Prospect Info: HFAvs Prospect Ranking Polls 2021 - Main Thread

[McMetal]

Hello all, it's time for the annual prospect ranking polls to begin! This will be the main thread where the results are updated as we move through the polls. We're going to do a straight top 25, anybody that doesn't make the top 25 will fall off the rankings. We'll have five choices per poll until we reach #8, and then add two per round until we reach ten choices to reflect the variety of opinions as we get further down the list.

Position	Player	Draft	2021 Rank	2020 Rank	Change
D	Bowen Byram	2019 #4	1 (96.4%)	1	0
C	Alex Newhook	2019 #16	2 (99.1%)	2	0
D	Justin Barron	2020 #25	3 (89.2%)	5	+2
RW	Oskar Olausson	2021 #28	4 (43.3%)	-	-
RW	Martin Kaut	2018 #16	5 (31.8%)	3	-2
D	Drew Helleson	2019 #47	6 (40.5%)	10	+4
C	Jean-Luc Foudy	2020 #75	7 (34.9%)	8	+1
LW	Sampo Ranta	2018 #78	8 (58.4%)	11	+3
D	Sean Behrens	2021 #61	9 (63.7%)	-	-
G	Justus Annunen	2018 #64	10 (46.5%)	6	-4
C	Mikhail Maltsev	2016 #102 (TR)	11 (59.8%)	-	-
C	Shane Bowers	2017 #28 (TR)	12 (34.6%)	7	-5
C	Colby Ambrosio	2020 #118	13 (34.6%)	14	+1
RW	Nikolai Kovalenko	2018 #171	14 (43.2%)	9	-5
RW	Alex Beaucage	2019#78	15 (62.8%)	13	-2
D	Daniil Zhuravlyov	2018 #146	16 (33.8%)	15	-1
C	Andreas Wingerli	Undrafted	17 (49.0%)	-	-
C	Andrei Buyalski	2021 #92	18 (66.0%)	-	-
G	Trent Miner	2019 #202	19 (49.0%)	-	+7
LW	Tyler Weiss	2018 #109	20 (58.5%)	21	+1
D	Nick Leivermann	2017 #187	21 (56.8%)	20	-1
D	Nate Clurman	2016 #161	22 (32.7%)	22	0
C	Matthew Stienburg	2019 #63	23 (32.7%)	17	-6
C	Taylor Makar	2021 #220	24 (76.0%)	-	-
RW	Nick Henry	2017 #94	25 (50.0%)	19	-6

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

For reference, here is a complete list of the prospects that will be under consideration (if I missed any, let me know). This is defined as players who are in the system, but have not yet played 65 NHL games and/or have not yet played the season in which they turn 24.

Nils Åman
Colby Ambrosio
Justus Annunen
Justin Barron
Alex Beaucage
Sean Behrens
Shane Bowers
Andrei Buyalsky
Bowen Byram
Nate Clurman
Jean-Luc Foudy
Drew Helleson
Nick Henry
Martin Kaut
Nikolai Kovalenko
Nick Leivermann
Taylor Makar
Mikhail Maltsev
Trent Miner
Alex Newhook
Oskar Olausson
Sampo Ranta
Shamil Shmakov
Matthew Stienburg
Tyler Weiss
Andreas Wingerli
Daniil Zhuravlyov

Last year's rankings:

Position	Player	Draft	2020 Rank	2019 Rank	Change
LD	Bowen Byram	2019 #4	1 (91.7%)	2	+1
C	Alex Newhook	2019 #16	2 (98.0%)	3	+1
RW	Martin Kaut	2018 #16	3 (45.8%)	5	+2
D	Conor Timmins	2017 #32	4 (66.4%)	4	0
D	Justin Barron	2020 #25	5 (62.5%)	-	-
G	Justus Annunen	2018 #64	6 (59.7%)	16	+10
C	Shane Bowers	2017 #28 (TR)	7 (74.4%)	6	-1
C	Jean-Luc Foudy	2020 #75	8 (56.9%)	-	-
RW	Nikolai Kovalenko	2018 #171	9 (64.4%)	10	+1
D	Drew Helleson	2019 #47	10 (50.7%)	9	-1
LW	Sampo Ranta	2018 #78	11 (42.6%)	14	+3
G	Adam Werner	2016 #131	12 (50.0%)	13	+1
RW	Alex Beaucage	2019 #78	13 (50.0%)	19	+6
C	Colby Ambrosio	2020 #118	14 (31.0%)	-	-
D	Daniil Zhuravlyov	2018 #146	15 (47.9%)	HM	+11
RW	Sasha Mutala	2019 #140	16 (58.5%)	24	+8
C	Matthew Stienburg	2019 #63	17 (58.5%)	23	+6
RW	Ryder Rolston	2020 #139	18 (45.2%)	-	-
RW	Nick Henry	2017 #94	19 (36.7%)	17	-2
D	Nick Leivermann	2017 #187	20 (47.2%)	HM	+7
LW	Tyler Weiss	2018 #109	21 (58.8%)	21	0
D	Nathan Clurman	2016 #161	22 (40.6%)	HM	+8
C	Luka Burzan	2019 #171	23 (48.6%)	HM	+5
C	Nils Åman	2020 #167	24 (51.9%)	-	-
G	Shamil Shmakov	2018 #202	25 (57.5%)	HM	+4

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Click to read more...

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Thanks for doing this. Always interested to see how these rankings end up.

 

[McMetal]

Thanks for doing this. Always interested to see how these rankings end up.

It's kind of fun, I've grown to enjoy doing these every summer.

I think this year is going to be real interesting, there's quite a few prospects with similar potential who will probably make the 5-10 spots really close in terms of voting.

 

[Richard88]

Thanks for organizing this @McMetal, much appreciated.

I agree that it'll be really interesting to see how the 5-10 area plays out. I'd assume that the top 3-4 will be very predictable with Byram, Newhook, Barron, and then one of Kaut/Olausson.

 

[Belgican]

Curious to see how Kaut and Bowers stock will fall this year.

Bowers : 6 (2019) - 7 (2020) - ? (2021) 9, 10 ?
Kaut : 5 (2019) - 3 (2020) - ? (2021) 6, 7 ?

If the Avs have no interest in these prospects, maybe they should have been used as trade chips already ? Looks too late now.

 

[Richard88]

Curious to see how Kaut and Bowers stock will fall this year.

Bowers : 6 (2019) - 7 (2020) - ? (2021) 9, 10 ?
Kaut : 5 (2019) - 3 (2020) - ? (2021) 6, 7 ?

If the Avs have no interest in these prospects, maybe they should have been used as trade chips already ? Looks too late now.

Kaut still has some time as he's waiver exempt until 2023. I'd expect that he's still top 5 (Byram, Newhook, Barron, Olausson/Kaut) but Foudy/Helleson/Behrens/Ranta won't be far behind.

Bowers is only waiver exempt until next summer so the time is now for him (and for his trade value). If he doesn't make the NHL this season he'll be a waiver eligible forward with little or no NHL games which doesn't bode well for his chances.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Thanks again for doing this. I’ll pin this thread while it’s ongoing for an easier reference.

Kaut only, thankfully, has one more waiver exempt year.

 

[Tweaky]

Mutala is not on the list, and I imagine it is because the Avs did not sign him....but the Eagles did, so I am unsure as to his status.

 

[McMetal]

Mutala is not on the list, and I imagine it is because the Avs did not sign him....but the Eagles did, so I am unsure as to his status.

Technically, he could have signed an ELC with any team, so he's not "in our system" anymore. I'm not 100% sure either, but Mutala and Burzan I decided to leave off, since we technically relinquished their rights when we declined to offer ELCs after two years. Maybe @henchman24 can clarify whether they should count or not.

 

[henchman21]

Technically, he could have signed an ELC with any team, so he's not "in our system" anymore. I'm not 100% sure either, but Mutala and Burzan I decided to leave off, since we technically relinquished their rights when we declined to offer ELCs after two years. Maybe @henchman24 can clarify whether they should count or not.

Does it even matter? Does any of this matter?

 

[tigervixxxen]

They should not count. AHL contract doesn’t mean much of anything. If the Avs offer them an ELC then it might be different but unless that happens they are in the same boat as all the other non-NHL contracted Eagles players.

 

[Tweaky]

Cool, just wondered

 

[Richard88]

Does it even matter? Does any of this matter?

One of your finest posts

 

[henchman21]

To add to the no reasons… they can be signed at any point by any team. Doesn’t matter if they play in Loveland, the Kraken could sign then 10 games into the season or tomorrow.

 

[Richard88]

All that should matter is that the Avs own the players rights right now: that they are under 23: and that they haven't played 60 NHL games yet.

 

[TatteredTornNFrayed]

Nitpicking here, but I'd argue that Bowers and Ambrosio's percentages should each be recorded as 34.6%, not the runoff percentages, to properly compare apples to apples with the others in the table if/when we look back.

 

[McMetal]

Nitpicking here, but I'd argue that Bowers and Ambrosio's percentages should each be recorded as 34.6%, not the runoff percentages, to properly compare apples to apples with the others in the table if/when we look back.

Yeah, that's fair. I went back and forth on it. Updated.

 

[Sea Eagles]

Curious to see how Kaut and Bowers stock will fall this year.

Bowers : 6 (2019) - 7 (2020) - ? (2021) 9, 10 ?
Kaut : 5 (2019) - 3 (2020) - ? (2021) 6, 7 ?

If the Avs have no interest in these prospects, maybe they should have been used as trade chips already ? Looks too late now.

They won't. They'll both end up being full time NHL players for us within 18 months.

 

[S E P H]

Yeah this is a weird transition year for our prospect pool, a lot of players with decent-ish potential are dropping because Byram, Newhook, and Barron are still on the board making our cupboard look really deep. I get that Hench is being cautious, but that's as good of a top 15 compared to the rest of the league (a team like the Kings have way better top end talent though). It will probably be the deepest at this point in a long-time since Sakic is going into "trade away every pick" now mode and should continue to be in the future as well. This is where Avs scout team with Klipp in charge will have to find some gems in the 3rd round and beyond to continue the success and add good ELC depth players to the core pieces.

 

[McMetal]

Yeah this is a weird transition year for our prospect pool, a lot of players with decent-ish potential are dropping because Byram, Newhook, and Barron are still on the board making our cupboard look really deep. I get that Hench is being cautious, but that's as good of a top 15 compared to the rest of the league (a team like the Kings have way better top end talent though). It will probably be the deepest at this point in a long-time since Sakic is going into "trade away every pick" now mode and should continue to be in the future as well. This is where Avs scout team with Klipp in charge will have to find some gems in the 3rd round and beyond to continue the success and add good ELC depth players to the core pieces.

Yeah, once the top 2 graduate, and without a first in the deep 2022 draft, our top end prospects are going to look really, really thin next year unless Olausson really turns out to be great. We'll have to hope some of the rest turn into cheap depth, too as the cap starts to squeeze us harder.

 

[McMetal]

And we are done! That's the 2021 prospect ranking polls in the books! Thanks to everyone who participated, especially those who stayed in to the bitter end.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Thanks for taking on the challenge! @McMetal

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

And we are done! That's the 2021 prospect ranking polls in the books! Thanks to everyone who participated, especially those who stayed in to the bitter end.

Always appreciated. It’s good off-season discussion and fun to look back on.