Prospect Info: HFBoards Canucks Prospect Rankings Since 2013

[DomY]

I've gone back and compiled the Top 20 lists from HFBoards votes since 2013. Due to technical difficulties, 2015 involved some guesswork having to go through all the individual threads and figure out who had been eliminated and work backwards. It's very noticeable from 2016 onward that there was an onslaught of very real, quality prospects entering the system, instead of wishing on a star for everything to break right for Cole Cassels to be a bottom six forward.

EDIT: Bold is prospects added in draft year. Underline is a prospect who was traded for since previous off-season. Asterisk (*) traded during the offseason

EDIT 2: Updated to include 2019 HFBoards rankings.

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
1	Bo Horvat	Bo Horvat	Jake Virtanen	Brock Boeser	Brock Boeser	Elias Pettersson	Quinton Hughes
2	Hunter Shinkaruk	Jake Virtanen	Jared McCann	Olli Juolevi	Elias Pettersson	Quinton Hughes	Vasili Podkolzin
3	Frank Corrado	Hunter Shinkaruk	Brock Boeser	Thatcher Demko	Olli Juolevi	Thatcher Demko	Thatcher Demko
4	Niklas Jensen	Niklas Jensen	Thatcher Demko	Jake Virtanen	Thatcher Demko	Olli Juolevi	Jett Woo
5	Brendan Gaunce	Brendan Gaunce	Cole Cassels	Nikita Tryamkin	Jonathan Dahlen	Jonathan Dahlen	Nils Hoglander
6	Jordan Schroeder	Jared McCann	Hunter Shinkaruk	Brendan Gaunce	Adam Gaudette	Adam Gaudette	Tyler Madden
7	Eddie Lack	Frankie Corrado	Brendan Gaunce	Jordan Subban	Nikolay Goldobin	Kole Lind	Olli Juolevi
8	Joacim Eriksson	Linden Vey	Ronalds Kenins	Troy Stetcher	Jake Virtanen	Nikolay Goldobin	Michael DiPietro
9	Alexandre Mallet	Ben Hutton	Frank Corrado	Guillaume Brisebois	Kole Lind	Jett Woo	Jack Rathbone
10	Ben Hutton	Thatcher Demko	Adam Clendening*	Adam Gaudette	Jonah Gadjovich	Michael DiPietro	Zack MacEwan
11	Henrik Tommernes	Dane Fox	Ben Hutton	Andrey Pedan	Will Lockwood	Jonah Gadjovich	Will Lockwood
12	Peter Andersson	Cole Cassels	Jordan Subban	Cole Cassels	Jordan Subban	Petrus Palmu	Guillaume Brisebois
13	Ludwig Blomstrand	Joacim Eriksson	Guillaume Brisebois	Tate Olson	Guillaume Brisebois	Lukas Jasek	Ethan Keppen
14	Patrick McNally	Nikita Tryamkin	Alex Grenier	William Lockwood	Michael DiPietro	Tyler Madden	Kole Lind
15	Joe Cannata	Jordan Subban	Andrey Pedan	Cole Candella	Zack MacEwen	Will Lockwood	Linus Karlsson
16	Jordan Subban	Evan McEneny	Dmitry Zhukenov	Mike Zalewski	Evan McEneny	Jack Rathbone	Tony Utunen
17	Darren Archibald	Ronalds Kenins	Nikita Tryamkin	Dmitry Zhukenov	Jalen Chatfield	Zack MacEwen	Lukas Jasek
18	Cole Cassels	Michael Zalewski	Niklas Jensen	Jakob Stukel	Petrus Palmu	Guillaume Brisebois	Jonah Gadjovich
19	Evan McEneny	Gustav Forsling	Lukas Jasek	Carl Neill	Jack Rathbone	Toni Utenen	Francis Perron*
20	Joseph LaBate	Alexandre Grenier	Evan McEneny	Lukas Jasek	Philip Holm	Ashton Sautner	Jack Malone
21	Kellan Lain	Anton Cederholm	Dane Fox
22	Anton Cederholm	Kellan Lain

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Click to read more...

 

[DomY]

Bonus Rankings from 2006:

1. Luc Bourdon
2. Cory Schneider
3. Michael Grabner
4. Kevin Bieksa
5. Jannik Hansen
6. Alexander Edler
7. Jesse Schultz
8. Julien Ellis
9. Mason Raymond
10. Alexandre Vincent
11. Daniel Rahimi
12. Kirill Koltsov
13. Juraj Simek
14. Mike Brown
15. Matt Butcher
16. Rick Rypien
17. Sergei Shirokov
18. Nathan McIver
19. Kris Fredheim
20. Denis Grot

 

[Balls Mahoney]

I'm still salty Shirokov never got a proper role on this team.

 

[Pip]

It has definitely improved but it is tough to compare a prospect pool from 2013 for example with the benefit of hindsight to 2017 where even the long shots like Palmu and Rathbone are seen as decent prospects.

 

[DomY]

I'm not sure I understand. When you get to 13-16 range of any farm system, you're unlikely to get any sure things. 2013's #16 Jordan Subban had a cup of coffee in the NHL. I'm not sure it's unreasonable to hope for Rathbone to dress in a handful of NHL games by 2023, nor do I think the board is declaring Rathbone is anything more than a project with interesting upside but many years away. I remember legitimate hype around Jordan Subban on these boards, saying that he would be "the best Subban of the group if only he could grow."

Anyways, there was no point or message I intended to draw from my exercise. I just thought it would be interesting to see the prospect pools now vs. the last five years (ie: the furthest back this board will let me search).

 

[VanillaCoke]

So many straight up busts

 

[DomY]

Edited OP to include some context. Bold is prospects added in draft year. Underline is a prospect who was traded for since previous off-season. Asterisk (*) traded during the offseason.

Interesting that in 2017, the Canucks added 8 of their top 20 prospects even after graduating Virtanen, Stetcher, Tryamkin, Gaunce, and Pedan (traded at the beginning of the season).

Also interesting that the 2018 rankings basically swap out Boeser, Virtanen, McEneny, Chatfield and Holm for Hughes, Woo, Madden, Utenen, and Sautner

 

[Archangel]

So many straight up busts

ALL teams have their fair busts and as of right now. We have more hits then misses in my opinion

 

[Southern_Canuck]

What's interesting to me is big jumps up or down year-to-year as more is seen and known about a prospect:

Tryamkin 17th in 2015 - jumps to 5th in 2016

Demko 10th in 2014 - jumps to 4th in 2015 (3rd 2016, 4th 2017, 3rd 2018)

Cassels 19th in 2013 - jumps to 12th in 2014 - another jump to 5th in 2015 - then plummets back to 13th in 2016 - and off the list in 2017!

S_C

 

[sting101]

Brisebois has the most interesting volatility while continuing a smooth upward trajectory

 

[Jyrki21]

Lockwood should be un-bolded for 2017, BTW.

 

[DomY]

Lockwood should be un-bolded for 2017, BTW.

Thanks. Corrected.

I am not sure if this is allowed since there's a paywall, but The Athletic is doing their top 20 prospects right now:

Ranking	Prospect	HFBoards Ranking
1	Elias Pettersson	1
2	Quinn Hughes	2
3	Thatcher Demko	3
4	Olli Juolevi	4
5	Jonathan Dahlen	5
6	Adam Gaudette	6
7	Kole Lind	7
8	Jett Woo	9
9	Jonah Gadjovich	11
10	Zack MacEwen	17
11	Michael DiPietro	10
12	Guillaume Brisebois	18
13	Petrus Palmu	12
14	Lukas Jasek	13
15	Matthew Brassard	NR
16	Jalen Chatfield	NR
17	Jack Rathbone	16
18	Tyler Madden	14
19	Toni Utunen	19
20	Matthew Thiessen	NR

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[DomY]

Bumping this thread because it's the dog days of summer and the current HFBoards polls are currently going on.

 

[iceburg]

Bonus Rankings from 2006:

1. Luc Bourdon
2. Cory Schneider
3. Michael Grabner
4. Kevin Bieksa
5. Jannik Hansen
6. Alexander Edler
7. Jesse Schultz
8. Julien Ellis
9. Mason Raymond
10. Alexandre Vincent
11. Daniel Rahimi
12. Kirill Koltsov
13. Juraj Simek
14. Mike Brown
15. Matt Butcher
16. Rick Rypien
17. Sergei Shirokov
18. Nathan McIver
19. Kris Fredheim
20. Denis Grot

Interesting. 8 went on to have solid NHL careers (should have been 9). Now go back and ask the same question for 2013...

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Hunter Shinkaruk the most surprising bust

 

[Canucks1096]

2013 only two top 10 prospect made it to the nhl.

2019 we have 3 for sure future nhl players already Hughes, Podkolzin and Demko. Hoglander and Woo most likely will be nhl players. Juolevi and Madden are 50/50 they will make it to the nhl. Rathbone, Dipietro, Macewan are still long shots to make it to the nhl.

 

[Upoil]

2013 only two top 10 prospect made it to the nhl.

2019 we have 3 for sure future nhl players already Hughes, Podkolzin and Demko. Hoglander and Woo most likely will be nhl players. Juolevi and Madden are 50/50 they will make it to the nhl. Rathbone, Dipietro, Macewan are still long shots to make it to the nhl.

2013:
Bo Horvat - 377 NHL Games
Frank Corrado - 76 NHL Games
Niklas Jensen - 31 NHL Games
Brendan Gaunce - 117 NHL Games
Eddie Lack - 143 NHL Games
Ben Hutton - 276 NHL Games

Now, I obviously don't know what random number of games you are using in your head to say only two prospects made it to the NHL (I'm sure you'll say something like more than 200) but on the face your comment is patently false.

More interesting is your implication that you think a newly drafted Hoglander or Woo will easily play more games than a Gaunce or Hutton. Same as every year - just gotta wait for some of that shine to come off.

 

[Balls Mahoney]

I'm probably the only one who feels like this but it was one of the most disgusting things I've witnessed in the modern age to watch HF delete all their archives that extended back to 2001 in order to save money and space. All that hockey history just gone forever. Imagine being able to go back and read HFNerds bitching about the Burke era or whether Dan Cloutier will ever pull it together. Especially all that prospect info and by now, you could have literally followed and pieced together guy's entire professional careers game by game following them through threads and GDTs through time. Really shitty HF got rid of it. Think of all the cool books and research we'll lose because of this. We could have first hand reports of Crosby and Ovechkin in prospect threads before they came into the league.

But again, I'm probably the only one who's salty about this.

 

[Balls Mahoney]

Before they deleted the archives, going through the 00s Canucks prospect threads and info should have been accompanied by Benny Hill music. I think the Canucks hired old players just to hang out with each other, watch a couple WHL games and then drink beer and talk about how much better they were than these punk kids today.

Come to think of it... I don't think that scouting philosophy has changed all that much for the Canucks...

 

[Hoghandler]

2013:
Bo Horvat - 377 NHL Games
Frank Corrado - 76 NHL Games
Niklas Jensen - 31 NHL Games
Brendan Gaunce - 117 NHL Games
Eddie Lack - 143 NHL Games
Ben Hutton - 276 NHL Games

Now, I obviously don't know what random number of games you are using in your head to say only two prospects made it to the NHL (I'm sure you'll say something like more than 200) but on the face your comment is patently false.

Regardless of how you break it down, the list has 1 player that looks like an above replacement level talent - of the 22 listed.

Go back and look at the 3 previous drafts to those 4 and Kevin Connauton is the top NHL player found. In 7 drafts you have 1 above replacement level talent - in the age cohort of 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30.

43 picks - 1 above replacement level talent spanning 7 years. Had Nonis not brought in arguably the 2 best netminders in franchise history, that number would be zero.

 

[MS]

Regardless of how you break it down, the list has 1 player that looks like an above replacement level talent - of the 22 listed.

Go back and look at the 3 previous drafts to those 4 and Kevin Connauton is the top NHL player found. In 7 drafts you have 1 above replacement level talent - in the age cohort of 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30.

43 picks - 1 above replacement level talent spanning 7 years. Had Nonis not brought in arguably the 2 best netminders in franchise history, that number would be zero.

How many over-replacement level players did Boston select in the overlapping period that Jim Benning was overseeing the scouting arm of that organization? How many would the number be without the Phil Kessel trade?

How many over-replacement level players have we found here under Benning outside of top-10 picks?

I'll answer for you. In 11 drafts that Jim Benning has overseen from 2007-2017, this is the total list of over replacement-level players he's found, from 60 draft picks outside of the first round :

Matt Gryzalek.

That's all. Demko and Gaudette may be added to that list eventually.

Brock Boeser is basically the only pick in 11 years outside of the top-10 that added any substantial value to a franchise outside of the top 10 picks.

 

[Hoghandler]

How many over-replacement level players have we found here under Benning outside of top-10 picks?

The 1st pick Benning made outside the top 10 is one - Jared McCann

The next pick he made could be another - Thatcher Demko. TBD

The next pick he made was tracking like he could be one - Nikita Tryamkin. TBD

The 1st pick he makes the following draft is one - Brock Boeser

Unlike when we look at previous administrations picks, we don't have the runway to see how many of these picks will go on to find success. There are a ton of guys in our system taken outside the top 10 that could go on to be above replacement level players. Time will tell.

The successes or failures Benning had running the Sabres drafts or being an assistant GM isn't really what I'm concerned about. Our prospect pool is much more interesting, to me at least. And when looking at where it was in 2013 to where it's been in recent years, how could one not be encouraged?

There is a reason so many fans outside Vancouver are jealous of the young core the Canucks have assembled. And it sure wasn't done through trades and free agency.

 

[RandV]

Before they deleted the archives, going through the 00s Canucks prospect threads and info should have been accompanied by Benny Hill music. I think the Canucks hired old players just to hang out with each other, watch a couple WHL games and then drink beer and talk about how much better they were than these punk kids today.

Come to think of it... I don't think that scouting philosophy has changed all that much for the Canucks...

There's a team ranking and evaluation thread the prospects board that puts an interesting perspective for the Canucks, in that he's made breakdowns in 4 year spans going back 12 years. No formula is perfect of course, but it provides a static method to compare teams and I believe this one relies around draft pick games played.

2008-2011 - tail end of the Burke created Delorme era.
Canucks league ranking: 30th

2012-2015 - short tenure of Gillis created Crawford era + start of Benning transition.
Canucks league ranking: 12th

2016-2019 - Benning's Brackett era + 2016, obviously inconclusive at this point.
Canucks league ranking: 18th

 

[MS]

The 1st pick Benning made outside the top 10 is one - Jared McCann

The next pick he made could be another - Thatcher Demko. TBD

The next pick he made was tracking like he could be one - Nikita Tryamkin. TBD

The 1st pick he makes the following draft is one - Brock Boeser

Unlike when we look at previous administrations picks, we don't have the runway to see how many of these picks will go on to find success. There are a ton of guys in our system taken outside the top 10 that could go on to be above replacement level players. Time will tell.

The successes or failures Benning had running the Sabres drafts or being an assistant GM isn't really what I'm concerned about. Our prospect pool is much more interesting, to me at least. And when looking at where it was in 2013 to where it's been in recent years, how could one not be encouraged?

There is a reason so many fans outside Vancouver are jealous of the young core the Canucks have assembled. And it sure wasn't done through trades and free agency.

So you're not going to address Jim Benning's 11 years of drafting incompetence outside of the top-10?

Agreed that 2014 was Benning's best year ... in a year where by his own admission he sat back and evaluated while Crawford ran the draft.

 

[Pip]

2013 only two top 10 prospect made it to the nhl.

2019 we have 3 for sure future nhl players already Hughes, Podkolzin and Demko. Hoglander and Woo most likely will be nhl players. Juolevi and Madden are 50/50 they will make it to the nhl. Rathbone, Dipietro, Macewan are still long shots to make it to the nhl.

Haven’t we learned about counting our second rounds picks as “most likely” NHLers too soon?