With the NHL's ED now behind us its now possible to put a face on some of the top prospects that will be available at our upcoming prospect draft.
1. John Tavares-C OHL (Oshawa)
The Severed Heads have already indicated they are targeting the teen-age phenom, and why not? The sharpshooter lead the OHL in goalscoring as a 16 year old. The downside to him is two-fold, 1: unlike Crosby, Gretzky or Mario, Tavarres is not an elite playmaker, and 2: selecting him two years before his ED eligibility means his window of opportunity as a productive player will be short. Despite all that, the young gunslinger they compare to Mike Bossy is considered the class of this years PRD.
2. Patrick Kane-C Chi
Despite being undersized, the kid has both the wheels and the hands to excel at the next level. Will get every opportunity to play heavy minutes once he arrives as the Ch-Hawks are desperate to remake their offensive forwards, and Kane is being counted on to form the back-bone of the team along with Jonathon Toewes and Cam Barker.
3. Alexei Cherepanov-R NYR
Fortunately, we don't care if the kid back-checks, parties all night or displays a flagrant disregard for system hockey, his coaches, the English language or his team-mates. The kid brings offense to the table - lots of offense. Sold!
4. Sam Gagner-C Edm
A slick play-making pivot, a solid hockey pedigree and above average speed and hockey sense. The downside? He's in Edmonton, and his shot selection isn't awesome. Could evolve into a 30-55-85 guy with the right wingers.
5. Kyle Turris - C Phx
He's apparently got loads of offensive talent, yet he failed to be the top scorer in his league - despite playing a step down from Jr. He gets compared to everyone from Sakic to Heatley, but he's got to play in Phoenix - where talent goes to die. He will be interesting to watch as he is headed to a season of NCAA before turning pro. All in all, I'm intrigued enough to consider him a top 5 candidate, but I'm not sold him completely.
6. Van Riemsdyk-L Pha
He's a hockey player, the only question is whether he'll be Brad May or Keith Tkachuk. I'm betting somewhere in between. You absolutely have to be patient with this guy, because power-forwards always take more time.
7. Kris Letang - D Pit
An undersized puck-mover, he'll eventually replace Sergei Gonchar and join Ryan Whitney as the teams top powerplay tandem. Eventually.
8. Steve Stamkos - C OHL (Sarnia)
A Pat Lafontaine like speedster with hands, he's projected as next years top pick in the NHL ED. Is he worth the risk given that his bio reads suspiciously like that of Angelo (Alexandre Daigle) Esposito? Yes.
9. Carey Price - G Mtl
Carey is scarey good. Easily the top prospect goaltender available, and Montreal may well begin to hand him minutes as a means of assessing his readiness.
10. Mikael Backlund-C Cgy
He'll be a top prospect for two reasons - 1: despite being selected in the mid-20's he's actually really good! Backlund was considered one of the top prospects for this ED but was derailed by a knee injury - something he has apparently recovered from, and 2: he's in Calgary where we'll all have the chance to over-scout him, and fall in love with yet another Flame. All in all, he's a high skill player on a team that desperately craves high skill players. If his work-ethic is sound, he'll be groomed for immediate placement.
12 comments:
Voracek is still my prediction to actually make the Jackets this year. He should be on this list.
Who would you displace on the list to put Voracek in? Backlund?
I should add that I typically put a Flames prospect in my top 10 at #10, so it's fair comment to suggest that he would slide in to that spot (though personally, I prefer Backlund to Voracek as a prospect now that we know where Voracek is heading).
Perhaps Carey because he is a goaltender slips out of the top 10? Given he got passed over completely last year I felt he was a sure thing this year.
I also left TJ Oshie and Kris Russell off this list and a good argument could be made that both are more NHL ready - if with lower ceilings - than some of the players listed ahead of them.
I suspect that Letang will not last to the prospect rounds, so that may open up one slot. Backlund is probably more of a 2nd round pick.
Man... I was just gonna draft whoever McKeen's told me to... now I feel kind of bad not doing real homework.
Anyone wanna trade me picks for RFAs?
Richard.
Maybe Swing for the FP fences and make Tavarres an FP!
DO IT... DO IT...
Hmm... it's worth considering. Though that would ruin my plan of drafting Whitney. Am I allowed to draft an FP who isn't playing in the NHL this year?
I guess it depends what Chris is willing to trade me to alleviate his team of Sundin. I am, after all, only drafting up one step from him.
You know what would be really easy: just letting Cameron do my PrD.
I encourage all GMs to consider Tavares as an FP.
:-)
Seriously, what could possibly be wrong with taking a player as your FP who won't even be in the league for at least another two years?
he'll play only 15 less games this year than forsberg
Ok, THAT was funny
I think that you always favor new draft picks too heavily and forget about prospects that were previously drafted and not already a prospect.
Post a Comment