HF Habs: Do the Habs Have the Best Prospect Pool in the NHL?

[1909]

Should continue to get better too. 9 more picks next year.
Not sure if my math is right but 28 picks (2018-20) over 3 years

Quantity doesn't equal quality. I would prefer 3-4 picks in the first two rounds, than 10 picks spread all over the place.

this year Habs had the chance to draft 3 players in the first two rounds, and theu give one of them away......

 

[Fish on The Sand]

I can't think of any way we could justify calling Kotkaniemi a prospect. He's clearly graduated to the NHL and is a young NHLer, not a prospect.

Guys who haven't established themselves like Poehling or who haven't even sniffed the NHL like Suzuki would still be classified as prospects though.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Montreal lacks a Jack Hughes/Lafreniere/Dahlin type game breaker

Caufield not in that group then?

 

[Kotkaniemi15]

My top 50 affiliated prospect list tells me
Colorado has #3, #8, #9 and around 10+ other good prospects
Vegas has #4, 12, 21, 30 and around 7+ other good prospects
Montreal has 13, 18. 23, 25, 32 and around 11 other good prospects.

I'd go with Colorado because Newhook, Byram and Makar is just insane top end talent, plus I'm really high on Timmins even with the injuries.

Montreal is in there with NJ and NYR for the 3rd spot, Vegas is a clear number two.

I really don't see Vegas as 2 at all. Glass and Krebs alone don't make you the clear 2. Dorofeyev is nice but nothing special.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

Caufield not in that group then?

I'm not sure if he is. He may score a lot of goals, but that alone wouldn't necessarily make him a game breaker.

Let's look at some other high goal scoring low assist players

Pavel Bure would unquestionably have been considered a game breaker. But would people say the same about Rick Nash? They both scored a pile of goals but Bure was more often driving the play and creating his own chances. Nash was nowhere near as good at doing that.

Caufield could be a game breaker, but given that he had Hughes as his center rightfully brings that into question. It would be awesome for us if he can show that he wasn't the product of Hughes and can drive the play himself, but to completely discount the possibility that Hughes elevated his stats into a different stratosphere would be irresponsible.

I for one am excited to see what he can do. He seems to have a chip on his shoulder and that can only help him.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I'm not sure if he is. He may score a lot of goals, but that alone wouldn't necessarily make him a game breaker.

Let's look at some other high goal scoring low assist players

Pavel Bure would unquestionably have been considered a game breaker. But would people say the same about Rick Nash? They both scored a pile of goals but Bure was more often driving the play and creating his own chances. Nash was nowhere near as good at doing that.

Caufield could be a game breaker, but given that he had Hughes as his center rightfully brings that into question. It would be awesome for us if he can show that he wasn't the product of Hughes and can drive the play himself, but to completely discount the possibility that Hughes elevated his stats into a different stratosphere would be irresponsible.

I for one am excited to see what he can do. He seems to have a chip on his shoulder and that can only help him.

I was just curious on his opinion.

Caufield seems to have game breaking ability but is also a risk due to his size and I think we all know that. I'm just curious what people think his ceiling is.

From what I can see, he seems to have superstar potential at least. And that's pretty great for 15th overall. I mean that almost never happens.

 

[Mrb1p]

I really don't see Vegas as 2 at all. Glass and Krebs alone don't make you the clear 2. Dorofeyev is nice but nothing special.

I had Dorofeyev at 8th in this draft, so it changes things. Hes a player Im actually high on.

You also ignore Hague, whos one of the best D outside the NHL.

 

[ItzaGreat]

I voted no because almost every fan base in the league says their team has the best prospect pool.

It's super subjective.

 

[Kotkaniemi15]

I had Dorofeyev at 8th in this draft, so it changes things. Hes a player Im actually high on.

You also ignore Hague, whos one of the best D outside the NHL.

I like Hague but he’s not an elite prospect. We clearly have different opinions about Dorofeyev and that’s fine. Vegas has two elite prospects and one of them is dealing with a bad injury. I don’t think that you gives you the second best prospect pool in the league. It all really depends on how highly you think of certain prospects.

 

[Johnny31]

We lack a top end talent I would say... We do not have a top 5 prospect overall or even top 10 but we have a lot quality and depth. I would put us around 5 at best.

 

[Mrb1p]

I like Hague but he’s not an elite prospect. We clearly have different opinions about Dorofeyev and that’s fine. Vegas has two elite prospects and one of them is dealing with a bad injury. I don’t think that you gives you the second best prospect pool in the league. It all really depends on how highly you think of certain prospects.

Hague is absolutely an elite prospect, hes been for quite some time. Dont get hung on draft position.

 

[Gally11]

I voted no because almost every fan base in the league says their team has the best prospect pool.

It's super subjective.

The way I looked at it is how many teams would I swap 1:1 all prospects with and there aren't many

 

[SOLR]

I was just curious on his opinion.

Caufield seems to have game breaking ability but is also a risk due to his size and I think we all know that. I'm just curious what people think his ceiling is.

From what I can see, he seems to have superstar potential at least. And that's pretty great for 15th overall. I mean that almost never happens.

I'll be happy with a guy that can get 35-35 under pressure...

 

[WeThreeKings]

Did a quick prospect ranking. That's deeeep! After 15th, the prospects are pretty interchangeable depending on preference.

This is how I would rank mine:
Cole Caufield
Nick Suzuki
Josh Brook
Alexander Romanov
Ryan Poehling
Cayden Primeau
Jesse Ylonen
Noah Juulsen
Jayden Struble
Jake Evans
Jordan Harris
Joni Ikonen
Cam Hillis
Jacob Olofsson
Cale Fleury
Mattias Norlinder
Cole Fonstad
Allan McShane
Lukas Vejdemo
Otto Leskinen
Brett Stapley
Gianni Fairbrother
Michael McNiven
Rhett Pitlick
Michael McCarron
Joel Teasdale
Arsen Khisamutdinov
Fredrik Nissen Dichow
Jacob LeGuerriere
Jack Gorniak
David Sklenicka
Rafael Harvey-Pinard
Samuel Houde
Alexandre Alain
Hayden Verbeek
Michael Pezzetta
Antoine Waked
Nikolas Koberstein (think he's gone?)
Arvid Henrikson
Keiran Rucheinski

I'd say once you get to Gorniak (since we need to see a lot of these new guys in their D-1s), you have hit the cut-off of guys with potential NHL careers.

 

[ProspectsSTC]

We had a chance to at least make an argument for the best prospect pool, and we blew it IMO. Still top 5

 

[danyhabsfan]

So you would trade our pool for theirs?

Caufield < Kakko
Suzuki > Kravtsov
Romanov > Fox
Brook > Miller
Poehling > Howden
Kotkaniemi > Chytil
Price > Georgiev

There’s no way I would trade, our group is better imo.

no
just no

 

[montreal]

doesn't really matter, what matters is what Kotka, Suzuki, Caufield, Brook, Mete, Primeau, Poehling, Romanov, Fleury, Juulsen, Harris, etc.. turn into. How many can reach their ceilings, how many can surprise and be better then expected? Lots of questions that will take years to fully answer but the Habs certainly have a brighter future then they did a few years ago.

 

[Guns n Roses]

no
just no

We will see

 

[MaxDummy]

So you would trade our pool for theirs?

Caufield < Kakko
Suzuki > Kravtsov
Romanov > Fox
Brook > Miller
Poehling > Howden
Kotkaniemi > Chytil
Price > Georgiev

There’s no way I would trade, our group is better imo.

I guess you meant Primeau? Even then... Primeau < Shestyorkin

 

[dcyhabs]

No. Not bad but far from the best.

 

[Guns n Roses]

I guess you meant Primeau? Even then... Primeau < Shestyorkin

I put Price in there as a joke. But it doesn’t actually matter what goaltender prospects they have, we have Price for many years to come, we don’t even need goalie prospects.

 

[SakuKoivu11]

they are missing that game breaker talent. KK is the closest. Cole talent is undeniable, but he is really small

Gionta is 5’7”
DeBrincat is 5’7
Theo fleury is 5’6”
Cammalleri is 5’8”
Bouillon is 5’8”
St. Louis is 5’8”
Raflaski is 5’7”
Brett Hull is 5’9”
Bure is 5’9”
Etc

Cole Caufield needs to be 175lbs at the very least.

 

[Habaneros]

https://www.tsn.ca/montreal-canadie...-s-off-season-prospect-pool-ranking-1.1327688

 

[Habsfan18]

Not sure what makes Jayden Struble a better prospect than Josh Brook at this point in time.

But our prospect pool is looking incredibly promising. Gotta love that.

 

[The Great Weal]

I'm pretty sure that's just for Canadian teams.