Prospect Info: Nick Paul

[Karl Cowensson]

Was really excited when Paul was included in the Spezza deal. His stock has risen a lot since being drafted, and with any luck he could be another Stone like draft/steal.

 

[Benjamin]

Bunch of gimmicks.

 

[Samsquanch]

Hot dog moves that belong in Europe. Think of poor subbans parents watching him getting embarrassed out there.

-Don Cherry

 

[Back in Black]

Thank god, we have good Scouts!

 

[BonkTastic]

You guys are all nuts.

All of those moves take an incredible amount of skill. Whether or not it would work in a game is WHO CARES? It's so mesmerizing to watch the pure skill of these guys.

Why are you getting so defensive on this?

All people are saying is that it wouldn't work in a game. No one is taking away from the skill needed to do it.

 

[The Fuhr*]

Thank god, we have good Scouts!

Still waiting on a drafted forward prospect to hit 40Pts since BM became GM 7years ago...

Prospects seem to be a lot more hype then substance

 

[BonkTastic]

Still waiting on a drafted forward prospect to hit 40Pts since BM became GM 7years ago...

Prospects seem to be a lot more hype then substance

a) I love how the specifics of your criticism conveniently omits Karlsson.

b) not counting the O'Brien draft (which still had Muckler's team in place), we've only ever drafted 4 forwards in the first round: Zibanejad, Lazar, Puempel & Noesen. So complaining about "high-end forwards" seems silly when one is about to break that 40 point plateau you've set, another is widely regarded as one of the best prospects in hockey, one was widely known to be a longer-term prospect (Puempel), and one got us Bobby Ryan.

c) Zibanejad will probably hit that 40pt mark this year, so you'll have to move your goalposts back when you use this complaint about Murray next offseason.



Let's look at Murray's "Hits & Misses" in the 1st & 2nd rounds.

2008:
Karlsson - HOME RUN
Wiercioch - HIT

2009:
Cowen - HIT/ UNSURE (arguable as a "MISS" depending on how much stock you put into one bad season coming off an injury)
Silfverberg - HIT
Lehner - HIT

2010:
no picks in the 1st or 2nd

2011:
Zibanejad - HIT
Puempel -UNSURE
Noesen - UNSURE/ INJURY
Prince - UNSURE

2012:
Ceci - HIT (so far, at least)

2013:
Lazar - may be too early to tell, but all signs are pointing to HIT

2014:
Englund - too soon to tell


... has he ever full-on "Missed" with a 1st or 2nd round pick? Maybe Prince doesn't work out, that seems to be the biggest blip on his record, and even then, it was the last pick of the 2nd round. Maybe Noesen doesn't pan out, but that seems to me like it would be due more to his brutal injury more than anything.

 

[The Fuhr*]

a) I love how the specifics of your criticism conveniently omits Karlsson.

b) Zibanejad will probably hit that this year, so you'll have to move your goalposts back when you use this complaint about Murray next offseason.

Next off season I'll probably be talking about one playoff series win, eight years on the job

If the team does not make the playoffs this year I will be out for blood

 

[Icelevel]

prediction: zib and stone hit 40 and team makes the playoffs. if not, i'll join fuhr

 

[BonkTastic]

If the team does not make the playoffs this year I will be out for blood

If we miss the playoffs this year, it'll be more due to the fact that we are $15mil under the cap and financially unable/unwilling to add the necessary pieces and/or retain the talent we already have to get into the playoffs more than it will with Murray's drafting.

If that happens, hopefully you aim your wrath at the responsible party.

 

[Langdon Alger]

Still waiting on a drafted forward prospect to hit 40Pts since BM became GM 7years ago...

Prospects seem to be a lot more hype then substance

Well some of the prospects we drafted got us Bobby Ryan. The guys we drafted during Muckler's tenure wouldn't get us a player of that calibre. Not to mention We traded a first which got us Runblad, who we then flipped for Turris.

We still haven't seen Prince, Puempel and Lazar play at the nhl level yet.

Zibby will hit 40 this year for sure unless he gets hurt or is haunted by the ghost of Bill Muckalt.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Really like what I've seen so far from Paul. Players of his size don't normally have hands as soft as he does. Combined with his rocket of a shot and his good vision, he seems primed for a breakout offensive season. I wouldn't be shocked if he put up above a PPG in the OHL (which would be rather impressive considering he'll be playing for Stan Butler in North Bay) and made Team Canada's World Junior team in a bottom 6 role, establishing himself as a legitimate NHL prospect in the process.

 

[operasen]

Next off season I'll probably be talking about one playoff series win, eight years on the job

If the team does not make the playoffs this year I will be out for blood

We can start a sub-team called the Ottawa Fuhries. What's the lineup?

 

[BonkTastic]

We can start a sub-team called the Ottawa Fuhries. What's the lineup?

Oleg Saprykin - Mike Comrie - Dany Heatley
Tyler Arnason - Bryan Smolinski - Peter Bondra ("Old Edition")
Nick Foligno - Jakub Klepis - Patrick Eaves
Vaclav Varada - Alexei Kaigorodov - Rob Ray
Extras: Josh Hennessey, Cody Bass

Andrej Meszaros - Greg deVries
Brian Pothier - Brian Lee
Tom Preissing- Michal Barinka
Extras: Kyrill Lyamin

Brian Elliott
Jeff Glass
Dominik Hasek(I.R.)

 

[Xspyrit]

If we miss the playoffs this year, it'll be more due to the fact that we are $15mil under the cap and financially unable/unwilling to add the necessary pieces and/or retain the talent we already have to get into the playoffs more than it will with Murray's drafting.

If that happens, hopefully you aim your wrath at the responsible party.

I agree but why? Yes it becomes redundant and annoying when the same weak arguments are repeated, but at the same time, that's what makes this HF thing so entertaining. I like to see people "spinning"*, and hockey fan tears are delicious.

If the Sens win or lose, that won't change much for me. I'll take winning as a life bonus. If they have a sub-par season. I'm certainly not going to start a "hate" parade for an old man with cancer.

That be honest, I don't think a lot of people (outside of some biased haters fighting for the same "cause") take these "arguments" that seriously, as the agenda for it is just too obvious. I'd

*spinning in urban dictionary : To be transfixed on a relatively insignificant thought or event and unhealthily or unnecessarily dwelling on it attaching a more elaborate meaning and emotion to it.

=========================

Ok, now about a forward prospect to hit 40 Pts since BM became GM...

Maybe because our best picks in 2008 and 2009 drafts are mainly D-men and goalies, as well as solid depth players?

Karlsson, Cowen, Wiercioch, Lehner, Smith, Grant, Borowiecki, Hoffman (still could put 40 pts seasons and more) and that Silfverberg guy who was the main piece to get Bobby Ryan (there's your 1st 40 pts forward)

That's in JUST 2 DRAFTS for CS

2010 is the draft we used our 1st to trade for Rundblad, develop him, build some hype and then trade him for Kyle Purris. There's your 2nd 40 pts forward. Oh and there's also a guy named Mark Stone

2011, we also used one of our 1st to trade for Bobby Ryan (1st 40 pts forward). After that, you have Mika Zibanejad is an easy bet to become a player who will over 40 pts every year. In fact, at 19-20 y/o, Zibanejad has been close to 40 pts pace (39 actually) but since he only played 42 and 69 games, he couldn't reach that plateau

After that, you have Puempel, Prince, Pageau and Dzingel (and even McCormick) who still have potential to do that... Not bad

2012 is the Ceci draft. We only took 2 forwards : Jarrod Maidens (injruies ruined his career, already) and Robbie Baillargeon (my call for our of our next breakout prospects.

2013 & 2014 LAZAR. But won't talk about those even more, still way too early like for 2011

Oleg Saprykin - Mike Comrie - Dany Heatley
Tyler Arnason - Bryan Smolinski - Peter Bondra ("Old Edition")
Nick Foligno - Jakub Klepis - Patrick Eaves
Vaclav Varada - Alexei Kaigorodov - Rob Ray
Extras: Josh Hennessey, Cody Bass

Andrej Meszaros - Greg deVries
Brian Pothier - Brian Lee
Tom Preissing- Michal Barinka
Extras: Kyrill Lyamin

Brian Elliott
Jeff Glass
Dominik Hasek(I.R.)

How can you forget Kaspars Daugavins?

Also, Greening, Condra, Regin and Gryba should be there. They are the most successful Muckler picks outside of the first after all.

 

[The Waffler]

Bonk, You forgot Downie.

 

[The Fuhr*]

We can start a sub-team called the Ottawa Fuhries. What's the lineup?

Something like this... All grit and cheap

E.Staal - J.Staal - Stone
Beleskey - Hanzal - Callahan
Torres - Matthias - Clutterbuck
Hjamalsson - Gordon - Downie

Cowen - Johnson
Orpik - M.Staal
Ference - Demers

Lehner
Ullmark

 

[masterandy18]

Something like this... All grit and cheap

E.Staal - J.Staal - Stone
Beleskey - Hanzal - Callahan
Torres - Matthias - Clutterbuck
Hjamalsson - Gordon - Downie

Cowen - Johnson
Orpik - M.Staal
Ference - Demers

Lehner
Ullmark

LOL not even playoffs with that team.

 

[The Fuhr*]

LOL not even playoffs with that team.

Elite team defense... Doubt that roster gives up 200 goals... On top of how scarey they be physically

In the playoffs... Those grinders would become gods, grinding out W's

 

[Real Smart Sens Fan]

Elite team defense... Doubt that roster gives up 200 goals... On top of how scarey they be physically

In the playoffs... Those grinders would become gods, grinding out W's

Lol wat

 

[SlapJack]

Still waiting on a drafted forward prospect to hit 40Pts since BM became GM 7years ago...

Prospects seem to be a lot more hype then substance

Since 2008, there have been 14 forwards in total still available to draft when Ottawa had their first pick that have notched 40 pts in one season.

2008 - Eberle, Ennis, Stepan, Henrique, Nyquist, Atkinson
2009 - Johansson, O'Reilly, R.Smith, C.Smith
2010 - Tarasenko, Gallagher
2011 - Saad, Palat
2012 - nobody
2013 - nobody

The only player that they realistically "missed out" on was Tarasenko, and we all know what happened in the end with that pick. Almost all those other players were passed over by every team in the league at least once, including the team that eventually drafted them.

If you're still disappointed about not having a player that fits into a very specific criteria that is obviously quite rare, you will never be happy about whatever team you cheer for.

 

[The Fuhr*]

Lol wat

I grew up watching the Leafs kill the Sens in the playoffs with guys like Tucker, Corson and Green

In the playoffs guys like that become stars...
Imagine the physicality of a team that had Callahan, Hanzal, Clutterbuck, Cowen, Torres, Orpik, Beleskey, etc

Teams would be terrified of that roster... It's the broad street bullies in this era with discipline.

Team could use another 20-25G winger if Hjamalsson and Stone don't preform as expected.

Down the middle
J.Staal: 6'4 220
Hanzal: 6'6 230
Matthias: 6'4 227
Shutdown any opposing center group in the league

Team also has Eric Staal who when healthy is a dominant player (two years ago led the league in ES points, knee injury at worlds last year, hurt his 13/14 season but if healthy again.

Erik Johnson is becoming the most dominant defensive defenseman in the game and Cowen would look incredible with him watching his back and being healthy again.

Team probably puts up
220-230GF
180-200GA
Top 5PK
Top 10PP
40-45W 95Pts

Would easily physically dominate any team in the league and can skate with any team in the league

Potentially an elite goalie combo too as Lehner is ridiculous and Ullmark has Lundqvist potential

 

[Xspyrit]

A team of 18 Condras and a good goalie would allow the fewest goals in the league, but would have a 0-60-22 record

Since 2008, there have been 14 forwards in total still available to draft when Ottawa had their first pick that have notched 40 pts in one season.

2008 - Eberle, Ennis, Stepan, Henrique, Nyquist, Atkinson
2009 - Johansson, O'Reilly, R.Smith, C.Smith
2010 - Tarasenko, Gallagher
2011 - Saad, Palat
2012 - nobody
2013 - nobody

The only player that they realistically "missed out" on was Tarasenko, and we all know what happened in the end with that pick. Almost all those other players were passed over by every team in the league at least once, including the team that eventually drafted them.

If you're still disappointed about not having a player that fits into a very specific criteria that is obviously quite rare, you will never be happy about whatever team you cheer for.

Congrats, that's the strongest argument I have ever read on that subject. I didn't think about that

 

[SlapJack]

Prospects seem to be a lot more hype then substance

Potentially an elite goalie combo too as Lehner is ridiculous and Ullmark has Lundqvist potential

That's some hype if I've ever seen any.

 

[Micklebot]

I grew up watching the Leafs kill the Sens in the playoffs with guys like Tucker, Corson and Green

In the playoffs guys like that become stars...
Imagine the physicality of a team that had Callahan, Hanzal, Clutterbuck, Cowen, Torres, Orpik, Beleskey, etc

Teams would be terrified of that roster... It's the broad street bullies in this era with discipline.

Team could use another 20-25G winger if Hjamalsson and Stone don't preform as expected.

Down the middle
J.Staal: 6'4 220
Hanzal: 6'6 230
Matthias: 6'4 227
Shutdown any opposing center group in the league

Team also has Eric Staal who when healthy is a dominant player (two years ago led the league in ES points, knee injury at worlds last year, hurt his 13/14 season but if healthy again.

Erik Johnson is becoming the most dominant defensive defenseman in the game and Cowen would look incredible with him watching his back and being healthy again.

Team probably puts up
220-230GF
180-200GA
Top 5PK
Top 10PP
40-45W 95Pts

Would easily physically dominate any team in the league and can skate with any team in the league

Potentially an elite goalie combo too as Lehner is ridiculous and Ullmark has Lundqvist potential

That team will have problems moving the puck from the back end imo and as a result will have difficulties puting up the kind of numbers you're projecting. I also have a hard time buying a top 10 PP without anyone I'd call a PP quarterback.

The other potential problem is a team that can't stay out of the box, and has very little in the way of game breakers.