HF Habs: Montreal Finally Has Some Prospect Depth at The Center Position, is it Enough Moving Forward?

[S Bah]

Seven centers;
Kotkaneimi LHC
Olafsson LHC
McShane LHC
Hillis LHC
Fonstad LHC
Stapley RHC

Adding a little center depth to the 12 center prospects the Habs already drafted or signed these last five yrs. Center Ice or strength down the middle should be a source of power for a few yrs. Poehling, Evans, Vejdemo, Bitten, Ikonen are big competition for a starting role next season. Next season's success or failure will depend, a lot upon whether one of these centers can provide the Habs scoring in their Top Six & PP.

 

[DAChampion]

Gonna be better next year when we get Hughes

The Habs do need another tanking year.

 

[didimentionlarseller]

I like this start but I want another 2 seasons of this just keep adding top 3 picks for at least 2 more years and tank hard

 

[didimentionlarseller]

quantity =/= quality. this was a BAD draft for centers

Not if you picked the best Centre tho - if you know what i mean

 

[beowulf]

And with the lack of any real ability to develop talent by this team, I'll be ecstatic if two of them turn into good NHLers.

 

[Cobra Commander]

And with the lack of any real ability to develop talent by this team, I'll be ecstatic if two of them turn into good NHLers.

New farm system in place should bear good fruit.

 

[WeThreeKings]

They're still lacking that number 1 offensive guy.. Tank hard this season and target Dach.

 

[mariolemieux66]

Yep. Needs to get a top 2 pick next year with multiple 2nd rounders. Trade Pacio to make it happen.

We should already be thinking about the next 2 drafts, which are better than this year, lots of big, skilled, fast centers. Price and/or Weber will need to go along with Pacioretty in order for us to finish in the bottom 3.

 

[BLONG7]

We'll see in 2-3 years but the results of the last drafts were awful.

Bergevin needs to go now

He needed to go 3 seasons ago...........the building is burning, and he is soley responsible.

 

[Beer and Chips]

Gonna be better next year when we get Hughes

'Lose for Hughes' campaign, day 1.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Which ones are we going to try to turn into natural wingers to support our natural center Drouin? Finland is closest to Russia so my bet is on KotKaniemi.

Maybe he'll have trouble learning French like the previous esteemed Finnish center we had.

 

[S Bah]

Counted up the centers the Habs have in their system, the total is 27 centers. That's some considerable amount of hockey players vying for one of four center roles with the Habs. Eight of those have NHL experience:

Drouin
Danault
JDLR
A.Shaw
M.McCarron
C.Hudon
B.Froese
A.Cracknell

Definitely not awe inspiring by any means, imagine being the wingers facing Pittsburgh or one of the many NHL teams with at least two #1 - 1b + 2 +2b. The Habs have three very good options at center this year with Evans, Poehling, Vejdemo all better options than last seasons centers, IMHO. As will Kotkaneimi whose abilities @ 17yrs. of age could earn him one of the center positions, that's how good this kid is and he's big enough to play against the huge NHL centers he will face.[I think the Habs should allow him to play at least one more year in Finland, or bring both Jesperi and Jesse Ylonen(RW) into the Laval Rockets(AHL)to adjust to NA living & NHL size rinks and speed.] That would allow them time to learn the Habs system as well, instead of dropping their new Ace Center into the burning cauldron that is Montreal & the NHL. Perhaps hire Guy Carbonneau or Vinny Damphousse to help ease the culture shock & media jungle they will face.

Time the Habs start developing their prospects like they are humans, not machines impervious to stress or prone to loss of confidence. Guy Lafleur was two yrs. older from Quebec and still needed three yrs. to acclimatize to the stresses Habs young stars face.

Let's do this right from the get go, giving their prospects the very best advice & training possible. Coach Joel Bouchard is in Laval for this very reason, ensuring the development of the Junior Habs. Go Habs Go!!!...

 

[Cobra Commander]

How many of them are character players? What are the intangibles they bring?

They all have great Karakter and attitood and speed, and some have high skill too!

 

[Shad]

You can never have enough centers and defense. Worst case ontario you play them on the wing or trade them.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

The future is starting to look much better for us at the Center position. All of these guys are supposed to be natural Centers.


KotKaniemi
Poehling
Olofsson
Hillis
McShane

Only one of those projects as a top 6 center. We definitely need to keep adding here and at PMD where we basically have nobody in the entire organization with the possible exception of Mete.

 

[TT1]

lemme get my crystal ball out?

 

[Chili]

They all look good on draft day, we`ll see where they are in 3-5 years.

Drafting and developping centres has been an issue with the Habs since the 1980`s.

Maybe the state of the Rocket and Habs last season has finally opened some eyes internally to the importance of the draft.

Who knows among the names, who will eventually have NHL careers but at least they have recognized the need to address the issue.

 

[LaP]

Can you ever really have enough Centers?

Only if you have enough 3rd pairing dmen first.

 

[Kriss E]

No. We do not have any centers yet. None of the prospects you listed are even ready to make the NHL next year. Kotka should play either in Europe or AHL next season, pointless to have him here, and we shouldn't waste a year of his ELC next season when we probably won't even make the POs.

 

[japhi]

Couple of years ago or so I analyzed where top 6 centres were drafted and I was shocked to find that about 80% to 90% ( forget exactly now ) were found in the 1st 2 rounds. Literally just a handful from the 3rd and 4th and a couple in later rounds.

Take way is that scouts as a whole are very efficient at finding centres.

The moral to me is that outside of the 1st 2 rounds you are extremely unlikely to get a top 6 centre, so maybe you shouldn't even fish for that in those waters.

So when we look at our pool now, the quality is really only found in Poehling and Kotkaniemi. Guys like Olofsson , Vejdemo, Mcshane, Hillis etc are real long shots statistically speaking. Having said that, better to have a pool of centres than not, and maybe we luck out. But we need to keep drafting centres in the 1st couple of rounds on a regular basis, and for sure in the foreseeable future, as Poehling and Kotkaniemi are just prospects, and who knows.

Only handful of players from rounds 3 plus even make the NHL so ya, not a ton of top 6 C’s to be found. Odds are only one of our seconds will even have a decent careeer. Half the guys in the first round will bust and only a few will be impact players. The 2012 draft, so far , has only produced 3 top line players and through the first two rounds exactly zero #1 centres. Would have to look but I’m not sure anyone in that draft year is playing first line C on an NHL team.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Step in the right direction, hopefully never have to see the likes of a DD or Danault as our #1 ever again (in a couple of years anyway...)
Hopefully another bottom 5 finish next year as well

 

[NotProkofievian]

It ain't over till it's over. I'll believe we have enough centers when we have too many.

 

[TennisMenace]

Couple of years ago or so I analyzed where top 6 centres were drafted and I was shocked to find that about 80% to 90% ( forget exactly now ) were found in the 1st 2 rounds. Literally just a handful from the 3rd and 4th and a couple in later rounds.

Take way is that scouts as a whole are very efficient at finding centres.

The moral to me is that outside of the 1st 2 rounds you are extremely unlikely to get a top 6 centre, so maybe you shouldn't even fish for that in those waters.

So when we look at our pool now, the quality is really only found in Poehling and Kotkaniemi. Guys like Olofsson , Vejdemo, Mcshane, Hillis etc are real long shots statistically speaking. Having said that, better to have a pool of centres than not, and maybe we luck out. But we need to keep drafting centres in the 1st couple of rounds on a regular basis, and for sure in the foreseeable future, as Poehling and Kotkaniemi are just prospects, and who knows.

I have to agree with these words here. Nicely written.

 

[SquiddFX]

Drafting has been ONE of many problems. Guys like Collberg didn't even play for us and busted hard.

Why would you use Collberg as your example? We flipped him and a second for Thomas Vanek. One of MB's better moves in all honesty.

 

[bobholly39]

Of course it's not.

Until any of those players actually reach the NHL and prove they can be a worthy NHL center - it's just speculation. I know nothing of prospects as a general rule - but i'm waiting to see an actual NHL center before i'm happy.

too soon

 

[LyricalLyricist]

Why would you use Collberg as your example? We flipped him and a second for Thomas Vanek. One of MB's better moves in all honesty.

Because I’m talking about drafting, not asset management.

 

[BeastMode420]

This is the start next year's draft could make us a powerhouse team in the future. We need draft picks next year. We are going down the right path.

Price will be 31 yrs old soon. Clock is ticking

 

[Shawn Perry]

Drafting has been ONE of many problems. Guys like Collberg didn't even play for us and busted hard.

Drafting has been ONE of many problems. Guys like Collberg didn't even play for us and busted hard.

I disagree. Anyone can point to a player who didn’t pan out. Every team has plenty of them. In fact an article I read recently said a team is doing well if 2 of its picks in a draft year ever play NHL games. Not only has Timmins picked high end talent, he finds them by going off the board. Price was taken 5th and was “off the reservation” to quote McGuire. What’s more remarkable however is that Timmins finds many late diamonds, Subban 44, Gallagher 147, Markov 162, Sergei Kostitsyn 200, Grabivski 150, D’Agostini 190, Y Weber 73, Plekanic 71, Emelin 84, Mark Streit 262, Halak 272. Drafting is a strength in MTL, but it becomes an easy target when the product in the ice is not very good. Player Development and poor trades are much bigger concerns.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

I disagree. Anyone can point to a player who didn’t pan out. Every team has plenty of them. In fact an article I read recently said a team is doing well if 2 of its picks in a draft year ever play NHL games. Not only has Timmins picked high end talent, he finds them by going off the board. Price was taken 5th and was “off the reservation” to quote McGuire. What’s more remarkable however is that Timmins finds many late diamonds, Subban 44, Gallagher 147, Markov 162, Sergei Kostitsyn 200, Grabivski 150, D’Agostini 190, Y Weber 73, Plekanic 71, Emelin 84, Mark Streit 262, Halak 272. Drafting is a strength in MTL, but it becomes an easy target when the product in the ice is not very good. Player Development and poor trades are much bigger concerns.

You do realize the players you mentioned were drafted over a decade ago right? Only Gallagher is within last 8 years. Think about that for a minute.

We've had drafts with no one. We've had players play...but as journeymen.

We've got no top end or stable talent apart from obvious #3 picks like Galchenyuk and a guy like Gallagher.

It's been lacking IMO. We hope we're back on the upswing because we had a dry spell.