The Athletic - Boston Wheeler’s 2020 NHL prospect pool rankings: No. 30 Boston Bruins

[finchster]

Fans always overrate their prospects.

The Bruins have maybe one player who has top six potential and one who has top four potential, so I think the Bruins having one of the worst prospect pools isn't really out of the realm of possibility.

The Bruins also didn't have a first round pick in 2018, and didn't have a second and fourth round pick last year. This will impact your prospect pool.

The Bruins in the last six years have drafted an elite winger, two middle six wingers, a top pairing defencemen, a top four defencemen, and Bjork looks like he could be a player. A lot of the young talent is producing in Boston, so it isn't so important (yet) what the guys in jr or Providence are doing.

They probably need to have a good draft this year.

 

[LouJersey]

Not a huge fan of these lists since they generally only go off where the players were picked, but the Bruins are right about where they should be....maybe a couple spots higher...The consensus of these "gurus" and hockey fans in general seem to put them there and that's fine, it's not really a big deal. While anyone could become a star, looking at the depth chart of prospects they have exactly one guy who projects to a top 6 forward in Studnicka, one possible top pair defenseman in Vaak (and that's being generous) and one second paring guy in Lauzon.

I look at it where what prospect list would I deal the Bruins list for and found about 20 rather easily, another six of seven I probably sway that way too.

 

[DKH]

These lists are garbage.

I have stuff back to Samsonov & Thorburn and still looking for Marchand and Krejci to be on any national prospects list

Bergeron made it so fast wasn’t on but didn’t make a top 50 (not surprisingly) going into 2004 season

 

[DKH]

Fans always overrate their prospects.

The Bruins have maybe one player who has top six potential and one who has top four potential, so I think the Bruins having one of the worst prospect pools isn't really out of the realm of possibility.

The Bruins also didn't have a first round pick in 2018, and didn't have a second and fourth round pick last year. This will impact your prospect pool.

The Bruins in the last six years have drafted an elite winger, two middle six wingers, a top pairing defencemen, a top four defencemen, and Bjork looks like he could be a player. A lot of the young talent is producing in Boston, so it isn't so important (yet) what the guys in jr or Providence are doing.

They probably need to have a good draft this year.

I’m other end

Fans trash their prospects

Especially on HF and twitter

 

[DKH]

I had Bruins season tickets for 15 years before I joined HF and have a large group of hockey friends - add in people I’ve met through youth hockey, work which is government agency with big base of hockey fans and my HF text group with Lou, Joe, Jess, Ken etc and others from here

the prevailing thought 80% easy is Bruins fans trash prospects

the reason? They are ignorant about them

 

[ODAAT]

Athletic and Pronman are all about the Leafs, could use those rags for the bottom of the bird cage.

exactly, not 100% sure about all of Wheeler`s gigs but I sure know he was a "journalist" with the TO Star and Globe and Mail

Wondering out loud just how often fans here see him at PB games researching for his piece on the B`s prospects? Guessing not one game has he seen the PB`s play other than maybe checking them out vs the Marlies

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

exactly, not 100% sure about all of Wheeler`s gigs but I sure know he was a "journalist" with the TO Star and Globe and Mail

Wondering out loud just how often fans here see him at PB games researching for his piece on the B`s prospects? Guessing not one game has he seen the PB`s play other than maybe checking them out vs the Marlies

And how many posters here see the prospects for the other 30 teams in the league, outside of them playing the PBruins?

 

[ODAAT]

And how many posters here see the prospects for the other 30 teams in the league, outside of them playing the PBruins?

exactly, I know I do my very best to stay out of conversations and/or discussions say at draft time when it comes to players I haven`t heard of let alone ever seen play. Now, I might jump in and say something like "I read somewhere ___________ plays like this" and ask if someone who has seen him agrees

I`ll point directly at the drafting of Seny, polarizing pick here for sure, I had seen nothing other than a few highlights, hardly a large enough sample size to make a thorough assessment. What I do recall from that pick is guys like Bob Mackenzie and Craig Button who I will assume had likely seen him play speak to him being a "project" and a pick who likely was taken ahead of where he should have been but they also mentioned a ton of good qualities about him as a player with skill set, size etc...and how great of a kid he was off the ice but nonetheless, he`s a project

I never saw him play live so I could only rely on their comments and I kept my nose outta it BUT, I was back home for Christmas to spend it with my folks in Ottawa and the 67`s had a weekend of home games and that is where I caught Konecny for the first time and again, although a small sample size, I was sold and disappointed he wasn`t chosen with one of those picks but again, I try to keep my pie hole shut if I have never seen a player play and Wheeler should too

 

[LouJersey]

exactly, not 100% sure about all of Wheeler`s gigs but I sure know he was a "journalist" with the TO Star and Globe and Mail

Wondering out loud just how often fans here see him at PB games researching for his piece on the B`s prospects? Guessing not one game has he seen the PB`s play other than maybe checking them out vs the Marlies

The funny thing is, if this guy put the Bruins at say 15, people would be lauding him or whomever it was. Bruins ranked low, writer sucks. As Dan said these guys rarely have any idea what they are doing, and I would have to agree, which is why the lists aren't worth much, even if they were positive.

 

[ODAAT]

The funny thing is, if this guy put the Bruins at say 15, people would be lauding him or whomever it was. Bruins ranked low, writer sucks. As Dan said these guys rarely have any idea what they are doing, and I would have to agree, which is why the lists aren't worth much, even if they were positive.

totally agree, when it comes to all things Providence, I follow Divver, really appreciate all the contributions @BruinsNetwork provides too and he is clearly a regular PB attendee and while fans here may not agree with everything they provide in regards to assessments, at the very least, they watch the team enough to offer valid opinions

 

[DKH]

And how many posters here see the prospects for the other 30 teams in the league, outside of them playing the PBruins?

That’s settles it why follow this and post here

 

[LouJersey]

I have stuff back to Samsonov & Thorburn and still looking for Marchand and Krejci to be on any national prospects list

Bergeron made it so fast wasn’t on but didn’t make a top 50 (not surprisingly) going into 2004 season

We've talked about it for months. Bruins prospect lists are chock full of NHL players. They might not be all stars, but 90% of these guys are going to play in the league at some point...

 

[neelynugs]

We've talked about it for months. Bruins prospect lists are chock full of NHL players. They might not be all stars, but 90% of these guys are going to play in the league at some point...

yup. this guy has already hit his quota for clicks and discussion based on where he
put the bruins. it's always interesting to see rankings and lists and all that, but
literally every person who rates prospects has a different definition of what makes
a good prospect. the bruins currently lack high end prospects, but not many teams
develop prospects as well as they do. they don't have the depth they had say 2 years ago,
but there are still nice pieces as you said.

 

[DKH]

yup. this guy has already hit his quota for clicks and discussion based on where he
put the bruins. it's always interesting to see rankings and lists and all that, but
literally every person who rates prospects has a different definition of what makes
a good prospect. the bruins currently lack high end prospects, but not many teams
develop prospects as well as they do. they don't have the depth they had say 2 years ago,
but there are still nice pieces as you said.

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/teams/boston_bruins/

rated poorly by HF but currently sitting at 13 NHL players when you add Subban, Colin Miller, Donato, Vatrano, Acciari etc

I didn’t count Czarnik and a couple other fringe guys so could be higher

doesn’t include Senyshyn, Lauzon, Zboril, Vladar etc

I looked over some of the top 5 teams Bruins crushed a few held own to all considering highest pick 13th

 

[neelynugs]

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/teams/boston_bruins/

K O K O

 

[DKH]

K O K O

Yah but they shoulda taken that guy Bart Zellah

 

[ap3lovr]

Rankings mean very little when it comes to overall team success. They are always skewed to high end talent anyway. A team with one potential superstar player will outrank a team with 12 Chris Kellys. The reality of the league is that this of all professional sports, this is the most team centered game. We have the best line in hockey, but they only play 1/3rd of the game on any night. In order to be competitive, you need a good mix of long term and entry level contracts. Every $ you can save in your bottom 6 is money you can spend elsewhere. This team has tremendous depth on the blue-line in a league full of GMs that value that more than depth up front.

Clifton has played in the NHL and looks like he can play a bottom pair role on 10 teams in the league
Vaak has played in the NHL and looks like he can play a top 4 role on 10 teams in the league
Lauzon has played in the NHL and looks like he can play a top 4 role on 10 teams in the league
Andersson looks like he has potential to play in this league
Zboril is a bit of an enigma, has the tools to be in the NHL. Sometimes these guys never put it all together. Sometimes they surprise.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Rankings mean very little when it comes to overall team success. They are always skewed to high end talent anyway. A team with one potential superstar player will outrank a team with 12 Chris Kellys. The reality of the league is that this of all professional sports, this is the most team centered game. We have the best line in hockey, but they only play 1/3rd of the game on any night. In order to be competitive, you need a good mix of long term and entry level contracts. Every $ you can save in your bottom 6 is money you can spend elsewhere. This team has tremendous depth on the blue-line in a league full of GMs that value that more than depth up front.

Clifton has played in the NHL and looks like he can play a bottom pair role on 10 teams in the league
Vaak has played in the NHL and looks like he can play a top 4 role on 10 teams in the league
Lauzon has played in the NHL and looks like he can play a top 4 role on 10 teams in the league
Andersson looks like he has potential to play in this league
Zboril is a bit of an enigma, has the tools to be in the NHL. Sometimes these guys never put it all together. Sometimes they surprise.

I don't really understand your comments regarding
Clifton in regards to UV and Lauzon. Arguably, I
would say there are maybe 7-8 teams Clifton
would be questionable as the #6/7 dman. The other
23-22 I would say he absolutely slots in at worst case
#7. So I think you are selling him short. That leads to the other two and as of TODAY there is no way they slot in the top 4 of 10 teams, especially UV who wouldn't crack
the top 7 of more than 6-7 teams best case.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Rankings mean very little when it comes to overall team success. They are always skewed to high end talent anyway. A team with one potential superstar player will outrank a team with 12 Chris Kellys. The reality of the league is that this of all professional sports, this is the most team centered game. We have the best line in hockey, but they only play 1/3rd of the game on any night. In order to be competitive, you need a good mix of long term and entry level contracts. Every $ you can save in your bottom 6 is money you can spend elsewhere. This team has tremendous depth on the blue-line in a league full of GMs that value that more than depth up front.

Clifton has played in the NHL and looks like he can play a bottom pair role on 10 teams in the league
Vaak has played in the NHL and looks like he can play a top 4 role on 10 teams in the league
Lauzon has played in the NHL and looks like he can play a top 4 role on 10 teams in the league
Andersson looks like he has potential to play in this league
Zboril is a bit of an enigma, has the tools to be in the NHL. Sometimes these guys never put it all together. Sometimes they surprise.

Seems like a severe underestimation of Clifton.

 

[b in vancouver]

I'm not surprised he has the Bruins rated this low as they've graduated players, pick late and have traded away a few picks. I also agree with his assessment that they're a team that can handle having a deep but not exactly exciting pool at the moment. Hopefully one or two of their forward prospects really break through and surpass expectations. They also still have some time to find that next young stud as there really aren't that many holes. If Studnicka or Beecher can break through then there really isn't much to fret about.

I don't really worry about it too much. Think just a couple years back when everyone was freaking out about 'life after Chara' as they had no young defencemen on the horizon but today could roll out

Grzylck - McAvoy
Lauzon - Carlo
Vaakaneinen - Clifton
Zboril
if needed - which, honestly, could probably hold it's own in the NHL and would be one of the top young defences any team in the league could ice.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Fans always overrate their prospects.

I’m other end

Fans trash their prospects

Especially on HF and twitter

It's both. Fans always go to extremes about their own players because they're more exposed to their strengths and weaknesses relative to other teams' prospects who they don't know as much about. Same goes for roster players.

I do think there's a tendency to overrate prospects just due to that "anything can happen" approach. It's easy to get wrapped up in what could be when you know there are numerous examples of teams finding gems later in the draft.

 

[chizzler]

IMO, the key to success, and many have said, is to find that gem in the draft in the lower rounds. All the top rated kids get the media exposure. The B’s have a couple in the roster that fit the bill. When your a top team, you must invest in scouting. The Bruins are lucky in that they are in the middle of the college backyard. Some teams don’t have anything like it.

You can’t have a team full of top rated prospects in the A. It’s not feasible. If a couple here and there make the step every year, then you keep the pipeline moving. They aren’t so bad IMO. They are probably where they should be since a few of them have made the jump.

 

[ap3lovr]

I don't really understand your comments regarding
Clifton in regards to UV and Lauzon. Arguably, I
would say there are maybe 7-8 teams Clifton
would be questionable as the #6/7 dman. The other
23-22 I would say he absolutely slots in at worst case
#7. So I think you are selling him short. That leads to the other two and as of TODAY there is no way they slot in the top 4 of 10 teams, especially UV who wouldn't crack
the top 7 of more than 6-7 teams best case.

Maybe I am underestimating Clifton, and I hope I am. I just see him as a for sure bottom pairing guy on at least 10 teams in this league today. The other two, in their limited NHL showing have been phenomenal. Maybe I am seeing something different on the ice, but their gap control has been spot on and they have showed the ability to move the puck to the right areas without creating problems in their own zone. You trade either of those at the deadline and I would bet they are playing top 4 minutes on their new team.

 

[ODAAT]

Maybe I am underestimating Clifton, and I hope I am. I just see him as a for sure bottom pairing guy on at least 10 teams in this league today. The other two, in their limited NHL showing have been phenomenal. Maybe I am seeing something different on the ice, but their gap control has been spot on and they have showed the ability to move the puck to the right areas without creating problems in their own zone. You trade either of those at the deadline and I would bet they are playing top 4 minutes on their new team.

I agree, while I think there are probably a dozen teams in the league that he would be in the top 4, on a solid team, he`s a nice 5-6

 

[DKH]

Jerry Lozen 8th looks like a little low