The Athletic - 2018/19 NHL Farm system rankings

[Nucklehead Supreme]

Uhhhh, the top 3 guys are high caliber prospects.

High caliber is a stretch, they had good rookie seasons, no doubt, but high caliber? I don't think so.

Other than Butcher of course.

 

[BruinsBtn]

Bjork, Grezlcyk, Czarnik, Subban, Kuraly and Donato are NHLers ? Lets tone it down a bit there.

Let's see:

Bjork was on the opening roster last year and got hurt.
Czarnik just signed a one-way contract
Subban spent the entire year in the NHL
So did Kuraly
Grezlck was called up mid-season and never went back down and played every playoff game then signed a two-year, one-way contract
Donato scored 9 points in 12 games at the end of the year after leaving college and was 2nd in the Olympics in goals.

All those guys are NHLers.

 

[BruinsBtn]

High caliber is a stretch, they had good rookie seasons, no doubt, but high caliber? I don't think so.

Other than Butcher of course.

You're reading off the wrong list. Which of Donato, McAvoy, Debrusk and Heinen isn't/wasn't a high calibre prospect?

 

[Mrb1p]

Let's see:

Bjork was on the opening roster last year and got hurt.
Czarnik just signed a one-way contract
Subban spent the entire year in the NHL
So did Kuraly
Grezlck was called up mid-season and never went back down and played every playoff game then signed a two-year, one-way contract
Donato scored 9 points in 12 games at the end of the year after leaving college and was 2nd in the Olympics in goals.

All those guys are NHLers.

I guess they're poor nhl'ers? Aside from Donato and maybe Kuraly ?

 

[Mrb1p]

You're reading off the wrong list. Which of Donato, McAvoy, Debrusk and Heinen isn't/wasn't a high calibre prospect?

Heinen, Donato and Debrusk ? Which one will be a top liner ? None ? Oh there you have your answer.

 

[BruinsBtn]

Heinen, Donato and Debrusk ? Which one will be a top liner ? None ? Oh there you have your answer.

You'll eat your words.

 

[BruinsBtn]

I guess they're poor nhl'ers? Aside from Donato and maybe Kuraly ?

First they're not NHLers at all, now they're poor NHLers. Ok bud. See ya later.

 

[Bast]

Heinen, Donato and Debrusk ? Which one will be a top liner ? None ? Oh there you have your answer.

Dumb as hell thing to say. If you do not know anything about the players then stay out of the conversation

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Pittsburgh should probably be last, of these teams at least. Maybe ahead of Washington.

I dont see Pittsburgh as having a better pool than Winnipeg, Boston, Tampa.

The Pens top 5 prospects are actually quite good, and diverse. The top end depth falls off after that though.

Worth noting that the Pens prospect pool has been perennially underrated, with guys like Rust, Guentzel, and Murray getting little attention.

 

[Mrb1p]

The Pens top 5 prospects are actually quite good, and diverse. The top end depth falls off after that though.

Worth noting that the Pens prospect pool has been perennially underrated, with guys like Rust, Guentzel, and Murray getting little attention.

True, theres good quality, but the same can be said of every team.

Tampa has good top end, Washington has some interesting prospects, Winnipeg probably has the best top two left here, Boston has good depth and good top two, etc.

Pittsburgh has Sprong, Bellerive, Addisson and Hallander that are really nice. But the depth after that isnt that tremendous.

 

[Connor McConnor]

You're reading off the wrong list. Which of Donato, McAvoy, Debrusk and Heinen isn't/wasn't a high calibre prospect?

Just out of curiosity, who do you project as the better player going forward: Donato or DeBrusk?

 

[BruinsBtn]

Just out of curiosity, who do you project as the better player going forward: Donato or DeBrusk?

Donato has some crazy offensive instincts but Debrusk can score too and he does all the little things, so I'll go with him. He was a force in the playoffs before he got hurt.

 

[LordNeverLose]

Decent start. I'd probably have Boston and Winnipeg a little higher, maybe over teams like Pittsburgh or Toronto or some other teams I can't think of

 

[Montecristo]

Pronman values top level talent over depth, so it makes sense Boston is close to the bottom. Boston has no blue chippers on their team outside of maybe donato (although pronman doesn’t think so). The more important list and which never really gets officially ranked, just thrown at the bottom, is the top 10 23 and under. That’s where Boston has a pretty good squad.

Mcavoy
Pastrnak
Debrusk
Bjork
Donato
Vaakananien
Forsbacka karlsson
Carlo
Heinen
Frederic

So sure Boston’s farm system isn’t great right now. But that’s because half of last years prospects are nhlers now. It’ll take a couple years to get back in the top 10, particularly if they keep trading their 1st rounder.

 

[Advanced stats]

I think it's hard on Boston(donato), Winnipeg(vesalienen) and Nashville.(Fabbro, tolvanen)

Pittsburgh and SJ should be bottom 5

 

[Mrb1p]

I think it's hard on Boston(donato), Winnipeg(vesalienen) and Nashville.(Fabbro, tolvanen)

Pittsburgh and SJ should be bottom 5

Agree on SJ and Pittsburgh.

Id add TO to that I think, maybe CBJ?

 

[Advanced stats]

Agree on SJ and Pittsburgh.

Id add TO to that I think, maybe CBJ?

I'm a leafs fan so I'm biased... but definitely not Toronto.
We have Johansson, dark horse Calder candidate,
Liljeren, top 10-15 defensive prospect, probably top pairing AHL as a 19 year old this season
Sandin is a great prospect as well.
Kapanen, Sparks, Bracco...it's a deep pool with a legit top end.

Want 2 more to add?
Aniheim and Montreal (yes even with kotai-whatever)

 

[Mrb1p]

I'm a leafs fan so I'm biased... but definitely not Toronto.
We have Johansson, dark horse Calder candidate,
Liljeren, top 10-15 defensive prospect, probably top pairing AHL as a 19 year old this season
Sandin is a great prospect as well.
Kapanen, Sparks, Bracco...it's a deep pool with a legit top end.

Want 2 more to add?
Aniheim and Montreal (yes even with kotai-whatever)

Kapanen isnt eligible anymore.
Johnsson is nice but most team have similar.
Sandin is okay, mostly a 2nd round talent.
Bracco is good.
SDA is good too.
Liljegren is good too.

Most teams have those prospects but better though.

Just in comparison, Montreal has
Kotkaniemi>Johnsson
Poehling>Bracco
SDA=Fonstad
Liljegren=Juulsen
Sandin=Brook
Sparks=Lindgren
Scherback>Johnsson

Then you can add Ylonen, Primeau, Fleury, Romanov, Hillis, McNiven...

I agree on Anaheim but they have better top end than TO

 

[HoseEmDown]

Tampa at 30 is bad. I agree that they don't have the high end talent that a lot of teams but they still have a ton of depth. They were the youngest team in the AHL last year and went to the Eastern conference semifinals losing to the eventual Calder winners. The team was led by thier rookies. They were ranked 7th last year and didn't graduate anyone only traded Howden and Hajek. They are a little thin at C and G but they have some of the best wing depth in the league as well as RD. Like I said they don't have any sure fire top pair or top line players but a lot who should be solid NHL players. I would put them mid pack then 2nd worst.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Arizona and Chicago should be up soon. Pronman wasn't exceptionally high on Hayton or Boqvist.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Uhhhh, the top 3 guys are high caliber prospects.

Your definition of high-caliber definitely differs from mine, but yes 3-4 of the guys you listed are legit. It’s no worth making a big deal over most of the rest though. Just getting a cup of coffee at 23-25 isn’t pushing a prospect pool up the rankings. Looking at Boston’s top 10 right now, it’s definitely a bottom ~5 pool.

 

[Leopain]

Arizona and Chicago should be up soon. Pronman wasn't exceptionally high on Hayton or Boqvist.

He had Boqvist around 9. He was low on Hayton, Bouchard and Dobson.

 

[elitepete]

Those 6 make sense. All have very competitive rosters now, and have a good mix chunk of youth on the roster already. Washington, in my opinion, being in the least favorable situation going forward. They just won they cup though and have had a strong team for the better part of a decade, so that is to be expected.

lol Calgary competitive?

 

[Nizdizzle]

lol Calgary competitive?

Personal opinion I guess, I expect they'll be much better than they were last year.

 

[joe dirte]

OP edited to add columbus and anaheim. Also added a numbered ranking to edit.