Player Discussion: Kieffer Bellows *Waived - Claimed by Philadelphia Flyers*

[scott99]

I still don't know how the genesis of Bellows being a bad skater started. I think he is fine. Being a goal scorer is not always being the fastest to the puck. I can think of a handful of players that are super fast with questionable hockey IQ that are not goal scorers. Being a good goal scorer is being in the right place at the right time. Having the instinct of where the puck will be when a chance presents itself. Watching this video, I don't believe Bellows skating will be a hindrance. If he fails to make an impact as a NHL player it will be for other reasons.

I agree with this, he’s not a bad skater. Probably better skater than when Tavares was drafted and better skater than MDC when MDC was drafted and a better skater than Lee when he was drafted. Can he work on it, sure, but it’s not gonna hold him back. I can think of several current NHL snipers that are worse skaters than Bellows.

Bellows is a sniper, pure and simple, has a great shot, I think he’s gonna be a 30 goal scorer, in fact, I’d be shocked if he didn’t have AT LEAST one 30 goal season in him, I can see him doing it several times.

Plus he’s gritty, which I like. He will make room for himself. I have no concerns. I can see a Beauvillier type progression out of him. Beau scored 9 as a rookie, 21 in his 2nd year, if he gets top 6 minutes, he’ll score 25-30 goals this season.

 

[PWJunior]

He plays a lot like Okposo, actually..... with a much heavier shot and quicker release. Without all the post hitting too LOL

KO's release was painfully slow, it took him forever to get it off and he always seemed to miss the net by a shockingly large amount.

Bellows has a really good release, looks effortless so it can surprise you. Wahlstrom's release looks more quick twitch and dynamic as a comparison.

What I like about Bellows is that he just knows how to finish, it looks natural to him like it does for Eberle. He doesn't panic and just try to get the puck on net, he's got pretty slick hands. He's not a one trick pony like Tambellini was.

 

[Jester9881]

KO's release was painfully slow, it took him forever to get it off and he always seemed to miss the net by a shockingly large amount.

Bellows has a really good release, looks effortless so it can surprise you. Wahlstrom's release looks more quick twitch and dynamic as a comparison.

What I like about Bellows is that he just knows how to finish, it looks natural to him like it does for Eberle. He doesn't panic and just try to get the puck on net, he's got pretty slick hands. He's not a one trick pony like Tambellini was.

Wahlstrom is just a freak.... more than his release being quick, he likes to get his shot off in non-traditional ways. What I mean by that is he will get his shot off on his back foot while dekeing around a defender. It completely takes the goaltender by surprise and is very effective when using a defender as a screen.

 

[Richie Daggers Crime]

I guess all of the scouting reports are wrong....

Some of those sites say that Dal Colle is a very good skater.

 

[Thrasymachus]

Tambellini

shudder

 

[seafoam]

Not that this is the case with Bellows, but I feel like all 1st round picks these days are labeled as "good skaters" until proven otherwise in pro hockey.

 

[Richie Daggers Crime]

Not that this is the case with Bellows, but I feel like all 1st round picks these days are labeled as "good skaters" until proven otherwise in pro hockey.

This is probably the case with Bellows.

 

[seafoam]

This is probably the case with Bellows.

I have not seen Bellows outside of Youtube so I'm not going to make an assertion either way.

 

[danteipp]

While it definitely helps and is probably preferred to be a fast skater and have good edge work in the NHL, it is also helps if you are a bull on the puck and keep your feet moving. And it sounds like Bellows is focusing on the later. You really just don't want bad skaters who are easily moved off of the puck, which is what it looks like MDC is until proven otherwise.

 

[ThreeLeftSkates]

Some of those sites say that Dal Colle is a very good skater.

If you look up Matt Moulson's prospect report, he was listed as a good skater.

 

[Richie Daggers Crime]

If you look up Matt Moulson's prospect report, he was listed as a good skater.

Seems like "good" is the floor. Just casually poking around those sites for 5 minutes, people are described as "good", "very good", "outstanding", "powerful', "great". Wot a bunch of malarkey.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Seems like "good" is the floor. Just casually poking around those sites for 5 minutes, people are described as "good", "very good", "outstanding", "powerful', "great". Wot a bunch of malarkey.

I wonder if a big part of that is these scouting reports are comparing said prospect to other junior/college players, rather than how good of a skater they would be at the NHL level.

For instance, someone could be a "good" skater in the OHL compared to the majority of those junior kids who will never play hockey beyond the OHL level, but whose skating compared to NHL skaters would be more average or below average.

So I wonder how many of those scouting reports (ie. Dal Colle) considered him a good skater compared to his peers in junior, rather than projecting to how his skating would compare to NHL players.

 

[blinkman360]

Seems like "good" is the floor. Just casually poking around those sites for 5 minutes, people are described as "good", "very good", "outstanding", "powerful', "great". Wot a bunch of malarkey.

"Needs to work on" is typically their way of saying "bad".

 

[crasherino]

I wonder if a big part of that is these scouting reports are comparing said prospect to other junior/college players, rather than how good of a skater they would be at the NHL level.

For instance, someone could be a "good" skater in the OHL compared to the majority of those junior kids who will never play hockey beyond the OHL level, but whose skating compared to NHL skaters would be more average or below average.

So I wonder how many of those scouting reports (ie. Dal Colle) considered him a good skater compared to his peers in junior, rather than projecting to how his skating would compare to NHL players.

That's fine for us shmucks on a website....but I presume NHL scouts can parse out whether a prospect is in fact a good skater relative to your JAG in juniors or a good skater relative to all legit prospects. I would think if a guy was a consensus top 5 pick - as MDC was - his skating has to be strong as compared to other top prospects (i.e. draftable players).

 

[doublechili]

I wonder if a big part of that is these scouting reports are comparing said prospect to other junior/college players, rather than how good of a skater they would be at the NHL level.

For instance, someone could be a "good" skater in the OHL compared to the majority of those junior kids who will never play hockey beyond the OHL level, but whose skating compared to NHL skaters would be more average or below average.

So I wonder how many of those scouting reports (ie. Dal Colle) considered him a good skater compared to his peers in junior, rather than projecting to how his skating would compare to NHL players.

Could be. Or maybe they just can't tell. I didn't pay close attention to pre-draft stuff in Barzal's year since the Isles didn't have a pick going in, but I recall looking at a couple of things later and don't remember superlatives about his skating. If there weren't, there should have been. Maybe too much focus on top end speed and how a guy looks skating flat out. Not enough focus on agility, edgework and acceleration, which are probably more important.

 

[Jester9881]

"Good skater" can also mean a lot of things... are they strong on their skates (hard to knock over)? Fast top speed? Quick acceleration? Good edge work (agility)? A lot of it can be subjective, and while it's all important I believe it tends to get a bit over rated at times. If skating was everything, Grabner would be a perennial all star and Anders Lee would be toiling in the ECHL. Justin Papineau was one of the best skating prospects to come down the pike and amounted to nothing.

Kieffer Bellows just broke Jeremy Roenicks goal scoring record for a single WJC. He scored 50 goals in 62 games for the USDP.

 

[PWJunior]

Could be. Or maybe they just can't tell. I didn't pay close attention to pre-draft stuff in Barzal's year since the Isles didn't have a pick going in, but I recall looking at a couple of things later and don't remember superlatives about his skating. If there weren't, there should have been. Maybe too much focus on top end speed and how a guy looks skating flat out. Not enough focus on agility, edgework and acceleration, which are probably more important.

Barzal's skating has always stood out.

Mathew Barzal | Mathew Barzal Profile | Mathew Barzal Scouting Report 2015

One guy said he's the best east-west skater he's ever seen in the WHL.

 

[ScaredStreit]

Are we sure that what MDC is lacking is drive? TBH, I don't know why he hasn't succeeded. Sometimes talent evaluators are simply off and despite the guy's intelligence, drive, etc. what they saw when the drafted him doesn't quite translate to NHL success. There doesn't have to be a character flaw or lack of drive. I'm sure every time we've heard from MDC he says he was working to improve his game. I doubt he's ever been quoted as saying "I'm content where I am now - I'm sure it will click eventually but I definitely don't need to work at it."

Even for first round picks, the odds are stacked against you for becoming an effective NHLer simply because its a hard ****ing game to play and there are a lot of guys who want it just as bad as you do.

I'm not saying Bellows will or won't succeed. But most guys in his position (with the few exceptions of the Manziel-esque players we occasionally see in sports) want to succeed.

No we aren't sure about that. Many times slow skaters get labeled as not having drive and/or are lazy. Yashin's a perfect example (slow and he was expected to be a fast skater due to being Russian), but I never bought into him being a "lazy" player.

Potential = hasn't accomplished anything yet. MDC had/has the potential to be better, but he just hasn't yet for whatever reason. Maybe he wasn't that good to begin with, maybe the Isles's system isn't for him, maybe he peaked, maybe he's suffering from an undisclosed reoccurring injury? We don't know. What we do know is that in order to get to MDC's level (AHL player), it takes a lot of work and dedication to get even that far...so I don't think it's fair to say he's lacking the drive.

 

[danteipp]

No we aren't sure about that. Many times slow skaters get labeled as not having drive and/or are lazy. Yashin's a perfect example (slow and he was expected to be a fast skater due to being Russian), but I never bought into him being a "lazy" player.

Potential = hasn't accomplished anything yet. MDC had/has the potential to be better, but he just hasn't yet for whatever reason. Maybe he wasn't that good to begin with, maybe the Isles's system isn't for him, maybe he peaked, maybe he's suffering from an undisclosed reoccurring injury? We don't know. What we do know is that in order to get to MDC's level (AHL player), it takes a lot of work and dedication to get even that far...so I don't think it's fair to say he's lacking the drive.

What we do know is that his weaknesses have always been his skating and lack of strength and he hasn't markedly improved either in several years. You can argue his footspeed might always be an issue, however, there is no reason he shouldn't have at least improved his strength in a pro system over several years.

To me, MDC has always resembled Bernier, another player who had potential but never reached it and topped out as a mediocre NHLer who is now best used as AHL fodder. That has been reported as a failure by Bernier to work harder when he was younger and had the chance to grow his game.

A red flag has also been MDC's failure in juniors, when his team was shallow and he couldn't step up his play, and being overlooked for team Canada. I hope MDC steps up his game but, until he shows otherwise, there seems to be something lacking.

 

[Thrasymachus]

Barzal's skating has always stood out.

Mathew Barzal | Mathew Barzal Profile | Mathew Barzal Scouting Report 2015

One guy said he's the best east-west skater he's ever seen in the WHL.

other part of that guys quote: "has shown an ability to raise his play when surrounded by better players."

No kidding

 

[DalGoal4Cups]

Bellows - Barzal - Ebs
Panarin - Kovar - ho sang

 

[The Winter Soldier]

I really hope he is ready. It would be a boost to have a 2016 NHL draft pick contribute 2 years after being drafted. But if he needs a year or half a year in the AHL. It wouldn't surprise me also.

 

[LordNeverLose]

Bellows - Barzal - Ebs
Panarin - Kovar - ho sang

Is that for next season? If so why are Bailey, Beauvillier, and Lee missing? I also don't think Bellows is ready for top-line duties.

If it's for down the road I'd say if Kovar is our 2C long-term we have a problem, and hopefully Beauvillier and Wahlstrom are in our top 6.

 

[DalGoal4Cups]

I really hope he is ready. It would be a boost to have a 2016 NHL draft pick contribute 2 years after being drafted. But if he needs a year or half a year in the AHL. It wouldn't surprise me also.

Bellows is a star. His shot is wicked, a pure goal scorer. He's big strong, tough. He's a much better skater than slow foot Lee.

It's time to trade Lee and let bellows step up.

Throw Lee in a Panarin trade

 

[ThreeLeftSkates]

Bellows is a star. His shot is wicked, a pure goal scorer. He's big strong, tough. He's a much better skater than slow foot Lee.

It's time to trade Lee and let bellows step up.

Throw Lee in a Panarin trade

Garth, is that you?