News Article: Leafs #2 in new ESPN Prospect Rankings!

[mallory67]

USNTDP

Bracco 168 points (119 games)

Eichel 139 points (111 games)


Eichel is the better player, and played at a higher level than Bracco last year. Basically, a full year ahead of Bracco, but Bracco is still very impressive. Eichel is super special.

Not to worry Buffalo fans! ... I assume Eichel is just a late bloomer.

 

[Babcocks Marner]

Ah thank you, sorry about that. I just checked HockeyDB and they only had his tournament statistics.

No worries mate, I wouldn't have believed it unless I read it myself.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Thought we didn't put much stock in what ESPN has to say about hockey.

Your mistake was expecting consistency and impartiality out of this forum. You won't find much of that here sorry to say.

 

[Duke Silver]

Your mistake was expecting consistency and impartiality out of this forum. You won't find much of that here sorry to say.

That's just ignorant.

Corey Pronman is a very well-respected scouting resource with a huge following, who just so happens to write for ESPN (for the last two years). This isn't some intern at ESPN who writes half-assed and uninformed posts about hockey. Pronman lives and breathes the junior and college hockey circuits.

That Pierre LeBrun must be an ass, too.

 

[BrannigansLaw]

That's just ignorant.

Corey Pronman is a very well-respected scouting resource with a huge following, who just so happens to write for ESPN (for the last two years). This isn't some intern at ESPN who writes half-assed and uninformed posts about hockey. Pronman lives and breathes the junior and college hockey circuits.

That Pierre LeBrun must be an ass, too.

I never said anything about Pronman, LeBrun, or ESPN in general. I'm just pointing out the fact that the very same people who probably trashed his rankings years ago, are the ones praising them now.

We see the same thing with Cox articles. You always see posts like "Cox article, did not read" as one of the first comments only to see them defending Cox when he publishes something they like.

Let's not be naive here.

And for the record, I do believe we have a top 3 - top 5 prospect pool.

 

[Duke Silver]

I never said anything about Pronman, LeBrun, or ESPN in general. I'm just pointing out the fact that the very same people who probably trashed his rankings years ago, are the ones praising them now.

We see the same thing with Cox articles. You always see posts like "Cox article, did not read" as one of the first comments only to see them defending Cox when he publishes something they like.

Let's not be naive here.

And for the record, I do believe we have a top 3 - top 5 prospect pool.

I should have quoted the guy you quoted. Apologies.

Anyways, keep an eye on it and point out specific examples next time.

Most of the people here are bull-headed and unyieldingly narrow-minded, in my experience.

 

[HarrisonFord]

Meanwhile on hfboards, other teams are getting their top 20 rankings out and we still don't even have our basic grades

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Meanwhile on hfboards, other teams are getting their top 20 rankings out and we still don't even have our basic grades

Does it really matter? I'm sure you could guess them anyway. Our top 3 picks from this draft would probably be:

Marner: 8.5 C
Dermott: 7.5 C
Bracco: 8.0 D

The rest will be around 6.5-7 Cs probably.

For the most part, the way rankings work on this site makes it pretty obvious what the rank will be. Now if they did the rankings in .1 increments that would be massively entertaining as this forum would be filled with threads asking for 1500 word essays with advanced stats figures on why a guy like Marner for example is ranked an 8.6 instead of an 8.7-8.8 and vice versa.

 

[WillieKnees]

1. Edm
2. Buf
3. Wpg
4. Tor

imo which is still pretty impressive because its only been 1.5 years under Shanny

The above is spot on, I have it ranked the exact same:

1. Edm
2. Buf
3. Wpg.
4. Tor

The addition of top end talent is evident with Kapanen, Marner, Nylander. Then you have a second tier of guys in Brown, Bracco, Percy, Dermott who are very legitimate (along with some other very good prospects).

Have to love where they are going but I would say we are another deep draft away from being ranked in the top 3.

 

[Nithoniniel]

The above is spot on, I have it ranked the exact same:

1. Edm
2. Buf
3. Wpg.
4. Tor

The addition of top end talent is evident with Kapanen, Marner, Nylander. Then you have a second tier of guys in Brown, Bracco, Percy, Dermott who are very legitimate (along with some other very good prospects).

Have to love where they are going but I would say we are another deep draft away from being ranked in the top 3.

Honestly, we'll most likely be top 3 in a year. By then Edmonton and Buffalo will have fallen off a cliff with McDavid and Eichel no longer counting.

Which is why I don't really care all that much for rankings like these. I'd prefer lists that rank youth in the organization as a whole.

 

[Stats01]

If we're not top 2 now we'll definitely be top 2 next year considering we could have a fairly high pick and another draft filled with 2nd rounders and 3rd rounders etc. The depth of our prospect pool will really show after next year's draft. No shame in saying we have a very deep prospect pool now and going forward.

 

[Mess]

Honestly, we'll most likely be top 3 in a year. By then Edmonton and Buffalo will have fallen off a cliff with McDavid and Eichel no longer counting.

Which is why I don't really care all that much for rankings like these. I'd prefer lists that rank youth in the organization as a whole.

That is the way the Hockey News does their team rankings taking anyone age 22 and under in the organization at all levels as the prospect pool. So basically a 5 year span ages of 18-22 in the organization.

That is a better indication of prospect systems because that doesn't punish teams for NHL promotion and graduation (which is the goal of prospect pools).

 

[piikerr]

We could take #1 next year if we can grab Chychrun and Gauthier in the first round

Who knows maybe Day or Brown slip to the basement of the 1st round. Wouldnt mind grabbing nylander or a worthy goalie prospect for once

 

[Shwaguy*]

Having an under 22 pool of

Marner/Chychrun
W.Nylander/Rielly

As a core, All should be stars to a certain degree, Marner/Chychrun more likely than not

with guys like

A.Nylander/J.Gauthier
Kapanen
Brown/Dermott/Percy

supplementing the core would be exciting as ****, +All the extra picks we'll be adding to increase our odds of supplementing the core since Prospects that aren't Bluechip like Marner/Rielly/Nylander/Chychrun are more of a crapshoot. The Future is looking bright

pray to the Lottery gods. But even adding a guy like Matt Tkachuk or Logan Brown would be akin to adding another Rielly/Nylander to the system

 

[TheProspector]

USNTDP

Bracco 168 points (119 games)

Eichel 139 points (111 games)


Eichel is the better player, and played at a higher level than Bracco last year. Basically, a full year ahead of Bracco, but Bracco is still very impressive. Eichel is super special.

Eichel is playing college hockey already. Putting up 1.775 ppg in the NCAA is next level **** compared to 1.33 in the USHL for a draft year player. Eichel put up 1.875ppg in his *year previous to draft year* in the USHL.

But Bracco's performance has been good. Similar to Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons at the same age. The bad news is that it's also like Chad Rau's. Remember him? ;-)

 

[Guy Boucher]

Eichel is playing college hockey already. Putting up 1.775 ppg in the NCAA is next level **** compared to 1.33 in the USHL for a draft year player. Eichel put up 1.875ppg in his *year previous to draft year* in the USHL.

But Bracco's performance has been good. Similar to Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons at the same age. The bad news is that it's also like Chad Rau's. Remember him? ;-)

I don't think people understand how good Eichel is. His rating is pretty terrible too.

 

[DopeyFish]

Eichel is playing college hockey already. Putting up 1.775 ppg in the NCAA is next level **** compared to 1.33 in the USHL for a draft year player. Eichel put up 1.875ppg in his *year previous to draft year* in the USHL.

But Bracco's performance has been good. Similar to Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons at the same age. The bad news is that it's also like Chad Rau's. Remember him? ;-)

But on the flip side... bracco is a bit younger than eichel

Line up Bracco to Eichel to see their comparative U17 and U18 stats through USNDTP... and Bracco has been performing very similar going back years when you account for the age difference (7.5 months)

This is why Bracco is a very intriguing prospect...

 

[piikerr]

Having an under 22 pool of

Marner/Chychrun
W.Nylander/Rielly

As a core, All should be stars to a certain degree, Marner/Chychrun more likely than not

with guys like

A.Nylander/J.Gauthier
Kapanen
Brown/Dermott/Percy

supplementing the core would be exciting as ****, +All the extra picks we'll be adding to increase our odds of supplementing the core since Prospects that aren't Bluechip like Marner/Rielly/Nylander/Chychrun are more of a crapshoot. The Future is looking bright

pray to the Lottery gods. But even adding a guy like Matt Tkachuk or Logan Brown would be akin to adding another Rielly/Nylander to the system

Marner, Nylander, Rielly, Chychrun

That sounds alot like Teows, Kane, Keith, Seabrook to me
Maybe not quite the same but its a veryyyy nice core which could potentially happen. Ontop of that throw in possibly Gauthier and Kapanen and then fill the holes with our current prospects like Bracco, Brown, Gauthier, Levio, Johnson etc...

We could build a pretty much future team with current prospects and next years draft alone... Good job shanny

 

[Stephen]

It's actually really funny, in comparison, the THN Yearbook has the Leafs farm system ranked 27th in the league after the draft. Those guys are just trying to be jerks now.

 

[ULF_55]

It's actually really funny, in comparison, the THN Yearbook has the Leafs farm system ranked 27th in the league after the draft. Those guys are just trying to be jerks now.

You'd think it would be better, but if it is 22 and under, that would include all Burke's testosterone drafts, 2011 forward.

RNH for example is 22, like Tyler Biggs.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Leafs were ranked 20th on HF Futures. NJ 30th for the 2014-15 season. It will be interesting to see where they rank this season.

 

[trickster]

What the heck was the mystery name used to describe Timashov in that article?

 

[LeafsFIO*]

Pronman voted Max Domi for most outstanding player in the OHL this year. Let's take his prospect coverage with a grain of salt.

 

[Babcocks Marner]

Pronman voted Max Domi for most outstanding player in the OHL this year. Let's take his prospect coverage with a grain of salt.

Erm, Domi WAS voted most outstanding player. So, don't blame Pronman lol

Plus, that is more of a thing for the seniors of the O. You don't see a 17yo win that often, at all.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

It's actually really funny, in comparison, the THN Yearbook has the Leafs farm system ranked 27th in the league after the draft. Those guys are just trying to be jerks now.

I've known THN's Future Watch has never been kind to us but come on. That's a load of horse manure.