montreal
Go Habs Go
I wouldn't expect their top 7 to all pan out, but I have the top 6 in one tier. Out of that 6, one is a goalie so anything could really go on there, leaving 5. Out of the 5 I view Poehling and Romanov to be on the overrated side by the board because of the WJC's and the one NHL game. So for me it's 3 guys with very high upside in Brook, Caufield and Suzuki with 2 of them having quesitons/concerns on the physical end of things in terms of height, strength, not having that extra gear for players that aren't big.
Then you have Poehling and Romanov who for me it's just more a question of how much offensive upside do they have, so to me they are very safe bets to play in the NHL but how good will they be? Outside of injuries or if Romanov somehow never comes over, which I doubt happens but outside of that I don't see how the two of them aren't NHLers at some point as they have the physical tools you want of skating, speed, size, strength.
So for me the question for the Habs future is,
1. What do they have in Primeau and how do they get the most of out it down the road.
2. What is the offensive upside of Poehling and Romanov, that will have a huge impact on how good they end up and wherever that is will be huge as we need both to be as good as possible but just have to wait and see if one, both or none can reach their top end or higher in time.
3. Just how good is Josh Brook? To me he was a 1st round talent from when I first saw him, I don't see a lot of holes in his game but we need to see how he adjusts to the pro game and how much can he continue to improve over the next few years as with most prospects it's all about them continuing to improve or if they have peaked at 18, 19, 20, etc..
4. The "big" 2. They may not be the tallest guys but Caufield and Suzuki mean so much to our future. Both have such high end offensive skills, we so badly need these guys to reach their ceilings or get as close as possible. But until they prove otherwise, there will be doubts about them due to lack of height and strength. If the Habs end up getting only 1 to be a high end player that still will be huge, especially if the other can at least turn into something decent. If both hit on the high end though, yikes will that be massive for us.
5. I've been ranking Hab prospects for around 20 years and one thing I know to be 100% fact, guys in you rank in your top 10 will bust and guys you have in outside that top 10 will end up being the NHLers that were at the time overlooked or something about their game had too much thought into a shortcoming that maybe wasn't as bad as thought or they just improved year over year or took a big step in their progression.
So it's always about who is ranked in the 2nd half of the top 20 that will end up as the surprise. Hillis, Evans, Stapley, Olofsson, etc.. someone that is not in favor or seen as having a legit shot and one or two of them end up being much more then one or many thought/expected.
6. Lastly the Habs also have a very strong 2nd tier and that could be huge for the future as well in terms of helping the Habs or as assets to trade down the road. Ylonen, Struble, Harris, Fleury, Norlinder perhaps. That is a really solid 2nd tier. So who among them moves into the top tier or should be there already. Ylonen certainly has the offensive skills, Struble is a total wild card that the Habs clearly are very high on and Harris doesn't have the size/strength but he plays such an impressive game that if he continues to improve it's going to be very interesting to see just how good he can be.
