HF.com's Top 50 Prospects from 2001

[TheBradyBunch]

Last three season's Heatley has scored 218 points in 244 GP. Koivu has 200 points in 230 GP. As of right now they are pretty close but career and peak obviously go to Heatley. But right now they are close.

Koivu is peaking and Heatleys sorta on a downturn too. I think both will end up with between 900-1100 points on their career.

 

[Brock Anton]

Igor Kynazev

 

[McMatthews]

I would love to see the list of guys who were eligible for the list but didn't make the cut(excluding people drafted in 2001)

Off the top of my head I believe Gionta didn't make it

I am not sure how highly rated Zetterberg and Datsyuk were at that time either, so I will give them a free pass on those.

I made that list for the 1998 HF.com rankings...

http://hfboards.com/showpost.php?p=24822782&postcount=1

Here is HF.com's Top 50 list for 1998 (Posted in October '98)...

1. Vincent LeCavalier C - Lightning
2. Olli Jokinen C - Kings
3. Marian Hossa RW - Senators
4. Roberto Luongo G - Islanders
5. David Legwand C - Predators
6. Eric Brewer D - Islanders
7. Brad Stuart D - Sharks
8. J.-S. Giguere G - Flames
9. Marc Denis G - Avalanche
10. Paul Mara D - Lightning
11. Brendan Morrison C - Devils
12. Jan Bulis C - Capitals
13. Tom Poti D - Oilers
14. Robert Dome RW - Penguins
15. Manny Malhotra C - Rangers
16. Rico Fata C - Flames
17. Erik Rasmussen C - Sabres
18. Bryan Allen D - Canucks
19. Michel Riesen LW - Oilers
20. Michael Henrich RW - Oilers
21. Daniel Briere C - Coyotes
22. Josh Holden C - Canucks
23. Richard Jackman D - Stars
24. Daniel Tkaczuk C - Flames
25. Jeff Hereema RW - Hurricanes
26. Michal Handzus C - Blues
27. Mark Bell C-LW - Hawks
28. Maxim Balmochnykh LW - Ducks
29. Dan Cleary LW - Blackhawks
30. Alex Tanguay C - Avalanche
31. Jesse Wallin D Red - Wings
32. Mathieu Garon G - Canadiens
33. Zdeno Chara D - Islanders
34. Mark Parrish LW - Panthers
35. Nikolai Antropov C - Leafs
36. Nick Boynton D - Capitals
37. Marty Reasoner C - Blues
38. Mikael Holmqvist C - Ducks
39. Cory Sarich D - Sabres
40. Vitali Vishnevsky D - Ducks
41. Jose Theodore G - Canadiens
42. Oleg Kvasha RW - Panthers
43. Josef Marha C - Ducks
44. Mika Noronen G - Sabres
45. Patrick Desrochers G - Coyotes
46. Brad Ference D - Canucks
47. JP Dumont RW - Hawks
48. Marcus Nilson LW - Panther
49. Christian Backman D - Blues
50. Jiri Fischer D - Red Wings

Not ranked...

Forwards:
Michael Ryder
Alexei Ponikarovsky
Maxim Afinogenov
Ales Kotalik
Mike Pandolfo
Mike Fisher
Chris Neil
John Madden
Scott Gomez
Brian Gionta
Simon Gagne
Todd Fedoruk
Michael Rupp
Marc Savard
Byron Ritchie
Brad Richards
Mike Ribeiro
Kristian Huselius
Tyler Arnason
Todd White
Jochen Hecht
Ladislav Nagy
Jarkko Ruutu
Matt Cooke
Martin St. Louis
Steve Begin
Blair Betts
Nils Ekman
Jan Hlavac
Shawn Horcoff
Jason Chimera
Georges Laraque
Jonathan Cheechoo
Brendan Morrow
Henrik Zetterberg
Pavel Datsyuk

Defencemen:
Andrei Markov
Francois Beauchemin
Dmitri Kalinin
Henrik Tallinder
Brian Campbell
Sami Salo
Mike Van Ryn
Willie Mitchell
Michal Roszival
Andrew Ference
Pavel Kubina
Mike Mottau
Filip Kuba
Brent Sopel
Karlis Skrastins
Kimmo Timonen
Robyn Regehr
Scott Hannan
Andy Sutton
Joe Corvo

Goaltenders:
Andrew Raycroft
Martin Biron
Scott Clemmenson
Antero Niitymaki
Dan Cloutier
Kevin Weekes
Tomas Vokoun
Chris Mason
David Aebischer
Dany Sabourin
Tim Thomas
Evgeny Nabokov
Vesa Toskala
Marty Turco

 

[ChemiseBleuHonnete]

The moral of the story here is not how bad HF was, but how freaking hard scouting really is.

and how much prospect tend to be overrated here...

 

[cheerupmurray]

Lots and lots of busts on that list

 

[El Diego]

7. Jeff Jillson (15), D, San Jose
Just call Jillson a poor man's version of Chris Pronger.

Just don't.

 

[alko]

5. Stanislav Chistov (NR), RW, Anaheim
Drafted by the Mighty Ducks 5th overall in 2001, many scouts felt that if Chistov was at least 6'0 tall, instead of 5'9, he would have seriously challenged Kovalchuk for 1st overall.

thats funny

 

[KristoLeblanc*]

I made that list for the 1998 HF.com rankings...

http://hfboards.com/showpost.php?p=24822782&postcount=1

On that "not ranked" category, you can make one powerhouse team with that.

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-St.Louis
Gagne-B.Richards-Gionta
Morrow-Ribeiro-Savard
Neil-Fisher-Horcoff

HM: Cheechoo and Gomez used to be good

Markov-Regehr
Timonen-Salo
Campbell-Kubina

HM: Mitchell, Tallinder, Hannan, quite a few others valuable dman

Thomas
Vokoun


HM: Nabokov

That team would be an instant cup favorite, by players who weren't even ranked. Impressive.

 

[TheBakester66]

I think you can tell by comparison even to the 1998 list that the 2001 list simply had plenty of poor choices. Many of the busts may have occurred due to the dead-puck era (making it extremely difficult to come up and add value if you are a strictly offensive player) and lack of salary cap (not forcing teams to turn over their rosters to youngsters to curtail costs) simply hampering many young players from making an impact. It is possible that some of these guys would have had major impact if they were coming up today. With that said, I seriously disliked much of that 2001 class, so it's hard for me to have sympathy for the list. Clearly the prospect class of 2001 in general was extremely weak in depth, at least as of 2001 anyways.

 

[Karlssonlee]

I'd still take Miller over Kovalchuk 10 out of 10 times. Koivu is ahead of Heatley because he's a great player at both ends of the ice and a franchise cornerstone, whereas Heatley is a gun.

Koivu > Heatley

no doubt about it. Koivu can actually carry a team while being a leader and having an impact on both ends of the ice.

Heatley will never be a go to guy.

The guy had the luxury of playing with; Kovalchuk, Spezza, Thornton, Alfredsson, Marleau, etc.

You put Heatley on Minnesota, and he's garbage. He can't create offense on his own.

 

[TheBradyBunch]

Koivu > Heatley

no doubt about it. Koivu can actually carry a team while being a leader and having an impact on both ends of the ice.

Heatley will never be a go to guy.

The guy had the luxury of playing with; Kovalchuk, Spezza, Thornton, Alfredsson, Marleau, etc.

You put Heatley on Minnesota, and he's garbage. He can't create offense on his own.

Heatley used to be a beast who could elevate his game to unthinkable levels. He's seemingly lost that ability. I dunno how much he could do alone now, but he was one of the leagues best for a stretch and had games where he was unstoppable. Thats the main thing thats missing from his game now, IMO. Your comment has some truth to it now, but in his first 2 or even 3 years in Ottawa? No way man.

 

[Bjorn Le]

Koivu > Heatley

no doubt about it. Koivu can actually carry a team while being a leader and having an impact on both ends of the ice.

Heatley will never be a go to guy.

The guy had the luxury of playing with; Kovalchuk, Spezza, Thornton, Alfredsson, Marleau, etc.

You put Heatley on Minnesota, and he's garbage. He can't create offense on his own.

Disgrunteled Sens fan or massively homer Wild fan?

 

[boredmale]

Clearly the prospect class of 2001 in general was extremely weak in depth, at least as of 2001 anyways.

It should be pointed out that the list comprises mostly people drafted in 1999-2001, three years that weren't the greatest draftwise.

I made that list for the 1998 HF.com rankings...

http://hfboards.com/showpost.php?p=24822782&postcount=1

It should be pointed out alot of guys on your forgotten list were 1998 draft picks

 

[Karlssonlee]

Heatley used to be a beast who could elevate his game to unthinkable levels. He's seemingly lost that ability. I dunno how much he could do alone now, but he was one of the leagues best for a stretch and had games where he was unstoppable. Thats the main thing thats missing from his game now, IMO. Your comment has some truth to it now, but in his first 2 or even 3 years in Ottawa? No way man.

I agree that he has regressed.

But even at his peak, he couldn't carry a line on his own. If he didn't have Alfredsson or Spezza feeding him the puck he couldn't carry line by himself.


If the line was...
Heatley - Fisher - Neil/Foligno

Do you really think he would have scored 50goals and 100pts? He wouldn't ever be able to use his one timer slap shot lol


Heatley, Spezza, Alfredsson all complimented each other perfectly and all benefited from one another. They were the best line in the NHL post lock out.

 

[Karlssonlee]

Disgrunteled Sens fan or massively homer Wild fan?

None.

Honestly try and list all the ALL-Star caliber players Koivu had the opportunity to play with.... (Brunette, Burns)

Heatley played with (Kovalchuk, Spezza, Alfredsson, Prime Redden, Chara, Thornton, Marleau, Boyle)


Koivu is so much more valuable to a franchise than Heatley will ever be.
If Heatley were in Koivu's position he would have asked for a trade by now lol.

 

[Bjorn Le]

None.

Honestly try and list all the ALL-Star caliber players Koivu had the opportunity to play with.... (Brunette, Burns)

Heatley played with (Kovalchuk, Spezza, Alfredsson, Prime Redden, Chara, Thornton, Marleau, Boyle)


Koivu is so much more valuable to a franchise than Heatley will ever be.
If Heatley were in Koivu's position he would have asked for a trade by now lol.

You can't leach a 2 straight 50 goal 100 point season off teammates. You have to be a pretty amazing hockey player to do that. You think Koivu could do that even with better linemates?

Heatley shows up in big games, one of Team Canadas all time best players, and was a huge reason Ottawa made it to the Cup Finals. He's was just as valuable or more valuable to his teams in his prime than Koivu is now.

 

[Fleuryoutside29]

Its so cool to look back and see where some of these players have ended up years later. How bout Kronwall as a 42nd pick to Detroit; thought that was a sweet one that stood out.

 

[TheBradyBunch]

I agree that he has regressed.

But even at his peak, he couldn't carry a line on his own. If he didn't have Alfredsson or Spezza feeding him the puck he couldn't carry line by himself.


If the line was...
Heatley - Fisher - Neil/Foligno

Do you really think he would have scored 50goals and 100pts? He wouldn't ever be able to use his one timer slap shot lol


Heatley, Spezza, Alfredsson all complimented each other perfectly and all benefited from one another. They were the best line in the NHL post lock out.

Obviously he wouldnt have been as good but he still would have hit at least 40g 45a imo. Nowadays, I think Heatley is just a 60-70 point guy, no matter where he plays or who he plays with. Back then, he could do a ton by himself. He has/had sick hands, very good speed until recently, and he used to play hard. If he got really serious and cut out all the b.s and really went hard during the offseason, I have no doubt he'd get back to pushing 40-45 numbers. The games lower scoring now and he won't ever be able to tear the league up again, but he certainly has all the ability to get back near the top of the leagues elite.

 

[Ensane]

I think you can tell by comparison even to the 1998 list that the 2001 list simply had plenty of poor choices. Many of the busts may have occurred due to the dead-puck era (making it extremely difficult to come up and add value if you are a strictly offensive player) and lack of salary cap (not forcing teams to turn over their rosters to youngsters to curtail costs) simply hampering many young players from making an impact. It is possible that some of these guys would have had major impact if they were coming up today. With that said, I seriously disliked much of that 2001 class, so it's hard for me to have sympathy for the list. Clearly the prospect class of 2001 in general was extremely weak in depth, at least as of 2001 anyways.

Very good point, and one that I hope isn't completely lost amidst the Koivu/Heatley mental exercise.

 

[Qvist]

Painful to read with all those busts..... I'd love to read the one from 2004, just after the 2003 draft.

Actually, I thought it was a pretty good list - better than I would have expected. Any prospect ranking contains players who bust, nothing wrong with that. It's not a crystal ball. Most of the busts on this list were very highly regarded prospects, who would have made any list at the time. And they managed to get quite a lot of those players who were drafted low but turned out well, which is really the big separator between useful and useless lists. Good job.