NHL-ready prospects

[NYRangers]

I'm going to slightly disagree about Immonen and Lundqvist being locks for the Rangers. I think both have excellent shots, but lack of North American experience might count against them. All things being equal, if the Rangers have Kevin Weekes (or a similar level NHL goalie), Lundqvist, Valiquette and Labarbera in camp in September, I mostly expect Lundqvist to at least start the year in Hartford. Labarbera and Valiquette have earned their shots at the Rangers because they've paid their dues in the organization. If you have that vet goalie there, it's as insurance. Lundqvist is great, but he faces long odds to make the team out of camp.

Immonen.. well, who knows. He has a better shot than Henrik does just because of his position. The Rangers are gonna have enough young talent vying for those forward positions that it will be interesting.

The guys I think are locks? Well, Tyutin is obvious.

I think that if Lampman, Giroux and Wiseman don't make moves for regular NHL duty this year, they're never going to. So their locks to either break in, or disappear.

Balej is gonna have to re-prove himself, but I think he likely has a spot.

Garth Murray is going to be with the big club next year in a checking capacity.

Nobody in their right mind would say Immonen and Lundqvist are locks. Where do you see that?

Valliquette signed in Europe for next season.

 

[CH Wizard]

1) Sidney Crosby
2) Jeff Carter
3) Carlo Colaiacovo

Dream on!

Thank you men, I know, I'll still laugh loudly while going to bed.

Later!

 

[ceber]

Yeah, I agree with you about Veilleux as he seems to be closer than anyone else. I also believe Koivu and Wanvig will be in MN . Harding - there's just no way he'll be ready anytime soon.

Not so sure about Wallin either, although he's a possibility, for sure. A talented guy and I'd like to see him do well...but I fear he may be forever in the shadow of Mikko, [although I don't feel it's because it's deserved...I just think it's the way it'll go - but I hope I'm wrong].

Also...my "sleeper" pick for whenever the next season starts - RYAN STOKES

Wallin looked pretty good right at the very end of the season when he was with the Wild. But I think you're right.. he might not ever really reach his potential. Consistency might be the issue?

I'm not sold on Wanvig, but I haven't had a chance to see him much apart from the Aeros game up here, and I didn't really watch anyone too closely that night. I think he's got a shot, but if it doesn't happen with the Wild next season I think we should move him somewhere that'll give him a longer chance. Maybe he just needs new scenery.

Fabulous sleeper pick! Stokes had a pretty decent rookie pro season, I believe. Hard to find much coverage of him, though. Realistically, he's probably a couple of years away yet, you think?

 

[MePutPuckInNet]

Fabulous sleeper pick! Stokes had a pretty decent rookie pro season, I believe. Hard to find much coverage of him, though. Realistically, he's probably a couple of years away yet, you think?

True, not much coverage...and it depends on whether or not any other D-men are ready. I imagine Burns will be back with the Big Club but I think they're going to need another Dboy and Stokes could be the one.

Word is they really really liked him in Houston. [This from McLellen himself who said he thought Stokes was a "late developer" and ...they're happy they were able to sign him before anyone else found out... he's worked on his temper and seems less prone to his "tantrums" and that has helped his all around game quite a bit. The dude also has quite a good shot [he just needs to jump into the play (contrary to EVERYTHING about the Minnesota Wild organization, I know...) and take more of them]. If it weren't for that slimebag, Anthony Stewart breaking Ryan's face with a high stick [making surgery necessary], we would have gotten to see him in Houston for longer. Also, McLellen also said: "if there had been no lockout, Ryan would definitely have been in Houston all season".

Anyway, I'm sure he could do with a full season in Houston, after all there's a lot to get used to and so on and so forth... But, it wouldn't surprise me to see him at the top of the D-list for a call up, should the need arise.

 

[turnbuckle*]

Succinct? It's not even a bloody sentence. Call it succinct if you like; I call it vague, and of little or no consequnce to the point I was making; I gather that it was an attempt at a correction (I'm still guessing that, as "Datsyuk did" really doesn't mean anything).


I appreciated the lengthy explanation (being a tad sarcastic) on why Datsyuk was not a second line player in his rookie season (even though I pointed out that on pretty much every team he would have been), but to be honest we're straying off topic here, it's really not important. The point still stands that rookies coming into the league are not only relegated to the bottom two lines, so it can't be asumed that three rookie forwards would be taking three of the six spots available on the bottom two lines.

I'm willing to bet that close to half of the teams during the next NHL season will employ at least three rookie forwards at some point or another, in part because the strike has afforded clubs the opportunity to develop prospects for another year at the minor league level.

In Montreal's case, it's a good bet that Higgins and Perezhogin would have seen NHL time THIS season if there had been one, so if those two AND Plekanec see NHL action next season, that's three rookies in a two-year period, or an average of 1.5 rookie forwards per season, which would be close to the NHL average.

 

[norrisnick]

Succinct? It's not even a bloody sentence. Call it succinct if you like; I call it vague, and of little or no consequnce to the point I was making; I gather that it was an attempt at a correction (I'm still guessing that, as "Datsyuk did" really doesn't mean anything).


I appreciated the lengthy explanation (being a tad sarcastic) on why Datsyuk was not a second line player in his rookie season (even though I pointed out that on pretty much every team he would have been), but to be honest we're straying off topic here, it's really not important. The point still stands that rookies coming into the league are not only relegated to the bottom two lines, so it can't be asumed that three rookie forwards would be taking three of the six spots available on the bottom two lines.

I'm willing to bet that close to half of the teams during the next NHL season will employ at least three rookie forwards at some point or another, in part because the strike has afforded clubs the opportunity to develop prospects for another year at the minor league level.

In Montreal's case, it's a good bet that Higgins and Perezhogin would have seen NHL time THIS season if there had been one, so if those two AND Plekanec see NHL action next season, that's three rookies in a two-year period, or an average of 1.5 rookie forwards per season, which would be close to the NHL average.

I guess the point is that a couple game stint is not really what is being implied by the statement "NHL-ready prospects" which is the thread title. NHL ready implies being able to consistently hold a roster spot and not just be tossed in as an injury/rest replacement for a couple games. Hudler, Robinson, Bootland, Barnes, and Myrvold played with the Wings but they were by no means NHL ready. They were call ups out of necessity when 10 roster players were out of the lineup.

Now a guy like Kronwall turned out to be ready as he held his spot and only lost it due to a freak broken leg.

Similar reasoning went into the Datsyuk comment. He played some in the top 6 but wasn't ready to hold that spot on a permanent basis (and he didn't).

 

[A Good Flying Bird*]

The Hull line didn't come about until fairly late in the year. We had a "3D" line of Datsyuk, Devereaux, and Dandenault for most of the year on the 4th line before Bowman decided to split up the 600 goal scorers (Luc, Brett, and Stevie) [EDIT - that's not to say those three were all on the same line, but that some combination of 2 or more were often out there] and put them all on separate lines. Hull liked Datsyuk's passing abilities and he Pavel and Boyd became "Two Kids and a Goat v.1.0" Even then Fedorov and Draper had priority over Datsyuk on the center spot even strength and for the PK. Yes, Pavel did get secondary minutes on the PP, but he was far from a traditional top 6 guy his rookie year. He picked up minutes late in the regular season seeing as it was a runaway President's season, but come playoff time Scotty rode his vets and Pavel's minutes dropped by 3 minutes/game.

So the succinct "datsyuk did." is pretty much a way of saying "Pavel got a hint at top 6 play but for the overwhelming majority of his rookie year that was not the case."

I believe the Three D Line (Datsyuk, Devereaux, Dandenault) lasted only through the end of october.
Either Dandenault got injured, or he moved back to D because someone else was injured.
Quite shortly thereafter, Hull ASKED to play with Datsyuk. The Two kids and a Goat line was together for most of the season.
You are correct though. When the playoffs started, Datsyuk's icetime dropped off the face of the earth. He was actually benched for Jason Williams at one point,.

 

[Slangston]

Buffalo Sabres

Ryan Miller - Might see him as the starter next season.

Derek Roy - Saw time with the Sabres last year, should be on the opening day roster.

Thomas Vanek - All the tools are there to be a big time NHLer.

Paul Gaustad - Physically he's ready. A Joel Otto type of player.

Doug Janik - This may come to as a surprise to some people. He received an emergency call-up last year and didn't look out of place. Has played well in the playoffs for Rochester. Next season is make it or break it for him.

Milan Bartovic - He'll be an NHLer for his speed, hustle, and penalty killing abilities. Fared well on the kid line along with Afinogenov and Roy last year. Has limited offensive potential.

Chris Thorburn, Nathan Paetsch, and Dan Paille will need some more seasoning before they'll see any NHL ice time. Michael Ryan is a player that has the skills and hockey sense of a big leaguer but he's a victim of untimely injuries. I wouldn't count out Jiri Novotny just yet either, as he's played his best hockey in this years AHL playoffs.

I think the Sabres have a bright future ahead of them.

 

[Tawnos]

Nobody in their right mind would say Immonen and Lundqvist are locks. Where do you see that?

Valliquette signed in Europe for next season.

FLYline4life said it. And I thought he said Lundqvist was, but he said Lundqvist is very close to one.

I didn't know that about Valiquette. Still, Labarbera deserves the shot in the NHL.

 

[Levitate]

I imagine it will come down to training camp...if Lundqvist outplays labarbera in camp, he'll get the shot at backup and possibly the starting job further down the road...the rangers seem very high on him right now and it looks like they'll give him every chance to earn the backup spot, if not the starter spot. but obviously he'll have to earn that by outplaying the competition and the adjustment to the NA size rink and game could keep him from jumping in right away.

as for guys like lampman and giroux needing to step up now to make the team or it's too late...well Giroux hasn't had a shot to make the rangers at all obviously, but he picked up his game this year in Hartford and I think if he has a good training camp, will definatly get a long look and be one of the first callups. He was behind a deep team in Ottawa but should get a chance with the Rangers, if he takes it.

And Lampman...well he almost made the rangers out of camp last NHL season before getting hurt...honestly I think he's probably the Packs best defenseman. Nycholat gets more press but he's mistake prone and not always the smartest player. Lampman plays a steady, good game...he looked pretty good in the NHL until he started trying to get fancy. if he comes back in and plays simple I think he can earn a spot pretty easily.

 

[FLYLine27*]

FLYline4life said it. And I thought he said Lundqvist was, but he said Lundqvist is very close to one.

I didn't know that about Valiquette. Still, Labarbera deserves the shot in the NHL.

I gave him a 4.5 shot outta 5...that doesnt mean though he will play with the rangers in full...it meant he would possibly see some time with the Rangers. If i thought he would go right to the Rangers I would have given him a 5.