Tell Me About These Prospects.

[Christien]

Hey guys, I just want to know a little more about these players. Tell me how each of them play, who's better, and who do you think will be the better NHL player, and have a better year, and anything interesting about them. Tell me more about these players
Brendan Smith, Jonathon Blum, and Travis Hamonic.

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[RedMachine87]

I don't really know much about the other two prospects, but Brendan Smith is definitely a high end prospect. I've seen him play a few times, in person and on t.v., and he has the potential to be a very dynamic offensive defenseman in the NHL. From a skill set standpoint he possesses excellent skating (smooth and effortless), good vision and passing ability, a hard accurate shot, good size, and a physical bite. But he is still developing his play in the defensive end of the rink; sometimes has a tendency to get caught trying to make the highlight reel play.

He may get called up to Detroit at some point this year, but if he doesn't (and he stays healthy) I honestly don't think he'll have anything less than a 66% ppg ratio in the AHL.

 

[hskates21*]

Hamonic is probably the best idk if you would still consider him a prospect though

Last year he was expected to play all year in the AHL but due to the number of injuries he got called up and was put on the top pairing almost immediately with macdonald and he played to well for the isles to even consider putting him down

Hamonic was basically drafted as a defensive defenseman but after he was drafted in juniors learned an offensive game he averaged over a ppg in his last year of juniors and was probably his teams best defenseman and they're team went to the memorial cup finals

Last year he also averaged the second most toi for dman on his team was on pace for almost 35 points and was one of the very few players to have a plus rating on the islanders last season

 

[Benttheknee]

Sportsforecaster has Blum as their Calder winner for 11-12. He played 23 regular season and the playoffs and apparently did very well (thus the suggestion that he is a strong Calder candidate).

 

[SLAPSHOT723]

Think about Shea Weber, and you got Travis Hamonic. He needs to stop taking strange penalties, but he far exceeded Islander fans expectations last season.

 

[Soundgarden]

Can't speak for Smith, and I've seen very little of Hamonic(though I've liked what I've seen) but Blum stepped in for an injured Francis Boullion and looked like a seasoned vet, barely making any mistakes. He jumped over Cody Franson, and some have said he has even looked like the third best defender out there for the Preds.

He's very solid defensively, and is pretty good in the offensive zone, but I see a Ryan Suter-lite in him.

 

[nyranger1523]

Think about Shea Weber, and you got Travis Hamonic. He needs to stop taking strange penalties, but he far exceeded Islander fans expectations last season.

Really? You are going to compare Travis Hamonic who had a pretty good rookie year to the highest paid defensemen in the nhl.

 

[jmelm]

Think about Shea Weber, and you got Travis Hamonic. He needs to stop taking strange penalties, but he far exceeded Islander fans expectations last season.

Shea Weber "light" -- not Shea Weber.

I like Hamonic the best of the bunch and think he's got the potential to be a number 1 defenseman who plays a similar game and brings the complete package like Weber, but not at the same level of dominance. He could be a top 10 or 15 Dman in the league, but not a perennial Norris candidate like Weber.

 

[SLAPSHOT723]

Really? You are going to compare Travis Hamonic who had a pretty good rookie year to the highest paid defensemen in the nhl.

Shea Weber "light" -- not Shea Weber.

I like Hamonic the best of the bunch and think he's got the potential to be a number 1 defenseman who plays a similar game and brings the complete package like Weber, but not at the same level of dominance. He could be a top 10 or 15 Dman in the league, but not a perennial Norris candidate like Weber.

Sorry, I did mean Shea Weber "light".

 

[nyranger1523]

Sorry, I did mean Shea Weber "light".

Ok I can agree with that, good two way defenseman with a bit of a nasty streak, but I dont think he has the same leadership qualities that weber does

 

[hskates21*]

Really? You are going to compare Travis Hamonic who had a pretty good rookie year to the highest paid defensemen in the nhl.

You can say a lot of things about Shea weber why say he is the highest paid?

Anyway it's only a comparasion it doesn't mean he's at the same level they do it to every prospect

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

I haven't seen Brendan Smith play at all, but I have seen Hamonic and Blum.

Hamonic is solid as a rock: physical, smart, and has a top slap shot. He's already pretty darn good, and I see him as a top-pairing D-man. Not certain if he's a number one, but he looks like a good No. 2.

In Blum's case, I got to see him with the Vancouver Giants a few times, and the best word to describe him is smart. He's got decent tools, but his toolbox is what makes him what he is. I say a No. 2-3 D-man in the future and is dependable in all situations.

 

[nyranger1523]

You can say a lot of things about Shea weber why say he is the highest paid?

Anyway it's only a comparasion it doesn't mean he's at the same level they do it to every prospect

I said highest paid because I dont believe he is the best defensman in the nhl offensively or defensively, but he is the most important to his team which is shown through his salary.

 

[hskates21*]

I said highest paid because I dont believe he is the best defensman in the nhl offensively or defensively, but he is the most important to his team which is shown through his salary.

Salary doesn't equal importance to the team and his salary was made via arbitration

 

[nyranger1523]

Salary doesn't equal importance to the team and his salary was made via arbitration

Really? Salary doesnt equal importance to the team? Thats a completely false comment. You are saying that a fourth line grinder making 500k is as important as an elite player making 7 million. And he was awarded his salary by the arbitator (whose job is to put a number value to a players worth) because of how important he is to nashville.

 

[RedMachine87]

Brendan Smith will be the highest point producer of the three. That is my only prediction.

 

[hskates21*]

Really? Salary doesnt equal importance to the team? Thats a completely false comment. You are saying that a fourth line grinder making 500k is as important as an elite player making 7 million. And he was awarded his salary by the arbitator (whose job is to put a number value to a players worth)
because of how important he is to nashville.

So I guess gaborik is more important to the ranger than Lundqvist and redden is more important than Callahan and I guess dipietro is the islanders most important player

 

[Kevin27NYI]

Slapshot is definitely right, Hamonic has the same style that Weber has and can definitely reach close to his status, I say it's more likely he is a league wide number 2 though.

Really? Salary doesnt equal importance to the team? Thats a completely false comment.

So Drury last year was the second most important player for the Rangers? Rolston and DP are the two most important players on the Islanders? Gomez for the Habs? I could keep going..

 

[nyranger1523]

So I guess gaborik is more important to the ranger than Lundqvist and redden is more important than Callahan and I guess dipietro is the islanders most important player

First of all you are comparing a forward to a goalie(doesn't really equate) and for the money they were signed for redden was supposed to be the rangers most important defensmen and for the islanders dipietro was supposed to be the most important islander(which is pretty much just being the best awful player)

 

[hskates21*]

First of all you are comparing a forward to a goalie(doesn't really equate) and for the money they were signed for redden was supposed to be the rangers most important defensmen and for the islanders dipietro was supposed to be the most important islander(which is pretty much just being the best awful player)

So redden was signed with the intention that he would be better than staal because I think it was more of sat her throwing stupid money at a decli ing defenseman just to bring somebody in

 

[nyranger1523]

So redden was signed with the intention that he would be better than staal because I think it was more of sat her throwing stupid money at a decli ing defenseman just to bring somebody in

How about doing some research to back up your little thought out replies, wade redden was signed by the rangers before marc staal ever played a game for them, so yes he was signed with the intention of being more important than a defensemen who never played a game in the nhl yet

 

[AlexanderTheGood]

This thread has been derailed by a strange argument. You're both wrong: on the one hand, salary is not the only predominant factor in determining a player's overall 'importance;' on the other hand, salary is one soft-indicator of how much a team value's a particular player.

In the case of Shea Weber, neither logic really prevails, however. In his case, and almost all other cases, salary reflects what Weber is taking away from the team (in terms of opportunity costs) rather than what he is contributing to it. Simultaneously, the salary itself was not determined by team management anyways (but rather through arbitration), and thus, is no indication whatsoever of the player's perceived value to a club (other than the fact that the Predators chose to match the arbitrator's decision).

But I'm not really sure why we're discussing Weber's contract in this thread to begin with...

 

[Kevin27NYI]

But I'm not really sure why we're discussing Weber's contract in this thread to begin with...

Because if you compare two players games you have to consider salary for some reason..

 

[Kershaw]

Think about Shea Weber, and you got Travis Hamonic. He needs to stop taking strange penalties, but he far exceeded Islander fans expectations last season.

Shea Weber?