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Prospect Info: 2015 Draft Thread

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A team in the 6-11 range is going to want a lot to move their pick.

It takes quite a few assets to simply move into the second round.
 
Not sure if anyone mentioned Nick Merkley, but he could be on the list. A bit on the small side, listed 5'10 175 at this link, but elsewhere at 5'11 190. 90 points in Kelowna and 13 more in the playoffs. Doesn't turn 18 till next month. I don't think there are many juniors at the age of 17 that put up over 100 points like that. Watch his clips. Hits pretty hard too.

http://www.mynhldraft.com/2015/NHL-Draft-Profiles/Nick-Merkley
 
Merkley has talent, that's for sure. His assist numbers doubled from last year to this one, and he can fly. But his goal scoring actually decreased from last year to this. He is said to be 5'10.75", but I think that is stretching it =)
 
apadilla said:
Merkley has talent, that's for sure. His assist numbers doubled from last year to this one, and he can fly. But his goal scoring actually decreased from last year to this. He is said to be 5'10.75", but I think that is stretching it =)
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I noticed that too. But if he had 30 goals instead of 20 (and the 70 assists he had) for
100 pts and was 6' 200, he would be a top 10 pick. From watching the clips, he can play the game, hits and says he plays 200 feet. A lot to like there.
 
Fat Elvis said:
True, nothing new here. Imaginations are pretty powerful things when watching other teams in the playoffs. This was the norm here 5-6 years ago. Doubt any of these kids have an impact in the next couple seasons. I hope they're better than 3rd line wings, but I'm realistic enough to know not to hope too much. Next season in Ontario, I can use my "eyeball" test to see where they really are.
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People are definitely overrating Kempe and Zykov. Kempe had a good WJC but Nylander had way more offensive talent and it showed on Modo. These guys are not offensive juggernauts. Look at how inflated Brayden Schenn was and he was lighting the world on fire in the WHL. It's tough to equate these guys to the NHL. That's why I was a big fan of the McNabb trade. Trade Deslauriers and Fasching while their value is high.
 
bmr said:
People are definitely overrating Kempe and Zykov. Kempe had a good WJC but Nylander had way more offensive talent and it showed on Modo. These guys are not offensive juggernauts. Look at how inflated Brayden Schenn was and he was lighting the world on fire in the WHL. It's tough to equate these guys to the NHL. That's why I was a big fan of the McNabb trade. Trade Deslauriers and Fasching while their value is high.
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This is a great post and good assessment. I also liked the McNabb deal - getting 2 high picks back was also great. I know at least 1 helped land Gaborik. Deslauriers, while making a good transition to forward, was never going to make a big impact there with the Kings. Fasching was having a great Freshman year and between the two of them,
helped fetch McNabb and the 2 picks. The Sabres had a new GM and 2 other yound defenseman, moved ahead of McNabb and the Kings jumped on that. They had apparently called McNabb one of the best defensemen, not playing in the NHL. He has a good future here.

As far as Kempe and Zykov, not many here are touting them as future, sure fire offensive dynamos. To be fair, Nylander was the #8 choice last yr and Kempe was the last pick of round 1, at #30. Zykov was 40 something, a second rounder.
The way I see it, is that Kempe is 18 and Zykov turns 20 next month. They both just arrived 2 and 1 week ago in Manch. Once they begin working extensively with the Kings development staff fulltime and play in Ontario next year, we will have a better
gauge this time next year, regarding their upside. A lot can happen in a year, for both of them. Nothing indicates either is going to be a 50+ point NHL player right now. For the elite of the elite, yes, you can tell when they are 18 that they will be dynamic. But for any even a cut below that, who knows. All others lack something in their game. I jist like the chances, with the development system on place now, that there is actually hope that these kids succeed andbecome the best they can be - which is that of potential top 6 players. No one here thought Pearson was going to be a top LW when he was drafted...even after a year in Manchester.
 
Peter James Bond II said:
This is a great post and good assessment. I also liked the McNabb deal - getting 2 high picks back was also great. I know at least 1 helped land Gaborik. Deslauriers, while making a good transition to forward, was never going to make a big impact there with the Kings. Fasching was having a great Freshman year and between the two of them,
helped fetch McNabb and the 2 picks. The Sabres had a new GM and 2 other yound defenseman, moved ahead of McNabb and the Kings jumped on that. They had apparently called McNabb one of the best defensemen, not playing in the NHL. He has a good future here.

As far as Kempe and Zykov, not many here are touting them as future, sure fire offensive dynamos. To be fair, Nylander was the #8 choice last yr and Kempe was the last pick of round 1, at #30. Zykov was 40 something, a second rounder.
The way I see it, is that Kempe is 18 and Zykov turns 20 next month. They both just arrived 2 and 1 week ago in Manch. Once they begin working extensively with the Kings development staff fulltime and play in Ontario next year, we will have a better
gauge this time next year, regarding their upside. A lot can happen in a year, for both of them. Nothing indicates either is going to be a 50+ point NHL player right now. For the elite of the elite, yes, you can tell when they are 18 that they will be dynamic. But for any even a cut below that, who knows. All others lack something in their game. I jist like the chances, with the development system on place now, that there is actually hope that these kids succeed andbecome the best they can be - which is that of potential top 6 players. No one here thought Pearson was going to be a top LW when he was drafted...even after a year in Manchester.
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All perfectly said as expected. I agree completely.
 
I don't even consider Pearson a top line player. He still has work to do.

Also has to stay healthy. I know that's a freak accident that can happen to anyone on the ice, but it happened to Pearson, and he has work to do because of it.

Just like the argument of "Well this guy is a 30 goal scorer" (despite never scoring 30 goals). You are not a 30 goal scorer, till you are.
 
I can dig that. Pearson is a 2nd line LW with size speed and talent. He was technically a rookie last season so he has time to prove himself but so far so good. I wouldn't call him a top line player just yet but I think he has the talent to be one under the right circumstances.
 
417th said:
I can dig that. Pearson is a 2nd line LW with size speed and talent. He was technically a rookie last season so he has time to prove himself but so far so good. I wouldn't call him a top line player just yet but I think he has the talent to be one under the right circumstances.
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Pearson is a good hockey player... I wouldn't say he is an ideal top line player at this point. Given the Kings currently have a hole on the top line that saw Brown/Williams/Lewis trying to fill it, Pearson would do just as well as any of them at filling the position.

Just like when Pearson got the call up. He probably wasn't 100% ready to make the jump, but he was competing with guys like Carcillo/Frattin/Clifford/Nolan/King/Brown.... Before Gaborik was acquired, Pearson, despite his inexperience was probably tied for second on that list with King.

There is a difference between the "Ideal" player, and the best player a team has available to plug a hole. Pearson has done an amazing job at filling holes on this team and has a lot of time to get better.
 
Peter James Bond II said:
I noticed that too. But if he had 30 goals instead of 20 (and the 70 assists he had) for
100 pts and was 6' 200, he would be a top 10 pick. From watching the clips, he can play the game, hits and says he plays 200 feet. A lot to like there.
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Agreed. There is a lot to like there. Story for you. Way back in 1985 I attended the Kings draft party at the Fabulous Forum. I was stoked because the Kings had two draft picks in the 1st round, around 9th and 10th. The Forum attendants passed out 10 page copies containing evaluations for the 200 or so draft eligible players. One thing that struck me about the evaluations is that all of the write ups were positive stuff, nothing negative. Thus, you could read up on the guy rated 10th overall and the guy rated 100th overall, and you couldn't distinguish the two. So here I just injected some distinctions between players. Otherwise, they'd all be top 10 picks =)

BTW, the Kings royally messed up that year on their two 1st round picks. They took Craig Duncanson, who was thought of as a leader, which he was, but he had a tough time skating and thus.... The other pick was a guy named Danny Gratton. This guy could skate, but ..... One pick after Gratton was a defenseman named Dave Manson by Chicago, who played for a long time in the NHL. The way he played, he always had me wondering if he was a cousin of Charlie, hehe. This was typical of the Kings. I went to the draft party in 1984 as well, and they had the 3rd overall pick, but then they traded it to Chicago for their 6th overall pick and a goalie that of course didn't work out. The Kings selected Craig Redmond with the pick. He was all of 5'10. He had some talent, some... Anyway, with the 7th pick Montreal chose Shane Corson. He played over 10 years in the NHL, like Manson. It sucked at times to be a Kings fan back then. Now we have 2 cups. Things are way better. My rambling done, good wishes. :rolly:
 
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That's awesome. The only draft party I've been to was an impromptu HF get together at a bowling ally in Lake Forest in 2004. LA drafted Lauri Tukonen @ 11 and we were all pleased. Then they took Paul Baier with their 3rd rounder. 2004 pretty much sucked for our draft. It frightened me never to go to another draft party and it's worked out fairly well since.
 
Any rumors on who the Kings might like? I know that in a Czech interview with Zacha he said Kings were one of the teams that told him he could play for them next year. Also Travis Konecny has tons of connections to the Kings organization. But those are just based on speculation. Any rumors out there other than pure speculation? Wish TG was still active. :nod:
 
apadilla said:
Agreed. There is a lot to like there. Story for you. Way back in 1985 I attended the Kings draft party at the Fabulous Forum. I was stoked because the Kings had two draft picks in the 1st round, around 9th and 10th. The Forum attendants passed out 10 page copies containing evaluations for the 200 or so draft eligible players. One thing that struck me about the evaluations is that all of the write ups were positive stuff, nothing negative. Thus, you could read up on the guy rated 10th overall and the guy rated 100th overall, and you couldn't distinguish the two. So here I just injected some distinctions between players. Otherwise, they'd all be top 10 picks =)

BTW, the Kings royally messed up that year on their two 1st round picks. They took Craig Duncanson, who was thought of as a leader, which he was, but he had a tough time skating and thus.... The other pick was a guy named Danny Gratton. This guy could skate, but ..... One pick after Gratton was a defenseman named Dave Manson by Chicago, who played for a long time in the NHL. The way he played, he always had me wondering if he was a cousin of Charlie, hehe. This was typical of the Kings. I went to the draft party in 1984 as well, and they had the 3rd overall pick, but then they traded it to Chicago for their 6th overall pick and a goalie that of course didn't work out. The Kings selected Craig Redmond with the pick. He was all of 5'10. He had some talent, some... Anyway, with the 7th pick Montreal chose Shane Corson. He played over 10 years in the NHL, like Manson. It sucked at times to be a Kings fan back then. Now we have 2 cups. Things are way better. My rambling done, good wishes. :rolly:
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yes! bad memories...my first game attended was dec 1974 and I recall all of that! Duncanson and Gratton? Bad..and the goalie was Bob Janecyk in the other deal...I was drivng over the grapevine and tuning into KFWB Sports (at 15 and 45 every hour) to hear who the Kings drafted...I had my Hockey News with me and read about Redmond and was less than thrilled...5'10" defenseman and Janecyk? I was drivng with some buddies to the Merced River to take our whitewater rafts on. Good times, bad hockey memories...I am sure you recall the 'Fire Maguirre' chants we did at the Forum. I had season seats and went to the draft parties too...the Jokinen one in which Nick Nickson held up his jersey at the podium, as the Kings brass was walking to the podium to announce it...and the 2003 one was pretty good.
 
nki said:
Any rumors on who the Kings might like? I know that in a Czech interview with Zacha he said Kings were one of the teams that told him he could play for them next year. Also Travis Konecny has tons of connections to the Kings organization. But those are just based on speculation. Any rumors out there other than pure speculation? Wish TG was still active. :nod:
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Oh hell yes, I love love love to hear this. I keep forgetting he's Czech for some reason...Konecny is the obvious link. Sorry, I haven't heard anything more, just commenting on the Zacha deal :)
 
nki said:
Any rumors on who the Kings might like? I know that in a Czech interview with Zacha he said Kings were one of the teams that told him he could play for them next year. Also Travis Konecny has tons of connections to the Kings organization. But those are just based on speculation. Any rumors out there other than pure speculation? Wish TG was still active. :nod:
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Do you have a link to that interview? I'm very interested in him now
 
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