[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Lots of talent left. Legitimate talent at that.

AOM, Lindstrom, Ruzicka, Karnaukhov, Sveningsson, Rafikov, Pribyl - I like their skill levels, and think that it is a fairly highly skilled group given where we are in the rankings.

I am going with Lindstrom here. Plays in the SHL and is trusted in all zones. Good at everything. No major weaknesses. The offence I think will come around (tough league to play in as a kid). Coach seems to really trust him. Besides, Bingo is using Jedi Knight tricks in using italics only in Lindstrom's name from the list. I am easily manipulated.

I like AOM, but I think for me he is below a few of the players mentioned above. He is physical, he is smart, he is big, he already has fairly solid positioning, but I just feel he needs to work on his footspeed to be effective in the NHL. Can he overcome it? Definitely. Not everyone does it however, and until he improves that side of his game I will rank him a bit lower.

Ruzicka is really interesting. Pretty much good at everything as well but not very physical. He needs to just work on his consistency from everything I read (which is no easy feat), but he has very high upside. His upside alone might make him the highest ceiling prospect left on the board.

Pribyl is a bit of a wildcard. Was his injuries last season responsible for his 'decent' offence (I expected more)? Not bad stats, just not really exciting. However, if there is one prospect that has been seriously underrated in these rankings so far, it may end up being him. Wouldn't shock me to see him explode this year and get some NHL time. He just needs to stay healthy and have a really good summer of training.

People are down on Karnaukhov and Rafikov due to them being in Russia (and potentially never coming over). I am trying to not pay as much attention to that. I always liked Rafikov's play style - I feel he is one of those absolute 'complete' defencemen that skates well, shoots well, passes well, has a good shot, is good on defence, is good on offence, plays physical and is good in all zones. He also relishes being feisty and getting in opposing players' faces all game. However, I haven't seen him play at all in the last 2 (or 3?) years, and am going off by how he was when he did play, and all the reports about him then.

Mattson is my pick to become the most improved. Kid has a tonne of potential, and going to North Dakota should put him in a very good spot in which to develop that talent with patience. I think he is the most interesting prospect to follow at the moment for me.

You've pretty much mirrored my thoughts exactly here. However, I am literally refusing to rank the Russians since they will have no impact on this franchise. I'd like to think otherwise, but the KHL draw is too strong for players of middling talent like Karnaukhov and Rafikov. They will have long careers there. Their ability to even make the NHL is questionable. It's a no brainer for them to stay in Russia, at least until they're much older and have a solid career to parlay into an NHL spot.

I like Lindstrom, Ruzicka, AOM, and Pribyl. Mattson was one of the guys that intrigued me a lot last year, but nobody else thought much of the pick. I hope to see some serious progression for Mattson this year at school.