Prospect Info: World Junior thread

Holden Caulfield

Eternal Skeptic
Feb 15, 2006
22,838
5,420
Winnipeg
Name/pedigree.

Hockey Canada seems like a pretty snobby clubhouse.

Hockey Canada is a terribly run organization. I've only had little contact with them via coaching and playing but it's really bad run. Then you add what I've seen on U17, U18, U20 levels and you can see how poorly the management is. I guess the fact they are gifted some of the best talent on the planet can forgive quite a bit.
 

Vino

Registered User
Mar 19, 2006
414
165
Finland
Kempe and Dergachev have both been playing LW in the WJC.

Dergachev played right side. Line was LW Lauta - C Fazleyev - RW Dergachev. That line surpassed all my expectations - Lauta scored some clutch goals and Fazleyev and Dergachev got quite a lot pk-time and played well. Flyers sixth rounder Fazleyv is a really smart two way forward.

You can't teach size and Dergachev is a really big boy, albeit he has not yet learned to use his body fully. He seems to be a hard worker and defensively responsible player. Dergachev is not a good puckhandler or shooter, but his long/middle range passing is okay (short passes not so much, he should be more careful when does those "easy passes"). If Dergachev ever makes it (NHL), it will defensive minded fourth/third liner (LW or RW). I hope Kings signed him as soon as possible and get him out of Russia. There is so much honing to do.

Dergachev upside is Dwight King - defensively little better and maybye more physical, but offensively not as good as Kinger is. Downside is Maxim Kitsyn, a big ECHL-regular.

Kempe is our only true prospect. He is a pretty average puckhandler, but he can skate, shoot and has enough size. Must learn to play defensive situations more carefully (Finlands gametying goal was Kempe's mistake).

Erik Cernak

I just don't see it. Cernak is definitely not offensive d-man and he is not a pure, reliable defensive d-man nor solid two-way d-man. I think he has no identity and is a lot more suspect than prospect. Slovakians captain Christian Jaros, Ottawa's fifth rounded, outplayed him clearly and so did Buffalo's fourth rounder William Borgen. Just like Cernak, Jaros and Borgen shoot right and has NHL-size (bigger that 6'2").

Damir Sharipzyanov

Okay tournament. Sharipzyanov is not big, but he is not small either. He hits sometimes, but not frequently. Got some sh-time and some pp-time. Is decent puckhandler and shooter and pretty smart player overall. If everything goes really well, Sharipzyanov will be a 8th dman in the NHL or at least a good AHLer.
 

Peter James Bond II

Registered User
Mar 5, 2015
3,656
5,434
Erik Cernak

I just don't see it. Cernak is definitely not offensive d-man and he is not a pure, reliable defensive d-man nor solid two-way d-man. I think he has no identity and is a lot more suspect than prospect. Slovakians captain Christian Jaros, Ottawa's fifth rounded, outplayed him clearly and so did Buffalo's fourth rounder William Borgen. Just like Cernak, Jaros and Borgen shoot right and has NHL-size (bigger that 6'2").

Thanks for the in depth report...to Cernak's fairness, I think he broke / injured his hand / wrist and may have been playing with it, until they shut him down.
 

King'sPawn

Enjoy the chaos
Jul 1, 2003
21,905
20,850

Ziggy Stardust

Master Debater
Jul 25, 2002
63,178
34,295
Parts Unknown
the stuff I read about Cernak only concerns me because it reminds me of Forbort.

That's what I was thinking as well. I dread when I read that mostly because it brought back memories of previous project dmen the Kings have taken high, like a Teubert or Biron.

It's a work in progress with those types, and when I look at previous first round dman projects who've gone by like Jeff Schultz or Keaton Ellerby, I wonder why teams risk on these gambles so high when their ceiling could be low. That's one reason why they actually passed on Alzner and leapfrogged Hickey to 4th overall.
 

T2M

Registered User
Jan 28, 2004
729
0
That's what I was thinking as well. I dread when I read that mostly because it brought back memories of previous project dmen the Kings have taken high, like a Teubert or Biron.

It's a work in progress with those types, and when I look at previous first round dman projects who've gone by like Jeff Schultz or Keaton Ellerby, I wonder why teams risk on these gambles so high when their ceiling could be low. That's one reason why they actually passed on Alzner and leapfrogged Hickey to 4th overall.

To be fair, Cernak is a 43rd overall, not a first rounder by any stretch of the imagination. As for the other project defensemen, I think teams take them because the upside of those players is amazing if they pan out and if they don't, they're still serviceable lower-pairing players who at least have the frames to add toughness. We all know the cliches about drafting 18 year-olds, but those big defensemen often project well into what most of us think of as NHL defensemen. Sure, they're wrong a lot of time, but they're also wrong a lot of the time about offensive dynamos who just can't translate that to an NHL game (or won't play defense and, therefore, can't play on a winning team). If you think about it, the Kings have as good a philosophy as anybody out there: Draft character young men with as much talent as you can find at that slot, put them in the hands of a development team, and see who rises to the top. Even then, a good year we get 3 picks turn into players (less than a 50% success rate per average draft year). It works, but man, there are a lot of those picks who never make it no matter what their body type or position.
 

kingsfan

President of the Todd McLellan fan club by default
Mar 18, 2002
13,384
1,032
Manitoba, Canada
That's what I was thinking as well. I dread when I read that mostly because it brought back memories of previous project dmen the Kings have taken high, like a Teubert or Biron.

It's a work in progress with those types, and when I look at previous first round dman projects who've gone by like Jeff Schultz or Keaton Ellerby, I wonder why teams risk on these gambles so high when their ceiling could be low. That's one reason why they actually passed on Alzner and leapfrogged Hickey to 4th overall.

Beyond the top 5 it gets more and more of a gamble. If you look at the 10 players picked after Forbort for example you have Vladimir Tarasenko, Joey Hishon, Austin Watson, Nick Bjustad, Beau Bennett, Riley Sheahan, Jarred Tinordi, Mark Pysyk, Kevin Hayes and Quinton Howden.

Tarasenko, Bjustad and Sheahan all would have been clearly better picks that Forbort, Hayes as well to a degree, though he is struggling some this year. The rest, well some have played more than Forbort but are they really significantly better than Forbort? Not really.

Since DL and Co. do a lot of research on they Russians, I assume something at the time scared them off of Tarasenko. Bjustad and Sheahan would have been better picks but a number of other teams passed on them as well in favor of the likes of Jack Campbell, Brandon Gormley (who just cleared waivers) and Dylan McIlrath.

I'd rather see DL go for a homerun on a Forbort than on what is effectively a goon in McIlrath or an ECHL talent like Campbell or Teubert. At worst we have what will likely amount to a #6 D-man. Yep, it sucks, but we likely still got a NHLer out of the pick.

Thankfully DL's scouting crew is so good in the 2nd and later rounds they can afford to have flops in the 1st. Don't forget, it's the same philosphy that led to the team taking a twice passed over kid in the first round two year's later. I think Tanner Pearson's been a fine pick up.
 

kingsfan

President of the Todd McLellan fan club by default
Mar 18, 2002
13,384
1,032
Manitoba, Canada
An interesting tidbit, when drafting, the expectation is that only two out of seven players will make the NHL. In a good draft, like 2003, three out of seven will. Statistically speaking, the odds are pretty good that about 65 per cent of the players you draft will never see the light of day in the NHL.

Futa et al. first full draft year for the Kings was the 2007 draft. If you look at the 2007 to 2011 drafts, 24 out of 40 players, or 60 per cent, have played in the NHL already. Others, such as Kevin Gravel, Nic Dowd and Joel Lowry, still have a legitimate chance of at least earning a cup of coffee in the league.

That is simply an outstanding pace. It is amazing the Kings have produced players at such an elite pace.

While some have had just cups of coffee, other have played the equivalent of two full NHL season (or half that in the case of goalies). Those include:

Thomas Hickey, Wayne Simmonds, Alec Martinez, Dwight King, Vyacheslav Voynov, Drew Doughty, Brayden Schenn, Kyle Clifford, Jordan Nolan and Tyler Toffoli. Many others are well on their way to reaching that standard.

Only three of those players mentioned were drafted in the first round as well. Amazing later round drafting by the Kings.
 

damacles1156

Registered User
Feb 5, 2010
21,665
1,303
An interesting tidbit, when drafting, the expectation is that only two out of seven players will make the NHL. In a good draft, like 2003, three out of seven will. Statistically speaking, the odds are pretty good that about 65 per cent of the players you draft will never see the light of day in the NHL.

Futa et al. first full draft year for the Kings was the 2007 draft. If you look at the 2007 to 2011 drafts, 24 out of 40 players, or 60 per cent, have played in the NHL already. Others, such as Kevin Gravel, Nic Dowd and Joel Lowry, still have a legitimate chance of at least earning a cup of coffee in the league.

That is simply an outstanding pace. It is amazing the Kings have produced players at such an elite pace.

While some have had just cups of coffee, other have played the equivalent of two full NHL season (or half that in the case of goalies). Those include:

Thomas Hickey, Wayne Simmonds, Alec Martinez, Dwight King, Vyacheslav Voynov, Drew Doughty, Brayden Schenn, Kyle Clifford, Jordan Nolan and Tyler Toffoli. Many others are well on their way to reaching that standard.

Only three of those players mentioned were drafted in the first round as well. Amazing later round drafting by the Kings.

The Boston Bruins had some eye popping numbers of successful drafts as well.

Very impressive by the Kings/Bruins, since 2006.
 

Omni Owl

No fun, only 1-3-1
Mar 9, 2008
6,298
621
It says a lot about Futa when other teams were trying to poach him from us. Hands off you ****s.
 

Vino

Registered User
Mar 19, 2006
414
165
Finland
Thanks for the in depth report...to Cernak's fairness, I think he broke / injured his hand / wrist and may have been playing with it, until they shut him down.

I think he hurt himself against Russia, when he and his d-partner Patrick Koch collide. He playd some shifts after that, but didn't play next game (quarterfinal vs. Sweden).

In my mind Cernak was not Forbort-bad, he was just very average and my expected a lot more. It's fair to say, that he is 18 years old and so he was "an underage player".
 

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