Sporting News: NHL Farm System Rankings and Team Top-10 Prospects

[Sens of Anarchy]

So no Batherson on the Sens list?

 

[Leopain]

I pretty much always strongly disagree with your rankings but I always appreciate how you defend them.

Always respectful, always rational even when some posters throw s*** at you.

 

[Isaac Nootin]

Would like to hear your thoughts on the Leafs pool, specifically ranking Korshkov over Grundstrom. Admittedly, I had them ranked that way last year, but had flipped my opinion after their respective seasons. Especially after another strong playoff run in the AHL for Grundstrom.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I understand these rankings aren't easy to do and the 6th overall ranking for Colorado is even more generous than I'd have them. I could nit pick about a few things but understand the perspective. However having Cam Morrison in the top 10 at all and Nicolas Meloche completely absent in the top 10 are the two major ones I disagree with.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Well, let's be honest here. It's his own junior coach going on the record. What's he going to say? "Dennis was a pylon in the playoffs and was our worst defenseman in the Everett series!"?

I get coach assessments sent to me all the time about their own players. I care more about what other coaches think about an opponent.

I can tell you without a doubt that Cholowski's postseason had a lot to do with the low ranking.

Respect the opinion. Still think it’s somewhat crazy to have him behind Svechnikov or a guy like Larsson who could be 4-5 years away, but yeah Cholo still has defensive issues to iron out.

 

[HoseEmDown]

I know its not an indivdual ranking, its just that Cirelli isnt really close at all to Zadina as a prospect, is likely noticeably behind Rasmussen as well. I'm not saying its just Detroit, its just the team I'm most familiar with, I could say the same about a few teams behind Tampa as well. No blue chip, top 5 type prospects, and no real high end forwards at all.

Tampa just shouldnt be ranked that high when Cirelli is their top prospect, I doubt he gets ranked in a top 50 prospect ranking. And really, I would love to hear the logic behind ranking him over Foote. Tampa is a good development team and thats a solid pool but its not 7th best in the league. They literally only have one first round pick (a mid first who is a solid prospect) in their entire top 10 prospects

I don't see Cirelli as Tampa's best prospect but I think he ranks them based on NHL readiness. Cirelli might not have a high ceiling but he's played in the NHL already so you know he can make it, he also put up good numbers in a 3rd line role. He also had a decent postseason run, the offensive numbers weren't the same but he played a strong defensive game. Half their top 10 played in the AHL and at a high level their so he thinks they're closer to the show so probably why they're ranked as high as they are.

 

[MardyBum]

This is a poor job of rating Flyers prospects , you need to go to there HF Flyers prospects board and get a little educated . You talked Vec and playing AHL trumping Rat and Allison but you give Farabee playing junior top billing . Rubtsov we are still trying to figure out whether he is a bust or not and you have him like 6th or 7th . Hart Frost Myers first teir Farabee O.Beien Allison Ratcliffe second teir then next teir Morin Rubtsov Vorobev Laczynski

Tbf you guys have Rubtsov 8th, not exactly far off.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

So no Batherson on the Sens list?

Several reasons:

1. I was high on the two BCHL kids.
2. Jaros and Wolanin don't have Batherson's upside, but they should have been rewarded for their seasons. Took the sure things over the riskier pick.
3. It came down to Chlapik vs Batherson and I went with the AHL-proven kid.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Several reasons:

1. I was high on the two BCHL kids.
2. Jaros and Wolanin don't have Batherson's upside, but they should have been rewarded for their seasons. Took the sure things over the riskier pick.
3. It came down to Chlapik vs Batherson and I went with the AHL-proven kid.

Thanks Steve

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Would like to hear your thoughts on the Leafs pool, specifically ranking Korshkov over Grundstrom. Admittedly, I had them ranked that way last year, but had flipped my opinion after their respective seasons. Especially after another strong playoff run in the AHL for Grundstrom.

I didn't like ranking Liljegren over Sandin but felt his AHL time skewed his true potential. The truth is that Liljegren in the OHL likely puts up 65-75 points and outperforms Sandin. At least offensively. I don't think Liljegren has lost his top-pairing upside. Still has potential to be a big time point producer (as does Sandin).

Korshkov is in a tough spot. The KHL is superior to the SHL and handles its prospects differently. Lokomotiv lacks star power up front, and Korshkov was one of the top scorers. Additionally, he always is thrown out to match up against scoring lines. I can only go by the games that i watched, but it seemed like Korshkov wasn't sheltered or given the plus opportunities. Conversely, Grundstrom -- a tremendous winger -- played on a team that loves to showcase kids, set then up for success and play them regularly in all situations. I thim Grundstrom's AHL time has people leaning towards him while punishing Korshkov for playing five or six time zones away in the best non-NHL league in the world.

 

[flyersfan187]

Nice work and I like how you used your own rankings and not the ones you see over and over again.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

I understand these rankings aren't easy to do and the 6th overall ranking for Colorado is even more generous than I'd have them. I could nit pick about a few things but understand the perspective. However having Cam Morrison in the top 10 at all and Nicolas Meloche completely absent in the top 10 are the two major ones I disagree with.

Meloche would have made it had I not been so biased towards Shvyryov and Smirnov.

I think Avs fans are very hard on Morrison and are guilty of stat watching (not saying you are but most complaints I hear are based on production). He plays for a NCAA powerhouse and is an underclassmen, and he fought his way to the top line with Evans by season's end. Scoring was down in the NCAA anyway. Plus, Notre Dame just graduated Evans and Burke and have a good class coming in, so expect a spike in production as his minutes increase.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Is there anything lamer that whining that your teams prospects aren't ranked high enough?

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Is there anything lamer that whining that your teams prospects aren't ranked high enough?

TBF, it's part of the process. I wouldn't post on here if I wanted vanilla responses. Sure, there are some turds who take it too far, but they're irrelevant. Most fans are passionate and want to defend their prospects. I respect that.

 

[Thrasymachus]

Pointed out on the islanders board that you have Koivula #5 - curious what you make of him. The islander fans are doing there own rankings and we currently have 16 prospects listed above him.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Pointed out on the islanders board that you have Koivula #5 - curious what you make of him. The islander fans are doing there own rankings and we currently have 16 prospects listed above him.

Koivula is a consistent SM-Liiga contributor since he was a teenager and a PP threat. Anybody who watched the Liiga know he's not your average junior. He won ROY two seasons ago and had a similar year in 2018. He also just signed an ELC, so clearly the Islanders are happy with his progress, and he is worth more than most draft+2 fourth rounders.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Meloche would have made it had I not been so biased towards Shvyryov and Smirnov.

I think Avs fans are very hard on Morrison and are guilty of stat watching (not saying you are but most complaints I hear are based on production). He plays for a NCAA powerhouse and is an underclassmen, and he fought his way to the top line with Evans by season's end. Scoring was down in the NCAA anyway. Plus, Notre Dame just graduated Evans and Burke and have a good class coming in, so expect a spike in production as his minutes increase.

Thanks for the reply. He just hasn't done much to impress in two years. He's been very average in development camp, which I understand it's not exactly a showcase thing but he's one of the oldest there now and hasn't shown much outside of his shot on occasion. I just don't see the skill level, hockey IQ, hands or the skating, which has improved but still has a long way to go, to call him a top prospect. I can understand production won't be great on a very defensive NCAA team but to see it go down, especially the goal scoring, is not an encouraging sign.

 

[Pantokrator]

Exactly. This wasn't a prediction of how organization's or fans viewed their prospects. I view Farabee as a superior prospect and has the highest upside among all Flyers' prospects.

Steve Downie once was ranked ahead of Claude Giroux in Flyers' prospect polls.

I'm pretty sure I was one of those Flyer fans who had Downie ahead of Giroux...

 

[Ranger Ric]

Steve: Since you used 25 games as a cutoff you didn't consider Neil Pionk on the Rangers list. If you had considered Pionk would you have ranked him in the top ten? I think he is in the 9-12 range but interested in your thoughts.

 

[Empoleon8771]

The Penguins rankings are way off. Even if you don't include Sprong and Jarry since both have over 25 games played, the prospect ranking on the HFPens went like:

1. Bellerive
2. Addison
3. Hallander
4. Blueger
5. Bjorkqvist
6. Almari
7. Riikola
8. Angello
9. Phillips
10. Johnson

Almari is super hyped by the Penguins management, he's a strong shutdown defenseman on his team in the Liiga at age 20 and has been playing like one since he was 18 or 19 according to the Penguins. Riikola is coming off a season of being a top pair defenseman in the Liiga, plus he had a really strong WC for Finland. He's a little older, but he falls within your age range. I don't agree with everything on the Penguins list (I have Olund in the top-10, since he produces at a comparable rate to some of the best SHL prospects while being strong defensively), but this list is a lot more accurate than your list.

If you want to include ZAR, he'd likely fall in 2nd after Bellerive. Bellerive is insanely good, I have no idea how you're rating him 4th. He put up very comparable numbers to multiple 2017 1st and 2nd rounders last season.

 

[Steve Kournianos]

Steve: Since you used 25 games as a cutoff you didn't consider Neil Pionk on the Rangers list. If you had considered Pionk would you have ranked him in the top ten? I think he is in the 9-12 range but interested in your thoughts.

I would have had Pionk fifth, even if it was such a short sample size.

The reason is because he put up points despite being given the biggest crap sandwich of any of the top-scoring rookie defesemen. By a wide margin too -- something like 38% of his zone starts were in the offensive zone. Sergachev's was like 70%.

 

[King'sPawn]

For the Kings, is there a reason Jaret Anderson-Dolan isn't in your top 10?

Two way forward who was days from being in the 2018 draft and put up 91 points in the WHL.

I appreciate the time and research anyone does to do this, but this seems like a huge omission from the Kings top 10. I mean I'd like to think we have 10 prospects better than that, but he should be in the top 5 conversation.

 

[Cardiac Jerks]

Not a fan of Jake Bean?

 

[BrettHullsToe]

That tweet is from April.

When it's official, it'll change.

Here's a tweet from today:


Is it "official" enough yet?