Prospect Info: HFAvs Prospect Ranking Poll 2021 #12

[McMetal]

Mikhail Maltsev lands at #11 on the polls in his only year of eligibility.

1) Bowen Byram
2) Alex Newhook
3) Justin Barron
4) Oskar Olausson
5) Martin Kaut
6) Drew Helleson
7) Jean-Luc Foudy
8) Sampo Ranta
9) Sean Behrens
10) Justus Annunen
11) Mikhail Maltsev

Added Matthew Stienburg.

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[McMetal]

Ambrosio here. He had a really impressive freshman season and probably deserves to rise more. We'll see if he can build on it next year, he'll probably have an expanded role with BC losing a lot of talent.

Add Makar now I guess. Probably amounts to nothing but a novelty pick, but we'll see in four years.

 

[Richard88]

Bowers should start getting some votes now, but Ambrosio had a good D+1 and has more upside so I went with him.

Add Miner.

 

[Patagonia]

Bowers. I believe he should have been the chosen last round and expect him to reach the NHL this season.

Add Miner over Stienburg (garbage pick).

 

[henchman21]

Add Clurman

 

[tigervixxxen]

Bowers is the only guy left on this list who has a decent chance at getting NHL games this year. I get that he’s pretty much buried but if you have any belief that the Avs know what they are doing and that patience is actually part of a plan then he can’t go any lower than this.

I like Ambro but he’s gotta take another step to get to this part of the rankings, it hasn’t happened yet. He had a really nice season but also ran out of gas a bit and is much better at center.

My heart has to start going Kovalenko here. I just love his game and I don’t think him signing is off the table, he’s just not going to the AHL. He’s looked good in preseason that I’ve watched, he’s gonna get a bigger role.

Add Miner, I don’t really get the resistance. The guy actually earned every bit of his opportunity and we are talking about vs Stienburg and Clurman ffs.

 

[Pokecheque]

I said Ambrosio, but at this point I'm totally guessing.

I'm also down with adding Miner. Had a surprisingly good run in the AHL last season, maybe there's more there. At the very least, the Avs taking a North American goalie should say something about how much they liked him, right?

 

[McMetal]

I just don't see Bowers as an NHL prospect anymore. His offense just never really developed in the AHL, perhaps he was pulled out of college too soon. I suspect that there was just never enough skill there to be found. He would land behind long shots like Weiss and Buyalski for me.

 

[Bonzai12]

Add Makar. I’m about to buy his jersey.

 

[henchman21]

I said Ambrosio, but at this point I'm totally guessing.

I'm also down with adding Miner. Had a surprisingly good run in the AHL last season, maybe there's more there. At the very least, the Avs taking a North American goalie should say something about how much they liked him, right?

There really isn't... he's small and plays deep in his net, without the high end reads and athleticism to really have much there. He had a hot streak last year to start in the Dub, then was pretty mediocre to end the season. At best he's an AHL backup for his career.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Ambrosio.

Add Makar.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I just don't see Bowers as an NHL prospect anymore. His offense just never really developed in the AHL, perhaps he was pulled out of college too soon. I suspect that there was just never enough skill there to be found. He would land behind long shots like Weiss and Buyalski for me.

Funny thing is Bowers’ 7 goals were T-3rd on the team, he just had no assists. Only 4 players even managed 10 assists. It’s a screwed up offensive situation there and Bowers gets no PP1 or cheap situational time. It’s funny so many people push back on my Avs write guys off, the clock ticks a short time type stuff but it’s finally believed with Bowers. That ol patience and Detroit model not gonna come through, eh?

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Funny thing is Bowers’ 7 goals were T-3rd on the team, he just had no assists. Only 4 players even managed 10 assists. It’s a screwed up offensive situation there and Bowers gets no PP1 or cheap situational time. It’s funny so many people push back on my Avs write guys off, the clock ticks a short time type stuff but it’s finally believed with Bowers. That ol patience and Detroit model not gonna come through, eh?

I wouldn’t have any issue keeping him around in the AHL for a couple more years and just hoping he can be a role player at some point. But, last seasons results were a bit disappointing given where he’s at as a prospect.

 

[henchman21]

I defer to Ambrosio's skill here more than Bowers, but Bowers is just as legit of option. I certainly wouldn't have him behind Weiss and Buyalski. There are parts of the latter's games that I really like, but Bowers is much more projectable than either. I find the rankings here rather weird this year.

 

[McMetal]

Funny thing is Bowers’ 7 goals were T-3rd on the team, he just had no assists. Only 4 players even managed 10 assists. It’s a screwed up offensive situation there and Bowers gets no PP1 or cheap situational time. It’s funny so many people push back on my Avs write guys off, the clock ticks a short time type stuff but it’s finally believed with Bowers. That ol patience and Detroit model not gonna come through, eh?

Ranta managed 7 points in 14 games down there, and earned himself a cup of coffee in the NHL. Kaut was nearly a PPG player, Newhook tore it up for 9 in 8 games, and even 18 year old Foudy managed 5 more points in a full season. There's offense down there to be had if you have enough skill, I don't buy that the system is holding Bowers back when other prospects are managing to claw their way to some scoring.

I think we have to just admit that Bowers has no offense in his game, and that more than anything else is why he's not getting called up to the NHL. I'm not saying that your theory is wrong, just that Bowers is a poor example because he isn't NHL material to begin with. I've wished the Avs would take a chance on prospects before, but I really can't blame them with Bowers, he hasn't earned the opportunity yet and at this point I don't see how he can.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Ranta managed 7 points in 14 games down there, and earned himself a cup of coffee in the NHL. Kaut was nearly a PPG player, Newhook tore it up for 9 in 8 games, and even 18 year old Foudy managed 5 more points in a full season. There's offense down there to be had if you have enough skill, I don't buy that the system is holding Bowers back when other prospects are managing to claw their way to some scoring.

I think we have to just admit that Bowers has no offense in his game, and that more than anything else is why he's not getting called up to the NHL. I'm not saying that your theory is wrong, just that Bowers is a poor example because he isn't NHL material to begin with. I've wished the Avs would take a chance on prospects before, but I really can't blame them with Bowers, he hasn't earned the opportunity yet and at this point I don't see how he can.

Foudy scored 14 points in 34 games and scored 3 goals. Yes he was one of the ones who had 10+ assists but if this was his 20 year old season nobody would call that production impressive. The fact he looked so comfortable and was effective was great but that’s not lighting up the scoreboard.

Kaut as I’ve explained was given the top prospect role. Top line, PP1, OT, special situations like opponent extra attacker which is needed to get all the cheap points one can get down there. That’s where his jump in production suddenly came from.

Newhook let’s be honest feats on the PP, 5 of his 9 points came from the PP and he was put on the first unit to get those points. He totally transforms a PP so that’s a good thing but a lot of his points at BC were PP points too.

Sampo, he only had one power play goal in the AHL, his other 6 points were ES and he didn’t get the plum line placement Newhook did. He was doing it a lot on the third line. But I’m higher on Sampo than y’all...

Others: Foudy 2 PPA, Timmins all of his 1G 3A were PP, Bowers one PP G, Kaut 3G 5A, Barron 1A.

If the argument is Sampo did more with the third line role at ES than Bowers then I’m with you. All the others is not comparing apples to apples. It’s a shame the offensive system and constraints placed on the players prevents showing what they are really capable of. Yeah Bowers probably isn’t a big producer but that’s not the only criteria of judging worth of a player especially in this environment. Guys like Graves and Middleton were dog crap in the AHL, produced nothing and were terrible defensively and that never mattered. It’s all about perception and favor.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Ambrosio again.
Add Makar.

 

[McMetal]

Foudy scored 14 points in 34 games and scored 3 goals. Yes he was one of the ones who had 10+ assists but if this was his 20 year old season nobody would call that production impressive. The fact he looked so comfortable and was effective was great but that’s not lighting up the scoreboard.

Kaut as I’ve explained was given the top prospect role. Top line, PP1, OT, special situations like opponent extra attacker which is needed to get all the cheap points one can get down there. That’s where his jump in production suddenly came from.

Newhook let’s be honest feats on the PP, 5 of his 9 points came from the PP and he was put on the first unit to get those points. He totally transforms a PP so that’s a good thing but a lot of his points at BC were PP points too.

Sampo, he only had one power play goal in the AHL, his other 6 points were ES and he didn’t get the plum line placement Newhook did. He was doing it a lot on the third line. But I’m higher on Sampo than y’all...

Others: Foudy 2 PPA, Timmins all of his 1G 3A were PP, Bowers one PP G, Kaut 3G 5A, Barron 1A.

If the argument is Sampo did more with the third line role at ES than Bowers then I’m with you. All the others is not comparing apples to apples. It’s a shame the offensive system and constraints placed on the players prevents showing what they are really capable of. Yeah Bowers probably isn’t a big producer but that’s not the only criteria of judging worth of a player especially in this environment. Guys like Graves and Middleton were dog crap in the AHL, produced nothing and were terrible defensively and that never mattered. It’s all about perception and favor.

I just don't see how 9 points in 28 AHL games, under any circumstances, is worthy of a callup. If he was producing more, he would probably move up the ladder to get those opportunities with the plum roles, but he just isn't showing much that would give me any confidence he could produce at a 4th line level in the NHL right now. And going into his third professional season, it's hard to argue he's got a lot of room to improve at the AHL level. He's hit a wall in his development. It happens to players all the time.

I won't argue with you on Middleton, but the Avs were basically down to the bottom of the barrel on defensive depth there due to injuries. They were in full "throw shit at the wall" mode. As for Graves, I know we all hate him here, but he proved himself to be a legit NHL player the last two years, beyond any doubt. It's hard to say he's an example of favoritism, as though he didn't earn his NHL bona fides on his own merits. It's not like they kept him up as a charity case. He was and is an NHL player. Not a great one, but even a bad NHL regular is really goddamn good.