Not as much as I used to. I try to catch as many college games as possible when they are on TV. I haven't caught any Wisconsin games though I would like to (because of Caufield and Turcotte), so I can't really say much for this year. Last year, he was okay, but I remember questioning how much he can improve what I was seeing.
Pekar, I liked him the preseason because of his pest-like game. But his offensive game as a ways to go to be at the NHL level which would KEEP him at the NHL level.
There's a lot of hopefuls (because they are prospects afterall), but I'm not sure how many can go far. Of course, this is development so this can all change.
But where I don't have confidence in, is the HIGH END talented players (even if they are RAW), and the makeup of the players. Outside of Pekar, for our forward prospects, we are pretty soft. Outside Mittelstadt, I don't see any guys that have the high level skills as well. We traded away our only other forward that had that (Nylander) potential. I don't think Cozens has the ability to be a gamebreaker. I think he'll be a decent middle 6 player.
Fair enough. Weissbach had a pretty solid freshman year and with Caufield and Turcotte, has seen an uptick in pointzzz, not surprisingly. He's quick and skilled. This year there was an article about how he is being pushed to round out his game more (back checking, defense...). I think he'll be signed by next summer. He is getting a lot of assists, so one could argue he's riding coattails but I think last year shows he can be more than a passenger.
I think Pekar's full range of abilities is what will help him carve out a career. Bottom six, high energy guy that can pot one from time to time. Who knows what he'll be in two years but he could end up as a top 6 glue guy. I'd say that's his ceiling. I've been pleasantly surprised with his offense in juniors but he'll have to show more than that to stick on the top 2 lines.
Davidsson seems stagnant and almost redundant behind Asplund. Laaksonen has almost taken a step back, which you never want to see but, may need a change of scenery.
I tend to think a little more highly of Cozens. He was a pretty highly touted draftee and some even called the pick a steal. With that, he's off to a good start in his D+1. Sometimes I think he gets squashed some around here because of the strong anti-Cozens sentiment going into the draft. Either way, it's always a question of whether a kid's skill will translate from juniors. He does have a pretty strong bag of tangibles though.
It's not like the tank years when all we had was prospects to look forward to (thank god) and there were daily postings of guys games from the night before. We still have a decent pipeline but I, like many, would like to see more skill at the forward ranks. Sláinte!