Prospect Info: Round 2, Pick 36, Pascal Laberge, C, Victoriaville (QMJHL)

[Curufinwe]

They really liked Laberge because they signed him to an ELC back in July.

https://www.capfriendly.com/players/pascal-laberge

 

[dats81]

We are lucky he is still able to play after what looked like a potential career ending headshot.

I see no reason to question the draft pick. Laberge the prospect is a potential gem but his health issues are really worrisome.

 

[BernieParent]

We are lucky he is still able to play after what looked like a potential career ending headshot.

I see no reason to question the draft pick. Laberge the prospect is a potential gem but his health issues are really worrisome.

Agreed. There is his ongoing health as a concern but also the possibility that he, like others, alters his style of game out of fear of being clocked like that again. Laughton comes to mind immediately as one whose game went downhill after his injury.

 

[Curufinwe]

I don't think the concussion was the issue with Laughton. His defensive play in 15-16 was worse than in 14-15, sure, but his offensive production was five times better. I've never heard of a hit to the head making a hockey player produce significantly more points.

 

[Alex91]

I don't think the concussion was the issue with Laughton. His defensive play in 15-16 was worse than in 14-15, sure, but his offensive production was five times better. I've never heard of a hit to the head making a hockey player produce significantly more points.

Agree. What made Laughton a OHL stud prob will never translate over to the NHL. He was stronger then 95% of players and bullied his way to production. Also his shot was great in the O, which is still the case, but he just doesn't create enough space to use it. He doesn't seem to have the IQ to slow the game down on both ends either.

 

[Hiesenberg]

Laughton has above average speed. He needs to use that. He's got a great shot and really good speed.

 

[Curufinwe]

That's what he's doing in the AHL, and piling up points with zero PP time. Whether it will work for him in the NHL next year is an open question.

 

[BringBackHakstol]

I still like Laughton's chances as a 3rd liner. He's got the ability he just needs to find the stability and confidence to put it all together

 

[dats81]

Laughton has above average speed. He needs to use that. He's got a great shot and really good speed.

He could skate circles around everyone but due to lack of hockey sense he is almost never in the right place.

His only chance is to get more repetitions, learn some positioning, and adapt. He will never be as good as those who just feel it though.

 

[Hiesenberg]

He could skate circles around everyone but due to lack of hockey sense he is almost never in the right place.

His only chance is to get more repetitions, learn some positioning, and adapt. He will never be as good as those who just feel it though.

Reps should help, he just needs to keep doing it over and over. Situations repeat themselves, hope he learns.

Flyers need speed and sniper ability, those are his two strengths.

 

[BernieParent]

Reps should help, he just needs to keep doing it over and over. Situations repeat themselves, hope he learns.

Flyers need speed and sniper ability, those are his two strengths.

So optimally he would be playing 3LW, with Cousins or Weal as the playmaking C and a two-way RW like Read. Or as 3RW, with Raffl doing the dirty-nose work. Those have the makings on paper of being a decent scoring line, especially against 3rd-pairing D.

 

[deadhead]

Laughton is 22, he played 31 NHL games at age 20 instead of playing a full AHL season. Had he stayed in the AHL, then played half a season the next year in the AHL before being brought up, we'd look at him differently - as a promising young player working his way into a NHL lineup, instead of a potential flop.

That of course, was Cousins career path, and he's a year and a half older and just finding his place in the NHL on the third line.

So maybe a little patience is required for Laughton? It's easy to get spoiled by Provorov and Konency, but Hagg spending 3 years in the AHL, and Morin 2 years, doesn't mean they're non-prospects.

 

[BernieParent]

Laughton is 22, he played 31 NHL games at age 20 instead of playing a full AHL season. Had he stayed in the AHL, then played half a season the next year in the AHL before being brought up, we'd look at him differently - as a promising young player working his way into a NHL lineup, instead of a potential flop.

That of course, was Cousins career path, and he's a year and a half older and just finding his place in the NHL on the third line.

So maybe a little patience is required for Laughton? It's easy to get spoiled by Provorov and Konency, but Hagg spending 3 years in the AHL, and Morin 2 years, doesn't mean they're non-prospects.

I still have a lot of patience for Laughton becoming an NHLer, and am glad that he was still able to be sent to the Phantoms without risk so he could work on his game and regain his confidence. That being said, he's at increasing risk of being lost in the progression of forward prospects and, fair or not, his time on the Flyers may work against his standing in the prospect ranking.

The first thing to be concluded is whether he has a future in the NHL as a centre. Part of his growth as a current member of the Phantoms should be directed toward the skill set he will need on the Flyers, so I would hope that Hextall and Gordon have discussed where Laughton should be lining up to best prepare him. This also reflect on a "put up or shut up" situation for Laughton himself; if he sees himself as a centre and pushes to play there in the AHL, he has to improve considerably in all aspects of what an NHL centre needs to be able to do.

 

[Flyotes]

He showed flashes while up -- but will they only ever be flashes? He also was inconsistent fighting for space. Sometimes he did it well, other times he got bullied in a "non cut for the NHL" way.

It grew old really quick (the flashes I mean), which he acknowledged in interviews. Trying too many junior level moves and not finishing or not making the smart play. He would clear the blue line, juke 1 guy cleanly, beat a 2nd man, then lose the puck into the corner without getting a shot off. Make the smart play, pull up there and catch a transitional forward acting as a trailer. Those flashes were sexy, but they didn't amount to legitimate NHL threats.

 

[Hockeypete49]

I still like Laughton's chances as a 3rd liner. He's got the ability he just needs to find the stability and confidence to put it all together

Agree

 

[Striiker]

I think he can certainly still be a 3C if things go well, but I think he could be a top 9 if that doesn't work out.

His shot and skating are good enough, and as a winger the defensive awareness isn't as important if he still struggles at that part of the game.

 

[Striiker]

... a word got deleted.... it was supposed to say "a top 9 winger"...

 

[Tripod]

... a word got deleted.... it was supposed to say "a top 9 winger"...

Why don't you edit it?

 

[Chinatown88]

Why don't you edit it?

Too many clicks.

Actually it's the same amount. (I think)

 

[kelmitchell]

Why don't you edit it?

Damn, absolutely brutal

 

[Striiker]

Why don't you edit it?

On the 28th I'll be down to one active infraction which means I'll have room to add two new ones...

Then I'll reply to this post.

 

[Striiker]

 

[Prongo]

Awesome. Even better that those concussions didn't have lingering effects that hurt his off season training and so on.

One bad year because of injuries could really make this kid a surprise if he develops into what he was supposed to.

 

[Alex91]

Awesome. Even better that those concussions didn't have lingering effects that hurt his off season training and so on.

One bad year because of injuries could really make this kid a surprise if he develops into what he was supposed to.

It's not that he has one bad year, like let's say Patrick, it's that the Flyers took a slight gamble on him hoping he was a late bloomer, like Sanheim, and was hoping his +1 draft year would put him on the map. Even if he has a good healthy year, his stock won't be at where it could or should be because the doubters will argue "it's a draft +2 year". Prob won't get a true evaluation until his second year in the AHL.

 

[FLYguy3911]

Laberge was the 2nd pick in the Q draft and would have gone 1st if Saint John thought he would report. He doesn't really fit the criteria of a late bloomer. His 16 year old production was really good once he got traded and his production as a 17 year old was 1st round quality. If he has a big 19 year old season, I think most will acknowledge his 18 year old season was a fluke.