Prospect Info: Rhett Pitlick (2019, #131)

[A55P2]

This was just posted about 30 minutes ago. Even includes footage from today :p

 

[DangerDave]

How did he slip so far down? Seems like the Habs got lucky here

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

How did he slip so far down? Seems like the Habs got lucky here

The video says 3rd or 4th liner upside. Surely he has more? Not that he'll necessarily be a top 6er but he seems to have the skill for more. Kid's a crafty passer with slick hands.

 

[habsfan891]

The video says 3rd or 4th liner upside. Surely he has more? Not that he'll necessarily be a top 6er but he seems to have the skill for more. Kid's a crafty passer with slick hands.

Yeah but he's small

 

[Redux91]

How did he slip so far down? Seems like the Habs got lucky here

Size..... lol.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

Yeah but he's small

well that in and of itself doesn't really hamper his upside. To an extent sure. I think it more so hampers his ability to reach his upside.

 

[habsfan891]

well that in and of itself doesn't really hamper his upside. To an extent sure. I think it more so hampers his ability to reach his upside.

I was making a joke about dinosaur scouts lol i couldnt care less how big he is i agree with what you see in him

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Great speed isn't everything (see Scott Gomez) but it's still a good starting point. If he can round out his other tools we might have something special there.

 

[DangerDave]

The video says 3rd or 4th liner upside. Surely he has more? Not that he'll necessarily be a top 6er but he seems to have the skill for more. Kid's a crafty passer with slick hands.

A serviceable guy like Byron is a grand slam in the 5th round. Seems like a fantastic pick.

 

[montreal]

where is he playing next year?

he's going to stay in the USHL and then go to Minnesota in '20-'21. Minnesota just lost his brother to the NHL a year early so I haven't heard if there are any plans to accelerate his timeframe or not.

 

[Tuggy]

Great speed isn't everything (see Scott Gomez) but it's still a good starting point. If he can round out his other tools we might have something special there.

If Pitlick can become Scott Gomez, I'll take it

 

[bcv]

Great speed isn't everything (see Scott Gomez) but it's still a good starting point. If he can round out his other tools we might have something special there.

The Habs would be lucky if Pitlick turned into Gomez. People seem to forget how good a career he had.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

The Habs would be lucky if Pitlick turned into Gomez. People seem to forget how good a career he had.

If Pitlick can become Scott Gomez, I'll take it

I was refering to Gomez with the Habs, where speed was all he had, not the New Jersey version of the guy.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

Habs brass compare him to Guentzel if he reaches his full potential (source: TheAthletic).

 

[montreal]

Since Minnesota lost Pitlick's older brother I had wondered if they would look to bring him in a year early as I thought he just wasn't going due to his size but just found out that he's only a junior in HS so he'll do a year of HS while in the USHL.

Also found out that in the USHL he was and will be coached by former Hab defensemen and 1st round pick David Wilkie.

Was looking at his stats in the USHS, it's been a while since I have followed the Minnesota USHS but see that his team played the top schools like the one Anders Lee went to.

Here's how his numbers compare to that of Poehling since they both played in the Minnesota USHS.

Poehling (age 16 season) -
Lakeville - 25-20-34-54 10 pims
Team Souteast - 20-6-14-20 12 pims

Pitlick (age 16 season) -
Chaska - 23-20-26-46 8 pims


Pitlick (age 17 season) -
Chaska - 25-28-33-61 8 pims
Team Soutwest - 21-13-18-31 2 pims


Poehling was in the NCAA at 17 or else his stats at Lakeville would likely have been very high.

 

[Mrb1p]

Since Minnesota lost Pitlick's older brother I had wondered if they would look to bring him in a year early as I thought he just wasn't going due to his size but just found out that he's only a junior in HS so he'll do a year of HS while in the USHL.

Also found out that in the USHL he was and will be coached by former Hab defensemen and 1st round pick David Wilkie.

Was looking at his stats in the USHS, it's been a while since I have followed the Minnesota USHS but see that his team played the top schools like the one Anders Lee went to.

Here's how his numbers compare to that of Poehling since they both played in the Minnesota USHS.

Poehling (age 16 season) -
Lakeville - 25-20-34-54 10 pims
Team Souteast - 20-6-14-20 12 pims

Pitlick (age 16 season) -
Chaska - 23-20-26-46 8 pims


Pitlick (age 17 season) -
Chaska - 25-28-33-61 8 pims
Team Soutwest - 21-13-18-31 2 pims


Poehling was in the NCAA at 17 or else his stats at Lakeville would likely have been very high.

Is there any precedent to a player that went from USHS to NCAA and did great ?

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Is there any precedent to a player that went from USHS to NCAA and did great ?

McDonagh comes to mind, although his freshman season wasn't great per se.

 

[Stive Morgan]

Size..... lol.

The fact that almost every player who falls due to his size has panned out makes me excited for Caufield and Pitlick. (Point, Debrincat, Gaudreau, Arvidsson etc.)

 

[montreal]

Is there any precedent to a player that went from USHS to NCAA and did great ?

I can't think of any off the top of my head that did great but some that were pretty good, Mittelstadt he had 30 pts in 34 games with Minnesota although with the hype and him being 19 for most of the season it wasn't as good as hoped.

McDonagh was pretty good on a bad Wisconsin team, Harris was more impressive imo. He had a hair better numbers then McDonagh. Both were 18 all year as Freshman, as both didn't turn 18 till the summer. McDonagh faced tougher competition in the USHS then Harris so what Harris did was all the more impressive.

Out of all of Timmins picks he's had 8 go from the USHS to the NCAA, will be 9 as long as Struble heads to the NCAA. (Wyman - ECAC, Paquet - ECAC, Fischer - old WCHA, Stejskal - ECAC, McDonagh - old WCHA, Sullivan - HE, Gorniak - Big 10 but also 19 before Freshman year started, Harris - HE).

So aside from going to a weaker conference like Wyman, Paquet and Stejskal did, the other 4 soon to be 5 went to the top conferences. Fischer was on the 3rd pairing behind 1st OA pick Eric Johnson who was on the 2nd pairing, he didn't do much. McDonagh was good but had he been on Fischer's team likely would have done better. Gorniak was disappointing although he came from the Wisconsin USHS which isn't as good of a level as Minnesota or the Northeastern prep. Caufield played there in his age 15 season.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

The fact that almost every player who falls due to his size has panned out makes me excited for Caufield and Pitlick. (Point, Debrincat, Gaudreau, Arvidsson etc.)

Gallagher too

 

[Walrus26]

A serviceable guy like Byron is a grand slam in the 5th round. Seems like a fantastic pick.

Agreed. Small, lightning-fast guy.....if he can be modelled into a positionally-sound "new NHL" grinder with hands and a breakaway threat on the PP then we will have our Byron replacement for a 5th round pick.

One can only hope

 

[dcyhabs]

The fact that almost every player who falls due to his size has panned out makes me excited for Caufield and Pitlick. (Point, Debrincat, Gaudreau, Arvidsson etc.)

The most common error in the draft is ignoring point production. It's the main thing that you can look at that translates. I'd take the 102 point guy who looks lazy over the 80 point guy who is big or who hustles/fights/emotes.

 

[Stive Morgan]

The most common error in the draft is ignoring point production. It's the main thing that you can look at that translates. I'd take the 102 point guy who looks lazy over the 80 point guy who is big or who hustles/fights/emotes.

Those "gritty" guys are a dime a dozen in free agency too. Teams are supposed to draft and develop talent, and sign and trade for grit. Most teams seem to do the opposite.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Those "gritty" guys are a dime a dozen in free agency too. Teams are supposed to draft and develop talent, and sign and trade for grit. Most teams seem to do the opposite.

In no specific order:

- Speed
- Skill
- Size/Strength
- IQ
-Character/Work Ethic

Of the above 5, a legitimate, draft worthy prospect should check off at least 3 of these. It requires seeing a player live many times as opposed Youtube highlights or stat worshipping. There are top junior scorers who only check off two of these and they are the ones who commonly don't make it.

Not attacking you or your opinion as you may very well agree just throwing it out there for everyone.

 

[Habs]

The fact that almost every player who falls due to his size has panned out makes me excited for Caufield and Pitlick. (Point, Debrincat, Gaudreau, Arvidsson etc.)

They panned out on teams that have some size for insulation.... not a team of smurfs.