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krsmith17

2018 Prospects Watch

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2 hours ago, Dabura said:

>Kid named Otto
>Motor City
>Winged Wheel
>No "auto" pun

Sad!

Turns out I'm bad with nicknames.  I really wanted everyone to call Joe Hicketts "Cricket".  When obviously he should actually be called "Rickety Hickety".  I just miss the mark on these things too often to be reliable. 

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1 hour ago, kipwinger said:

Turns out I'm bad with nicknames.  I really wanted everyone to call Joe Hicketts "Cricket".  When obviously he should actually be called "Rickety Hickety".  I just miss the mark on these things too often to be reliable. 

so you are mikael samuelsson and nicknames are the net? at least you're shooting? 

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Filip Larsson Named to the NCHC All-Rookie Team [WingsNation]

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Larsson registered a 2.14 GAA and .925 SV% in 12 conference games for the Denver Pioneers along with one shutout and was a 2-time NCHC Goaltender of the Week and the December Goaltender of the Month. Larsson has finished the regular season with a 2.29 GAA and .919 SV% in 16 games.

According to the Denver Pioneers press release, Larsson’s 2.29 GAA was 3rd among NCAA freshmen goalies and his .919 SV% ranked 4th.

Filips! Filips everywhere!

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On the Wings of Tomorrow [DetroitRedWings.com]

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February was [Joe] Veleno's best month of the season. He recorded 25 points in 12 games. He recorded at least one point in every game of the month. He went on point streak rolls of 11 and seven games in earlier stretches.

Veleno has recorded a six-point game, a pair of five-point outings, three four-point games, a dozen three-point performances and 14 two-point showings. He's only gone 12 games without a point all season and just once did he go as many as two games in a row with registering on the scoresheet.

The 6-1, 190-pound center is also third in the league in assists and sixth in goals. Veleno shares the QMJHL lead with seven shorthanded goals and is one off the lead with eight game-winners. He's also netted seven insurance goals and is No. 2 in the league with an impressive plus-64 rating.

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Center Otto Kivenmaki (191st overall, 2018) was the star of Finland's under-19 national team during a Five Nations tournament held Feb. 6-10 in Kupitta, Turku, Finland.

Kivenmaki produced 3-2-5 totals in four games to lead the Finnish team in goals and points and end up third overall in tournament scoring.

Quote

Goaltender Jesper Eliasson (84th overall, 2018) helped Sweden go 4-0 and win the tournament title. Eliasson won both of his starts, a 5-3 victory over the Czech Republic and a 2-1 verdict against the Finns.

He finished the tournament with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage, with 49 stops on 53 shots.

 

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20 minutes ago, Dabura said:

Is it just me, or is our prospect pool stacked?  And we're about to add our highest first round pick in years and like 3 second rounders.  I'm feeling pretty good at the moment.  

Edited by kipwinger

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13 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

Is it just me, or is our prospect pool stacked?  And we're about to add our highest first round pick in years and like 3 second rounders.  I'm feeling pretty good at the moment.  

I'd say we currently have a pretty strong pool that Wings fans should feel good about. That being said, I'm salivating at the thought of what another solid draft or two could mean for this organization. We could be just a few months away from graduating to "Holy crap, the Wings are going to be really frking good in a couple of years" status.

Edited by Dabura

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14 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

Is it just me, or is our prospect pool stacked?  And we're about to add our highest first round pick in years and like 3 second rounders.  I'm feeling pretty good at the moment.  

Its NOT stacked.  We have men dominating kid leagues.  When your kids dominate men leagues, THEN your prospect pool is stacked.  

 

Larkin

Athanasiou

Mantha

Zadina

Bertuzzi

Heonek

Cholowski

Sulak

Lindstrom

Mcaisaac

 

Those are guaranteed guys that don't hurt us.

 

Bowey

Rasmussen

Veleno

Berggren

Svechnikov

Ehn

De La Rose

 

These are maybes.

 

Beyond that, we just have meh.

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2 minutes ago, Jonas Mahonas said:

Its NOT stacked.  We have men dominating kid leagues.  When your kids dominate men leagues, THEN your prospect pool is stacked.  

 

Larkin

Athanasiou

Mantha

Zadina

Bertuzzi

Heonek

Cholowski

Sulak

Lindstrom

Mcaisaac

 

Those are guaranteed guys that don't hurt us.

 

Bowey

Rasmussen

Veleno

Berggren

Svechnikov

Ehn

De La Rose

 

These are maybes.

 

Beyond that, we just have meh.

A third of the guys on this list aren't even prospects.  Probably a third of this list is still developing and we have no idea how good they'll be...but could end up being very good.  25 percent are probably have middle six six/middle pair upside, but not high end.  Another 25 percent of this list are depth guys.  And we're about to have four of the top sixty picks in this year's draft. I'm not sure how this is supposed to be a damning indictment of our prospect pool? 

For the purposes of debate I'd consider someone a prospect if they would still qualify as a rookie next year. I'd sort your list as follows:

Guys who aren't prospects at all: Larkin, AA, Mantha, Bert, Rasmussen, Bowey, and De La Rose

Prospects with high-end NHL upside: Hronek, Cholowski, Zadina, Veleno

Prospects with mid-level NHL upside: McIsaac, Lindstrom, Berggren

Prospects with NHL replacement level upside: Ehn, Sulak

 

I'd add these guys to your list:

 

Prospects with high-end NHL upside: Filip Larsson

Prospects with mid-level NHL upside: Jesper Eliasson, Otto Kivenmaki,

Prospects with NHL replacement level upside: Chase Pearson, Alex Regula, Ryan Kuffner, Ville Sarijaarvi

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56 minutes ago, Dabura said:

I'd say we currently have a pretty strong pool that Wings fans should feel good about. That being said, I'm salivating at the thought of what another solid draft or two could mean for this organization. We could be just a few months away from graduating to "Holy crap, the Wings are going to be really frking good in a couple of years" status.

That depends on whether or not we hit on a game changer this year with our top pick.  If a couple teams jump us in the race to the bottom, and we get bad lottery luck, and end up drafting 6-8 overall, I think we're a good but not great team going forward.  Because I don't see us being this bad again next year.  If we draft one of Hughes/Kakko/Zegras I think we've got that kind of upside.

I realize I'm an outlier here, but I think Zegras has elite level upside, I don't see that from anybody else not named Hughes or Kakko. 

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2 minutes ago, kipwinger said:

That depends on whether or not we hit on a game changer this year with our top pick.  If a couple teams jump us in the race to the bottom, and we get bad lottery luck, and end up drafting 6-8 overall, I think we're a good but not great team going forward.  Because I don't see us being this bad again next year.  If we draft one of Hughes/Kakko/Zegras I think we've got that kind of upside.

I realize I'm an outlier here, but I think Zegras has elite level upside, I don't see that from anybody else not named Hughes or Kakko. 

I agree with everything here except the idea that Zegras is the only other guy with elite upside.

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2 minutes ago, Dabura said:

I agree with everything here except the idea that Zegras is the only other guy with elite upside.

I should clarify, I when I say "elite" in this case I'm talking about elite offensive production.  I don't see any of the rest being able to dominate games offensively in the way that I think Championship caliber teams need.  There are a few other guys I think have high-end two ways games but who aren't likely to dominate their peers offensively (Dylan Larkin types).

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1 minute ago, kipwinger said:

I should clarify, I when I say "elite" in this case I'm talking about elite offensive production.  I don't see any of the rest being able to dominate games offensively in the way that I think Championship caliber teams need.  There are a few other guys I think have high-end two ways games but who aren't likely to dominate their peers offensively (Dylan Larkin types).

Personally, I'd put Byram, Cozens, Podkolzin, and probably a couple others in that category.

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3 hours ago, kipwinger said:

A third of the guys on this list aren't even prospects.  Probably a third of this list is still developing and we have no idea how good they'll be...but could end up being very good.  25 percent are probably have middle six six/middle pair upside, but not high end.  Another 25 percent of this list are depth guys.  And we're about to have four of the top sixty picks in this year's draft. I'm not sure how this is supposed to be a damning indictment of our prospect pool? 

For the purposes of debate I'd consider someone a prospect if they would still qualify as a rookie next year. I'd sort your list as follows:

Guys who aren't prospects at all: Larkin, AA, Mantha, Bert, Rasmussen, Bowey, and De La Rose

Prospects with high-end NHL upside: Hronek, Cholowski, Zadina, Veleno

Prospects with mid-level NHL upside: McIsaac, Lindstrom, Berggren

Prospects with NHL replacement level upside: Ehn, Sulak

 

I'd add these guys to your list:

 

Prospects with high-end NHL upside: Filip Larsson

Prospects with mid-level NHL upside: Jesper Eliasson, Otto Kivenmaki,

Prospects with NHL replacement level upside: Chase Pearson, Alex Regula, Ryan Kuffner, Ville Sarijaarvi

So right now, we have 5 high end prospects in:

Zadina

Veleno

Hronek

Cholowski

Larsson

 

That's not a prospect POOL.  That's a SPA at best.  And calling those guys high level is a stretch.  Zadina is the only guy in there that I would say is high level.  Could the others get there?  Sure.  I'm not rooting against them by any means.  But I'm also not a homer and going to say Veleno is a high level prospect like Kakko or Cozens.  He may turn out to be Pavel Daysyuk part 2.  He might also turn out to be Riley Sheahan part 2.  The fact is that Colorado picking 1 and 9 this year puts their prospect pool light years ahead of ours.  And they already have a great young team and deep farm system.  

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sportingnews.com/us/amp/nhl/news/nhl-top-prospects-best-worst-farm-system-draft-history-sabres-flyers-canucks-penguins/tn8fb6mqnial16bxvtds5dacu

 

The sky isn't falling.  But we need a few blue chippers like Hughes to make complimentary guys like Rasmussen effective.

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56 minutes ago, Jonas Mahonas said:

That's not a prospect POOL.  That's a SPA at best.  And calling those guys high level is a stretch.  Zadina is the only guy in there that I would say is high level.  Could the others get there?  Sure.  I'm not rooting against them by any means.  But I'm also not a homer and going to say Veleno is a high level prospect like Kakko or Cozens.  He may turn out to be Pavel Daysyuk part 2.  He might also turn out to be Riley Sheahan part 2.  The fact is that Colorado picking 1 and 9 this year puts their prospect pool light years ahead of ours.  And they already have a great young team and deep farm system.

I think we can all agree that our prospect pool isn't exactly breathtaking. But I also think you're being a little arbitrary with your standards.

Hronek crushed the AHL this season and he's quietly been surprisingly good as a Wing. I wouldn't really count him as a prospect at this point, but if the whole point of this discussion is that we want very good young players with exciting potential, Hronek is that. As is Rasmussen. And Cholowski. And Zadina. And Veleno. And McIsaac. And Lindstrom. And Larsson. Hell, Kivenmaki -- a 7th-round nobody -- has been tearing up the Liiga (Finland's top pro league, i.e. an elite men's league).

We've had two tank drafts and I think Holland and co. have gotten some good talent from those drafts. We lack a marquee name like Dahlin or Hughes or Kakko and I agree that we can't be satisfied until we have at least one player of that caliber -- but, on the whole, I feel we're in a pretty comfy spot. As I often say, I'd take organizational depth and no superstar teenager over a superstar teenager and no organizational depth. It takes a long while to build up organizational depth, but it only takes one pick to get that superstar who "ties the whole room together." We have the former and we're currently going HAM in pursuit of the latter.

Edited by Dabura

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I was hoping they'd sign Pearson. I don't expect he'll be anything more than a depth center, but he does have good size and apparently he loved to hit and grind so maybe he could end up being our next Luke Glendening.  I'll be really curious to see how he does with the Griffs.

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Prospect Ramblings [DobberProspects]

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Joseph Veleno – Oh look the player who everyone at Dobberhockey said “should go a lot higher thank the Red Wings got him at 30th overall” is sure looking good for Drummondville in the QMJHL. He is only up to 102 points in 56 games, but that is not two points per game, so he is a bust. Veleno is only 20 points up on the next best Drummondville player and sits third overall in QMJHL scoring. It may take him a few years to get to Detroit but he looks like a solid choice.

 

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3 hours ago, Dabura said:

Not excited.  Quebec Major JUNIOR Hockey League.  As in 16 year olds.  Veleno needs to do it 2 levels higher now.  My favorite part about Veleno is his maturity, and that's why I have high Hope's for him.  But his competition level is so poor right now, that I'm not putting any stock into his production levels.  

 

(Sorry to be Debbie Downer, btw.)

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8 hours ago, Jonas Mahonas said:

Not excited.  Quebec Major JUNIOR Hockey League.  As in 16 year olds.  Veleno needs to do it 2 levels higher now.  My favorite part about Veleno is his maturity, and that's why I have high Hope's for him.  But his competition level is so poor right now, that I'm not putting any stock into his production levels.  

(Sorry to be Debbie Downer, btw.)

Veleno is one of the best players in the QMJHL. He has the 2nd best points per game in the entire league, and he's putting up these points in his draft +1 season. It's not like he's an overager. Maxime Comtois, the only player in the league ahead of him, is a full year older. I agree that he needs to prove it at the next level, but he hasn't yet had that opportunity. He looked very impressive in training camp last fall, and I'm sure he'll look even better this fall. He has an outside chance to start next season in Detroit, but he will likely start in Grand Rapids. Regardless where he starts, I'm sure he will continue to impress.

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9 hours ago, Jonas Mahonas said:

Not excited.  Quebec Major JUNIOR Hockey League.  As in 16 year olds.  Veleno needs to do it 2 levels higher now.  My favorite part about Veleno is his maturity, and that's why I have high Hope's for him.  But his competition level is so poor right now, that I'm not putting any stock into his production levels.  

 

(Sorry to be Debbie Downer, btw.)

 

1 hour ago, krsmith17 said:

Veleno is one of the best players in the QMJHL. He has the 2nd best points per game in the entire league, and he's putting up these points in his draft +1 season. It's not like he's an overager. Maxime Comtois, the only player in the league ahead of him, is a full year older. I agree that he needs to prove it at the next level, but he hasn't yet had that opportunity. He looked very impressive in training camp last fall, and I'm sure he'll look even better this fall. He has an outside chance to start next season in Detroit, but he will likely start in Grand Rapids. Regardless where he starts, I'm sure he will continue to impress.

I think Veleno's probably going to be a little better than AA but just a little worse than Glendenning. 

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