McKeen's Top 30 for March

[turnbuckle*]

Turnbuckle, what is your analysis (or the concensus you have gotten) from some of the kids from the USNDP?

Van Riemsdyk and Shattenkirk are obvious, and to a certain degree Hoeffel, but I'm looking more in the direction of Ted Ruth, Ian Cole, John Albert, CJ Severyn, Matt Rust, Cade Fairchild and Joe Lavin as well as the goaltenders. No need to talk about each and everyone of them, but I'd like to see what you think of and what you've heard about some of these guys.

I've already discussed most of them in this thread. Rust and Severyn are ranked late, Albert even later. They're longshots to make the NHL.
Unice and Phillips are both ranked in the fourth round.

 

[ZombieMatt]

Also, if Nash manages to go in the top two rounds, which is almost a given don't be one bit surprised to see him in the WHL next year.

I've played with a few guys that are real close friends with him, and he's deciding between Denver, Colgate, and North Dakota. He really wants to play in Kamloops for the Blazers, and rumours from him had him almost dealt there this year at the WHL deadline.

TB mentioned after the post I'm quoting that he had heard Nash was going to N. Dakota. I haven't heard anything since I spoke to him earlier this year, and at that point I thought it was a bit weird that a player as high profile (and a guy who came across as very well grounded) as him hadn't settled on a school, but that was purely my own thought.

 

[Boston]

Turnbuckle - in a recent article I saw that JVR was compared to Thomas Vanek. Before this, I heard he was supposed to be more of a power forward. What's your take.

And I am not sure if you hear this stuff or not, but with the Bruins probably picking 7-10, have your heard any romoured names? I know that Bradley likes the bloodlines - maybe Sutter?

 

[turnbuckle*]

i'm not sure JVR is the true power forward type; I'm not sure he's the Vanek type either. I see him as being as much of a playmaker a sniper; I think he projects as a 25-45-70 type player in his good seasons, a solid second line winger. c I don't think he's physical enough to be labelled a "power forward".

 

[Boston]

and are you hearing anything as to who the Bruins might take?

Thanks.

 

[turnbuckle*]

and are you hearing anything as to who the Bruins might take?

Thanks.

Sorry I haven't heard anything.

 

[________]

How about some high school players Nico Sacchetti, Drew LeBlanc and Jake Hansen. Do you see Sacchetti going high to mid third round, while LeBlanc and Hansen middle of 4th round?

Any word on any teams that might be interested in them?
Also any word on who the Stars might be interested in?

Thanks.

 

[turnbuckle*]

How about some high school players Nico Sacchetti, Drew LeBlanc and Jake Hansen. Do you see Sacchetti going high to mid third round, while LeBlanc and Hansen middle of 4th round?

Any word on any teams that might be interested in them?
Also any word on who the Stars might be interested in?

Thanks.

Well ______

Sacchetti may end up going late in the second when it's all said and done. I keep hearing positive reports about him. Right now he's a third rounder but rising.

Leblanc and Hansen look like third or fourth rounders. There is some potential there, but there are flaws as well.

As for knowing what players teams are interested in, I have to be careful about that for a couple of reasons.

I don't want to be giving away my best scouting source's intentions, so I think it's best that I try to stay away from revealing to the general public who my sources may be interested in. I did mention earlier that Edmonton is rumoured to be interested in Nash because it came from another scout and not from any dealings with an Edmonton scout.

I just feel that if scout's are kind enough to tell me who they like, I should be kind enough to keep it from the general public.

I'm sure you can also understand that I can't give out all the juicy stuff here or there'd be less reason to buy our magazine. I talk on a personal basis to scouts more from May to Sept. than I do during the season (they're all over the place), so I'm sure in a month or so I'll be privy to a lot more rumours about which players specific teams are interested in, and I'll reveal some of those rumblings in our Draft Guide, which will be out at the end of May.

 

[jockstrap]

turnbuckle
have u heard of who the habs might be interested in with their 2 first round picks?
thnx

 

[turnbuckle*]

turnbuckle
have u heard of who the habs might be interested in with their 2 first round picks?
thnx

Please read my post right above your post.

 

[turnbuckle*]

Well NHL teams now only have two years to convince their draftees to sign a contract. Considering that most Russian players do not wish to play in the AHL and that the typical prospect doesn't become remotely NHL ready until his early twenties, I suspect taking 17 and 18 year olds out of Russia in the early rounds might just become a rarity reserved for the truly elite. Even if a transfer agreement is signed, convincing a player who receives steady time and wage in the RSL to come to North America without promising him a spot in the NHL might prove very difficult. And just how adventuous would, for example, Ottawa feel in terms of drafting Russians in the future if they lose the entirety of their existing wealth of Russian prospects?

In any case, although not directly applicable due to the nature of the 2004 draft, we already saw a trend expressed through Kulemin, Shirokov, and Bumagin last year. Given the new structure of the reserve list-exclusive rights, it only becomes sensible to draft many fairly good Russian prospects at 19 or even older. Thus I ask, is McKeens following any Russian players who are not in their first year of eligibility?

Very well said in the first paragraph, and sentiments I have echoed in the past. It is the reason why you will see Russians drafted later than they should be based on their talent. Someone like Korostin may be a top 10 talent in this year's draft, but I'd be surprised if he went in the top 20.

as for the Russians that were undrafted - because of what we were discussing they're REAL longshots to be drafted unless they really light it up like Kulemin did.

I haven't heard too much about them yet, but I've been concentrating on the CHL the past few months. I will be learning and seeing a lot more of the Europeans over the next couple of months before during and after the Under 18's.

 

[Wats]

Hopefully Joakim Andersson will be available in the mid 2nd, for the Habs sake. I'm not sure but wasn't he rated top 15 a while ago? If so why the drop? What kind of player is he?

 

[nanzenkills]

Hopefully Joakim Andersson will be available in the mid 2nd, for the Habs sake. I'm not sure but wasn't he rated top 15 a while ago?

You're confusing McKeen's with ISS. ISS has Andersson ranked in the top 15. I don't believe that McKeen's has ever had him in the first round at all.

Most sources say that his skating is his main weakness.

 

[Buffaloed]

Well NHL teams now only have two years to convince their draftees to sign a contract. Considering that most Russian players do not wish to play in the AHL and that the typical prospect doesn't become remotely NHL ready until his early twenties, I suspect taking 17 and 18 year olds out of Russia in the early rounds might just become a rarity reserved for the truly elite. Even if a transfer agreement is signed, convincing a player who receives steady time and wage in the RSL to come to North America without promising him a spot in the NHL might prove very difficult. And just how adventuous would, for example, Ottawa feel in terms of drafting Russians in the future if they lose the entirety of their existing wealth of Russian prospects?

The 2 year signing deadline for European players was contingent on an IIHF transfer agreement being signed. In the absence of an agreement, the rights status of European draftees is controlled by the terms of the previous CBA. Since Russia didn't sign the transfer agreement NHL teams may apply to have their Russian draft choices who are unsigned after 2 years designated as "defected free agents", essentially holding their rights indefinitely. That's how the Buffalo Sabres have kept the rights to Artem Kryukov. It's disappointing that the hockey media has virtually ignored this subject when there's so many fans interested in the status of their team's prospects. It'll get even more confusing regarding the status of players drafted from the 6 countries who signed the current transfer agreement if a new one isn't signed this summer.

 

[Wats]

You're confusing McKeen's with ISS. ISS has Andersson ranked in the top 15. I don't believe that McKeen's has ever had him in the first round at all.

Most sources say that his skating is his main weakness.

I see thanks.

 

[montreal]

The 2 year signing deadline for European players was contingent on an IIHF transfer agreement being signed. In the absence of an agreement, the rights status of European draftees is controlled by the terms of the previous CBA. Since Russia didn't sign the transfer agreement NHL teams may apply to have their Russian draft choices who are unsigned after 2 years designated as "defected free agents", essentially holding their rights indefinitely. That's how the Buffalo Sabres have kept the rights to Artem Kryukov. It's disappointing that the hockey media has virtually ignored this subject when there's so many fans interested in the status of their team's prospects. It'll get even more confusing regarding the status of players drafted from the 6 countries who signed the current transfer agreement if a new one isn't signed this summer.

That's not how I understood it, I thought that Bettman extended the time frame to the rights of Russian drafted prospects only not all European drafted prospects. For the Canadiens, as far as I know, last summer they lost the rights to Johan Eneqvist (sweden), Joni Puurula (finland), Tomas Linhart (czech) etc.. but they kept the rights to Konstantin Korneev (russia), Andrei Kruchinin (russia) and Andrei Sidyakin (russia).

 

[Slitty]

The 2 year signing deadline for European players was contingent on an IIHF transfer agreement being signed. In the absence of an agreement, the rights status of European draftees is controlled by the terms of the previous CBA. Since Russia didn't sign the transfer agreement NHL teams may apply to have their Russian draft choices who are unsigned after 2 years designated as "defected free agents", essentially holding their rights indefinitely. That's how the Buffalo Sabres have kept the rights to Artem Kryukov. It's disappointing that the hockey media has virtually ignored this subject when there's so many fans interested in the status of their team's prospects. It'll get even more confusing regarding the status of players drafted from the 6 countries who signed the current transfer agreement if a new one isn't signed this summer.

According to the old CBA, would a "defected free agent" become an unrestricted free agent at the age of 30, or does the requirement of at least for accrued seasons signify four NHL seasons?

Personally, I was under the impression that essentially an extension for player rights had been given for each calendar year without a transfer agreement in place. Given the information about the status of specific prospects provided to me by NHL teams, and for example multiple HockeysFuture articles stating that a given prospect would have to be signed this comming offseason, I would assume that this "defected free agent" status is only valid until a transfer agreement is signed? Thus, if an agreement were to be signed, would NHL teams then loose rights to all unsigned prospects not taken in the preceeding draft on the following July 1st?

 

[Slitty]

...but they kept the rights to Konstantin Korneev (russia), Andrei Kruchinin (russia) and Andrei Sidyakin (russia).

I was under the impression that rights to both Kruchinin and Sidyakin no longer belonged to the Montreal Canadiens, whether it be by team choice or some other stipulation. Do you have a recent version of team's reserve list?

 

[montreal]

I was under the impression that rights to both Kruchinin and Sidyakin no longer belonged to the Montreal Canadiens, whether it be by team choice or some other stipulation. Do you have a recent version of team's reserve list?

No they still hold their rights, or at least they think they do cause I talked with someone in the organization about this and this is what I was told.

Here's the most recent list of prospects from the canadiens official site, it was updated after this summer when they removed many of the European prospects they lost the rights to last summer.

http://www.canadiens.com/eng/team/redirect.cfm?sectionID=HabsProspects.cfm&levelID=EUR

 

[Slitty]

No they still hold their rights, or at least they think they do cause I talked with someone in the organization about this and this is what I was told.

Here's the most recent list of prospects from the canadiens official site, it was updated after this summer when they removed many of the European prospects they lost the rights to last summer.

http://www.canadiens.com/eng/team/redirect.cfm?sectionID=HabsProspects.cfm&levelID=EUR

Thanks!

I wish there was an easily accessible source for the reserve lists of all NHL teams. Tracking down fully correct versions, especially if the team doesn't make them publicly availble, is quite the pain.

 

[turnbuckle*]

I was under the impression that rights to both Kruchinin and Sidyakin no longer belonged to the Montreal Canadiens, whether it be by team choice or some other stipulation. Do you have a recent version of team's reserve list?

I can second what Montreal said. i was also told by a Habs higher up that they were still Habs property this season, but not of interest to be brought over.

 

[montreal]

I can second what Montreal said. i was also told by a Habs higher up that they were still Habs property this season, but not of interest to be brought over.

I wonder if they will consider making a push for Korneev, who seems to be having a good playoff run so far, although I've been told by others that spoke to Korneev a few years back that he at least didn't show much interest to cross the pond, but he's older now and had a career year on the top pairing for CSKA.

 

[turnbuckle*]

I wonder if they will consider making a push for Korneev, who seems to be having a good playoff run so far, although I've been told by others that spoke to Korneev a few years back that he at least didn't show much interest to cross the pond, but he's older now and had a career year on the top pairing for CSKA.

Korneev was the only "maybe' out of that group, but it sounded like a doubtful maybe. Tehr are only so many roster spots, and Valentenko and Emelin are ahead of him in the pecking order along with quite a few other defencemen at this point. Still; it's a pleasant problem for the Habs to have for a change.

Just curious - why have the posts "read" numbers not changed for more than a day? It's been stuck on 750 something for quite awhile.

 

[Slitty]

Korneev was the only "maybe' out of that group, but it sounded like a doubtful maybe. Tehr are only so many roster spots, and Valentenko and Emelin are ahead of him in the pecking order along with quite a few other defencemen at this point. Still; it's a pleasant problem for the Habs to have for a change.

That goes to show how important the draft position of player is to subsequent perceptions of him. I mean, Korneev mounts a fairly good challange against Emelin in terms of currently being the best defenceman out of the trio and is defenitely at the present moment better than his teammate Kirill Lyamin, who the Ottawa Senators happen to hold in quite high regard. Granted, Korneev is a couple years older and followed the developmental curver of a late(r) bloomer.

 

[montreal]

Korneev was the only "maybe' out of that group, but it sounded like a doubtful maybe. Tehr are only so many roster spots, and Valentenko and Emelin are ahead of him in the pecking order along with quite a few other defencemen at this point. Still; it's a pleasant problem for the Habs to have for a change.

Just curious - why have the posts "read" numbers not changed for more than a day? It's been stuck on 750 something for quite awhile.

Yea I don't expect to ever see Korneev but I started to wonder if his good season and playoffs would change some minds. There's the whole IIHF/RHF problem and getting Emelin over here has to be a top priority for Gainey if the IIHF/RHF thing gets worked out. They have to sign Korpikari and Chirstopher Heino as well or lose their rights this summer, I have to wonder if they bring over either, with all the depth in nets next year it would be hard to find a place for Heino, unless they can sign him and let him stay in the SEL. Korpikari seems to have progressed very slowly in the FNL so I wonder if they will try and bring him over to Hamilton next year since the Dogs could be short on LD's.

Sorry for taking the thread off topic, I can deleted the last posts with the Habs stuff.

Don't know why the counter isn't going up, it's up some from 750.