Prospect Info: Prospect Talk PART VI

[Fan101]

Theoret CHL Player of the Week

http://www.ontariohockeyleague.com/article/colts-mitchell-theoret-named-chl-player-of-the-week

 

[Brain Hemorrhage]

uugghh Aq Bars tied the game late in the third and last 30 sec Traktor (other team) scored in the last 30 sec of the game..wow.

Pesonen is great...I dono why Wang hasn't tried the alternate route and try to dumpster dive in the SEL and KHL.

How long is Petrov's contract. I did a bit of research...I think his FIRST contract was for 2 years, but the following contract I don't know. What is the length of term. The articles ALL state that he didn't want to come because of 1. His mother is sick and 2. He didn't know how the CBA talks would go. I am thinking he only extended for one year to see how things would turn out. It wouldnt make sense to sign for 2 years if the main thing he was waiting for was the turnout of the new CBA agreement.

Minimum length for "RFA-equivalent" in Russia is 2 years, I have heard.

 

[InformTheMasses]

Minimum length for "RFA-equivalent" in Russia is 2 years, I have heard.

His current contract ends after next season. He will JUST be turning 24 after that season. I thought he was 30 by now

 

[SI90]

His current contract ends after next season. He will JUST be turning 24 after that season. I thought he was 30 by now

At this point hes more of a luxury....We have other highly talented prospect coming up...I usd to have High hope for him but His stats in the KHL have not jumped out to me...


Players like Radulov Tarensenko, and Kuznestov have great numbers over there...

Petrov may bebetter if he come to NA but I have my doubts at this point...

 

[InformTheMasses]

Kitchton playing a good Hawks team....Good luck

Yeah, It's going to be very difficult to derail the collision course that is Edmonton Oil Kings vs. Portland Winterhawks in the WHL this year. I would be very surprised if that wasn't the final.

The OHL is much more wide open, but London is deep and too strong for me to bet on anyone else other than London.

And obviously everyone knows that Halifax owns the QMJHL this season.

 

[redbull]

For those of you that don't use it already, I find this is the best place to track NHL salaries/contract lengths:

http://capgeek.com/islanders

There you can see we currently have 50 players signed to contracts.

A lot of expiring contracts though. At a glance, I see 12-13 players who worn be qualified or will be UFAs. Those probably kick in after Juniors/NCAA/AHL Seasons end.

 

[IslesRock4]

For those of you that don't use it already, I find this is the best place to track NHL salaries/contract lengths:

http://capgeek.com/islanders

There you can see we currently have 50 players signed to contracts.

Reinhart's contract slides over to next year. With Strome playing in Bridgeport on an ATO, his contract slides as well. We actually have 51 players signed to contracts, but I believe we can sign one more player because of Reinhart and Strome's contracts.

So there's room for Mayfield to play for Bridgeport if he chooses to go pro, but there is not room for both Mayfield and Kichton, although I think Kichton is a lost cause already.

 

[InformTheMasses]

Reinhart's contract slides over to next year. With Strome playing in Bridgeport on an ATO, his contract slides as well. We actually have 51 players signed to contracts, but I believe we can sign one more player because of Reinhart and Strome's contracts.

So there's room for Mayfield to play for Bridgeport if he chooses to go pro, but there is not room for both Mayfield and Kichton, although I think Kichton is a lost cause already.

You have it right, capgeek doesn't even have Andrei Pedans contract there, but it doesn't matter since he apparently signed an ATO for this season and his ELC slides until next year which means his contract (along with Strome and Reinharts) dont count this year against the 50 player contract rules. The Islanders still have flexibility here. If Mayfield wated to sign, he can do an ATO for this season and his ELC would start next year (at this point that is what I would expect to happen if Mayfield ends up signing). Which means there is still room for Kichton, AND Theoret, AND Pokka, and whoever else is willing to sign over the next 2 weeks and play on an ATO this year and have their ELC start next season.

I expect any signings the Islanders make (Theoret, Pokka, College or Juniors Free Agents) to have an ATO this season and their ELC start next season, EXCEPT maybe Kichton. Kichton has some leverage and the Islanders might need to sign him this year (if spokane loses this playoff round) and have him play a couple games in Bridgeport and burn his first year of his ELC for those games (ala Anders Lee).

 

[doublechili]

Strome callup this year?

I just want to throw the question out there, because I'm sure I'm not the only one who has thought of it:

If Strome continues playing so well in the AHL for another few games and JT's linemates continue their current play, would you consider bringing Strome up for the last 5 games to play RW with JT in place of Boyes (and maybe even put Martin on LW to add a physical/protection element to the line)?

Ideally Strome stays in the AHL the rest of this season. But I'll tell you now that if the Isles miss the playoffs by a slim margin and then Strome comes in and tears things up in the NHL in 6 months, there will be a lot of talk here that the Isles should have brought up Strome this year. So I just want to have the conversation in advance.

A little history, FWIW. The Isles were actually VERY close to winning the Stanley Cup in 1975. If they had beaten the Flyers in the 7 game semi-final series I've always thought they would've beaten Buffalo in the finals to win the Cup. The biggest issue with that 1975 team was goal-scoring. Six months later a rookie center named Bryan Trottier played his first NHL game at NVMC and got 5 points and went on to score 95 points breaking the rookie points record. I don't know if Trottier could've been signed to a contract that spring to join the Isles for their Cinderella playoff run, but I've always wondered if he would've made the difference and helped them to a Cup.

 

[InformTheMasses]

I just want to throw the question out there, because I'm sure I'm not the only one who has thought of it:

If Strome continues playing so well in the AHL for another few games and JT's linemates continue their current play, would you consider bringing Strome up for the last 5 games to play RW with JT in place of Boyes (and maybe even put Martin on LW to add a physical/protection element to the line)?

Ideally Strome stays in the AHL the rest of this season. But I'll tell you now that if the Isles miss the playoffs by a slim margin and then Strome comes in and tears things up in the NHL in 6 months, there will be a lot of talk here that the Isles should have brought up Strome this year. So I just want to have the conversation in advance.

A little history, FWIW. The Isles were actually VERY close to winning the Stanley Cup in 1975. If they had beaten the Flyers in the 7 game semi-final series I've always thought they would've beaten Buffalo in the finals to win the Cup. The biggest issue with that 1975 team was goal-scoring. Six months later a rookie center named Bryan Trottier played his first NHL game at NVMC and got 5 points and went on to score 95 points breaking the rookie points record. I don't know if Trottier could've been signed to a contract that spring to join the Isles for their Cinderella playoff run, but I've always wondered if he would've made the difference and helped them to a Cup.

I have said it before if Strome tears it up in these 10 Bridgeport games (12+ points) and boyes is still a zombie then I expect to see Strome on tavares being the last 3-5 games. Its an easy call.

 

[seafoam]

I can see Strome being brought up for 5 games at the max, that will not burn a year on his ELC.

 

[19NYSports91]

I can see Strome being brought up for 5 games at the max, that will not burn a year on his ELC.

How does it work for playoff games? would that burn a year on his elc?

 

[OlTimeHockey]

How does it work for playoff games? would that burn a year on his elc?

To my knowledge, no, he's not burning any games. Regular season only.

 

[19NYSports91]

To my knowledge, no, he's not burning any games. Regular season only.

That could be interesting, I doubt they call him up though.

 

[leeroggy]

A little history, FWIW. The Isles were actually VERY close to winning the Stanley Cup in 1975. If they had beaten the Flyers in the 7 game semi-final series I've always thought they would've beaten Buffalo in the finals to win the Cup. The biggest issue with that 1975 team was goal-scoring. Six months later a rookie center named Bryan Trottier played his first NHL game at NVMC and got 5 points and went on to score 95 points breaking the rookie points record. I don't know if Trottier could've been signed to a contract that spring to join the Isles for their Cinderella playoff run, but I've always wondered if he would've made the difference and helped them to a Cup.

If my memory serves Trots was a second-round draft pick at the time under a special 'under-age' exemption - he was 19 when the draft was 20-year olds. I don't remember the mechanism for how he applied (maybe similar to how the Canadian Juniors allow a special exemption for 'star-level talent'?). The rules back then might have been that an under-age player could not be drafted in the first round and that they couldn't play in the NHL until they were one year past their draft.

By the way - talk about a draft for the Isles.

1974

Rd 1 - Clark Gillies
Rd 2 - Brian Trottier
Rd 7 - Dave Langevin
Rd 13 - Neil Smith!!
Rd 14 - Stefan Persson

Also - KC drafted Bob Bourne in the 3rd and traded him to us the next year.

 

[kasper11]

How does it work for playoff games? would that burn a year on his elc?

According to CapGeek, Kreider bruned a year of his ELC last year when he only played in the playoffs.

http://www.capgeek.com/player/2226

 

[Levi Walking Bear]

If my memory serves Trots was a second-round draft pick at the time under a special 'under-age' exemption - he was 19 when the draft was 20-year olds. I don't remember the mechanism for how he applied (maybe similar to how the Canadian Juniors allow a special exemption for 'star-level talent'?). The rules back then might have been that an under-age player could not be drafted in the first round and that they couldn't play in the NHL until they were one year past their draft.

By the way - talk about a draft for the Isles.

1974

Rd 1 - Clark Gillies
Rd 2 - Brian Trottier
Rd 7 - Dave Langevin
Rd 13 - Neil Smith!!
Rd 14 - Stefan Persson


Also - KC drafted Bob Bourne in the 3rd and traded him to us the next year.

I remember the two players the Islanders gave up for Bourne, defenseman Larry Hornung and Bart Crashley who despite the name did not hit anybody, Both players were in the WHA at the time.
I'm showing my age here.

 

[redbull]

I have said it before if Strome tears it up in these 10 Bridgeport games (12+ points) and boyes is still a zombie then I expect to see Strome on tavares being the last 3-5 games. Its an easy call.

stats aside, from what people who watch Strome are saying, he's noticeable in the AHL, he's making plays, he stands out. That's a huge sign that a player is "ready" - especially an offensive player.

I've watched a lot of AHL hockey and one thing that's very common is that less skilled players typically need more time in the AHL to learn how to be effective in a pro game. So smaller, offensive forwards (like Jason Krog, Rakhshani, K Aucoin, Parenteau) will usually produce well but have games (often speed/skating/size) that limits their ability to translate that to an effective NHL game.

Players like Ullstrom, Cizikas, Persson - those that are projected to play a more well-rounded game, with fore-checking, back-checking, physical/defensive type games, they usually don't stand out in the AHL, don't get the best stats, but their games are best-suited for the NHL game. So Matt Martin can be effective in the NHL with just enough AHL play to get comfortable with the role he'll play in the NHL. (Though, in Matt Martin's case, I believe he would have seriously benefited from a more offensive role in the AHL - he's got untapped ability there!)

Offense-first guys with high-end talent like Strome? Once he can produce in the AHL, I'd call him up immediately. That's the hardest part for a small-ish offense-first forward, especially one who's not a super-fast/strong skater (like Skinner, Matt Duchene) - they often need time to adjust to the pro-game. Galchenyuk isn't that effective this year, at least not on the score-sheet. Strome is 19 but he seems to have enough high-end talent/vision/hockey sense that he can generate offense at the pro-level. A player like this might actually produce MORE in the NHL, with better players, than in the AHL. Not unlike Kadri.

I think Nelson is also ready for NHL play. I've only seen him play 2-3 times in the NCAA and 4-5 times in BP but he's ready for the NHL IMO and I'd be shocked if he wasn't on the Islanders to start next season - and frankly, I might give him some minutes this year too.

Problem is, adding rookies when you're in a playoff run is risky. But I'd probably take the risk for a few games, in limited roles, see how it goes. There's a small chance that these guys can mesh well and really provide a spark.

Both Grabner and Tavares are being severely hampered by their linemates, for example. I'd think BOTH Strome and Nelson would help that immensely. Certainly more than Joensuu/Lee.

 

[redbull]

I remember the two players the Islanders gave up for Bourne, defenseman Larry Hornung and Bart Crashley who despite the name did not hit anybody, Both players were in the WHA at the time.
I'm showing my age here.

John Tonelli for Steve Konroyd and Rich Kromm - that was a tough one. He was one of the very few dynasty players that were traded before it was "too late"

It's kind of a shame that the Isles got nothing in return for Potvin, Trottier, Bossy, Smith as they aged. It's part "classy" that they remained Islanders for such a long time (Potvin/Bossy forever!) but at the same time, having traded them when they started to decline (though Bossy never did decline) could have set-up the team much better in the coming years.

Like trading journeyman Bob Lorimer for a #1 pick used to select 104 goal scorer Pat Lafontaine. Good times.

 

[IslesRock4]

To my knowledge, no, he's not burning any games. Regular season only.

Playoff games count towards a contract.

 

[Felix Unger]

Offense-first guys with high-end talent like Strome? Once he can produce in the AHL, I'd call him up immediately. That's the hardest part for a small-ish offense-first forward, especially one who's not a super-fast/strong skater (like Skinner, Matt Duchene) - they often need time to adjust to the pro-game.

I think Strome's skills are NHL-ready. It's what you see from him - the hard, decisive feed, the quick release, slowing the game down but not being unnecessarily fancy. The trouble is that, IMO, he's ready to play center with some larger wingers to dig, not as a winger to dig for JT and Moulson. The only way I see him really working is by splitting up both the top 2 lines and putting Okposo with JT and Moulson and Strome with Nielsen and Bailey.

I don't think there's any doubt that Strome would solve the left-side powerplay black-hole that is Brad friggin' Boyes immediately. No one thinks it's a coincidence what Bridgeport's powerplay looks like now that Strome arrived.

I just don't want to see Strome going hog wild in a playoff race, going hard and blindly into corners, and getting the crap beat out of him before he has the experience to know what's coming and how to avoid it.

I think Nelson is also ready for NHL play. I've only seen him play 2-3 times in the NCAA and 4-5 times in BP but he's ready for the NHL IMO and I'd be shocked if he wasn't on the Islanders to start next season - and frankly, I might give him some minutes this year too.

Bringing up Nelson would be far less risky, because of his size.

 

[Macch]

Playoff games count towards a contract.

The hell with worrying about burning a year of the ELC. If Strome can help the Islanders win this season, they should bring him up.

 

[IslesRock4]

The hell with worrying about burning a year of the ELC. If Strome can help the Islanders win this season, they should bring him up.

I agree, the contract is not something the Islanders should worry about. Strome doesn't strike me as a guy that's going to want to leave first opportunity anyway, and there's still many years between now and him being a UFA.

Whether we should bring him up or not, I'm not sure, but he shouldn't stay down there for the sake of not starting his contract. That would, however, limit our ability to sign a guy like Kichton who will want an ELC off the bat.

 

[doublechili]

If my memory serves Trots was a second-round draft pick at the time under a special 'under-age' exemption - he was 19 when the draft was 20-year olds. I don't remember the mechanism for how he applied (maybe similar to how the Canadian Juniors allow a special exemption for 'star-level talent'?). The rules back then might have been that an under-age player could not be drafted in the first round and that they couldn't play in the NHL until they were one year past their draft.

By the way - talk about a draft for the Isles.

1974

Rd 1 - Clark Gillies
Rd 2 - Brian Trottier
Rd 7 - Dave Langevin
Rd 13 - Neil Smith!!
Rd 14 - Stefan Persson

Also - KC drafted Bob Bourne in the 3rd and traded him to us the next year.

I posted the Isles' '74 draft in a "best team draft ever" thread on the main board a while back. A dynasty getting 2/3 of their top line and their 2nd defense pairing in a single draft would be hard to top.

Good call on the "double-draft" in '74 - most people don't know about that. It's the reason the following year's draft was so weak. My recollection was that the 19 year olds could not be drafted until the 2nd round, but someone once told me that was wrong. Either way, the added depth of the draft helps explain why a HOFer like Trots dropped to the 2nd round.

 

[DarkHorse]

Playoff games count towards a contract.

That's weird. The players don't get paid during the playoff, so why should it burn contract games?

From Dan Bylsma:

There are no salary payments after the regular season ends. During playoffs, each player is paid an equal share of a percentage of the total league ticket revenue for the rounds of the playoffs his team is involved in.