Craig Button's Top 50 Prospects

[colbym72]

https://www.tsn.ca/cupboard-is-stock...nucks-1.989909

The Calgary Flames are second among Canadian franchises with three players on the list – Tri-City Americans defenceman Juuso Valimaki (No. 18), Harvard University defenceman Adam Fox (No. 36) and Kelowna Rockets forward Dillon Dube (No. 38), who captained Canada to gold last month at the World Juniors.

[Bingo]

No disrespect to Button as I think he's always had interesting lists, but it's funny how Rasmus Andersson is under the radar of so many.

[Five-hole]

Our deepest position at the NHL level is also our deepest position in the prospect corps.

The area where we are lacking at the NHL level - scoring - is also a significant weakness in the prospect corps. There is not a likely NHL scoring forward among them.

Something's gotta give.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Interesting to see Glass still so high on the list. Have to think his draft pedigree is giving him some staying power up there. He's having a good season but not all you'd expect given where he was picked.

Also interesting that Sorokin is the top ranked goalie, ahead of Samsonov. Obviously I haven't been following their seasons but I wouldn't have thought that.

Anyway, hard to nitpick a list like that. Looking at the top 5 prospects by team, Edmonton is looking pretty thin. Winnipeg is too, but in their case it's understandable as a lot of their top guys are already in the NHL.

[Cheese]

I like this comment:

The Oilers, Jets, Maple Leafs and Canadiens don’t have any players in the top 50.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

That is one thing that seems questionable to me, as Timothy Liljegren probably should be in the top half of the list, no? I mean, fine, Montreal's cupboard is terrible, and the other two have either traded or graduated all their guys. But Liljegren looks like the real deal, and probably should have been a top 10 pick.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Interesting to see Glass still so high on the list. Have to think his draft pedigree is giving him some staying power up there. He's having a good season but not all you'd expect given where he was picked. .

The one thing about Button is that he doesn't care about draft pedigree or what other lists have. His lists seem to be entirely his own, which is why you see some level of variability and weird choices, as opposed to Bob's lists where are more an aggregated view of how others (scouts) feel.
So I don't think Glass would be up there because of where he was picked - it would just because Button sees something in him.
It is both what I love and hate about his lists. They are interesting because they are an actual opinion of someone, but I find there are often weird things that really stand out.

[CaptainCrunch]

Good to see that someone things that Yamamoto isn't the answer in Edmonton.

I mean frankly he lost the battle of midway, what makes anyone think he's going to make the Oilers lineup next year outside of a desperate lack of depth.

[Table 5]

As much fun as we make of the guy, Benning has made some seemingly pretty solids picks with Boeser, Pettersson, Gaudette, Dahlen. Probably makes the Tkachuck miss a little bit easier for their fans, although still too early to discount Juolevi.

Nice to see Edmonton still floundering. How one team has so little prospect depth after so many high picks I have no idea...

[jonkaupp]

I could be mistaken but wasn’t Parsons really high on this list last year? Has he really fallen off that far?

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by Wild GM

The one thing about Button is that he doesn't care about draft pedigree or what other lists have. His lists seem to be entirely his own, which is why you see some level of variability and weird choices, as opposed to Bob's lists where are more an aggregated view of how others (scouts) feel.
So I don't think Glass would be up there because of where he was picked - it would just because Button sees something in him.
It is both what I love and hate about his lists. They are interesting because they are an actual opinion of someone, but I find there are often weird things that really stand out.

It's nice that his lists take this different approach. I remember him having Virtanen in the 40s in his pre-draft ranking that year, while most other publications had him around 10.

It was a bold spot to place him, but it's looking like Button nailed it.

[burnitdown]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Good to see that someone things that Yamamoto isn't the answer in Edmonton.

I mean frankly he lost the battle of midway, what makes anyone think he's going to make the Oilers lineup next year outside of a desperate lack of depth.

FYI - Yamamoto is American

[CaptainCrunch]

Yes I know

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

That is one thing that seems questionable to me, as Timothy Liljegren probably should be in the top half of the list, no? I mean, fine, Montreal's cupboard is terrible, and the other two have either traded or graduated all their guys. But Liljegren looks like the real deal, and probably should have been a top 10 pick.

I always attribute the Leafs factor. Is he really the real deal or is it the Toronto media badly wants him to be the real deal? Leafs prospects and players are typically a little overhyped.

[CaptainCrunch]

Double whoops

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by burnitdown

FYI - Yamamoto is American

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Table 5

As much fun as we make of the guy, Benning has made some seemingly pretty solids picks with Boeser, Pettersson, Gaudette, Dahlen. Probably makes the Tkachuck miss a little bit easier for their fans, although still too early to discount Juolevi.

Nice to see Edmonton still floundering. How one team has so little prospect depth after so many high picks I have no idea...

It highlights at the top end of the draft it is hard to nail it each time. The Flames got a break with Tkachuk but the Sam pick isn't looking stellar at this point. The Canucks whiffed on Virtanen but did REALLY well with Boeser and Pettersson.

The Virtanen pick does stand out as I think his flaws were more apparent. But perhaps is that as a Hitman we saw a lot of him. To me, at the time, it was obvious he didn't have a high hockey IQ and scored a lot of "junior goals" because of specific attributes, but that it would be hard for him at the next level. So I see that pick being particularly bad. But they more than made up for it in grabbinng Boeser who is shaping up to be one of the best pure snipers in the game. 50 goals is not out of the question for him.

[CaptainCrunch]

whoops d'oh

[dissentowner]

He forgot Ruslan Zainullin.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Table 5

As much fun as we make of the guy, Benning has made some seemingly pretty solids picks with Boeser, Pettersson, Gaudette, Dahlen. Probably makes the Tkachuck miss a little bit easier for their fans, although still too early to discount Juolevi.

He didn't pick Dahlen. Also brutally missed with Virtanen, as has been mentioned. The Juolevi pick wasn't indefensible at the time it was made, but the Virtanen pick was - anyone with any credibility considered Nylander and Ehlers the better forward prospects. The only thing that makes it look a little better is busts like Dal Colle and Haydn Fleury on either side of him... but again, those guys were considered at the time to be legit top 10 talents (top 5 in Dal Colle's case). Anyway, the reason to make fun of Benning isn't drafting, it's signings.