only high end talent that I can think spent adequate time down there that didn't succeed was Lander.
Which is still mind blowing to me. Dominate in the AHL, very good in the KHL but just...couldn't adapt to the NHL outside a 30 game stretch
 

Digger12

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JP, Nurse, Caggiula, Benning, Slepy come to mind as guys who should've spent more time down in AHL.

Add that you then draft 1st and pretty much lose any sort of AHL development with those guys and you can see why our farm team isn't developing any real players.

Jujhar and Pitlick spent their time in the AHL and are looking, but that's really only two guys that spent time in the AHL.


Pulju - A bit of a weird case, as kids his age usually don't play in the AHL at all. The fact that he's already had 49 AHL games before his 20th birthday is far from the norm. He very well could see more AHL time next year, though I expect most around here (and the player himself I'm sure) would view that as nothing but a down arrow...which isn't really fair but perception isn't always objective.

Caggiula - College guys who spend 4 full years playing against adults in the NCAA generally have fairly mature games, so it's not surprising when they start in the NHL right away. His first year wasn't all that bad, his problem was his sophomore campaign where it seems like he just replayed his rookie year again, not much progression in his game.

Benning - Same as Caggiula.

Nurse - This is a valid example, I agree that a half year or more in the AHL wouldn't have hurt. But in his case, I could be wrong but wasn't he initially called up due to injuries with the big club? Regardless, while he did have a rough rookie year on a really bad team and an injury riddled 2nd season, he became a legit NHL dman as a 22 year old so I don't think his development wasn't hurt that much...him turning into a top 4 dman at 22 yrs old was probably as good an outcome as we could realistically expect even if he had spent a full year in the AHL.

Slepyshev - He did get around 60 games down in Bakersfield and in his final 10 games he was starting to dominate the AHL so you could argue that he was ready to move on to stronger competition...and it's not like he came to North America as a teenager, he'd spent a full year playing against men in the KHL and was reasonably productive.

I think going forward though, we're going to see a development curve more like what you're wanting to see for promising talent like Yamamoto, Benson, Maksimov, Safin, Marody, Bear, Jones, Samorukov etc. I would expect they're all going to see at least some amount of AHL seasoning before being seriously considered for NHL employment.
 

joestevens29

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Pulju - A bit of a weird case, as kids his age usually don't play in the AHL at all. The fact that he's already had 49 AHL games before his 20th birthday is far from the norm. He very well could see more AHL time next year, though I expect most around here (and the player himself I'm sure) would view that as nothing but a down arrow...which isn't really fair but perception isn't always objective.

Caggiula - College guys who spend 4 full years playing against adults in the NCAA generally have fairly mature games, so it's not surprising when they start in the NHL right away. His first year wasn't all that bad, his problem was his sophomore campaign where it seems like he just replayed his rookie year again, not much progression in his game.

Benning - Same as Caggiula.

Nurse - This is a valid example, I agree that a half year or more in the AHL wouldn't have hurt. But in his case, I could be wrong but wasn't he initially called up due to injuries with the big club? Regardless, while he did have a rough rookie year on a really bad team and an injury riddled 2nd season, he became a legit NHL dman as a 22 year old so I don't think his development wasn't hurt that much...him turning into a top 4 dman at 22 yrs old was probably as good an outcome as we could realistically expect even if he had spent a full year in the AHL.

Slepyshev - He did get around 60 games down in Bakersfield and in his final 10 games he was starting to dominate the AHL so you could argue that he was ready to move on to stronger competition...and it's not like he came to North America as a teenager, he'd spent a full year playing against men in the KHL and was reasonably productive.

I think going forward though, we're going to see a development curve more like what you're wanting to see for promising talent like Yamamoto, Benson, Maksimov, Safin, Marody, Bear, Jones, Samorukov etc. I would expect they're all going to see at least some amount of AHL seasoning before being seriously considered for NHL employment.
Regardless if all your top prospects are in the NHL what do you expect to develop in the AHL?
 

Digger12

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Regardless if all your top prospects are in the NHL what do you expect to develop in the AHL?

Probably not much, but that's par for the course for teams that consistently finish outside of the playoffs. It's not like the Oilers are alone in this regard either. There's plenty of teams that whose top prospects either skip the AHL entirely or only play a half season or less there. Injuries play a part in it too, when guys in the NHL get hurt they need to be replaced with somebody, and in this day and age it's not so easy to make trades on a whim...so they dip into their AHL pool to bring up the best live body they can, ready or not.

Anyway, like I said going forward it's shaping up like you're going to get the development model you want to see, so what's the problem?
 

joestevens29

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Probably not much, but that's par for the course for teams that consistently finish outside of the playoffs. It's not like the Oilers are alone in this regard either. There's plenty of teams that whose top prospects either skip the AHL entirely or only play a half season or less there. Injuries play a part in it too, when guys in the NHL get hurt they need to be replaced with somebody, and in this day and age it's not so easy to make trades on a whim...so they dip into their AHL pool to bring up the best live body they can, ready or not.

Anyway, like I said going forward it's shaping up like you're going to get the development model you want to see, so what's the problem?
Go back and read. Someone mentioned the development. I pointed out the issue with the development in the past.
 

Digger12

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Well that came out of nowhere...Stauffer announcing that Dave Manson has been hired as one of Woodcroft's assistant coaches in Bakersfield. Just said it now.
 

joestevens29

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Well that came out of nowhere...Stauffer announcing that Dave Manson has been hired as one of Woodcroft's assistant coaches in Bakersfield. Just said it now.
Well he has been in Prince Albert for 15 years. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing.
 

joestevens29

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Is it even considered old boys club with him? He played for half the league.

Curious to hear more on the hiring. I mean it is only AHL assistant, not sure what to really expect in that role. I'd think guys from the CHL would be good candidates for that role.
 
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joestevens29

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Was Braden Christoffer the guy that did well in Penticton the one year and got a contract earlier than some liked?
 

BarDownBobo

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That's a little surprise..
Not really. He stuck around camp last year for a loooooong time, coaches and management like him a lot. His production in the AHL isn't anything special because he plays a bottom 6 role there, but there's a very real chance he could get some games in the NHL next year. He's a good PK guy who plays physical and can chip in some offense. Replaces Pakarinen, and maybe can bring a bit more offense.
 

CycloneSweep

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Not really. He stuck around camp last year for a loooooong time, coaches and management like him a lot. His production in the AHL isn't anything special because he plays a bottom 6 role there, but there's a very real chance he could get some games in the NHL next year. He's a good PK guy who plays physical and can chip in some offense. Replaces Pakarinen, and maybe can bring a bit more offense.
He was tied for 3rd in the AHL for shorties.
 
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LemmyUlanov55

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Not really. He stuck around camp last year for a loooooong time, coaches and management like him a lot. His production in the AHL isn't anything special because he plays a bottom 6 role there, but there's a very real chance he could get some games in the NHL next year. He's a good PK guy who plays physical and can chip in some offense. Replaces Pakarinen, and maybe can bring a bit more offense.
I haven't seen any AHL games this year, just his games with Denmark. Thought he'd go back to Europe this summer but a solid PK guy is never a bad thing to have.
 
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Burnt Biscuits

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Not really. He stuck around camp last year for a loooooong time, coaches and management like him a lot. His production in the AHL isn't anything special because he plays a bottom 6 role there, but there's a very real chance he could get some games in the NHL next year. He's a good PK guy who plays physical and can chip in some offense. Replaces Pakarinen, and maybe can bring a bit more offense.
I figured it was about a 50-50 chance whether or not he got offered an NHL contract (AHL contract wouldn't be the least bit surprising), but I think his short handed tallies and finishing the year strong saved him, if it was reversed with him being strong early and fading late, I'm guessing he wouldn't have this contract.
 
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