Prospect Info: CHL, NCAA and European 2019-20 Prospects Thread III

[PKs Broken Stick]

What do you mean "start"? Mackinnon has always played dirty but because he's the de-facto "Superstar" (according to the NHL Pundits), he can do no wrong.

That's exactly what happened in the last game or was it the other one...I can't remember. He got hit cleanly by Coleman and then he went into crybaby mode. He was a bit tamer before that happened.

 

[OmNomNom]

That's exactly what happened in the last game or was it the other one...I can't remember. He got hit cleanly by Coleman and then he went into crybaby mode. He was a bit tamer before that happened.

it's well known that mackinnon is a bit of a hothead - watch him and sid play golf w biz and whitney on chiclets

it's just how he is

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Currently watching a Cornell vs. Harvard and Walsh looks really good QBing the top PP for Harvard. I can see him taking over for Vats in that spot.

 

[devilsblood]

Currently watching a Cornell vs. Harvard and Walsh looks really good QBing the top PP for Harvard. I can see him taking over for Vats in that spot.

It certainly seems like his PP ability is his biggest strength. Just hope there is enough to the rest of his game to get him into the league.

 

[Auto Pilot]

 

[glenwo2]

Wrecking Bahl.

 

[tailfins]

I see that and can only think of this

 

[glenwo2]

I see that and can only think of this

Look at Adam go, too.

Feels like PK knocked every single bit of Talent out of Adam with that hit and was reduced to simply being known as "The Trade is 1 for 1".

 

[HBK27]

Devils ranked 17th in Wheeler's prospect rankings.

Wheeler's 2020 NHL prospect pool rankings: No. 17 New Jersey...

Essentially, lack of high end talent cost them - though we have very good depth:

If I’m being honest, the Devils were more than half a dozen spots lower before the Taylor Hall trade. And while they didn’t get an A-level prospect back in the deal, they added three decent young players to a pool that was already filled with them.

If this list was about the sheer number of prospects I like and/or considered for the ranking, the Devils might be No. 1, or close to it. As a reminder to the criteria above, I set my minimum number of players per team at 15 in order to ensure that even for teams that are particularly thin at the bottom of this list that our readers felt like they were getting equal value and detail out of their ranking. But I also set the maximum at 20 prospects per team in an effort to avoid these pieces running too long — and to save myself, at least a little, from turning 500 prospects into 750 prospects …

And while I didn’t expect that maximum to be challenged by more than a handful of teams, the Devils were absolutely one of them. Their list could have run 25 players deep without me hitting guys who I don’t feel are NHL prospects. There were a number of players left out of the top 20 here (including Cole Brady, Michael Vukojevic, Xavier Bernard and others) that would’ve appeared in that 15 range for some of the teams further down the ranking.

With all of that said, though, the Devils lack high-end talent in their pool, which pushes them into the leagues lower half as a system.

 

[OmNomNom]

interesting seein graeme clarke higher than okhotyuk

 

[Blackjack]

interesting seein graeme clarke higher than okhotyuk

It's bizarre, he's played 9 games since he was drafted and is out with a bad shoulder injury. Meanwhile, Mikhail Maltsev doesn't even crack the top 20.

 

[HBK27]

It's bizarre, he's played 9 games since he was drafted and is out with a bad shoulder injury. Meanwhile, Mikhail Maltsev doesn't even crack the top 20.

In the comments section, this is the group he said would be in the 21-25 range:

Maltsev, Popugayev, Zetterlund, Vukojevic, Bernard, Hellickson.

Asked about Maltsev in particular, this was his response:

Meh. Good nose for the net and obvious size but I don’t think he plays with enough pace.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Devils ranked 17th in Wheeler's prospect rankings.

Wheeler's 2020 NHL prospect pool rankings: No. 17 New Jersey...

Essentially, lack of high end talent cost them - though we have very good depth:

I don't understand this "high end talent" thing. If a prospect has high talent, they wouldn't be a prospect anymore. There are prospects with high potential but also a lot of risk, but can they be considered "high end talent"? I don't think so.

 

[Blackjack]

I don't understand this "high end talent" thing. If a prospect has high talent, they wouldn't be a prospect anymore. There are prospects with high potential but also a lot of risk, but can they be considered "high end talent"? I don't think so.

You know, high end talent, like Vitali Kravtsov and Lias Andersson.

 

[Triumph]

I don't understand this "high end talent" thing. If a prospect has high talent, they wouldn't be a prospect anymore. There are prospects with high potential but also a lot of risk, but can they be considered "high end talent"? I don't think so.

There are tiers within prospects. The Devils have several prospects with a decent chance at playing in the NHL but they don't really have any that, at present, have potential to be 1st line forwards/1st pairing D/starting NHL goalies. And yeah, there are players playing outside the NHL who have a decent shot at being this.

 

[Call Me Al]

this happens every time with prospect rankings and it never gets less frustrating.

most of these teams' prospect lists are anchored by their first round picks from the past 3 seasons. 2 of ours are in the NHL already. This isn't hard to understand. our 2nd round pick from 2017 is already graduated from prospect status. if jack hughes was not in the nhl we would almost certainly be top 5.

there is no need to cry or complain about this list, our best prospects graduated way faster than everyone else's.

 

[MichaelJ]

I see this as nothing but good. It means Castron has been doing a good job of building a pipeline of potential NHL talents. Of course the Devils need high end players but they have a chance here at tremendous depth. They also might have more than a few trade pieces that are interesting to other teams.

 

[My3Sons]

Where would Boquist have landed on the list since he is down in Binghamton right now?

 

[Devils731]

Where would Boquist have landed on the list since he is down in Binghamton right now?

He’s a pretty easy number 2. Depends on how you rate Smith and Boqvist they may be the same tier or Boqvist a cut below. Then another tier down to the next set of guys.

IMO, it’s Smith then tier down to Boqvist then tier down again.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

this happens every time with prospect rankings and it never gets less frustrating.

most of these teams' prospect lists are anchored by their first round picks from the past 3 seasons. 2 of ours are in the NHL already. This isn't hard to understand. our 2nd round pick from 2017 is already graduated from prospect status. if jack hughes was not in the nhl we would almost certainly be top 5.

there is no need to cry or complain about this list, our best prospects graduated way faster than everyone else's.

Exactly. We don't have any high end talent because ours is in the NHL already. Why are these so called high end talent from other teams not in the nhl yet.

 

[Guttersniped]

If you look at Pronman’s mid-season prospects rankings the non-1st rounders in the top 50, with his tier groupings, are:

*High End Tier*
7) Kaliyev (OHL) (2019 33rd)
9) Kaprizov (KHL) (2015 135th)
11) Robertson (OHL) (2019 53rd)

*High End/Very Good Bubble Tier*
13) Marchenko (KHL) (2018 49th)
18) Romanov (KHL) (2018 38th)

*Very Good Tier*
24) Formenton (AHL) (2017 47th)
28) Elvenes (AHL) (2017 127th)
30) Hoglander (SHL) (2019 40th)
37) Studnicka (AHL) (2017 53rd)
40) Madden (NCAA) (2018 68th)
43) Barre-Boulet (Undrafted)
44) Blichfeld (AHL) (2016 210th)
45) Clague (AHL) (2016 51st)
50) Jenik (OHL) (2018 65th)

That’s 14 non-1st rounders out of the top 50, and 8 of those 14 are from the 2nd round.

The list goes to 72 and out of the those 22 players there are 3 1st rounders, 12 2nd rounders and 7 lower rounds/undrafted.

[Note: his definition of a Very Good NHL prospect: “Projects as a top-six forward, top-four defenseman or starting goaltender in the NHL.“]

Out of his whole list, 39/72 are from the 1st round, 20/72 are from the 2nd round and 13/72 are from later rounds or were undrafted.

It’s clearly difficult to get a top prospect from somewhere outside of the first two rounds, so much so that Shero could be criticized for flipping so many 2nds for trades. However, outside of the 2016 top pick bummers it’s a little unfair to complain about how Castron’s team haven’t identified that many high end prospects.

 

[Blackjack]

If you look at Pronman’s mid-season prospects rankings the non-1st rounders in the top 50, with his tier groupings, are:

*High End Tier*
7) Kaliyev (OHL) (2019 33rd)
9) Kaprizov (KHL) (2015 135th)
11) Robertson (OHL) (2019 53rd)

*High End/Very Good Bubble Tier*
13) Marchenko (KHL) (2018 49th)
18) Romanov (KHL) (2018 38th)

*Very Good Tier*
24) Formenton (AHL) (2017 47th)
28) Elvenes (AHL) (2017 127th)
30) Hoglander (SHL) (2019 40th)
37) Studnicka (AHL) (2017 53rd)
40) Madden (NCAA) (2018 68th)
43) Barre-Boulet (Undrafted)
44) Blichfeld (AHL) (2016 210th)
45) Clague (AHL) (2016 51st)
50) Jenik (OHL) (2018 65th)

That’s 14 non-1st rounders out of the top 50, and 8 of those 14 are from the 2nd round.

The list goes to 72 and out of the those 22 players there are 3 1st rounders, 12 2nd rounders and 7 lower rounds/undrafted.

[Note: his definition of a Very Good NHL prospect: “Projects as a top-six forward, top-four defenseman or starting goaltender in the NHL.“]

Out of his whole list, 39/72 are from the 1st round, 20/72 are from the 2nd round and 13/72 are from later rounds or were undrafted.

It’s clearly difficult to get a top prospect from somewhere outside of the first two rounds, so much so that Shero could be criticized for flipping so many 2nds for trades. However, outside of the 2016 top pick bummers it’s a little unfair to complain about how Castron’s team haven’t identified that many high end prospects.

There were a lot of good players on the board at 35, but it's just as well we didn't have the pick because we all would have lost our minds when Kaliyev went at 34.

Edit: I mean... 34 and 33 respectively.

 

[Billdo]

I don't understand this "high end talent" thing. If a prospect has high talent, they wouldn't be a prospect anymore. There are prospects with high potential but also a lot of risk, but can they be considered "high end talent"? I don't think so.

Most of our "prospects" aside from Hughes don't project to be anything more than middle six at best forwards or 3-4th defenseman outside of Smith. That's what they mean.

 

[njdevils309]

Most of our "prospects" aside from Hughes don't project to be anything more than middle six at best forwards or 3-4th defenseman outside of Smith. That's what they mean.

agreed with you here, but I don't think that's a bad thing. We should have a top 6 by next year that will be solid, with hischier/bratt/palms and hughes/boqvist/1st rounder or gusev. We lack D-men, but a top 4 of smith/severson/subban/vats(resign) would be solid. So if they can get some of these prospects to round out the bottom 6 and fill out the D pairings, thats a pretty good team.

 

[Nubmer6]

We lack D-men, but a top 4 of smith/severson/subban/vats(resign) would be solid. So if they can get some of these prospects to round out the bottom 6 and fill out the D pairings, thats a pretty good team.

In an earlier Athletic article they pointed out that our prospect pipeline is actually thinner at forward than defense. Between Walsh and all the shut-down guys we acquired we have a fair number of defenders with top 4 potential. They were thinking we'd actually be better off with some high end forwards with top 6 potential.