The 'tuzz. He's doing quite well, considering his icetime and linemates. I'm much more confident about him than I am about Holmstrom, who is arguably the worst-skating Wings prospect I have ever seen. Maybe Axel can get that figured out. But if he doesn't improve a LOT and soon, I don't see him as an NHL player. On the other hand, I think Bert is very NHL-projectable. He might not be a huge scorer, but I could totally see him fitting in on the third line.
I'm also not sold on Hicketts. In particular, his strengths are things that aren't going to help him a lot at the pro level; he gets a lot done on compete level, hockey sense, strength, defensive ability, and ruggedness. By all accounts a great leadership guy. He's good but not great offensively, and a good but not spectacular skater. But that's not enough to stand out when he's closer to 5'6 than the 5'8 he's listed at. His lack of reach is going to be seriously exploited at the pro level, and his lack of major wheels to make up for it will be a significant difficulty. I just don't see it.
Russo is a wildcard. I need to see more, but I'm impressed.
