Prospect Info: Offseason Prospect Ranking #15

[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)
14. Felix Nilsson (C, 43OA, 2023 Draft)
15
16
17
18
19
20

Also, since the interest still seems to be there I guess we can keep going through the top 20. That should put us nicely at the start of rookie camp too.

Click to read more...

 

[maplepred]

Matier still out there…. Kind of a shame he isn’t recognized for what he is with our fans.

 

[Viqsi]

Well, harrumph. Now I have to figure out an order for the last four. (Chistyakov was always kind of unofficially #16 on my list already...)

 

[Viqsi]

Upon further review I would like to request that for the next poll (or the poll after) Joey Willis be added to the options.

 

[maplepred]

Upon further review I would like to request that for the next poll (or the poll after) Joey Willis be added to the options.

I agree.
Also, Roest and Ingram should be as well.

 

[Viqsi]

I agree.
Also, Roest and Ingram should be as well.

I suppose, altho I don't have them on my radar per se.

I'm also kind of wondering why Marc Del Gaizo isn't listed, but he'd be an Honorable Mention for me.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I suppose, altho I don't have them on my radar per se.

I'm also kind of wondering why Marc Del Gaizo isn't listed, but he'd be an Honorable Mention for me.

Del Gaizo turns 24 before the season starts so he didn't fit in the age cutoff I used to define prospect (similar situation with Livingstone)

 

[Viqsi]

Del Gaizo turns 24 before the season starts so he didn't fit in the age cutoff I used to define prospect (similar situation with Livingstone)

Coolness. I think then that would make this the complete list of folks who could hypothetically be added:
Ethan Haider (G)
Adam Ingram (C)
Juha Jatkola (G)
Jachym Kondelik (C)
Chase McLane (C)
Navrin Mutter (LW)
Sutter Muzzatti (C, LW, RW)
Cole O'Hara (RW)
Luke Reid (RD)
Austin Roest (C)
Benjamin Strinden (C, LW, RW)
Graham Sward (LD)
Konstantin Volkov (G)
Isak Walther (LW, RW)

Kondelik is the one gray area guy I'd still be unsure of w/r/t your criteria; he's also a 1999 birthday, but it's December 1999 so the season will have started by then. I'm assuming "turns 24 during the season" is Perfectly Okay because Spencer Stastney (very early January 2000).

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Kondelk in the last year of his deal and really seemed to get put on the back burner last year. Not looking good for him. I don't think he's got the speed to play in the AHL much less the NHL.

 

[maplepred]

Coolness. I think then that would make this the complete list of folks who could hypothetically be added:
Ethan Haider (G)
Adam Ingram (C)
Juha Jatkola (G)
Jachym Kondelik (C)
Chase McLane (C)
Navrin Mutter (LW)
Sutter Muzzatti (C, LW, RW)
Cole O'Hara (RW)
Luke Reid (RD)
Austin Roest (C)
Benjamin Strinden (C, LW, RW)
Graham Sward (LD)
Konstantin Volkov (G)
Isak Walther (LW, RW)

Kondelik is the one gray area guy I'd still be unsure of w/r/t your criteria; he's also a 1999 birthday, but it's December 1999 so the season will have started by then. I'm assuming "turns 24 during the season" is Perfectly Okay because Spencer Stastney (very early January 2000).

Jatkola, Roest, and Ingram are only decent prospects listed.

I suppose, altho I don't have them on my radar per se.

I'm also kind of wondering why Marc Del Gaizo isn't listed, but he'd be an Honorable Mention for me.

Well you mentioned Willis should be added so it prompted me to think of Roest. Both were 2023 picks but Roest looks a bit better I feel and got an invite for team Canada tryout.

Ingram has some potential and I see nhl in his future for sure.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Lind for me. Probably Ufko, Kiskanen, Kulonummi, Jatkola, and Wilsby is how I’d round out the top 20.

I am kind of expecting a “meteoric rise” for Wilsby this year.

 

[maplepred]

Lind for me. Probably Ufko, Kiskanen, Kulonummi, Jatkola, and Wilsby is how I’d round out the top 20.

You aren’t gonna jump aboard the Matier hype train are ya brother? Hahaha lol

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

You aren’t gonna jump aboard the Matier hype train are ya brother? Hahaha lol

I am all aboard, despite you can’t tell, but in 3 years if he takes the necessary steps as a pro I am confident he will crack my top-20. I just love that the Preds have piled up such prospect depth as to make that a thing I can say.

 

[Viqsi]

Lind for me. Probably Ufko, Kiskanen, Kulonummi, Jatkola, and Wilsby is how I’d round out the top 20.

I am kind of expecting a “meteoric rise” for Wilsby this year.

My list as it stands: here. If only to partially appease @maplepred (see #18).

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

My list as it stands: here. If only to partially appease @maplepred (see #18).

I just love that I could list Matier, Olsson, Fink, Roest, Ingram as candidates for #21… 21!.. this has never happened before in franchise history imo where we have this many legit prospects.

 

[maplepred]

I am all aboard, despite you can’t tell, but in 3 years if he takes the necessary steps as a pro I am confident he will crack my top-20. I just love that the Preds have piled up such prospect depth as to make that a thing I can say.

In three years top 20? Lol

Yes we have tons of depth and I agree, I love it as well. But top 20 in three years? Come on my man. He’s top ten for me now. I know you like guys that are closer to being nhl ready and all and I respect that for sure. But I mean I pick based on their potential. I don’t care if I see them in a year or in three.
I find it kind of comical on a preds message board that we have guys like Stastney and afanasyev ranked ahead of Matier.

We are talking a potential fourth line player or bottom pair defenseman being ranked over a guy with too 2/4 potential if developed properly. He’s ahead of shea Weber at this point in his career. It’s clear as day.

Anyways, to each their own but this ranking thread is a bit comical. Nobody seems to know what we have with him. We are just picking guys based on the round they were drafted in it seems.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Anyways, to each their own but this ranking thread is a bit comical. Nobody seems to know what we have with him. We are just picking guys based on the round they were drafted in it seems.

I think it's fair to at least heavily weight rankings based on the round players were drafted in, as a starting point. Lacking any other data, that is the one thing where we know a group of 32 teams worth of professionals have sat around tables and placed that projected value onto a player. Nobody here is a scout. But people who are scouts picked those players in those spots.

And yet, when we do see exceptions, we are bumping players ahead of that starting point. Just, for a player to truly count as an exception, I think a lot of us need to see them do it against men, in a pro league first. So many players have put up numbers in their final junior seasons that it's not convincing to just look at junior numbers. When a player hits Milwaukee and does well... or gets promoted and looks good in the NHL like Stastney did... then ok, we are ready to give them the bump relative to their draft position. Or even if they stand out in a top men's league in Europe like Parssinen in Finland or Chistyakov in the KHL. Players CAN get bumped ahead of their draft ranking. But it just takes something more than junior hockey for most. We've seen enough kids come through with flashy numbers in junior that we aren't sold by that anymore.

 

[maplepred]

I think it's fair to at least heavily weight rankings based on the round players were drafted in, as a starting point. Lacking any other data, that is the one thing where we know a group of 32 teams worth of professionals have sat around tables and placed that projected value onto a player. Nobody here is a scout. But people who are scouts picked those players in those spots.

And yet, when we do see exceptions, we are bumping players ahead of that starting point. Just, for a player to truly count as an exception, I think a lot of us need to see them do it against men, in a pro league first. So many players have put up numbers in their final junior seasons that it's not convincing to just look at junior numbers. When a player hits Milwaukee and does well... or gets promoted and looks good in the NHL like Stastney did... then ok, we are ready to give them the bump relative to their draft position. Or even if they stand out in a top men's league in Europe like Parssinen in Finland or Chistyakov in the KHL. Players CAN get bumped ahead of their draft ranking. But it just takes something more than junior hockey for most. We've seen enough kids come through with flashy numbers in junior that we aren't sold by that anymore.

I get this for sure. But remember that Matier is a defenseman. Of all of Poile’s top defensemen he has drafted, not one was a first round pick except Suter. All not in first round: Klein, Weber, Ekholm, Josi, etc

Poile is a wizard at nailing top defenseman later in the drafts and I believe Matier will be his last one he nailed.

There is no weaknesses in his game, he’s very high character on top of being super skilled and as I said, he’s ahead of Weber at this point in his career. Kids gonna be good. Much better than Stastney will ever be imo

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I get this for sure. But remember that Matier is a defenseman. Of all of Poile’s top defensemen he has drafted, not one was a first round pick except Suter. All not in first round: Klein, Weber, Ekholm, Josi, etc

Poile is a wizard at nailing top defenseman later in the drafts and I believe Matier will be his last one he nailed.

There is no weaknesses in his game, he’s very high character on top of being super skilled and as I said, he’s ahead of Weber at this point in his career. Kids gonna be good. Much better than Stastney will ever be imo

Did Poile nail Frederic Allard? I mean, you can cherry-pick past draft picks on D who panned out, others who didn't, and I don't think Poile even makes those picks himself anyway, so to me the legend of Weber and Josi doesn't really mean anything in this. But a guy like Allard was a point-per-game D in his final two junior seasons, and while he was also solid in Milwaukee, he ultimately didn't pan out for the NHL. Nor did WJC studs like Foote, or Ryan Parent. Remember Tomas Slovak? Diaby, Roussel, Dougherty... Blum... it's not automatic that just because Poile's team drafted a D and that D put up some numbers in junior hockey after being drafted that they go on to become Weber or Josi. You can cherry pick a lot more counter-examples than examples.

Instead, I think each player will ultimately stand on their own merit, and I am going to wait and watch for Matier to do just that. He lands in a somewhat unfortunate situation this year where the team already has 14 pro-level D contracted ahead of him. So, as with Prokop last season, he may face a bigger challenge than usual in getting off to a typical 1st-year pro start. Which isn't on him in any way, it is just the circumstances. They are real circumstances though. It may somewhat delay his entry onto our radar; again, through no fault whatsoever of his own.

That said, it will be a major first step in impressing me if he does somehow force his way into a regular spot on the Milwaukee D. That would immediately boost his stock enormously in my estimation. But to me, that's an awfully big ask for any 20-year old given the squad our management has assembled. It's too much of an ask for me to EXPECT it to happen, that would be unfair. But if he somehow makes it happen, against expectation, or even if he just gets a little lucky with an injury opening up an opportunity for him and he runs with it, then wow, that's when I will start to shift gears on him. Not because of anything he has done so far. But because of what he does next.

 

[maplepred]

Did Poile nail Frederic Allard? I mean, you can cherry-pick past draft picks on D who panned out, others who didn't, and I don't think Poile even makes those picks himself anyway, so to me the legend of Weber and Josi doesn't really mean anything in this. But a guy like Allard was a point-per-game D in his final two junior seasons, and while he was also solid in Milwaukee, he ultimately didn't pan out for the NHL. Nor did WJC studs like Foote, or Ryan Parent. Remember Tomas Slovak? Diaby, Roussel, Dougherty... Blum... it's not automatic that just because Poile's team drafted a D and that D put up some numbers in junior hockey after being drafted that they go on to become Weber or Josi. You can cherry pick a lot more counter-examples than examples.

Instead, I think each player will ultimately stand on their own merit, and I am going to wait and watch for Matier to do just that. He lands in a somewhat unfortunate situation this year where the team already has 14 pro-level D contracted ahead of him. So, as with Prokop last season, he may face a bigger challenge than usual in getting off to a typical 1st-year pro start. Which isn't on him in any way, it is just the circumstances. They are real circumstances though. It may somewhat delay his entry onto our radar; again, through no fault whatsoever of his own.

That said, it will be a major first step in impressing me if he does somehow force his way into a regular spot on the Milwaukee D. That would immediately boost his stock enormously in my estimation. But to me, that's an awfully big ask for any 20-year old given the squad our management has assembled. It's too much of an ask for me to EXPECT it to happen, that would be unfair. But if he somehow makes it happen, against expectation, or even if he just gets a little lucky with an injury opening up an opportunity for him and he runs with it, then wow, that's when I will start to shift gears on him. Not because of anything he has done so far. But because of what he does next.

That’s a fair analogy and it makes sense. You never know that’s the thing. It’s a crapshoot. I mean if this way 2004 we could be having this discussion about Weber as well. He turned out but more don’t then do.
With Matier I feel he just has a really good chance of turning out based on his production defensively and offensively, his massive frame and ability to skate so well still, he’s super mature and captain material, he does nothing poorly. He has a complete game. I’m sure it translates to the big leagues but time will tell. But his potential has me a lot more excited than even guys like Schaefer and L’Heureux because those guys are maybe 3/4 line guys whereas I think Matier could be special and he has that IT factor not many prospects have. I think worst case scenario for Matier he’s still better than guys like Stastney.

We really need to clear up some space on the blue line. We should trade off a couple guys taking up roster spaces for our young talent. Like del gaizo? Mckeown?
Why? Drop these guys for a seventh and move on. Just my two cents.

 

[Armourboy]

I get this for sure. But remember that Matier is a defenseman. Of all of Poile’s top defensemen he has drafted, not one was a first round pick except Suter. All not in first round: Klein, Weber, Ekholm, Josi, etc

Poile is a wizard at nailing top defenseman later in the drafts and I believe Matier will be his last one he nailed.

There is no weaknesses in his game, he’s very high character on top of being super skilled and as I said, he’s ahead of Weber at this point in his career. Kids gonna be good. Much better than Stastney will ever be imo

Ryan Ellis, and Seth Jones were both first rounders, so you might want to go back and look at the history a bit.

Heck if Klein is on the list I'd argue Fabbro ain't that far off and he is another 1st rounder.

 

[maplepred]

Ryan Ellis, and Seth Jones were both first rounders, so you might want to go back and look at the history a bit.

Heck if Klein is on the list I'd argue Fabbro ain't that far off and he is another 1st rounder.

I mean, our best defensemen weren’t first rounders. We traded jones for crappy johansen, but I mean Ellis couldn’t hold a candle to guys like Weber and josi.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

We really need to clear up some space on the blue line. We should trade off a couple guys taking up roster spaces for our young talent. Like del gaizo? Mckeown?
Why? Drop these guys for a seventh and move on. Just my two cents.

I don't think these guys are "taking up roster spaces"... they are legitimately really good AHL defensemen. And Milwaukee wants to win games, because as per last year's playoff run, having a good team gets the rest of the young talent more games in the playoffs, which is also an important aspect of player development. Nobody will trade for them anyway... the waiver eligible guys like McKeown, Gross, and Gravel won't even be claimed on waivers. But they do make Milwaukee better.

The whole situation will clear up next year, it's not the end of the world for Matier and Prokop if they aren't gifted AHL roster spots out of the gate. Time is on their side. As long as they keep working at everything, it won't matter that they didn't start as AHL regulars right out of junior.

There is also the AHL veteran rule to keep an eye on:
McCarron, Jankowski, O'Reilly, Gravel, and McKeown count as "veterans", and the limit is 5.

Angello has snuck into the 260 game level but not 320, so he is a potential 6th. and Gross is getting really close to 260. They get 1 extra guy between 260-320 games.

Goalies don't count, so never mind Grosenick. But there might be some slim chance based on the veteran rule where a younger guy like Matier could get a little break, depending on how the final roster ends up. It seems more likely to me that one of McCarron/Jankowski will instead be a spare forward in Nashville, and that they might not play O'Reilly every night, however.

 

[wmupreds]

I mean, our best defensemen weren’t first rounders. We traded jones for crappy johansen, but I mean Ellis couldn’t hold a candle to guys like Weber and josi.

I still think the Johansen trade was worth it. He was a beast in the Cup run and I'm convinced if he didn't get hurt we may have won the finals. I think his career got derailed by injury as much as anything.

Meanwhile Jones is on one of the worst contracts in the whole league.

 

[maplepred]

I don't think these guys are "taking up roster spaces"... they are legitimately really good AHL defensemen. And Milwaukee wants to win games, because as per last year's playoff run, having a good team gets the rest of the young talent more games in the playoffs, which is also an important aspect of player development. Nobody will trade for them anyway... the waiver eligible guys like McKeown, Gross, and Gravel won't even be claimed on waivers. But they do make Milwaukee better.

The whole situation will clear up next year, it's not the end of the world for Matier and Prokop if they aren't gifted AHL roster spots out of the gate. Time is on their side. As long as they keep working at everything, it won't matter that they didn't start as AHL regulars right out of junior.

There is also the AHL veteran rule to keep an eye on:
McCarron, Jankowski, O'Reilly, Gravel, and McKeown count as "veterans", and the limit is 5.

Angello has snuck into the 260 game level but not 320, so he is a potential 6th. and Gross is getting really close to 260. They get 1 extra guy between 260-320 games.

Goalies don't count, so never mind Grosenick. But there might be some slim chance based on the veteran rule where a younger guy like Matier could get a little break, depending on how the final roster ends up. It seems more likely to me that one of McCarron/Jankowski will instead be a spare forward in Nashville, and that they might not play O'Reilly every night, however.

How will it be cleared up next season? Are those vets contracts expiring?
I get what you’re saying but I mean guys like gavel, mckeown, del gaizo etc are going nowhere fast. I’m just of the mindset that Milwaukee is our minor league affiliate and I want them developing our young talent with potential and trying to win with them. The other guys aren’t going to even even play for us most likely. I get it, they want to win but it’s frustrating. I would love Matier in there and I still believe he has a real shot at making it with his size, game and maturity. He’s ahead of the curve.

I still think the Johansen trade was worth it. He was a beast in the Cup run and I'm convinced if he didn't get hurt we may have won the finals. I think his career got derailed by injury as much as anything.

Meanwhile Jones is on one of the worst contracts in the whole league.

I dunno, I think johansen was lackluster and gave little to no effort most nights. Frustrating to watch because he had the potential but didn’t care once he got paid.