Which prospects / players will surprise us this year?

[Jacko95]

It's time for my yearly "Which prospects will surprise us this year?" thread, however I decided to include our NHL boys as well, as they can usually suprise us just as much. Well and surprises can also be on the negative side, meaning they fall completly off a cliff.

For some giggles here are the last two threads:
2014 - http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1711559&highlight=
2013 - http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1484175&highlight=

So here are my picks:

Cedric Paquette: He will make a name for himself as one of the top bottom 6 guys, playing more like a 3rd liner, but on our 4th line and gets consistent. Elite shutdown guy with ~ 18 goals and 30 points.

Mitchell Stephens: He will have a huge year and will play on a 1,5 PPG pace, and take people completly off guard like Christian Dvorak did this season. (if you don't know him: 2014 2nd round from ARZ played at a 0,5 PPG range predraft and played close to a 2 PPG range this season)

Henri Ikonen: I don't know why, but neither did I with Nesterov. He was kinda disappointing last season, but he will play big this year IMO and might even earn a big boys cup of coffee.

Boko Imama: Just because nobody of us knows what to really do with him, he will play above a PPG pace and make himself a really interesting prospect.

Click to read more...

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Matthew Peca

 

[DaBolts]

Paq and Nams. No doubt in my mind.

 

[HoseEmDown]

Dennis Yan scores close to 50 in the Q. He has a Duclair type breakout where everyone wonders how he fell to the 3rd round.

 

[Lord Stan 2020]

im going safe saying nesterov first and foremost

others are peca and maybe richard

imama is a good choice

 

[DFC]

I'm with you on Ikonen. I think he'll put last year behind him and have a similar, if not as spectacular, trajectory to Nesterov. By the end of the year I think he'll be a huge part of the Crunch team.

I'm planning to see Imama play in Saint John as much as possible this year. Should be fun.

 

[Callum]

Spencer - Masin become a very dominant pair and lead the Petes deep into the OHL playoffs.

Ikonen starts to gain comparisons to Palat.

Peca follows in Killorns footsteps and is the first callup never to be sent down. Forces Yzerman to make a trade.

 

[Todd1a]

Nhl- drouin will break out

ahl- matt peca will breakout and do well there

juniors- I think dennis yan breaks out scores around 38 to 50 goals for once me and hose agree there

 

[The Gongshow]

Drouin will actually get solid ice time and have the season he should have had this year.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Imama and Peca!

Maybe not this year but down the road: Cirelli

 

[chasespace]

Erne and Imama

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

I'm hoping that Spencer figures his game out next year. Confidence seemed to be a major issue for him last season, if he can improve his decision-making with the puck then he'll be in for a monster year.

 

[garmonbozia]

Steven Stamkos - Seems like there is a large enough contingent of people thinking he is going to get overpaid in an extension this summer and then suck or similarly underperform on said contract much to our collective (if expected) horror. I believe his agent will drag out the extension negotiations to maximize his leverage, possibly into unrestricted free agency. Because of this, I also believe Stamkos will return renewed, refocused, committed, and determined to delivering his best season yet. Last year was one of adjustments; injury/recovery, confidence, no Marty, Captaincy, TKO dominance and shifting defensive focus against, overall offensive drought late in season and playoffs, losing the cup. His detractors may say these are just excuses, but, Stamkos hasn't tried hiding behind any of them as such. Contract or no, I bet he plays like our best player all year and challenges for the Hart.


Young Defensemen - Koekoek, DeAngelo, Nesterov, Sustr, Witkowski, etc. - I think we see enough solid development and progress out of at least three of these guys that the prospect of walking away from Coburn next offseason, trading Carle at a loss, or buying out Garrison in the last year of his deal turn out to be more addition than subtraction.


Nikita Gusev - He'll have a good enough season in he KHL to ensure he always gets paid more to play there in a higher role than he'll ever start at in the NHL and thereby crush any chances of us ever seeing him come to play for the Lightning.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

Steven Stamkos - Seems like there is a large enough contingent of people thinking he is going to get overpaid in an extension this summer and then suck or similarly underperform on said contract much to our collective (if expected) horror. I believe his agent will drag out the extension negotiations to maximize his leverage, possibly into unrestricted free agency. Because of this, I also believe Stamkos will return renewed, refocused, committed, and determined to delivering his best season yet. Last year was one of adjustments; injury/recovery, confidence, no Marty, Captaincy, TKO dominance and shifting defensive focus against, overall offensive drought late in season and playoffs, losing the cup. His detractors may say these are just excuses, but, Stamkos hasn't tried hiding behind any of them as such. Contract or no, I bet he plays like our best player all year and challenges for the Hart.


Young Defensemen - Koekoek, DeAngelo, Nesterov, Sustr, Witkowski, etc. - I think we see enough solid development and progress out of at least three of these guys that the prospect of walking away from Coburn next offseason, trading Carle at a loss, or buying out Garrison in the last year of his deal turn out to be more addition than subtraction.


Nikita Gusev - He'll have a good enough season in he KHL to ensure he always gets paid more to play there in a higher role than he'll ever start at in the NHL and thereby crush any chances of us ever seeing him come to play for the Lightning.

I agree with you across the board (although I'm discussing everything Stamkos as he was this season until the next one starts).

 

[RegularSznAllStars]

Saw Imama at prospect camp, it will not be him. Dude looks like a adult D league skater out there. Seriously.

 

[emg0827]

I think Koekkoek is in for a huge year, especially if he gets paired with DeAngelo.

Peca is gonna be great as well. i think a lot of people are going to be really surprised by his skill level.

 

[Necropolis]

Tanner Richard - I've always liked him and I think he'll have a breakthrough season in A, finally. Will get some time as an injury replacement in the bottom-6 for the big club.

Brian Hart - will have his best college season so far and takes a big step forward in his offensive game's development (still don't see him becoming a scoring forward in the NHL but he could be a very solid middle-6 winger, IMO).

 

[Hoek]

Brian Hart is going to be playing in Syracuse. He left college.

 

[Necropolis]

Brian Hart is going to be playing in Syracuse. He left college.

Thought he had another year left in the college but actually I just realized that I had seen people putting him in Syracuse's line-up. Thanks for the correction, I'll have to say that right now I've no idea how he'll do in the AHL - even so, I really like the guy and hope that he'll have a good season.

 

[chasespace]

Thought he had another year left in the college but actually I just realized that I had seen people putting him in Syracuse's line-up. Thanks for the correction, I'll have to say that right now I've no idea how he'll do in the AHL - even so, I really like the guy and hope that he'll have a good season.

He did have another year but he elected to leave early. Either saw his ice time there shrinking or felt staying another year would be a step back for him(his progress did stagnate last season).