Projects prevalent in New York Rangers Top 20 prospects

[Matz03]

Not sure how Nieves is going to turn out. I don't see him as 4th line material. He's built and plays somewhat similar to Petr Nedved IMO--he's a tall rangy guy--a terrific skater who is very nifty with the puck whether stick handling or passing. He seems to have a problem finishing.

His rookie season at Michigan U.--he was 4th on the team in scoring with 8 goals and 21 assists in 40 games. As a by the way three forwards who finished below him in scoring for Michigan U. that year Phil DiGiuseppe, Andrew Copp and Zach Hyman have all gone on to the pros and played in the NHL.

His sophomore year he was 6th on his team in points--his production though regressed to 3 goals and 19 assists. 3 goals in 34 games IMO was not good. My concern over his ability to finish started right here.

His third year--he was 5th on his team in scoring. 7 goals and 28 points in 35 games. As an upperclassman now he's pretty much solidified a job on the team's second line. It's okay but at the same time it's a bit underwhelming and the goal numbers are still low.

Last year as a senior he came his closest to a point a game and actually got to double figures in goals. He was 7th on his team in scoring with 10 goals and 21 assists in 35 games.

To me it was a somewhat disappointing college career. It started off promisingly enough with a good rookie season--regressed in his sophomore year and his numbers plateaued more than less in his junior and senior years. He went from 4th in scoring as a freshman to 6th to 5th to 7th for his Michigan U. team. OTOH he did pretty well in the final couple of weeks of the Hartford Wolfpack season.

He's always been an offensive player. Red Berenson schools his kids well at Michigan U. He certainly should be a prepared player with an idea of his defensive responsibilities but he's a skill guy---not a grind guy. He's not 4th line material. That argument works much much better for Fogarty--it doesn't really work for Nieves. His strong finish in Hartford was encouraging to me. He's obviously on a level above Michael St. Croix. I expect him to be in Hartford next year and we'll see what happens.

I'm actually excited to see Nieves play some preseason games with NHL regulars. I think that might give us a glimpse of what his upside could be. He should no doubt get top 6 minutes in the AHL on what might be a more talented and skilled, though a younger team.

No reason to write him off yet, I think the grinding ability is overrated in today's NHL for bottom six forwards. If he can prove to be an effective two way player, play the pk, he could be a complimentary 3rd liner or even a 4th liner. With the very limited prospect pool of guys pushing for NHL jobs, he might even see a call up as soon as this season. AV has a hard on for guys that can skate.

 

[cwede]

...St. Croix and Morrison don't/didn't play a similar style of game. In fact, they share very few similar traits in terms of game play.

agreed, that's why i wrote "reports cite (Morrison's) compete and play in traffic"

i put their stats together to show how we are all working from incomplete information when we project prospect success, so there is no solid basis for confidently forecasting their absolute success or failure.

i love em all, and i think they all could do what Sheery and Rust are doing 8^)

 

[Beacon]

agreed, that's why i wrote "reports cite (Morrison's) compete and play in traffic"

Morrison weighs 160-170 pounds according to everyone. He won't be able to play in traffic at this size. Playing in traffic against children, particularly those who probably will never be good enough to play ECHL hockey even in their prime, is one thing because 1) you're just as big as them; 2) you're much faster than them (you got drafted, most of them did not). When you move to the pros to play against adults who all had at least a point per game in the juniors, suddenly you are 1) weaker than everyone; 2) not faster than 90% of the players.

Unless he gets up to something closer to 190-95 at his height, he will have no choice but to be a perimeter player.

Also, Sam Noreau is arguably the least offensively skilled guy in our system. He's a defenseman, he's a goon, he can barely keep up in the ECHL. He still had .5 points per game in the juniors. Another big defensive defenseman with no offensive skill is Troy Donnay. He too had .5 ppg. Brad Morrison had .86, just marginally better.

 

[Matz03]

Morrison weighs 160-170 pounds according to everyone. He won't be able to play in traffic at this size. Playing in traffic against children, particularly those who probably will never be good enough to play ECHL hockey even in their prime, is one thing because 1) you're just as big as them; 2) you're much faster than them (you got drafted, most of them did not). When you move to the pros to play against adults who all had at least a point per game in the juniors, suddenly you are 1) weaker than everyone; 2) not faster than 90% of the players.

Unless he gets up to something closer to 190-95 at his height, he will have no choice but to be a perimeter player.

Also, Sam Noreau is arguably the least offensively skilled guy in our system. He's a defenseman, he's a goon, he can barely keep up in the ECHL. He still had .5 points per game in the juniors. Another big defensive defenseman with no offensive skill is Troy Donnay. He too had .5 ppg. Brad Morrison had .86, just marginally better.

According to the Cougars website he's 170 now, do you think he can't tack on 15 lbs over the next 2 years or by the time he's ready to turn pro? He literally has two offseasons to do just that. Puts him in the range to not be completely overwhelmed and then we can see from there. There seems to be more and more smaller and lighter guys making it now than ever before and at the least his actual playing style and skills are better suited for where the game is going.

 

[eco's bones]

Morrison is an intriguing enough player. There was a lot of buzz about him being a later round sleeper pick in last year's draft.

http://www.blueshirtsunited.com/article/getting-know-brad-morrison

He's also got a lot of NHL connections. Josh Gorges is his brother-in-law and he trains with Gorges and a posse of other NHL players in the offseason including Shea Weber, Blake Comeau, Vernon Fiddler and Jordin Tootoo.

Doesn't mean he's going to become an NHL player but he's got a very enviable support system that not very many other prospects can claim.

 

[offdacrossbar]

outside of buchnevich and shestyorkin, and perhaps kovacs and the 2 ryans, the rest of our prospect pool is shallow. big time.

skjei and mcilrath dont count. they are/were/will be nhl regulars. skjei will be good and mcilrath will carve out a career as a bottom type guy with an edge.

everyone else, and i mean everyone, is either a project, a grinder or a 50/50 chance kid.

we lack top end talent across the board in the prospect ranks. there isn't a top pair defender nor forward after the guys i mentioned above.

when you move duclair and saarela out- both would be in our top 7 easy, and draft mcilrath in the top 10- 6 yrs later were discussing if he's a 3rd pair regular or not ? , and then draft like ass after that then you reap what you sow.

look at 2014 draft just as an example. it hurts to even look at it.

halverson in the 2nd round 59th overall ? huh ? way too high for a net minder.
keegan iverson 85th in the 3rd round. wtf? seriously. bad pick.

they hit it with shesty at 118 for sure but then why draft halverson ?

the rest are just fodder.


were reaping now.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

In fairness to Mike Farkas that is a flaw of our depth chart system which we have been trying to adjust. A 6.0 B grade works out ahead of the 6.5 D grades - which is why McIlrath is ahead of both Nanne and Hughes in the Top 20 list. Unfortunately, our page when the depth chart posts only takes into account the number and thus Dylan is below those two and others.

Grading wise that would seem to be accurate - 6.0 is a third pair defenseman which is where he will likely end up. And the B reflects that. If he can earn a full-time spot next season the B would become an A.

In the case of the other two they have the potential to be somewhere between a second or third pairing guy - though in Hughes' case it looks like that ship has sailed and his fall grade will likely reflect that. The D signifies that he could be up to three grades below that - a career minor leaguer. Which is where it looks like he will end up.

Nanne as a college freshman/sophomore is given credit for his potential with the D reflecting the likelihood he reaches that status.

Not to sound patronizing but for Mike filling in after Leslie's long tenure on one of the most closely scrutinized teams we cover, his thoroughness and attention to detail was pretty impressive.

The worst thing is somehow McIlrath is now ranked our #6 defense prospect on the depth chart, behind such luminaries as Tyler Nanne and Tommy Hughes. 6B is a joke. At best a third line defenseman who could drop a step? Give me a break. Looks like one of the "But Tarasenko should have been our pick!" crowd got a hold of our prospect ratings.

EDIT: Looks like its the Dallas Stars guy, actually. Which is somewhat amusing since Dallas wanted Dylan bad, and drafted a similar player in Oleksiak a year later.