I watch the WHL a fair amount, best guy for this years draft here in Kelowna is Shane McColgan. He missed the first two weeks of the season with some sort of dental surgery or something and has picked it up as the season goes on. He's undersized but he has elite level hands, I am shocked he has been dropping down draft boards for missing two weeks with dental surgery. If he actually does fall into the second round he would be a steal, he's a much better player all around than Brett Bulmer was and still is who went in the 2nd round last year. Perhaps I'm just lacking some ability to project players that scouts have though - I watch Jesse Forsberg play right now and I honestly can't believe he's in the first round on that list.
Okay, I'm sorry but what do people see in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Yes, the Red Deer Rebels connection is an intresting one, but what is everyone's take on this kid? Is he a true #3 pick (I.e Matt Duchene) or is he a mediocre pick in a weak draft year?
Thats all fine and dandy but which Heat Player is ready to herlp out the
Flames - At the end of the game in Detroit the Flames player looked very tired
and some young players from Abbotsford could provide some energy.
With Greg Nemisz, and T.J. Brodie graduating to the professional ranks this year, the Flames entire junior prospect ranks currently resides in the WHL. The Flames have always recruited heavily from the western portion of the Canadian Hockey League under Sutter and arguably many of their best draft choices during his tenure have been come from the WHL, including Dion Phaneuf and Dustin Boyd.
The current crop is a lot of solid, if unspectacular, middle-tier prospects. The increasingly interesting sniper Ryan Howse is probably the most intriguing amongst them.
The prospect pool isn't as bleak as some make it out to be.
If Irving/Roto can graduate to the next level as Kipper's succeor
And if, defencemen like Erixon, Brodie, and Negrin can graduate to the NHL level
And if, forwards like Howse, Nemisz and Wahl can fill some spots.
The prospect pool isn't as bleak as some make it out to be.
If Irving/Roto can graduate to the next level as Kipper's succeor
And if, defencemen like Erixon, Brodie, and Negrin can graduate to the NHL level
And if, forwards like Howse, Nemisz and Wahl can fill some spots.
The prospect pool isn't as bleak as some make it out to be.
If Irving/Roto can graduate to the next level as Kipper's succeor
And if, defencemen like Erixon, Brodie, and Negrin can graduate to the NHL level
And if, forwards like Howse, Nemisz and Wahl can fill some spots.
Well this is actually not bad.
That's a lot of ifs, and that's why HF has us dead last in organizational depth for prospects...
Howse looks promising and Erixon seems good as does Brodie of course. But getting to the NHL is different that being a difference maker at the next level.
Ironically, Button flat out stated that Calgary lacked elite talent?! Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious Craig - maybe you should have drafted better or taken your brother out the door when you got canned.
We will - I just think trotting out HF as some sort of indication of what our prospects are really like - is a complete waste of time.
Fair enough - unfortunately, there's not a lot of other sources that i know of anyways, that provides breakdowns of organizations and prospective players.
Fair enough - unfortunately, there's not a lot of other sources that i know of anyways, that provides breakdowns of organizations and prospective players.
That is true - and really it is an impossible task to try and rank organizations because no one has enough knowledge about their prospects.
I don't pretend to know how good Calgary's prospects base is compared to everyone else. I would agree though it's certainly in the bottom third of the league.
But I have also attended dozens of development camps over the last 10 years and this group is far better than it was even 5 years ago.
That is true - and really it is an impossible task to try and rank organizations because no one has enough knowledge about their prospects.
I don't pretend to know how good Calgary's prospects base is compared to everyone else. I would agree though it's certainly in the bottom third of the league.
But I have also attended dozens of development camps over the last 10 years and this group is far better than it was even 5 years ago.
Your experience has to count for something though. I believe that we have never been so deep defensively, and just graduating our best offensive prospect to full time status and our second best offensive prospect to the farm is going really test the depth in the org's cupboard.
I think the defensemen we have are very good pro prospects: erixon, brodie, seabrook, ramage, negrin if he can get healthy, leach all look like good prospects. It's definately a good mix of defense and 2 way abilities.
But I am sure just by looking at the junior and ahl stats that our offensive players aren't getting it done in comparison to other squads' respective offensive depth. I'm sure that when this team commits to rebuilding, our offensive depth will recover.
whoever believes in HF's ranking's or any other agencies ratings are all just speculating and have only statistical historical evidence to make claims about. I think certain scouts know about talent, like Zetterberg before he came over. I remember everybody saying this guy would hit. Sure Fabian Brunnstrom was a bust but he wasn't as sure a hit as Hank.
i am curious to know if anyone has seen courtier or landeskog play. they are players that could help jarome imo. Perhaps immediately like colo immediately.
Fair enough - unfortunately, there's not a lot of other sources that i know of anyways, that provides breakdowns of organizations and prospective players.
The problem is you need a source of information that gets to view players from different leagues in person and as even-handedly as possible. Generally this means you have to wait for TSN, The Hockey News, some other media outlet that can interview a bunch of professional scouts. Otherwise it is all hearsay and probably lacking in balance.
Last night the Kitchener Rangers lost to the Plymouth Whalers 4-2 in game 7 of the first round of the playoff series.
I thought I would post some overall thoughts on how the draft eligible players performed and what this series did to their stock in my eyes.
Ryan Murphy:
Murphy showed his strength and his weaknesses in this series. While he continued to make things happen offensively and was absolutely clutch in this series, Steve Spott also leaned really heavily on Murphy especially in the last 4 games of this series often asking him to play what seemed like 25-30 minutes a game.
He clearly wasn't ready for that responsibility and the Whalers clearly were targeting him all series long. As a guy returning from a concussion at the end of the season, he showed no ill effects in his play. Murphy is elusive, but he's also not afraid to take a hit in order to make the right play to move the puck out of his own end.
He remains a fantastic puck rusher who isn't afraid to hold on to the puck until he sees a good opportunity to either dish it to an open team mate or find a clear lane to the net. He's going to need at least one more year to add a ton of strength before he will be able to handle the NHL, but he has all the tools to be an impact player: great vision, fantastic skating, great hands and a fantastic hockey IQ.
If he was 3 inches taller and 15 pounds heavier, we would be talking about a #1 pick without a doubt.
Gabriel Landeskog:
What more can you say about the captain? Just a terrific leader who battles every night. I am going to take the unpopular stance on this one and say I just don't see the upside that some people do.
While some are thinking this guy can maybe put up PPG numbers in the NHL, I remain unconvinced. I am thinking something closer to Nathan Horton or Dustin Brown with fantastic intangibles.
Landeskog is NHL ready though, which will make some teams really fond of him, and there's a lot to like. He's a fantastic hockey player, with a great head for the game, manages the puck well, loves the physical aspect and can play in all situations. If you want a 60 point player who is a leader and willing to do whatever it takes to win hockey games, then Gabriel Landeskog is your man. He's one of the forwards that Spott regularly deploys in 5-on-3 PK situations, he's willing to go to the dirty areas to score goals, fearless in driving to the net and he works the boards well. He generates a lot of chances using his puck protection and strong lower body, but he doesn't have that "natural goal scoring ability". He sees the ice well, but he isn't overly creative or a true playmaker either.
The intangibles he brings are fantastic though. He hits through guys, sticks up for his team mates and will go out and have big shifts when the game is on the line.
Suffered a high ankle sprain in the WJC and his skating seemed a bit hampered in his return, so the injury may have affected his play down the stretch.
Mike Morrison:
A solid butterfly goalie, Morrison was inserted into the line-up in Game 4 when it became clear to everyone that Maxwell was not helping the Rangers win any games in this series.
Morrison is a quiet goalie in his crease, who moves efficiently and quickly side to side and handles rebounds well.
He played solid hockey in the regular season posting good numbers but was outstanding in the playoffs and really helped the Rangers come back in this series.
From what I've been told, politic played a large part in why Maxwell was given chance after chance to try and regain his form while Morrison was improving and pretty much forced the Rangers to play their 2 goalies as a tandem coming down the stretch.
Last edited by Flame4Ever; 04-05-2011 at 09:47 AM.
Reason: Landeskog injury.
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Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious Craig - maybe you should have drafted better or taken your brother out the door when you got canned.
