Prospect Info: Phantoms (AHL), Reading Royals (ECHL), NCAA, Jrs., Int'l, etc. [The Post-Trade Deadline Edition]

[Magua]

Doesn’t Samson have absolute lead feet as a defenseman? And they signed him a year early. Supposedly, McClennon’s skating progression was their “concern.” Going to guess being a 6’3 RHD is a contract cure all.

 

[Beef Invictus]

I am going to guess that the team is following some nonsensical shit process, as they usually do.

 

[Curufinwe]

 

[Magua]

“The decision not to sign McClennon apparently came down to two things: Although McClennon has quickness and is not a slow skater, he does not possess the type of high-end natural speed that many severely undersized player need in order to thrive in the NHL. Secondly, the organization already has quite a few undersized forwards within the system.”


Courtesy of Meltzer. Called it. Absolutely brutal asset managing; I don’t care if McClennon ends up a nothing, this stinks to high heaven as an organizational philosophy. He’s a teenager signing an ELC. Everything checks out with this organization and obsessing over fit.

 

[DancingPanther]

Too small to Flyer. Try another team, shrimp

 

[Rebels57]

“The decision not to sign McClennon apparently came down to two things: Although McClennon has quickness and is not a slow skater, he does not possess the type of high-end natural speed that many severely undersized player need in order to thrive in the NHL. Secondly, the organization already has quite a few undersized forwards within the system.”


Courtesy of Meltzer. Called it. Absolutely brutal asset managing; I don’t care if McClennon ends up a nothing, this stinks to high heaven as an organizational philosophy. He’s a teenager signing an ELC. Everything checks out with this organization and obsessing over fit.

Love how just last week he tweeted that they should sign him and now he's justifying the fact that they didn't.

 

[deadhead]

Doesn’t Samson have absolute lead feet as a defenseman? And they signed him a year early. Supposedly, McClennon’s skating progression was their “concern.” Going to guess being a 6’3 RHD is a contract cure all.

"A top-pairing defenceman for a young and soon-to-be dynamic Prince George Cougars team, Ethan Samson flashed a bit of NHL skill. While transition isn’t the strength of Samson’s game, it might be the most projectable. He pre-scans on retrievals, occasionally makes a crafty backhand pass into space, and accelerates through passes to join the rush. He shows limited skill and patience when pressured from any direction, leading to a barrage of dump-outs. It’s a similar story in the offensive zone, where Samson shows a projectable NHL shot with occasional in-stride releases or a bit of deception, but he mostly just hammers away from the point without much awareness of space. Currently, Samson’s best area is defence, where his physicality, consistent motor, and the occasional early stop in neutral zone provide an encouraging framework. While he has some instincts, he has a long way to go before translating his defence to the NHL, as Mitch Brown explains, “He has very limited athletic posture: legs almost straight while hunching over his stick. Every time he engages while defending the rush, he comes to stop, preventing him from recovering or angling. His posture limits his defensive range: even though he scans, he’s late on his check. He tends to come up and over rather than getting under and tying up the opponent.” He’s too passive off-puck, conceding space too easily in the neutral zone, and he lets attackers slip behind him without much pushback. Even with all that considered, no concern is as pressing as Samson’s skating. “For the most part, he lacks ankle flexion, which prevents him from properly loading his stride, engaging his hips in crossovers and turns, and limiting his acceleration (and decreasing his defensive range),” Brown wrote in a May game report. “Zero quickness by WHL standards.” At this stage, it’s tough to see an NHL role for Samson."-EliteProspects 2021 NHL Draft Guide

Pronman: Ethan Samson, D (No. 174): Ethan Samson has intriguing puck skills and offensive sense even if I do not see either as big assets versus men. Samson defends well enough at the junior level but his skating will be a question for higher levels.

Flyguy3911: Ethan Samson was on my watch list. Really young. Good production on a bad team. The profile was really good so I was really interested in watching him. Watched one game, he looked pretty solid. Next game, was one of the worst games I saw by anybody this year and made me not want to watch anymore. Bad puck management. Sloppy defensively. OK gamble with more picks or a better first half of the draft, but that doesn't look like this draft. Simon Motew was a lot more interesting as a RHD. Jacob Guevin as a statistical bet.


Of course, when you're talking an extremely young player, who only played 22g in 2020-21, you have to take scouting reports with a grain of salt. He had a pretty good D+1 season on a young team (Samson was the only drafted player), with 43 points in 62 games. Thornton, who is 3 months younger, had 45 in 65g and is projected to be a 3rd rd pick. I'd be interested if anyone actually saw him play this season.

 

[sregdoor]

Love how just last week he tweeted that they should sign him and now he's justifying the fact that they didn't.

I could be wrong but the way I read this is Meltzer is giving the organization's reasoning, not his own.

 

[Beef Invictus]

“The decision not to sign McClennon apparently came down to two things: Although McClennon has quickness and is not a slow skater, he does not possess the type of high-end natural speed that many severely undersized player need in order to thrive in the NHL. Secondly, the organization already has quite a few undersized forwards within the system.”


Courtesy of Meltzer. Called it. Absolutely brutal asset managing; I don’t care if McClennon ends up a nothing, this stinks to high heaven as an organizational philosophy. He’s a teenager signing an ELC. Everything checks out with this organization and obsessing over fit.

They feel an urgent need to remove skill

 

[renberg]

If his game was that weak, why draft him to begin with?

 

[Flyerfan18]

If his game was that weak, why draft him to begin with?

Hoping he’d develop which didn’t happen. People making mountains out of molehills again.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Hoping he’d develop which didn’t happen. People making mountains out of molehills again.

A process which values size over all else isn't a molehill, it's a major reason why the team is horrible.

 

[Flyerfan18]

A process which values size over all else isn't a molehill, it's a major reason why the team is horrible.

I saw him play live twice this year. Kid gets free tickets through school if I buy one. He isn’t worth signing. Benefitted from being on a great team. You want an undersized energized bunny sign Miley Milne. Not drafted and twice the player. Not sure he might still be draft eligible.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Never seen a team announce bona fide offers before. Maybe McLaughlin is going to the CHL?

I think McLaughlin would be a free agent in the OHL like Stolarz was as a Pennsylvanian. I’d imagine London would be pushing if that was the case. Beyond Stolarz they signed Paul Cotter who was a Vegas draft pick under similar circumstances. Cotter went undrafted in the the OHL coming out of the state Michigan.

 

[pit]

Never seen a team announce bona fide offers before. Maybe McLaughlin is going to the CHL?

Fletcher on the phone to McClennon

 

[deadhead]

They also signed Avon as a UDFA last fall, off his showing in TC. Bigger frame, much faster than McClennon.
Avon as a July birthday, who missed 2020-21 and only had 11 points as a 16 year old, was a much better gamble.

If the upside is AHL scorer, meh. Which is why I used the Akeson comparison, even though Akeson has a great 20 year old season in the CHL he was never really a NHL prospect.

I think one reason they gave up on McClennon
2019-2021: 66g 35-57 82
2021-2022: 62g 43-38 81
That is, instead of making the jump you want from a guy with limited size and speed, he flatlined.

The difference between McClennon and McLaughlin/Avon is not just size but projection, McClennon produced early like a lot of smurfs (guys with growth spurts often take a year or two to fill out and improve their body control) but didn't build on it. With marginal prospects, a low probability upside has far more value than a high probability limited ceiling.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

McClennon finished 6th & 12th in overall scoring the past two years in the WHL. He was 73rd his draft year.

 

[Beef Invictus]

I saw him play live twice this year. Kid gets free tickets through school if I buy one. He isn’t worth signing. Benefitted from being on a great team. You want an undersized energized bunny sign Miley Milne. Not drafted and twice the player. Not sure he might still be draft eligible.

You've certainly missed the point.

A team as talent-starved as the Flyers shouldn't be passing on any chances to get more, no matter how slim the chances. Especially not for something as trivial as size.

 

[FLYguy3911]

“The decision not to sign McClennon apparently came down to two things: Although McClennon has quickness and is not a slow skater, he does not possess the type of high-end natural speed that many severely undersized player need in order to thrive in the NHL. Secondly, the organization already has quite a few undersized forwards within the system.”


Courtesy of Meltzer. Called it. Absolutely brutal asset managing; I don’t care if McClennon ends up a nothing, this stinks to high heaven as an organizational philosophy. He’s a teenager signing an ELC. Everything checks out with this organization and obsessing over fit.

They knew these weaknesses when they drafted him ~19 months ago.

 

[pit]

They knew these weaknesses when they drafted him ~19 months ago.

You're mistaken. This is Hextall's fault.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

I like how Meltzer cites they already a few smaller sized forwards in the system than just cites Brink & Tuomaala. The latter who just put in a wasted D+1 year playing in leagues above where his development is currently.

Obviously the pandemic has hurt every prospects development time to some degree these last few years. For the most part we got back to normalcy this past year. Beyond Tuomaala you had Foerster & Wisdom missed time with big injuries (both ended up below the PPG threshold).

You’d think that in on top of with not making many draft selections & an NHL roster that doesn’t have a lot of proven young building blocks & isn’t overly talented to begin with they’d want more numbers.

 

[Rebels57]

I like how Meltzer cites they already a few smaller sized forwards in the system than just cites Brink & Tuomaala. The latter who just put in a wasted D+1 year playing in leagues above where his development is currently.

Obviously the pandemic has hurt every prospects development time to some degree these last few years. For the most part we got back to normalcy this past year. Beyond Tuomaala you had Foerster & Wisdom missed time with big injuries (both ended up below the PPG threshold).

You’d think that in on top of with not making many draft selections & an NHL roster that doesn’t have a lot of proven young building blocks & isn’t overly talented to begin with they’d want more numbers.

Yeah I was thinking that too but didnt feel like typing it out. Where is this glut of undersized forwards in the system? Frost and Brink are going to be in the NHL and even if Tuomaala wasnt ass this season, hes still just one guy. f***ing nonsense.

 

[Magua]

They definitely won’t heavily weigh drafting a player with size at 5th overall.

 

[Flukeshot]

Is O'Brien's deadline Aug 15th?

 

[Beef Invictus]

It's comical they ever tried to pretend they'd have drafted Makar if not for the dastardly rogue Hextall.