in the hall said:
wow that is an awesome list
steblick, can you comment one the depth of this draft, being a ranger fan with 6 picks inside the top 60, i am interested in knowing how the quality of those picks will turn out to be..
which are the ten prospects you feel have the greatest upside in order, i ask this because am interested in knowing how prospects like ladd and o’neill compare in differences from their upside to their readyness
thanks in advance
Upside can often be found in looking at three factors.
One- Birthdate. A player born closer to the cutoff date of Sept. 15/86 SHOULD develop more than one nearly a full year older. So look at the B-dates (i.e., Malkin) and you be the judge.
Two- Recent rising. If a player's development seems to have stalled at age 18, that's not a good sign EVEN IF he is a very good junior player now. Those players (like Bolland, Stastny, Yemelin and Ladd) who came out of nowhere and continued to improve over the year, especially in big games, are the ones to watch.
Three- Injuries and team problems. If a player suffered a RECOVERABLE injury that affected his play, you might want to consider that. If a guy was playing with a gimpy, but usable, hand for a month then when fully healthy you would logically expect an improvement. Of course injury-prone players are just the opposite in terms of future value and some players never fully recover from a big injury. Consult your physicians - that's what NHL teams will be doing when all the top players gather in Toronto in early June for interviews, health checks, etc.
As for team problems- a bad coach, shaky office situations etc. MIGHT affect a player's performance. But one hopes that a top prospect will rise above those situations.
As for depth- very few drafts beat 2003 for #s 10-40. But I'd say this one is better than 2002 in that department, probably average in terms of the last 10 years.
By the way, CHL playoffs and ESPECIALLY the World U18 championships might affect my rankings considerably. Wait for my final list.
