Thanks, guys (or gals, as the case may be)...
Patty Ice XXX: After I posted my message last night, I went and did a 'Net search on Philips Andover, and came across that article on Schneider. It was an interesting read, and I thank you for posting it even though I had already found it before I saw your reply.
Rabid Ranger said:
I don't really think you need "inside connections" to get a good read on Cory Schneider and his potential. Enough of the scouting services have detailed write ups on his play and potential to get a good read on what his future projects to be.
I suppose you're right, but alas, Mrs. PB isn't keen on my spending the dough for subscriptions to McKeen's, Russian Prospects, Red Line, and the other scouting services.
I managed to get a login for the CSB site, because that didn't cost me anything, and I have to rely on "free" sites for my info... which is why I ranted elsewhere about the Russians. It's a constant source of frustration to me that there are no free sites (
in any language but the indecipherable Cyrillic, which, as I said elsewhere, might as well be Martian) where you can get any of the same info about Russian players that
every other major hockey-playing country in the world provides for free somewhere on the 'Net.
But I digress... I searched the USA Hockey site and found links to Schneider's stats at the U-18 tourney and with the USNTDP U-18 squad in the NAHL. I liked what I saw there.
Rabid Ranger said:
Personally, I view the Blues' needs in net as a long term draft solution. No one they are going to be able to get is going to start for them for quite some time, so why not take a guy who has a high ceiling? Schneider has shown that he can dominate staggered levels of competition in the same year, and has a mixture of size and agility that few possess. I think he can be a great one.
Thanks for that. After checking out what info was available on him, I'd have to agree.
I'm still not 100% sure that, if I were Larry Pleau or Jarmo Kekalainen, I'd spend the 17th overall pick on a long-range (
4 years minimum unless he leaves college early) goalie prospect when the organization is in such great need of a legitimate nearer-term scoring forward prospect (
Lukas Kaspar or Roman Voloshenko, for example, who were still available when you took Schneider). But I now understand your reasoning for doing so.
Do you think that Schneider's stock has risen so much because of a good U-18 tourney that he wouldn't still be available midway through the second round?
And how would you compare Schneider to the second tier of goalie prospects available this year (Dubnyk, Martin Houle, Julien Ellis)? If you had spent the first pick on the best forward available, would any of those guys have been worth the second-round pick, and do they come with upside that is at all comparable to Schneider's?
At the very least, those are all nearer-term prospects because they're all major junior players, which means they'll be in the AHL in two years if they're any good at all. Yes?
Thanks,
PrussianBlue