Prospect Info: OHL Prospects Review

Anton Dubinchuk

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Nice article!

Question: the main concern from some people on Foegele is that he was doing all of that as a 20-21 yr old, putting up just a point per game and using that size/speed against younger kids.

Obviously you've got him ranked ahead of Kuokkanen (probably going against most on these boards). Anything to respond to those concerns that as an older player he didn't dominate "enough" to impress guys looking at him as a future NHLer?
 

MinJaBen

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Thanks for the info Brock. I echo Anton' s surprise to see Foegele ranked ahead of Kuokkanen. Is your ranking primarily a how they did vs future expectations? Also, I'm surprised to see Necas going to the OHL next season...how firm is that plan and when did it come together?
 

Lempo

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Kuokkanen:

Next year he'll be in the AHL with the Knights releasing his rights (before this year's import draft). As a '98 drafted from Europe, he can play in the league as a 19 year old.

Since Aho Sr's recent interview, AHL indeed seems to be the case, but Knights actually didn't have Kuokkanen's rights as he has an existing contract with Oulun Karpat in SML in Finland and he was barely loaned to London. As a young (= slide eligible?) European player drafted outside the first round, as per the IIHF/NHL transfer agreement Karpat have the right to demand him returned to serve his time in SML if he don't make it to the NHL roster. But it looks like they ain't gonna this time.
 

Brock

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Nice article!

Question: the main concern from some people on Foegele is that he was doing all of that as a 20-21 yr old, putting up just a point per game and using that size/speed against younger kids.

Obviously you've got him ranked ahead of Kuokkanen (probably going against most on these boards). Anything to respond to those concerns that as an older player he didn't dominate "enough" to impress guys looking at him as a future NHLer?

Truthfully, not sure you could expect Foegele to have had more of an impact than he did this year. He started the year on an exceptionally low scoring Kingston team and was over a point per game. And including the playoffs, kept up that point per game average on a very deep Erie team with a balanced line-up where he saw little powerplay time. His production in the playoffs, 5 on 5, was better than Dylan Strome and Anthony Cirelli (for example).
 

Brock

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Thanks for the info Brock. I echo Anton' s surprise to see Foegele ranked ahead of Kuokkanen. Is your ranking primarily a how they did vs future expectations? Also, I'm surprised to see Necas going to the OHL next season...how firm is that plan and when did it come together?

RE: Foegele versus Kuokkanen

Honestly, Foegele was one of my favourites to watch in the OHL this season. His game is very well suited to the pros. Protects the puck extremely well. Smart with and without the puck. Wins battles and plays hard at both ends. Has speed. Has good instincts. Felt like every time he was on the ice, especially in the playoffs, he was able to make something happen.

Where as I don't see Kuokkanen's game translating as well as Foegele's. I think there's more doubt there based on his deficiencies away from the puck. His offensive potential is higher, but he's not as safe a bet. Where as I truly believe Foegele could and should be a consistent 15/20 3rd line center at the NHL level. One of those guys every Stanley Cup contender needs.

Upside is important when ranking players, but so is likelihood of developing into an NHL player IMO. If I saw Kuokkanen as a potential top line talent, I think it would be a different story. Where as I see it as comparing a guy I'm pretty confident can be a very good 3rd line center versus a guy who could be a decent secondary scoring option on the 2nd line.

RE: Necas

This is based off of the things that I've read on social media. Seems like the Saginaw media believes he will report. I have nothing concrete and perhaps my wording in the article suggests that. But that's why I said "looks like" and not "definitely will."

I guess we shall see, but I would expect Necas will be in the OHL.
 

Brock

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Kuokkanen:



Since Aho Sr's recent interview, AHL indeed seems to be the case, but Knights actually didn't have Kuokkanen's rights as he has an existing contract with Oulun Karpat in SML in Finland and he was barely loaned to London. As a young (= slide eligible?) European player drafted outside the first round, as per the IIHF/NHL transfer agreement Karpat have the right to demand him returned to serve his time in SML if he don't make it to the NHL roster. But it looks like they ain't gonna this time.

I see what you're saying. But the Knights DID hold his rights among OHL Franchises. Has nothing to do with pro loans, but as an import selection, his CHL rights were held by London and that's why he played there this year.

Teams are only allowed to hold the rights to 2 Imports at a time (unless they have an NHL first rounder, then they get an extra card). That's why the Knights dropped Kuokkanen's rights at this year's Import Draft, so that they could select Jasper Bratt and Adam Boqvist.
 

Lempo

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I see what you're saying. But the Knights DID hold his rights among OHL Franchises. Has nothing to do with pro loans, but as an import selection, his CHL rights were held by London and that's why he played there this year.

Teams are only allowed to hold the rights to 2 Imports at a time (unless they have an NHL first rounder, then they get an extra card). That's why the Knights dropped Kuokkanen's rights at this year's Import Draft, so that they could select Jasper Bratt and Adam Boqvist.

I see we are at the sea of semantics here, and it's ok obviously. But, Karpat reported having signed Kuokkanen in June 20, 2016 for three years' contract, about a week before the Import Draft and about a month before London reported having signed Kuokkanen to an OHL Standard Player’s Agreement. Karpat is the team here who gets to say where Kuokkanen plays for 2017-18 (unless Canes put him on active roster), and until very recently Karpat were kind of adamant that there won't be another NA junior year and he will play either in Canes or Karpat. Dropping the rights was thusly the only sensible move for Knights.

2018-19 and forward Kuokkanen's ELC isn't Slide eligible anymore and I understand he's all under the Canes' control.

Now if Knights with their holding the rights could have stopped on their part Kuokkanen going to AHL, I have to question if Aho Sr. might have been adamant only so long until the Knights dropped the rights, and now that they did, another NA year, in AHL this time, suddenly doesn't sound so bad to him. That, my friends, would be such an Aho move.
 

MinJaBen

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't Necas go directly to the AHL this year and still have his contract slide?
 

Lempo

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't Necas go directly to the AHL this year and still have his contract slide?

Him having signed ELC at 18 means he will slide for 2017-18 if he doesn't play 10 games in NHL, and if he slides now he can slide again in 2018-19 if he doesn't play 10 games in NHL then.

But, there's a hiccup in that he has the European Assignment clause for 2017-18, and if he doesn't make the NHL roster he has the option to choose to go back to Europe.

He has the $92.5k signing bonus on top of his $70k AHL salary, so the money's kind of there to play in AHL, but then again he gets the signing bonus anyway (for three years, but not any extra ones in case of Slide).
 

Lempo

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The poison pill that is the European Assignment clause (beware so-so Russians bearing one):

[FIELDSET="CBA 11.19"]Loan to Clubs Outside North America. The SPC of any Player may contain a clause that provides that, in the event his NHL Club Loans the Player to a club outside the NHL, during the period of such Loan, the Player shall have the option to be Loaned to a club of his choice outside North America. The clause may relieve the NHL Club of the obligation to pay the Player his Paragraph 1 Salary for the duration of such Loan if such relief is expressly stated in the provision, but the NHL Club shall otherwise be responsible for all other payments due to the Player by the NHL Club pursuant to his SPC. Such clause shall be subject to any applicable Player Transfer Agreement between the NHL and a hockey federation and/or the IIHF in effect, at the time of the Loan. The Player shall be permitted to make financial arrangements for compensation and other benefits with the club outside North America for the duration of the Loan, which financial compensation and benefits shall not be included in Averaged Club Salary, Actual Club Salary, League-wide Player Compensation or the Players' Share. The Club shall be required to provide to the NHL and the NHLPA in accordance with Exhibit 3 any loan agreement entered into in relation to such Loan by no later than 5:00 p.m. New York time on the day following the day the Club has received the executed loan agreement. [/FIELDSET]

Sending a player to AHL obviously is a Loan as far the CBA is concerned. Team can call the player up to NHL though.
 

Anton Dubinchuk

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No fight, just asking a question. I want to know if its confirmed that he's going to the OHL.

FWIW, I did think your prospect breakdown was pretty good. Some of the other articles were quite surface level (which doesn't fly here, as your feedback has told you, because there are some very knowledgeable people here), but your prospect breakdown was a nice article, and I'd definitely read more if they all went into that level of depth.
 

LastWordArmy

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FWIW, I did think your prospect breakdown was pretty good. Some of the other articles were quite surface level (which doesn't fly here, as your feedback has told you, because there are some very knowledgeable people here), but your prospect breakdown was a nice article, and I'd definitely read more if they all went into that level of depth.

Thank you.

Not all the articles come from the same writer. That is going to cause differences in style, depth, knowledge, etc... I will pass that on that the ones outside of the prospect article need to be more in depth and less of a surface level piece.
 
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