Prospect Info: NYR Prospect Poll: #14

[FLYLine27*]

Voted for Hrivik because he's the only prospect remaining who has better than a 50-50 chance of making the NHL.

Add Mantha because nobody else is worth a 4th rounder.

Based on what? He has barely developed (if it all) any more since he turned pro 3 years ago. Haggarty is 2 years younger, a rookie in the AHL and is putting up better numbers than him, plus he showed a lot more in the sample size pre season.

 

[Beacon]

It's just much easier to learn defense than offense. Claude Lapointe was a purely offensive player in the juniors who had no defense. When he realized his offense won't be enough in the NHL, he turned himself into one of the NHL's premier defensive players. Even Leetch dropped to #9 in his draft due to defensive incompetence, then went on to develop into a very good defensive player.

But while you can teach someone to play defense, youcant teach speech or size. Nieves has it. I don't see him as a top-6 guy, but if he wants, he can develop into a good defensive player with size, speed and good on-ice vision.

Look at Fast. A few years ago, we discussed Fast along with Thomas and St. Croix as an offensive high-risk, high reward guy. I suspect, or at least hope, that Nieves may turn into a taller Fast one day.

 

[eco's bones]

There's no way based on his performance so far that I would sign Nieves this summer. He's not done enough. He'll need to go back to Michigan for his senior year. How he does between now and and the end of the next year will tell the tale whether he deserves a NHL contract or not. To me it's a 50/50 bet.

I would be much more open to the Rangers getting Brady Skjei onboard as soon as possible.