Prospect Info: HF Wild Prospect Rankings: #16

[Digitalbooya]

Prospect rankings. Rank how you see fit. Feel free to list your criteria as we progress through the list.

Beckman pulls through at the #15 spot! On to #16

1. Jesper Wallstedt (71.4%)
2. Broccoli Faber (43.2%)
3. Marco Rossi (56.1%)
4. Danila Yurov (63.9%)
5. Marat Khusnutdinov (51.4%)
6. Liam Ohgren (94.6%)
7. Charlie Stramel (46.2%)
8. Carson Lambos (55.2%)
9. Jack Peart (46.7%)
10. Riley Heidt (40.6%)
11. David Spacek (44.4%)
12. Daemon Hunt (54.5%)
13. Caedan Bankier (27.3%)
14. Rasmus Kumpulainen (29.0%)
15. Adam Beckman (30.4%)
16.


Feel free to make suggestions for prospects to add.

2022-23 Final Poll

Click to read more...

 

[Puhis]

Mikey time!

 

[Circulartheory]

Walker simply because he's the closest to the NHL, he's looked decent in his short showing, but also done very well in the AHL, that's more than any most prospects can ever say. But I'm really leaning into Haight as well because he seems to have the highest upside left on the list, probably higher than Heidt/Peart.

 

[TaLoN]

Still going with ROR

 

[57special]

I don't see how Haight rates here. So he did some drills well at a development camp that was stressed as a non competitive environment. Big deal. The guy has been highly rated for his skills for a couple of years now, but doesn't seem to be able to do it on the ice in a game, and a junior game at that. ROR, Walker, and Milne are in a far better league, playing against men.

 

[AKL]

I don't see how Haight rates here. So he did some drills well at a development camp that was stressed as a non competitive environment. Big deal. The guy has been highly rated for his skills for a couple of years now, but doesn't seem to be able to do it on the ice in a game, and a junior game at that. ROR, Walker, and Milne are in a far better league, playing against men.

I don't see it either. He seems like a prime candidate to not be able to play an NHL game.

But I also don't see it with a lot of these guys at this point. Walker for example is already 24, wasn't an offensive standout in college, had a nice but not great season in the AHL for his age, and his decent showing in the NHL (while playing mostly top six) was speed and very little offense. Seems like the second coming of Nic Petan.

Milne strikes me as a fourth liner if he can keep improving, which is fine, but hardly worth talking about.

 

[57special]

Well, once you get to #16 on the list, odds are they will not be NHL’ers, but we were probably saying that about Duhaime, Dewar, and Shaw a few years back.

 

[AKL]

Well, once you get to #16 on the list, odds are they will not be NHL’ers, but we were probably saying that about Duhaime, Dewar, and Shaw a few years back.

I've always felt that Dewar would be a good fourth liner with an outside shot and being a decent third liner.

But yeah that's what I'm trying to say, none of these guys really stand out as NHL players (I still think RoR will be one), so I don't begrudge anyone for picking the guy with the most raw skill here.

 

[Spurgeon]

I don't see how Haight rates here. So he did some drills well at a development camp that was stressed as a non competitive environment. Big deal. The guy has been highly rated for his skills for a couple of years now, but doesn't seem to be able to do it on the ice in a game, and a junior game at that. ROR, Walker, and Milne are in a far better league, playing against men.

ROR has 2 additional draft years of development, Walker is 5 years older, and Milne is 1.5 years older. Milne’s last year of WHL production is similar to Haight’s OHL production after he was traded to the Spirit (18G-33A in 42 games).

I don’t see how Haight isn’t in the discussion here tbh

 

[BagHead]

ROR has 2 additional draft years of development, Walker is 5 years older, and Milne is 1.5 years older. Milne’s last year of WHL production is similar to Haight’s OHL production after he was traded to the Spirit (18G-33A in 42 games).

I don’t see how Haight isn’t in the discussion here tbh

I'm willing to give him credit for his time in Saginaw, but if I do, I also need to deduct points for his time in Barrie. In Saginaw he was a high performer, in Barrie he was a middle of the lineup performer. The fact of the matter is that his season was a mixed bag, and it makes people question if his skill can translate regularly into production. It not doing so at the junior level, for a highly skilled player, is a bit of a red flag.

 

[Digitalbooya]

I don't see how Haight rates here. So he did some drills well at a development camp that was stressed as a non competitive environment. Big deal. The guy has been highly rated for his skills for a couple of years now, but doesn't seem to be able to do it on the ice in a game, and a junior game at that. ROR, Walker, and Milne are in a far better league, playing against men.

I cannot stress this enough, just because one plays in a men's league and the other plays in a junior league doesn't automatically make the men's league player better. This seems to be a recurring theme said in these threads. It's starting to drive me up a wall that reasoning is based more on league than actual skill or level of play from the player.

Walker shouldn't even be a prospect IMO due to his age, but some people wanted him included so I put him on the poll. He had a very mediocre end to a college career. Now he has one year in Iowa where he scored an extremely high 22.9% of his shots and people seem to really like him. It's just not sustainable. I expect a nice regression next season.

Is O'Rourke even going to make it on the Iowa defense? He's not better or more important developmental wise than Lambos or Hunt. Mermis is a better player and it appears to be able to play both sides. Mediocre third pairing AHL dmen don't jump out too much. Hard to get any sort of excitement out of him as a player.

Haight had the best pace of any forward not named Misa, an extremely talented 2025 eligible forward, on Saginaw. Even if you combined his not so great start in Barrie with his play in Saginaw, he would have been first on his team in scoring. Ahead of Sapovaliv, a fellow 2022 2nd rounder that was picked one spot after Haight. I don't see how he "doesn't seem to be able to do it on the ice in a game." Maybe you should elaborate more on what that means exactly. Cause he seems right in line with other 2nd round picks from 2022.

 

[AKL]

I cannot stress this enough, just because one plays in a men's league and the other plays in a junior league doesn't automatically make the men's league player better. This seems to be a recurring theme said in these threads. It's starting to drive me up a wall that reasoning is based more on league than actual skill or level of play from the player.

Can only speak for myself, but to me it's not a matter of being better, it's a matter of being more proven. It's a lot harder to do against men, so showing that you can gets you extra points.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Can only speak for myself, but to me it's not a matter of being better, it's a matter of being more proven. It's a lot harder to do against men, so showing that you can gets you extra points.

My issue here is did they really show it? There's an argument for Walker I guess. I don't expect him to put up the same next season. There's also a nice five year age gap. O'Rourke? I don't think he did anything special but exist at the AHL level. Milne showed he could be a good bottom 6 guy in the AHL. While he's from the same draft as Haight, he was drafted as an overager and is a little more physically mature.

 

[Wabit]

I cannot stress this enough, just because one plays in a men's league and the other plays in a junior league doesn't automatically make the men's league player better. This seems to be a recurring theme said in these threads. It's starting to drive me up a wall that reasoning is based more on league than actual skill or level of play from the player.

Is O'Rourke even going to make it on the Iowa defense? He's not better or more important developmental wise than Lambos or Hunt. Mermis is a better player and it appears to be able to play both sides. Mediocre third pairing AHL dmen don't jump out too much. Hard to get any sort of excitement out of him as a player.

Haight had the best pace of any forward not named Misa, an extremely talented 2025 eligible forward, on Saginaw. Even if you combined his not so great start in Barrie with his play in Saginaw, he would have been first on his team in scoring. Ahead of Sapovaliv, a fellow 2022 2nd rounder that was picked one spot after Haight. I don't see how he "doesn't seem to be able to do it on the ice in a game." Maybe you should elaborate more on what that means exactly. Cause he seems right in line with other 2nd round picks from 2022.

League does matter. In the CHL points are pretty much meaningless after you get past the ppg mark, it's just getting to that ppg number that matters. Just look at MN's recent history with Sokolov (lots of goals), Beckman (top player in his league). Khovanov (some stupid high numbers), or Rossi (labeled as NHL ready at his draft). All of these guys were penciled in (on these forums) to be to be in the lineup as a 1C, 3C, 2W, 3W straight out of their CHL teams. 2 of them busted out of the AHL, and the other 2 have spent 2 full seasons in the AHL (with a cup of coffee in the NHL).

Team and role on the team matters too. A player can look great and rack up a lot of points on good team with high quality players/linemates. Take away the great team/linemates and what does the player look like then? How much is it the team/line and how much is the player? It was a question with Rossi/Quinn in their draft and a question with Boldy (staked USDP team) at his draft.

You ask that about ROR, but the same question can be asked about Hunt or Lambos. They aren't better or more important developmentally than ROR. I see no separation between the 3 of them. I have Lambos behind the other 2 simply because ROR and Hunt know the team systems already. Even comparing the 3 of them on their last CHL season Lambos is behind the other 2 ppg.

Mermis being a better player isn't a surprise considering he's much older and has over 400 AHL games under his belt. The learning curve that Hunt and ROR (last year) and Lambos (this year) have to go through is gone for him.

 

[Wabit]

My issue here is did they really show it? There's an argument for Walker I guess. I don't expect him to put up the same next season. There's also a nice five year age gap. O'Rourke? I don't think he did anything special but exist at the AHL level. Milne showed he could be a good bottom 6 guy in the AHL. While he's from the same draft as Haight, he was drafted as an overager and is a little more physically mature.

For Walker it's now or never. A season in the AHL is needed to adjust to playing double the number of games a college player gets (it's one of the main drawback college has compared the other leagues). College kids tend to fall off the second half of their first pro season.

 

[57special]

Weird,I am in agreement with @Wabit and @Digitalbooya .

100% agree about Walker. He’s got to show up to camp stronger and thicker, and I’m not sure that he is Dean’s idea of a player(feisty, physical), so he’ll have to produce right away and not let up to have a chance to make the team. I actually think that he, Rossi, and Boldy might make an interesting “kid” line. I wouldn’t have said that in the past, but Boldy really put on some muscle last season and showed physicality. That line would have speed(Walker)to stretch the ice, IQ ( all three), passing(Rossi and Boldy), skill(all three), and a bit of physicality, though there is no doubt that would not be a strength, but you want your scoring lines to be scoring, not mashing people. To make it happen, though, Walker has to be a bit stronger, Rossi a bit stronger, faster(both skating and processing). There is no doubt that they were some of the most talented offensive players in the AHL last year, though.

I have zero belief that Dean would consider doing such a thing. I don’t know that he has any idea of how to nurture or develop scoring talent.

 

[Digitalbooya]

You ask that about ROR, but the same question can be asked about Hunt or Lambos. They aren't better or more important developmentally than ROR. I see no separation between the 3 of them. I have Lambos behind the other 2 simply because ROR and Hunt know the team systems already. Even comparing the 3 of them on their last CHL season Lambos is behind the other 2 ppg.

Lambos has better two way play and physical tools. Both Hunt and O'Rourke are limited in their toolset.

I kinda view Lambos the same as Spacek. There was nothing they could have done. The second they decided the junior league was where they would play this season sealed their fate of being discounted.