Summer Prospecct Ranking Poll Round 24

[Stupid]

Hanowski again

The guy will barge his way onto the flames if he has to.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Not much love for 5'10" 175 lbs. defencemen. He'll need to be exceptional to make the NHL and he'll need to be on a team that has some big defencemen. The Flames defence is small as it is, so I don't give Billins much of a chance. He's worth a look but I'd project him to have a great career in Europe.

Francis Boullion, Jared Spurgeon, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Kris Russel, Mike Weaver, JM Liles, Brian Campbell, Ian White, Kimmo Timonen & Lubo Visnovsky have all carved out pretty decent NHL careers for themselves, none IMO are exceptional and all are 5'10 and under.

Will it be more difficult? Sure it will. But He has one great year of pro hockey under his belt, it is too early to write him off.

[1991 Canadian]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Not much love for 5'10" 175 lbs. defencemen. He'll need to be exceptional to make the NHL and he'll need to be on a team that has some big defencemen. The Flames defence is small as it is, so I don't give Billins much of a chance. He's worth a look but I'd project him to have a great career in Europe.

Maybe, it just surprises me to see small players being written off considering Calgary has seen Theoren Fleury and Martin St. Louis (arguably the two best small players in the last 20 years) thrive in the NHL. I don't like writing off small players if they put up points and a decent +/-. Although I agree size is more of an issue for a d-men.

Given that Calgary was the first team to give him a pro-contract, I could see him working really hard to bulk up over the summer. Might push Chris Butler or Derek Smith down the depth chart if he plays well in camp.

[bubbsy]

smallish forwards doing well at the NHL level are the exception, not the rule.

Smallish dmen that do well at the NHL.... almost unheard of.

Only guy i can think of is ian white, but then i remember how he got manhandled by the oilers in his short stint here, and it makes me shudder.

plenty of people are happy to give our smallish skilled forwards a shot, but i think the NHL just isn't cut out for small dmen.

[You Need a Thneed]

Round 24, and there's still two guys on the list with NHL regular season experience? Crazy.

Hanowski.

[TheGrimm]

I guess part of the fun is that everyone can use their own judgement and criteria for ranking players. I tend to rank them on potential and not just whether I think they will be future NHLers. I see a guy like Hanowski and think, yea, he could be a future 4th line grind it out leader guy. I look at Ferland and see 2/3 potential and a good set of hands.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by TheGrimm

I guess part of the fun is that everyone can use their own judgement and criteria for ranking players. I tend to rank them on potential and not just whether I think they will be future NHLers. I see a guy like Hanowski and think, yea, he could be a future 4th line grind it out leader guy. I look at Ferland and see 2/3 potential and a good set of hands.

To be fair, I thought Hanowski had pretty good hands, it was his skating that seemed completely out of place at the NHL level. If he can improve his skating enough then I would increase his ceiling considerably.

[kehatch]

Yay, Culkin finally made the list. I wonder how long I will be stuck on Ferland. I think Ferland is very under rated following a disappointing pro debut. If this kid gets it together he has real potential.

I will be totally fine if Kulak wins this round though (looks like it will be Hanowski though).

[Stormchaser]

Keepin on with Harrison!