Reilly Smith

[Colt.45Orr]

Lol the report kinda sounds hilarious, picturing working your butt off your whole life and your a pretty damn good hockey player... But the competition is so high at the NHL level your projection is basically, "meh pretty ***tty player on a pretty ***itty team, but can score somewhat decent, also stupid without the puck."

What the hell are you talking about? Kirk offers up a really interesting flashback on the kid (I remember reading it actually and being intrigued by him) and this is what you offer up in return? Drinking early today?

 

[Colt.45Orr]

Here's where Red Line Report had Reilly Smith in the 2009 NHL draft guide (94th overall out of 300 ranked players):

Started the season slowly but came on like gangbusters in the second half and was tremendous in the Buzzers' short playoff stretch with nine goals and 15 points in six games. Has excellent puck skills and thinks the game very well offensively- instinctive and aware of game situations. Very good skater with speed and agility. Sees the ice well and can thread the needle with soft touch passes. Not nearly as intelligent or dedicated without the puck on his stick. His play away from the puck is poor and effort level leaves much to be desired. Has a laser beam wrist shot that he can pinpoint to the corners, but if he's not scoring, has little impact on the game. Several clubs are staying mum on their interest in the kid because they're hoping to steal him with a mid-round pick.
Projection: One-dimensional third-liner on a poor team
Style compares to: Matt D'Agostini

Goes to show you that if you have the tools/talent as a foundation of your game, you can fix the warts in time and with some maturity. He's clearly more than the projection thought, but overall- the report was right on with his strengths and potential to impact a game offensively.

Redline had it right on the button here --talent was there but there is no way he would have made the show without adding to his overall game. In fact, Julien himself (who, no doubt, spent significant time reading over the pro-scouted profiles of the new guys coming in) was pleasantly surprised with Smith's grit and compete levels in training camp.

Kudos to Smith to adding that element to his game -- with the lacrosse-playing/fighting brother he has it is kind of shocking that it wasn't part of his game earlier in his career.

 

[Kirk- NEHJ]

Not everyone gets projected to be a star or top-6 F or top-3 D/starting netminder, otherwise draft rankings and evals hold no credibility. There is a reason Smith was a 3rd-round pick (and that was earlier than projected by most) and not a top-30 selection...warts in his game.

I guess I have to allow for posters like BWW77 not being overly familiar with scouting and how the world of projecting prospects works. But it goes to show how differently people perceive things. I look at that report and say to myself- Yep, RLR recognized his offensive strengths, but felt he was going to have to round out his overall game and evolve to be successful (which he did). Another reads it and comes away with a completely different conclusion.

C'est la guerre, but scouts don't get paid to throw out rainbows and unicorns with player evals- those are reserved for a select few who have no visible flaws in their respective games and appear destined for NHL stardom at some point. Everyone else has issues, and whether they address them or not as they develop post age 18 is the grand gamble called the draft & each team's player development program has that challenge to take on.

 

[EverettMike]

Not everyone gets projected to be a star or top-6 F or top-3 D/starting netminder, otherwise draft rankings and evals hold no credibility. There is a reason Smith was a 3rd-round pick (and that was earlier than projected by most) and not a top-30 selection...warts in his game.

I guess I have to allow for posters like BWW77 not being overly familiar with scouting and how the world of projecting prospects works. But it goes to show how differently people perceive things. I look at that report and say to myself- Yep, RLR recognized his offensive strengths, but felt he was going to have to round out his overall game and evolve to be successful (which he did). Another reads it and comes away with a completely different conclusion.

C'est la guerre, but scouts don't get paid to throw out rainbows and unicorns with player evals- those are reserved for a select few who have no visible flaws in their respective games and appear destined for NHL stardom at some point. Everyone else has issues, and whether they address them or not as they develop post age 18 is the grand gamble called the draft & each team's player development program has that challenge to take on.

Kirk, what good NHLer were you most wrong about?

Which good NHLer did you nail that everyone else missed on?

What are the biggest reasons you might completely whiff on a prospect?

(This stuff is awesome. Thanks. Always appreciate looking behind the curtain.)

 

[qc]

Here was my scouting report on Smith...

"He looks like Mick Jones from the Clash."
-QC, July 2013

So yeah, props to Kirk and the rest for their scouting. Some folks just don't get it, rispeck is hard to come by these days.

 

[Kirk- NEHJ]

Kirk, what good NHLer were you most wrong about?

Which good NHLer did you nail that everyone else missed on?

What are the biggest reasons you might completely whiff on a prospect?

(This stuff is awesome. Thanks. Always appreciate looking behind the curtain.)

Wrong: Keith Yandle- saw him at Cushing Academy with Chris Bourque. Liked the talent, thought he was a dog, though.

Right: Nobody- I'm not that good. One guy I have always been behind but has not made it yet: Jimmy Vesey. Chicago prospect & BC F Chris Calnan another one of my project players.

Reasons to whiff: Projecting future NHL stars at 16-18 years of age is really hard when you get past those rare generational talents/slam dunks.

 

[EverettMike]

Wrong: Keith Yandle- saw him at Cushing Academy with Chris Bourque. Liked the talent, thought he was a dog, though.

Right: Nobody- I'm not that good. One guy I have always been behind but has not made it yet: Jimmy Vesey. Chicago prospect & BC F Chris Calnan another one of my project players.

Reasons to whiff: Projecting future NHL stars at 16-18 years of age is really hard when you get past those rare generational talents/slam dunks.

Oh, no believe me I know that. I just meant that after doing it for a long time if you've noticed specific traits/skills that are more likely to maybe change and make a guy better than expected/worse than expected.

 

[Kirk- NEHJ]

Not really.

Every player is different & you have to take a lot of factors into account. Biggest thing for me is heart/attitude/character. If a kid wants to be a player badly enough, he probably will be one. It's why I tend to quickly lose patience with flashy but ultimately emotionally bankrupt players like Kirill Kabanov. If a kid can't be motivated to play hard in the most critical year of his life to date (draft season) when will he get up for anything?

 

[Bruinswillwin77]

What the hell are you talking about? Kirk offers up a really interesting flashback on the kid (I remember reading it actually and being intrigued by him) and this is what you offer up in return? Drinking early today?

I wasn't saying it was all negative, I just thought it was comical if you look back at what Reilly was projected to be at the time.

"one dimensional 3rd line player on a poor team."

I just thought it seemed funny, sorry buddy.

 

[Colt.45Orr]

I wasn't saying it was all negative, I just thought it was comical if you look back at what Reilly was projected to be at the time.

"one dimensional 3rd line player on a poor team."

I just thought it seemed funny, sorry buddy.

No, my apologies for jumping on you for your post --I misread what you were trying to say: ie. I thought you were critiquing Kirk for posting what Redline said about him at the time. Maybe I'm the one drinking-and-posting

 

[Bruinswillwin77]

No, my apologies for jumping on you for your post --I misread what you were trying to say: ie. I thought you were critiquing Kirk for posting what Redline said about him at the time. Maybe I'm the one drinking-and-posting

Haha it's ok I've done the same thing before many times.

I wasn't critiquing Kirk at all by any means whatsoever.



Oh and for the record, I DON'T know anything about scouting either.

 

[RussellmaniaKW]

this kid has quietly been one of our best players all playoffs long. He's not putting up huge numbers or anything but he's making things happen constantly.

 

[ap3lovr]

Smith is the player he is today because of Bergeron. He came into this team and fell onto that line and found some initial success. He quickly saw the work ethic required to really be a difference maker on the ice. He has even publicly stated he is trying to model his game after Bergeron.

 

[Caper Bruins fan]

It won't happen but I would like to see Julien switch up Smith and Iginla .I think both players would benefit.