Prospect Info: Top 25 Habs Prospect Rankings – #12

[montreal]

I can see why some are unimpressed with our top prospects but I don't think we're 'thin'.

We're outside of the top 10 and we still got quite a few players with legit NHL potential.

depends on what someone's definition of thin is. I think the Habs prospect pool heading into the draft was deep but light on top line talent with size/skill. They have a number of interesting prospects, but the bulk of them have serious issues/holes in their games. Most of them just lack size/strength and the NHL is clearly changing to a speed game that smaller players can thrive in.

So for the Habs, their prospect pool is full of wild cards. How good can Lehkonen be? He ripped it up in the SHL playoffs but can he do it in the NHL playoffs in time? Reway is highly skilled and could be a 1st liner in the NHL some day or he could be a bartender in Slovakia in a few years if he doesn't grow into a more well rounded player and solve his issues. Evans had a breakout year and with some added strength mass could be one of our better prospects. Vejdemo showed good things in the SHL at 19, if he continues to progress at a good rate over the next few years they could have a solid prospect on their hands. Mete is small but fast, in several years who knows what he could bring to the Habs as he seems to be the kind of defensemen that the NHL is moving towards (since I assume he will get bigger over the next 5 years or so) Perhaps Hudon turns into a solid NHLer, or Ghetto, or Carr or Bitten. The first 3 all got it done in the AHL, and have shown some things at the NHL level, now we need to see how much they can progress or not.

Goalies are so hard to get a read on, but who knows if Fucale figures it out or not. He's shown he can win big, but he's also shown a number of holes in his game. Lindgren was good in the NCAA, hopefully he can turn into something. McNiven was impressive on a poor defensive team, we'll see how it goes for him once he turns pro after this season. Hawkey was the top goalie in the USHL as a rookie, is at a upcoming program that recently won a national championship and had another good year. If he gets playing time we'll see how it goes for him.

There's a lot to like and there are a lot of questions/concerns with many of these players which is not all that surprising since we are talking about 18 - 21 year olds for the most part. In a few years we might have some real gems on our hands or things could be looking kind of bleak, at this point it's hard to say. We know that from the past our head scout has found a lot of NHLers but we don't know how much things have changed for him in the organization under the new management. There's also concerns imo over the development, which of course have been stated many times on this board. This past season was clearly our best in terms of the AHL call ups over the past few years so perhaps it's not as bad as some like myself feel it's been under the current development team (though for me it's mostly the AHL side that I worry about)

 

[Hackett]

Thin pool.

Close to a decade ago, Habs had pacioretty, subban, price, mcdonagh, grabovski, s. Kostitsyn etc...

Times have changed.

 

[hototogisu]

Close to a decade ago, Habs had pacioretty, subban, price, mcdonagh, grabovski, s. Kostitsyn etc...

Times have changed.

Did anybody think Subban would turn into a Norris winner when we drafted him? It would have been a distant fantasy at best. So if I told you Victor Mete was going to win the Norris someday, you'd probably laugh at me...but who's to say it couldn't happen?

Subban wasn't an elite prospect back when he was drafted, he probably would've been ranked behind guys like O'Byrne, Carle and Fischer on a poll like this. The only reason things look better 10 years ago than they do now is because you have the benefit of hindsight to see what those players turned into.

 

[montreal]

Subban wasn't an elite prospect back when he was drafted, he probably would've been ranked behind guys like O'Byrne, Carle and Fischer on a poll like this. The only reason things look better 10 years ago than they do now is because you have the benefit of hindsight to see what those players turned into.

I remember when I would get a ton of heat after I started ranking Subban over McDonagh while he was still in juniors. So many emails/pm's etc... saying how can you rank a guy that was drafted after him higher? I recall saying back that I felt Subban's defensive woes were vastly overstated (the calls for him to move to forward, or when he was roving for Team Canada in his first WJC and some felt that's all he would be) But the one thing I remember really sticking out was how impressive he was physically as the skating and lower body strength even at 19/20 was something I felt would carry him to the NHL. Back then though I would have never thought he would have turned into as good of a defensemen as he did. But that's why I try to stay away from predicting and just focus on what I see and how they improve/progress each year especially with their weaknesses.

 

[Hackett]

Did anybody think Subban would turn into a Norris winner when we drafted him? It would have been a distant fantasy at best. So if I told you Victor Mete was going to win the Norris someday, you'd probably laugh at me...but who's to say it couldn't happen?

Subban wasn't an elite prospect back when he was drafted, he probably would've been ranked behind guys like O'Byrne, Carle and Fischer on a poll like this. The only reason things look better 10 years ago than they do now is because you have the benefit of hindsight to see what those players turned into.

Subban was one of those home runs that the habs went for, and they got it.

But that's one player. When you look at the big picture, do you believe it is likely that this class is as good as back then? I would say unlikely.

I am absolutely looking in retrospect, and I think that 07 draft by itself is like a "once every twenty years" type of event. Certainly, the habs didn't have a draft like that since the mid to late 80's.

 

[Teufelsdreck]

depends on what someone's definition of thin is. I think the Habs prospect pool heading into the draft was deep but light on top line talent with size/skill. They have a number of interesting prospects, but the bulk of them have serious issues/holes in their games. Most of them just lack size/strength and the NHL is clearly changing to a speed game that smaller players can thrive in.

So for the Habs, their prospect pool is full of wild cards. How good can Lehkonen be? He ripped it up in the SHL playoffs but can he do it in the NHL playoffs in time? Reway is highly skilled and could be a 1st liner in the NHL some day or he could be a bartender in Slovakia in a few years if he doesn't grow into a more well rounded player and solve his issues. Evans had a breakout year and with some added strength mass could be one of our better prospects. Vejdemo showed good things in the SHL at 19, if he continues to progress at a good rate over the next few years they could have a solid prospect on their hands. Mete is small but fast, in several years who knows what he could bring to the Habs as he seems to be the kind of defensemen that the NHL is moving towards (since I assume he will get bigger over the next 5 years or so) Perhaps Hudon turns into a solid NHLer, or Ghetto, or Carr or Bitten. The first 3 all got it done in the AHL, and have shown some things at the NHL level, now we need to see how much they can progress or not.

Goalies are so hard to get a read on, but who knows if Fucale figures it out or not. He's shown he can win big, but he's also shown a number of holes in his game. Lindgren was good in the NCAA, hopefully he can turn into something. McNiven was impressive on a poor defensive team, we'll see how it goes for him once he turns pro after this season. Hawkey was the top goalie in the USHL as a rookie, is at a upcoming program that recently won a national championship and had another good year. If he gets playing time we'll see how it goes for him.

There's a lot to like and there are a lot of questions/concerns with many of these players which is not all that surprising since we are talking about 18 - 21 year olds for the most part. In a few years we might have some real gems on our hands or things could be looking kind of bleak, at this point it's hard to say. We know that from the past our head scout has found a lot of NHLers but we don't know how much things have changed for him in the organization under the new management. There's also concerns imo over the development, which of course have been stated many times on this board. This past season was clearly our best in terms of the AHL call ups over the past few years so perhaps it's not as bad as some like myself feel it's been under the current development team (though for me it's mostly the AHL side that I worry about)

I don't think teams have lost interest in players with size. There's a limit on how many small, speedy players a team can carry.

 

[montreal]

I don't think teams have lost interest in players with size. There's a limit on how many small, speedy players a team can carry.

If they have speed and mobility. Puck moving defensemen that have speed and mobility seem to be on the rise. We'll see if that trend continues or not over time. There may not be a real limit on how many you can carry depending on the make up of the rest of your team. It's impossible to know where this is headed as it could revert back to guys like Tinordi or guys like Mete might be the new norm, or something in between or something different. Clearly the NHL has been going in a new direction but to what end is another question. Just seems like D's that are great skaters with speed, mobility and puck movers are in the biggest demand for now. Plus there will be old school GM's that don't adapt/adjust right away.