Prospect Info: Phantoms (AHL), Reading Royals (ECHL), NCAA, Jrs., Int'l, etc.

[DancingPanther]

"Hardest worker"

You've gotta be kidding me. What an honor

 

[deadhead]

"Hardest worker"

You've gotta be kidding me. What an honor

Actually, that's something that would impress me, I assume it's a game thing, since it's voted on by other coaches.
[i.e. they wouldn't know if he's a hard worker in practice or the weight room . . . ]
A kid who works as hard without the puck (just not looking to pad stats) is going to have a better shot at the NHL, all else held equal.
That's because most stars at lower levels are going to be bottom six/third pair guys in the NHL, simply a matter of "numbers."
Especially on good teams, so working hard without the puck will make them more valuable while they learn the game.

Just look at the Flyers, someone like Friedman is only making the team on the 3rd pair, probably zero PP time, and he may be paired with someone like Ghost - so if he doesn't work hard without the puck he has no value.
Definitely applies to players like Laczynski and Cates, they'll be bottom six, maybe 4th line, no matter how much they scored in college, defense and forechecking will be key to them making the NHL and getting a chance to show they can do more than that.

Even someone like Frost is looking at a 3rd line role at best, doubt AV will have much patience with him if he doesn't aggressively back check.

 

[Appleyard]

"Hardest worker"

You've gotta be kidding me. What an honor

Once won the "most improved student" award at age 18 in Geography for my year in final year of "college" (so age 16-18 post-school).

It pissed me off so much. Had to go up on stage to get it and it felt like a "well, at least you tried" award with all these parents looking at me and then each other with their "aww, look at that stupid sporty kid who tried hard" look on their faces, as I had a skinhead and just looked like a thug and they did say anything apart from the name of the award...

was even more pissed off 2 minutes later as my girlfriend won the "best student" award and I had ~592/600 and she had ~590/600 over the 2 year course. Insult to injury was she got £100 for it and I got £25. She also left me maybe 3 weeks later. That bullshit award was cursed. (it could have been my childishness, alcohol use, narcissism and bad attitude at that age that did it though... maybe.)

Also once won a "fairplay" (basically Lady Byng) award for my water polo league. I think they only gave it out twice... I dont think I collected it tbh. (did not go to the awards for some reason.) Though I was a petulant kid back then. Now I would have been honoured. Especially as I am a pretty dirty player.

 

[DancingPanther]

Once won the "most improved student" award at age 18 in Geography for my year in final year of "college" (so age 16-18 post-school).

It pissed me off so much. Had to go up on stage to get it and it felt like a "well, at least you tried" award with all these parents looking at me and then each other with their "aww, look at that stupid sporty kid who tried hard" look on their faces, as I had a skinhead and just looked like a thug and they did say anything apart from the name of the award...

was even more pissed off 2 minutes later as my girlfriend won the "best student" award and I had ~592/600 and she had ~590/600 over the 2 year course. Insult to injury was she got £100 for it and I got £25. She also left me maybe 3 weeks later. That bullshit award was cursed. (it could have been my childishness, alcohol use, narcissism and bad attitude at that age that did it though... maybe.)

Also once won a "fairplay" (basically Lady Byng) award for my water polo league. I think they only gave it out twice... I dont think I collected it tbh. (did not go to the awards for some reason.) Though I was a petulant kid back then. Now I would have been honoured. Especially as I am a pretty dirty player.

Most improved

Implying you were bad to start

 

[Appleyard]

Most improved

Implying you were bad to start

Yeh. When I was the best from the start haha. Though tbh my girlfriend worked really hard throughout while I f***ed around in first year and then got full marks in final year as I wanted to beat her and was behind going into the year haha.

 

[deadhead]

Yeh. When I was the best from the start haha. Though tbh my girlfriend worked really hard throughout while I f***ed around in first year and then got full marks in final year as I wanted to beat her and was behind going into the year haha.

 

[Appleyard]

Haha. I never do really. Only feign it. I cant be mad for more than maybe 1-2 days even in worst case scenario, hold no grudges, let bygones be bygones etc. My brother is the opposite which causes some interesting friction.

 

[Deadpool8812]

Is hardest worker like the participant award?

 

[Stizzle]

Philadelphia Flyers Prospect Mixtape Highlight Video: 2019/2020 Season

Bobby Brink (0:05)
Morgan Frost (2:18)
Cam York (4:40)
Yegor Zamula (6:36)
Tanner Laczynski (8:18)
Wyatt Kalynuk (11:07)
Noah Cates (11:55)
Misha Vorobyev (13:30)
Jay O'Brien (15:09)
Mark Friedman (16:45)
Wade Allison (17:48)
Connor Bunnaman (19:00)
Mason Millman (19:10)
Isaac Ratcliffe (19:27)

 

[sregdoor]

Philadelphia Flyers Prospect Mixtape Highlight Video: 2019/2020 Season

Bobby Brink (0:05)
Morgan Frost (2:18)
Cam York (4:40)
Yegor Zamula (6:36)
Tanner Laczynski (8:18)
Wyatt Kalynuk (11:07)
Noah Cates (11:55)
Misha Vorobyev (13:30)
Jay O'Brien (15:09)
Mark Friedman (16:45)
Wade Allison (17:48)
Connor Bunnaman (19:00)
Mason Millman (19:10)
Isaac Ratcliffe (19:27)

Nice work, thanks for putting this together and posting.

 

[Stizzle]

Interview from a few weeks ago.
HTV: Egor Zamula Season End Interview – Calgary Hitmen

 

[deadhead]

wrong thread

 

[TB87]

Re-watching the RUS-CZE WJC preliminary round game today and it was pretty funny how much better the Russian PP1 moved the puck & created more shooting/passing lanes once Romanov was taken off and Zamula replaced him. Sooo much more dangerous with Zamula.

 

[Stizzle]

Here's part 3 of my prospect rankings and write-ups. Part 1 & 2 are quoted.

1. Morgan Frost
2. Bobby Brink

I honestly hesitated with this one. In the end, the positional value of Frost being a legitimate center, combined with superior speed and size, felt like too much to ignore. From a skill, composure, and vision perspective, I think Brink actually has the edge on Frost. Although, probably not by a ton.

I chickened out last year by putting Farabee above Brink in the #4/5 spots. My instincts were that Brink was the better prospect. Mostly because of a clear skill advantage and possessing more scoring upside. With Farabee being named top freshman in the NCAA, and the mainstream draft pundits not being as high on Brink as me, I caved. Even though Farabee is clearly an excellent player that we are very fortunate to have, and was a shining teenage NHL'er, I'd go Brink over Farabee now.

I just think Brink's offensive prowess and instincts are special. Whenever Giroux ages out of our lineup, Brink will be a ready made replacement for the top powerplay unit imo. Awesome vision. Awesome shot. Awesome decision making. Brink is just awesome on the powerplay.

Brink's ability to exit the zone with passes really flourished as the season developed. It may end up being a really big strength. Also, his controlled zone entries are definitely a strength. As shown by the highlight video of his year.

Now, back to my #1, Morgan Frost. A super important sign is that he held up quite well to the rigors of being a centerman in pro hockey. Not a lot of 20 year olds can say that. Frost actually held his own and wasn't dominated in possession.

I put a lot of stock in that. We all knew his offensive chops would translate, but I hold my breath a little to see if young centers will get caved in possession-wise transitioning from junior hockey.

A quick glance at some fancy stats... In his 20 NHL games Natural Stat Trick has Frost at 51.55% CF 5v5 and 48.66% xGF. Hockey Reference has him with a positive Corsi Rel and a CF% of 52.3 at overall even strength situations. For a 20 year old rookie, I'll take that! Very encouraging.

The Phantoms were a bad team. I've not been shy in assigning blame for that. Of all the players who spent a majority of the season in Lehigh Valley, only Frost, Friedman, and Vorobyev get shout outs from me as actually shining. I think it says a lot about a player when they can overcome the obstacles of such a poorly managed team and actually thrive.

Frost probably shouldn't have been in LV to begin with. That's a whole different argument, though. According to the games tracked by PhancyStats.com, he managed a +3.98% CF
Rel, +4.9% SCF Rel, +4.44% HDCF Rel.

Just going by spur of the moment memory, I'd guess his most common linemate was Andy Andreoff. So, he certainly wasn't receiving a big linemate advantage.

We witnessed some bright offensive flashes in the NHL of what's to come with Frost. His brief line with TK & Giroux was pretty damn fun while it lasted. I hope he's given an expanded role next year.

Fletcher said AV was asking for him to be called up every day, but Fletcher relented. So, I'm pretty hopeful we'll see Frost kick it up a notch next year since AV seems to have his back.

As for Brink, all he has to do is keep chugging. After drafting Brink, @Magua stated that we have to let father time work his magic. You have to remember, he's still 18 years old until July.

The kid very well might have another gear left in him. That's part of the reason I chose to rank Brink over York or Zamula, who are both awesome. In the end I just couldn't pass on his scoring upside.

His scoring stats this year were very good. No doubt. Brink's stats exceeded my expectations. Even so, I think he actually played better than his stats indicated. At the WJC, and in the 2nd part of the season at Denver, I thought he ran below expectation for what he was actually creating on the ice.

Ok, that's all for now. Feedback is appreciated if you'd like to talk Flyers instead of the Rona or politics.

Here is #3 through #6...

3. Cam York

York vs Zamula is a tough call. I think York probably makes better decisions with the puck while facing a hard forecheck. That's mostly why I have him ahead. It seems like York never puts his teammates, or himself, in bad spots. He has an unflappable quality about him. It reminds me of Timonen a little.

At the WJC, York was, admittedly, banged up physically. He found himself fighting to receive any sliver of even strength ice time at all. Mostly relegated to #7 status at 5v5 and PP2 duties. A scenario he surely never encountered before.

So, naturally, we did not see his best showing. Next year should be a totally different story. I assume he'll be the main guy on USA's blue line.

At Michigan, he was a total beast. I'm not sure he could have done more. Michigan was not a sexy team. It was impressive to see him adjust smoothly from playing with such skilled players last year, to such pedestrian skill this year.

Any thought that he was simply propped up by playing on an All-Star team during his draft year was, to some degree, alleviated. I think he made the absolute most out of what he had to work with at Michigan. Every game I watched was a quality performance by York.

---

4. Egor Zamula

Zamula plays with more pizzazz than York. You notice him more. He's just a really fun player to watch. Zamula has also consistently shown well when the pressure is on. He's shined in both the WJC and preseason NHL games.

Before the 2019 draft, I wrote about not wanting a left-handed defenseman in the 1st round. Partly because I believed in Zamula so much. I still stand by that today. Zamula has a ton of confidence and the "it" factor. I think he'll help bring swagger to the team. In a similar way Hayes and TK do.

Zamula will make some reckless plays, every so often. He'll try to move the puck to a dangerous area, or get a little overzealous versus a forecheck. It's almost as if Zamula is so brash, he does not think the opposition has the ability to steal the puck from him.

That's hardly the worst trait to have, though. He's like the anti-Hagg, who is totally unwilling to move the puck in transition at all. Zamula has balls, smarts, skill, and confidence. He is a very good prospect that will be a net positive all over the ice.

---

5) Tanner Laczynski

A few of us here think Laczynski has more offense than the majority realizes. To put it lightly, OSU checks all the boxes of a stereotypical bland college system. It definitely handcuffed him, but he still showed his offensive chops nonetheless.

He's a real big kid with, imo, no real holes. I honestly like everything about Laczynski's game. He excels on the boards and down low. He has good vision and smarts. He'll make a very nice support power forward, who can complement smaller linemates.

I think you can play this kid all over your lineup. He's pretty versatile. I love his game on the wing, but you might be able to play him at center if absolutely necessary also.

Overall, I just have a real high opinion of Laczynski. He probably doesn't have upside like the players ranked ahead of him, but he's a rock solid player every team needs to win.

---

6) Noah Cates

Cates has some noticeable similarities to Laczynski. I think Cates is ahead mentally, but easily behind Laczynski in physical gifts and offensive awareness. Both fit the mold of a big framed support forward with some skill.

Cates is probably destined for a heavy PK role in the NHL. Offensively, he has nice hands around the net, and of course his big calling card is his mind.

I'd love to see Cates skating improve a smidge. That would really put him over the top, and is my only real worry about him translating to the NHL.

At his current trajectory, he's a pretty safe projection as a bottom of the roster NHL winger who PK's well. I think he's a real betting favorite to carve out a legit big league career.

I can't say with confidence that any other prospect, left on my list, has nearly the odds Cates has. May it be because of injury history, consistency, an unclear future role, etc. So, I'm comfortable having Cates take a high spot on my list. Even over some higher ceiling players.

***Sandin not under consideration ATM because I'm not sure if we're counting him as a prospect. Plus, I've never seen him play.

After Cates, I really struggled with a ranking for various reasons. Some players I have a small recent sample size on. Some just have big question marks for one reason or another, yet still have solid reason for optimism.

----

7) Mason Millman

I was really lackadaisical with my Millman watching, but I'm definitely buying his profile from a statistical standpoint, age, and upward trajectory.

He's still 18 for almost 2 months. That shit counts big in my world. I'll gladly gamble on a young, rapidly developing athletic kid, with size and a brain.

He may have gotten lost in Flyers prospect hype circles outside of this board because he's a new, unfamiliar name, and we have so many damn prospects.

----

8) Jay O'Brien

For me, O'Brien and Allison were probably the toughest players to rank on the whole list. JOB's path is, of course, concerning, but I am more sympathetic to his plight than most. My hatred for Providence's hockey style can not be understated. I put that program at the top of the list for boring, overly suppressive college hawkey teams.

I only saw him play once for Penticton. So, I'm pretty much just defaulting back to what I've seen in the past, and I'm mostly a big fan of his play style and skill.

His shift videos from his USNTDP games still stick in my mind as majorly favorable, and l liked his WJSS a lot as well.

I have also said multiple times that O'Brien way outplayed his actual point totals at Providence in the 5 or so games I watched of his college stint. The exact opposite of what I said about Rubtsov and Ratcliffe at this time last year, who I said had better stats in 18/19 than actual quality of play.

So, I'll just trust my eyes again, and plop O'Brien in this spot gambling on his past showings of skill and tenacity. Plus, he's also still only 20 years old. Not 23-24 years old like the players immediately following him on my list.

----

9) Wyatt Kalynuk

This might be a bit of a protest ranking from me. As my past rankings have shown, I like Kalynuk quite a bit. Unfortunately, his reluctance to leave college just seems absurd. He entered college at a very late age. Him staying all 4 seems unreasonable.

I'd completely understand if he wants his rights traded out of Philly to sign elsewhere, but spending another season in Wisconsin I don't understand at all. He'd be turning 24 at the end of his senior season.

----

10) Misha Vorobyev

Yup. I'm still here. Not sorry. I just ranted about this guy a month ago in a thread where people were talking about Chris Stewart. I'll just quote it here instead of, surely, being somewhat redundant.

That's a good statistic. I sure do feel bad for the guys forced to play on Stewart's line.

I wonder which player had the extreme misfortune of having Chris Stewart as his most common linemate this season.

Oh, wow huuuge humungous shock. It's... Misha Vorobyev.

A player largely dismissed by Flyers fans as a bust. Please indulge me as I step up on my soap box for a second.

Misha Vorobyev has not had many things go his way so far in Philadelphia. Ron Hextall loudly declared on live television that Vorobyev had knocked the door down, and won the 3C job, to start the 18/19 season. Early on he showed a lot of potential chemistry with linemate, JVR. Unfortunately, JVR would get seriously injured in game #2.

Dwain Honkstol, predictably, stayed true to his brand. Benching Misha in game #3 of the season in favor of his boy, Jori Escobar Lehtera.

I don't think we've seen the true Vorobyev at the NHL level since. Confidence totally non-existent. The exact opposite of the fiery, alpha male I see in the AHL.

Vorobyev has played over 50 minutes at 5v5 with 5 forwards in the NHL. 3 of them are Chris Stewart, Phil Varone, and the decaying corpse of Wayne Simmonds.

The other 2 are Michael Raffl and Tyler Pitlick.

I still think he's easily salvageable as a 4C and PK'er. It all comes down to confidence imo. He's regularly the Phantoms best player. In the AHL, he's out on the ice arguing with referees, and always very demonstrative with teammates. Vorobyev seems to be a very emotional player.

Vorobyev just needs to be himself, and play with confidence in the NHL. That's partly on him. But you also can't anchor him to Stewie, or shit can him instantly like Honk did. Then wonder why he's playing a confused, docile brand of hockey.

AV and Fletch need to rebuild this kid. He's been mismanaged to the highest order. To a large extent, the organization has failed Misha Vorobyev.

----

11) Mark Friedman

This starts the "Stizzle values right-handed defensemen" portion of my ranking. No one left on my list outweighs the importance of throwing as many darts as possible at a premium position with a league-wide shortage.

I've said this a million times, but it's worth repeating. Being a defenseman on a Scott Gordon AHL team sucks very badly. It often also sucks trying to evaluate defensemen on the Phantoms. The Phantoms defensemen are at such a handicap in Gordon's system.

Friedman has shown enough that he warrants an NHL roster spot next year. Friedman's skating is majestic. At the very least, he plays with bite, is a pain in the ass, and draws a ton of penalties.

I'm staunchly against trying to sneak him through waivers. Not a repeat of the NAK situation. I want to see him after being coached up properly by AV. If it doesn't work out, so be it.

This guy should be your #7 defense healthy scratch, not Hagg. He can be #4 on our RHD depth chart, while Zamula starts in the AHL, and serves as our #4 on the left side depth chart. An easy call imo.

 

[deadhead]

I think you're wrong about Vorobyev, blaming Stewart for his failing ignores he's had three shots at winning a job.

Now part of the problem is fit, he's simply not a 4C in the NHL, lacks speed and attitude, he doesn't forecheck and hit, he's a playmaker but he's not going to beat out Frost or Patrick (if he returns) at 3C. All you have to do is look at Bunnaman v Vorobyev at 4C and it's obvious who is a good fit.

IF he improves his skating, and commits to a bottom six role (now you know why Hextall tried to instill that attitude in marginal prospects) he might make this team, but his best bet is to be traded to a bad team where he can get 3C minutes with some offensively skilled wingers.

 

[Adtar02]

If he can stay healthy. I still think German will be a better player than misha.

 

[Stizzle]

If he can stay healthy. I still think German will be a better player than misha.

German was healthy this year. I thought he looked pretty terrible. I don't know what happened to the guy after leaving Chicoutimi, but he's regressed badly.

Misha outplayed him this year by a large margin. Even with a clear linemate disadvantage. Misha got stapled to Gabriel & Ratcliffe a large portion of the season. Both were dreadful. Although, Ratcliffe did come on very strong late in the year. German had much better linemates to work with (Kase, Sushko, etc).

 

[Adtar02]

German was healthy this year. I thought he looked pretty terrible. I don't know what happened to the guy after leaving Chicoutimi, but he's regressed badly.

Misha outplayed him this year by a large margin. Even with a clear linemate disadvantage. Misha got stapled to Gabriel & Ratcliffe a large portion of the season. Both were dreadful. Although, Ratcliffe did come on very strong late in the year. German had much better linemates to work with (Kase, Sushko, etc).

Slightly confused

Injuries again stall progress of former Flyers first-round draft pick German Rubtsov | On the Fly

 

[Curufinwe]

He missed three weeks after getting a shoulder injury.

TheAHL.com | The American Hockey League

But Vorobyev had a great season in the AHL. People writing him off are doing the same thing with him that they did with Laughton when he struggled in the NHL before his ELC was done.

 

[BlackandOrange]

Was digging into Ratcliffe's stats in his first season of junior. Seems like he struggled a little bit at first before figuring it out in his 2nd season. His 2015-16 Storm season is similar statwise to his 2019-20 Phantom season. Let's hope we see a similar jump with the Phantoms. Because gosh-dang the 2018-19 Storm playoffs were like a Disney movie.

 

[Curufinwe]

Would you say you did a "quick study" of his stats?

 

[FLYguy3911]

That Disney movie featured Nick Suzuki.

 

[BlackandOrange]

That Disney movie featured Nick Suzuki.

Not going to argue that Suzuki should be the middle character on the poster.

 

[wasup]

He missed three weeks after getting a shoulder injury.

TheAHL.com | The American Hockey League

But Vorobyev had a great season in the AHL. People writing him off are doing the same thing with him that they did with Laughton when he struggled in the NHL before his ELC was done.

It is why lists are just lists . People on here are just raving about NAK now but was on nobody's top 15 lists in the last couple years . Lists are fun and are meant to be debated but don't get to caught in them .

 

[TB87]

Someone posted a league wide best prospects list with these parameters on the main board:


***Top 70 best prospects with less than 35 NHL games played right now, prior to the 2020 draft***

NAME	POS	TEAM
1	Kirill Kaprizov	F	MIN
2	Igor Shesterkin	G	NYR
3	Bowen Byram	D	COL
4	Ilya Sorokin	G	NYI
5	Alex Turcotte	F	LA
6	Rasmus Sandin	D	TOR
7	Noah Dobson	D	NYI
8	Vasily Podkolzin	F	VAN
9	Vitali Kravtsov	F	NYR
10	Alex Newhook	F	COL
11	Moritz Seider	D	DET
12	Dylan Cozens	F	BUF
13	Trevor Zegras	F	ANA
14	Ilya Samsonov	G	WSH
15	Victor Soderstrom	D	ARI
16	Barrett Hayton	F	ARI
17	Filip Zadina	F	DET
18	Peyton Krebs	F	VEG
19	Spencer Knight	G	FLA
20	Ty Smith	D	NJ
21	Erik Brannstrom	D	OTT
22	Grigori Denisenko	F	FLA
23	Nils Lundkvist	D	NYR
24	Evan Bouchard	D	EDM
25	Matthew Boldy	F	MIN
26	Cole Caufield	F	MTL
27	Juuso Valimaki	D	CGY
28	Tobias Bjornfot	D	LA
29	Ville Heinola	D	WIN
30	Owen Tippett	F	FLA
31	Morgan Frost	F	PHI
32	Philip Tomasino	F	NSH
33	Connor McMichael	F	WSH
34	Thomas Harley	D	DAL
35	Philip Broberg	D	EDM
36	Eeli Tolvanen	F	NSH
37	Gabriel Vilardi	F	LA
38	Alexander Romanov	D	MTL
39	Josh Norris	F	OTT
40	Oliver Wahlstrom	F	NYI
41	Joe Veleno	F	DET
42	Arthur Kaliyev	F	LA
43	Bobby Brink	F	PHI
44	Logan Brown	F	OTT
45	Nick Robertson	F	TOR
46	Alexander Khovanov	F	MIN
47	Kristian Vesalainen	F	WIN
48	Timothy Liljegren	D	TOR
49	Ryan Suzuki	F	CAR
50	Lassi Thomson	D	OTT
51	Jacob Bernard-Docker	D	OTT
52	Liam Foudy	F	CBJ
53	Nolan Foote	F	NJ
54	Kale Clague	D	LA
55	K'Andre Miller	D	NYR
56	Cam York	D	PHI
57	Adam Beckman	F	MIN
58	Ty Dellandrea	F	DAL
59	Michael DiPietro	G	VAN
60	Nils Hoglander	F	VAN
61	Jan Jenik	F	ARI
62	Alex Formenton	F	OTT
63	Samuel Poulin	F	PIT
64	Jakob Pelletier	F	CGY
65	Jack Studnicka	F	BOS
66	Klim Kostin	F	STL
67	Calen Addison	D	MIN
68	Kevin Bahl	D	NJ
69	Martin Fehervary	D	WSH
70	Justus Annunen	G	COL

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

A list like this is virtually impossible to put together because no one has an intimate knowledge of all NHL teams best prospects. So, props I guess?

Now....Frost should be at least top 30, Brink & York should be comfortably in the top 30. Lots of funny player placements here. Zamula isn’t even listed here either, which is strange.