Hockey's Future Organizational Rankings, Spring 2011 1-10 - Discuss

trentmccleary

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You said the same thing in the last thread, and I'm not really sure why you're so against the Rangers ratings but I don't really agree with your point.

Stepan, Grachev, Thomas and Kreider do all have the potential to be 1st line players. Is it all that likely? No, probably not but the potential is there in all of them so I don't see the issue.

Aside from these four I also don't really remember any Rangers forwards prospects being touted as 1st line players. Not Dawes, not Korpikosi, not Immonen, certainly not Callahan or Dubinsky and not even Anisimov. So I don't really see the Rangers bias that your saying has been going on for years here.

And yeah, maybe Kreider is overrated, but I'm sure a ton of prospects on these lists are as well.

Anisimov was given a 7.5. The rest were hyped up a tonne here.
It's highly unlikely you'll produce 1st liners with picks beyond the 1st round. It's hard enough in the 1st round.

If any team could or should be proclaiming that they may have picked a 1st liner deep in the draft... maybe, maybe Detroit - who actually have a history. Not the Rangers who produced jack all in 20 years and certainly not multiple longshot potential 1st liners. :help:
 

Senor Catface

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Anaheim, Toronto and the Oilers should all be ahead of the Rangers, and they are...because it's not even close. :sarcasm:
 

Pugs35

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Anisimov was given a 7.5. The rest were hyped up a tonne here.
It's highly unlikely you'll produce 1st liners with picks beyond the 1st round. It's hard enough in the 1st round.

If any team could or should be proclaiming that they may have picked a 1st liner deep in the draft... maybe, maybe Detroit - who actually have a history. Not the Rangers who produced jack all in 20 years and certainly not multiple longshot potential 1st liners. :help:

Who cares where they're drafted? Obviously it's easier to produce 1st liners in the first half of the 1st Round but it's not exclusive. Every team on this list has a forward ranked 7.5 or higher that wasn't drafted in the Top-10. Are they all overrated?

Not to mention the legit NHLers like Giroux, Stastny, Krejci, Lucic, Bergeron, Benn, Eriksson, Pavelski etc. That's even excluding the ridiculous 2003 draft.

The Rangers haven't drafted forwards well (or 1st Rounders well) over the last 20 years, but that really doesn't have any bearing on whether their current prospects pan out or not.

This isn't to say that the Rangers have four sure-fire top line players here either. I think Stepan and Kreider can be decent 1st liners, but probably will be only good 2nd liners. Thomas and Grachev can both range from complete busts or turn into good 1st liners IMO. They're prospects, who knows.
 

driller1

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The Kings' pool is a little obscene, isn't it?

Good news for other teams- we can't play'em all. Teams looking for a #1 goalie or D man should have the Kings on speed dial, especially those needing PMD.

As a lifelong Kings fan, I've learned to temper expectations on prospects. I'll get excited if they just make it past Round 1 in the playoffs next year.
 

STL fan in MN

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I find it interesting how the Blues graduate Pietrangelo between the last organizational ranking and this one yet they go from 6th to 5th in that time. I like it though!
 

victor

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Anaheim, Toronto and the Oilers should all be ahead of the Rangers, and they are...because it's not even close. :sarcasm:

As an Oiler fan, I think that they're approximately where they should be, based on Hall, Hemsky, Eberle, and Dubnyk graduating.

OMark will graduate next season, and Petry and Hartikainen looked good at the end of the season. I expect that they will push for jobs next season on the big club, and wouldn't be shocked to see them graduate as well.

Marincin, Hamilton, Pitlick, Plante, Teubert, and others will fight for time with the new draft picks - Edmonton will likely draft five times in the first 75 picks. Next year, I hope that they'll continue their climb.
 

Mr Sakich

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as an Oiler fan, I am surprised they are as high as 10th. All of their recent first round picks are currenntly in the nhl playing. I was hoping they would be top 20.

Pitlick, marincin, hamilton, lander, and hartikanin all look to be sure bets for the nhl and they were 2nd round or later. Having 3 picks in the top 31 is actually kind of exciting because they seem to be on a roll with drafting.
 

Oberyn

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As an Oiler fan, I think that they're approximately where they should be, based on Hall, Hemsky, Eberle, and Dubnyk graduating.

OMark will graduate next season, and Petry and Hartikainen looked good at the end of the season. I expect that they will push for jobs next season on the big club, and wouldn't be shocked to see them graduate as well.

Marincin, Hamilton, Pitlick, Plante, Teubert, and others will fight for time with the new draft picks - Edmonton will likely draft five times in the first 75 picks. Next year, I hope that they'll continue their climb.

I think Hemsky graduated a while ago.....
 

deanmoriarty

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Great to see the Oilers at 10th despite losing Hall, Eberle, and MPS to graduation. There's finally some real depth to the prospect pool. I personally think Lander will be the best of the current group, but Marincin could end up being a beast if this season was any indication. And they get to add a bunch of quality this summer. Awesome.
 

State of Hockey

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Anaheim went from 19th last year to 8th this year while losing their top-3 prospects (Sbisa, Gardiner, Beleskey) from their prospects list and not gaining their top 2010 first rounder due to graduation.

One those annual spring rankings was not very accurate.
 

Mantha Poodoo

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Not exactly about the rankings, but something within the content of the rankings:

Top among the centers is Tomas Tatar, who is expected to become a full time NHLer in 2011-12

Don't disagree with the 'top among the centers' part, but uh... what? Who got this idea he's going to be a full time NHLer next season?

Red Wings forwards signed to next season:

Datsyuk
Zetterberg
Filppula
Helm
Bertuzzi
Cleary
Holmstrom
Abdelkader
Hudler

Graduations:

Mursak
Emmerton

Likely to return:

Eaves

Possible to return:

Draper (Taking loyalty into consideration, he might get #13 spot at league min. if he wants to play)
Miller (Think he's gone, but you never know)

That's 11 spots locked in between the signed and the graduates, and 12 forwards if Eaves re-signs. If Tatar is up full time it means either one of that group is sitting a lot or Tatar is the 13th forward (Which would be terrible). Furthermore, Tatar would likely be playing wing in that case. And then there's the possibility of an FA signing if Holland wants more experienced scoring... he's not exactly one to rush prospects up if its unnecessary.

Mind you, there are scenarios in which Tatar could come up and fit, and it regards certain players being moved... I wouldn't count on that, though. 12-13 is a lot more likely season for Tatar with several of the Wings older contracts, most notably scoring-centric guys, coming off the books and leaving a perfect hole in the Wings roster for a player of Tatar's skillset. Another year to bulk wouldn't hurt him, either. I suppose there's a chance he could win a spot in camp/pre-season.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him get significant call-up time, however. He makes an ideal replacement for any scoring injury, and there isn't any other forward in the system that would have such a high priority at getting an NHL-level look (whereas this year Mursak and Emmerton also warranted looks what with their options running out this last season).
 

GT500x

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Not exactly about the rankings, but something within the content of the rankings:



Don't disagree with the 'top among the centers' part, but uh... what? Who got this idea he's going to be a full time NHLer next season?

Yeah, that made me take a step back and look at it sideways just to make sure I was reading it right. Don't know what the hell they were thinking there.
 

HighLifeMan

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Anaheim went from 19th last year to 8th this year while losing their top-3 prospects (Sbisa, Gardiner, Beleskey) from their prospects list and not gaining their top 2010 first rounder due to graduation.

One those annual spring rankings was not very accurate.

I agree, I dont think a team should be considered for the top 10 while having Emerson Etem as your top prospect.
 

Mantha Poodoo

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Yeah, that made me take a step back and look at it sideways just to make sure I was reading it right. Don't know what the hell they were thinking there.

Yea, it's not even that Tatar isn't possibly NHL-worthy at this point... it's just that such a move is so not Ken Holland/Red Wings that I'd have to wonder where that came out of.
 

Celtic Note

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I find it interesting how the Blues graduate Pietrangelo between the last organizational ranking and this one yet they go from 6th to 5th in that time. I like it though!

Schwartz and Tarasenko were slightly overlooked on the last rating IMO.
 

Belenos

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Niederreiter...It's Niederreiter!
(Not Neiderreiter... Just compare the translated meanings: Niederreiter: Low rider; Neiderreiter: Envier rider! ;-) )
 

Koffein

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Mar 20, 2009
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I agree, I dont think a team should be considered for the top 10 while having Emerson Etem as your top prospect.
Anaheim was 13 in the november rankings and has since lost Fowler, Gardiner and Sbisa to trade or graduation, so I'm a little surprised as well. Especially that we climbed Toronto after trading them our previous top prospect.
I assume the motivation for this is that many of our prospects has shown alot of improvement during the season. Holland was great on his short stint in Syracuse, Etem has developed nicely, McMillan showed he belongs in the NHL, Vatanen was one of the top defensemen in Finland, Schultz was a Hobey Baker finalist and WCHA Defensive Player of the Year and Smith-Pelly has been a beast in the OHL playoffs.
 

Stealth JD

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I actually prefer Nashville's prospect pool to LA's or Florida's. Florida's is probably a couple places too high...deep but mediocre outside of Markstrom & Gudbranson. LA's doesn't seem as strong as season's past, but is still tremendously deep. I'd probably put the top-5:

1. Nashville
2. LA
3. St. Louis
4. Florida
5. Isles
 

HanSolo

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No surprise that the Rangers are ahead of who they are ahead of. I just really don't think that we had a top 10 pool. Maybe the prospect depth across the league is just that weak?

But we definitely should be ahead of Anaheim, Toronto and the Oilers. And it's not even really close.

Of course you would think so. We expected nothing less.

Bobkov-led Russia to a shocking WJC win
Smith-Pelly: tore it up in the OHL finals and is starting to look like a great third line grinder that can score
Vatanen: Basically the sm-liga's Mike Green

No one really looks at them
 

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