When Will Leblanc Get Another Chance?

[Scintillating10]

I was just pointing out that maybe fans are once again overdoing it and let's face it, it's something thats happened over and over around here. That said I've been watching Leblanc in every league since he was in the USHL and I'm very concerned with what i've seen from him this season. Hopefully he gets back on track as it will only benefit us down the road, he still has time to rebound since this is his first real bump in the road just as every Hab 1st rounder not named Galchenyuk has gone through in the last decade +. The question will be if Leblanc ends up a bust like Chipchura/Fischer were for us, or if he rebounds ala Pacioretty/Price.
I predict the same thing is going to happen to Beaulieu in the future, he's going to have major growing pains imo, and will get eaten alive around here when they occur.

Leblanc will end up half way between those two groups

 

[Habaddict]

Leblanc will end up half way between those two groups

Half way between Chipchura and MaxPac. That could be a pretty
decent forward.

 

[RC51]

this is rather simple. Leblanc need to get to be 100% then he needs to continue his rise in his NHL level play. If he fails to do either he will get a bit more time extra from the Habs if after all that he still is NOT NHL material he will be traded and that's about all she wrote on Mr. Leblanc.
Don't think that I am a mean guy, it's the way of life. You get your shot, do with it what you can, you get your second chance, do with that what you MUST, fail again! and well go work at Walmart.

 

[Habaddict]

this is rather simple. Leblanc need to get to be 100% then he needs to continue his rise in his NHL level play. If he fails to do either he will get a bit more time extra from the Habs if after all that he still is NOT NHL material he will be traded and that's about all she wrote on Mr. Leblanc.
Don't think that I am a mean guy, it's the way of life. You get your shot, do with it what you can, you get your second chance, do with that what you MUST, fail again! and well go work at Walmart.

A bit hard*** , or "old school" if you like. Lablanc has already looked like
NHL material last year. So your point might not fit him perfectly.

In any case, once he finishes his degree at Harvard, they may "fast track"
him at Walmart. I'm not too worried about this kid's future.

 

[montreal]

They did it at a previous level though. Price was outstanding in WJC and AHL playoffs. LeBlanc was average in college, did not produced in the Q and Hamilton

Leblanc was not average in the NCAA, he was the top scorer on a his team as a Freshman and as someone that watched him at Havard he was easily their most skilled player. Also he was a ppg in the Q and was among the top scorers in Hamilton last year before his recall.

Reading this article, I have a weird feeling LL came in with the 'made it' attitude and got some heat from management. And that there is no love lost between him and management. Wouldn't be surprised he doesn't stick next season.

Another season in Hamilton should be good for him, especialy if there's a new coaching staff in place.

Leblanc is our 3rd/2nd best prospect. The guy gets sold short too much around here.

If some of you actually watched the games instead of just crap shooting about every damn prospect we have you might see that he has a future

He's our best prospect IQ wise and every one is selling him short at 21 years of age

We're blessed with a damn good prospect pool, we just need to shed the dead weight in the next two years and give them ice time.

I think Louis Lebust should be the next callup. He's the kind of player that would look great next to DD/Pac. Or centering DD ?

Chucky-Leblanc-Eller-white/dumont could be deadly in the future.

In no way would I rank Leblanc our 2nd or 3rd best prospect and he's not even our 2nd or 3rd best forward prospect.

I don't agree that Leblanc should be the next call up either, Dumont for sure should be called up before him.

Leblanc will end up half way between those two groups

Thanks for letting me know, I can stop watching him now since you know the future.

 

[Monctonscout]

Will Leblanc go the route of d'Agostini? If so, I hope the return is better than another Palushaj.

He's not really comparable to those guys, much more complete player. Palushaj will end up a better player than Dagostini.

 

[Monctonscout]

People are sooooo quick to panic it's not even funny.

Trade DD, trade Cole, trade Gionta, LeBlanc is a bust.

Have you people ever watched NHL hockey? Stats are not the be all and end all, and young players' development is usually not linear. Guys have poor stretches and off years and get back on track.

LeBlanc sure looked like a potential 2nd or 3rd liner last year, it should take more than a crappy half year to derail his career. He is still only TWENTY ONE...yes 21!!! A lot of NHLers don't get a sniff of the NHL until 23-24 and even 25.

 

[Mrb1p]

In no way would I rank Leblanc our 2nd or 3rd best prospect and he's not even our 2nd or 3rd best forward prospect.

I don't agree that Leblanc should be the next call up either, Dumont for sure should be called up before him.

Well we will have to agree to disagree.

Leblanc is a quality prospect that any team would love to have. I'd rank Galchenyuk and Beaulieu above him. Wether you rank Gallagher or Tinordi above him is debatable but it's not a knock on Leblanc nor is it a knock on tinordi/gally if you do it the other way around.

This is pretty much a crap shoot anyway, we're talking about a kid who just came back from 3 consecutive injuries and another one who's fresh out of the junior playing NHL hockey for Gally vs Leblanc, last year no one wouldve ranked Gally above Leblanc and next year it might be the other way around again. Leblanc has potential and no one can deny it.

 

[Habtchum*]

IF the season would had started back in October. Leblanc would have possibly play RW with Eller and Prust on his line. While Gallagher would had been in Hamilton and Galchenyuk still in Sarnia.

What might be tough for Leblanc is playing on bottom lines in Hamilton, and being paid under 100k instead of nearly 1 milion in Montreal. That hurts.

 

[Scintillating10]

Leblanc was not average in the NCAA, he was the top scorer on a his team as a Freshman and as someone that watched him at Havard he was easily their most skilled player. Also he was a ppg in the Q and was among the top scorers in Hamilton last year before his recall.

Harvard not really a high hockey program...best there nothing special. 30 games for whole year? It was largely a waste. PPG as 20 year old in Q below average for offensive prospect. Leblanc best year was last year in AHL, but 22 points in 33 games? Overall that's 3 years with little to warrant a decent NHL prospect. He'll play long career in NHL but as bottom 6 winger.

Leblanc lost a lot of development time playing high school as 18 year old and a year in Harvard program. Certainly two decisions which curtailed his career.

 

[Monctonscout]

Harvard not really a high hockey program...best there nothing special. 30 games for whole year? It was largely a waste. PPG as 20 year old in Q below average for offensive prospect. Leblanc best year was last year in AHL, but 22 points in 33 games? Overall that's 3 years with little to warrant a decent NHL prospect. He'll play long career in NHL but as bottom 6 winger.

Leblanc lost a lot of development time playing high school as 18 year old and a year in Harvard program. Certainly two decisions which curtailed his career.

Wether Harvard is a hockey program or not is irrelevant, the ECAC is a strong level of hockey, his numbers as an 18 yaer old were very good.

He didn't play in the Q as a 20 year old, that was last year...AHL(11-11-22 in 31 games) and NHL(42 GP 5-5-10). Most guys that can crack the NHL at 20 are pretty good prospects.

 

[montreal]

Well we will have to agree to disagree.

Leblanc is a quality prospect that any team would love to have. I'd rank Galchenyuk and Beaulieu above him. Wether you rank Gallagher or Tinordi above him is debatable but it's not a knock on Leblanc nor is it a knock on tinordi/gally if you do it the other way around.

This is pretty much a crap shoot anyway, we're talking about a kid who just came back from 3 consecutive injuries and another one who's fresh out of the junior playing NHL hockey for Gally vs Leblanc, last year no one wouldve ranked Gally above Leblanc and next year it might be the other way around again. Leblanc has potential and no one can deny it.

I wouldn't put Leblanc in the top 5 and might not even have him in the top 10 at this point but that's do to me watching almost every game Leblanc has played this year. He has looked terrible many nights so I have him further down the list.

I have Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Collberg, Tinordi, Kristo, Beaulieu ahead of him for sure. Hudon, Bennett, Bozon, Dietz, Leblanc, Thrower, MacMillan in the next group.

Clearly Leblanc is a skilled player since he's been able to be a top scorer on just about every team he's played on since Midget, not counting the NHL but this year has been a nightmare for him as he has really looked that bad most nights. Hopefully he bounces back next year though.

Harvard not really a high hockey program...best there nothing special. 30 games for whole year? It was largely a waste. PPG as 20 year old in Q below average for offensive prospect. Leblanc best year was last year in AHL, but 22 points in 33 games? Overall that's 3 years with little to warrant a decent NHL prospect. He'll play long career in NHL but as bottom 6 winger.

Leblanc lost a lot of development time playing high school as 18 year old and a year in Harvard program. Certainly two decisions which curtailed his career.

Leblanc played with a couple of NHL draft picks at Havard, (Alexander Killorn, Alexander Fallstrom, Alex Biega, Danny Biega) so it's not like they don't have any talent. Killorn looks good in the NHL this year. He also played against the top teams in the NCAA that year, BC, Minnesota, BU, etc.. which are teams that usually have the most NHL draft picks.

Leblanc wasn't an overager in the Q, it was his 19 year old season and he lead his team in ppg since he missed time for the wjc's. Leblanc was among the leading scorers when he was called up, how many times have you seen a 20 year rookie lead Hamilton in scoring?

Leblanc also didn't play HS as an 18 year old. He played in the NCAA, very big difference. Before that he played in the USHL as a 17 year old in his draft year, which is not the High School league either as that is the USHS, the USHL is the top junior league in the US.

 

[e46330ivs*]

Leave him down there for the year whats the point of bringing him up just to have people complain about how he's being used or he shouldnt be on the 4th line, maybe Montreal needs to run 5 lines to make everyone happy.

 

[Mrb1p]

I wouldn't put Leblanc in the top 5 and might not even have him in the top 10 at this point but that's do to me watching almost every game Leblanc has played this year. He has looked terrible many nights so I have him further down the list.

I have Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Collberg, Tinordi, Kristo, Beaulieu ahead of him for sure. Hudon, Bennett, Bozon, Dietz, Leblanc, Thrower, MacMillan in the next group.

Clearly Leblanc is a skilled player since he's been able to be a top scorer on just about every team he's played on since Midget, not counting the NHL but this year has been a nightmare for him as he has really looked that bad most nights. Hopefully he bounces back next year though.

So you write him off based on a couples of game ? Sounds fair.

 

[Habaddict]

So you write him off based on a couples of game ? Sounds fair.

I'm not going to try to guess how many times "Montreal" has seen
Lablanc play. But "a couple of games" doesn't sound likely. It could be
more then that.
As to anyone "writing off" Lablanc. Whom?

 

[Mrb1p]

I'm not going to try to guess how many times "Montreal" has seen
Lablanc play. But "a couple of games" doesn't sound likely. It could be
more then that.
As to anyone "writing off" Lablanc. Whom?

He player 36 games this year. He played over 200 since Harvard, which is where I started watching him.
It's a couple of games.

 

[Habaddict]

He player 36 games this year. He played over 200 since Harvard, which is where I started watching him.
It's a couple of games.

No

 

[montreal]

So you write him off based on a couples of game ? Sounds fair.

A couple of games? As I said I've watched just about every game he's played this year. I watched almost every game he played last year, I watched in the Q, at the wjc's, at Havard and in the USHL. I doubt many around here have seen him as much as I have since his draft year.

Not sure what your definition of writing someone off, but I do adjust my rankings twice a year, once at the start and then again at the end. In addition I work on my rankings throughout the year to see if I am missing anything.

For me, I consider Galchenyuk and Gallagher to be our 2 best prospects and would be shocked if anyone would have LL over either. For what i've seen of Collberg (which isn't much) I'm higher on him then most, so if I overrate then so be it but I really like what i've seen from him. Kristo I doubt anyone here has seen him more then me since I get almost every North Dakota game on tv and have been watching him since he was LL's teammate in the USHL. I moved Kristo up because he's having his best year to date and playing the best hockey i've seen from him, while LL is playing his worst so I don't think it should be a surprise to see that others will move up the rankings while LL moves down a few spots.

 

[Redux91]

Im still pullin for my hometown buddy, next year hopefully.

 

[TennisMenace]

LL has not really wowed anyone in any league for whatever reason.
He should not be called up for playing mediocre hockey in the minors. He should be called when he is dominating, not before then.

 

[Habaddict]

LL has not really wowed anyone in any league for whatever reason.
He should not be called up for playing mediocre hockey in the minors. He should be called when he is dominating, not before then.

How about after. He was dominating, or close to that, as a rookie in the
AHL last year. But I guess he failed to wow you.
That he is struggling this year is the anomaly. Given his previous form,
that might not last much longer.

 

[rockjngo]

I think hes finished as a Hab. Might be included in a deal at the trading deadline.

 

[beowulf]

Was never sold on Leblanc... especially after he chose to finish his degree (I know this is a GOOD idea for him, not for the organization tho).

He seems to have regressed as other posters mentionned and TBH our forward depth is pretty much stacked right now. Who can he replace at Center ? We have Plek/DD/Eller/galchenyuk/White

Our wingers are also stacked, Cole/Gio/Pac/Gallagher/Prust/Bourque/etc...

The only player I see he could replace is Armstrong but MT has a crush on him so...

What? He left Harvard after one year to join the Montreal Juniors in the Q. Are you thinking of Kristo maybe?

 

[Top Corner2]

A couple of games? As I said I've watched just about every game he's played this year. I watched almost every game he played last year, I watched in the Q, at the wjc's, at Havard and in the USHL. I doubt many around here have seen him as much as I have since his draft year.

Not sure what your definition of writing someone off, but I do adjust my rankings twice a year, once at the start and then again at the end. In addition I work on my rankings throughout the year to see if I am missing anything.

For me, I consider Galchenyuk and Gallagher to be our 2 best prospects and would be shocked if anyone would have LL over either. For what i've seen of Collberg (which isn't much) I'm higher on him then most, so if I overrate then so be it but I really like what i've seen from him. Kristo I doubt anyone here has seen him more then me since I get almost every North Dakota game on tv and have been watching him since he was LL's teammate in the USHL. I moved Kristo up because he's having his best year to date and playing the best hockey i've seen from him, while LL is playing his worst so I don't think it should be a surprise to see that others will move up the rankings while LL moves down a few spots.

You mean you rank players based on actually watching them!?! WTF!?! Is that even allowed?

 

[Monctonscout]

I think hes finished as a Hab. Might be included in a deal at the trading deadline.

That would be the dumbest thing MB could do. Trade a 21 year old kid while his value is at it's lowest.