The Athletic - Boston NHL farm system rankings: No. 27 Boston Bruins

[DKH]

Great stuff from Pronman

https://www.tsn.ca/radio/toronto-1050/pronman-maple-leafs-have-best-farm-system-in-nhl-1.557720

 

[DKH]

It was late and I knew Fenway was up. I don’t have as much time to devote to following sports as I used to, so the Bruins farm system is somewhat of an unknown to me. I’m encouraged by your optimism!

If HF went back 2 years on my assessments there would be a movement for me to change my user name to Nostradamus

 

[chizzler]

I try not to get too worked up by articles like this. It’s all so subjective.

That said, I look at COL and he has the Avs rated 21, six spots ahead of Boston, but they have only one “high end” prospect and three “legit” prospects. The B’s have one “very good” prospect and four “legit” prospects.

Is Makar (but less depth) worth 6 spots? Maybe in Pronman’s mind? I think he’s underrating Frederic and Studnicka a bit.

To each his own.


ps Does anyone know which categories Pronman had Heinen, DeBrusk, and Grizz in last season?

I knew that rating was going to get people going in here. As I said before, go by what you hear in this forum by the people in the know instead of these writers that don’t know anything about the prospects or systems they are covering in the article. It’s like listening to a national broadcast over NESN. It’s horrible. Irrelevant info that doesn’t apply anymore.
I laugh at all the preseason predictions that guys put out there.
They don’t know shit! Trust your opinion.

 

[Number8]

All excuses aside, that is a pathetic ranking. This needs to open eyes at the top. If they were 10th I wouldn't be thrilled but 27th is seriously pitiful.

You are putting a lot of stock in Corey Pronman's ability to assess all teams in the NHL and rank their prospect pools accurately. If Kirk or Dom had provided this ranking I'd be more concerned.

Don't get me wrong -- assessing the pool of talent is critically important and I hope the Bruin's management is CONSTANTLY reviewing, assessing and planning for same. That said, I hope the guys "at the top" spend very little time worrying about a summer ranking from a guy who worked NHL for ESPN.

 

[DKH]

I just listened to Pronman and I’m now a fan - this is me at 15 switching the Maple Leafs for the Bruins

That audio where he has the Leafs #1 just ahead of Arizona (Crousse & Strome- ouch) is good stuff

Best part of audio is when Corey tells the hosts the Leafs are #1 prospect team and the hosts hoot and clap loudly

 

[Mainehockey33]

Great stuff from Pronman

https://www.tsn.ca/radio/toronto-1050/pronman-maple-leafs-have-best-farm-system-in-nhl-1.557720

Hahaha good stuff. I tried to look this guy up to see if he was a leafs fan but didn’t see it in his twitter bio. Crazy how you can sense a leaf fan just from an article like this.

 

[DKH]

Hahaha good stuff. I tried to look this guy up to see if he was a leafs fan but didn’t see it in his twitter bio. Crazy how you can sense a leaf fan just from an article like this.

I bet I’d love him in real life - but he wrote a story on the young Leafs defense and I have Dermott and Liljegren so I was very interested and he is clearly a homer

If Pronman was smart and maybe he is putting Boston low would be good for business

 

[KrejciMVP]

I knew that rating was going to get people going in here. As I said before, go by what you hear in this forum by the people in the know instead of these writers that don’t know anything about the prospects or systems they are covering in the article. It’s like listening to a national broadcast over NESN. It’s horrible. Irrelevant info that doesn’t apply anymore.
I laugh at all the preseason predictions that guys put out there.
They don’t know ****! Trust your opinion.

Oh cmon lol. Win something then post like this

 

[00BW]

Pronman and a number of media have had it out for the Bruins since the 2015 draft. They made a big deal about their 1st round and make it a recurring joke and continue to bash Bruins drafting. There is a lot of bias there they can't let go to admit the Bruins have drafted some pretty good players.

You can look at sportsnet which has the Bruins at 12: NHL farm system rankings: Best, worst prospect pipelines for 2018-19, from 1 to 31

Or Dobber which has them 13: 2018-19 Organizational Prospects Rankings
Interesting talk at Dobber where their rankings were between 5 and 27 among their staff which is a pretty wide gap.

I think it comes down to the article writer being self aware. Both the writer on Dobber in that article, and from Sportsnet below in the following tweet, are able to acknowledge criticism of picks but also praise others.




I think my advice is the same as public draft lists, look at a lot of them and get a feel for the average placement rather than stick to just one.

 

[KnightofBoston]

Funny how these guys keep turning up as leafs homers

I know our farm system has taken a hit from all the early graduations but 27? Dunno about that. Just recently someone rated the Bruins 12, which I thought was also a tad low but it’s more reasonable.

However, you’d think the bruins would get the benefit of the doubt a bit more considering they’ve had those graduations just as much as it “takes away” from the system. If the leafs has so many picks (that were considered by many to be reaches and or were guys that got picked late anyways) step up and graduate early, they’d be annointed gods of the drafting and scouting kingdom


Who’s to say some of these guys left in the system don’t surprise ? Gryzz was written off and came in as a solid player.

 

[jgatie]

I knew there was an underlying Leaf stench to that ranking. You can smell those Leafs fans a mile away.

 

[Rubber Biscuit]

Oh cmon lol. Win something then post like this

Win something before declaring that a national writer might not know as much as guys who follow individual teams closely? What?

 

[KrejciMVP]

I knew there was an underlying Leaf stench to that ranking. You can smell those Leafs fans a mile away.

I'm sure a leaf fan or two has ranked the Bruins high in the power rankings or prospect rankings before

 

[Saxon Eric]

NHL farm system rankings: Best, worst prospect pipelines for 2018-19, from 1 to 31

 

[BruinDust]

Pronman and a number of media have had it out for the Bruins since the 2015 draft. They made a big deal about their 1st round and make it a recurring joke and continue to bash Bruins drafting. There is a lot of bias there they can't let go to admit the Bruins have drafted some pretty good players.

You can look at sportsnet which has the Bruins at 12: NHL farm system rankings: Best, worst prospect pipelines for 2018-19, from 1 to 31

Or Dobber which has them 13: 2018-19 Organizational Prospects Rankings
Interesting talk at Dobber where their rankings were between 5 and 27 among their staff which is a pretty wide gap.

I think it comes down to the article writer being self aware. Both the writer on Dobber in that article, and from Sportsnet below in the following tweet, are able to acknowledge criticism of picks but also praise others.




I think my advice is the same as public draft lists, look at a lot of them and get a feel for the average placement rather than stick to just one.

The media constantly brings it up. But rarely mention that in a 3-year period, without the benefit of a Top 10 pick, the Bruins chose:

Pastrnak
McAvoy
Carlo
Debrusk
Heinen

Not to mention Bjork and Donato who have both had good, but short, stints at the NHL level and it would be shocking if at least one of them is among the Bruins top 9 forwards this coming season. Potentially both.

I don't have time to go through every teams drafts from 2014-16, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a team have more success than that without a Top 10 pick in any of those drafts.

 

[chizzler]

I'm sure a leaf fan or two has ranked the Bruins high in the power rankings or prospect rankings before

Doesn’t matter if was a high ranking or low. It’s all opinion just like the draft.

 

[DKH]

Pronman in September of 2016 rated the Leafs #1 prospect group in hockey and Bruins in the second half

I haven’t been following for 2 years how did it work out

 

[DKH]

Doesn’t matter if was a high ranking or low. It’s all opinion just like the draft.

It got its own thread and I’m researching and offering my opinion especially when it runs counter to my opinion and I’ve considered this guy a Leafs suck up since the day I first read him

 

[Fenian24]

With what they have as first liners no have much of a chance

Marchand was projected as a AHL/bottom line guy

Bergeron a second line player

There aren’t the top 5 overall draft picks but I’m confident a few of these prospects when history looks back were top 6

Last year we had Jake DeBust

Danton Heinen per one poster (snicker) comment

‘I don’t see anything special in Danton Heinen’

Very Few got it right and both were top 10 in multiple rookie categories and project as top 6 players

That was probably me, Heinen or Bjork would still be the guys I look to move to improve the top 6.

 

[bruins repeat time]

Seriously folks, how credible is this writer when he ranked Brandon Carlo, whose played in the Top 4 of two NHL playoff qualifying teams for two seasons now, the Bruins 9th best player under 23, yet ranks Urho Vaakainanen, whose yet to play an NHL game and isn't really expected to make the team this year, above him at #6.


Matter of fact, he ranks no less than FOUR players who have yet to establish themselves as NHL regulars (Vaak, Bjork, Donato and Studnicka) above him.


Just brutal assessment that tosses out any credibility whatsoever.

And people pay to read this stuff?

Boom Well put.

 

[DKH]

I don't think Sweeney gets a lot of respect outside route 128. These Bruins grades seem pretty consistent from the hockey world.

However, I think he deserves lots of credit for Debrusk, McAvoy, and signing Pasta and Marchand to good deals.

He gets a lot of credit from legit hockey personnel

He doesn’t get credit from the don’t know-jack squat crowd

Look at some of the bozos who post here who bash him - clowns would be offended

The writers? Leafs background

The 3 threads here ragging on the Bruins draft and prospect

1. A 21 year old college kid who does a Leafs Lunch podcast

2. A Hockey News writer who covers the Leafs full time and wrote an article last year giving us the 23 Leafs nicknames

3. Corey Pronman who 2 years ago who declared the Leafs #1 prospects amid a standing O and stuck Baby in the corner

How’s that working out

Always consider the sources

 

[DominicT]

You are putting a lot of stock in Corey Pronman's ability to assess all teams in the NHL and rank their prospect pools accurately. If Kirk or Dom had provided this ranking I'd be more concerned.

Don't get me wrong -- assessing the pool of talent is critically important and I hope the Bruin's management is CONSTANTLY reviewing, assessing and planning for same. That said, I hope the guys "at the top" spend very little time worrying about a summer ranking from a guy who worked NHL for ESPN.

I won't speak for Kirk (maybe a little) but why you don't see us put lists like this together is because we would never, ever be able to see all those players play.

It's why I pay zero attention to these lists. One man/woman can not possibly put a list like that together without some kind of bias/hatred. Heck, even Bobby Mac doesn't put his top 30 draft picks (let alone farm teams) together without consulting with 10 professional scouts.

As for the author, I can't say anything at the risk of being banned.

 

[KrejciMVP]

He gets a lot of credit from legit hockey personnel

He doesn’t get credit from the don’t know-jack squat crowd

Look at some of the bozos who post here who bash him - clowns would be offended

The writers? Leafs background

The 3 threads here ragging on the Bruins draft and prospect

1. A 21 year old college kid who does a Leafs Lunch podcast

2. A Hockey News writer who covers the Leafs full time and wrote an article last year giving us the 23 Leafs nicknames

3. Corey Pronman who 2 years ago who declared the Leafs #1 prospects amid a standing O and stuck Baby in the corner

How’s that working out

Always consider the sources

I don't think these guys have some sort anti Bruins bias in their prospect rankings, probably just writing their thoughts without considering what we think. I think the Sweeny fans are just being hyper sensitive to anything that isn't pro Donny ( I do the same with the Pats etc). In the end who cares what they write, they have a job and that's their opinions. I do appreciate hockey minds out of Toronto and Montreal. One of my favourite is Don Cherry. Its also good they aren't giving us good grades bc it pressures us to improve.

Sweeney will get his respect but has to earn it with deep playoff runs. That's how it goes

 

[Glove Malfunction]

I don't think these guys have some sort anti Bruins bias in their prospect rankings, probably just writing their thoughts without considering what we think. I think the Sweeny fans are just being hyper sensitive to anything that isn't pro Donny ( I do the same with the Pats etc). In the end who cares what they write, they have a job and that's their opinions. I do appreciate hockey minds out of Toronto and Montreal. One of my favourite is Don Cherry. Its also good they aren't giving us good grades bc it pressures us to improve.

Sweeney will get his respect but has to earn it with deep playoff runs. That's how it goes

How long ago was it that Sweeney pissed in your Cheerios?

 

[DKH]

I don't think these guys have some sort anti Bruins bias in their prospect rankings, probably just writing their thoughts without considering what we think. I think the Sweeny fans are just being hyper sensitive to anything that isn't pro Donny ( I do the same with the Pats etc). In the end who cares what they write, they have a job and that's their opinions. I do appreciate hockey minds out of Toronto and Montreal. One of my favourite is Don Cherry. Its also good they aren't giving us good grades bc it pressures us to improve.

Sweeney will get his respect but has to earn it with deep playoff runs. That's how it goes

Sweeney gets immense respect Just not the lower level knowledge types