Prospect Info: David Farrance, D, 92nd Overall, USNTDP

[Armourboy]

If I'm his parents I'm telling him to sign. He may not want to come here but the flip side is you are sitting around waiting on a collegiate season that may never come. Last thing I would want is to lose an entire year of development.
He could essentially burn out two years of an ELC before he ever finished his senior season.

 

[Scoresberg]

But the NCAA season is supposed to end around the same time it usually ends, late-March or early-April? That would give us an advantage on Farrance as the NHL season would only be about a little over halfway done and he would get a good taste of the NHL next season opposed to waiting until August to sign with another team and playing hockey in late-October or early-November 2021.

 

[Armourboy]

But the NCAA season is supposed to end around the same time it usually ends, late-March or early-April? That would give us an advantage on Farrance as the NHL season would only be about a little over halfway done and he would get a good taste of the NHL next season opposed to waiting until August to sign with another team and playing hockey in late-October or early-November 2021.

Considering the ivy league cancelled football there is no guarantee hockey will be played either.

 

[Scoresberg]

Farrance with two assists, 1 sog and a -2 in his season debut. BU lost 7-3.

 

[Scoresberg]

Farrance with 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists) in his 2nd game of the season. BU won 6-4. Farrance opens the season with 5 points in 2 games.

 

[PredsV82]

Farrance with 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists) in his 2nd game of the season. BU won 6-4. Farrance opens the season with 5 points in 2 games.

As nice as that is he is a defenseman on a team that has given up 11 goals in two games as well.

Need to be sure he isnt An*y *elmore reincarnated

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

As nice as that is he is a defenseman on a team that has given up 11 goals in two games as well.

Need to be sure he isnt An*y *elmore reincarnated

BC and BU are often the youngest teams in Div 1 hockey. It's a bit of a tradeoff... they tend to have a lot more NHL-drafted players, but those players tend to turn pro earlier, so they recruit more top prospects to fill their spots, so they end up being younger and less experienced teams. The last 2 years weren't so hot for them either.

At least there's a good bet they'll be rolling Farrance out there half the game, so that kind of heavy load should help his development either way.

 

[barriers]

 

[Scoresberg]

FWIW, I stalked his mom on twitter, and she's kept on liking Preds-related tweets even though Farrance went back for his senior year . Probably doesn't mean much but still.

Let's hope BU goes out early this year and we get a look at Farrance in the regular season like we did with Fabbro.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

FWIW, I stalked his mom on twitter, and she's kept on liking Preds-related tweets even though Farrance went back for his senior year . Probably doesn't mean much but still.

Let's hope BU goes out early this year and we get a look at Farrance in the regular season like we did with Fabbro.

I think having the Taxi Squad situation should help with this, right? We have lots of room for players to be around the team. If BU ends in March, that's basically all of April and May he could be here if he wanted.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Honestly, seeing the mess that happened this year, can you blame the guy for just going back to school?

 

[herzausstein]

Honestly, seeing the mess that happened this year, can you blame the guy for just going back to school?

I more see it as: You're only 1 year away from getting a degree. Injuries happen in the NHL all the time. Why not finish your degree and have a fall back plan?

 

[OldFan]

With Josi, Ellis, Eckholm I think he was worried about breaking into the lineup. His only chance was beating out Fabbro cause he’s not a 5,6,7 or if he is who cares. I don’t mean that harshly but he’s got to be top 4.

 

[Scoresberg]

With Josi, Ellis, Eckholm I think he was worried about breaking into the lineup. His only chance was beating out Fabbro cause he’s not a 5,6,7 or if he is who cares. I don’t mean that harshly but he’s got to be top 4.

I don't see why we couldn't ease him in on the 3rd pair. Lots of younger defensemen nowadays get brought up that way. Obviously, if he has the talent to play in the top-four, he'll play there. There's going to be room to break into our defense in the future, with the age structure and expansion drafts etc.

In fact, slower cooking is what I think would've been the right approach with Fabbro as well and it's not too late still. If he still struggles next to Ekholm, just swap him and Benning. No reason to hurt the team and his development trying to force him into a role he's not ready for.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I don't see why we couldn't ease him in on the 3rd pair. Lots of younger defensemen nowadays get brought up that way. Obviously, if he has the talent to play in the top-four, he'll play there. There's going to be room to break into our defense in the future, with the age structure and expansion drafts etc.

In fact, slower cooking is what I think would've been the right approach with Fabbro as well and it's not too late still. If he still struggles next to Ekholm, just swap him and Benning. No reason to hurt the team and his development trying to force him into a role he's not ready for.

His career would be best served by coming here and going a bit slower than going the Schultz/Gardiner route and going somewhere he can get more immediate top 4 playtime. Our D corps is all aging to an extent, so the top 4 spots will be there at some point if he's good enough.

 

[Scoresberg]

His career would be best served by coming here and going a bit slower than going the Schultz/Gardiner route and going somewhere he can get more immediate top 4 playtime. Our D corps is all aging to an extent, so the top 4 spots will be there at some point if he's good enough.

It seems like we could sell this team to Farrance with ease. Question is can Poile and the co.?

 

[Scoresberg]

You can watch Farrance and BU's game on the top link.

Just noticed Del Gaizo playing for UMass.

 

[Scoresberg]

Farrance scores on the PP to put BU up 3-2. A laser wrist shot from the point, beat the goalie clean.

 

[barriers]

 

[Scoresberg]

Couple of notes from that game:

- Farrance is dominant when he has the puck in that league. He excels on the PP where he can handle the puck and shoot it. Offensively, he's on a wrong league.

- He's not very solid defensively. They did not give him any PK time even though, there was a bunch of penalties in that game and hardly even defensive zone starts. At times he looked disengaged in the defensive zone and whenever his team or him didn't have the puck.

- I'm not completely sure if it was his level of interest on the defensive game or what, but if he doesn't improve in all areas defensively, I think he's going to have a tough time making the NHL.

- I could see him as a Erik Gustafsson type of guy, a 3rd pair PP specialist. He needs a strong defensive-minded partner, though.

- I actually liked Del Gaizo better in this game, even though Farrance scored a goal and BU won. He reminds me of Sam Girard, a strong skater (probably the best in that game) and sound defensively for a guy his size. Good passer, and he was excellent at zone exits/entries, which they actually mentioned in the broadcast a lot.

- Unlike Farrance, he was also trusted in a defensive role. He was on the 1st PP unit and I thought he looked good, not a big shot but a good puck-mover nonetheless.

- I think he has higher hockey IQ than Farrance, there was a lot of times he jumped into the rush and either ended up with a chance himself of created a chance for someone else.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Couple of notes from that game:

- Farrance is dominant when he has the puck in that league. He excels on the PP where he can handle the puck and shoot it. Offensively, he's on a wrong league.

- He's not very solid defensively. They did not give him any PK time even though, there was a bunch of penalties in that game and hardly even defensive zone starts. At times he looked disengaged in the defensive zone and whenever his team or him didn't have the puck.

- I'm not completely sure if it was his level of interest on the defensive game or what, but if he doesn't improve in all areas defensively, I think he's going to have a tough time making the NHL.

- I could see him as a Erik Gustafsson type of guy, a 3rd pair PP specialist. He needs a strong defensive-minded partner, though.

- I actually liked Del Gaizo better in this game, even though Farrance scored a goal and BU won. He reminds me of Sam Girard, a strong skater (probably the best in that game) and sound defensively for a guy his size. Good passer, and he was excellent at zone exits/entries, which they actually mentioned in the broadcast a lot.

- Unlike Farrance, he was also trusted in a defensive role. He was on the 1st PP unit and I thought he looked good, not a big shot but a good puck-mover nonetheless.

- I think he has higher hockey IQ than Farrance, there was a lot of times he jumped into the rush and either ended up with a chance himself of created a chance for someone else.

Thanks for the report. I would like to optimistically... wait, is it really "optimistic"?... default to the idea that he's a little bored at that level and that's the explanation for his defensive lapses?

He probably won't end up as a 2ppg defenseman, but... even 1.26ppg like last year or something slightly better this year is pretty "special". It's not common. I am purely stats watching. But that is an automatic rookie max ELC and welcome-to-Smashville promotion at the end of the season, even if his defense is as bad as you say.

Good to hear about Del Gaizo too. Thanks.

 

[herzausstein]

Couple of notes from that game:

- Farrance is dominant when he has the puck in that league. He excels on the PP where he can handle the puck and shoot it. Offensively, he's on a wrong league.

- He's not very solid defensively. They did not give him any PK time even though, there was a bunch of penalties in that game and hardly even defensive zone starts. At times he looked disengaged in the defensive zone and whenever his team or him didn't have the puck.

- I'm not completely sure if it was his level of interest on the defensive game or what, but if he doesn't improve in all areas defensively, I think he's going to have a tough time making the NHL.

- I could see him as a Erik Gustafsson type of guy, a 3rd pair PP specialist. He needs a strong defensive-minded partner, though.

- I actually liked Del Gaizo better in this game, even though Farrance scored a goal and BU won. He reminds me of Sam Girard, a strong skater (probably the best in that game) and sound defensively for a guy his size. Good passer, and he was excellent at zone exits/entries, which they actually mentioned in the broadcast a lot.

- Unlike Farrance, he was also trusted in a defensive role. He was on the 1st PP unit and I thought he looked good, not a big shot but a good puck-mover nonetheless.

- I think he has higher hockey IQ than Farrance, there was a lot of times he jumped into the rush and either ended up with a chance himself of created a chance for someone else.

I think they're both gonna end up with a solid chance of making it in the NHL. Farrance is likely going to need a little seasoning to work on his defensive game.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

We might run into an issue again with just how many smaller/smoother types of D we can legitimately absorb at once, though. We already see that with Carrier. Since he has Ellis and Fabbro ahead of him on RD, it's really that much harder to figure out how to fit him in. And then a lot of these other guys are constructed along similar lines. Chistyakov was playing great for Russia in the WJC too, but size does matter on an NHL defense.

 

[Armourboy]

If he's not good defensively then I hope he goes somewhere else. Last thing we need is another Dman that wishes he was a forward.

 

[Scoresberg]

I would like to optimistically... wait, is it really "optimistic"?... default to the idea that he's a little bored at that level and that's the explanation for his defensive lapses?

I could see this being the case but why did he go back then? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The degree?

And AB, just based on what I saw last night, he is not good defensively. The other defenseman and the forwards had to bail him out a few times. Despite being regarded as one of the best players in college hockey, he didn't get any assignments defensively. His main role was on the PP (I think he played the whole 2 minutes every time) where he was excellent.

I definitely think he's raw talent and needs some seasoning on the defensive side of the puck.. he needs to realize that he's not going to have the puck as much in the NHL as he has in college games. But if he can at least get by defensively, the offensive output he brings in those lower pairings could outweigh the defensive shortcomings.