Confirmed with Link: Lightning sign forward Jimmy Huntington to three-year entry-level contract

[Felonious Python]

Looking at our prospect pool Lipanov and Huntington are the only forwards in line to turn pro when their seasons in the CHL end. Lohin, Walker, Guttman, and Koepke will most likely stay put in college and Fortier is still another year away. But even Lipanov I don't think is a sure thing for Syracuse/Orlando, even though he's already signed. His low stats (only 9 goals & 26 points) may indicate he's not ready. So with all that in mind, signing another forward like Huntington today makes a lot of sense.

From the Orlando perspective, I generally like to see guys in junior as long as possible, which means another year for him in the OHL. Pouting is a serious problem in the ECHL, and the sooner he truly understands his draft position, and who he's making more money than on a contract he personally didn't negotiate, means nothing, the better the start of his pro career can be.

At rookie camps, if teams don't mention that the $30-50k differences are basically pennies to the teams on the scale of their total player budget, they're probably doing their young players a disservice.

The Lightning spends 77 million on their NHL roster (plus some more on the actual expense of two-way deals), 50k is like 0.06% of that. They've signed $98 million at the maximum value of all the contracts. 50k is 0.05% of that.

 

[DFC]

A tweet below said hes like a Cirelli with Josephs speed. Dont know about that right now but I like the sound of it.

So basically Point?

 

[ccman68]

He does have some speed but don’t think it’s at Joseph’s level.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

I'll play devil's advocate for Lipanov. He put up decent numbers in Barrie and has been subsequently traded twice to poor teams. I don't know how much that has to do with it but it may or may not be a factor. Some guys really do need decent talent around them to succeed.


For all we know he is gonna fantastic in Syracuse

He really doesn't look good out there though. If you take Namestnikov's style, softness and production at the NHL level, and scale it down to the OHL level, he's what you end up with. Don't forget that he played with Svechnikov in Barrie either.

 

[ccman68]

Has a player ever produced as badly as lipanov at his age and become an NHL player? You would think that with his skill he would be at least ppg even if he was doing badly. 0.5ppg is just ridiculous.

 

[Son of Petter]

Canucks fan here just came to look at what it must feel like to have a well run NHL team.

 

[DFC]

He really doesn't look good out there though. If you take Namestnikov's style, softness and production at the NHL level, and scale it down to the OHL level, he's what you end up with. Don't forget that he played with Svechnikov in Barrie either.

Pretty sure bolt prospects had a similar view last time they reviewed him. Seems like this is a prospect who won't pan out.

 

[Coopers Gum]

Canucks fan here just came to look at what it must feel like to have a well run NHL team.

You wouldn’t know it to look at these boards.

 

[Son of Petter]

I dont even go to ours it’s so bad.

You wouldn’t know it to look at these boards.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

Has a player ever produced as badly as lipanov at his age and become an NHL player? You would think that with his skill he would be at least ppg even if he was doing badly. 0.5ppg is just ridiculous.

To find another Lightning European player that came over to the CHL and did as poorly, you'd have to go back to 2008 7th rounder Matias Sointu who was selected by the Ottawa 67s in the import draft. Sointu played 21 games for Ottawa before he was traded to Sudbury. He totaled 8 goals and 29 points in 51 games. Sointu also played for Finland in that years WJC. The Lightning never gave him a qualifying offer.

The difference between the 2 is Sointu came over after 1 year and only played 1 season in the OHL. This is Lipanov's 2nd year in the league. There's always an adjustment period from the change in play style on the ice to all the cultural ones off it. Maybe that's what happened last year, but you'd hope he'd be a little more comfortable this season. The biggest difference though is Sointu was a very tiny 7th round pick. Lipanov was a 3rd rounder that most places had ranked to go in the 2nd. Before his draft, Lipanov was the captain and 1st line center of the Russian U-18 team that won bronze. So expectations are a little higher for Lipanov. We signed him a full year before we did Foote, our 1st rounder from the same draft, so the Bolts must have seen something to move that quickly. And to be clear I'm not ready to label him a bust, but it's hard to not be disappointed from how his time in the OHL has gone.

 

[NatoGhost]

Canucks fan here just came to look at what it must feel like to have a well run NHL team.

We've had it good recently there's no denying it. Not as good as some maybe...Still need to win a cup or two but we certainly can't complain. Hasn't always been this way though...There's always hope!

 

[LightningStrikes]

BP's take: Bolts Sign Undrafted Free Agent Out of Rimouski | Bolt Prospects

 

[Stormbreaker]

 

[Felonious Python]