Prospect Info: Offseason Prospect Ranking #14

[Predsanddead24]

Vote for the best prospect (with whatever reasoning you want) from the above poll.

Rankings:
1. Yaroslav Askarov (G, 11OA, 2020 Draft)
2. Joakim Kemell (RW, 17OA, 2022 Draft)
3. Matthew Wood (LW/C, 15OA, 2023 Draft)
4. Luke Evangelista (RW, 42OA, 2020 Draft)
5. Juuso Parssinen (C/LW, 210OA, 2019 Draft)
6. Philip Tomasino (RW, 24OA, 2019 Draft)
7. Tanner Molendyk (D, 24OA, 2023 Draft)
8. Fedor Svechkcov (C, 19OA, 2021 Draft
9. Zachary L'Heurex (LW, 27OA, 2021 Draft)
10. Spencer Stastney (D, 131OA, 2018 Draft)
11. Egor Afanasyev (LW, 45OA, 2019 Draft)
12. Semyon Chistyakov (D, 117OA, 2019 Draft)
13. Reid Schaefer (LW, 32OA, 2022 Draft)
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[Predsanddead24]

Went with Ufko but a lot of interesting players that I don't really know enough to separate. The newer arrivals Nilsson and Lind will be interesting to watch this season. Matier is a big guy that is supposedly a solid skater which is intriguing as well. Burke also had a great season last year so maybe a bit of a late bloomer that could be a diamond in the rough.

 

[herzausstein]

Interesting mix left.im probably most intrigued by Burke at the moment. Hoping we found an undrafted gem there. I reckon ill close my eyes and chose between lind, nilsson, and ufko though as i think they have a better chance overall.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Preds seemed to have Nilsson ranked very highly, possibly in their top-30 (hence the motivation to trade up), so I won't distrust them any further on him... Nilsson it is.

 

[maplepred]

Matier easily at this point. Kid has a bright future and looking very impressive. Plus he skates so well for his size at 6’5” over 200 pounds and just turned 20. Played for Canada at the world juniors which is very hard to make that roster. He has improved his draft stock from 2021 so much already. Maybe shea Weber light version here. At this early point in his career I would say he is slightly ahead of Weber actually. Really like this kid a lot. No real weaknesses.

We should add MacKinnon and fink to this list. Maybe Olsson as well?


Edit:
Great read on Matier if interested, great character and very good work ethic as well. I have high hopes here,

Prospect Jack Matier Enjoying Breakout Season in Ontario Hockey League | Nashville Predators

Preds Assistant GM Jeff Kealty, Defense Development Coach Rob Scuderi Talk Young Blueliner's Continued Development

www.nhl.com

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Where is Matier headed this year?

 

[maplepred]

Where is Matier headed this year?

Milwaukee. Which is great for his development. Plus with the depth the admirals have on defense he won’t be rushed but still will play top four. Plus the admirals coach will work wonders with him, he’s a wizard.
Super excited to see how development grow even more this season!

 

[herzausstein]

Where is Matier headed this year?

17 dmen under contract

If we dont trade any of the 7 nhl dmen (josi, mcd, lauzon, fabbro, carrier, barrie, schenn), then that leave 10 for the minors. Molendyk goes to juniors leaving 9. Not sure how it breaks down but one of McKeown or Gravel should be 7th dman and from there if he isnt getting constant playtime he should be in the ECHL getting mad playing time.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

How many AHL contracts for D man do we have?

 

[herzausstein]

How many AHL contracts for D man do we have?

Carson Gicewicz - Center
Cal O Reilly - Center
Tye Felhaber - Center
Griffin Luce - Defense

Signings Archives - Milwaukee Admirals

All im seeing for the upcoming season

 

[maplepred]

17 dmen under contract

If we dont trade any of the 7 nhl dmen (josi, mcd, lauzon, fabbro, carrier, barrie, schenn), then that leave 10 for the minors. Molendyk goes to juniors leaving 9. Not sure how it breaks down but one of McKeown or Gravel should be 7th dman and from there if he isnt getting constant playtime he should be in the ECHL getting mad playing time.

Matier will be top four in Milwaukee after camp.

 

[herzausstein]

Matier will be top four in Milwaukee after camp.

Looking at the specificly RHD group:

Livingstone
McKeown
Gross
Prokop
Matier

Gross and McKeown may not have much NHL upside but they are reliable AHL players with Gross in particular able to provide alot of offense.

Prokop likely to ECHL.

Livingstone didnt get any AHL time after college but got a couple NHL games. Id suspect he wouldnt get demoted all the way the the ECHL.

On the LHD,

Stastney, Del Gaizo, Wilsby all should be shoe ins for the top 6 unless they get promoted. We may carry gravel as an 8th dman in the NHL as we tend to do that which would drop MIL down to 9 dmen (1 with an ahl only contract who rides the pressbox).

Josi - Fabbro
McD - Barrie/Carrier
Lauzon - Schenn
Gravel - barrie/Carrier

Del Gaizo - Livingstone
Stastney - Matier
Wilsby - Gross

Luce - McKeown

Prokop

I still think we trade one of our rhd barrie, carrier, or fabbro prior to the season. Then we have mckeown or gross as 8th dman on the nhl level if needed.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Matier will be top four in Milwaukee after camp.

I still think he'll be in Atlanta. Well, it's him or Prokop, and Prokop is a year older. But that also requires us to keep 8D in Nashville, which I'm not sure is the best idea either.

There is no chance that Matier is better than guys like Gravel, McKeown, or Gross. Let alone Livingstone, Wilsby, Stastney, and Del Gaizo. So if he can't crack the top-7 in Milwaukee, then there's no reason to just have him sitting. He needs to play. Even if just in the ECHL.

 

[maplepred]

A defenseman definitely has to be moved. At least one for sure. Way too congested. But I do feel Matier will earn that spot in Milwaukee. Time will tell though. The kid is really good and responsible, mature. I’d take him over some of the above mentioned ahl mid twenties defenseman.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

A defenseman definitely has to be moved. At least one for sure. Way too congested. But I do feel Matier will earn that spot in Milwaukee. Time will tell though. The kid is really good and responsible, mature. I’d take him over some of the above mentioned ahl mid twenties defenseman.

I do think Milwaukee wants to win and be near the top again, like last year, and if scoring might be down a bit, they are going to rely even more on defense, so I don't think they are going to gift time to a 20-year old when they have so many stronger and more capable players. He'll get his chance the next year, after the veterans have moved on and some guys have graduated to Nashville. The main thing for the coming year is he just needs to play. I am assuming going to Atlanta is still better than an overage season in the OHL, but that could be an option as well. Ottawa should be competitive, I don't know that they are a contender, but maybe with Matier and a couple of "all-in" types of trades they could become one? I wouldn't rule it out as another option for Matier, anyway. But would just assume Atlanta would be the more natural preference.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I would imagine we may see something like Prokop last year. Give him a chance in camp to make the Ads, if he doesn't do that send him to the ECHL, and if he struggles there send him back to juniors. I'd imagine ECHL is preferred to juniors because he would get some AHL chances once injuries start to hit.

 

[Armourboy]

Whoever is in Milwaukee is going to have to earn it and I don't see us trading any of our NHL Dmen off before the deadline. I think they assume someone is going to get injured so they would be on the bench briefly.

 

[beardawg]

Y'all sleeping on Matier. He's a top 4 defenseman on this team in 5 ish years

 

[herzausstein]

Y'all sleeping on Matier. He's a top 4 defenseman on this team in 5 ish years

Hope you are right. I dont get to watch the junior leagues but try to watch as many Milwaukee games as i can. I think next year is a good opportunity to make a good impression on the team staff since they are in close contact with the MIL coaching staff. Next year he may break into the top 10 in our list

 

[triggrman]

Y'all sleeping on Matier. He's a top 4 defenseman on this team in 5 ish years

Are you saying you would take him here, or you think he should have been higher?

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Y'all sleeping on Matier. He's a top 4 defenseman on this team in 5 ish years

I don’t think that’s mutually exclusive with acknowledging that he’s currently no better than 15th-best on our current pro depth chart, and therefore not likely to start in Milwaukee.

If anybody thinks he’s higher than #15, then I think that person is sleeping instead on how good the others are and how much of a difference age and pro experience makes.

 

[maplepred]

Are you saying you would take him here, or you think he should have been higher?

I have been editing my list of top prospects this offseason non stop. I currently have Matier as our 9th best prospect. I feel like L’Heureux and Schaefer were first rounders Byron their ceiling is much lower than Matier’s. Matier has every characteristic you want in a top pairing defenseman. He’s mature, responsible, good hockey sense, he’s a beast, he plays sounds defensively and also very sound offensive game, he can hit, he skates very well for someone his size. He’s a great character guy. There is nothing not to like.

1. Askarov
2. Wood
3. Kemmel
4. Evangelista
5. Tomasino
6. Parssinen
7. Svechkov
8. Molendyk
9. Matier
10. Schaefer
11. L’Heureux
12. Chistyakov
13. Ufko
14. Lind
15. Kiiskinen
16. Nilsson
17. Kulonummi
18. Mackinnon
19. Afanasyev
20. Fink
21. Burke
22. Roest
23. Olsson
24. Ingram
25. Jatkola

 

[Scoresberg]

I'm not sure I'm that high on Matier. I mean, it's great indication obviously that he got into Canada's WJC team last year. But, I watched all their games and he didn't stand out in fact as the tournament went on he got pushed out of the lineup.

He's big, rangy and he's got that meanness and toughness in him. But his skating needs to improve a ton if he ever wants to make the NHL, his pivots gave me Philip Myers flashbacks which is not a good thing.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I have been editing my list of top prospects this offseason non stop. I currently have Matier as our 9th best prospect. I feel like L’Heureux and Schaefer were first rounders Byron their ceiling is much lower than Matier’s. Matier has every characteristic you want in a top pairing defenseman. He’s mature, responsible, good hockey sense, he’s a beast, he plays sounds defensively and also very sound offensive game, he can hit, he skates very well for someone his size. He’s a great character guy. There is nothing not to like.

... ok... but .... have you ever even watched Matier play? To me, he was a "spare part" on Team Canada, he looks a little "clunky", he's NOT a great skater, and he got "okay-ish" points.... as a go-to offensive guy on a high-scoring junior team (but then got a lot less points after they picked up a real skill guy in Mintyukov). I don't know for sure, but I see these guys sail through junior leagues with these numbers all the time, and 90% of them never make a mark. I am not watching all his games either, but with a couple viewings and stats-watching, I just don't get the fascination. Totally happy - thrilled even - to snag a guy at #124 who is even this good... but guys with his characteristics nevertheless almost never pan out into NHL players. He was a solid junior player. I don't understand the fascination with marking him up above his drafted value. 4th round picks don't usually make it. Matier could buck that trend... but... I don't see anything yet to get too excited about him actually doing so. He is like Prokop to me. Nice junior careers. But I'm not counting on them until they show something as pros. Most guys like this can't take that next step. We have seen it soooo many times with Dougherty, Allard, Farrance, Roussel, etc...

 

[Armourboy]

I hope I'm wrong but I just feel like he is the latest iteration of the overhyped big Dman that we've seen around here several time. Remember when everyone was saying Diaby was going to be the next great thing?

I'll wait until we see him play against men before I decide if he is all everyone is trying to push him to be.