How stacked could the East be in a couple years?

[acrobaticgoalie]

looking at a few teams in the east, they're really shaping up to be stacked down the road. Even with the Leafs at the beginning of a rebuild, already have Marner, Nylander, Kapanen, Brown, Bracco, Kadri, Reilly and a few other decent prospects, plus whatever we end up with in the next one or 2 drafts. This team is starting to not look like it's in that bad a situation. I know these guys are just what they are and that's potential but if alot of these guys reach it we could have something.

Having said that there are teams in the east like the sabres with alot of blue chip prospects. The Islanders have just added Barzal, Beuvillier to a group of prospects that consist of Dal Colle, Ho- Sang, and Pulock . All nice pieces to surround the likes of Tavares, Strome, Nelson, and Okposo. The Caps, Panthers, Jackets all look good for the future and we all know how Deep the Lightning are with young talent. The East is going to be real exciting to watch in the next couple of seasons.

Even the Jets out West have yet to add Ehlers, Petan, Connor, Harkins, Roslovic, Morrisey and Lemieux to an already good looking team.

Click to read more...

 

[ATBLeafsTyler]

looking at a few teams in the east, they're really shaping up to be stacked down the road. Even with the Leafs at the beginning of a rebuild, already have Marner, Nylander, Kapanen, Brown, Bracco, Kadri, Reilly and a few other decent prospects, plus whatever we end up with in the next one or 2 drafts. This team is starting to not look like it's in that bad a situation. I know these guys are just what they are and that's potential but if alot of these guys reach it we could have something.

Having said that there are teams in the east like the sabres with alot of blue chip prospects. The Islanders have just added Barzal, Beuvillier to a group of prospects that consist of Dal Colle, Ho- Sang, and Pulock . All nice pieces to surround the likes of Tavares, Strome, Nelson, and Okposo. The Caps, Panthers, Jackets all look good for the future and we all know how Deep the Lightning are with young talent. The East is going to be real exciting to watch in the next couple of seasons.

Even the Jets out West have yet to add Ehlers, Petan, Connor, Harkins, Roslovic, Morrisey and Lemieux to an already good looking team.

Nice pieces? Yes. Will every prospect pan out/do as well as people expect? Probably not.

I'm not one to speculate on this stuff because anything can happen.

 

[Cor]

There is a lot of great young talent coming up league wide.

 

[Penguinator]

Interesting that the OP omitted to mention us since our core will be intact in a few years, the Lord of the hot-dogs included. Now i could understand if you based your assumption on our last injury plagued season but that just might have been an omission.

Cheers!

Keep on stackin'!

 

[MR4]

Interesting that the OP omitted to mention us since our core will be intact in a few years, the Lord of the hot-dogs included. Now i could understand if you based your assumption on our last injury plagued season but that just might have been an omission.

Cheers!

Keep on stackin'!

Unless the cap goes up pretty significantly, I'll be surprised to see a team with depth and keeping the top guys in Pittsburgh in ~5 years. You are gonna be contenders now, but it seems the thread was made for a "Look 5 years into the future" type idea

 

[Penguinator]

Ah ok, a bit confusing i'd say.

Our core is signed long term though.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

Unless the cap goes up pretty significantly, I'll be surprised to see a team with depth and keeping the top guys in Pittsburgh in ~5 years. You are gonna be contenders now, but it seems the thread was made for a "Look 5 years into the future" type idea

Exactly. The pens don't have any high end prospects other than Pouliot. With Crosby, Malkin,Kessel and Letang all making top dollars they havent done a very good job of surrounding those players with highend talent in the pipeline. They are aging and declining and i don't see that core staying in tact past 3-4 years, especially Letang. The teams i mentioned in my opening post are good examples of teams constantly stocking the cupboards with high end talent to compliment their top players. I agree with the Canes owner when he said Rutherford is depleting their farm.

 

[Penguinator]

Karmanos or whatever the Canes GM is named is just jealous that Rutherford is doing better on a bigger budget.

As for our top end talents, we've just drafted Sprong, you know, that guy with crazy hands? Also have Murray, AHL goalie of the year last season. Not just about Pouliot. I humbly suggest you take a peak at our prospects in our board. Dumoulin & Sundqvist could also pan out nicely.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Exactly. The pens don't have any high end prospects other than Pouliot. With Crosby, Malkin,Kessel and Letang all making top dollars they havent done a very good job of surrounding those players with highend talent in the pipeline. They are aging and declining and i don't see that core staying in tact past 3-4 years, especially Letang. The teams i mentioned in my opening post are good examples of teams constantly stocking the cupboards with high end talent to compliment their top players. I agree with the Canes owner when he said Rutherford is depleting their farm.

I'm sure people thought the same about the Wings when they started to win and trade their picks and had to cultivate their talent in the later rounds. Pens are not bankrupt of talent. They have some kids in College that are very intriguing and a few new pieces that are solid as well.

The Pens top 6 is young enough where the team has the next 2 drafts to add some solid prospects to and correct that situation very very quickly.

So as a Pens fan, not even remotely worried.

Because I think guys like Rust, Wilson, and Archibald have a solid chance at being very very solid bottom 6 players, maybe even decent enough to be an occasional 2nd line winger with their skill set.

Guys like Blueger, Guentzel, Byron, and Sprong have a lot more to them. Then there's an interesting mix bag of kids in Simon, Tiffels, that Russian monster, Zlobin, etc. On defense, there's a few interesting kids as well. But again, a lot can be added through free agency as well with undrafted forwards, like Sheary and Dea, both solid kids that have some promise if they continue to develop well.

Oh and the potential in Plotnikov, it's very unknown, but you bet we're excited to find out. I also think people highly underestimate the Pens blueline.

We lost who, Martin? But we gain back a healthy Maatta, the Pens blueline was still one of the best in the NHL even with kids playing a bigger role last season, I don't see it being as bad this season with Letang, Maatta, Cole, and sadly Lovejoy being around, leading the charge to help Dumoulin, Andersen, and Pouliot adjust.


And PS: Kadri is not a prospect. He's entering his 3rd NHL season, Reilly is not a prospect anymore either, again, entering his 3rd NHL season this fall. What the hell constitutes a prospect to you? My goodness. Kadri is not going to earn that big extension, kid has a terrible workout regiment, he needs to bulk up and he's pounding back weights and other endurance workouts that my 16yr old Midget AAA nephew is already surpassing. That's alarming to me and I now understand why he's just so easy to scare from the puck. 250 NHL games and a prospect? Lmao...get out of town.

I guess we can count Maatta as one too then? Oh and let's not forget, we still have Murray and Jarry as goalie prospects that while people can scoff at, they are anything but goalies to scoff at given their credentials. Oh no..bad future!!!

Sprong, Murray, Jarry, Guentzel, Blueger, Tiffels, Byron, Archibald, Wilson, Rust, Sundqvist, Sheary..etc.

A lot of those kids have the potential to be NHL'ers in some capacity, some of those guys have already shown it at that level, again, not remotely worried when your core is still not that old.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Karmanos or whatever the Canes GM is named is just jealous that Rutherford is doing better on a bigger budget.

As for our top end talents, we've just drafted Sprong, you know, that guy with crazy hands? Also have Murray, AHL goalie of the year last season. Not just about Pouliot. I humbly suggest you take a peak at our prospects in our board. Dumoulin & Sundqvist could also pan out nicely.

If recent history is anything to go off of the Pens will trade him for a rental next year.

Why are Penguins fans even invading the Leafs board?

 

[NotSince67*]

I'm sure people thought the same about the Wings when they started to win and trade their picks and had to cultivate their talent in the later rounds. Pens are not bankrupt of talent. They have some kids in College that are very intriguing and a few new pieces that are solid as well.

The Pens top 6 is young enough where the team has the next 2 drafts to add some solid prospects to and correct that situation very very quickly.

So as a Pens fan, not even remotely worried.

Because I think guys like Rust, Wilson, and Archibald have a solid chance at being very very solid bottom 6 players, maybe even decent enough to be an occasional 2nd line winger with their skill set.

Guys like Blueger, Guentzel, Byron, and Sprong have a lot more to them. Then there's an interesting mix bag of kids in Simon, Tiffels, that Russian monster, Zlobin, etc. On defense, there's a few interesting kids as well. But again, a lot can be added through free agency as well with undrafted forwards, like Sheary and Dea, both solid kids that have some promise if they continue to develop well.

Oh and the potential in Plotnikov, it's very unknown, but you bet we're excited to find out. I also think people highly underestimate the Pens blueline.

We lost who, Martin? But we gain back a healthy Maatta, the Pens blueline was still one of the best in the NHL even with kids playing a bigger role last season, I don't see it being as bad this season with Letang, Maatta, Cole, and sadly Lovejoy being around, leading the charge to help Dumoulin, Andersen, and Pouliot adjust.


And PS: Kadri is not a prospect. He's entering his 3rd NHL season, Reilly is not a prospect anymore either, again, entering his 3rd NHL season this fall. What the hell constitutes a prospect to you? My goodness. Kadri is not going to earn that big extension, kid has a terrible workout regiment, he needs to bulk up and he's pounding back weights and other endurance workouts that my 16yr old Midget AAA nephew is already surpassing. That's alarming to me and I now understand why he's just so easy to scare from the puck. 250 NHL games and a prospect? Lmao...get out of town.

I guess we can count Maatta as one too then? Oh and let's not forget, we still have Murray and Jarry as goalie prospects that while people can scoff at, they are anything but goalies to scoff at given their credentials. Oh no..bad future!!!

Sprong, Murray, Jarry, Guentzel, Blueger, Tiffels, Byron, Archibald, Wilson, Rust, Sundqvist, Sheary..etc.

A lot of those kids have the potential to be NHL'ers in some capacity, some of those guys have already shown it at that level, again, not remotely worried when your core is still not that old.

Honestly, I think of those you names only Jarry, Sprong and Murray are noteworthy. Sprong and Bracco are pretty much in a similar boat and if we wanted to list all of are prospects with good bottom 6 liklihood I think it would eclipse your group of prospects. Pittsburgh does not have any blue-chip prospects on the level of Marner or Nylander. Not to mention outside of the three I mentioned, Gauthier, Dermott, Leivo, Loov are all at this point are probably more coveted.

I mean FFS you list Archibald who was DEMOTED in his second year of pro to the ECHL, a couple of late round NCAA players yet to make the jump to pro....

 

[NotSince67*]

Think of it this way, Pittsburgh was ranked ahead by one spot in the HF team rankings. They traded their #2 and #4 top prospects to the Leafs who also added Leipsic and (and Casey Bailey and Zach Hyman, excuse my enthusiasm.... ) as well as picks at #4, #34, #61, #65 and #68 in this years draft....

 

[Penguinator]

If recent history is anything to go off of the Pens will trade him for a rental next year.

Why are Penguins fans even invading the Leafs board?

Oh, it hasn't anything to do with hate, au contraire.

As far as trades go, you got the upper hand with the Winnik & we got it with the Kessel. Also, i think the Després for Lovejoy fiasco was a lesson to our front office even though The Reverend still has a year left to his contract so he's not a rental like Winnik, he's just not as good as Simon.

 

[Penguinator]

How did this turn out into a prospect competition? I know you guys are stacked, just wanted to say we're still gonna be up there mid-term. Not like we can't stack a few picks here & there before that.

Anyway... Have a good evening all!

 

[NotSince67*]

Oh, it hasn't anything to do with hate, au contraire.

As far as trades go, you got the upper hand with the Winnik & we got it with the Kessel. Also, i think the Després for Lovejoy fiasco was a lesson to our front office even though The Reverend still has a year left to his contract so he's not a rental like Winnik, he's just not as good as Simon.

Obviously Pittsburgh has a good core group but there are problems in that the back end hasn't performed. This year was a bad year for them and while they're probably better than that, it's got to mean something.

The real issue for Pittsburgh is that in 5-6 years once Croby and Malkin are on the decline they are going to need to move them and rebuild because they've traded away pretty much every top player in the system, and have no top offensive forwards in the system coming up. They've already dealt next year's first round pick, and unless they manage to acquire this year they'll only have 2 of their first round picks from the last 9 years. Also traded away multiple second round picks.

Pretty much if they allow Crosby and Malkin to walk for free or ride into the sunset, they'll probably be a really bad team for having invested their future into the last 5 years and next couple years for winning.

But... they also won a cup and made a finals with presumably at least 3-4 years of being competitive. You can't be good forever.

 

[Leafsrock95]

Idk about other teams but hopefully we are good. Team looks stacked.

JVR-Nylander-Kapanen
Kadri-Marner-Brown
Johnson-Gauthier-Bracco
Komorav-Holland-Winnik

Rielly-Phaneuf
Gardiner-Percy
Nilson/Loov/Valiev/Dermott/Granberg

With Dzierkals, Timishov, Leipsic, Leivo, Engvall, Finn, Lindgren, Nielson, Bibeau all with NHL potential too.

 

[Stephen]

Once upon a time, the future belonged to the Southeast. Atlanta had a nice little stable of prospects in Kovalchuk, Heatley, Stefan, Lehtonen, Coburn and Bourret. Washington had Ovechkin, Semin, Green. Florida had Horton, Jokinen, Luongo, Bouwmeester, Weiss, and Tampa looked fantastic with a young Stanley Cup winning core of Lecavalier, Richards, St. Louis, Boyle and Kubina.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Once upon a time, the future belonged to the Southeast. Atlanta had a nice little stable of prospects in Kovalchuk, Heatley, Stefan, Lehtonen, Coburn and Bourret. Washington had Ovechkin, Semin, Green. Florida had Horton, Jokinen, Luongo, Bouwmeester, Weiss, and Tampa looked fantastic with a young Stanley Cup winning core of Lecavalier, Richards, St. Louis, Boyle and Kubina.

Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

I'm sure people thought the same about the Wings when they started to win and trade their picks and had to cultivate their talent in the later rounds. Pens are not bankrupt of talent. They have some kids in College that are very intriguing and a few new pieces that are solid as well.

The Pens top 6 is young enough where the team has the next 2 drafts to add some solid prospects to and correct that situation very very quickly.

So as a Pens fan, not even remotely worried.

Because I think guys like Rust, Wilson, and Archibald have a solid chance at being very very solid bottom 6 players, maybe even decent enough to be an occasional 2nd line winger with their skill set.

Guys like Blueger, Guentzel, Byron, and Sprong have a lot more to them. Then there's an interesting mix bag of kids in Simon, Tiffels, that Russian monster, Zlobin, etc. On defense, there's a few interesting kids as well. But again, a lot can be added through free agency as well with undrafted forwards, like Sheary and Dea, both solid kids that have some promise if they continue to develop well.

Oh and the potential in Plotnikov, it's very unknown, but you bet we're excited to find out. I also think people highly underestimate the Pens blueline.

We lost who, Martin? But we gain back a healthy Maatta, the Pens blueline was still one of the best in the NHL even with kids playing a bigger role last season, I don't see it being as bad this season with Letang, Maatta, Cole, and sadly Lovejoy being around, leading the charge to help Dumoulin, Andersen, and Pouliot adjust.


And PS: Kadri is not a prospect. He's entering his 3rd NHL season, Reilly is not a prospect anymore either, again, entering his 3rd NHL season this fall. What the hell constitutes a prospect to you? My goodness. Kadri is not going to earn that big extension, kid has a terrible workout regiment, he needs to bulk up and he's pounding back weights and other endurance workouts that my 16yr old Midget AAA nephew is already surpassing. That's alarming to me and I now understand why he's just so easy to scare from the puck. 250 NHL games and a prospect? Lmao...get out of town.

I guess we can count Maatta as one too then? Oh and let's not forget, we still have Murray and Jarry as goalie prospects that while people can scoff at, they are anything but goalies to scoff at given their credentials. Oh no..bad future!!!

Sprong, Murray, Jarry, Guentzel, Blueger, Tiffels, Byron, Archibald, Wilson, Rust, Sundqvist, Sheary..etc.

A lot of those kids have the potential to be NHL'ers in some capacity, some of those guys have already shown it at that level, again, not remotely worried when your core is still not that old.

I listed Kadri and Reilly because they're young enough to be with our group of prospects not because i think they are prospects. And same goes for Maata who has only played 2 seasons but is going to be fantastic player. All those players you mentioned are not blue chip prospects. this year the leafs drafted Bracco at 61, Lindgren at 95, Timashov at 125 (who had 90ts this year) and the sniper Korosetelev at 185. Those guys all have some very serious potential to hit high ceilings considering where they were picked. Even Dzeikals is a huge sleeper pick, from what i have read he was impressive at prospect camp. Add that to Marner, Nylander, Brown, Leipsic, Leivo, Loov, Percy, Valiev and our prospect pool is looking good to start the rebuild. If half these players turn out i will be a very happy Leaf fan.

 

[Damisoph]

Almost as stacked as the West is right now, maybe.

 

[wulfio*]

Doubt it. Pittsburgh and Boston look to be on the decline.

And then you look out west with Edmonton, Colorado, Nashville, Calgary to add to the already dominant west. Plus well built teams that are capable of retooling in Anaheim, LA, Chicago, St Louis, etc, that won't go away until their core guys are in their late 30's.

The west is just better. For whatever reason most of those organizations are run better.

 

[Riptide]

Honestly, I think of those you names only Jarry, Sprong and Murray are noteworthy. Sprong and Bracco are pretty much in a similar boat and if we wanted to list all of are prospects with good bottom 6 liklihood I think it would eclipse your group of prospects. Pittsburgh does not have any blue-chip prospects on the level of Marner or Nylander. Not to mention outside of the three I mentioned, Gauthier, Dermott, Leivo, Loov are all at this point are probably more coveted.

I mean FFS you list Archibald who was DEMOTED in his second year of pro to the ECHL, a couple of late round NCAA players yet to make the jump to pro....

I don't disagree... however with 2 franchise centers, an elite winger and another good top 6 winger all locked up for 3+ seasons, not having a ton of blue chip F prospects (or even more than a couple of good ones) isn't really the end of the world. Especially not if we extend Perron. That means we need 1 top 6 spot to fill and have several prospects and players who might be able to do that.

Is it ideal? No, obviously not. I mean I'd much rather have a stacked roster and have a stacked prospect pool... but if I have to choose, I'd rather have the stacked roster over a meh roster and a stacked prospect pool. Our core is still young enough that a few decent drafts over the next 2-3 years should be enough to replenish things.

Overall I'm not really worried about our lack of prospects. We now need to start focusing on them a little more, but it's not something that worries me right now. And this is coming from someone who really values prospects and strongly believes that solid drafting is a must have for every team. I just think that with this roster, their contracts and their age that we have more than enough time to correct the situation without it being a massive issue.

 

[Rufio65*]

A team that is loaded with a great young core is Ottawa. They are one stud defenseman away from being a legit contender. They are very deep up front, and have the best defenseman in the game in Erik Karlsson.

Top 4 teams in the east in 2 years (or next):

Tampa
Washington
Ottawa
Montreal

Columbus, Detroit, Islanders are very solid teams. Philly could be good in 2 years if Provorov and Sanheim become studs as expected.

Teams on the decline:

Boston
NYR
Pittsburgh (they have a 2 year window IMO)

Irrelevant:
NJ
CAR
Toronto

I'm not buying Tim Murray's Frankenstein creation, or Florida.

 

[Morgs]

A team that is loaded with a great young core is Ottawa. They are one stud defenseman away from being a legit contender. They are very deep up front, and have the best defenseman in the game in Erik Karlsson.

Top 4 teams in the east in 2 years (or next):

Tampa
Washington
Ottawa
Montreal

Columbus, Detroit, Islanders are very solid teams. Philly could be good in 2 years if Provorov and Sanheim become studs as expected.

Teams on the decline:

Boston
NYR
Pittsburgh (they have a 2 year window IMO)

Irrelevant:
NJ
CAR
Toronto

I'm not buying Tim Murray's Frankenstein creation, or Florida.

Personally I believed Florida was going to make the playoffs this past season. Obviously did not, but I do believe Dale Talon is an exceptional GM who is definitely capable of turning that team from a bunch of great prospects to a team that is competing for the cup.

Barkov, Huberdeau, Bjugstad, Grimaldi, Crouse, Smith are all potentially top 6 forwards.

Ekblad, Kulikov, Gudbranson, and Campbell are all good top 4 defenseman. Plus Matheson waiting in the wings.

Louongo is not what he used to be, but still an all-star goalie capable of taking his team to the playoffs.

 

[Menzinger]

I think Buffalo will be a better team than the Habs sooner rather than later.

Ottawa will probably be pretty good too. The West is getting older - in a few years the better teams will mostly be in the east. Tough road ahead for the Leafs,