Prospect Info: HFOil Top 20 Oilers Prospects 2015 (POLL #5)

[McMozesmadness]

Congratulations to Poll #4 winner:

Griffin Reinhart



Thanks to all who voted in poll #4

If you want a name added to the next poll please LMK.

HFOil Top 20 Oilers Prospects 2015
1) Connor McDavid - C - Erie Otters - OHL - 100%
2) Darnell Nurse - D - Soo Greyhounds - OHL - 66%
3) Leon Draisaitl - C - Kelowna Rockets - WHL - 30%*
4) Griffin Reinhart - D - Bridgeport S.Tigers - AHL - 78%
* Poll #3 was skipped due to obvious results

Click to read more...

 

[McMozesmadness]

I think this is where I stray from the consensus. Jujhar Khaira for me.

 

[Connor McSaviour]

Brossioit

 

[Bangers]

Brossoit.

 

[McDNicks17]

Brossoit for me.

 

[McOvechking]

I think Yakimov has a better chance of being an NHL player than Brossoit does. Had to go with him.

 

[McGlassbangers]

Big Bo Yakimov

 

[Paralyzer008]

Bogdan Yakimov.

Tracking well, he's going to make it tough for us, might end up making Lander switch to a winger.

A big C who can play a possession game.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

Now things get interesting.

Voted Brossoit. Just have that feeling about him. Big, quick, sound technically and better every year.

 

[Oilception]

Yakimov then Slepyshev and then Brossoit

 

[Sweetpotato]

Laleggia for me. So much offensive talent, just about every box checked off.

 

[Gone]

Is it just me, or other than the top 4 - 5 spots, the organization is really lacking in talent with 'NHL Potential"?

 

[Smartguy]

Goalies are a crap shoot anymore, big centres are hot commodity went with yakimov

 

[McMozesmadness]

Is it just me, or other than the top 4 - 5 spots, the organization is really lacking in talent with 'NHL Potential"?

I disagree. I like the depth and feel there are some excellent role players in our pool.

Our forward core is amazing going forward we need guys like Khaira, Yakimov, Slepyshev, and Chase to come in and insulate our "core".

As for the defence. I firmly believe we have one of the top 5 D pools, both in depth and talent.

Goal is a mystery but Brossoit looks to be progressing well.

 

[Stud Muffin]

Slepyshev for me.
He's the missing RH Bomb that we need on our power play.

 

[LTIR]

Way too early to be sold on Yakimov... He is good 2 or 3 tiers below Draisaitl in terms of effectiveness... Bigger version of Marc Pouliot perhaps and a long shot to be dominant in AHL let alone be an NHLer..
Lucky for us we just need one of Yakimov/Moroz/ Khaira to pan out.

Went with LB..

 

[CupofOil]

Is it just me, or other than the top 4 - 5 spots, the organization is really lacking in talent with 'NHL Potential"?

It's not just you. Outside of the top 4, the Oilers might have the weakest prospect pool in the league. The top 4 is probably the best in the league though.

I picked Brossoit here but I'm far from sold on him. Slepyshev is a sleeper for me, I'd like to see how he plays the North American game first though.

 

[LTIR]

Is it just me, or other than the top 4 - 5 spots, the organization is really lacking in talent with 'NHL Potential"?

Not really.. We lack top end potential but with a solid top 6 of Hall,Nuge,Ebs,yak,McDavid and Sekera,Nurse,Klefbom,Reinhart on D we only really need supporting cast. We have plenty in pur prospect pool.. slepyshev,Yak2, Khaira, Moroz, Davidson, Leleggia, Betker, Chase, Platzer all have NHL potential in bottom pairing/ bottom6 roles.

 

[Fourier]

It's not just you. Outside of the top 4, the Oilers might have the weakest prospect pool in the league. The top 4 is probably the best in the league though.

I picked Brossoit here but I'm far from sold on him. Slepyshev is a sleeper for me, I'd like to see how he plays the North American game first though.

I don't really agree that the Oilers pool is as bad as you say relative to other teams.

I don't really think people appreciate how talented Slepyshev is. His resume would make him one of the best prospects on many teams. You have a kid here who was a KHL regular at 17, has Captained the Russian U18 and U 20 teams, and who is coming off a breakout year. He also looked great at the Spengler. How does he compare with Andreas Athanasiou for example who is ranked at roughly the same spot on the Red Wing's prospect pool? Having watched Athanasiou in the OHL I'd take Slepyshev over him for sure.

If you go to the 5th prospect on many teams they will not have his potential. I'd say the same thing about Yakimov. These guys are very under rated since most people know nothing about them. How would Yakimov compare with Fredrick Gauthier for example. Gauthier is about #6 on the Leaf's list and they are said to have a top 5 prospect pool. Both are roughly the same age as well.

Guys like Chase and Platzer were later picks but really took off post draft. They may not be high end talents but both could be useful NHL'ers. And few teams would have high end talents outside of their first few prospects.

Laleggia on the other hand is extremely talented. He also has a spectacular college resume. His main issue is that he is not that big. But 'd take him over Mike Reilly who was this year's Justin Schultz.

Davidson may not be an exciting name but he probably passed Marincin on the Oilers depth chart before Marty was traded. He is very close to being NHL ready. He probably would never be anything more than a bottom pairing defenseman but for a prospect that in itself would be a significant accomplishment since the vast majority of even the higher ranked prospects on most teams never make it.

No question that the Oilers prospect pool drops off after #4 but their top 4 is absolutely exceptional. The other thing I like about the current prospect pool is that it suits the teams needs. They have Nurse and Reinhart as potential impact defenders which they certainly need. Laleggia is a long shot but could at some point be pp specialist.

They don't really need small skilled forwards. Going forward what will be a key is if they can get guys like Pitlick, Chase, Khaira, Yakimov, Moroz, and Kessy to fill out some of the bottom 4-5 forwards spots for cheap money. If two or three of those guys can do so it would be huge in terms of cap management down the line.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I went with Slepyshev, just over Brossoit and Yakimov. I like his size and skill set as a slightly better prospect then the rest.

I'm excited to see what he can do in camp and in NA this year.

 

[CupofOil]

I don't really agree that the Oilers pool is as bad as you say relative to other teams.

I don't really think people appreciate how talented Slepyshev is. His resume would make him one of the best prospects on many teams. You have a kid here who was a KHL regular at 17, has Captained the Russian U18 and U 20 teams, and who is coming off a breakout year. He also looked great at the Spengler. How does he compare with Andreas Athanasiou for example who is ranked at roughly the same spot on the Red Wing's prospect pool? Having watched Athanasiou in the OHL I'd take Slepyshev over him for sure.

If you go to the 5th prospect on many teams they will not have his potential. I'd say the same thing about Yakimov. These guys are very under rated since most people know nothing about them. How would Yakimov compare with Fredrick Gauthier for example. Gauthier is about #6 on the Leaf's list and they are said to have a top 5 prospect pool. Both are roughly the same age as well.

Guys like Chase and Platzer were later picks but really took off post draft. They may not be high end talents but both could be useful NHL'ers. And few teams would have high end talents outside of their first few prospects.

Laleggia on the other hand is extremely talented. He also has a spectacular college resume. His main issue is that he is not that big. But 'd take him over Mike Reilly who was this year's Justin Schultz.

Davidson may not be an exciting name but he probably passed Marincin on the Oilers depth chart before Marty was traded. He is very close to being NHL ready. He probably would never be anything more than a bottom pairing defenseman but for a prospect that in itself would be a significant accomplishment since the vast majority of even the higher ranked prospects on most teams never make it.

No question that the Oilers prospect pool drops off after #4 but their top 4 is absolutely exceptional. The other thing I like about the current prospect pool is that it suits the teams needs. They have Nurse and Reinhart as potential impact defenders which they certainly need. Laleggia is a long shot but could at some point be pp specialist.

They don't really need small skilled forwards. Going forward what will be a key is if they can get guys like Pitlick, Chase, Khaira, Yakimov, Moroz, and Kessy to fill out some of the bottom 4-5 forwards spots for cheap money. If two or three of those guys can do so it would be huge in terms of cap management down the line.

I see few NHLers there Fourier. I, like you, am intrigued by Slepyshev as I was really impressed by him in the WJC but know nothing about him outside of that.

Out of the others, I see Brossoit, maybe Chase and maybe Yakimov as potential NHLers and even they are up against it a bit. The rest are definition of dime a dozen IMO. LaLeggia is somewhat intriguing but he'll have to overcome the size issue.

However, I do agree that most teams outside of their top 3-4 have big question marks in their prospect pool since lower round picks are always fighting the odds The Oilers just seem to be weaker than most teams depthwise. It'll be interesting to see if any take a real step forward in Bakersfield and push for an NHL spot.

 

[Fourier]

I see few NHLers there Fourier. I, like you, am intrigued by Slepyshev as I was really impressed by him in the WJC but know nothing about him outside of that.

Out of the others, I see Brossoit, maybe Chase and maybe Yakimov as potential NHLers and even they are up against it a bit. The rest are definition of dime a dozen IMO. LaLeggia is somewhat intriguing but he'll have to overcome the size issue.

However, I do agree that most teams outside of their top 3-4 have big question marks in their prospect pool since lower round picks are always fighting the odds The Oilers just seem to be weaker than most teams depthwise. It'll be interesting to see if any take a real step forward in Bakersfield and push for an NHL spot.

Realistically a team needs to replace about 2 players per year at most from their prospect pool to be very successful. To do so you need depth to about 5 players with a good chance of becoming an NHL regular. And most of these players would typically come from a teams first round picks. So if you are expecting sure fired NHl'ers beyond say #6-#7 at any one point your expectations are too high.

I also don't see why this pool would be considered weaker than most other teams from #5 onward. Who are the #5-10 prospects on these teams that you find better. As I said would you pick Gauthier over Yakimov? You use the term "dime a dozen" but I bet you would say the same of similarly ranked prospects on other teams.