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

[26Mats]

No doubt about it. Habs have not had a group of top end quality and grade B depth behind them in decades.

I think the Price, subban, mcdonagh, pacioretty, emelin, latendresse, grabovsky, streit, s. Kostitsyn, y. Weber, halak, lapierre, obyrne, etc.. era compares. All were drafted between 2003 and 2007.

Our current crop from 2015 to 2019 is i think deeper in A level prospects. But it remains to be seen how many star's it has. I count 5 from the 2003 to 2007 group: price, mcdonagh, subban, pacioretty, and streit (62 point #1 all star d when he got his shot).

Kk, poehling, suzuki, caufield, ylonen, ikonen, mete, romanov, brook, juulsen, struble, primeau and harris have a shot...

 

[Le Tricolore]

I won't pretend to know how all other teams stack up against the Habs, but from everything I'm seeing, it looks like ours is definitely up there.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I think the Price, subban, mcdonagh, pacioretty, emelin, latendresse, grabovsky, streit, s. Kostitsyn, y. Weber, halak, lapierre, obyrne, etc.. era compares. All were drafted between 2003 and 2007.

Our current crop from 2015 to 2019 is i think deeper in A level prospects. But it remains to be seen how many star's it has. I count 5 from the 2003 to 2007 group: price, mcdonagh, subban, pacioretty, and streit (62 point #1 all star d when he got his shot).

Kk, poehling, suzuki, caufield, ylonen, ikonen, mete, romanov, brook, juulsen, struble, primeau and harris have a shot...

The 07 draft is legit and I'll give you that. But after that, it was shitty. Listing random grade B guys and pretending the hype on them is the same as today is not even close. How many guys did you list that were drafted in later rounds? There may have been some hope and hype on them but many of them were grade B.

- Price was a grade A prospect all along.
- Subban busted out as a 19 year old and became a grade A
- Patch was a fringe grade A prospect who turned out very good and developed well.
- Latendresse was a grade B prospect. An argument could of been made that he was a fringe grade A.
- Emelin, Grabrosky, Streit, Y Weber, Halak, Lapierrer, O'Byrne are comparable to our 2nd teir guys today... Harris, Fleury, Juulsen, Ylonen, Ikonen, Olofsson, Lindgren, Fonstad, McShane, Hillis, Stapley, etc.

We have way more grade A values or fringe grade A values today. Kotkaniemi, Poehling, Suzuki, Caufield, Romanov, Brook, Primeau.

And I didn't even mention some of our 2019 picks either.

 

[Kriss E]

Theres nothing funny about this prospect pool. Its factually one of the deepest, if not the deepest in the league and the top end is actually really good, short of Hughes, Makar and Kakkao

Well great...can't wait to see all those awesome prospects turn up to be significant NHLers.

 

[cphabs]

I don’t think there is a prospect pool out there with the awards or achievements we have. Seriously!

 

[yianik]

This year threw me for a bit of a curve because we backed away from the " speed' skill, quickness and high ceiling" of last year, to dimensions and compete level this year. And this year it sure seemed somewhat apparent that we were not picking the biggest talent at each spot.

So it seems a shift to more CHaracter stuff. I think I may understand what is up.

Last season we had more guys who worked it hard every game, if not each shift. This was guys with talent like Tatar and Domi. Both of these guys have a motor that keeps going all game. Then you add a more effective Shaw, and Gallagher etc, and you have a team that has talented players with a real good compete level.

So I think TT sees guys like Struble and Fairbrother as having talent yes, maybe somewhat lower than some other guys that could have been taken , but with a high compete level, they fit into the type of team we want to ice.

Of course , I may not have a bloody clue about what I am saying.

 

[A55P2]

We did not move away from speed at all! Struble, Norlinder and Pitlick were all amongst the fastest skater according to Pronman.

 

[DangerDave]

Where's the “LOL” option?

I don't get it. What's so funny?

 

[Mrb1p]

Well great...can't wait to see all those awesome prospects turn up to be significant NHLers.

The Habs haven't had such a good prospect pool since 2007, and really, it makes sense, just look at the numbers of shots taken between then and now, its just not comparable.

I know you're referencing the 2010s years but this isn't the same thing at all.

 

[26Mats]

The 07 draft is legit and I'll give you that. But after that, it was ****ty. Listing random grade B guys and pretending the hype on them is the same as today is not even close. How many guys did you list that were drafted in later rounds? There may have been some hope and hype on them but many of them were grade B.

- Price was a grade A prospect all along.
- Subban busted out as a 19 year old and became a grade A
- Patch was a fringe grade A prospect who turned out very good and developed well.
- Latendresse was a grade B prospect. An argument could of been made that he was a fringe grade A.
- Emelin, Grabrosky, Streit, Y Weber, Halak, Lapierrer, O'Byrne are comparable to our 2nd teir guys today... Harris, Fleury, Juulsen, Ylonen, Ikonen, Olofsson, Lindgren, Fonstad, McShane, Hillis, Stapley, etc.

We have way more grade A values or fringe grade A values today. Kotkaniemi, Poehling, Suzuki, Caufield, Romanov, Brook, Primeau.

And I didn't even mention some of our 2019 picks either.

62 point all-star D Streit is B grade??
Grabovsky and Latendresse were well on their way to great careers before being ruined by concussions.

If our 2015 to 2019 prospects turn out to surpass our 2003 to 2007 pool, I'll be ecstatic... Price, Subban, McDonagh, Pacioretty were the stars. Streit, Latendresse, Grabovsky, the kostitsyn brothers, halak, and Emelin were support players. Latendresse and Grabovsky were lost to concussions, Streit was underappreciated, and the kostitsyn brothers were lost to off ice issues/being involved with substance abuse trafficers.

Of course a lot of prospects didn't live up to the hype. That will unfortunately happen again...

If Caufield becomes pacioretty, kk a forward equivalent to price, poehling a forward equivalent to subban, suzuki a forward equivalent to mcdonagh, brook and romanov surpass streit and emelin, plus mete, juulsen, ylonen, ikonen, harris, struble, etc... provide support, we're in business.

Like i said i don't know if the top 4 of kk, poehling, caufield, and suzuki will reach the heights of the old top 4 of price, subban, mcdonagh, and paccioretty. But i have this recent era as having more depths of high quality.

I don't know what you're talking about with hype right out of the draft. I'm talking about a couple years after the draft. Poehling, romanov, mete, juulsen, brook, ylonen, ikonen, Primeau weren't that hyped straight out of the draft. But they subsequently performed well. Same with Subban, Pacioretty, Latendresse, Streit, Grabovsky, Halak...

 

[Mrb1p]

We did not move away from speed at all! Struble, Norlinder and Pitlick were all amongst the fastest skater according to Pronman.

Pitlick is a rocket on skates. Like he's turned up to 10 and everybody is a 5 in the USHS.

 

[Mrb1p]

62 point all-star D Streit is B grade??
Grabovsky and Latendresse were well on their way to great careers before being ruined by concussions.

If our 2015 to 2019 prospects turn out to surpass our 2003 to 2007 pool, I'll be ecstatic... Price, Subban, McDonagh, Pacioretty were the stars. Streit, Latendresse, Grabovsky, the kostitsyn brothers, halak, and Emelin were support players. Latendresse and Grabovsky were lost to concussions, Streit was underappreciated, and the kostitsyn brothers were lost to off ice issues/being involved with substance abuse trafficers.

Of course a lot of prospects didn't live up to the hype. That will unfortunately happen again...

If Caufield becomes pacioretty, kk a forward equivalent to price, poehling a forward equivalent to subban, suzuki a forward equivalent to mcdonagh, brook and romanov surpass streit and emelin, plus mete, juulsen, ylonen, ikonen, harris, struble, etc... provide support, we're in business.

Like i said i don't know if the top 4 of kk, poehling, caufield, and suzuki will reach the heights of the old top 4 of price, subban, mcdonagh, and paccioretty. But i have this recent era as having more depths of high quality.

I don't know what you're talking about with hype right out of the draft. I'm talking about a couple years after the draft. Poehling, romanov, mete, juulsen, brook, ylonen, ikonen, Primeau weren't that hyped straight out of the draft. But they subsequently performed well. Same with Subban, Pacioretty, Latendresse, Streit, Grabovsky, Halak...

The forward equivalent to Price is like Kucherov or Malkin... Thats asking for a bit too much.

 

[Habs Halifax]

62 point all-star D Streit is B grade??
Grabovsky and Latendresse were well on their way to great careers before being ruined by concussions.

If our 2015 to 2019 prospects turn out to surpass our 2003 to 2007 pool, I'll be ecstatic... Price, Subban, McDonagh, Pacioretty were the stars. Streit, Latendresse, Grabovsky, the kostitsyn brothers, halak, and Emelin were support players. Latendresse and Grabovsky were lost to concussions, Streit was underappreciated, and the kostitsyn brothers were lost to off ice issues/being involved with substance abuse trafficers.

Of course a lot of prospects didn't live up to the hype. That will unfortunately happen again...

If Caufield becomes pacioretty, kk a forward equivalent to price, poehling a forward equivalent to subban, suzuki a forward equivalent to mcdonagh, brook and romanov surpass streit and emelin, plus mete, juulsen, ylonen, ikonen, harris, struble, etc... provide support, we're in business.

Like i said i don't know if the top 4 of kk, poehling, caufield, and suzuki will reach the heights of the old top 4 of price, subban, mcdonagh, and paccioretty. But i have this recent era as having more depths of high quality.

I don't know what you're talking about with hype right out of the draft. I'm talking about a couple years after the draft. Poehling, romanov, mete, juulsen, brook, ylonen, ikonen, Primeau weren't that hyped straight out of the draft. But they subsequently performed well. Same with Subban, Pacioretty, Latendresse, Streit, Grabovsky, Halak...

You are talking about NHL production vs hype before they became full time NHL players. It's anybodies guess how our latest group ends up but in terms of prospect pool, this is our best we have had in decades. It's not close

I know it's hard for some people to avoid hindsight evaluation but lets put some players next to each other and rewind back to who they were pre NHL. 03-07 vs 15-19

Price and Halak
vs
Primeau, Lindgren, McNiven

Subban, McDonagh/Gomez, Streit, Y Weber, Emelin
vs
Romanov, Sergachev/Drouin, Brook, Juulsen, Mete, Struble, Fleury, Harris, Norlinder

Patch, Kostitsyn, Chipchura, Latendresse, Maxwell, Lapierre, Grabovski, White
vs
Kotkaniemi, Poehling, Suzuki, Caufield, Ikonen, Ylonen, Olofsson, McShane, Hillis, Stapley, Fonstad, Vejdemo

- Goaltending: Price wins it for sure but who knows how good Primeau will be. Unlikely he will be as good as Price though. 03-07 wins this

- Defense: Two guys we know who became top pairing D vs various grade A prospects and grade B. If we are talking about pre-NHL, 15-19 wins in terms of hype and the difference between grade A and Grade B

- Fowards: 15-19 and it's no contest.

 

[26Mats]

The forward equivalent to Price is like Kucherov or Malkin... Thats asking for a bit too much.

Like i said i think this new wave has more drpth of high quality but may not have the elite level players the 2003 to 2007 group had. Case in point: we may not have a price level prospect.

 

[Mrb1p]

Like i said i think this new wave has more drpth of high quality but may not have the elite level players the 2003 to 2007 group had. Case in point: we may not have a price level prospect.

Asking for a hart winner might be a bit much, lets hope though. If I had money on it, Id say Caufield is the one with the ceiling for that, maybe Kotkaniemi, depending on where his offensive game goes, but its highly unlikely.

 

[26Mats]

You are talking about NHL production vs hype before they became full time NHL players. It's anybodies guess how our latest group ends up but in terms of prospect pool, this is our best we have had in decades. It's not close

I was pretty hyped when Subban, Price, Pacioretty, McDonagh, AK, Latendresse, Emelin, Halak, Grabovsky, S. Kostitsyn, Y. Weber, O'byrne, David Fischer, Mathieu Carle, etc.. were excelling in the pipeline (junior, world juniors, ahl, college).

I never had hype like that for prospect pools since 2007. 2008 to 2011 was a desert. 2012 to 2014 had some players to raise eyebrows Galchenyuk, Hudon, Lehkonen. Ghetto, Reway, and Scherbak excited me. Big guys that couldn't play like McCarron, DLR, Crisp, and Lernout never excited me.

So, at the end of the day I can only speak for myself. I was really hyped for the 2003 to 2007 pool after the world juniors and I'm really hyped for the 2015 to 2019 pools post world juniors. If I had to choose one, I probably go with the modern one. I like Kk, Suzuki, Poehling, Caufield, and Romanov's ceilings and I like our depth with Mete, Juulsen, Brook, ikonen, ylonen, teasdale, Primeau, Harris, struble, etc... But they have big shoes to fill.

 

[26Mats]

Asking for a hart winner might be a bit much, lets hope though. If I had money on it, Id say Caufield is the one with the ceiling for that, maybe Kotkaniemi, depending on where his offensive game goes, but its highly unlikely.

Yes, a hart is unlikely. But a top 4 from kk, caufield, poehling, suzuki, romanov, and brook could give price, subban, mcdonagh, and pacioretty a run for their money. And i think this group's depth of quality top 6/9 forwards and top 4 d will surpass the 2003 to 2007 pool

 

[Habs Halifax]

I won't pretend to know how all other teams stack up against the Habs, but from everything I'm seeing, it looks like ours is definitely up there.

Top 5 for sure. What does this mean? Nothing guaranteed. They have to keep developing from where they are today. Ask the Flyers about having a top 5 prospect pool. It don't always turn out according to hype and hope.

However, I rather have what we have than what we had in prior years.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Like i said i think this new wave has more drpth of high quality but may not have the elite level players the 2003 to 2007 group had. Case in point: we may not have a price level prospect.

Price is a huge difference in net. The probability of finding a guy like this who has been one of the best in the world in net for a long time time is rare. I like Primeau but Price was the higher rated prospect. Primeau may turn into a starter but will he a top 10 goalie? Not sure about that one.

But like I said, are we comparing prospect pools pre-NHL or are we comparing a prospect pool to post-NHL?

 

[Mrb1p]

Top 5 for sure. What does this mean? Nothing guaranteed. They have to keep developing from where they are today. Ask the Flyers about having a top 5 prospect pool. It don't always turn out according to hype and hope.

However, I rather have what we have than what we had in prior years.

Well, one would have to say that it did.

Couturier is a 1C, Gost is a top 4 D, Provorov is a top 2 D, Giroux is a top 30 player, if not more, Hart looks like a great goalie, Konecny is a middle 6 player, Sanheim is a top 4 D, Lindblom is a third liner, Hagg is a number 4, Laughton and Cousins are 4th liners, JVR a 30 goal scorer, Maroon is a 3rd liner.

Just looking at their team, JVR, Giroux, Couturier, Konecny, Gost, Provorov, Sanheim, Hart, Lindblom, Laughton, Patrick, Hagg, is a whole lot of homegrown talent. And with Vorobyov, Myers, and more coming up its just a lot.

 

[Hockey Know it all]

Kotkaniemi*
Poehling
Suzuki
Caufield
Romanov
Brook
Fleury
Primeau
Etc. Etc.

Enough Said?

Not even close lmao.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Well, one would have to say that it did.

Couturier is a 1C, Gost is a top 4 D, Provorov is a top 2 D, Giroux is a top 30 player, if not more, Hart looks like a great goalie, Konecny is a middle 6 player, Sanheim is a top 4 D, Lindblom is a third liner, Hagg is a number 4, Laughton and Cousins are 4th liners, JVR a 30 goal scorer, Maroon is a 3rd liner.

Just looking at their team, JVR, Giroux, Couturier, Konecny, Gost, Provorov, Sanheim, Hart, Lindblom, Laughton, Patrick, Hagg, is a whole lot of homegrown talent. And with Vorobyov, Myers, and more coming up its just a lot.

They have a decent base to build on but what's the hold up? Why can't they pass the Habs in the standings when we both have healthy rosters and their top prospect pool is ahead in terms of maturity and different points of development.

I love what the Habs have but not sure how it turns out. Might mean future playoff teams but cup contenders? We don't know

 

[A55P2]

Pitlick is a rocket on skates. Like he's turned up to 10 and everybody is a 5 in the USHS.

Is there any reason he dropped to the 5th. Someone here (was it you?) said he would have drafted him at 48th. Honestly, watching his highlights it seems to make more sense then have him in the 5th, also Montreal took LeWarrior before him so what is that all about?

 

[Mrb1p]

Is there any reason he dropped to the 5th. Someone here (was it you?) said he would have drafted him at 48th. Honestly, watching his highlights it seems to make more sense then have him in the 5th, also Montreal took LeWarrior before him so what is that all about?

He's small and he played in the USHS, that doesn't get you drafted high, especially with the O'brien fiasco last year. I live in a different world than NHL scouts where I am not held accountable for the picks I make/players I am high on, so this allows me to be higher on higher upside picks like Pitlick and Fonstad, NHL scouts don't have that luxury... I think a Leguerrier pick makes more sense for them as he's more "likely" to play games, and thats point on the board for any scouts.

Don't forget that his highlights are USHS, so the level is pretty bad, but his skills are really good anyway.

And yeah, i had him 48th.

They have a decent base to build on but what's the hold up? Why can't they pass the Habs in the standings when we both have healthy rosters and their top prospect pool is ahead in terms of maturity and different points of development.

I love what the Habs have but not sure how it turns out. Might mean future playoff teams but cup contenders? We don't know

Drafting and development is good for the Flyers, the rest is just really bad.

 

[A55P2]

He's small and he played in the USHS, that doesn't get you drafted high, especially with the O'brien fiasco last year. I live in a different world than NHL scouts where I am not held accountable for the picks I make/players I am high on, so this allows me to be higher on higher upside picks like Pitlick and Fonstad, NHL scouts don't have that luxury... I think a Leguerrier pick makes more sense for them as he's more "likely" to play games, and thats point on the board for any scouts.

Don't forget that his highlights are USHS, so the level is pretty bad, but his skills are really good anyway.

And yeah, i had him 48th.



Drafting and development is good for the Flyers, the rest is just really bad.

Would you think he stands out a bit compared to O'Brien. I would assume his skating is better?