Player Discussion: Ross Colton

[The Gongshow]

Agree 100%. I was mad when we lost Marchessault and Verhaeghe because they had both shown a lot of talent and drive and I knew they had serious breakout potential; I just don’t see that with Volkov. Not that he necessarily couldn’t improve with consistent playing time on a higher line, but I’ll be shocked if he ends up doing as well as either of those guys.

A good problem to have I suppose. I don't think Volkov will do much for the Ducks, he won't have anyone of Point, Stammer or Kuch's calibre to develop with or play on a line with. Not that he did with our team, but guys like them can carry most wingers to be productive

 

[Rschmitz]

Lol, why can't I do both? He's far exceeded expectations already, nobody is ever going to hold it against him if he doesn't become the next Point/Gourde. Projecting ahead is part of the fun of following a team long term.

LOL okay I mean I don't want to stop you from doing what you enjoy. I'm trying to be logical here that expectations for a 24 year old with no history of offensive prowess are very unlikely to come to fruition, he reminds me more of Conacher than any of those mentioned and that is a pretty big compliment in it's own right.

Having said that, I do like what he brings and I think he can be an NHLer and a complimentary lower liner, he brings a lot of energy in those short shifts on the ice and that is what you want to get out of your bottom 6.

 

[Rschmitz]

Maybe we need to dial it back a touch but I'm sure you realize that if this kid proves himself any more he's gonna be costing more than just Alex Volkov his job. Unknown forwards drafted mid-to-late rounds going "boom" off the bat is literally a tradition for us now. It's a testament to how we develop them at the AHL level. Unless I did my math wrong, the last guy with 3 goals, 3 apples and a +6 in his first 10 games was Tyler Johnson.

You'll have to forgive it because that makes for one of the best 10 game debuts we've had in the Jon Cooper-era and history has taught us that more often than not we get a damn good player on our hands who doesn't end up being just a grinder.

My first post in this thread was that he deserves the fanfare, I'm just cautioning against comparing him to Gourde and Point who were offensive dynamos before making it to the NHL. I like what Colton brings as a lower liner and he's having an impressive stint that makes you wonder, at least stat wise. However there is an ocean of difference between doing that and producing consistently as a top liner over the course of an entire season which Gourde and Point have done. Eye test wise he looks like a difference maker out there as a lower liner but there are countless NHLers who've done more than him over longer periods and then hit a wall when given a bigger role.

 

[GoBoltz56]

Not sure where this "Colton has no history of offensive prowess" comes from. He was 2nd in scoring in Syracuse last year. He led Vermont in scoring his last year there, and was 2nd in scoring the year before that. He led Cedar Rapids in scoring by 15 points his last year in the USHL. He has a history of producing offense.

 

[Sky04]

I think he's the next Point/Gourde.

 

[BoltzManConstant]

I don't get this "Point/Gourde" thing.

Yanni is a top-200 forward (league-wide), Point is top 20.

It's realistic to hope that Colton becomes a Gourde-quality player. Not realistic to hope he becomes Point-quality.

 

[CupsOverCash]

I love how this organization seems to find these guys when we need them most. Colton is great depth we need going forward with losing players to the flat cap. I guess the best comparison to gourde and point is that they both came when we needed that next guy to step up. While it's still early seems like Colton can be that kind of guy too.

 

[Rschmitz]

Not sure where this "Colton has no history of offensive prowess" comes from. He was 2nd in scoring in Syracuse last year. He led Vermont in scoring his last year there, and was 2nd in scoring the year before that. He led Cedar Rapids in scoring by 15 points his last year in the USHL. He has a history of producing offense.

11 goals in 62 games last year for the Crunch, his point totals barely kept him inside the top 50 in the league. He was also barely above half a point per game in Vermont, the top 50 scorers in college were around point per game. Don't even get me started with this USHL nonsense.

Point had the best ppg in the WHL his last year
Gourde led the QMJHL and all of the CHL his last year in scoring.

He can produce a little offense in lower leagues, like I said, he is not an offensive dynamo. His stats that pale in comparison to Gourde and Point

 

[HoseEmDown]

11 goals in 62 games last year for the Crunch, his point totals barely kept him inside the top 50 in the league. He was also barely above half a point per game in Vermont, the top 50 scorers in college were around point per game. Don't even get me started with this USHL nonsense.

Point had the best ppg in the WHL his last year
Gourde led the QMJHL and all of the CHL his last year in scoring.

He can produce a little offense in lower leagues, like I said, he is not an offensive dynamo. His stats that pale in comparison to Gourde and Point

Yanni Gourde only had 14 goals and 44 points during the 15/16 AHL season, not even in the top 50, at 24. Colton was just 23 last season when he put up 11 goals and 41 points. He had 50 points in 69 games at Vermont, that's well above half a point per game. Vermont was one of the worst teams in hockey his sophomore year. They scored just 79 goals the entire season and had just two players with 20 or more points. Colton was involved in almost 1/3 of all goals they scored that season. The year before Colton was 2nd in USHL scoring two of the top 3 scorers were Kyle Connor and Brock Boeser, so not sure what you think the USHL is it isn't a trash league.

I'm not saying Colton will be anything like Point or Gourde but he does have history of production.

I also don't know how you consider the USHL and NCAA lower leagues? Not all leagues are the same and the two American leagues are much lower scoring than any of the CHL ones. So comparing scoring totals just doesn't make sense. American kids use the USHL to get into the NCAA which is where USA hockey picks their WJC roster from while Canada picks theirs from the CHL. In the last 5 years both countries won 2 golds, Canada has 2 silver to US 1 and the US has 1 bronze. So the best of those leagues head to head are pretty close.

None of this even matters if Colton is going to be playing 4C 10 minutes a night. He isn't going to get close to Gourde's 64 point high. If Cooper will maybe play him 14 minutes a night with some higher skilled players and PP2 time he may be able to put up some good offensive numbers. If you watched him play in Syracuse at all, especially last season, you could see he has the talent. Barre-Boulet may have put up more points but Colton was the more impressive one most nights at both ends of the rink. He didn't start the year as the 1C but he sure as heck finished it.

 

[Rschmitz]

Yanni Gourde only had 14 goals and 44 points during the 15/16 AHL season, not even in the top 50, at 24. Colton was just 23 last season when he put up 11 goals and 41 points.

Gourde had 29 goals the year before and 57 points. That's top 7 in goals and top 20 in points, in other words way better than Colton ever achieved. He also had 48 points in 56 games the year he was called up. You're cherry picking a lot of stats when you know full and well that Colton being an overage player gives him a distinct advantage in juniors. How old were Conner and Boeser when they were put up those numbers in the USHL? The big difference is that Gourde proved that he could produce great numbers in a mens league, Colton has yet to do that.

I also don't know how you consider the USHL and NCAA lower leagues? Not all leagues are the same and the two American leagues are much lower scoring than any of the CHL ones. So comparing scoring totals just doesn't make sense. American kids use the USHL to get into the NCAA which is where USA hockey picks their WJC roster from while Canada picks theirs from the CHL. In the last 5 years both countries won 2 golds, Canada has 2 silver to US 1 and the US has 1 bronze. So the best of those leagues head to head are pretty close.

I don't consider the NCAA a lower league, but I consider the USHL a lower league because it is. If Colton was a top NCAA player I wouldn't have brought it up, but he wasn't. You are bringing up point totals as if I made the claim that we should treat those equally, but I didn't. I compared him to his peers and sorry but .72 ppg is not impressive when the top 50 in the league are around 1 ppg.

None of this even matters if Colton is going to be playing 4C 10 minutes a night. He isn't going to get close to Gourde's 64 point high. If Cooper will maybe play him 14 minutes a night with some higher skilled players and PP2 time he may be able to put up some good offensive numbers. If you watched him play in Syracuse at all, especially last season, you could see he has the talent. Barre-Boulet may have put up more points but Colton was the more impressive one most nights at both ends of the rink. He didn't start the year as the 1C but he sure as heck finished it.

We both know he won't get those opportunities. If he does, I'd love to be proven wrong and see him put up Point/Gourde numbers. I've seen him play, the AHL offers free streaming games every once in a while and I watch enough to know that comparisons to Gourde aren't accurate. I'd be happy to see him stick as a bottom 6 center though.

 

[These Are The Days]

My first post in this thread was that he deserves the fanfare, I'm just cautioning against comparing him to Gourde and Point who were offensive dynamos before making it to the NHL. I like what Colton brings as a lower liner and he's having an impressive stint that makes you wonder, at least stat wise. However there is an ocean of difference between doing that and producing consistently as a top liner over the course of an entire season which Gourde and Point have done. Eye test wise he looks like a difference maker out there as a lower liner but there are countless NHLers who've done more than him over longer periods and then hit a wall when given a bigger role.

You're not wrong about any of this. I remember Cory Conacher's first goal like it was yesterday. He's probably the most famous "hit the wall" prospect we've had in all these years. But again, my evaluation of Colton is based on his execution of his fundamentals. I don't know when the stopping point of wondering about his scoring consistency is but I've seen enough to know he will continue to execute well even when not scoring.

Lightning have spent the last 10 years hitting "Copy+Paste" on every prospect who "refuses to quit" and "his motor never tires" because it's an open secret those attributes are probably the only ones our front office values as much as hockey IQ. It's for those reasons I know already a player who is a good fit for us in his current role fell into our lap.

As for comparisons, when Point first broke into the league we were all just hoping we'd get 4 goals and 3 assists every 10 games. No one realized one day he'd wake up and say "Guyz lol I'm Steve Yzerman!" I mean that one jumped the shark but it's fair to say if Colton remains this consistent when given a larger role he WILL be like Gourde.

 

[HoseEmDown]

Gourde had 29 goals the year before and 57 points. That's top 7 in goals and top 20 in points, in other words way better than Colton ever achieved. He also had 48 points in 56 games the year he was called up. You're cherry picking a lot of stats when you know full and well that Colton being an overage player gives him a distinct advantage in juniors. How old were Conner and Boeser when they were put up those numbers in the USHL? The big difference is that Gourde proved that he could produce great numbers in a mens league, Colton has yet to do that.




I don't consider the NCAA a lower league, but I consider the USHL a lower league because it is. If Colton was a top NCAA player I wouldn't have brought it up, but he wasn't. You are bringing up point totals as if I made the claim that we should treat those equally, but I didn't. I compared him to his peers and sorry but .72 ppg is not impressive when the top 50 in the league are around 1 ppg.



We both know he won't get those opportunities. If he does, I'd love to be proven wrong and see him put up Point/Gourde numbers. I've seen him play, the AHL offers free streaming games every once in a while and I watch enough to know that comparisons to Gourde aren't accurate. I'd be happy to see him stick as a bottom 6 center though.

Gourde did have a better year prior, that was playing with Marchessault who was ppg. With Marchessault only playing a fee games Gourde's numbers dipped, he did bounce back the next year. Colton wasn't a top 6 player for about half the season, so he didn't get time with Barre-Boulet or Conacher early. Through hard work and some roster moves he made his way to 1C where he didn't look out of place. He had 3 points in 3 games before the callup this year. You say Colton being an overager gave him a distinct advantage in juniors yet you mentioned Gourde being the highest scorer in the CHL. You do know he did that as an overage 20 year old? Colton was 19 in the USHL. Connor was 18 and Boeser 17 turned 18.

I didn't say he was a top NCAA player but his numbers weren't terrible. The top NCAA players tend to be older players, Colton freshman year the leading scorer was 23 years old. Occasionally you have a Caulfield who kills it at 19. With the NCAA you have to look at the team as well, a lot of the top players have a teammate in the top with them. Vermont was a terrible team so he had no help especially his sophomore season, so the 0.72ppg is more indicative of the poor supporting cast then Coltons talent. At 21 Gourde was playing in the ECHL for example.

The comparisons to Gourde aren't accurate cause they don't play the same style of game. If they did then sure. If you saw Gourde in the AHL you would know he has all the skill in the world but there was no way he could be a scoring winger like that in the NHL, obviously he got the right opportunity and proved that wrong. Colton you could see had a game that was better suited for the NHL. Not in a top 6 way but one that could be an effective bottom to middle 6 one. So far he's looking like he could be that, I don't see a top 6C in him especially with our depth. But I can see him pushing Gourde back to the wing and taking the 3C spot and making us not need to bring back a Coleman. As Colton - Gourde duo would be a good 3rd line with either Joseph or Goodrow if he could be resigned.

 

[Rschmitz]

You're not wrong about any of this. I remember Cory Conacher's first goal like it was yesterday. He's probably the most famous "hit the wall" prospect we've had in all these years. But again, my evaluation of Colton is based on his execution of his fundamentals. I don't know when the stopping point of wondering about his scoring consistency is but I've seen enough to know he will continue to execute well even when not scoring.

Lightning have spent the last 10 years hitting "Copy+Paste" on every prospect who "refuses to quit" and "his motor never tires" because it's an open secret those attributes are probably the only ones our front office values as much as hockey IQ. It's for those reasons I know already a player who is a good fit for us in his current role fell into our lap.

As for comparisons, when Point first broke into the league we were all just hoping we'd get 4 goals and 3 assists every 10 games. No one realized one day he'd wake up and say "Guyz lol I'm Steve Yzerman!" I mean that one jumped the shark but it's fair to say if Colton remains this consistent when given a larger role he WILL be like Gourde.

I don't disagree that he may have some good fundamentals, I just don't think that makes him like Point or Gourde

 

[Rschmitz]

Gourde did have a better year prior, that was playing with Marchessault who was ppg. With Marchessault only playing a fee games Gourde's numbers dipped, he did bounce back the next year. Colton wasn't a top 6 player for about half the season, so he didn't get time with Barre-Boulet or Conacher early. Through hard work and some roster moves he made his way to 1C where he didn't look out of place. He had 3 points in 3 games before the callup this year. You say Colton being an overager gave him a distinct advantage in juniors yet you mentioned Gourde being the highest scorer in the CHL. You do know he did that as an overage 20 year old? Colton was 19 in the USHL. Connor was 18 and Boeser 17 turned 18.

I didn't say he was a top NCAA player but his numbers weren't terrible. The top NCAA players tend to be older players, Colton freshman year the leading scorer was 23 years old. Occasionally you have a Caulfield who kills it at 19. With the NCAA you have to look at the team as well, a lot of the top players have a teammate in the top with them. Vermont was a terrible team so he had no help especially his sophomore season, so the 0.72ppg is more indicative of the poor supporting cast then Coltons talent. At 21 Gourde was playing in the ECHL for example.

The comparisons to Gourde aren't accurate cause they don't play the same style of game. If they did then sure. If you saw Gourde in the AHL you would know he has all the skill in the world but there was no way he could be a scoring winger like that in the NHL, obviously he got the right opportunity and proved that wrong. Colton you could see had a game that was better suited for the NHL. Not in a top 6 way but one that could be an effective bottom to middle 6 one. So far he's looking like he could be that, I don't see a top 6C in him especially with our depth. But I can see him pushing Gourde back to the wing and taking the 3C spot and making us not need to bring back a Coleman. As Colton - Gourde duo would be a good 3rd line with either Joseph or Goodrow if he could be resigned.

We'll have to see, I think that he could do that. I don't see how him reaching Gourdes level though, I think those comparisons are very premature, he doesn't have to tools Gourde has but he does have some attributes that could make him stick in a complimentary role on the lower lines

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

 

[Byrddog]

We'll have to see, I think that he could do that. I don't see how him reaching Gourdes level though, I think those comparisons are very premature, he doesn't have to tools Gourde has but he does have some attributes that could make him stick in a complimentary role on the lower lines

Welp we are going to find out soon. With Stammer out there is little choice but to move the hot player up. Pacing for 52 points from the 4th line he is going to get his chance. I see ABB moving into the line up again and hopefully he will be better than last go round.

 

[Lightning1995]

Welp we are going to find out soon. With Stammer out there is little choice but to move the hot player up. Pacing for 52 points from the 4th line he is going to get his chance. I see ABB moving into the line up again and hopefully he will be better than last go round.

What was wrong with ABB in the few games he played?

 

[Byrddog]

What was wrong with ABB in the few games he played?

He was ineffective in both games. He is simply a sniper, and if he can not do that he just becomes a 4th liner. Now do not take my word for it but ask why he was sent back down with Volkov playing in that place and now Colton. The staff saw something that made them send the guy back down. Now he is going to have to perform. He is next in the depth chart. And at 23 its now or never. I hope he is up to it but we will know by playoff time.

 

[NatoGhost]

He was ineffective in both games. He is simply a sniper, and if he can not do that he just becomes a 4th liner. Now do not take my word for it but ask why he was sent back down with Volkov playing in that place and now Colton. The staff saw something that made them send the guy back down. Now he is going to have to perform. He is next in the depth chart. And at 23 its now or never. I hope he is up to it but we will know by playoff time.

I disagree he was ineffective. He showed some offensive flashes. His play is just not as suited for a 4th line role. With Stammer out I could see a call up but more likely other guys playing well will get bumped up and since Stephens is coming back he will go back to centering the 4th line. Colton gets a bump up.

 

[Byrddog]

I disagree he was ineffective. He showed some offensive flashes. His play is just not as suited for a 4th line role. With Stammer out I could see a call up but more likely other guys playing well will get bumped up and since Stephens is coming back he will go back to centering the 4th line. Colton gets a bump up.

If he was effective he would not have been sent down in favor of Volkov. Also Colton has passed him on the depth chart and rightly so. As much as Johnson has struggled scoring one would think if ABB was the answer he would have been slotted in Johnsons wing position. But like I said we are going to find out soon.

 

[T REX]

Love this kid!

 

[NatoGhost]

If he was effective he would not have been sent down in favor of Volkov. Also Colton has passed him on the depth chart and rightly so. As much as Johnson has struggled scoring one would think if ABB was the answer he would have been slotted in Johnsons wing position. But like I said we are going to find out soon.

Well I think they were getting games for the taxi squad guys and since Volkov wasn't impressing too much it was easy for Cooper to swap him in and out. Obviously ABB didnt lock it down like Colton did but I think he can play in the NHL.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

 

[DaBolts]

Uh, how the hell do we protect him this upcoming expansion draft?

Nevermind, JBB is running the world now, we are good.

 

[Rschmitz]

It's been the Ross Colton show the past couple of weeks